Paper Chopper: The Crystal Stars
by Mechanical Oven
Summary: It's been two years since Chopper saved the Mushroom Kingdom, but now there's a problem for the whole universe! He must collect the twenty Crystal Stars around Rogueport, but he certainly cannot do this alone. Will the universe be saved from this dark evil? Or will it plunge into darkness for eternity.
1. The Story of the Crystal Stars

**SEQUEL TIME!**

**All righty! I'm doing a sequel! …Actually I already did it! If you remember seeing a story like this on fanfiction a long time ago, you would probably know this. This is something that I actually thought about five years ago! No, this isn't a joke. It's actually true. But I thought of some better ideas later when thinking about this, so I'm actually rewriting this because the original was poorly written and was in script, which is something not allowed on fanfiction... What should also be noted is that this is actually my favorite in the trilogy for many reasons, but I won't get to that now. You can consider this as some sort of sequel to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.  
**

**If you haven't read the first Paper Chopper, then it's probably a good idea to go to that first before reading this. If you DID, however… That's good. If you just want to read this instead of the first, then I'm fine with that. This story is a lot different than the first one because it contains more than just Mario. It also has Kirby and Dream Land in it too, and someone else from a game. Dream Land in this story is set in the anime universe, but with some things from the games too. You'll see…**

**And just a reminder... There ARE spoilers from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Door on here. You've been warned...  
**

**Disclaimer: There's absolutely no way I can own any of these Nintendo characters. They are too great for me to own. The only ones I own are those dang OCs that will most likely appear here (And don't complain to me about there being OCs in here. If you don't like them, go hit the back button).  
**

**Anyway, let's get on with this thing!**

* * *

_Ahem! Today… I'm going to tell you a story of the Crystal Stars. _

_An awfully long time ago… In a strange and far-off land, a big, bustling town thrived. It was a town where all people lived very happy lives. And it was said that the town was very prosperous._

_But, the town grew into chaos when a shadowy demon appeared one day, and there was a terrible war. It left the town in ruins. This demon created seven Crystal Stars in order to use them to hold the essences of the heavens transform the world into a demonic state._

_But then four heroes came in and stopped this demon from destroying the world. Using the power of the seven Crystal Stars, they sealed it behind the Thousand-Year Door, never to be seen again._

_But that demon wasn't the only one who wanted to use the Crystal Star's power. It has been said that a new demon used his power to create thirteen more of these Crystal Stars to destroy the entire universe. As of now, the location of these are currently unknown, and only the holder of the Magical Map can find  
_

_Stories about the Crystal Stars and the demons passed into the pages of fairy tales… Many people believe that two others helped the four heroes against the demon. But to this day, not many people believe this story. This is the tale of the twenty Crystal Stars. Yes, this is where it begins, in a town on a planet called Pop Star. The tale of the quest for the Crystal Stars… And the stories of the heroes…start here._

* * *

A strange yellow Cappy with a small black mustache, a monocle, and a black jacket was in his house, putting his books on his desk in his book shelf. He was the Mayor of a town called Hatty Town, which is a town beside another town called Cappy Town. How exactly was the mayor? The monocle tells the whole thing.

"Sigh… Sometimes being the Mayor of Hatty Town is a tough thing for me. We haven't really had anything exciting going on. Good thing King Dedede hasn't come here to make us do anything that'll make us be so exhausted. I hate those! Now, let's see…" the Mayor picked up a red book with a star and gawked at it.

"Huh? I don't remember this being here… Let's see what's in here." he opened up the book, but the words were in ancient writing, so he couldn't understand a thing. "Oh, dear… I don't understand a thing!"

He flipped through the pages and stopped at a page with the glowing red eyes. He looked at them and couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched by them. He immediately closed the book, but a picture slipped out of the pages and slowly floated down to the ground.

"Hmmm? What's this?" wondered the Mayor as he picked it up and noticed it was a picture of someone he knew from a year ago. It was a boy named Chopper who came to this town a year ago. He even became friends of the residents of Hatty Town as well, and he also was able to make friends with a pink puffball named Kirby, who was not born on this world.

When he walked outside, he saw a Paratroopa with a light blue shell, a brown pilot's cap and a postbag. It was the postman from the Mushroom Kingdom named Parakarry, who seemed quite exhausted when he landed on the ground.

The Mayor noticed the strange Paratroopa and walked over to him while he was panting. "Oh my! You are quite the strange one, are you not? What brings you to this world?"

"Excuse me, sir. Are you the Mayor of Hatty Town?" Parakarry asked as he slowly brought his head up.

"Why… Yes! Yes I am!" the Mayor asked. "Who might you be? You don't look like anybody from around here. Have you come from another planet?"

"Mmm-hmm! The name's Parakarry. Pleased to meet you! I have a letter for you." Parakarry searched through his mailbag and took out a red letter. "A good friend of mine named Mario sent this to you!"

"A letter? For me?" the Mayor gasped as he took the letter from the postman, who smiled in satisfaction.

"Another letter, dully delivered. A postman's job is never done." Parakarry was closing his mailbag until he noticed another envelope in there. He took it out and noticed that it was black. It didn't look like it was anything he had. "That's odd… I don't remember seeing this."

He took it out and noticed the writing was in a freaky-looking red color, which made his eyes widen in surprise.. "It… It says…it's t-to you! There's no return address on here, and it doesn't say who it's from. It scares me, but it's to you, so just take it!"

Parakarry gave the letter to the Mayor and flew away to head back to the Mushroom Kingdom through the teleporter. While he flew, he thought, _"Now why does that kind of letter remind me of a certain someone I fought against with Chopper two years ago? Then again, he's no longer around these parts anyway!"_

The Mayor waved goodbye to him and opened the red envelope first. He found a letter and an old tan map, but he decided to read the letter first.

_Dear Mayor of Hatty Town,_

_I am giving this Magical Map to you because I'm worried that my enemies may come for it and try to steal the treasure to help them take over the world. Since your world is far from my enemies, I decided that I would give it to you. Make sure you keep it in a safe place!  
_

_Mario_

"A Magical Map? Ooh! It sounds very interesting!" the Mayor smiled as he took a look at the map, but he looked confused. "This doesn't look magical to me. It's just a piece of paper…"

The Mayor took out the next envelope and gulped, "That flying turtle wasn't lying about it being creepy! This really is a scary-looking envelope!" he opened it and found a black letter with red writing on it. From reading the words on there, his eyes widened.

_**Dear Mayor of Hatty Town,**_

_**Darkness shall soon come across the sky and the entire universe will be engulfed and destroyed! Don't consider this as a joke, because I am dead serious. I was planning this for all eternity, and now my time has come to destroy this place! Nothing will stop me! …But I suppose I'll let you TRY to stop me. That Magical Map can help you find the twenty Crystal Stars. If you can find all twenty of them, then perhaps you might have a chance to stop me. Of course, you're just a mayor! Ha ha ha ha! This is your warning! You better go warn the entire universe about this!**_

"Oh…no! Darkness shall cover the sky and destroy all in its path? Oh, dear..." the Mayor gulped. "Hold on... Maybe there MIGHT be someone who can help me. He helped us a year ago, and I believe he might be up to this."

The Mayor hurried back to his house and went to his communicator, hoping to get a hold of the person.

* * *

**And there's your intro for you. I like it a lot more than the first story's intro, that's for sure. Plus, Parakarry made his cameo, too!  
**

**Other than that, there's not much else to say. It's a bit of a slow start, just like the next chapter will probably be, but the third chapter should really get into some of the action. ;)  
**

**EDIT: Oh, and just a little note, I'm actually starting to edit this story a bit. There's a few things in here that I don't like or feel is unnecessary in here. I'm hoping to fix it up and make the story a lot better for those who are interested in reading this. I already edited the first one, but I'm sure this one might take longer for me to edit.  
**

**I'll probably take this note off when I finished editing this whole thing.  
**


	2. A Call From the Mayor

It had been two years since the events of the Star Spirits and the Star God, Staris, and for those past years, it had been quite peaceful on Clara. No villains attempted to attack the place, which was just good for our hero.

And just like every hero, they need to sleep, especially since it was nearing dawn.

In the giant jungle of the planet, there was a large mushroom house with a white stalk, a red cap with white polka dots, a little mailbox, and two gravestones beside it. Inside the house had a living room, a kitchen, and even a table for someone to play a game or eat their food. The rooms weren't too big, but they were enough for one person.

Upstairs mostly had a bedroom, and in that bedroom was a pale green spherical-shaped boy with two antennas, stubby arms, white gloves, and green shoes. Beside him was a clock, along with a communicator.

This hero was none other than Chopper; a boy who had first went on an adventure at the age of four after his planet had been destroyed by the evil Maquano. Thankfully, he managed to become what he is today, a ten-year-old with an enjoyment of eating, running, and jumping. Speaking of age, he had just turned ten last week!

While he continued to sleep, his communicator started to go off.

_"Chopper? Are you there?!"_ a voice cried out. _"You need to come to me right away! This is the Mayor of Hatty Town!"_

The Mayor did not get any response. The only thing heard in the room was snoring.

_"Chopper? Hello? Are you asleep? Please wake up! This is an emergency!"_

Chopper was still sleeping like a baby.

"_Please, Chopper! I am begging you! Your help is needed!"_

An alarm had suddenly gone off from the clock, and Chopper's eyes opened before he quickly stood up and stretched.

"Ahhh! That was such a great night of sleep!" Chopper yawned. "Well, except for this one voice that seemed to be yelling at me…"

"_Chopper? Are you awake?"_

"Huh? That voice sounds awfully familiar!" Chopper looked over at the communicator on his table and approached it. "Hey! Who's speaking?"

"_This is the Mayor of Hatty Town, Chopper!"_ the Mayor spoke.

"Oh, right! It's you!" the boy smiled. "When was the last time I got to speak to you?"

_"Listen, Chopper… I apologize for interrupting your morning like this, but I need you to come to Dream Land right away! There's a huge emergency that I believe you can help us with!"_

"Let me guess... You need help opening a pickle jar?" Chopper asked, somewhat laughing.

_"Chopper! This is no time for jokes! This is serious!"_

"Oh… Well… I guess I can come help you with that. I mean, it's better than just sitting around doing nothing!"

_"Well, I can assure you that this might be something to keep you busy…"_

"All right! I guess I'll take that teleporter over to Dream Land to speak to you!" Chopper assured.

_"Thank you, Chopper… I very much appreciate your help."_

Chopper gave an assuring nod and turned off his communicator before going downstairs. The first thing he did was open his refrigerator to see what he could have to eat. He noticed a few apples, some milk, and even a slice of cold pizza. He pondered over which he should eat, but he decided to have them all instead. Getting this sort of stuff was not too difficult anyway.

As he dumped the milk from the carton into his mouth, he started to remember the last adventure he had two years ago, the challenges he faced, and the bosses he fought. But most importantly, he remembered the friends he met.

"Boy… I can't believe it's been this long since I actually went on an adventure." Chopper realized, wiping his mouth of any milk still left over. "The last thing I remember doing fun was going to Dream Land and beating up a spiky cloud with an eye, but that was last year. Maybe this year things will be different!"

Once he was all finished, he left his house and made his way to the teleporter. It always felt nice to feel the fresh air of Clara around him. Thankfully, not many creatures actually lived around, so it was great to have a lot of this giant jungle to himself.

Chopper eventually made it to the gray teleporter and opened it. As usual, it was dull and empty, with the exception of a panel that could transport anyone to a specific location. The panel itself was green to match Chopper's pale green color, and the button that selects the location was red in color.

"All right… I just need to put in the location of Dream Land, and then I'll be there!" Chopper said, selecting Dream Land and stepping onto the panel. "Perhaps a new adventure is in store for me!"

Chopper did not realize that his wish would eventually come true as a column of light came down on him and transported him out of Clara.


	3. A New Adventure For Chopper

**PROLOGUE**

**-A Hero's Welcome-**

Chopper found himself in another teleporter room, despite feeling dazed and bumping into a wall. The room had some star-shaped windows, and when he took a step out of the teleporter room, he found a big green landscape with a big blue sky with a lot of hills. Up ahead, down a hill was Hatty Town, and a little further up ahead was Cappy Town. Between the two towns was a path leading up to a huge castle on a large hill that belong to King Dedede, the greedy ruler of Dream Land.

"It feels GREAT here! It's been such a while since I came here!" Chopper smiled as he began to run down the hill. "I don't know why I didn't go here often. Plus, Kirby's here, and he's pretty cool. It was a little nice that my kind has an ability to understand only one certain language. I guess I was meant to understand a 'Poyo' language. It's a shame I didn't really get to see him last year. Maybe it will be different this time."

He walked past the south area of Dream Land, where a fountain known as the Fountain of Dreams rested. There, the legendary Star Rod sat in its pedestal to prevent evil dreams from invading Pop Star thanks to Kirby.

Going down toward Hatty Town, he could see pink spherical insects with fly-like wings and orange feet called Bronto Burts flying around in groups. He ignored them, knowing that they would probably attack him if he got too closer. After that, he made it to Hatty Town, where he could see the Cappies walking around. The town was a little big and had shops and even a restaurant. There was a road that people could walk around on, which good for transportation. In the middle of the town was a silver house, which belonged to the Mayor, who was standing in front of the house.. Chopper nodded as he ran toward the house past a couple of Cappies he left dazed.

"Why, it's Chopper! We haven't seen him for at least a year! He has sure grown!" one Cappy noticed. Chopper smiled as he looked at all the Cappies that were delighted to see him. However, there was one Cappy that looked a little different. He had black shoes and purple pants. The rest of him looked yellow, and he seemed to be wearing a bag with a Cappy face on it. While he didn't look like a Cappy, Chopper didn't pay that much attention to him.

_"So that kid's name is Chopper?"_ the Cappy thought._ "I don't know why I came here, but I better get something good from it! I hope I can give Grodus some good info on that map - if I find anything good, that is."_

"Hello, Chopper!" the Mayor greeted as Chopper walked up to him and waved. "My goodness! You've grown a bit! You were nine when coming here, right? Happy belated birthday, I suppose."

"I haven't grown at all. I don't think I can grow anymore. I only stay eight inches, which is really bad." Chopper sighed before getting back on topic. "OK, Mayor. Where's the pickle jar you need me to open? ...Nah, I'm only kidding about that! The thing I don't understand is why you had me get out of my bed and come here at this moment. I know I don't have much to do now, but make this quick, OK? I wanted to watch some TV and maybe go up to the skies on my planet."

"I'm sorry, Chopper. I don't think it's a good time to do that." the Mayor apologized. "I just got a threatening letter from an unnamed person! Maybe he wants me dead…or maybe he just wants everyone to die!"

"Mayor, don't tell me it's another prank someone's trying to pull up. A lot of letters can sometimes be a prank. Just ignore it."

"This isn't a joke, Chopper! I have the letter right here! Take a look at it!" the Mayor pulled out a black letter and he handed it to Chopper. He took a look at the letter as his antennas sprung up.

"Hold on a minute… This is demonic writing!" Chopper gasped. "Only people of pure EVIL have this kind of writing! I just know it!"

However, what startled him a little was when he saw a sentence that appeared on the letter at the bottom.

_**I dare you to find them, Chopper!**_

"Whoa! This letter is pretty creepy!" Chopper cried as he flung it away from him, which the Mayor caught. "But there's one thing I don't understand… The letter says that all twenty need to be found. I thought there were only seven, according to a friend of mine! I don't understand this one bit at all, and I don't like the looks of that letter."

"Well I don't understand either," the Mayor replied. "I never even heard of the Crystal Stars until I found an odd book in my house. I really don't know what we can do right now…"

Unfortunately, his thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice through a megaphone.

"All right! Listen up, everybody! We have a shortage of food in the castle, and since His Majesty is your king, you must hand over all food and beverages that you have!" a lavender escargot (snail) with a dark green shell, eyes rising over the rest of his stalk, a short, light green mustache and goatee and four teeth shouted through the megaphone. "You MUST hand everything you got over and put them in these brown sacks that the Waddle Dee and Doo are walking around with! Those who refuse to give up your food will get the death penalty!"

Chopper saw a bunch of red spherical shaped minions with peach faces and feet with spears named Waddle Dee coming around with brown sacks. Some of them actually had one large eye called Waddle Doo. They were walking to some Cappies, who were putting their food in the sacks.

A large penguin-like being dressed in red royal finery was beside the escargot. He had a personal emblem with his hand giving the peace sign embossed on the back of his robe. He was rather portly, with blue skin and a tan belly. Also, a yellow zigzag-patterned girdle-like band was stretched along his waist and wore yellow gloves and had yellow feet, and he was holding a large wooden hammer that many people said was mechanized.

It was none other than King Dedede.

"Heh heh heh heh! Look at everybody! They're all so scared of being put to death!" King Dedede grinned as he grabbed a loaf of bread from a Cappy and took a bite out of it. "At least they're doing the right thing by handing over the grub!"

"Please, your Majesty. Don't eat so soon! It's your reason that you…ate everything…from…" the escargot paused when he looked up at King Dedede, who was glaring at him. "Ummmm... Continue on!"

"Thank you, Escargon," King Dedede nodded as he continued to eat the loaf of bread.

"Oh, this is terrible! King Dedede's making everyone give up all their food!" the Mayor cried. "We'll lose all of our Deden in no time buying more food! …Or maybe the food in there will be gone!"

The fake Cappy was even watching this, and he didn't even feel safe. _"Oh, man! I gotta get outta here!" _he simply went behind a house so none of the Waddle Dee and Doo could find him.

"Your Majesty, this is all the food we can get," the Waddle Doo captain, who was holding a short sword informed. "These Cappies don't appear to have a lot of food in their hands."

"Then we'll go to Cappy Town and get some food there!" barked King Dedede. "And besides, this place isn't as plentiful with food than Cappy Town anyway. We're going there!"

"Not if I can help it!" Chopper shouted, running over to King Dedede and pointing at him. "What do you think you're doing, taking everyone's food? ! Don't you understand that you're just going to make everyone starve to death? I'm sorry, but that's just wrong! You'll be remembered as a tyrant for your evil deeds! Just stop this right now! You're already fat, so why don't you just do something else besides eat food!"

"How DARE you talk to his majesty like that?!" Escargon snapped as he got in front of Chopper before turning back to his king politely. "Your Great Majesty. Should I give this little boy the death penalty for insulting you?"

"No need to worry about that, Escargon! I'll take care of this one!" King Dedede assured as he raised his hammer. Escargon gulped and got behind Chopper as the hammer's shadow towered over the boy. "So, you're that kid who came here a year ago, huh? I've heard about you. You remind me of that pink puffball, Kirby, and I HATE that! I know just what to do with you! This'll be just like a game of golf…except YOU'RE the ball!"

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me..." Chopper sighed. "I come back here after a year and this is what I get..."

"That's your own fault, kid," Escargon grinned. "You insult His Majesty, you pay the price! Just because you're an outsider doesn't give you the privilege to scoff at him!"

King Dedede brought his hammer back, making Chopper's eyes widened. However, he realized something. He quickly put Escargon in front of the king instead, making the king's secretary gasp.

"Wait! Your Majesty! Don't swing that hammer!"

It was already too late. The hammer was swung and Escargon was sent flying away to somewhere past Dream Land. King Dedede, who thought he sent Chopper flying away, began to laugh.

"That's better! Wasn't that fun, Escargon?" King Dedede cackled until he heard no response. "Escargon...?"

"Oh, THAT is one for the books!" Chopper laughed. "You completely missed!"

King Dedede began to steam as his face turned orange and grit his teeth in anger. Not only that, but he began to stomp on the ground as well, which looked rather funny than scary.

"WHAT? How on earth did I miss? Escargon, you idiot!" King Dedede yelled as he gripped his hammer and brought it up over Chopper. "All right! I'm going to be doing this the hard way! I'll send you off of this planet!"

"All right, fine!" Chopper challenged. "We'll fight!"

However, when they got into battle, they noticed something different. They were now fighting on a stage, and there was even an audience cheering for him as well. There weren't a lot of people there, but there were Cappies and Waddle Dee cheering, with the Cappies rooting for Chopper and the Waddle Dee cheering for King Dedede.

Before their fight could begin, the Mayor walked over to Chopper.

"Oh, yes! I forgot something! I know it might be a little helpful for you, so take it." the Mayor gave Chopper a hammer similar to King Dedede's, but a lot smaller. It had a star embossed on the face of the hammer, which Chopper remembered seeing with his normal hammer.

"Cool! I finally got a hammer!" Chopper smiled, holding up the hammer. "Though it's not like my Diamond Hammer, it's better than nothing."

"OK, Chopper, this is **Battle **time," the Mayor explained. "You know your moves, right?"

"Of course! Thankfully, I still have my Lucky Star on me, so I can take this fatso on with no problem!"

"I'M NOT FAT" King Dedede yelled across the stage.

"Good!" the Mayor nodded. "Just remember this: King Dedede's not someone to mess with. He's like a dictator here, and he sure is a tyrant. Try not go get hurt while doing this, OK?"

"Are you kidding me? I've beaten guys bigger than him! Watch this!" Chopper walked over to King Dedede and stomped on his head two times with his Jump attack.

"Nice work, Chopper! That's how you do it! You're doing a pretty good job at this, you know!" Chopper gave a thumbs up while smiling, just like when Professor Toadsmeth complimented him when he fought against Jr. Troopa the first time.

"So you can stomp on me. Big deal! THIS is a real attack!" King Dedede brought his hammer up as he walked toward Chopper. He brought it down on him and flattened him with it. A star appeared right next to Chopper after the king made his attack while the king cackled.

"Chopper! You see that star right by you? You can use your **Inhale **on that and either swallow it, or spit it out at Dedede." the Mayor explained. "Inhaling can have many effects, such as giving you a Copy Ability or simply nothing. I would recommend spitting it out at him for right now."

Chopper nodded and inhaled the star next to him and spat it at King Dedede, doing a good 2 damage. King Dedede grit his teeth and walked toward Chopper, coming down on him with a body slam. This flattened Chopper a bit, but he didn't have to worry. This king had a Max HP of 6 and only had 2 HP left!

"All right, time to test out my hammer on you!" Chopper brought his hammer out and brought it down on King Dedede, which made him fall over on the ground in defeat.

"Nice work, Chopper! You got some **Star Points**!" the Mayor smiled.

"Wait, Star Points?" Chopper gawked.

"If you don't remember, you get them after defeating an enemy. If you get 100 of them, you'll level up!"

"Oh... Now I remember!" Chopper smiled as he waggled his finger in victory and received 9 Star Points. After he finished his victory pose, King Dedede slowly got up while panting.

"Fine, you win, Chopper…" King Dedede groaned. "I think I've underestimated you…for now. Waddle Dee! Give everyone their food back. You can just cook something up for me instead."

"Men! Give them back the food!" the Waddle Doo captain ordered as the Waddle Dee dumped the food out of their sacks as they returned it to the Cappies.

"Don't think this is the last you'll see me!" King Dedede warned as he glared at Chopper. "I'll have my revenge on you one day… As for Escargon… I don't know where he is right now because of your actions. Then again, I don't need him to talk t—I mean plan with."

King Dedede made a sharp whistle and six Waddle Dee ran over to him and lifted him up, carrying him all the way back to the castle because he was too lazy to do it himself. It looked like the Waddle Dee were having a hard time, considering their stubby arms were shaking.

"Great work, Chopper! You just saved Hatty Town from famine!" the Mayor thanked. "I've never seen you fight, and I gotta say… I think you're the perfect one for the job!"

"What job?" Chopper wondered.

"Come into my house. I'll explain everything." Chopper gave the Mayor a nod as he followed him into his house and picked up the Magical Map on the table. "Chopper, I have a feeling that getting these twenty Crystal Stars won't be so easy. I think there will be many fights that you will have to endure, and I have a feeling that we're not the only ones who know about these stars. Chopper, I apologize for asking you this, but could you possibly go find those Crystal Stars? After fighting off that cloud monster Kracko a year ago, I think you can do the job!"

"A new adventure, huh? Well... That sounds interesting! I haven't been on an adventure for a while, so count me in! And without Maquano to bother me, I think I might have a little fun!" the pale green boy smiled. "By the way, what's that old thing on the table?"

"That's called a Magical Map," the Mayor explained as he picked up the old map. "A strange flying turtle named Parakarry came here to deliver this to me. He said it was from someone named Mario..."

"Hey! I know those two! I saw them two years ago!"

"Really? Well that's interesting to hear! Although, looking at this map, I don't see how it's old..."

"Let me see," Chopper pleaded.

The Mayor shrugged and gave Chopper the map, who looked at it. He could see many places on it, and in the middle of the map was a small town on a far distant island. However, there were other interesting places, such as a pale forest, a dark place full of dead trees, a peaceful meadow, and below it was a strange music place, a couple of islands to the south and a desert area as well (which were places not seen on the map before).

"Hmmm… This thing's really old. I wonder if we have anything that can show off its power - if it even has any..."

"Well, I believe there's one place that could help us," the Mayor recalled. "The Fountain of Dreams has the power to revitalize anything old and bring back its magic! I remember seeing a pedestal shaped like a star in the center of the round fountain. I believe if you showed off this map, you might be able to bring its power to use and find these Crystal Stars!"

"You really think so? Well, OK then! I suppose I should head over to the Fountain of Dreams!"

"Hold on, Chopper... I must go with you. I was given the map in the first place, and I would like to know what it does."

"Ummmmm... OK. I suppose I can let you come with me. Besides, what's the harm in that?" Chopper shrugged as they left the Mayor's house and headed toward the south path to head to the Fountain of Dreams. Little did they know that the Cappy hiding behind the house was watching them through the window and managed to listen to the whole conversation.

"So that weirdo DOES have the map!" the Cappy gaped. "And he's giving it to that little kid, too! A little kid! I mean, who gives maps to a round little kid that doesn't even look like he could fight squat? ! ...Well, it doesn't matter. I made the right choice by coming here! Now the X-Nauts can finally make our comeback! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh huh!"

The Cappy continued to cackle stupidly as he made his way past a couple of Cappies, who were rather confused with the rather short Cappy.

"Is that even a real Cappy?"

"Well, who cares? He's not our problem!"

* * *

**Outside of Hatty Town-**

The landscape over where Chopper and the Mayor went was HUGE. There were two ways to go, and the way going to the left was being blocked. However, they could take the way going down and then go to the right. That wouldlead them to the Fountain of Dreams.

"So, Chopper… Are you liking how Dream Land looks?" the Mayor asked. "You haven't been here for a while, so that's why I'm asking you this question. How is it so far?"

"Well it's pleasant…but it wasn't when King Dedede came with his Waddle Dee, trying to rob everyone of their food." Chopper explained. "And… Hold on, let me look at this sign!"

Chopper made his way over to the sign nearby and began to read it. Unfortunately, he didn't have his ability to use the Speed Dash, but he didn't care how he lost it. He was just going to have to deal with it by moving on his own.

_To switch between using your Inhale and your Hammer, press the L button!_

"Hey! This reminds me of when I was on that path going to Toad Town! I saw a sign like this, but it told me that I can use a Mushroom to recover HP. Well, I wonder what's up ahead anyways. Might as well go."

Chopper headed on ahead with the Mayor following him. A Waddle Dee with a spear noticed them going toward the Fountain of Dreams, so it blocked their way.

"Stop right there!" the Waddle Dee shouted, making Chopper stop. "You're Chopper, aren't you? Well I got orders from King Dedede to keep you away from that fountain! I don't know why, but he had a hunch you were coming here. Now feel my spear as I use it to stab you and poke you!"

"Chopper, be careful! That's one of King Dedede's henchmen, the Waddle Dee!" the Mayor warned. "They're not really as dangerous as you think they are, actually. Just watch out for those spears. Since he's pointing it down, you should be able to jump on him. Don't go near it with your hammer or else you'll take 'll take damage if you stomp on it when its spear is up. Use your hammer instead, or just inhale the spear instead!"

"They're not so tough, so I can handle this one!" Chopper assured as he jumped onto the Waddle Dee and left it with 1 HP left, since they had 3 HP.

"Oh, not bad… But let's see if you can handle this!" the Waddle Dee came charging at Chopper with its spear, but Chopper spun around, and the Waddle Dee got hit by his counterattack, making it get defeated and dropping 3 Star Points and some coins and hearts.

"Whoa… What did I just do there? I just spun around and the Waddle Dee took damage from it. Odd…"

"Hmmm… I believe that's called the **Superguard**." the Mayor explained. "You don't take ANY damage when you use it, and you can hurt the opponent too, even if they have a strong defense. However, it's not easy to time, but if you can use it, then you'll be safe from harm."

"The Superguard, huh? That sounds interesting… I can use it to damage any enemies I see around here? Cool!" Chopper smiled and headed on through the grassland place. There were some Bronto Burts flying around, so Chopper stomped on one of the two Bronto Burts and he landed a first strike, stomping on the one at the front first and defeating it.

"Nice work, Chopper! You just made a **First Strike**! You can start a battle if one of you guys attacks. Also, note that the Bronto Burts are above the ground. Your hammer won't reach them, so you'll need to jump on their heads. Your inhale can get 'em too. Actually, it can get any enemy around you."

Since it was still Chopper's turn, he used his Inhale to suck the Bronto Burt into his mouth like a vacuum and spit it out to defeat it. For that fight, 6 Star Points were given. Chopper looked through the bushes after defeating the Bronto Burts and found some coins and also a Watermelon, which could recover 5 HP.

"A watermelon? I could probably use this later." Chopper assured as he put it away and moved on.

Once they made it to the next area, they saw the pathway to the Fountain of Dreams, but to the north was a hill where a tree rested. A girl with pale yellow skin that was twice as Chopper, long, pale yellow hair that was kept in an ornate ponytail held by orange and purple clasps, a one-piece outfit which was pink on the top and green on the bottom, separated by a zigzag and large, orange feet was writing something down in her little booklet, which matched her outfit.

Up on a tree was a light orange young boy who was a head taller than Chopper with the top of his hair being orange and the tips being green, with the colors separated by a zigzag. His hair went down over his eyes, which was very well hidden. He wore a pair of purple shorts held up by a single red suspender and had dark green feet.

"Why, isn't that Fumu and Bun over there?" the Mayor noticed. "They must be hanging out over by that tree. But why?"

"Fumu and Bun? I'm sorry, but I have no idea who they are." Chopper stated as he looked up at the two children at the hill.

"I wish you were able to see them before. Fumu is a smart girl, but has a short temper, and Bun loves to play sports like soccer and also pull pranks on people such as King Dedede. They're the children of Parm and Memu Parm. Well they're both known as Sir Parm and Lady Parm by most people."

"Hey, Sis! It's the Mayor from Hatty Town!" Bun exclaimed to his sister, who stopped writing and looked down the hill to see the two. She and her brother went down to greet the Mayor.

"Mayor! We never expected you to be coming over here!" Fumu gasped. "Why ARE you here anyway?"

"Why, we're going to the Fountain of Dreams!" the Mayor explained. "I got a letter saying that darkness will soon cover the skies and will destroy everything in its path! I don't know who sent it, but it was said that we need twenty Crystal Stars to keep the universe safe from that evil darkness. That's why a good friend of mine, Chopper, is here to help."

"Chopper? He looks…a lot like Kirby. But… He's got fingers and antennas. I wonder if he speaks in 'Poyo' language just like Kirby does." Bun wondered as Chopper smacked his forehead.

"No, I don't speak that language," Chopper sighed. "I KNOW the language, but I don't speak it. I'm from Clara, a planet that's a little far from here. And yes, I'm going to be collecting the Crystal Stars for the Mayor…and for the universe."

"Maybe this is the work of Nightmare," Fumu deduced. "He would definitely have a plan like this. Though I remember that he was destroyed by Kirby. Is it possible that he returned?"

"The letter didn't even look like Nightmare's handwriting. It looked much more demonic…and it said, 'I dare you to find them, Chopper!' It was really scary when it suddenly appeared on the letter."

"Well whoever did it, he must want his revenge against the universe for some reason," the Mayor explained. "Fumu, Bun, we'll be going to the Fountain of Dreams right now. Please warn everybody about what we just said, but tell them Chopper will be handling this."

"Of course," Fumu nodded as she and Bun left the area and returned to Cappy Town.

"All right now, Chopper… We better go to the Fountain of Dreams this instant! Hopefully it can get that Magical Map to work and use its magic of some sort to find the first Crystal Star!"

"Good idea!" Chopper agreed as he ran toward the path to the Fountain of Dreams. When they got to the end of the pathway, they could see the sky become darker, with the stars up in the sky. The sign said that to the right was the fountain.

They began to head toward the Fountain of Dreams, and off at the distance, a blue, spherical-shaped being wearing a silver mask, pauldrons, a blue cape, and shiny, metallic, purple shoes was watching the two go with his yellow eyes while his cape was wrapped around him. While he was shaped like Chopper, he was a little bigger than him.

"That boy… Could it be?" the warrior gasped. "So... He finally arrived in this place. I wasn't expecting him to be on this journey so soon... Perhaps he's also the missing Star Warrior that people haven't heard from before... I'll try to get these answers as fast as possible!"

His cape transformed into wings and he began to fly off, hoping to find these answers.

* * *

**Fountain of Dreams-**

Once they stepped off of the green grass, Chopper stepped into some shallow water. They could see a pedestal in the middle of the water shaped like a star and also a short pillar where the Star Rod was meant to be. When the Mayor noticed the Star Rod was gone, he was in total shock.

"Where's the Star Rod? I swore that it was here when I came here before… Don't tell me this is another doing of that demon…" the Mayor trailed. "Well I don't know what we can do right now. That star pedestal can probably give us a hand, so why don't you step on it?"

"All right, then," Chopper walked over to the pedestal, and once he jumped onto it, there was a sudden flash that caught him off guard. "What the…! What's going on?"

A huge blue circular light appeared around the pedestal and twenty round lights appeared too, leaving the two amazed.

"Holy... Is this for real?!"

"Could this be…? Chopper! The map!" the Mayor gasped as he noticed the Magical Map come out of Chopper's hands and slowly float up.

"Hey! What's it doing up there?" Light stars began to go into the map, surrounding it in a white glow. After another flash, Chopper noticed something was starting to reveal itself on the map.

Where all the pink was on the map, it began to sparkle, and there was a train that appeared of many colors and a track leading to a place filled with many musical notes and instruments. Next to it is some kind of place full of toys, which made him gawk. A gray Crystal Star appeared on the map, as if it were life-like.

**The location of a Crystal Star has been recorded on your Magical Map! And Chopper has learned a special move! You can now use Sweet Treat! Each time you get a Crystal Star, you'll learn a new special move!**

"Mayor! Take a look at this!" Chopper gasped as he grabbed a hold of the map while his antennas sprung up.

"Oh my! So the Fountain of Dreams CAN help us with this hunt!" the Mayor gaped as he looked at the map. "…But where on earth is this place to go to? Dream Land doesn't have any worlds like those! Hmmm… We should return to my house. Maybe I'll find a book on something."

* * *

**Mayor's house-**

The Mayor was checking through his books, but he seemed to not be finding anything. "Great… I'm not finding anything from this. I've check through every single book, and I found nothing."

"Hold on a minute… Haven't you checked this book?" Chopper asked as he picked up a red book sitting on the table and opened it, which showed a city getting destroyed and some ancient writing related to the Crystal Stars. "Hey! Take a look here! It says, 'To find the Crystal Stars, one must go to the town where the destruction took place.' It says that it's in a place called **Rogueport**. I think that's back on a place called Earth."

"You can understand what it says in the book?"

"Well, the writing doesn't appear to be in any strange language. It's in English, you know... But anyway, how am I going to get there? I don't know where Rogueport is, and I wouldn't know if I used the teleporter."

"Why not use a Warp Star to go?" the Mayor suggested as they walked out of the house. "I think that would be a good idea! I also called a friend to come here. He should be here any minute."

"Poyo? (Did somebody call me?)" a pink puffball shaped like Chopper with short, stubby arms, hot pink blushes and red feet named Kirby asked as he landed with a floating star called a Warp Star.

"Why, hello there, Kirby! I would like you to meet Chopper! He's the one who's helping me with the hunt for the Crystal Stars."

"Hey, Kirby!" Chopper smiled as he shook Kirby's hand.

"I asked Kirby to come here so he can assist you with the hunt," the Mayor informed. "I think that you won't be able to do this alone, so that's why I wanted him to come here. You two will be able to get to know each other a little more."

"Poyo! (I'm fine with that!)" Kirby assured. "Poyo! (Just whistle and you'll summon a Warp Star! Let's see how you can ride it, that is!)"

"OK…" Chopper trailed as he made a sharp (yet horrible) whistle, making a yellow Warp Star fly behind him, picking him up and leaving Dream Land while sitting on it, with Kirby following him on his. "Aaaaah! I can't control this thing!"

"Good luck, Chopper and Kirby!" the Mayor shouted, waving goodbye. _"I sure hope he can use that Warp Star…"_

* * *

**Space-**

"_**Whoooooooa!**_" Chopper shouted as he left Pop Star and was now in space. "I'm having such a hard time controlling this thing!"

"Poyo! (Chopper! Just stay relaxed and stand up!)" Kirby cried. "Poyo! (If you move your body a little to the left or right, you'll be able to control it! Move your body back or forward will help you move up or down! Just stay relaxed!)"

"OK!" Chopper nodded as began to stand up and felt a little nervous. He could see Earth up at the distance, so he moved his body forward and was heading down there.

"Hey… This is actually pretty fun! I'm getting this now! Weeeee!" Chopper cheered as he performed a corkscrew right by the moon. However, there was something odd about the moon. There appeared to be a fortress surrounded by a light blue transparent dome with two towers with turrets watching Chopper and Kirby fly past them.

_"Hey, dude! Who are those green and pink freaks on those stars?"_ one person asked._ "They look kind of weird…but I don't like them!"_

_"I say we blast them out of the sky! …Or space, for that matter." t_he turrets began to fire blasts at the two Warp Stars, which Chopper and Kirby happened to notice.

"Poyo? (What's going on?)" Kirby asked.

"I have no idea! We're being attacked!" Chopper shrieked as their Warp Stars got blasted, making them plummet down to Earth. However, the difference was that they were rather far from each other when they got knocked off their Warp Stars.

"_**AAAAAAGHHHHHH!**_"

This was definitely not a good way to start an adventure.

* * *

**Nope, definitely not a good way to start an adventure. :P**

**Now, just like in Paper Chopper's prologue, there's a little interlude in the middle. And just like that story, the scene's going to shift somewhere else. Where, you ask? Well, you'll find out in the next chapter. ;)**

**Oh, and I use the parenthesis for Kirby to show what he's actually saying. It's kind of like the Bloopers from Paper Mario, where their language is translated for people to understand. You got that? All right, good! :D**


	4. Sir Grodus and His Plans

Inside a large, futuristic room with a silver ground and some short pillars holding purple orbs, there were some small steps leading up to a computer to the right, and past it was a door that could open up on its own, just like the door to the left. A big, gray symbol of goggles with an X crossing appeared in the center of the room. It looked different than what was on Pop Star. It didn't have much technology and grayness like this place.

**"Your body is fully complete, Sir Grodus. It is now stronger than ever."** a computerized voice finished as a robot hand ascended back into the ceiling. **"If you ever need me, just call for me."**

"Excellent… My new body is fully complete! Thank you very much for doing this for me, my trustworthy computer! I very much appreciate it!"

A villain with a large black cranium head (that appeared mechanical) with blue glass embossed in it showing an X in there turned around. The rest of his body showed him in a purple robe with a black trim at the bottom. The sleeves were black with a golden yellow trim, with his collar's color being similar to his sleeves. He also had a white spiky collar below that and had blue glassy goggles with a yellow trim and was holding a golden scepter with a blue, translucent orb at the top with a small, white X inside. This was one baddie that someone wouldn't want to not take seriously.

Two minions that belonged to the alien walked into the room. They were smaller than their leader, but a little taller than Chopper. They were wearing a white hood-like hat with a large white, spiky collar that kept their face hidden. Just like their leader, they were wearing goggles. Their body was red and a black X was embossed on their outfit and were wearing white gloves and boots.

The two soldiers crossed their arms together as they gave their leader a salute. "**Sir Grodus**, would you like to take a look at your new body? We think it looks fantastic!"

"Yes… Let me take a look at myself, Johnson." Grodus took the mirror from his soldier and took a look at himself. "Perfect! This is exactly how my body looked before! Tell me, **X-Nauts**… Have you managed to capture Princess Peach and bring her here?"

"Yup! We got Princess Peach easily!" Johnson nodded. "All it took was a brown sack and a ship! Good thing we got those new ships to help us travel through space! Maybe we can go find a place that sells some good food out in space."

"Fools! Our ships are only for transportation, not to go find a space restaurant! Do you realize how much we've lost after Mario invaded our fortress five months ago? Actually… We haven't gotten our revenge against him yet. X-Nauts, you _did _get Mario, right?"

"We tried to look for him, but he wasn't around," the second X-Naut explained. "The only thing we saw was a ship by that plumber's house. I don't know what it was, but we can't explain. It was just there and then… Bam! It's gone. Sorry, sir… It looks like getting revenge on Mario will have to wait."

"Great, just great," Grodus sighed. "If I don't destroy Mario any sooner, then people will think we're weak! People think of us no longer as a threat now because of that stupid queen that destroyed my body! If we were to destroy the plumber, we would be considered the biggest threat to the whole world!"

The computer by Grodus revealed another X-Naut through a projector screen that crossed his arms. _"Grodus, sir! We've found something while searching through space!"_

"Report at once."

_"We discovered two round creatures heading down to Earth. They were both on some kind of yellow star. One was pale green and the other was pink. We shot them down and now they're gone."_

"A pale green and a pink round creature, you say? Well if they weren't such a threat, then that's OK. However, was it necessary to tell me this? Get back to work, X-Naut."

_"Understood, sir!" _the projector screen disappeared and Grodus began to ponder. However, a light bulb lit up over Johnson's head as something struck him.

"Sir! What about the Magical Map?" Johnson mentioned. "You've been looking for the Crystal Stars for a long time, and even after finding one of them, you still had some problems looking for the rest! We still have a chance to conquer the world!"

"Ah, yes… That Magical Map." Grodus sighed. "I heard that thirteen Crystal Stars were discovered not too long ago. That's the key to ruling the universe, you know. If I had my hands on that, then maybe, just MAYBE we can become the most powerful army in the universe! …But I don't even know where it is. As of right now, you are dismissed."

"Understood, sir," Both X-Nauts nodded as they saluted and left the room. Grodus pondered once again until the strange Cappy from Dream Land arrived.

"I'm back, Grodus! And I've got some good news!"

"Is that you, **Lord Crump**?!" Grodus guffawed. "What are you doing in that hideous disguise?! People would obviously know that you're not like their kind."

Lord Crump took off his disguise, and it turned out he was an X-Naut too. He was much different than the others, with his hat being purple with horns sticking upward. He had goggles and had a light red spiky collar. Unlike the X-Nauts, his body, arms, and shoes were black, and the X on him was white, like his gloves. His pants were also purple like his hat, and he was wearing a spiky red cape.

"Well they didn't know I was in disguise!" Lord Crump mentioned. "But that's not the point. I've heard some REALLY good stuff when I went to a planet called Pop Star. It's inhabited by some mushroom freaks without the actual caps on them and a fat penguin's their ruler. I think it's called Dream Land."

"I don't want to know what the place looks like! Even if you're able to build things, you have always lacked intelligence in your brain for the most part."

"Hey! Don't you call me stupid, Grodus! I'll tell you what I found! It's something that you'll LOVE to hear! Yeah! That's right! And it's about that stupid map we've been looking for!"

"The Magical Map, you say? Speak at once, Lord Crump!" demanded Grodus.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! Oh, NOW you're listening!" Lord Crump smirked. "Apparently, some round, pale green ten year old is holding the map. I saw him take down that fat penguin with just stomps, a hammer, and his inhaling!"

"What? A pale green kid? Wait a minute… That X-Naut told me something about a pale green kid passing by here. Could it really be him? Lord Crump! Give me the details on who he is! Now!"

"All right, I'll just draw what he looks like. He's not that tough to draw anyways. I think his name's Chopper." Lord Crump mumbled as he took out a tan piece of paper and began to make a sketch of Chopper. After about three minutes, he finished and gave it to Grodus. "There. That's him. You happy now?"

"So… This is the one named Chopper that holds the Magical Map that we're looking for…" Grodus trailed as he glared at the sketch of the ten year old. "Lord Crump, for once you did something good, but if he's plummeting down to Earth right this second, then he'll be one step closer to that Crystal Star!"

"Er… How about I go take care of him! I think I can give him the ol' Crump-a-bomb!"

"No, that won't be necessary, thank you very much. You're fighting skills are not that great anyway. I'll hold onto this sketch for now. You go do something useful right now such as to check if Princess Peach is OK."

"Roger, Grodus! But I don't understand why you put her down at Sublevel 4. TEC is down there too, you know."

"Don't you remember? We returned to the base and you wiped away his memory! That's why he constructed me a new body that's even stronger than my old one! TEC won't remember a THING about her! You go ahead and go check to see how things are with her."

"Whuzzat?" Lord Crump blinked, merely ignoring him for a second. "Oh, yeah, sure! I remember what you just said. Don't worry. I'll go order a new statue of you. And with that… Pow! I'm gone!"

Lord Crump left the room as Grodus face palmed for his stupidity. _"Sigh… I wish TEC could construct a BRAIN for him!"_

Once the chubby X-Naut commander was out of the room, Grodus turned around for a minute and he pondered,

"Hmmm… I wonder if it's wise to send _them _out to go after that little boy. Especially since they tricked me into opening the Thousand-Year Door… They came to me and wanted to join us again. But I have no other choice… "

He turned back around and called out, "X-Naut! I summon you!"

And at that moment, a regular X-Naut walked into the room and gave him a salute.

"You rang, dude? I mean, sir? You rang, sir, Grodus, dude? Grodus? Sir Grodus, sir?"

"Shut up. Go find the **Shadow Sirens** and tell them to get over here." Grodus ordered.

The X-Naut was almost left startled by that name. "The Sh-Shadow Sirens, sir? But didn't they…"

"I don't care how you plan on ending that sentence, fool. Go get them. Now."

"Gotcha!" the X-Naut saluted and left the room. Grodus waited patiently for these "Shadow Sirens" as the door closed in front of him.

_"Ah, so the honorable Grodus has need of us? Then we arrive without delay."_

Three purple shadowy ghost-like figures with white gloves rose up from the shadows. What was interesting to note about them was the fact that they had no legs and had the ability to dive into the shadows with ease.

The first one looked more witch-like compared to the other two and wore a grin upon her face. She had lavender hair and a long nose. She was smaller than the other two and it looked hunched back. The blue and white striped hat of hers covering her eyes must indicate that she could use ice magic. She was the oldest of the three Shadow Sirens and definitely the ugliest and cruelest.

The second one was the biggest and strongest of the three. But being the strongest, she was also the fattest. She had red rosy cheeks and her hair was a light orange color, which covered her eyes. Her yellow and white striped hat showed that she used electric magic. Of the three sisters, she was definitely the middle.

The third one actually looked cuter than her sisters, which must explain why she's the youngest. She had pink rosy cheeks and a pink curl of hair is covering her eyes to avoid them being seem. However, it was once said that her eyes were so beautiful, anyone of the opposite gender could gaze at them and fall in love with her. Her long hair had a curl at the end and the red and white striped hat indicates her ability to use fire magic.

"Mmmwee hee hee hee hee… So tell me, did you find where that Magical Map that you've been looking for months has been?" the oldest Shadow Siren asked.

"Still your tongue, **Beldam**," Grodus snapped. "We would've had it if we were able to capture that plumber in time... Unfortunately, he must've gotten the map away from his house before that ship arrived."

"Ah, so you've lost the map, I suppose?"

"No, we haven't lost it. Luckily, Lord Crump was able to find out where that map is. But now some poor fool named Chopper has the map in his hands. You _begged _me to have you three come back. I don't entirely trust you now, but I'm giving you one last chance. And that doesn't go just for you, Beldam! You too, **Marilyn**! And also you, **Vivian**…"

"Oh, no need to worry so much," Beldam assured. "We've gotten over that a long time ago. All we want to do is help you conquer the universe with the twenty Crystal Stars! Why worry? All we need to do is find this Chopper and steal the map, yesss?"

"Indeed, that is YOUR duty. Must I remind you again? That map is what we need for our plan. The X-Naut plan. Lord Crump was able to make a sketch of this boy." Grodus explained as he took out the sketch and handed it to Beldam. "I will lend it to you three to use to track down Chopper. He will most likely go to **Rainbow Train**, where the first Crystal Star is located. For now, hear me, Beldam! You Shadow Sirens must take care of this troublemaker! And if you destroy him, I will fully accept that. We X-Nauts don't care if we destroy a two year old or a ten year old. We do what we want. Do you understand?"

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee… Fear not, sire. I, Beldam, shall return with what you seek. You will certainly not be disappointed!" Beldam assured as she turned to her sisters. "Let's go, my lovelies! Marilyn! Vivian! Come! We've got a job to do!"

She followed up by sinking into the shadows.

"Guhhhhh…" Marilyn grunted as she joined her sister down in the shadows.

"Mmm hm hm hm hm…" Vivian giggled before sinking into the shadows. All that left was Grodus, who gripped his scepter tightly.

"So a ten year old boy has a hold of the map..." Grodus trailed. "Getting a hold of that from him should be very interesting..."

* * *

**Ah, yes! Grodus and Lord Crump! Possibly one of my favorite characters not only in the game, but possibly in the series! Vivian's another character I like as well. And yes, I already know about the thing in Japan with her, so don't ask about it. And before you ask what gender she is... Well, I did say 'she'. This story's written in English, and according to the English version, she's a girl. Plus, her being a girl here works better in this story anyway.**

**Now that that's out of the way, we're about to visit a town next chapter.**


	5. Welcome to Rogueport!

Chopper was certainly not enjoying the start of his adventure so far. Not only did he get separated from Kirby by a turret, but he was plummeting down toward Earth. He noticed he was right by a town, but instead of actually landing in town, he fell in the water, which was probably the safer place to land anyway.

There happened to be a pink female Goomba with a blonde ponytail wearing archaeology clothing and a helmet with a flashlight sitting by the dock. There used to be a ghost ship over by the dock, but with a bigger harbor finally made in Rogueport, the ships were over there.

"Sigh… Man, it's so boring around here." the Goomba girl sighed. "After that harbor was made, this place has been empty for a long time. I wish there was something interesting that could happen for this once."

She noticed Chopper was floating toward the dock and she gasped. "Who is THAT? He doesn't look like anybody from here… Wait, what am I saying? He's in trouble, and he needs help!"

The Goomba girl was able to get Chopper out by grabbing him by the foot and getting him out using her teeth. She didn't bite too hard because that would probably hurt him. Thankfully, she got him onto the dock and noticed he was breathing.

"Oh, phew! He's breathing! I was worried I would have to do CPR on him!" she heard him moan as he coughed up some water from the sea, which got on the Goomba. "Eww! Gross!"

Chopper got up and rubbed his head and saw where he was. He could see he was in a town that looked poorly made, or maybe it was simply damaged by something. It was a poor town filled with many thieves, that's for sure.

"Huh? Where am I?" Chopper wondered before he looked at the Goomba and took out his hammer. "A Goomba! There's no way you're going to land a First Strike on me! Oh no! I'm tougher than I look!"

"What? Settle down!" the Goomba cried. "Yeesh! I'm not an enemy! Not all Goombas are evil!"

"Huh..." Chopper lowered his hammer. "Sorry if I judged you the wrong way..."

"Don't worry about it... Anyway, what's your name? You look like you've had a hard time getting here."

"My name's Chopper. I was taking a Warp Star from Pop Star and I suddenly got blasted and was sent here. That's all I really know as of now, I'm afraid. And I'm getting a taste of saltwater in my mouth…"

"Chopper?" the Goomba girl gaped. "Hey, I think I've heard of you before! I saw a movie where you you fought against a giant yellow watery god! …Wait, are you the real thing, or are you just the actor."

"I'm the real thing," Chopper confirmed. "I didn't even play a part in that movie anyway..."

"Oh, that's cool! My name's **Goombella**. I'm a student at the University of Goom. Nice to meet ya! However, I don't think this is the greatest town to be in, especially for you. I HATE it here! There are just so many weirdos and freaks EVERYWHERE! It's nasty! I know it's called Rogueport, but still!"

"Wait… Rogueport? Wait a minute! That must mean I'm in the right place! YESSS!" Chopper cheered until he paused. "Hold on... I do recall something two years ago."

"What do you mean 'YESSS!'? This place isn't a place for someone like you. I'm sorry, but it's not a safe place for kids to be walking alone." Goombella informed. "And what do you recall?"

"A friend of mine two years ago said that he had a letter addressed to a place like Rogueport... I wonder if this is the same place he was talking about."

"Well there's only one Rogueport."

"Oh, what a relief!"

"You shouldn't be glad to be here! This place is horrible!"

"No, I'm glad because this is where I need to go!" Chopper explained. "I came down here to go find the Crystal Stars, and this town is the main area, so maybe I can find things around here."

"What? You have the Magical Map?" Goombella gasped as Chopper showed her the map. "Omigosh! That IS the map! I can't believe it! How did you end up with the map?"

Chopper gave her a long explanation as to what happened.

"Oh, so the Mayor of some land where it's dreamy got the map from Mario and then got a letter telling him that the universe will be shrouded in darkness and destroyed? That's terrible!"

"Yeah, and that's why I need to go find the first Crystal Star in a train called Rainbow Train."

"Hold on… I think I know someone who can help you." Goombella noted. "His name's **Professor Frankly**, and he knows A LOT of information on the Crystal Stars. I can even take you to him if you want. He's not far from here."

"You know, that sounds like a good idea!" Chopper nodded and Goombella walked away from the harbor followed her up the stairs to the next area of Rogueport, where there was a rope in the middle of the area where people would go to if they were to be sentenced to hang. However, the pale green hero was soon interrupted.

"Great hoogly-boogly! You're Master Chopper, aren't you?" Chopper noticed an old Toad with brown polka dots on his cap walking toward him with his cane. "What a coincidence running into you here! Princess Peach has told me a lot about you! My name is Toadsworth!"

"Toadsworth? What are you, worth another Toad?" Chopper joked stupidly. "Nah, that was horrible. But I think I remember hearing about you."

"Oh, I bet you have, ho ho! I always make sure that the princess is safe from harm. But while I was going to the bathroom, I heard a strange noise, so I got out of the bathroom to see what the problem was…and the princess was gone!" Toadsworth sighed as his head hung low. "And do you know what was humiliating? I had my pants down while checking to see if she was OK…"

"That's gross!" Goombella gagged.

"I know! I didn't like the sight of people laughing at me!"

"So Peach was taken away?" Chopper gasped. "Then why did you come here?"

"I was thinking that she would be right where I told her to stay…but then I realized that she was kidnapped. A Toad told me they saw something with a red X flying away. I don't know what it was, but I'll look further into that. As for you, Chopper… If you find any information on Princess Peach, please let me know! I'll be in the **inn **right over there and enjoy myself. If your **HP** **(Heart Points)** is running low, then drop on INN! Ho ho!"

"Hey! I make the puns here!" Chopper shook a fist as Toadsworth turned around and began to head toward the inn.

Of course, they could both hear him huff, "Huff, I say!"

"Well let's not worry about that yet," Goombella suggested. "We need to go to Professor Frankly's!"

Chopper agreed and followed Goombella over to the right pathway, but she soon stopped by a rainbow cube with a white S on it.

"Oh, Chopper! Did you **save **yet? I recommend you use that **Save Block **by the inn. I think you oughta save right now."

"OK," Chopper nodded as he hit the Save Block before moving on. However, when they reached the next area, a blue Bandit ran past Chopper, making him spin around like crazy.

"Oops! Pardon me, sucker!"

"What the..." Chopper quickly shook his head after being left dazed. "That sure was nice..."

"Hey! What's your beef, pal? YEAH, I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Goombella shouted before turning back to Chopper, who didn't look happy. "What's wrong, Chopper?"

"Oh no… I think that Bandit stole half of my coins!"

"That is SO lame! Ugh! I HATE this town!" Goombella said.

"I'm not letting him take my coins! You stay here while I go handle that Bandit personally!" Chopper ran back to the main are of Rogueport and took the way north to find the back alley. He found a door to the left and inside was a messy room where the Bandit that passed by him was.

"Hey! You!" Chopper shouted, taking out his hammer. "You're the one that stole my coins, didn't you?"

"Eeeeeeeeeeeooops! Uh… Fancy meeting you in here!" the Bandit sweat dropped as he smiled nervously. "You're pretty dang persistent, buddy! What a pain!"

"Don't call me 'buddy'!"

"Fine! FINE, OK? You got me. I'll give you your coins back. Here." the Bandit groaned as he handed Chopper his coins back, who smiled in approval as he left the house.

"Gah... Next time I need a better hiding place and a disguise. That'll help me with thieving!"

* * *

**Back where Goombella was waiting-**

"So how did it work out? Did you get your coins back?" Goombella asked. Chopper smiled with a nod. "Good! Now let's go to Professor Frankly's house!"

Goombella led Chopper to the second house, right next to a house with a Shine Sprite symbol above the door. Once they entered the house, they noticed an old Goomba with two flat teeth, light blue spiral glasses, and white hair.

"Oh, hi! There you are! Professor Frankly!" Goombella smiled as the old Goomba looked at her, confused.

"Whuzzuh? Who's there? Who wants me? Are you thieves? Because I don't have much here for you!" Professor Frankly shouted as he looked at Goombella. "Oh, wait… It's you. Now, you, uh… I think I've seen your face before… Yes, that face… Wait for it… Just a moment… Don't tell me, now! Silence! I'll get it right!"

_"Oh, brother... What is this, the fifth time he's done this?" _Goombella thought as she rolled her eyes.

"Umm… It's not Goombriel… Errr… It's not Elizagoom… _**Hrrrmmmm… ****Errrrmmm…**_"

"Constipation face!" Chopper cheered as he watched Frankly.

"Chopper! That's SO unnecessary!"

"A-HAAA! I've got it now!" Frankly declared. "It's you, Goombella! I was wondering where you were after waiting so long for your return! Where were you?"

"I was just sitting out at the dock," Goombella explained. "It's not such a big deal, really. That place is empty anyway."

"Oh, I see now. And that boy behind you… He looks _very _familiar… Could he possible be…"

"That's right!" Chopper smirked as he spun and made a pose. "I'm the one, the only..."

"_**…THE PIZZA BOY?**_"

Chopper only toppled over and hit his face on the ground while Goombella sweat dropped.

"No, he's not the pizza boy..." Goombella sighed.

"Awww..."

"I'm not the pizza boy!" Chopper groaned as he slowly got up. "I got no pizza with me! My name's Chopper! I saved the Mushroom Kingdom two years ago when I was only eight!"

"Oh! My apologies." Frankly gasped. "I'm just such a bookworm these days, I haven't got a clue about what's 'hip' right now. In any case, what sort of errand brings you all the way to a place like this, err… Chopper?"

"I want to learn about the Magical Map that I hold and about the Crystal Stars and where they're located."

"_**WHAAAT? **_You… You are holding the Magical Map?! I thought Mario had it… Well I'm not going to bother asking questions. Could I just…take a look at it?"

"Sure thing! _…Just as long as you don't call me Pizza Boy…_" Chopper took out the Magical Map and gave it to Frankly to look at. He slowly began to study the map to see if it was it.

"Astounding! This is it! The real thing! The one and only Magical Map! In fact, it even shows a location of one of the Crystal Stars! …How did you manage to go down to the Thousand-Year Door and do this?"

"I didn't. I went to the Fountain of Dreams on Pop Star, and its power helped me locate the Crystal Star. It's on some rainbow train though, which I don't know how to get to. You got any ideas? I need to collect the twenty Crystal Stars to save this universe."

"Twenty Crystal Stars, you say? Hmm… I suppose that there WERE some rumors around that have been saying that there are twenty. If that's the case, then I will help you with this quest! As for going to Rainbow Train… Goombella will be nice enough to take you there!"

"Me? Oh, all right! I'll do it, Professor Frankly." Goombella assured. "Follow me, Chopper. I'll help you get to the pipe that leads to Rainbow Train. We just need to go down to **Rogueport Sewers**. It's kinda nasty down there, but you might be able to handle it."

"Good luck on that Crystal Star, Chopper! Make sure you come back here after you take Chopper to the pipe, Goombella!"

Chopper waved goodbye to Frankly and left the house. To the south was a pipe that Goombella pointed to with her foot.

"Just jump in here and we'll be down in the sewers in no time!" Goombella assured as she jumped into the pipe. Chopper took a look down as well and decided to jump in.

* * *

**Rogueport Sewers-**

Once Chopper came out of the pipe, he noticed the sewers looked more like an underground city than a sewer compared to Toad Town's. The ground was light gray and appeared to be very old. There was a doorway to the left, and to the right were some steps going down and some going up. There was a paper airplane panel and also a gap to a doorway that was sealed shut by bars. However, there appeared to be a pipe there as well.

"Whoa… This is Rogueport Sewers?" Chopper gaped. "But… This looks more like an underground city than sewers! I mean, compared to the sewers beneath Toad Town, these aren't sewers at all!"

"Yeah, I know. But the reason is because the city was destroyed and left in ruins. This is all that remains of it." Goombella explained. "And THAT was a thousand years ago. Doesn't that sound interesting to you, Chopper?"

"I remember reading something that had a city that went underground. The Mayor of Hatty Town in Dream Land had the book for some reason. But enough about that! Let's just get going. We gotta go to the right? OK."

Once Chopper and Goombella went down the steps, they heard the sound of a Goomba voice.

"Hey! Hey, kid! What's up? Who's the hottie you got there with you?"

Chopper looked to see a regular Goomba, a Spiky Goomba, and a Paragoomba making a sharp whistle as it looked down at Goombella. Although, Chopper didn't take it the right way.

"Hey! Who do you think you are, talking about me like that?!" Chopper exclaimed.

"I think they're talking about me…" Goombella whispered.

"Oh... Well, that makes sense."

"Wassup, baby?" the Paragoomba asked. "How's about you hang with us for a while? We play real nice!"

"Doubt it," Chopper scoffed.

"Man, what's a FINE-lookin' Goomba doin' with a small antenna kid like that?" the Spiky Goomba wondered. "You should ditch him an' come with us! We'll make your dreams come true! Especially me!"

"What? No way, man!" the Goomba snapped. "I'm the one who's goin' to be with that Goomba! So buzz off!"

"Oh, please! She wants a Goomba with wings! I'm definitely the one for her!" the Paragoomba argued.

"Oh, it is, like, SO sweet you boys think I'm cute! Seriously!" Goombella gushed. "Yeah, too bad guys like you just make me wanna hurl a couple of ducks! So back off!"

"Oh, BURNED!" Chopper laughed as the three Goombas guffawed.

"Ouch! That was cold!"

"What, you're too good for us? Come off it, sister!"

"Nobody zings us like that! Nobody! Let's get 'em!" the Goomba trio jumped down the steps and charged at Chopper, whose eyes widened as his arms flailed once he was into battle.

"It's a Goomba, a Spiky Goomba, and a Paragoomba! Looks like you're facing off against the family tree." Goombella informed. "I'm pretty sure you were told about enemies with spikes on their heads and enemies that fly up. I'll leave you to do all of this, OK?"

"All right, then I'll get started!" Chopper started off by stomping on the Goomba first, and since it had 2 HP, it was easily defeated. He was also able to pull off a Stylish move, which could give him more Star Power. That left the Spiky Goomba and the Paragoomba.

"He took out Bob! Oh, now he's goin' to get it! Paragoom! Now we'll show him!" the Spiky Goomba growled as it walked over to Chopper to headbonk him with his spike on his head, but Chopper Superguarded it, so it took damage instead.

"Man, I wish I could've used this move before! Using it now is just…GREAT!" Chopper smiled. When the Paragoomba attacked him by diving down at him, he guarded the attack and took no damage.

"Now to take care of the Spiky Goomba," Chopper walked over to it and brought his hammer up. When the time was right, he brought it down on the Spiky Goomba, breaking the spike on it head and knocking it to the ground.

"No! Not Spikoom! That's it!" the Paragoomba dove at Chopper, but with a Superguard, the Goomba failed to hit him.

"I suppose I'll just inhale him," Chopper decided as he used his Inhale to suck up the Paragoomba like a vacuum and spat it out, defeating the Paragoomba.

"Good job, Chopper! That was pretty good!" Goombella smiled as Chopper got 10 Star Points from the battle and spun around and made a pose.

"Oweeeeeeeeeeeeee!" the Goomba trio shrieked as they got up and fled.

"Ha! Later on, losers! You sure got what you deserved!" Goombella grinned. However, she suddenly remembered something. "Hey, Chopper! If you ever want to know info on some of these enemies, just select **Tactics **when selecting a move and there will be something called a Tattle. Yup! Even when I'm not around, you can always call me onto the stage to Tattle the enemy to get some info. Just make a sharp whistle and I'll come!"

"A sharp whistle? Aw… That's how I summon the Warp Star!" Chopper groaned. "Well… I'll make a different whistle so I know which one to use. Anyway, let's get going now."

When going up the stairs, they saw they were too far to reach across the gap. The paper airplane panel didn't even do anything either.

"Hold on, don't worry. We gotta go down." Goombella walked over to the moving platform going left and right and jumped on it. Chopper shrugged and got on the platform too. After the platform made it over to the pipe behind the bars, they went down to another area.

"Interesting…" Chopper trailed as he followed Goombella through the area, going to the right and stomping on a Goomba in his way. Down the stairs and going to the left, Chopper whacked a yellow ? block on the ground to find a Mushroom. He whacked another one to get a Fire Flower, which could attack all enemies.

"Uh oh… There's these yellow blocks in the way. No wait, I can take care of that!" Chopper smashed the two blocks that were blocking the pipe and jumped into the pipe with Goombella. When they came out of the pipe, Chopper noticed a little gray creature with a green bulb. It quickly went into the small little hole before Goombella could see it.

"What the… What was that thing?" Chopper asked.

"What thing?" Goombella asked.

"Oh... Nothing."

To their left, there was a big yellow block that had angry eyes blocking a high ledge, and to the right was some stairs going up to a doorway to the north. There were also green enemies called Spinias around as well.

Going up the stairs, there was a platform down below with a Black Key, so Chopper jumped down to grab it and climbed the stairs again to meet up with Goombella with the key.

"This should come in handy!" Chopper smirked as they headed through the doorway the to find a small room with a black treasure chest. Chopper decided to poke it.

"Hey! Don't touch me!" the Black Chest cried as it wiggled, making Chopper bring his arm back. He poked it again, which wiggled.

"What's wrong with me poking you?" Chopper wondered.

"Wait a minute… You can hear me? ! That must mean you're the hero of legend!"

"What? Me? A hero of legend?" Chopper gaped as he pointed to himself. "Really… I'm just some regular person who doesn't do much."

"Well you ARE! Only the hero of legend can hear my voice. Yeah! Everyone else…nothing."

"OK, how are you stuck in a chest?"

"See, once I was free from this chest, I was sent back in here by some evil spirit. Now I'm locked in this box and I'm cursed! I've been stuck in here without food, water, and even… Wait, that's it. I've been waiting a LONG time for the hero to come by! …So, yeah, anyway, little guy… What brings a hero like you to a place like this?"

"Chopper… I'm not sure we can trust this box." Goombella frowned, aware of the Black Chest. "I've seen these things before, and they're not usually telling you the truth. Don't tell anything about the Crystal Stars. …Dang it! I just said it out loud!"

"Nice going, Goombella..." Chopper sighed.

"Oh, yeah? Searching for the Crystal Stars, are you, now?" the Black Chest questioned. "So you really are a hero. Well, you're DEFINITELY gonna need my help if you hope to get those bad boys. So first you should look for the key to this box. Then use it to let me out. Definitely. It's a black key, just to let you know."

"But I already have the key!" Chopper mentioned as he pulled it out.

"You have it? Aw, YES! Oh, man, I owe you BIG time for this!"

"Yeah, you better," Chopper said as he unlocked the chest.

"YESSSSSSSSS! Thank… Ha! Thank NOTHING! _**Whee hee! Foooooools!**_"

"Wait, what?"

Chopper was sucked into the chest, changing the background to navy blue. There were two glowing yellow eyes and a spooky mouth above him. One thing to note was that the voice sounded a lot different than inside the chest.

_**"****Oh, BOY, did you fall for it! I BURNED you! **__**What, you think I was going to help you? Instead, I'm gonna spread a little of the suffering I've endured in that stupid box! Yeah! Sorry, but those are the breaks! I'm gonna cast and evil, terrible curse upon you! Buggly-wuggly-WOOOOOOO! You're cursed!"**_

Four white flashes appeared around Chopper as he was struck with a curse, making him cower. However, when he opened his eyes, he noticed he was completely fine.

"Huh? Nothing bad happened..."

_**"****Whee hee hee hee hee! Enjoy that curse, sucker! You got what you deserved! You wanna hear all about the sweet curse I just dropped? Then listen well! From now on, when you press Y in certain areas, you'll turn into a paper airplane! Whee hee! Trembling yet? Suffer the rest of your days under my terrible curse! Whee hee hee hee hee hee! Oh, I can't help but chortle! You're DOOMED!"**_

"Wait… So I can turn into a paper airplane? By which I can fly over gaps with it? I'm sorry… But I think you REALLY helped me there."

_**"****You think I was helping you? HA! That curse will make you suffer for eternity! If you see any paper airplane panels around, the floor will glow. Just press Y on it and you'll turn into a paper airplane! The worst part about it is that you need to control yourself while flying. You can go to far distances with it…but I guess that's the only good thing. But this curse is the worst you'll ever get!"**_

Chopper walked on a paper airplane panel and jumped up and turned into one. He began to just fly toward the right and then turned back to himself afterward.

"Thanks for the ability, Mr. Curse! It's definitely helpful!"

_**"****You might think it's helpful, but you'll be begging me to get rid of it! Farewell, you foolish fool! Whee hee hee hee!"**_

Chopper was back in Rogueport Sewers as the curse crumpled up and slowly disappeared.

"So, uh… Wow. Just wow. What was THAT guy's beef?" Goombella asked.

"Beats me," Chopper shrugged as they left the room. Chopper saw a paper airplane panel nearby, so he used it to go over to the doorway that couldn't be reached because of the big block and ledge.

When he turned back to himself, he went through the doorway, where he saw the huge size of the room. There was an old fountain in the middle and also a doorway to the left, with two paper airplane panels above. Unfortunately, there was no way of going there because there were bars in the way.

But what was the most important thing to note was the large, red door. A couple of cracks were around it, indicating that it was once opened.

"Hey, Goombella. What's that over there?" Chopper asked, pointing to the large door.

"Oh, that? That's the Thousand-Year Door." Goombella explained. "It's been sealed shut after finding the legendary treasure. You wanna know what it is?"

"Tell me!"

"Nah, I'm not going to tell you right now. Maybe some other time. That door won't open anymore anyway. Besides, there's nothing in there anyway!"

"I see… I guess there's no point in being here." Chopper shrugged. "This place does kind of give me the creeps…like there's some dark power that's still around through there. I have a feeling that something could creep out of that door and attack us right now. I want to leave."

As they left, there was something by the door. A shadowy mist watched the pale green hero leave the area.

_**"****So… Lighten's apprentice has returned… Unfortunately, I can't do a thing in this form. But when the time comes, I will destroy him! Muh huh huh huh…"**_

* * *

**First area of Rogueport Sewers-**

Chopper and Goombella returned to the first area of the sewers and went to the paper airplane panel, where Chopper turned into a paper airplane and flew across over to the sealed-off doorway.

"All right, through that pipe, you'll find a red pipe that leads to Rainbow Train," Goombella explained. "This is as far as I can go, sadly. The doorway over there was sealed off because people feared a Blooper would come out and attack the sewers, even though it hasn't appeared. Take this, though!"

Goombella tossed Chopper a Power Smash Badge, which he managed to catch. "I was supposed to give this to you earlier, but I guess I forgot. As of now, good luck! And if you need to use a Tattle, I'm the one to do it!"

Chopper waved goodbye as the Goomba girl left the sewers through the pipe.

"OK, looks like I'm on my own now." Chopper jumped into the pipe and came out of another pipe that was in a small area. There wasn't much else around except for a red pipe next to him.

"There's the pipe! Time to start my hunt for the first Crystal Star! It's a real shame that Kirby isn't here to help me... Oh, who am I kidding? I don't think I'm going to be in any trouble! This should be easy!"

Chopper walked over to the pipe and jumped inside to head to his next destination: Rainbow Train. However, little did he know that there WERE people that were going after the Crystal Stars as well...

* * *

**Yeah, Chapter 1 begins next! It's definitely one of the chapters in the story that got me pumped up for some reason. I like it a lot more than Paper Chopper's Chapter 1, that's for sure. I usually do a thing where from Chapters 1 to 8, I make Chapters 1, 5 and 6 a little different than in Paper Mario 2. Why? It's just something unique to throw in, that's all.  
**

**Sadly, Goombella isn't going to be a partner in this story. Well, I think there's someone who's much better anyway.  
**


	6. A Shadowy Problem

**CHAPTER 1**

**-Trains, Music, and Toys-**

Chopper was left dazed as he came out of another red pipe. If there was one thing to note about Rainbow Train, it was the fact that there were nine train carts, with the first two being red while the others were orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and pink.

"Ooooog… I feel so dizzy… It's a good thing I didn't eat anything before going into the pipe." Chopper moaned as he quickly shook his head and looked to see himself in a red train cart.

"All right… Let's take a look at this map." Chopper pulled the map out and saw the first Crystal Star was in this train, which made him smile as he looked out the window. "Well, what do ya know? I'm in the right train! …But I'm going to have to go through some of these train cars to find where it is. It's a good thing I have this, unlike when searching for the Star Spirits… I was just told where they were!"

Chopper walked over to the Save Block near the doorway and jumped under it to save his game. After that, he headed into the next train car, which was also red. There wasn't much around in the beginning of the room.

Except for three shadowy figures. Or rather, the Shadow Sirens.

"Who are those people?" Chopper gasped as he tried to stay quiet. Thankfully, they didn't seem to notice him as he listened in to their conversation.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! It's time we go to work, lovelies!" Beldam grinned. "Vivian! You understand what we've got to do, yesss?"

"Mm-hmm! A) Find that Chopper kid Grodus ordered us to find and B) steal the map to the Crystal Stars." Vivian explained. "That's all we were told, I believe. We can just do away with Chopper, can't we? Or is that actually a bad thing. I don't really know…"

"Oh, you mustn't worry. Bad things happen all the time, Vivian. Of course, you're right about our goals. Thankfully, I can always count on you for reminding me!"

"Uh-huh! You wouldn't be here without me anyway!"

"Now, if my information is correct, Chopper should be coming down through this train in no time. We must ambush him here and get that map!"

"Of course, Beldam! But why did we go back to Grodus after all the events beforehand?"

"You're still wanting to know about that, Vivian? Well… That is a secret just between me and Grodus. But enough about that! Vivian, my dear pack rat… Bring out the sketch of that Chopper kid that you got from Grodus! Mmmmmwee hee hee!"

Vivian froze and jumped up in fear. "Eeep! Wh-What? What are you talking about? I… I don't have that! You said it was way too important for me to hold, so you took it. You should have it…"

"Don't be ridiculous, you twit!" Beldam snapped. "I don't have that thing. _You_ were in charge of it! You wretched little worm! Blaming me for something you probably screwed up!"

"But, I…"

_"Strange… These three shadow people are looking for me? How do they know about the map?"_ Chopper thought._ "This…isn't good. I wish I can just run right past them, but then they would think I'm the one."_

While Marilyn listened to Beldam yell at Vivian, she looked past them and noticed Chopper, so she tried to get Beldam's attention by jumping up and down frantically.

"Guh! Guh!" Marilyn grunted.

"Oh, what IS it, Marilyn?" Beldam groaned as Marilyn began to explain. "…Huh? What's that? A pale green antenna fellow? This is no time for nonsense, you great oaf! Save your games for later!"

_"Phew! That was a close one!" _Chopper sighed.

"Now, now, where was I? Oh, yes. That sketch. You! Vivian! Don't tell me you lost our precious sketch!"

"But… Listen… I… Look, it's not my fault… I never had the sketch…" Vivian trailed as tears began to come down her face. When Chopper noticed this, he couldn't help but feel bad for her, despite her not being on the same side as him.

"SILENCE, YOU DITZ!" Beldam roared. "How dare you talk back to me like some rebellious child?! I guess I was wrong about depending on you when usually you're useless for the most part! Even back home I never found you useful to begin with!"

"But, Beldam..." Vivian trailed before Beldam punched her in the face, making Chopper gape.

_"What the heck?! That's not right!" _Chopper thought.

"I always wonder why I keep this ugly idiot around me... Well, anyway, I suggest we split up."

"What exactly do you mean by splitting up?"

"I wasn't finished yet, squirrel-brain! Now, let me continue. Marilyn and I will go search for the Crystal Star that's somewhere around here, while you, Vivian… YOU will find Chopper, destroy him and get that map from him! Do you understand?!"

"I… Yes, Beldam…" Vivian trailed as she hung her head low.

"You better! I almost feel like I shouldn't send someone as ugly as yourself alone! But, I could care less. If you don't find Chopper and get the map from him… Well, you know what'll happen, don't you?"

"I… I get punished…"

"That's right, you little twit. So let's just get going, my lovelies…or rather, my lovely and ugly! Marilyn! Vivian! Let's get to work!"

"Yes, Sis…" Vivian sighed.

"Guh-huh!" Marilyn grunted.

And at that moment the three Shadow Sirens sank into the shadows, leaving only Chopper in the room.

"That poor girl… She doesn't even deserve to be treated like that." Chopper frowned. "That hag is TERRIBLE! I wish I could've done something to help that girl, but I really can't. I'm a target now, and I have to find that Crystal Star before they do!"

Chopper looked around the train car to find some Goombas and Koopa Troopas with red shells and sunglasses. Unlike in the first story, the Koopas could do 2 damage instead of 1, making them much stronger.

After defeating some Koopa Troopas, he headed into the next train cart. This one was an orange color and had a lot of block around. They weren't everywhere, but there were five of them, with one by the entrance, one by the locked door ahead, one to the north by two windows and the other to the south.

"I wonder why the blocks aren't orange. They still got those weird eyes, but I could really care less." Chopper smashed the first one near him, which revealed a Paragoomba. Luckily he was able to defeat it and smash the others. The one to the south had an Orange Key, so he took that over to the door and unlocked it.

"There we go!" Chopper opened the door and found a yellow room and a couple of treasure chests lying on the ground. Also above the door ahead was a Yellow Key. Not only that, but a Shine Sprite block was there too. But there was something else in the room. A white mouse with a tail shaped like a heart, a red mask, and red high heels was opening a treasure chest but stopped when she turned around to see Chopper.

"Huh? Oh, my! Who could you possibly be, small little thing?" the mouse thief gasped. "I can't believe that there are other thieves here besides me. How very strange…".

"What the… You're a talking mouse!" Chopper gaped. "You're…like Moustafa! But seriously, who the heck are you? And just to let you know, I'm not a thief."

"Me? Why, I'm Ms. Mowz, the globe-trotting thief!" Ms. Mowz introduced. "Heard of me, sweetie?"

"Nope, I've never heard of you in my entire life. In fact, I'm not from this world..."

"Oh, I see... I guess that's expected from a young, inexperienced one such as yourself."

"Young... Yeah, I suppose that fits me. Inexperienced? Well... I'm not too sure about that. Anyway, why are you in a place like this?"

"I heard there were rare and valuable badges here in this train. That's why I'm here. But the real question is…why is a small, young, and adorable boy like YOU doing in a place like this?"

"Why would I answer that? I'm not here to find the Crystal Star and avoid those three shadow freaks…though I don't think the one that's the youngest is a freak." Chopper gasped as he realized he let out something. "…Oops!"

"…Crystal Star, you say? Mmmm hmm hmm! I remember those things! It reminds me of when I was traveling with that handsome piece of cheese." Ms. Mowz recalled.

"Handsome piece of cheese?"

"I didn't know you were going after them. But you're going after them first, so I won't interfere with you hunt." Ms. Mowz began to smell something familiar to her. "Hmm hmm? Well now… You smell like you've been with that hunk of cheese. But it's a small one, I must admit. I never knew you were friends of him."

"I don't know who you're talking about..."

"Well, one thing to note about his is his red cap and his handsome-looking mustache."

"Oh, Mario!" Chopper gaped. "I met him in the Mushroom Kingdom two years ago! However, I REALLY don't have time for this. I need to find the Crystal Star before the hag and the fat-looking one. Plus, another girl is after me, so I'm not safe ANYWHERE."

"I see. Well I better be off then. Perhaps we may see each other another time? Well we'll see if that's entirely true. Good luck with your little hunt, sweetie!" Ms. Mowz gave one last wave as she jumped out the window and left Rainbow Train. Chopper wondered if she got hurt, but he didn't hear any screaming, so she must've been fine.

"She's left a lot of things behind. Hmmm… I suppose I can grab a few things from here." Chopper found a Mushroom, a Honey Syrup and also got the Shine Sprite. After that, he used his Inhale to get the Yellow Key to come down and also he noticed a light brown piece of paper float down after grabbing the key. Chopper walked over to the piece of paper and picked it up, noticing that it was a picture of himself on it.

"Hey… This is a sketch of me! Who the heck was able to get THIS?" he gasped. "Hold on… I think those three shadow ghost people were looking for this! Hmmmm... If I hold onto this, then that girl won't even find out who I am. I might just be in luck! ...And I'm seriously talking to myself again!"

After unlocking the door, he went into another room that was green and could see some more Goombas, Spiky Goombas and also Koopa Troopas. He had to take care of them so he could get some Star Points and also a Mushroom.

"Great! I've gotten some Mushrooms and Honey Syrup! …Wait, do I even like syrup? Eh… I'll eat anything really." Chopper continued to look at the sketch, noticing that it didn't look too bad.

Unfortunately, his thoughts were interrupted by a scream and a robotic voice.

_"Located! Located!" _

"_**Eeeeeeeeek! Get away from me!**_"

"Whoa! Someone's in trouble!" Chopper gasped. "I can't just sit around here! I gotta go help that girl who's in trouble! Maybe it's Ms. Mowz? Nah, that voice sounds a little more… I don't know. It sounds like I've heard it before… No! I won't question myself!"

Chopper ran toward the door and opened it when he saw a robot with a light gray head, brown eyes, a dark gray hue and a gray, robotic body with the arms, legs, and hands being black. Missiles and a jetpack were equipped to this robot, which was known as an E-121 Phi.

"Located! Located!" the Phi shouted as it aimed its weapon at a familiar face.

It was Vivian.

"Don't hurt me! I'm warning you!" Vivian cried as she aimed her finger at the Phi and was about to use her fire attack on it. But unfortunately, the Phi's gun changed to a squirt gun and was able to extinguish the flames.

"A squirt gun? Really, author?" Chopper muttered while he face palmed. "You gave a cool robot like that a squirt gun?!"

"Well I'm not having luck… I guess this is how things were supposed to end for me." Vivian sighed, feeling like she was about to cry. "Beldam doesn't really need me anyway. She was right..."

"Destroyed! I will destroy you! I will destroy you for **Master Gemerl**!" the Phi chanted as it changed to its machine gun. Chopper clenched his fists in anger and made his way over to the Phi.

"Hey! You! Don't you DARE attack her!" Chopper shouted, making Vivian notice him and slightly smile while the Phi turned around to face him.

"Located! New target has been located!" the Phi stated. "Attack! Attack! Master Gemerl will be pleased!"

"Look, I don't know who this 'Master Gemerl' is, but if he's anything like you, I'll take him down too!"

"Target: unknown! But, target will still be destroyed!" the Phi was starting to annoy Chopper, so he stomped on its head twice, perfoming a Stylish move while he jumped. As for the Phi, it was able to fire missiles at Chopper, which took 2 out of him.

"Hey, maybe I can use that Power Smash attack on this robot! That'll do a lot of damage!" Chopper walked over to the Phi and brought his hammer up and slammed it down hard on the robot, which did 4 damage.

"Wow… I don't know who he is, but he seems to know what he's doing right now. At least I'm safe." Vivian sighed as sparks flew around the Phi.

"…Destroy! Destroy! Master Gemerl will kill me if I lose to you! The Crystal Star belongs to him!" the Phi shouted, making Chopper's antennas spring up and making Vivian gape.

"Attack! Attack!" the Phi copied a move from Chopper and used its jetpack to hover over to Chopper and stomp on his head. Luckily, Chopper guarded both stomps to avoid taking 2 damage.

"Holy... Did that thing just copy my ability?!" Chopper gaped as he whacked the Phi in the face with his hammer and make it malfunction, giving Chopper 10 Star Points.

"Retreat! Retreat!" the Phi cried as it got up and flew out of Rainbow Train, making Vivian relieved.

_"Odd… Did that robot say that it's looking for the Crystal Stars?"_ Chopper thought._ "And who is this 'Master Gemerl' it spoke of? Hmmm… This is really confusing. First some shadow ghosts are after the Crystal Stars, and now some robots?"_

"Thank you very much," Vivian thanked as she trailed over to Chopper. "I thought I was going to be a goner for a second... Though… Sometimes I feel that it would've been a little better if I was just put out of my misery because of my sister… But I guess it's great that you saved me..."

"What's wrong? You seem a little upset." Chopper noticed.

Vivian turned away with a frown. "Oh, you really wouldn't care. I don't think I should tell you... It's probably not important either."

"Don't say that! You shouldn't let your sister take control over you! You can make your own decisions! She shouldn't decide for you! Why would she ever treat you badly?"

"Well… I don't know. She always says that she's prettier than me and always tells me how ugly I am. Honestly, I don't know why she does this to me. I never did anything to her... Right now, she wanted me to go find someone named Chopper and steal his map, but I don't know where the sketch is! I can't believe she blamed me for losing the sketch when she was holding it. What'll I do? Poor me…"

Vivian began to cry, making Chopper feel a little sorry for her.

_"I can't let her suffer like this! Although, I don't want to be revealed as the one she needs to stop..." _Chopper thought as he slowly pulled the sketch out and looked at it while looking up at her. Never had he seen someone get poor treatment from their own sibling. Well, not as much as her anyway. _"OK... I'll give her the sketch. It's a big risk, but I can't always think of myself all the time..."_

"Honestly, I think it's the other way around. You're not ugly at all. And if it makes you feel better, I have this for you." Chopper brought the sketch in front of her, which Vivian happened to noticed.

"What? You found it? Oh… Oh, thank you so much… Thank goodness… At least I won't get punished now…" Vivian sighed as she took the sketch from him and looked at it. "This is Chopper? He looks rather cute for someone going after the Crystal Stars!"

"Yeah… I get that all the time." Chopper nodded until he realized he let out something. "…Eep!"

"What? You're actually Chopper? Then… I guess I have to do what my sister said..." Vivian aimed her pointer finger at Chopper, who began to sweat and cover his face.

But when he opened his eyes, he noticed Vivian lowered her finger.

"…I can't do it," Vivian frowned. "I just… I just can't do it. I don't have the willpower to hurt an innocent person such as yourself. And also after what you did for me, it doesn't feel right. You seem rather nice...and kinda cute."

"Really? Well that's just great!" Chopper sighed. "Now I can be on time for my five o'clock hair appointment!"

"…And also pretty funny!" she giggled.

_"Holy… This girl thinks I'm funny and cute?"_ Chopper thought as he sweat dropped._ "Oh man… I never expected that. But, I guess I can admit that a little..."_

"But I have a question. Why are you collecting the twenty Crystal Stars? I mean, you're nothing I've seen before... Is there a reason why you're collecting them?"

"Well it's because darkness will come here and destroy the entire universe! I don't know who's behind all of this though. That's the problem."

"I don't know either. I don't even know why darkness will come either. I think… I think my sister knows something about it! But I feel like going back on her side was wrong this whole time..."

"Not to mention she was treating you horribly. You don't deserve that treatment!"

"You were worried about me that whole time?" Vivian gasped as her frown turned into a sweet smile. "Wow… That's…so kind. All right, that's IT! I'm going to help you get those Crystal Stars! I love this world and I don't want it to be destroyed!"

"What? You want to join me? But… I can handle this on my own! You don't need to worry about joining me!"

"Hey, that's OK! Don't worry about me or my problems… I don't think I really want to stay with my sisters anymore, anyway... Especially the way my sister is treating me. And I feel like I need to repay your earlier kindness and for being so kind. I think it's the right thing to do."

"If you say so…" Chopper shrugged. He didn't mind having company with him, especially when he lost Kirby. Plus, the Mayor told him he probably wouldn't be able to do it alone.

Vivian went down to Chopper's size and scooted over to him. He did not expect her to kiss him on the cheek, which made his face turn red in embarrassment and nearly made him trip back while Vivian blushed and giggled.

"Ack! Gross!"

"Tee hee! I actually feel a little better now thanks to you!" Vivian smiled as she put her arms behind her back while Chopper slowly got back up, still a little embarrassed about that kiss.

**Vivian has joined your party! Press X to have Vivian pull Chopper into the shadows, where they can hide! When hiding in the shadows, press X to reemerge! Press Y to have her light up her flames in order to make Chopper rush towards something and smash right into something they can't break themselves, like glass! In battle, Vivian can set enemies on fire with her Shade Fist… Or she and Chopper can hide in the shadows to avoid damage with her Veil move!**

"Well, I guess we better get going," Vivian suggested. "Just to let you know, there are some creatures that actually do talk. We can hear them thanks to my power. Sadly, there's no animals around here for us to test it on."

"Yeah, but we might as well move on. We need to get that Crystal Star before your sisters!" Chopper declared. They headed through the blue door and into an indigo room. They could see many glass windows in the way.

"Wait, WHO put this here? How on earth can there be GLASS in a place like this? How did they carry it? It makes no sense at all!" the pale green boy guffawed while Vivian giggled.

"Oh, don't worry about that! I can help you get past those layers of glass. It might be a little hot for you, though… That's just a little warning for you right there."

"Let's try it," Chopper shrugged until he realized he was literally on fire, making his eyes widen as he ran through the glass, shattering it. He smashed right into a block with a fire symbol embossed on it called a Fire Block, destroying it.

"That was HOT! Yeouch! Be careful next time, Vivian. That wasn't good at all." Chopper moaned as Vivian flew over to him and opened the door.

"Let's hurry!" she cried as they both ran into the violet train car to find a bunch of cargo around. There were some Goombas, Paragoombas and also some Paratroopas around. Vivian's Shade Fist let her punch the enemies and burn them.

After defeating the enemies, Chopper found a chest by one of the cargo, which contained a Violet Key, so he took it and unlocked the door ahead to a pink room. From what they could tell, this was the front of the train. It was also strange that no one was driving it either, which made things a little strange. However, there was one thing of interest around.

The Crystal Star.

"You were right, Vivian! The Crystal Star is up at the front! I'm glad you're here!" Chopper smiled as he ran over to the star.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! So, you decided to betray us like before, Vivian? How shameful!" Beldam cackled as she rose from the shadows, along with Marilyn. "I had a feeling that you would leave us again and join the hero! That's what you did before, and now you've done it again, Vivian! As for you, Chopper… I'll be taking that map of yours just as soon as I'm done with you and Vivian!"

"OK, first of all, who ARE you, you hag?! And how do you know about the Crystal Stars?"

"Mmmmmmwee hee hee hee! That is none of your business, Chopper! And those who seek our names are often disappointed, but if you insist, we'll tell you. We are…"

"The Three…" Marilyn added.

"Vivian! Finish it off already!" Beldam ordered.

"…Shadow Beauties!" Vivian squealed as Chopper turned to Vivian before looking back at Beldam.

"OK, so you're the Shadow Beauties, huh?" Chopper gawked. "Well you certainly don't look…like the sort of one that…uh…fits for that category… I guess it fits for Vivian, but not for you..."

"Vivian! That's Shadow SIRENS! Not Shadow Beauties!" Beldam roared, making Chopper topple over anime style before getting up and getting frustrated.

"All right, Shadow Beauties, Shadow Sirens, WHATEVER! We've come for the Crystal Star and that's what we're going to be doing! If you're going to try to take it from us, then I won't be afraid to take it by force!"

"If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get! Mmmmwee hee hee hee! Come, Marilyn! We shall squash this little fool and then I will give you a big punishment for what you've done, Vivian!"

Before they could even fight, the train came to a sudden stop, which made the Crystal Star fall out the window.

"_**NOOO!**_"

"The Crystal Star! Marilyn! We must go after it this instant!" cried.

"Guhhhh…" Marilyn grunted as the two Shadow Sirens sank into the shadows.

"We can't let them get it either! Let's go, Vivian!" Chopper cried. Vivian gave him a nod as he broke through the glass and jumped out the window...only to notice he was a little too high up.

"...Bad idea!" At that moment, Chopper began to plummet to certain doom.

* * *

**Yeah, I guess the part with Chopper and Vivian was pretty cute. Well, at least he can speak with her a little easily than with Bow in the first story, that's for sure! And yes, I do believe Chopper's character in this story is a lot better than in the first one. Of course, he's still got the humor in him, which is important.**

**Another thing I should note is the secondary ability on the field. I decided to add that because I thought it would give some of the partners a little more variety on the field. That said, not ALL the partners have secondary abilities outside. But, anyway, next chapter, we meet someone else that we've never seen in the stories before (but was mentioned) and see where Chopper falls.**

**...And also, Vivian has 15 HP at the start, just like in Paper Mario 2.**


	7. How Musical Music Kingdom Is

**I don't think I said this yet, but if you wanna know about the Phis, they're actually from an overlooked game called Sonic Battle. Yeah, this story is less "Mario" and has some other stuff in it, kind of like Paper Mario 2. This chapter actually shows how different it is. Just take a look yourself!"**

* * *

While Chopper was falling, he noticed the tracks, which were pink, while the sky was hot pink. For some reason, it reminded him of Koopa Bros. Park two years ago. He could see a rainbow colored ground getting closer and in the background were some flying music notes and some guitars. There were also some treble clefs on the northern part of the ground and stars in the sky.

When Chopper finally fell to the ground, he moaned as he slowly tried to get up. Sadly, he wasn't having an easy time with it. Not only that, but a blue blur ran past Chopper and noticed him, so he ran back to him. It looked like a blue hedgehog with pointy years, quills on the back of his head, white gloves and red shoes. What was also interesting to note was that he held onto two chili dogs.

"Hmmm? Who's that over there? Did he just fall from a train up there?" the blue hedgehog wondered as some Buzz Bombers began to fly over to Chopper and prepared to fire at him. A Motobug also looked at Chopper and prepared to charge at him. The blue hedgehog gasped as he ate one of his chili dogs whole before getting the chili off his fingers.

"Oh no ya don't!" he threw his other chili dog up and jumped up and used his Homing Attack on the Buzz Bombers and the Motobugs, destroying them and freeing the animals that were trapped inside. He caught his chili dog and then walked over to Chopper.

"Hey, need a hand?" When Chopper's eyes slowly opened, he rubbed his head and noticed the blue hedgehog reaching for his hand.

"Yeah, I'm OK…" Chopper moaned as he was pulled up. After rubbing his eyes, he nearly gaped at who saved him.. "Oh my gosh! You're… You're **Sonic**!"

"Yup! That's me!" Sonic chuckled. "Hold on a minute… How do you know my name? Nobody seems to know me here. Come to think of it, you don't look like anybody from around here. What's your name anyway?"

"My name? It's Chopper. I'm in the middle of something right now though. I'm trying to find the Crystal Star around here, and I'm not doing a real god job at finding it." Chopper sighed as he looked around. "Hold on a minute… Where's Vivian? Vivian? VIVIAN? ! Uh oh… I think I lost her…"

"Who's Vivian? Is she your girlfriend or something?"

Chopper gasped and quickly shook his head.

"No, she's not my girlfriend. She's just helping me find the Crystal Star. Say, you wouldn't happen to have seen in around here, did you?"

"You mean a gray sparkling star?" Sonic gawked as he rubbed the top of his head. "Well… I suppose I saw it go somewhere. I think it went past this place. You DO know where you are, right?"

"Uhhhh... No. Not at all." Chopper replied while shaking his head.

"Well… You're in **Music Kingdom**! That's right! You can hear all the music here, right? There are a lot of things that are going on here. I'm sure the Crystal Star is in **Toy Kingdom**, and that's right next to here. You'll have to go to the right to find it, but it's not easy."

"OK, well it shouldn't be hard for me," Chopper shrugged. "I've gone through things like this before. Maybe you can help me?"

"I wish I could, but I got other things to do right now. You seem like a nice boy and all, but I gotta go." Sonic was about to run off with his chili dog, but he stopped and turned back to Chopper. "Here. Take my chili dog. I don't know if you like 'em, but I'm sure you'll like it! I LOVE eating chili dogs!"

**You got a Chili Dog?**

"Uh… Thank you?" Chopper gawked as he took the chili dog from Sonic.

"I better be off now. Good luck finding that Crystal Star and your girlfriend!" Sonic quickly ran off, but Chopper was left annoyed for a minute.

"I know he's awesome and all, but I swear when I see him next time, I'm going to kick him in the shin," Chopper grumbled. "Vivian's not my girlfriend at all! Does EVERYONE have to call some of my girl partners my girlfriend? I mean, sheesh!"

Chopper went to the right, but he saw some small musical notes that noticed Chopper and caused him to step back while talking in a musical language that Chopper couldn't understand.

"Uh… I'm sorry, I don't know what you're saying." Chopper sweat dropped, confused at the speaking musical notes. They stepped closer toward Chopper, which made him run away, screaming. The musical notes looked at each other with confused looks. The little boy ended up running over to the left area where he saw a couple of houses up a slope and more musical notes. He noticed a white Bob-omb with a mustache and hat, but he didn't pay too much attention to him, considering that he was busy running from the musical notes.

"Oh, boy! This isn't good!" Chopper gasped as he covered his face as the musical notes got closer until a celebrity Toad with blonde hair, sunglasses, and a pink shirt and white pants walked out of his Toad house and saw Chopper.

"Whoa! Hey, kid! Come over here!" the Toad shouted. Chopper uncovered his eyes, turned around and saw the Toad and quickly rushed into his house. It was pink inside, like his shirt, and there were a lot of instruments around. Chopper couldn't help but feel that this place was cool.

"Thank goodness there's a Toad here. I thought I was going to be attacked by those musical notes!" Chopper sighed in relief before looking up at the Toad. "But, who are you anyway?"

"Me? I'm **Zip Toad**!" Zip Toad introduce while making a pose. "I'm a famous movie star, and this is where I live, with these musical notes. I'm sure you probably heard of me, kid. But I only sign autographs for cute chicks. Sorry about that, kid."

"OK... I didn't want an autograph anyway. Plus, I don't have a 'cute chick' with me."

"Ehhhh... That's fine. But if ya find a cute chick, you can come to me and I'll give her an autograph!"

"Well, anyway... Thanks for saving me from those musical notes. I thought I'd be done for!"

"Oh, them? They're completely harmless! You just can't understand what they're saying. If you wanna be able to understand them, you need a musical instrument, kid. I got plenty of you to have…but it'll cost you 1,000 coins."

"What? I don't have that kind of money! I'm only ten, for Pete's sake!"

"Aw, man! Fine, I guess I'll give it to you for free, I suppose. But don't break it! Just choose an instrument. A violin, a flute, a kazoo, or a guitar. _Please not the guitar…_"

"Hmmm… I'd pick a kazoo, but I don't fit that category. I call electric guitar!"

"Dang it! Aw..."

**You got a guitar!**

"I spent one jillion coins on that thing!" Zip Toad cried as Chopper strummed some notes.

"Jillion isn't even a number… Plus, the guitar is really the only instrument that I've used anyway." Chopper noted.

"Bah... Fine. Take it."

Chopper walked outside with the guitar and began to play it, which made the musical notes listen to it.

"So… Do you have anything to say?"

"Uh… Yes? What are you doing here anyway?" a Musical Note asked.

"Oh! You can speak! Well good! I need to go over to Toy Kingdom because I'm looking for a Crystal Star there."

"You're looking for a Crystal Star? Well we never heard of it, but I suppose we can let you go over to Toy Kingdom. Although you'll need to get past the gate between Music Kingdom and Toy Kingdom. It's not easy, but you're free to go if you want."

"OK, thanks!" Chopper smiled as he left Music Town and went back to the other area where the Musical Notes were blocking his way. He explained to them that he was going to Toy Kingdom.

"Then why didn't ya say that before? Let him through, boys!" the Musical Notes stepped aside for Chopper and looked around in the area as he walked past them, hitting a red ? block containing a Close Call Badge. He also happened to notice a yellow spring that he remembered seeing two years ago.

"Hmm…" Chopper jumped on it, which sent him upward, making a D note. He could see a pathway up ahead, and to the left was a floating platform with a chest. He checked there first to find a Black Key.

"Another Black Key? Huh… I can't believe I already found another one of these already." Chopper jumped off the platform to go back on the spring so he could be taken up to the pathway ahead. He found some Bob-ombs and Paratroopas lurking around. They were both a little dangerous…but they could be destroyed with flames. There was also a rainbow grind rail that circled around a pillar and led up to a pathway going north.

"I should try grinding on that," Chopper declared as he jumped on the rail and began to grind around in a circle to head to the next area, which was rather small. However, what the biggest thing to note was the Black Chest.

"What the heck?" the chest wiggled around as it noticed Chopper. "Hey! You! You can hear me, right?"

"Of course I can."

"Oh, good! It's been a long time since someone came here! A REAL long time! If you can hear my voice…then you must be some legendary hero or something… Or not! To be honest, I'm sure anyone with ears can hear me. But it sure is fun zinging people with that whole 'legendary hero' bit!"

"What?! Are you serious?!"

"Hey, but seriously, little boy. I was wondering if you could let me out of this chest… I've been locked up in here for quite a while, so I've been getting kind of cramped up in here. All you have to do is find the key and let me out. Easy!"

"Well why would I do that? All you're going to do is curse me when I open you."

"Huh? What the heck are you talking about? You think you'll be cursed if you open the box? That's ridiculous! Who would do that, really? Wait in a box and curse folks! A real slimeball, that's who! But I'm not a real slimeball, and I would do no such thing! But that should be obvious."

"But still…"

"Look, if you help me out, maybe I'll help you out. You know, a little I-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine! Except in reverse order. Of course, you don't have to if you really don't want to. Like finding a Black Key is hard…"

"Actually, I have the key right here. I might as well unlock it for you…_I suppose…_" Chopper sighed as he pulled out the Black Key and unlocked it. Of course, he was expecting something from this.

_**"****WHEEE HEE HEE HEE! FOOOOOOOL!" **_

The Black Chest opened up, which sucked in Chopper like before. However, he wasn't as freaked out as before and nearly rolled his eyes.

"Well, I guess this all sounds familiar… Here we go again."

_**"Why, only the most idiotic-pudding-brained dolt would fall for a scheme like that! This place is meant to confuse you and harm your ears with loud music! No matter how much you hear and go, you're fated to waste away to a slow, painful end! But wait! There's more to this great deal! I'll throw in a free CURSE! No charge! Oogly-googly-BOO!"**_

As there was a flash, Chopper felt like he was struck with something that felt similar to the previous chest.

_**"****Wheee hee hee hee hee! Now you're cursed, doofus! And it serves you right! This curse is more cursedly curse-worthy than any curse that's ever cursed you! For…this curse makes you like a piece of paper when you press and hold R! Wheeee hee hee hee hee! What a curse! Who curses like me? NO ONE! It is more painful than you think it is! Just try it!"**_

Chopper shrugged and turned sideways. "This isn't bad… In fact, I think it's going to be helpful."

_**"****WHAAAAT?! How could you say it's helpful?! Look at yourself! It's so embarrassing!" **_

"Embarrassing enough to help me, that is!

_**"Now farewell, you dumbbell! Wheee hee hee hee hee!"**_

Chopper was back in Music Kingdom as the background he was once in was crumpled up and thrown away. Chopper shrugged and left the area and jumped down to the ground. He could see a pathway up ahead, but it was being blocked by bars. Luckily, there were some bars to the north that he could get past.

"Time to put my curse to the test!" Chopper turned sideways and went through the bars. At this point, he believed that with this ability, he could get out of jail easily. With that, he headed to the right and down and then to the pathway going to the next area. He could see in the middle of this area a xylophone, which would make him bounce off if he jumped on them.

"I wonder if I hit all the keys," Chopper wondered as he jumped over to them and began to bounce on them. A red ? block appeared by the giant xylophone and when he jumped under the block, a blue foot Badge came out. It was the Power Bounce Badge!

"I'm definitely putting this on!" Chopper declared, equipping it. He saw a Waddle Doo in the area, and he knew that he could get an ability from it, so he inhaled it and swallowed it.

Chopper's skin changed to a yellow tint, with a hat that seemed to be like two hats. One part of the hat was red and the other was yellow orange with white polka dots. He wore orange shoes and was holding a wand that had a brown colored stick and the crystal-like ball being light blue.

"Great! I'm **Beam Chopper **now!" Chopper smiled until he heard a familiar voice up in the next area and he knew exactly who it was, so he walked over to the pathway that was seemingly blocked by small orange blocks. Luckily his Beam ability could destroy them, so he destroyed them and removed his ability to see what was ahead.

When he reached the next area, he gasped when he saw Vivian pushing a Boo away, who was not only harassing her, but flirting with her. Of course, he was certainly not happy to see the Boo trying to flirt with his new friend.

"C'mon, baby! You know who wanna be with me!" the Boo pleaded. "You're beautiful an' so am I! We should get together now an' go to someplace a little darker that fits us."

_"This guy suddenly reminds me of Yosho..." _Chopper thought.

"Get away from me!" Vivian cried, pushing him away. "I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in you at all! I don't mean to make you feel bad, but I hardly even know who you are. You just appeared out of nowhere!"

"Hey, Boo! Sorry, but she's with me, so get away from her. Right. Now." Chopper warned as he got in his fighting stance. The Boo looked confused as he turned around and saw Chopper. Vivian, on the other hand, was delighted to see him.

"Chopper! You're here!"

"What? That girl's with you?!" the Boo gaped. "Aw, no fair, man! Listen, why don't you just beat it 'cause yer not gettin' yer girlfriend back! She's with the hero now, zero!"

"Take that back!" Chopper growled as he clenched his hammer. "…And wait a second! She's NOT my girlfriend! She's helping me find the Crystal Star, and there's no way I'm going to leave her! Either get out or I'll have to take you out myself!"

"Over my dead body! I'm gonna kick yer butt! Boo style! Heh heh heh heh…" the Boo cackled until he got struck in the head by Chopper's hammer.

"Grrr!" the Boo used his tongue to attack Chopper, so what he did was become Beam Chopper and swung his wand, making a beam fire out and hit the Boo, leaving him with 3 HP left. Chopper attacked again with his Beam ability after getting hit by the Boo, but when he was struck by the Boo's tongue, his Beam ability was knocked away.

"Heh heh! This'll be finished up in a FLASH!" the Boo laughed until he got hit by a Shade Fist from Vivian, leaving him with the burn status and also defeating him, giving Chopper 6 Star Points. He also leveled up and chose to upgrade his FP to 10. He also had 15 HP and 6 BP because of leveling up before Chapter 1.

"But… Why would you do that, babe?!" the Boo guffawed.

"I never wanted to go out with you," Vivian stated. "I'm not interested in people who try to act 'cool'..."

"Dang... I always liked bein' like that! Fine, I guess I'll be off then! Later, dorky loser!" the Boo stuck his tongue out at Chopper before taking off.

"Uhhhh... Is 'dorky loser' even a word?" Chopper gawked as Vivian went over to him.

"I'm so glad I found you, Chopper," Vivian smiled as she clasped her hands together. "I tried to get that Boo to leave me alone, but for some reason he just wouldn't go."

"I suppose some people just don't want to go... But, I guess you deserve the credit for getting rid of him. I mean, you punched him!"

"Yeah, I suppose," Vivian smiled shyly as she put her arms behind her back. "Chopper... Do you actually care about me? I mean, we haven't really spoke that much, yet you seem to show some care toward me."

"Well… I… Er… Ummm… Hrmm…" Chopper stammered as his cheeks turned a bit red. "I'm sorry, but the person you're calling is no longer available. Please leave a message after the uh…beep? _Beeeeeeeeeeep_!"

"Aw, you don't have to say it," Vivian giggled. "I know you do! In all honesty, you're probably one of the few people that have actually been nice to me. Plus, you're a rather cute, funny and sweet friend too."

"I guess you're...uh...a nice girl to be around with?" Chopper gawked as Vivian went down to his size and kissed him on the cheek, making him fall over backwards again as if he tripped. This was the second time he was kissed by her! Vivian slowly backed away from him while looking a bit shy as Chopper slowly got up, feeling a bit uncomfortable from the kiss.

"Man, you must really want to travel with me... And you were a little shy at first, too."

"Well, I get a little comfortable around people that are usually nice. That's why I feel happy when I'm with you."

"Oh... OK! ...Wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Let's go right now! We can't stay here forever!" Vivian declared as she grabbed Chopper's hand and dragged him over to the next area, which had a conveyer belt with a violin in the way. There were also Motobugs and Paratroopas around as well. "That's odd… I don't remember there being robot ladybugs around here. Well, let's just have this conveyer belt carry us over to the other side, though that violin is in our way. I think I have an idea."

"Hmmm… Oh, yeah!" Chopper pulled out his hammer and jumped onto the conveyer belt, but Vivian pulled him away and shook her head.

"No, we can't do that! We'll need to get on the conveyer belt and then I'll pull you into the shadows." Vivian explained. "I think that's how we'll be able to do this! So let's try it out."

"Huh... Well, I guess I'll see what it's like to be in the shadows."

Vivian pulled Chopper into the shadows and avoided the violin. When they rose up, they saw the conveyer belt end by some bars that were blocking their way, so Chopper used his ability to turn sideways and went through the bars to fight some Motobugs and Waddle Doos.

"The shadows are rather interesting, I'll admit!"

"Not many non-shadow beings have been in the shadows, you know."

They found in the next area a paper airplane panel and down below were a bunch of springs that were only close to the platform they were on.

"Time to do that paper airplane thing!" Chopper declared.

"What paper airplane thing?" Vivian wondered.

"Just watch," Chopper jumped up and transformed into a paper airplane, with Vivian going into it. The paper airplane began to fly over to the other side that had a lower ledge, where there was a tunnel like a trumpet bell. When Chopper transformed back into himself, Vivian gaped.

"Oh... So that was the paper airplane you were talking about? I remember something like that..." Vivian trailed as they looked at the trumpet bell before them.

"All right, it's just a little trumpet thing. There's nothing that's going to get in our way from this." Chopper assured as he went into the trumpet bell and he sped through it. He came out of another bell and landed on a grinding rail, which led him to the ground.

Once he reached the ground, Vivian rose up from the shadows because she preferred to do it the easy way. They both noticed a Heart Block in the end of the area. What he noticed was that the Heart Block made him pay a certain amount of coins to use it.

"Odd… These Heart Blocks now cost coins to use? Lame!" Chopper frowned as he hit it to recover from all the damage he took. They headed into the next area to see a bass with angry eyes, a French mustache and a small, pointy beard.

"Oi? What is zis? Who are you all?" the Angry Bass asked. "You're not welcome in zis place? I am zee Angry Bass, and I've been left in zis place for my entire life! Do you know how much zat is like for moi?"

"Whoa, you look rather freaky for a bass… I got a guitar, if you want to jam!" Chopper smiled as he pulled out a guitar, which the Angry Bass was not amused with.

"I don't like this bass one bit, Chopper… I think it might be dangerous…" Vivian trailed.

"I am so angry now!" the Angry Bass roared. "I'm going to turn zis anger into violence and take my stress out on you two! You're going to be bawlin' your eyes out!"

"Oh... That bass is angry."

"Chopper... Please..."

"OK, sorry..."

**Tattle: **_That's the Angry Bass. I guess he's just a bass that's angry. Max HP is 15, Attack is 3, Defense is 0. He'll attack you with music, or even just ram into you. He's got a pretty strong attack, so you MIGHT want to be careful. Seriously, why's he so angry? It's not like something happened that made him angry. He looks really…weird for a bass._

Chopper walked over to the Angry Bass and stomped on him, which only did 2 damage. But with Vivian on his side, this fight may not be too bad when she could use her ability to burn enemies with her fire magic.

"I'll leave a burn on him," Vivian sunk into the shadows and rose up right in front of the Angry Base, using her Shade Fist to burn the bass.

"Ack! Zee fire! It buuuuurns!" the Angry Base screamed as he rammed into Chopper, but he was able to perform a Superguard against the Angry Base, making the bass take damage and also 1 damage from the burn.

"Hey, this isn't turning out so bad!" Chopper smiled as he walked over to the Angry Bass and slammed his hammer down on him. Vivian attacked with her Shade Fist once again to leave a long burn.

This time, the Angry Base threw three drums at Chopper and Vivian. Two were thrown at Vivian, while one hit Chopper. Vivian guarded one of them, but took damage from the other. Chopper took damage too, and then the Angry Bass took damage from the burn.

"I think I'm gonna need to use my Beam ability," Chopper decided as he became Beam Chopper and swung his wand at the Angry Bass, which left Vivian a bit surprised.

"Chopper, how did you suddenly turn a yellow color?" Vivian gasped. "I never knew you could do something like that."

"Oh, it's a Copy Ability. I'm able to use them. I don't actually know HOW I can, but after leaving my birth planet and going to my new home planet, I suddenly learned how to do that."

"Interesting… Let's finish off the bass now." Vivian suggested as she sank into the shadows and appeared by the Angry Bass to punch him, which made the Angry Bass fall to the ground in defeat.

"N-No… I lost to zese fools? Preposterous!" the Angry Bass cried as Chopper was awarded with 18 Star Points.

The Angry Bass got back up and fled from Chopper and Vivian, who simply shrugged. Chopper went back to heal himself and moved on with Vivian. In the next area there was a part of the ground that had a piano, and if they jumped on them, they could bounce on them and hear the piano notes. But up ahead was a hot pink building. The other side of the building, however, was light blue.

"What a weird building…" Chopper trailed. "Maybe that's the gateway we need to go that's between Music Kingdom and Toy Kingdom, right? I mean, I'm pretty sure that the Crystal Star went to Toy Kingdom anyway."

"The Crystal Star is in a place called Toy Kingdom?" Vivian pondered. "Huh… That's pretty interesting. We should go have a look at that gateway. Don't you think so, Chopper?"

Chopper nodded and headed on over to the gateway. They walked up a slope that led there and defeated the drums and guitars, clarinets Koopas, Motobugs and Buzz Bombers that were in their way. Once they were right in front of the doorway to the gate, Chopper read the sign.

_Through here is the gateway between Music and Toy Kingdom! Those who are worthy of completing the task in here can pass on through the gate to Music or Toy Kingdom!_

_The Gods_

"Whoa, did it just say the Gods wrote this?" Chopper gawked. "Holy… That's interesting. Why would they write something like this here?"

"Well we can't ask questions now! We need to complete whatever task is through there. So let's go!" Vivian grabbed Chopper's hand and dragged him right into the building to the gateway.

* * *

**Told you this would be a little different than the first Paper Chopper. Personally, I like it a little more because it fits Chopper a little more with other characters. Plus, it makes the story a little exciting as well. And Vivian grew to be fine around Chopper as well for helping her! :P**

**Yeah, that was the first little mini-boss in the story as well. But, with that aside, the next chapter should be a little interesting if you people liked that one little game that was found in Chapter 1 in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door as well! ;D**


	8. The 67th Super Fun Quirk Quiz

Once the two of them pushed the big door open in the light pink hallway, they found a light blue gate up ahead. This room, however, was neither a pink or light blue. The ground and the walls were gray. There was a Save Block in the room, so Chopper hit it, but there was also something else in the room as well. They could both see a tall pedestal with a sleeping Thwomp. Nothing else seemed to be around but that.

"Hmmm? What's that over there? It looks like some…statue! What do you think we should do?" Chopper wondered before noticing Vivian was still holding onto his hand.

"Hey, I remember seeing a statue like this when I visited Schwonk Fortress by Petalburg," Vivian recalled as she floated over to the pedestal while dragging Chopper. "This statue was just sleeping here. Or maybe it doesn't move. Hmmm…"

"Uh… You know you can let go of my hand." Chopper mentioned. Vivian noticed she was holding onto his hand and let go.

"Honestly, I haven't held someone's hand in a long time," the young Shadow Siren giggled.

"And I haven't held a girl's hand in a long time either! So that means we're... You know, I have no idea what this topic even has to do with the adventure..."

"That's true. We should focus on getting the Crystal Star.

"Right! Now let's take a look at this statue." Chopper walked over to it and once he touched it, the room began to shake violently, making Chopper fall over. Vivian, on the other hand, didn't have a problem with staying up, because she's a shadow being. But once the shaking stopped and Chopper got up, the Thwomp's eyes opened as it noticed the two.

"Mmmm hmmm hoo ha ha! Well now, what do we have here?" the Thwomp chortled. "A small pale green boy and some ghost girl? You're the first contestants I've seen in a while. If you've come all the way here to this gateway from Music Kingdom, I suppose you want the Music Key to unlock the gate."

"Music Keys? Well I guess if that's what we need to unlock the gate, then yes!" Chopper nodded.

"Hmph… Well if THAT'S the case, then you must compete against me. If you win, I'll let you have the Music Key to unlock the gate. However, if you lose, you will suffer a terrible fate. And by "terrible," I mean awful. Mmmm hmmm hoo ha ha! So? What do you want to do?"

"What do I want to do? I'll take you on! Vivian and I got this in the bag!" Chopper got in his fighting stance and Vivian had her fists clenched, ready to make an attack on the Thwomp.

"Mmmm hmmm hoo ha ha! You're in for it now!" the background suddenly changed to a checkered blue color and the Thwomp had a microphone by him and was wearing a red bow-tie with white polka dots. Chopper and Vivian were by a red stand as they lowered their arms while confused.

"What the… No fights? No battle music?! NO STAR POINTS?!" Chopper gaped.

"This is odd… Why are we in a game show?" Vivian wondered. "This reminds me of when I was at a fortress and there was some kind of game show! But why is that Thwomp wearing a bow-tie?"

"I honestly have no idea..."

"Hey HEY, ladies and germs!" the Thwomp announced. "Welcome, everybody, to the 67th Super Fun Quirk Quiz! Perk up those ears! If you correctly answer five of the following questions, you win! But get three of 'em wrong, and you'll suffer a cruel and unusual punishment!"

"Umm… OK? Wait, cruel an unusual punishment? Isn't that illegal?" Chopper gaped as he was ignored.

"Now…for the first question! What's hidden in this place?"

"Music Keys?" Chopper gawked. "I mean, I guess so..."

"Is that your REAL answer? Are you suuuuuuuuure?"

Chopper nodded, which triggered a ding in the background, making the Thwomp spin around angrily, since he didn't want Chopper to get that answer right.

"AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH! That's…correct!" the Thwomp guffawed. "That question was too easy… But it only gets harder from here! Much harder! …So prepare yourself! On to question two! What kind of shampoo do I use in the shower?"

"Wait, what? What kind of question is THAT?! It doesn't even make sense! We were never told that!"

"Honestly, that's not a fair question to ask..."

"You got three seconds!"

"Ummmmmmm... TOAST!"

Unfortunately, he ended up getting the answer wrong (not much of a surprise anyway), making the Thwomp cackle.

"Mmmm hmmm hoo ha ha! WRONG! Wrong wrong wrong! You fools! Remember: if you get three wrong, you're going to suffer like you wouldn't believe! Mmmm hmmm hoo ha ha! Don't let the pressure get to you!"

"Dude... You do know that that was rigged..."

"Moving on! Question three! What are the names of Vivian's sisters?"

"Beldam and Marilyn!"

Of course, they weren't too surprised to see the Thwomp spin around and have another episode.

"AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH! That's…correct! That question was too easy… But it only gets harder from here! Much harder! …So prepare yourself!"

"At least that wasn't rigged," Vivian sighed. "But how does he know about my sisters?"

"We're not done yet, folks! Question four! Tell me, now! Where is the Crystal Star?"

"It's at Toy Kingdom right now," Chopper answered.

Vivian smiled when she heard the dinging, as the Thwomp got angry again. "AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH! That's…correct! That question was too easy… But it only gets harder from here! Much harder! …So prepare yourself!"

"Yeah, sure. We'll prepare ourselves. This really isn't hard, if you ask me." Chopper face palmed as Vivian nodded in agreement.

"That's what you think… Are you ready for the diabolical question five? How can one get to the Music Kingdom?"

"That's not too hard..." Vivian trailed.

"You take the Rainbow Train?" Chopper pondered. "I know there's a red pipe in Rogueport Sewers that allowed me to go there with a pipe."

They heard another happy ding as the Thwomp spun around in anger.

"AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH! Right again!" the Thwomp guffawed. "Tell me you didn't just get your fourth right answer! It can't be true! That's it! I'm making the rest of these near impossible! Get ready for brain pain!"

"Oh, goody... This should be fun..."

"On to question six! Which of the following creatures…can fly? A Waddle Dee? A Goomba? A Buzz Bomber? Or a Koopa Troopa?"

"Well, a Buzz Bomber can fly, that's for sure," Chopper answered.

"Is that your REAL answer? Are you suuuuuuuuure?"

"Uh huh!"

With one final ding, the Thwomp spun angrily more than he previously did. Overall, it was infuriated.

"NOOOOO! AAARRRGGGHHH! That's… That's right! You correctly answered five questions! I don't believe it! You win!" the Thwomp cried as they were taken back to the room, with the Thwomp not having a bow-tie on anymore. "SO…VERY…AAAAANGRY! I can't believe I lost! I guess I have to let you through! Stupid rules…"

The Thwomp spun around and it dropped a pink key. Chopper grabbed it and put it away as the Thwomp let out a "HMPH!" before going back to sleep.

"Yeesh, what's that guy's problem?" Chopper wondered. "He sure needs some anger management, doesn't he?"

"Well there's not much to do now. We might as well unlock the gate." Vivian suggested. Chopper walked over to the gate behind the Thwomp and unlocked it. Going through the doorway, they could see the walls and ground were light blue.

"Looks like we're going to need to get past those layers of glass," Vivian noticed as there were layers of glass up ahead. "This isn't going to be a big problem…except I see a Fire Block at the end of the doorway. So this might hurt a little..."

"Oh, no..." Chopper gulped as Vivian lit her fire on him, which made him run toward the glass, shattering it and smashing the Fire Block due to him going too fast. Thankfully, the flames on him were gone when he made contact with the block.

"Ouch… I hate it when my biscuits go on fire. Anyway, let's just check what we have here." Chopper suggested as he and Vivian headed on through the door and found a blue sky, a castle in the background and also a ground that was yellow, blue, green, and pink. What was also nice were the balloons that were in the sky.

"It's almost like a big party here!" Vivian squealed as she clasped her hands together. "It's really cute!"

"Nothing I've seen before," Chopper shrugged. "But man, look at this place! There are a lot of balloons here! And I can see some kind of orange missiles that a little higher up. I think there's a platform up there with a chest. Although... I don't think I can reach it."

"Let me get it," Vivian's tail got taller and was able to go up to the chest to see what was in it. A green shoe Badge was in there, so she tossed it down to Chopper, who caught it and put it away. "I could imagine us being in some toy castle with some toys. Don't you think that's kind of cute?"

"Yeah, I suppose. Let's see what's around here." Chopper suggested as he noticed some Goombas with tall, fake black hair like some soldiers. They were also holding some rifles. Not only were those there, but they can see some kind of evil clowns on some balls.

"It's almost like everything here is toy-like!"

"Whoa, these enemies are different. What are they supposed to be anyway? Clowns? I hate clowns…" Chopper trailed as he used his Beam ability to take out the evil clowns on the ball before heading to the next area. It was small, but they could see a picture of some toys dancing. The gate was in their way, and it didn't seem like they could get through, so Chopper began to think for a moment.

"Hmmm… Let's see…" Chopper looked at the picture at the dancing moves and then turned back to Vivian. "Umm… Vivian, you may want to look back. I think this might be a little embarrassing."

"OK, I suppose I will," Vivian turned around, and Chopper began to perform some terrible dance moves. He did some kind of handstand and looked at Vivian, making sure that she's not looking.

"Don't worry! I'm not getting on my hands or anything…nor am I going to stick my butt out!" Chopper assured as he began to spin around and afterward, he stopped and began to do the robot. Vivian couldn't help but look while he was preoccupied and was left confused.

Chopper spun around and made a pose to finish it off, which made the gate open. When Vivian noticed it, she immediately turned back to make sure Chopper knew she was looking that way.

"Wow, so that was it?" Chopper gawked. "I did not like that one bit… I'm freaking tired from that!"

"Well at least you're fine now," Vivian assured. "We can't sit around here though. We need to get going now! Before my sisters find the Crystal Star!"

"Yeah, you're right!" Chopper nodded as he and his friends Vivian continued onward. They saw a lot of weird things in this world, but Chopper began to wonder how much weirder they would get.

* * *

**There wasn't much I could put into Toy Kingdom here, but we'll definitely have some more of this place next chapter! Yes, combining a kingdom with music and a kingdom with toys. You don't see that these days...**

**And I suppose this is for those who wanted to see the Toy Box in Paper Chopper instead of what I made it into. :P  
**


	9. Toys of the Toy Kingdom

Up in the next area, they could see some red toy cars with pictures of Goombas and Koopas moving around and were capable of hurting Chopper and dealing 2 damage. The Motobugs and Buzz Bombers could deal some heavy damage against Chopper and Vivian too. The Motobug could do at least 3 damage to Chopper, while the Buzz Bomber could do 2. They were definitely not enemies they wanted to fight.

"There's so much around here. I never knew toy cars actually move on their own." Chopper gaped. "Hey, wait a second! Vivian! You can listen to what creatures have to say, right? Well… Maybe you can listen to what these cars have to say. They're moving, and maybe they have something interesting to say."

"I don't think I can do that," Vivian frowned. "My powers are only useful with living beings, not toys. We can just fight the enemies here, if you want. After that, we'll just move on. I think I might be seeing a bridge up ahead anyway."

"OK, good idea!" Chopper nodded and jumped. They turned to the enemies and Chopper began to use his Beam attacks on them while Vivian burned the toy cars with her fire attacks. Motobugs, and Buzz Bombers were defeated in no time with their attacks.

"Phew, that sure was a fight, huh? Well at least I leveled up! Now I got myself 15 FP now!" Chopper smiled as they moved on toward the next area, where they had to cross a bridge. They looked up at the sky to see some orange toy rocket balloons being fired upward. Apparently some Koopas were using them to get onto the toy bridge, which were made of puzzle pieces. They got in their shells to attack, but were kicked away and punched away by the two heroes.

"So now these Koopas are using them? I never would've thought of that..." Chopper trailed. "I think I can slip through this bridge because of the small spaces there are. It shouldn't be so hard. I think that there might be something down there."

"Let's take a look," Vivian suggested as Chopper turned sideways and slipped through the bridge to find a chest. He was relieved that no bottomless pits were around, or else things wouldn't turn out too well. He ended up finding a Toy Key inside.

"A Toy Key? Now this is odd for a key..."

"I guess we're going to need it for a gate, I presume?" Vivian wondered. Chopper shrugged and took the spring by the beginning of the bridge to go back up. This time they crossed the bridge to the next pathway to an area with a toy grinding rail going around a pillar. There was also a rail going up the pillar, where there was a paper airplane panel to get over to the ledge ahead.

"Whoa… All right, this shouldn't be hard. I can do this!" Chopper walked over to the grinding rail, but a Paratroopa came down toward him and hit him, knocking him down. Vivian was able to use a Shade Fist on the enemy to burn it and defeat it.

"There we go! Now let's see what's up ahead. Hopefully it'll be something nice." Vivian hoped as Chopper jumped on the toy rail and began to grind around it. Once he got right by the rail going north, he jumped off the rail and onto that one to get on the pillar.

"OK, time to fly over!" Chopper transformed into an airplane flew over to the other side. There was a locked gate, so that meant that the Toy Key probably needed to be used, so he pulled it out. But since Vivian didn't see the whole key, she looked at it.

"So that key is a toy too?" Vivian gawked. "It feels like a lot of things here are toys…except for those Paratroopas, Motobugs, and Buzzbombers. There ARE toy Goombas, just to let you know also."

They found another gate up ahead in a small are and saw a teddy bear. A white, cute teddy bear with a blue bow-tie.

"What the heck? It's just a teddy bear... And it's even blocking the way!"

"That's actually a cute teddy bear!" Vivian smiled.

"Well, this place IS full a toys... No surprise seeing a teddy bear."

"Why don't we take a look at it?"

"OK, let's take a look," Chopper walked over to the teddy bear, and when he touched it, its cute smiled changed to a demonic smile. "What in the world?! What's with the demonic smile?!"

"Hee hee hee hee… You clearly seem to think that cute things are harmless if you came here." the teddy bear hissed. "You will go no farther, and from this moment on… You will slowly die a horrible death from cuteness!"

"What? That thing is REALLY disturbing." Chopper gaped as a bunch of Teddy Bears came into the room and pushed Chopper and Vivian back. It was a whole mob of Teddy Bears! Cuteness galore! ...Although, these teddies probably want them dead.

"These Teddy Bears are pushing us back!" Vivian cried. "We need to find a way to get them away from us!"

"I got this!" Chopper used his hammer to whack away all of the Teddy Bears in order to reach the white one, but once they got to it, it summoned four other Teddy Bears to help fight. These had 2 HP, unlike the white one, which had 10 HP.

**Tattle: **_That's a White Teddy Bear. Aw! It looks so cute! …But it looks so creepy at the same time! Max HP is 10. Attack is 3. Defense is 0. It'll just ram into you or just try to confuse you with cuteness. It's really ADORABLE! I wish I was where you are right now. It looks so cute!_

"All right, I'll start by taking out all of these regular Teddy Bears," Chopper charged up a Beam attack and fired the ball of energy at all of the Teddy Bears, defeating all of them except for the white one.

"All right, I'm up now," Vivian sank into the shadows and used her Shade Fist on the white Teddy Bear when she rose up, burning the enemy as well. The Teddy Bear charged at Chopper, but it took damage from the burn after hitting Chopper, which knocked away his power and dealt 3 damage to him.

"Oof! That did hurt… But that's not stopping me from fighting back!" Chopper stomped on the Teddy Bear and then Vivian used a Shade Fist afterward. The White Teddy Bear laughed at them before giving them puppy dog eyes.

"Oh no, that's not working on me," Chopper frowned as he guarded the attack. However, Vivian was unfortunate to fall for its cuteness. "Vivian! Don't let it confuse you! It's just going to confuse you!"

"But it's so cu… Oh, you're right, Chopper." Vivian blinked. "That thing can't stop me. I think it's going to be defeated anyway. It only has 1 HP left. That burn will get rid of it, so we shouldn't need to worry."

And it was indeed true. The Teddy Bear took damage from being burnt and was defeated, giving Chopper and Vivian 16 Star Points. This made the white Teddy Bear and the rest of them flee from them, screaming in fear. The white Teddy Bear ended up dropping a Toy Key that Chopper caught, who used it to open up the gate ahead. They ended up seeing the Toy Castle up ahead, which looked pretty big. Balloons could be seen flying up from the castle and there was a pool right by them.

"Whoa..."

"Wow, look at this place! It's a big Toy Castle!" Vivian gaped. "Maybe we can find where the Crystal Star is in that castle. We're bound to find SOMETHING here!"

"Then we might as well check inside of that castle!" Chopper declared. They headed up to the big toy door and headed in to see a medium-sized room with stairs going up to another floor. "Hold on a minute, let me look at the map real quick. I think we can find where it is with it."

Chopper pulled out the map to see where the Crystal Star was. Vivian couldn't help but take a look for herself.

"That really IS the map," Vivian gaped. "I don't know how you got a hold of that, but you're pretty luck to have it with you. We need to go somewhere that's a little close to the castle, but I don't think it looks reachable right now. There's gotta be something we can use!"

"Hmmm…" Chopper pondered as he looked around before he saw in one room a bunch of blocks stacked up together. Sadly, that didn't appear to be helpful in any way. They simply walked around the castle to see if there was anybody there. Unfortunately, there was no one.

"It's pretty quiet in a castle like this..." Vivian trailed.

"Yeah, I would expect this place to have a little more...life to it," Chopper agreed.

They walked up the stairs and into a hallway. However, there was a bunch of blocks that flew back and forth in the hallway, so Vivian had to pull Chopper into the shadows when a block came toward them. After that, Chopper walked into a door that was right by the door ahead, which was locked. They found a statue of a king made of blocks. Beside the statue was a teddy bear.

"I hope that bear doesn't move. If it does, then we're in for some trouble." Chopper hoped as he looked at the brown teddy bear.

"Come over here, Chopper. There's something interesting on here. You should seriously take a look on here. C'mon!" Vivian grabbed Chopper's hand to pull him over to the statue.

"All right, I'll read it," Chopper sighed as the two began to read the writings on the statue.

_To the King of Toy Kingdom. We couldn't stop her! Her power…it's just too strong! We were too weak, my king. She…and her husband attacked our kingdom and only three of us are left standing. The four heroes are nowhere to be found, and we saw a strange masked person and his apprentice walk by asking what happened. They were searching for the king and queen who caused this. Your Highness, we can't risk their three daughters coming here. They possess powerful magic that will destroy us. We must leave now before more darkness comes…and before __**he **__comes. I'm sorry we've failed you, Your Majesty._

"A king and queen and their three daughters attacked a place like this?" Chopper gawked. "Hmmm… I don't really know anything on this, I'm afraid. I don't know anything about history. Only my buddy Flyer does."

"Hmmm… I may have heard something like this, but I don't exactly remember, sadly." Vivian pondered. "I wish I could, because I would be able to help you know about this. I guess sometimes I can't remember everything... Let's go find that Crystal Star, OK?"

"OK, good idea," they left the room and headed over to the door to the right to head off to the balcony. They noticed a toy catapult was built right by them. This suddenly gave Chopper an idea. A risky idea, that is.

"Do I REALLY want to use this? Maybe this thing can actually help us and get us over to the Crystal Star."

"Well let's try," Vivian suggested as she got the catapult ready while Chopper got on, and once she fired it, Chopper was sent flying toward another location. Vivian, looking a little worried, began to slowly sink into the shadows.

"Maybe those writings did have something I might have been involved in..."

* * *

**Boss chapter's next! If you don't know what a boss chapter is, I might as well explain for those who haven't read the first Paper Chopper story. It's the chapter where the boss is fought. Simply put. And no, there's no other partner joining Chopper and Vivian in this chapter, unlike the first story. I don't mind it either. :P**

**So get ready for a boss fight!  
**


	10. Shadow Sirens: The Fight for the Star

When Chopper landed, he was on a tall platform above the toy castle they were previously at. Unfortunately, because he didn't land on his feet, he ended up becoming unconscious. Vivian rose up from the shadows to see Chopper was OK, but unconscious, so she picked him up and tried to wake him up. However, it didn't seem to work.

"Chopper! Can you hear me? Are you awake? If you aren't then I might as well wake you up with my flames!" Vivian summoned flames from her hands, which caused Chopper's eyes to quickly open and see it.

"Whoa! Careful where you aim that fire, Vivian!" Chopper gasped. "You could've almost burnt me to crisp! Maybe you should be a little careful with where you aim your fire. …Or did you do that on purpose just to wake me up? I was having a good dream about all evil going away! I loved that dream so much!"

"Well, yeah… I did do that just to wake you up." Vivian frowned. "I wanted to make sure you were fine. Sorry if you were a little startled. I just didn't want you to get hurt, that's all."

Chopper seemed to understand this, but something bothered him a little.

"Vivian… I still have a question about you joining me." Chopper pondered. "Why exactly DID you join me in the first place? Was it about the darkness trying to destroy the universe, or was it just to get revenge on Beldam for treating you like garbage? You don't have to answer this if you don't want."

"Well you saved me from that robot, and even if I was supposed to find the sketch, you gave it to me anyway. You were really sweet with that, and I really liked what you did. You're also really cute, funny, and helpful. Although, to be fair, I don't know if I want revenge on Beldam THAT much... I just want to make her pay for how she's been treating me. She even promised that she would be nice to me, but it was a lie! …But I have another reason but I think I should explain later."

"OK, whatever you say," Chopper walked over to the next pathway to find a Heart Block and a Save Block. After hitting them, they headed over to the next area and jumped up when they saw the Crystal Star. There was also a red pipe that led out of Toy Kingdom and also a toy plane that could take them back to the Toy Castle and even back to Music Kingdom.

"I don't believe it! Chopper! We finally found the Crystal Star!" Vivian squealed as Chopper smiled. "After a little traveling, we've finally made it! It feels great to find it!"

"I can't believe we actually beat your sisters to it!" Chopper cheered. "I guess the good guys always win in this matter! Now let's grab it before they come here, because that would be bad."

As the two made their way over to the Crystal Star, Beldam and Marilyn rose from the shadows, making them stop.

"Well! If it isn't Chopper!" Beldam spat. "I can recognize those antennas of yours! Shiny or no, you can't be too bright if you came here looking for the Crystal Star! Actually, we were here before you even fell off of that train!"

"What? You're telling me that you were here before US?! Aw, come on! That's not fair at all!" Chopper gaped before pausing. "But I don't understand… Why didn't you just take the Crystal Star when you can right now? Wouldn't that make more sense to you?"

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! Oh, you're so foolish! We thought it would be too easy if we just got the Crystal Star. We've been waiting for you this whole time! Even if we were to grab the Crystal Star, we'd still need that map!"

"What? What do you mean you've been waiting for us, Beldam?" Vivian asked. "Wouldn't you already know where the twenty Crystal Stars are?"

"Mmmmmmwee hee hee hee! You see, I work for a being of higher status, and he wants me to prevent you from getting a hold of the Crystal Star! So, I'll be taking that little map of yours as soon as I'm done dealing with you. As for you, Vivian… You've got some FIERCE punishment coming your way!"

"No, Sis! I'm not listening to you anymore! I'm tired of having you punish me all the time and treating me horribly! It's all ending here! And that's why Chopper and I are here to get that Crystal Star AND to defeat you!"

"How DARE you talk back to your sister like that? Very well then! I won't hesitate to fight against my own sister! Come! Marilyn! We shall destroy this boy and his girlfriend once and for all!"

"GUUUHHH!" Marilyn grunted.

"_**GAH!**_ All right, hag! I've had it with you!" Chopper fumed as he clenched his fists in anger. "Just because Vivian's with me does NOT mean she's my girlfriend! I'm gonna take you down, and Vivian's going to do the same thing too!"

"It's most unlucky that our sights are set on you," Beldam scoffed. "Well, unlucky for you, of course. All right! Marilyn! Let's show them precisely what we can do!"

"Guh!" Marilyn grunted.

**Tattle: **_That's Marilyn. She's Beldam's younger sister and is the strongest. Max HP is 15. Attack is 3. Defense is 0. She has a stronger attack, so it might be best to take her out first. Be careful! She'll boost her attack up by 3 and she'll unleash her lightning upon you! THAT can do a lot! So I suggest you be careful against her!_

**Tattle: **_That's Beldam. She's the oldest and also the leader of the Shadow Sirens. Max HP is 13. Attack is 2. Defense is 0. She'll mostly use magic against you, and she'll even heal herself or Marilyn if their HP is low. Also, she'll use ice that can even freeze you! If she boosts Marilyn's attack while her attack is already boosted, you're in for some trouble! Just use Vivian to hide when she does this though._

"All right, if Goombella says that we need to focus on Marilyn first, then that's what we should do," Chopper deduced. "Though, she's merely a pawn of Beldam's, we need to take the stronger one out first…"

So Chopper walked over to Marilyn and stomped on her head first, while Vivian went into the shadows to use her Shade Fist on her sister after rising up. That burned her, making her take 5 damage overall after they attacked.

Marilyn went into the shadows and rose up in front of Chopper. She clasped her hands together on him, but he was able to guard it before he could take 3 damage from the attack. Meanwhile, Beldam used her magic to unleash a blizzard, which Chopper and Vivian both guarded with no problem. To be fair, this fight didn't seem as bad as Chopper thought.

Marilyn took damage from the burn, and then Chopper equipped his Beam ability, which he used to charge up a beam attack and fire a ball of energy at Beldam and Marilyn from his wand, hitting them both.

"AAAACK! What in the world? !" Beldam squawked. "How did he…suddenly change to a yellow color? This is odd…"

Vivian attacked Marilyn with her Shade Fist, burning her once again. That caused Marilyn to clench her fists and use her own magic. Yellow lightning came down on both Chopper and Vivian, making them take 3 damage.

"Ooh! That hurts a lot!" Chopper cringed as Beldam grinned and used her magic to make Marilyn bigger, which raised her attack up by 2. Luckily, she took damage from the burn as well.

"Oh crud… This isn't good! Well she's close to being down, so I'm not so worried." Chopper swung his wand and fired a beam at Marilyn, and then Vivian used her Shade Fist on her afterward. However, Marilyn raised her Attack by 3, making the two gulp. If she attacked them, then they could take 8 damage from one hit.

"Mmmmmwee hee hee hee! Now with Marilyn strong, you'll be in for it." Beldam cackled as she used her magic to make herself dodgy, but once Marilyn took 1 damage from the burn, she was defeated.

"GUUUUUUUUUUUUH!" Marilyn left one last grunt before falling over on the ground, making Beldam gasp and Chopper smirk.

"Well, that didn't work out for you, didn't it?" Chopper smirked.

"What? No! Grrrr! Mmmmwee hee hee hee! I'm just getting started!"

"Oh? Well we'll see about THAT!" Chopper swung his wand and fired a beam at Beldam, with Vivian following up with her Shade Fist. Beldam used her Blizzard attack, which hit the two heroes, but failed to freeze them. Unfortunately, this got rid of Chopper's ability, so he was forced to fight her without the ability on. Thankfully, the witch got hurt by Vivian's burn status.

"Hi-yaaaaaa!" Chopper brought his hammer out and brought it down on Beldam's head, which made her a little dazed. Vivian made her attack next, sinking into the shadows and then punching her sister. Beldam sank into the shadows afterward and appeared in front of Vivian, attacked her with some ice magic. Luckily, the Shadow Siren guarded the attack, which angered her older sister as she was left with 1 HP.

"All right! Time to finish this!" Chopper ran toward Beldam in order to stomp on her, but since she was dodgy, he ended up falling over and missing. Beldam grinned, but she knew that she wouldn't be standing forever.

"Well, I guess it's more suitable for you to finish it, Vivian," Chopper smiled as he walked over to her. "Go ahead. Do the honors."

"OK, I guess I should!" Vivian smiled as she punched Beldam with her fire magic and knocked her to the ground. Chopper made a victory pose as he received 27 Star Points. He also gained a level, which allowed him to upgrade his HP to 20.

"B-But… How was this possible? Now how can we revive her with a boy like this in our way…?" Beldam moaned as she slowly got up and backed away from the two.

"Well now? Looks like we won fair and square!" Chopper declared. "So you better go now, before we give you another beating, Beldam!"

"Er… Fine! Marilyn! Now we must retreat! …For now."

"Guh-huh!"

And at that moment, Beldam and Marilyn sank into the shadows, making Chopper satisfied.

"Good! And if you ever want a rematch, just let me know! I'll be waiting for ya!" Chopper declared before turning to the Crystal Stars.

"Chopper! I forgot to tell you something!" Vivian realized. "We were actually sent by someone name Grodus to get the Crystal Star. He's the leader of the X-Nauts, and he's after the Crystal Stars. He's the person of 'high authority' that Beldam was speaking about..."

"So someone named Grodus is behind all of this? That's not good… Well, thank you for telling me that. I suppose you're going to be going now, right?"

"Wait... Are you telling me you don't want me to come with you?" Vivian asked as she gave him a sad look.

"Well... You got back at your sister, right?"

"Yes... But..."

"You're free to go, you know. You can be free!"

"Well, I already felt free when I was with you," Vivian explained. "You were one of the only people that I've known that was very nice to me... And honestly, I greatly appreciate that. And that is why... I want to join you on your journey. I wish to help you!"

"You want to...help me?" Chopper gaped before giving her a happy look. "Well, of course you can come with me! To be honest, I was hoping you wouldn't leave, because I kinda enjoyed talking to you."

"Really? That's so...kind of you. ...Hold on, I want to do something first." Vivian took out a camera and used her power to make it levitate before floating over to Chopper. "I want to get a picture here with you to remember this! Um… I think it will be something so we don't forget our time here."

"OK! I'm fine with that!" Chopper nodded as the camera made a click, showing him with a piece sign and Vivian hugging him.

"Thanks for helping me get back at my sister. It was really nice of you." Vivian thanked. "You're fine with me coming with you, right?"

"I'm fine with that! You're really helpful in fighting anyway, and you can also help me with some other things I probably couldn't do on my own! I was told I wouldn't be able to do this alone anyway, so, yes!"

Vivian smiled as she picked up the Crystal Star and brought it over to him. "Here you go, Chopper. This is for you! Take it!"

"Thanks, Vivian," Chopper smiled as the Crystal Star began to circle around him until it was above him. He began to hold it up heroically as he felt like he achieved something great.

**You got a Crystal Star! And you learned the special move Earth Tremor!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_Chopper, with the help of his new friend, Vivian, finally got a Crystal Star after defeating Vivian's sisters in Toy Kingdom. Yet, Chopper still couldn't find the whereabouts of Kirby, who was supposed to be traveling with him. Who is this Grodus and the X-Nauts that Vivian told Chopper? Yes… This adventure of Chopper's has only just begun._

* * *

**And there's the end of the first chapter. My thoughts? I thought it was a good start compared to the first (though I did like the boss in that one). And what makes things a little more interesting is that the interludes are a little longer. By that, I mean there are more than just one segments in a chapter.  
**

**How so? Well, you'll see in the interlude.  
**


	11. Chapter 1 Interlude

"Hmmm… This looks interesting." Grodus was reading a book on how to take over the universe and found some interesting things in it. "Yes… This does look interesting. But I don't think it exactly fits for what I'm trying to do. There must be something about the Crystal Stars in here!"

He began to flip through a couple of pages until he reached the table of contents. Sadly, he found nothing about them, so he tossed it away. "Great… I was hoping that I could find some good info on the twenty Crystal Stars."

While he rolled his eyes, an X-Naut walked in and gave him a salute.

"Sir! I come with some big news." the X-Naut declared.

"Speak at once, X-Naut!"

"OK then… _Ahem!_" he cleared his throat, despite being nervous. "Well you see, sir… That kid Chopper got the first Crystal Star. Our ships went over to Toy Kingdom and found the Shadow Sirens beaten up by him!"

"What? ! So the Shadow Sirens failed to defeat Chopper? Sigh… How pathetic of them. They wanted to come back to me and I actually gave them a chance. Now they can't beat a ten year old!"

"Calm down, sir! We were able to get a picture here. This might be a little interesting for you to see, sir…" the X-Naut handed Grodus a picture, which showed a picture of Chopper and Vivian. When Grodus noticed Vivian on it, he was enraged.

"X-Naut… Do you see something on here that gets your attention?" Grodus growled. "You can see a traitor on here, right?"

"No idea, sir. All I see is a picture of Chopper and some cute shadow ghost girl or whatever the hell that girl is."

"You realize who that is?"

"Let me think. Hmmmm… Is she…my mother?"

"You fool!" Grodus roared, bonking the X-Naut's head. "That's Vivian who's on this picture! She betrayed me once again… That foolish girl! Get the Shadow Sirens! Now!"

"Uh… Gotcha, sir." the X-Naut quickly left, and after a while, Beldam and Marilyn rose from the shadows.

"Is there anything you need from us, Grodus?" Beldam asked as Grodus showed them the picture.

"Explain this to me, Beldam! Did you sister betray me once again?"

"Look, let me explain to you, sire! We sent her to go after the Magical Map you desired oh-so much. When we found the Crystal Star, we also found that boy and Vivian with him! My apologies. We never expected her to leave again. But, you see, we don't REALLY need her. Oh no. She'll just get in the way of our plans!"

"Are you sure about this? She has the ability to use fire, and that's probably the strongest magic of the three of you. For now, you're going to need to find someone else to replace her for right now."

"Mmmmmmwee hee hee hee! Oh, don't you worry. We know who we can replace Vivian with! He's been with us before, and I'm sure he'll want to come back again. He hasn't even been doing much for these past few months anyways! So! Marilyn! Let us go for now!"

"Guhhhhh…" Marilyn grunted as they both sunk into the shadows. Grodus was beginning to think if their replacement would be as good as Vivian.

"I wonder if they're going to use _that_ replacement..."

* * *

**Sublevel 4-**

Down on Sublevel 4, a princess in a pink dress with blonde hair was sitting on her uncomfortable bed, sighing because she was kidnapped once again.

"Oh, dear… Here we go again…" the princess named Princess Peach sighed. "I can't believe I've been kidnapped again…by these people! I don't understand what they want with me, nor do I know why they kidnapped me. Mario and Toadsworth must be worried sick. Again. But how am I supposed to let them know I'm kidnapped?"

At that moment, the door to her right opened up. "The door! Maybe I can see if TEC is still around? He helped me in this place while I was here. I hope he remembers me, because you never know what might happen."

Peach walked through the door and walked through the hallway to the door all the way to the right. She found herself in a small computer room. It was kind of dark in here, until the lights turned on.

**"Hello, Princess Peach," **a computerized voice greeted as Peach looked up at a camera above the terminal.

"TEC? Is that you? It's me!" Peach smiled.

**"My apologies, but I don't know what you're talking about. Sir Grodus has sent his X-Nauts to take you here. He is the greatest. And yes, I am TEC. My full name is TEC-XX. It was I who constructed Sir Grodus a new body."**

"What? I thought you didn't like what that awful dome-headed person was doing! Don't you remember the times we had together?"

**"Sir Grodus is most definitely not awful. He is a very good person. He is marvelous. I don't know what you mean by the times we had together. There was never such thing."**

"Well I think he is," Peach remarked. "I don't understand why you brought me here if you don't really remember me anymore. Was your memory…erased? _That might be why!_"

**"I am unsure on both questions. An unusual program deviation occurred when I observed you when you first came into this place. My higher-brain circuitry malfunctioned and nearly overheated upon your image. Also, an unidentified impulse sped through my processors. These events seem to be new to me. There is more to the phenomenon as well. I ran diagnostic programs…and their solution was… I want to know more about you. I want to observe you. That's what I get when I see you. I'm being told that I must know more about you."**

"So you're saying you want to observe me again and also know a little more about me? But... If your memory was erased, then that means that... Well, you ARE a computer..."

**"What has happened to me? If you know of my malfunction, then you must tell me of it right now."**

"Oh, I couldn't, really… _I don't think it's necessary to say..._"

**"Please tell me. Please. I must know about my malfunction if I do indeed have one. If I am not the world's best computer, then you must tell me of my malfunction."**

"Well, you know, maybe… I think it's possible that, well…you're...in love…_with a certain someone?_"

**"Does not compute,"** TEC stated.** "What is this 'love' you speak of? Please tell me. Please."**

"Wait, you don't know what love is?" Peach gawked. "_Well, I guess because his memory was erased, I guess he doesn't know about love..._ Well… Let me think… Love tells you when you wish to spend more time with a person and stay with them forever. It makes you feel happy just to see that person happy, smiling…having fun. When you love someone, you will do anything to help when he or she is in trouble."

**"Happiness? Fun…? I have definitions for these words, but… My programming is insufficient. There should be nothing I cannot comprehend. I am a perfect computer."**

"'Comprehend' love? Love's not something you comprehend, TEC. You feel it inside of you."

**"**…**Princess Peach… Will you teach me to feel this thing you call 'love'? I must know about this 'love'."**

"No offense, but why would you care about love? You're just a computer..." Peach trailed.

**"I am perfect. There must be something I cannot comprehend. Nothing. That is why you must help me understand this thing called 'love.' Please. If you have any wishes that I can grant you in exchange, I will grant them. But, of course, I am unable to grant such a wish as letting you escape…"**

"What, are you insane?! Grodus and his X-Jerks kidnapped me like common Koopas! Kind of like Bowser and that evil Maquano… But now you call me in here to teach you the meaning of love? What happened to you, TEC?! And why should I believe you now about granting me any wishes?"

**"I understand you are angry. That emotion I comprehend. You need not teach me now. But I must learn of this thing you speak of. There is no alternative. I must be a perfect computer. That is why, if you just consider teaching me, I will grant your wishes. Do you understand me, Princess Peach? Now, tell me your wish."**

"Are you sure? Well… I guess I could wish that I could contact someone. The sooner, the better."

**"Yes, of course you may. Use my communicator to send wireless mail to anywhere you want. Though, my communicator has been blocked by one named Mario."**

"Oh… That's who I was going to contact. This isn't good. I wish I knew someone else to contact…" Peach trailed as she began to ponder. When a red ! appeared over her head, an idea struck her. "Wait a minute! I DO remember that Mario and I got Chopper a Mailbox SP. Since I know what his is, maybe I can get a hold of me. He can warn Mario about it too, if he's around him."

Peach walked up to the keyboard and began to type her message up. Luckily, she knew how to use the computer when she first used it five months ago. After finishing, the screen showed the mail being sent.

**"The message has been sent. For the time being, you may return to your room. I will call you in again when I want to ask you something."**

Peach walked over to the exit of this room and she turned around to TEC. "Uh… OK then. Good night." She left the room after that.

**"Good night, Princess Peach,"** TEC said before the room became dark as TEC went into sleep mode.

* * *

**Bowser's Castle-**

After the events of the Star Spirits and the Star God Staris, Bowser had a rough time for those two years. He spent most of his time trying to rethink plans that became complete failures, while his minions began to make a new castle ever since his old one was destroyed. Thankfully, it was finished about ten months ago, so he and his minions had a home. However, it wasn't as cool as the original, in Bowser's opinion.

Inside of the castle, the bricks were gray like his hold castle, and there was a red rug that extended to the end of the hallway to the door. Hammer Bros. and Koopatrols are right next to the rug, ready for the Koopa King to make his entry into the room.

The two Koopatrols guarding the door could hear stomping, and they knew the time was right. They opened the door, and Bowser himself came out. Ever since those two years, his appearance hadn't changed since.

"_**Gra ha ha har! **_Bowser, the mighty Koopa king, has arrived!" Bowser cackled. "Now now, you can hold your applause for later, minions!"

The only thing he could hear was a chirping cricket, which he accidentally stepped on.

"But now that I'm here… Kammy! You crusty old hag! Why did you summon me?" Bowser wondered as the Koopatrols closed the door shut.

"Uh, Great Lord Bowser… The, uh, crusty hag Kammy Koopa will arrive momentarily." one Koopatrol explained. "She had something to do before coming here. I'm really sorry for the inconvenience, but please wait at the rear of the room."

"Is that so? Well then, perhaps I shall!" Bowser began to walk toward the rear of the room, but he stopped when he heard what two Hammer Bros. were talking about. He couldn't help but listen to the conversation.

"So, the other day, I saw Bowser gazing at some kind of Peach doll. Man, the look on his face! Priceless!" the first Hammer Bro. snickered while the other one noticed Bowser was standing right behind his friend and trembled in fear.

"Uh, you may want to put a cork in it, man…" the second Hammer Bro. gulped. "I'm not joking. You REALLY should…"

"Hoo! I tell you, I saw hearts flying over Bowser when he was looking at that doll… Huh?" he turned around to see Bowser in front of him. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! L-Lord Bowser!"

"Well? I'm dying to hear the rest of your hilarious story, Mr. Comedian! Do share!" Bowser cackled.

The Hammer Bros. looked at each other in a confused way and both whacked each other in the head with their hammer.

"What's with them?" Bowser wondered. In the end, he shrugged and walked over to the rear of the room. When he reached the rear of the room, where he found a painting of himself. The door he previously entered opened up, so he turned around to see a small, old Magikoopa in a purple robe come out of the door.

"Ah! Lord Bowser!" Kammy cried, heading over toward Bowser, but she was all worn out from moving. "_Huff… Hoo…_"

"I'm sure she could've used her broomstick to reach him," one of the Koopatrols by the door muttered to his companion.

"I've just now returned," Kammy declared. "I'm terribly sorry for keeping you waiting, my lord. I guess it took longer than I thought it would…"

"I bet you are tired, Kammy Koopa! Now, out with it!" Bowser spat. "Why have you called me here? You know I'm busy most of the time!"

"Please, Your Grumpiness! Don't be so impatient with your poor servant. Ahem… It's my displeasure that that boy, Chopper, the one that stopped your plans two years ago, has returned to Earth to a town called Rogueport."

"Pbbbthbtth! THAT'S why you called me here? Just to tell me that that boy Chopper is here? I don't care what he's doing! What am I, his baby-sitter? Are you going to call me every time that fool eats pizza, or what? Sheesh!"

"Yes, well, you see, my lord… Apparently Chopper is hunting for those Crystal Stars that we were trying to find, but ended up failing. You remember those, right, Lord Bowser?"

"Those Crystal Stars?" Bowser pondered. "Oh. Yeah, I remember them. I was hoping to be able to get one of those, but we were just too slow! They really sound like some good world-conquering tools anyway!"

"Yes, they do sound like it," Kammy agreed. "I've been researching them a bit more, and it turns out there are actually twenty of them! I think this is our chance now! If there are twenty, then we'll be able to get our hands on one! I'm pretty sure that floating arena has one too."

"Hmmm… You got a good point, Kammy! Perhaps we should head on over there! That Crystal Star will be ours! Oh, yes!"

"Indeed, Lord Bowser! I will continue researching on those Crystal Stars for you. By the way, Lord Bowser… Do you still like fried eggs?"

"Do I…" Bowser trailed. "I LOVE fried eggs! LOVE 'em! How could you not remember that? But, what a weird question. Why do you ask?"

Kammy began to giggle. "Well, I stopped by at a beautiful place called Petal Meadows. I was planning on taking everyone there for a picnic, having some eggs and toast… Of course, I wouldn't think of sending out invites without asking you first, Lord Bowser!"

"_**AIRHEAD!**_ A PICNIC?!" Bowser roared. "You MORON! This is no time for fun, Haggy! See, THIS is why my evil plans always derail! Because you clods always good off! _**AAARGH!**_"

Bowser stomped the ground angrily, which caused the whole room to shake and make Kammy gulp.

"Oh, dear… Lord Bowser… Please calm down… Remember your blood pressure…" Kammy trembled until she felt a Magikoopa tap her shoulder and mutter something to her. "Hm? What's that, you say?"

"_Mumble…_"

"Whaaaaat? Is this TRUE?" she turned back to the angry Bowser. "Lord Bowser! Terrible news! Some bold fool abducted Princess Peach while she was in her castle!"

"HUHHH-WWWHHHAAATTT?!" Bowser gaped. "Tell me you're lying, Kammy! How? When? WHERE?! Who'd do such a thing? Besides me?"

"I'm afraid we don't have that information quite yet… The investigation's ongoing. One thing has certainly been confirmed, however: the princess has been kidnapped."

"Under NO circumstances is ANYONE allowed to kidnap her without MY say-so! I will NOT stand for this! I'm going to Rogueport, NOW! And then we'll head to that floating battle arena for the Crystal Star! I've gotta find Peach and kidnap her back!"

Bowser stomped his way out of the room with Kammy following, but then she saw Bowser get on his Koopa Clown Car and fly back to the rear of the room. He then flew out of the castle, ripping through the wall like it was paper. Thankfully, Kammy was able to get her broomstick before following.

"But… Your Grunginess! Wait up!"

She flew after Bowser, through that hole. One thing for sure was that there were several people hunting for the Crystal Stars at this point.

* * *

**?-**

Out in a sandy desert, there was a secret base underneath. The strange robot that tried to attack Vivian in Rainbow Train stepped on a hidden switch, which revealed an entrance that was cloaked. He headed into the base, and it showed the inside was a silver, with a glassy green floor. It looked futuristic and out of place compared to the desert.

Down at the bottom floor in a huge room, a robot that looked similar to the Phi was looking away from the door. This one was black, with his arms being silver. A strange, yellow pointy fin-like object was on his head, with two other fins pointing upward like a V on the side. His feet had a yellow stripe too with pointy fin-like objects and had light blue eyes. They looked dark for some reason.

However, when he turned on, his eyes started to glow and brighten, just like the small orb on his yellow fin-like object.

_"Upgrade fully complete," _a computerized voice stated as the evil robot looked around and then at his arms and feet, just to make sure he was OK. After looking at himself, he grinned.

"Ah... So the upgrade is now complete! Perfect..."

"Located! Located! Help! I need help!" the Phi barged in while shouting, but the robot leader punched it in the face, making the robot spin around until it was able to regain its conscience.

"You can speak now, you idiot," the robot leader groaned. "You have an upgrade to allow you to speak properly, so speak like yourself and not the robotic way that you Phis usually spoke in. That's the whole reason why you were upgraded in the first place!"

"Sorry, Master Gemerl," the Phi apologized while rubbing its head. "My apologies, but I couldn't get the Crystal Star in Rainbow Train. I was about to attack a cute ghost girl, but then a pale green kid came in and whacked me!"

"You're telling me that a kid beat the crap out of you?" Gemerl gawked. "How foolish of you to lose to a young boy. You were made to be strong, not to lose to a child! And what about the Crystal Star? You didn't get it because of him?"

"Let me just draw what he looks like. I was badly damaged, so there's no way I could've gotten it without getting repairs." the Phi began to make a sketch of Chopper, and after it finished, it showed the picture of Chopper..

"So… You're telling me that a boy that small managed to take you down? Seriously… That's sad. You were made to be tough, and then you fail to defeat a boy. I'm sorry, but that's just sad."

"No sir. You don't understand. If you saw the whole thing, you would know what happened! He's very fast and can make some good stomps! He can be flattened, so maybe stepping on him could work, but that's not the point. He's got some tough attacks that I was no match for! I think his name's Chopper. I even overheard him saying that he's looking for the Crystal Stars!"

"What? Did you say he's looking for the Crystal Star?" Gemerl asked before the Phi nodded to him. "So… Then he isn't just an ordinary child. I understand now, Phi. If you're saying he's after the Crystal Stars, then we have a new threat. Ever since we left Mobius, we were hoping to find no threats here and allow ourselves to rule this place. But those Crystal Stars are our key to ruling the world! If he's after them, then we have a problem..."

"Yes, sir. He is indeed a big threat to us." the Phi agreed. "We shouldn't underestimate him. I heard that there's a Crystal Star on a floating town called **Glitzville**. It has a huge battle arena and I heard that there's one there."

"A Crystal Star in a floating town called Glitzville? Interesting… Hear me out now, Phi! You can take a break for right now. I'll send out two other Phis to go to Glitzville and retrieve the Crystal Star. But we're going to need a plan to get that."

"Umm… About that, master. We actually thought up of a plan. One of the Phis told me to give this to you while coming down here. You should take a look at it for yourself!" the Phi handed the piece of paper to Gemerl, who began to read it.

_THE PLAN:_

_Our first thing that we'll do is go to Glitzville by taking the blimp. We can get a Blimp Ticket if we got to Petalburg. There's a contest over there, and we're pretty sure that we can nail that competition! So, the first thing we'll be doing is get the ticket, take the blimp, and then go to Glitzville and raid the place for the Crystal Star!_

_"…You gotta be kidding me. This is the worst plan I've ever seen." _Gemerl thought as he crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it to the ground. He began to step on it repeatedly.

"Um… Sir?"

"Silence! Can't you see I'm busy with this?!"

"Oh, I'm sorry sir. Was that plan bad?"

"Yes! That was the WORST plan you Phis have ever come up with!" Gemerl roared. "Seriously! I need to put a brain in you guys so you can actually do something besides think of stupid plans! What are you guys? Idiots?"

"No, Master Gemerl. We are not idiots. Just…some of us Phis are not as intelligent, such as myself!"

"I didn't say you were intelligent. Just get the hell out of her for right now."

"Yes, sir!" the Phi quickly flew out of the room with it jetpack. When it left the room, Gemerl looked over at the sketch and picked it up, giving the picture a death glare.

"So… You're the one that's called Chopper, huh?" Gemerl wondered. "Well I've never heard about you in my life, but if you got in the way of us Phis, then you are most likely an enemy. There's no way he can possible go to Glitzville. He's got NOTHING that can help him! Gah ha ha ha!"

* * *

**?-**

When the two came out of the pipe, they were met with green grass, a nice blue sky and a town up ahead called Petalburg. It led them to Petal Meadows, which was considered by many people to be one of the nicest places to go out for a vacation ever since a dragon named Hooktail was defeated by the red plumber none other than Mario. It had become quite a tourist attraction!

"What the… Look at this place!" Chopper gaped. "So that pipe led us to a whole new world? Wow… This is really cool! Too bad the Crystal Star wasn't located around here, because I would take this place instead of those two kingdom places!"

"This place… Oh, yes! This is Petal Meadows!" Vivian realized. "I remember there used to be a dragon around here, but she's no longer here. I think her name was Hooktail. Many people thought she was a he, but I guess her brother said that Hooktail's a girl. But anyway… What do we do now? Do we go to the Thousand-Year Door to find the next Crystal Star?"

"Thousand-Year Door? You mean that big red door? No, we're going back to Pop Star! I'm sure you'll find it pretty interesting!" Chopper made a sharp whistle and a Warp Star began to come toward him. He jumped up and landed on the Warp Star, leaving Vivian astounded by the beautiful star.

"That's such a pretty star!"

"There's definitely room for another person, you know! You can get on here too!" Chopper noted. Vivian got on and held onto Chopper just to make sure she wouldn't fall off. With that, they left the place and were back up in space.

"Wow… You aren't from around here, are you? Are you some kind of…alien?"

"Uh… You could say that if I'm not from this world, but I don't consider myself to be an alien. I mean, if people came to my planet, I'd think they're aliens, so we both feel the same way when someone comes to each other's planet."

"Yeah... Some people do think of me as some kind of alien as well, especially my sister." Vivian said, her head lowered.

Chopper looked at her for a moment with a frown. "Well, you don't look like an alien to me, that's for sure."

"Thank you..." Vivian smiled.

* * *

**Dream Land-**

They landed in front of the Mayor's house in Hatty Town. Luckily, the Warp Star didn't blow up. It just flew away on its own, which made Chopper fall to the ground because of his terrible landing.

"Are you OK, Chopper?" Vivian asked. Chopper nodded and got helped up by the Shadow Siren. The Mayor opened his front door to find Chopper, which left him surprised and off guard.

"Chopper! You've returned!" the Mayor gaped before noticing something missing. "But… Where is Kirby? Wasn't he supposed to be with you on this Crystal Star hunt?"

"Well... You see..." Chopper trailed as he began to explain all the details to the Mayor. After his explanation, the Mayor's eyes shot wide open.

"WHAAAT?! You don't know where Kirby went?! Great… Now he's lost. I don't know what we can do now because of him not being here. You can't just LEAVE him there. You need to find him!"

"I'm going to find him. I was actually searching for him this whole time, but I couldn't find him anywhere. Sorry, Mayor. Maybe I'll find him after getting the next Crystal Star."

"Hold on, _did _you get the first Crystal Star?" the Mayor asked. Chopper nodded and took out the Diamond Star. "My my… So the rumors are true! The Crystal Stars DO exist! …Er, Chopper… Who's that strange ghostly being behind you?"

"Ummmmm... My name's Vivian." Vivian greeted shyly. "I'm a Shadow Siren that's traveling with Chopper. I joined him because of his kindness and the fact that I don't want our world to be covered in darkness and destroyed."

"Oh! Of course! It's great that you joined him! Now then, Chopper. You and your girlfriend must return to the Fountain of Dreams to find the next location of the Crystal Star. It shouldn't be so hard for you anyway."

"OK… Wait a second! She isn't... Oh, forget it." Chopper sighed as he began to head south to the Fountain of Dreams with Vivian following him. Once they made it to the area with the tree, Chopper heard the Gourmet Race theme from his Mailbox SP.

"Hey, what's that noise?" Vivian asked. "Is there something that you have that's going off, Chopper?"

"Hold on a minute…" Chopper pulled out his Mailbox SP and began to read the message he received.

_Hello Chopper. It's me, Princess Peach! I send this letter in the hope that it reaches you safely. I am being held against my will in a fortress that's far away. Don't worry, I am safe and unharmed. If you have that map, you must be careful. The fiends who kidnapped me are after it! I don't know what they're planning to do, but it doesn't sound positive. Chopper! Please collect those Crystal Stars before them! You must! They already know you have the map, so please be careful. And please… Don't worry about me._

_-Princess Peach-_

"What? Princess Peach was kidnapped?! …AGAIN?! Seriously! What's with villains and kidnapping princesses? I just don't understand that! …Well my adventures were never about rescuing them before... But anyway, we gotta go find the next Crystal Star if that's what we're to do."

Chopper and Vivian headed over to the Fountain of Dreams and then he got on the pedestal. "OK, Chopper! You can, um, hold up that Crystal Star!"

"All right! Time to do it!" Chopper held up the Crystal Star, which then disappeared. The light blue light around the fountain appeared, and the first Crystal Star appeared to the north of the pedestal.

"Amazing... It's just like with the Thousand-Year Door..." Vivian gaped. "Perhaps this fountain has a power related to those stars..."

"Ooh! This again!" Chopper squealed as the Magical Map began to float up above Chopper as magic began to go into it while he gaped. And then… The next Crystal Star location was revealed.

It showed a floating town appear up in the sky, and the noticeable thing about it was the Chain Chomp. A gold Crystal Star was revealed to be there. Chopper helped up the map as it flashed.

**The location of a Crystal Star has been recorded on your Magical Map!**

Chopper began to look at the map and slowly nodded.. "Hmmm… Interesting…"

"The next Crystal Star is there?" Vivian noticed as she took a peek. "Hmmm… I've never been there. Well, I HAVE, but not for a long time."

"We better go see Professor Frankly about this. He knows about the Crystal Stars more than anybody else I know."

"Professor Frankly? I know him!"

* * *

**Professor Frankly's house-**

"Hrmm… Mmmm… HRRRRMMMM… Ah! I see…" Professor Frankly realized as he closed the book.

"So, the next Crystal Star… It's on some floating island?" Chopper asked.

"Ah, yes. That place. It's pointing to the floating town of **Glitzville**. There's a stunning arena there where great warriors engage in furious battles! Sometimes, families go there on vacation to lounge and enjoy the fights, but… Behind the scenes, the richest people in the world wager on the bouts."

"So the next Crystal Star is in Glitzville?" Vivian deduced. "For some reason, I feel like getting there won't exactly be easy. We can't exactly fly over there..."

"There's a special blimp that departs from Rogueport several times a day. But you need a ticket to take the blimp. Though, I heard in Petalburg that there's a contest, and their prize there is a Blimp Ticket. Perhaps if you go there, you might be able to win the contest and get your ticket."

"OK, but there's something I'd like to do first," Chopper stated as he went over to the house next to Frankly's. He had a feeling that the three Shine Sprites he had could be of some use. He went inside to find a familiar blue hooded person, but with a longer mustache.

"Whoa! Merlon! You changed your look!" Chopper gaped.

"Yes, you are correct about my name, but I'm a different Merlon that you must be speaking of," Merlon replied. "There are many Merlons around the world, you know. The one in Toad Town can tell you where you need to go, while I can upgrade your partners. Yes, I foresaw your arrival."

"Oh… Interesting. Well I'd like to make my friend stronger."

"Are you sure?"

"Uh huh!"

"Very well..." Merlon slowly nodded as Chopper and Vivian got closer to the crystal ball.

"_**SHA-ZIBBY!**_"

The blue crystal ball began to float up, making the two heroes gawk.

"_**SHA-ZOOBY!**_"

The walls were surrounded in space as power began to envelope in Vivian. After the place returned to normal, she learned Fiery Jinx, with her HP going up to 25 and her Attack being 4.

"Then you may go!" Merlon declared as Chopper waved goodbye to shaman and he and Vivian went down into the sewers to the pipe where they needed to go to the train. However, the rubble in the way of the doorway was gone, so they went on through.

"Whoa, the rubble's gone? That's good!" Chopper smiled as he found some moving platforms going to a gray pipe above the water. After crossing them, he and Vivian went to Petal Meadows again.

* * *

**Petal Meadows-**

As they were walking, they could hear a strange robotic noise, which got Vivian's attention, considering that she remembered a sound like that.

"Uh oh… I know that robotic voice!" Vivian gulped. "I think that robot's back! We're going to need to hide!"

"What can we do?" Chopper asked.

"We can always do this," Vivian grabbed Chopper and pulled him into the shadows. Two Phis were walking by, not knowing that the two were hiding underneath. They sure looked angry.

"I can't believe it! We go to Petalburg to get the ticket, but we end up scaring everyone away!" the first Phi growled. "Why do we have to be made to do this kind of stuff? We NEED that ticket!"

"Look, Phi #1,3335, Master Gemerl told us to fly to Glitzville, not get the ticket!" the second Phi noted. "He said our plan was complete garbage anyway. We need to FLY, not take a blimp!"

"Oh, fine… We'll just fly to the damn place. It's not like we're going to get hurt anyway. What's the harm in doing it?"

The two Phis took off with their jetpacks, unaware that they were being (unintentionally) eavesdropped by Chopper and Vivian, who rose from the shadows.

"So they're called Phis, huh? Well it looks like there are more people hunting those stars." Chopper confirmed. "Vivian, we need to be careful."

"Yeah, we better go to Petalburg right now and get the ticket before they get the Crystal Star!" Vivian suggested. Chopper nodded as they headed over to Petalburg, where there were normal Koopas with green shells and no sunglasses.

"Hello there, travelers!" the Koopa standing by the gate greeted. "Welcome to Petalburg! You're just in time for a contest! An eating one to be exact!"

"Count me in! I can NAIL this competition!" Chopper declared as he saw an empty table with some Mushrooms, so he jumped over to the table where there was a plate of the Mushrooms. Koops's dad, Koopley, was also in the contest.

"Well, what do we have here?" Koopley said as Chopper walked in. "A young boy such as yourself competing in this contest? I'm sorry, son, but you couldn't possibly eat all of these Mushrooms!"

"Oh, yeah? I'll show you what I can do!" Chopper shot back as he looked over at the Goomba and the Bulb-ulb, who were participating. The Goomba, however, was not looking too happy.

"I don't understand… Does eating Mushrooms make me a cannibal?" the Goomba questioned. "I dunno, I'm a mushroom, but eating THIS?"

"On your mark… Get set… GO!" the Koopa fired his gun…and he saw a bird come down. "Uh… Nobody saw that."

Chopper inhaled all of the Mushrooms like a vacuum before the others could even get started and swallowed them all with ease. Thank goodness he had that inhaling ability, or else it wouldn't have gone as well as he thought.

"Well, er, looks like we have a winner! You win, small boy! I guess you get the Blimp Ticket!" the Koopa declared as he gave Chopper the Blimp Ticket after tossing the dead bird into the water. _"I can't believe I killed a bird! That's just horrible! I don't want to be known for killing birds! That's just…terrible!"_

"Well I'll be... I got beat!" Koopley guffawed. "...Well, maybe next year will be lucky for me. ...Oh wait, I think that was ten years ago, actually."

"Yes! We got the Blimp Ticket, Chopper!" Vivian cheered. "All we need to do now is go back to Rogueport and take that blimp to Glitzville!"

Chopper nodded and summoned the Warp Star to take them back to Rogueport. There, they went to West Rogueport to find a lot of interesting things. There was a building that a Pianta was standing right next to. It looked like it's some kind of small casino.

Up north was a train and blimp, so they headed north and went up the stairs to a Cheep Cheep who was blocking the way of the small gate leading to a pipe, which went into the background and to the blimp.

"Ah, you have a Blimp Ticket? Well, right this way, you two!" the Cheep Cheep said as he stepped out of the way. Chopper and Vivian nodded and headed down the pipe and appeared in the background.

"Whoa, this is kind of weird… But oh well! Let's get a move on!" Chopper shrugged as e and Vivian headed onto the platform that lifted them into the Cheep Cheep blimp, which began to take off…to Glitzville.

* * *

**I know Glitzville is Chapter 3 in Paper Mario 2, but I felt like mixing it up a little bit to make things a bit interesting. Of course, I'd say the difficulty is a lot more here than the difficulty in Chapter 3 in Paper Mario 2. I mean, Chopper has no upgrades! ...Yet.  
**

**So... Chapter 2 should be pretty interesting!  
**


	12. A New Fighter is Born

**CHAPTER 2**

**-Of Glitz and Glory-**

Chopper noticed Glitzville was up ahead while looking out the window of the blimp. It looked absolutely marvelous. Balloons can be seen flying up from the town, and it seemed that there were rocket boosters that were keeping the town floating up.

"Wow... This looks interesting." Chopper blinked.

The platform began to bring Chopper and Vivian down to Glitzville once they reached the place, and they could see a big building up to the north. It looked like it was the Glitz Pit that Professor Frankly was telling them about. Over to the right was a bar where some fighters could go to relax, and over to the left was an ice cream truck with a pig named Mr. Hoggle. However, he doesn't sell ice cream. He sells hot dogs.

"Ummm… I guess this is Glitzville, all right." Vivian said quietly. "I don't understand how they can make this place float. I mean, it hasn't ever plunged down from the sky. This is really weird..."

"Well maybe it's magic? No, really. It could be some kind of magic the Gods themselves did to make this place afloat! It MUST be the answer!" Chopper declared, making Vivian giggle.

"Tee hee! Oh, let's just find that Crystal Star, OK? I think we should just start by going into the Glitz Pit."

They headed over to the entrance of the Glitz Pit and found two stairways going up to the upper floor and a door near them that led to the arena. A pineapple news reporter was there, with a Lakitu that snapped pictures for the newspaper.

Ms. Mowz appeared to be there as well, which Chopper happened to notice.

"Wait, what's that mouse doing here?" Chopper wondered, remembering her. "Oh, let's not worry about it. I don't think she's going to cause much of a problem here anyway. Let's see what's going on at the battle arena."

On the walls, there were posters of a yellow hawk-like bird person who looked pretty tough, a red Chain Chomp and also a dark blue armored Koopa with red glowing eyes.

When they both headed into the arena, they could see a massive audience around, and they looked like they were ready to see some action. The yellow hawk person and the Koopatrol were in the arena, knocking each other back and panting.

"Wow! This place looks really cool!" Chopper gaped. "Hey, Vivian, look up there! There's a battle match going on right now!"

"Cough… Yeah, you're pretty tough!" the yellow hawk wheezed. "It makes me so ANGRY that I lost to you before! There's no way I'm going to let my number one spot go! I think it's time for you to FEEL THE RAAAAAWK!"

The yellow hawk charged at the Koopatrol and performed a body slam, knocking him to the ground and also leaving him flattened.

"OOOOOOOOOF!"

The Koopatrol was defeated as a blue Clubba wearing sunglasses, a black hat and jacket, a green vest and bow-tie came walking over to the yellow hawk.

"Stay down, pincushion! There's no way you want to deal with this again!" the yellow hawked scoffed. "Why'd you even have to show up to take me on, thinking you would win? Yeah, you hear me talking, Wimpy! Stay outta the ring, or feel the burn, baby! Tell you what: do about a million push-ups and then come see Uncle Rawk Hawk! I'll give you another world-class spanking and send you crying home to Momma again! Will you regret it? I'm pretty sure you will!"

"Huh... That sounds jerkish of him..." Chopper trailed.

"Yeah, his personality doesn't seem likeable," Vivian agreed.

"Hooooo-WEEEEEEE! Champ! That sure was a grade-A whuppin' you put on fer us!" the Clubba ringmaster cheered. "Yer thoughts on the match!"

"You call that match? Pbbbbbbbbt! That was nothin'! Ain't there a fighter besides Gonzales who can take on the Rawk? No! No one can! Hear me? Ain't a fighter out there that can even make me sweat! They're all a bunch of little crybabies, running around in stinky diapers! You got a bone to pick? Come fight me! Bring it! I'll take on anyone! You weaklings might as well stick to video-game fighting, OK? 'Cause I'll hurt you. YEAH! NUMBER ONE, BABY! RAWK HAWK IS BACK IN THE HOUSE! Harharharharharharharhar!"

After gloating, Rawk Hawk held up a black belt while the audience cheered. Although, there was one thing that caught Chopper off guard.

The Crystal Star was on it.

"Vivian! Look at that! It's the Crystal Star we're looking for! Right on the belt!" Chopper gasped.

"You're right, Chopper! I can see the Crystal Star on the belt! But… Why would it be on the belt?" Vivian wondered as they left the arena, pondering. "I can't believe we found the Crystal Star so easily. But… It's not like we can steal that guy's belt. That wouldn't be right. What do you think we should do, Chopper?"

"Well I don't think stealing it would be the right idea," Chopper frowned. "…Maybe we can battle our way to the top! I can always just fight that guy to get to the top and get it! …And by that, I mean getting it fair and square."

"Yes, I think you're right, Chopper. I think we should get started now. Maybe there's a novice sign-up somewhere…"

"We better do it fast, because my tummy's getting upset for…some reason. But I'm not worried about it. Let's go see who's in charge of this place." Chopper noticed a door to the left where a guard in a black suit and sunglasses was standing. They walked over to him and spoke with the Security Guard.

"What's that, bub? You wanna become a fighter?" the Security Guard gawked. "You don't even look like you're one. You're probably too innocent for this stuff, so I would suggest coming back when you're a little older."

Chopper felt a little sad and turned around and began to walk away with his head hung low. He also let out a sad sigh as well.

"Chopper! Wait!" Vivian cried as she went after him. Ms. Mowz also noticed him leaving. She happened to have a red bandanna with her too.

"Hold on a second! Don't go just yet! You should take this!" Ms. Mowz threw the bandanna toward Chopper. When he turned around, a red ! appeared over his head before he inhaled it. After swallowing it, he had the red bandanna on him, now known as Fighter Chopper.

"Hmmm? Wait a minute…" Chopper trailed. "If I have the Fighter ability on… I think I can actually get that guard to let me in!"

Vivian smiled as she followed Chopper back over to the Security Guard, who was getting

"Listen, bub. I told you before. You're too innocent to be coming over here to fight. And also…" the Security Guard paused for a moment as he looked at the red bandanna. "Wait a minute… Wow, you sure look like you're a fighter now. All right, I think you better go meet Grubba. He's the promoter, and his office is just down through the hallway."

The Security Guard moved aside and Chopper and Vivian walked in and made their way down the hallway. They finally got to a door that said "Grubba's Office," with a Security Guard standing in front of it.

"What's that? You want to be a fighter, bub? Well, you look like the type of fighter with that red bandanna. All right, go on in. Mr. Grubba's just inside." the Security Guard stepped out of the way, allowing the two to go in.

Before Chopper could open it, however...

"Hold on Chopper. You can't go in there looking cute." Vivian informed. "You need to look tough to make sure that this Grubba person knows that you're a real fighter!"

"Oh... Well that makes sense!" Chopper made a battle face as he opened the door and went into the office. It looked very nice, with the shiny floor, the comfy chairs, a cabinet and a desk with a laptop. Grubba was right behind it, sitting on his chair. Grubba, however, was not happy when he turned his chair around to meet them.

"Who in tarnation are you, son?! And who let you in?!" Grubba guffawed. "This is Grubba's office yer in right now! Yep, that's me, Grubba! An' you, yer one rude dude, comin' in without knockin'!"

"No no, listen! I'm here to fight in the Glitz Pit! I mean, look at me! Hi-YAAA!" Chopper punched the air, but he stopped when he saw Grubba looking at him for a little bit.

"Well now, yer sure one heck of an athlete! So you wanna be a fighter?"

"Of course," Chopper nodded as dollar signs were in Grubba's eyes as he grinned.

"Hoo-WEE! That definitely changes a thing or two, son! I always got time for an up-an'-comer! Yep, this place is packed to the gills with young fighters, all primed and a-rarin' to go! I gotta say, son, yer a bit small and cute-lookin' fer my tastes, but I'm willin' to give you a shot. Now, play me straight, son: you wanna live the glamorous life of a champ, don'tcha?"

"You're dang right I wanna! Throw anyone ya got at me and I'll take 'em!"

"Hyuck hyuck hyuck! Now THAT'S an attitude of a fighter right there! All right! All right, son! I hear where yer comin' from, son, loud an' clear!"

Grubba walked away from his desk and he walked over to Chopper, facing the cabinet. "When I was just a poor pup, I didn't give a Pokey's patoot for fancy, big-city ways. But I jumped into the world of martial arts and fought my way to fame and riches! An' know what I realized? Bein' rich an' famous is diggety-dang DYNAMITE!"

"Huh..." Vivian trailed as Chopper began to doze off.

"Now, I can't mix it up in the ring no more, but I earned enough to set me for life. You readin' me here son? Dreams do come true, even if they ain't yours, exactly! Yep, that's the key, son! Dream big, and you'll GET big, that's the winner's way! And when you make it big, you'll look back at all those small-dreamers and LAUGH! You readin' me here, son?"

Upon hearing this, Chopper was startled as he quickly gave Grubba a nod.

"That's the spirit there, chief! Here, let's have us a little walk 'n' talk. C'mon now!" Grubba walked out of his office while Chopper and Vivian followed.

"Did you understand anything that he just said?" Vivian whispered. Chopper shook his head as Grubba led them into a room with a black carpet, presents over to the left corner and also a nice, comfy bed. But there was an air duct at the upper right corner.

"Ooh! This is really nice!" Chopper smiled.

"Yeah, I had a feelin' you would like this room, pard! Just feast yer eyes, go on! This...is the champion's room. Isn't it a sight? Deee-luxe! you become champ, and you get the key to this room! That ain't all of course! That's on TOP of the big money and screamin' fans! Yeah, no doubt about it, son! Apply yourself an' a life of wealth an' comfort awaits."

"Fans... That sure would be a lot, considering that no one really knows about me on my home planet."

The background flipped like a page of a book being turned as it showed a room with red and gray tiles, the Koopatrol from before was also in the room, along with a dark Koopa with a light blue shell, a Hammer Bro. and a Buzzy Beetle with a red shell and a spike. It was definitely a nice room, but it wasn't as nice as the Champion's Room.

"Now, uh, here we have the major-league locker room. A lotta contenders here! Whatcha think, son? Huh? Not exactly glamorous, but it's clean and comfortable. Totally sanitary, too. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I CARE about my fighters, darn it!"

The background flipped back to Grubba's office, where he happened to be back behind his desk.

"Man... That flipping made me dizzy..." Chopper trailed.

"Now... I'm sure you know this already, son, but there ain't but one world champion. Clawin' your way to the top an' takin' the belt to become champ ain't an easy thing..." Grubba trailed. "But that's the point, son! Wouldn't be worth it if there weren't no challenge! I can see you got the fire for it, too, pard! Just like when I felt it in a fighter named Gonzales! You got the eye of the tiger, there! I think yer gonna be champ, I can just FEEL it! Yer one of the few people that I've never been so sure about a fighter in my life! Sure, you may make the girls squealin' out fer you by yer looks, but yer skills out in battle will just PROVE how tough some cute people can be!"

Vivian began to think of the girls squealing for Chopper, but she tried to empty that out of her mind.

"Oh, hey, there's just one other thing left..." Grubba realized. "You gotta sign an itty-bitty contract to be a fighter. It ain't no thing, just take a second or two of yer time. Just jot your name here on this paper, OK?"

"OK, I'll sign it," Chopper walked over to Grubba's desk and signed the contract. Done!"

_"I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about this Grubba person," _Vivian thought._ "It feels like he's done something that no one suspects of him doing." _

"Best thing you ever done, son!" Grubba grinned. "Now yer Chopper? Ain't a bad handle... Still, I gotta say, pard, it lacks a little punch as a fighter's name, get me?"

"What? You don't like my name?" Chopper gawked. "Well, I gotta admit it's an odd name…"

"No, it's not a bad name. It just needs to sound real cool fer the fans! Now, lemme see, here... Coming up with a name fer someone like Chopper... Hmmmm... Bam! Hoooooo-WEEEEEEEEE! I got it! From now on, yer gonna be…the Great Contadre!"

"The Great...Contadre?"

"Hoo! Ain't that a beaut? Dang if that ain't a stroke of genius! A name that good comes 'round every five months! Yep, everyone will soon bow before the Great Contadre! Make me proud, son!"

"What does the name Contadre even mean? I don't think a name such as that exists…"

"Well, now that we got the business side outta the way... Jolene? Could you come in a minute, darlin'?" Grubba asked. A secretary Toad with pink polka dots on her cap and in red came into the room. Vivian almost recognized her.

_"What? I thought Jolene was hosting all the battles!"_ Vivian thought._ "This is odd… She doesn't even look like she even remembers what happened! Something's not right…" _

"Yes, sir? You wished to see me?" Jolene asked.

"Sure did, hon. Jolene, this fighter here is the Great Contadre, our newest risin' star." Grubba informed. "Be a peach and take him on down to the minor-league locker room, all righty?"

"Right away, sir. Mr. Contadre? If you would be so kind, please follow me." Jolene suggested as Chopper shrugged and followed her, along with Vivian, who seemed a bit confused.

"As you know, you are a contracted now, so you must abide by some rules," Jolene explained as they walked through the hallway. "First and foremost, what Mr. Grubba says, goes. Period. You must do what he says. Also, as per your contract, you cannot quit until Mr. Grubba releases you. There are many other small guidelines that I will explain as they become relevant."

The Security Guard standing by the door she was leading them to stepped out of the way and allowed Jolene to walk into the room. When Chopper and Vivian got a glimpse of it, they were both disgusted at it. A green Bandit, a Hyper Bald Cleft, a Bob-omb, and a Koopa Troopa with a golden shell were in the room. The tiles were a little ripped up, with the wallpaper being ripped.

"This place is disgusting! Why is this room all dirty and crawling with ants?" Vivian asked. She saw some ants crawling by and moved back a little. Chopper did the same thing too.

"Yeesh... What a pigsty!" Chopper gagged.

"Well, here we are. This is your locker room. You're starting in the minor league, of course, as you've just now started your career. If you don't like this dingy room, I suggest you work your way up through the ranks." Jolene walked over to the screen that looked like a Gameboy Advance. "When you're ready to fight, you just log on to this computer terminal here. Mr. Grubba will then decide who you'll match up against. You will have no say in this. Why don't you try it once? Walk up to the screen and log on with A. Then pick 'Reserve a match.'"

"Wait a minute… Jolene! What happened? Why is Grubba here? Weren't you hosting all of the fights?" Vivian asked. However, Jolene didn't ignored her and adjusted her glasses.

"Vivian, is there something wrong?" Chopper asked.

"Well... Maybe I should tell you some other time..."

Chopper shrugged and walked over to the screen and chose to reserve a match. At that moment, Grubba appeared on the screen to greet him.

_"Well, howdy Contadre! Ready to get yer fists dirty, huh?" _Grubba asked._ "There you go, son! Now I got a treat fer you: yer first battle's going to be against the Goomba Bros.! Don't worry 'bout them... They'll be a piece of cake! Just mop 'em up, OK, son? Hey, we wanna get everyone fired up, though, so appeal to the crowd at least once! You got any questions about detailed rules, just ask the lovely Ms. Jolene, OK, son? Well, good luck, pard!" _

"Wow, so you can just reserve a match by using this? This is pretty interesting." Vivian commented as Chopper adjusted his bandanna while Jolene began to give out a long explanation.

"OK, your battle is reserved. At this point, you just wait until Security comes for you. Fighting is pretty basic. The team that drops the opponent's HP to 0 first, wins. If you beat an opponent who ranks above you, your ranking will go up. Then again, if you lose to a lower-ranking opponent, your ranking goes down. Simply winning is not enough. When Mr. Grubba sets fight conditions, follow them. In this case, the condition is to appeal the crowd at least once. Fairly easy. If you satisfy the condition and win, you can battle a higher-ranked opponent next. If you get your rank up to 11th, you'll get a shot at the major league. That's all you need to know for now. Did you understand all that?"

"Yes, I got all of that," Chopper nodded.

"OK, good. For now, just wait until Security comes to get you, Mr. Contadre."

After waiting for a couple of seconds, a Security Guard came into the room. "Contadre! Match time! Follow me, bub."

"OK, Security's here to escort you to the ring," Jolene noted. "Try not to get completely destroyed out there."

"No worries! They're only Goombas! They'll probably fear me more than I fear them!" Chopper assured as he and Vivian followed the Security Guard out of the room to the ring.

Meanwhile, at the pit, five Goombas were at the right side of the square ring, while Grubba was in the middle.

"Squarin' off next, folks...are the Hoppin' Hardheads...the GOOMBA BROS.!" Grubba called out. "Aaaaaand... A newcomer with a hankerin' for punchin', hammerin' and eatin', the Greeeeeat CONTARDRE! The Goomba Bros. have been waitin' an' gettin' all het up for the fight! Let's check in!"

The crowd began to cheer as Grubba walked over to the Goombas. "How do, Goomba Bros.! How're y'all feelin' today? You ready for this fight?"

"Ha! Are you kidding, man? We're ALWAYS ready to bonk a fool or two with our heads!" the Goomba leader scoffed. "Who is this Contadre rookie? A cocky idiot, that's who! Waiting just makes us mad! We're gonna teach this tardy punk how to respect fighters with seniority! I think you oughta call an ambulance for him now, just to save time later!"

Grubba heard the door to the left open and saw Chopper come out along with Vivian. They began to walk over to the ring.

"Hot-diggety-DANG, fight fans! There's the Great Contadre now, stridin' on up!" Grubba cried as Chopper and Vivian got onto the ring. "I tell you, this little boy's got some guts, stollin' up late like he owns the place! Hoo!"

"Wow... Look at all of these people here." Vivian gaped. "I've never been in a place like this before..."

"Same here," Chopper agreed.

"OK, now, Contadre, listen up," Grubba began as he walked over to Chopper. "Lemme just explain the rules of the match real quick..."

"Have a bonk, you little punk!" the Goomba leader cried as it bonked Chopper in the head and took 1 HP out of him.

"Hey! That's not fair! You can't attack before the bell rings! You cheaters!" Vivian shouted as she clenched her fists and surrounded them in flames.

"Aw, quit crying, will ya? That was just a little welcome gift for the rookie! Where's out thank-you?"

Chopper glared at them, but since he had to appeal once, he simply waved to the crowd with a cute-looking smile. It made all the girls in the audience squeal, while the rest of the people began to cheer.

_"Man, I can't believe I did that…" _Chopper thought.

"Hey there, babe! What're you doin' with a rookie?" one Goomba asked, winking at Vivian. "You should just ditch him an' come with us! We're cooler than him, anyway! C'mon!"

"Sorry, but I don't go with cheaters. I already made a promise to help Chopper anyway." Vivian declared as she had her finger aimed at the five Goombas and struck them with her Fiery Jinx, defeating them easily. However, that attacked cost about 6 FP, but they won and got 5 Star Points.

"Uuuuuuuuuurgh..."

"The Great Contadre wins! Tell me, son, what was this first taste of victory like?" Grubba asked as he brought the mic over to him.

"Uh… I didn't even get to do anything." Chopper blinked. "I just waved to the crowd and then Vivian defeated them. But it was a complete joke."

"I'll tell you what I just saw folks: a whuppin'! This kid's got skills! We got ourselves a new hero! Let's hear it for him, folks! Yeah! The Great Contadre!"

The crowd began to cheer for Chopper and Vivian, who both smiled. Once that was over, they both headed back to the minor-league locker room, where Grubba and Jolene were there to congratulate them.

"Well, Contadre, that fight wasn't a total loss..." Grubba trailed.

"Of course it wasn't! They were EASY!" Chopper scoffed.

"Yeah, I do agree..." Vivian trailed.

"Yeah, but I think there was somethin' missin' out there... Listen, son, fighters gotta play to the crowd! You know, pump 'em up more! I'm hopin' you'll gimme more razzle-dazzle next time, huh? We understand each other? Good. I'll be on my way, then, Ms. Jolene here'll give you yer fight money. See ya!"

Grubba waved goodbye as he made his way out of the minor-league locker room. _"Y'know... I wonder if this new fighter's gonna be 'the one'..."_

"Here's your fight money, Mr. Contadre," Jolene said as she gave Chopper 3 coins, whose rank rose to 19. "The next fight will not be set up until you select "Reserve Match" on the terminal. You can also check your current ranking on the terminal's screen. Feel free to do whatever you like until your next fight. You have a nice day, Mr. Contadre."

Jolene adjusted her glasses and left the room, leaving Chopper and Vivian to sigh in relief.

"I don't know why, but she does seem a bit serious with her job..." Chopper trailed. "Kind of like a secretary..."

"Well, I think something's..."

"Yo, Rook! How was your first fight, dog?" the Koopa with the golden shell asked, cutting Vivian's sentence as he walked over to Chopper. "So you're the new fighter, huh? What do they call you?"

"Well, Grubba said I'm 'The Great Contadre,'" Chopper shrugged. "I know, it's a weird name if you ask me."

"Are you kidding? I think it's better than mine! The name's King K. here, man. I'm just a bush-league scrub like you. Good meetin' you, man. You look like a stand-up dude. I think I can hang with you. Even if many people call you cute, that bandanna sure makes you look cool."

"Oh, why thank you!"

"Hey, so, why don't you meet the gang, huh? This Bob-omb guy here's Master Crash." King K. noted as he pointed to the Bob-omb.

"Nice to meet you BOMB!" Master Crash greeted. "Well. Now that we've gotten to know each other, I will give you advice BOMB! As Ms. Jolene was saying, you'd better BOMB obey Mr. Grubba's conditions. If you clear the conditions and win, you get to fight higher-ranked foes BOMB! If you can't clear them, you BOMB end up battling a lower-ranked fighter BOMB! You can't climb the BOMB ranks fighting the bottom of the barrel BOMB-BOMB!"

"Yeah. My man's got, you know, some speech issues, but he's got good advice sometimes."

"Not just sometimes BOMB! My advice is ALWAYS useful BOMB-BOMB!"

"Riiiight, man, whatever. Anyway, this lean machine over here is Bandy Andy." King K. pointed to the green Bandit, who had been smirking the whole time.

"Heh. Nice to meet you. Especially your little girlfriend there." Bandy Andy smirked, eyeing Vivian.

"She's not my girlfriend..." Chopper trailed.

"Really? Then you wouldn't mind me... Oh, forget that for now. I'm not usually in here too often, but if you see me around, say hi. ...Oh yeah. If you sleep in the bed over there, your HP and FP will fully recover. It's not like the cushy bed in the champ's room, though: it doesn't refill Star Power."

"OK, cool, and this last guy with the sweet purple kicks is known as Cleftor," King K. introduced as he pointed at the green rocky being called an Hyper Bald Cleft.

"Grack! Cleftor no like make friend with pale green kid with antennas." Cleftor grunted as Chopper jumped up a bit.

"Easy there, Cleft-dog! Dude ain't the friendliest guy, but you get used to him. Anyway, that's the core minor-league crew, man! You need something, ask us. Oh yeah... I almost forgot. You and me gotta eventually square off, so good luck, man."

Chopper decided to sleep on the bed to refill his stats, but not his Star Power. The bed was pretty uncomfortable, but he was able to handle it. After the rest, he walked over to the screen to reserve a match.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre!" _Grubba greeted._ "Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well alrighty then! Lemme just see here... Yer next will be... Ranked 18 in the Glitz Pit… The KP Koopas! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to avoid usin' any of them special moves! I think the crowd's cravin' a nice, long battle at its simplest and finest! Now get in there an' don't go a-grandstandin'!"_

"KP Koopas?" Chopper gawked. "Does that mean..."

"Hey, dog… Looks like your next match is against me." King K. noted. "Good luck, man…to both of us."

"Oh… That's interesting… We're going against you." Chopper realized as the door opened right by him, which made him step back as the Security Guard came in.

"Contadre! Match time! Follow me, bub." Chopper and Vivian followed the Security Guard to the Glitz Pit, while another guard escorted King K. and his other two buddies to the ring. One of them happened to be a Paratroopa as well.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Shell Machines of Doom…" Grubba introduced. "Yep, a fight to the finish with the KP Koopas!"

"You're about to have a really terrible experience!" Vivian declared, clenching her fists.

"Meet my peeps, Contadre!" King K. grinned. "I told you we were gonna square off, and now it's ON!"

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATLLE!**_" the gong rang, and the fight began with Chopper using a take down move on the Paratroopa, knocking him down and dealing 2 damage.

Vivian finished off the Paratroopa that was knocked down with her Shade Fist, which dealt 4 damage and defeated him, knocking him over on the ground in defeat.

"All right, here it goes!" King K. got in his shell and tossed himself toward Chopper. But with a Superguard, Chopper tossed him back away, damaging him along with it. He even Superguarded his friend, too!

"Vivian, you finish off the second Koopa, and then I'll knock down King K.!" Chopper declared. Vivian nodded and sunk into the shadows and appeared right in front of the Koopa, punching him and sending him back with the Paratroopa.

"OK! Good!" Chopper stomped on King K's. head, who was knocked down. To finish it off, Chopper used a Vulcan Jab, knocking him back toward the others and rewarding him with 6 Star Points. He even leveled up and upgraded his BP to 9 now.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba cried.

"Looks like we overdid it a little bit…" Vivian trailed, looking down at the dazed Koopas. "Do you think they're OK?"

"I'm sure they are. Don't you worry." Chopper assured. At that moment, they left the ring to head back to the locker room. Jolene gave Chopper 4 coins instead of 3, and now his rank rose up to 18.

"Now, if you'll excuse me… I must be going." Jolene adjusted her glasses and left the room, while King K. walked over to Chopper to congratulate him.

"Hey, way to hand out a beatdown out there, man," King K. huffed. "You beat me, straight up. Could swing the other way next time, though, you know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I understand," Chopper nodded as he walked over to the screen to reserve another match.

"Again?" Vivian questioned.

"Yea, why not?"

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well alrighty then! Lemme just see here... Yer next will be... Ranked 17 in the Glitz Pit… The Pokey Triplets! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to avoid usin' any of them special moves again! I think the crowd's cravin' fer some nicer, long battles at its simplest and finest! Now get in there an' don't go a-grandstandin'!"_

Chopper waited for a little bit and a Security Guard came to take him and Vivian to the ring, where they saw three Pokeys waiting for them.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Spiked Terror Triplets…" Grubba introduced. "Yep, a fight to the finish with the Pokey Triplets!"

"We can do this, Chopper! They don't look so tough." Vivian assured.

"Go ahead… Touch usssssss… It won't hurrrrrrrrrrrrt…to muchhhhh…" the Pokey leader grinned.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATLLE!**_" Grubba shouted, which made the gong ring, starting the battle. Chopper was able to use his Vulcan Jab on them, since his quick punches wouldn't make him get hurt. Unfortunately, Vivian had to defeat them with her Fiery Jinx, because her Shade Fist would make her get hurt. At least they got 6 Star Points!

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Chopper jumped up, cheering, and Vivian was happy too.

"Man... That was way too easy!" Chopper declared.

"Well, let's not get our hopes up too high..." Vivian trailed. "This is the earlier fights. They're probably going to get harder later on..."

"Oh... You do have a point..."


	13. Battle For the Major League

Chopper and Vivian got back to the Minor-League locker room after defeating the Pokey Triplets. They were a little exhausted, so after Chopper got his fighting money, which was 4 coins and rose up to Rank 17, he slept for about fifteen minutes in bed, while Vivian was beside the bed, looking at Chopper.

"Heh. You sure seem to care about the little guy, don't ya?" Bandy Andy chuckled. Vivian turned to him and gave a nod.

"I know Chopper's fine, you don't need to ask," Vivian assured. "He's one of the few people that were actually very nice to me."

"Though, I don't get why you're fighting here. You're a girl, right?"

"Hey! That's such an unnecessary comment, Bandy!" King K. scolded. "You shouldn't be makin' any bad remarks on one of C-dude's buddies!"

"Errrr... Sorry 'bout that. I was just a little curious."

"Ummm... That's OK, I suppose." Vivian replied.

Bandy Andy looked down at Chopper and poked his red bandanna. "Man, he's lucky that he has that bandanna on him! Bandannas make you look pretty cool. Heh. You know what I'm saying, right, er…ghost girl?"

"You can call me Vivian."

"I mean, you and him being the champs in this place? Maybe that could happen. Heh. I could totally see you and him defeating the champ here!"

"Well, to be honest, there's a different reason for us being here. Do you know anything about Grubba?"

"Uh… Not really. He's just a great guy and all! I don't know why, but a month ago, he came back here with some kind of… I don't really know what it is, honestly. I can't remember what happened. Sorry, girl, but all I know is that Grubba did a good thing with setting up this battle arena. I just wish I can move up to Major-League. Heh. It must be AWESOME there!" Bandy Andy wondered as he walked over to the door to leave the locker room. "I gotta go head out somewhere. Sorry, but you can watch your boyfriend if you want - if he IS your boyfriend."

Chopper woke up and stretched. He was fully recovered by now. Thankfully, Vivian didn't need a nap because she already had full HP. King K. noticed that Chopper was awake and decided to go talk to him.

"Hey, what's crackin', Con-boy? You just finished beatin' down some poor fools or what?" King K. asked. "You lookin' good, man. The old King K. wouldn't mind a little bit of your luck, man. Yeah, that'd be nice."

"Hmmmm... Luck wouldn't be too bad, personally." Chopper smiled. "Maybe there's a chance I can quickly reach to..."

"Get in there, you!"

"Huh? What was that?"

"Sounds like someone got in trouble..." King K. trailed.

The locker room door opened up and Jolene came in with Bandy Andy. "How many times do I have to tell you: that room is absolutely OFF-LIMITS! If you want to remain on our fight roster, you must follow the rules. And don't think I haven't noticed you following me. Stop that, too. It's creepy. If you don't obey the rules, we'll ban you from the Glitz Pit. Understood?"

Bandy Andy couldn't help but snicker as Jolene left the room.

"Again, dude? Man, you just a MAGNET for trouble!" King K. face palmed.

"Heh heh heh heh heh... Sorry, King K. Didn't mean to bring Queen Nag in here again." Bandy Andy smirked. "You know me. I'm one to leave the place and cause a ruckus whenever I'm a little bored."

"Aw, don't sweat it, B-money. Jolene can take that 'tude of hers and shove it up her nose. Why you always chasin' that girl, anyway, man? I don't understand… Do you have a little thing for her?"

"Shut up, K! ...Now... If you folks will pardon me, I must be off." Bandy Andy quickly left the room, which worried Chopper a bit.

"Is he...a stalker?"

"Well... I'm not too sure 'bout that..." King K. trailed. "But if he bothers you or your friend, just come talk to me and I'll deal with him."

"Thank you," Vivian smiled.

"Well, there's not much we can do right now. I guess we might as well reserve a match." Chopper shrugged. He walked over to the screen and chose to reserve a match.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well alrighty then! Lemme just see here... Yer next will be... Ranked 16 in the Glitz Pit... The Dead Bones! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to avoid usin' any of them there Flower Points! Yeah, you heard me! Let's see how you do without none of them fancy-pants moves! Now get in there an' show me somethin', son!" _

"OK, let's wait for security," Vivian suggested.

"Of course," Chopper agreed.

They sat down on the uncomfortable bench and began to wait. After fifteen seconds, a Security Guard showed up to escort them to the pit.

"Contadre! Match time! Follow me, bub." Chopper and Vivian followed the Security guard over to the ring, where they found three Dull Bones.

"Oh, geez... It's all coming back to me two years ago, especially against those dead pirates..."

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Bone-Banging Rockers..." Grubba introduced. "Yep, a fight to the finish with the Dead Bones!"

"Don't worry, Chopper. I'll be right beside you. We can take care of them, right?" Vivian asked. Chopper smiled and nodded, turning back to the Dead Bones with his fists clenched.

"We're gonna take the skin off YOUR bones!" the Dead Bone leader cackled.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_" the gong rang and the fight began. They couldn't use Flower Points, but that didn't mean anything, because they only had 1 HP and a Defense of 1.

"OK, I'll show these guys what moves I have! C'mon!" Chopper ran toward the front one and used a Vulcan Jab, knocking it back. Vivian defeated the second one easily with her Shade Fist.

"Take this, Contadre!" the last Dead Bone, who was the leader, threw a bone at Chopper, hitting him right on the head.

"Hey! Oh man, now you're gonna get it!" Chopper used a roundhouse kick on the Dull Bones and knocked it down, which gave him 8 Star Points for the fight.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba shouted as the Dead Bones collapsed while the entire audience began to cheer.

"We did it, Chopper!" Vivian squealed.

"Yeah! That wasn't so hard!" Chopper smiled.

At that moment, they left the ring and headed back to the locker room. Jolene gave Chopper 5 coins for the battle and his rank rose to 16. After she left, King K. walked over to Chopper.

"Man, I heard you just KNOCKED some blocks off!" King K. recalled. "Not bad Double-Con-boy. You're the real deal, mean. The realest I ever seen. Keep bustin' heads! An' if anyone gives you lip, you just tell 'em King K said to back it up! Biz-OWWWW!"

"_**AIGH! HURTS!**_"

"Huh? What was that?" Chopper gawked.

"It sounds like it was coming from the hallway..." Vivian trailed as they heard some voices from the hallway.

_"Keep quiet."_

_"MY FOOOOOT!"_

_"Oh, you're fine. Just shut up."_

_"Apply pressure right there."_

_"OOOOOOOUCH!"_

_"Do we have a gag, maybe?"_

_"C'mon, get a grip, will you?"_

_"MOMMMMMMY!"_

_"Outta the way up there!"_

"Whoa. Sounds like some poor sucker just earned himself a trip to the hospital." King K. cringed. "Hey, man, this is brutal sport, sometimes, you know? This stuff happens."

"Yeah, I'm not one who likes to injure people, especially fighters here, considering that they're not evil."

"Should we go do another fight?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Chopper nodded as he walked over to reserve a match.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, all righty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 15 in the Glitz Pit... Spike Storm! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to let yer enemy damage you three times, OK? It's just so dang borin' when a match is too one-sided, you hear what I'm sayin' to you? Now get in there and kick some behind!"_

Chopper waited on the bench for his fight, and then after fifteen seconds, the Security Guard came in. "Contadre! Match time! Follow me, bub."

"What's with the guard's and calling me bub? I don't understand that one bit." Chopper wondered as he tightened his bandanna and followed the Security Guard to the ring, along with Vivian.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Midnight Spike-Bombers..." Grubba hollered. "Yep, a fight to the finish with Spike Storm!"

"Well this should be interesting, huh?" Vivian wondered as the opposing team gave them a glare.

"We're gonna spike-bomb you into submission, you little pipsqueak!" the Lakitu taunted.

"Get yerselves ready to... _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

"Oh boy… This isn't good. Chopper, that Spiny has a Thunder Rage." Vivian noticed. "We need to find a way to take him out before getting rid of the rest. But we can't exactly take them all out at the same time."

"How about… Earth Tremor!" Chopper smiled as he held the Crystal Star up and jumped on it with Vivian. He was only able to make it grow twice, and it stomped the ground, making the Spinies and Lakitu get hurt. The Spinies were defeated, but not the Lakitu.

"I guess I should just Appeal to the crowd. We'll get some more Star Power if I do that." Vivian used Appeal to make the crowd adore her, and then Chopper got hit by a Spiny thrown by the Lakitu.

After about two more hits, he walked over to the Lakitu and used an Air Kick, which sent it crashing to the ground, making it dizzy along with the Spinies, and earning 9 Star Points.

"We got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba shouted. The audience cheered loudly for Chopper, and a couple of girls from the crowd squealed like fangirls.

"Wow! We sure took care of them!" Vivian smiled.

They quickly left the Glitz Pit before Chopper could get glomped by anyone that tried to jump onto the ring and went back to the locker room, receiving 5 coins and rising to rank 15. Just like before, King K. walked over to Chopper as Jolene left the room.

"Hey, man, check this: I heard the Hot Dog Stand outside's gettin' a new menu item," King K. informed. "Yeah, sounds like it's some crazy Hot Dog made with an egg from a southern island. Some fool was even sayin' the Hot Dog'll help you win fights! You oughta snack on one!"

"Really? Hmmm… We should go check out the Hot Dog Stand, Vivian." Chopper suggested. She agreed and left the locker room with him to go back outside, but they ended up seeing a bunch of adoring fans that belonged to Rawk Hawk in the main lobby.

"Oh yeah! Unh! The fans LOVE me!" Rawk Hawk gloated as he noticed Chopper. "Hey, you! Yeah you! Minor-Leaguer! You probably wish that you were me, don't ya? You probably want all of these adoring fans screaming for your attention! Well, too bad for you, scrub! You'll never be as good as the Rawk! You don't got the guts to become champ! Look at yourself! I'll tell you this though: Rawk Hawk is number one!"

Chopper glared at him and smashed his way through the crowd with his hammer to get out of the Glitz Pit. Rawk Hawk, on the other hand, wasn't pleased.

"Hey! What gives you the right to hit my fans?!"

He ignored him as they went outside, but what they noticed was Mr. Hoggle chasing an egg around with blue, yellow, and hot pink polka dots. "No! Bad! So very bad! Behave yourself, egg! I can't let you wander around here!"

"What the heck?" Chopper gawked.

"No! Bad! Come back! Help! My imported egg escaped! Somebody, catch it!"

"Why is a pig running a hot dog stand? That's...terrible!"

"What do you mean?" Vivian asked.

"Oh, forget it... It's not like anyone cares anyway..."

Chopper tried to catch the egg, but it hopped away from him, which it kept doing every time he got closer. But after a while, the egg hopped on top of the truck and fell asleep.

"MOST AWFULLY BAD! Come down from there, bad egg! How am I supposed to get it now? FLY there?" Mr. Hoggle cried before he looked at Chopper. "You! Don't just stand there with your antennas! Find a way to get up there!"

_"ZZZZZZZZZZZ… ZZZZZZZZZZZ…"_

"Well, I guess this is our best chance to get the egg," Chopper saw a small blue ! switch by some blocks over to the right, so he and Vivian walked over there and hit the switch. Stairs were made and unfolded as they went down, allowing them both to go up the stairs and open a chest that contained a Power Plus P Badge, which is a Badge used for a partner.

"OK, I think I can see a paper airplane panel. Let's use it to get the egg." Vivian suggested. Chopper nodded and jumped on the spring to go onto the panel. He noticed the picture of Rawk Hawk when he jumped onto the panel.

Chopper turned into a paper airplane and he and Vivian flew over to the truck. Once they landed on it, the egg woke up and began to jump up.

"Huh? This egg… I think it's telling us it wants our help!" Vivian noticed. "It's a really cute egg! What do you think we should do, Chopper? It's your call."

"LET THERE BE HOT DOGS!"

"Chopper..."

"Hey! That wasn't me! That was the pig!" Chopper gawked as he noticed Mr. Hoggle's arms flailing. "I say we help the little guy. It's just not right to let this egg become a hot dog. Nope! It's not right."

"Good idea, Chopper! I think we can set him free, right? If…that's OK with you, pig person."

"Aww... Fine. Most people don't like eating stuff that jumps all over the place, anyway." Mr. Hoggle sighed as his head hung low.

"Cool! OK, little guy! You're free and clear to go! Bye!" Chopper smiled. However, he stopped when it hopped over to him and Vivian.

"I think he wants to come with us!" Vivian smiled as she clasped her arms together. "Awww… It thinks we're its parents! I think it needs us, Chopper. Don't you think so?"

"Uh… Yes, I suppose? You can come with us, little guy. Just…try and stay outta the way. We don't want you running into the ring and being attacked by anyone, don't you? Well you're more than welcome to join us!"

The egg went behind Vivian, who picked it up and headed back into the Glitz Pit. At this point, Chopper was wondering what was inside the egg.

* * *

**Minor-league locker room-**

"What now? What's this? I didn't know you were a father, Con-boy!" King K. grinned. "I never knew that your girlfriend could lay an egg! Congratulations you two! _Man, you're so lucky…_"

"We found this egg at the Hot Dog Stand..." Chopper trailed. "And no, I'm not a dad. I'm too young to be one anyway!"

"Well, the way you're takin' care of an egg feels like you're raisin' it."

"We're just watching over it so it doesn't get hurt. This could've been food!"

King K.'s grin changed to a frown. "Whoa... That's not good! I guess that was a good idea to take it!"

"Anyway... I'm going to go reserve a match." Chopper declared as he walked over to the terminal to reserve a match.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, all righty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 14 in the Glitz Pit… The Hand-It-Overs! Now listen, son: in this battle, __I want you to avoid usin' any of them there Flower Points! Yeah, you heard me! Let's see how you do without none of them fancy-pants moves! Now get in there an' show me somethin', son!" _

"Why does he keep calling me 'son'?" Chopper asked. Unfortunately, he got no answer as the terminal shut off. "Say, King K... You think you could make sure this egg doesn't get kidnapped or something while we're gone?"

"Sure thing, C-boy!"

A Security Guard came after fifteen seconds, and Chopper and Vivian were escorted to the ring, with the egg resting on the benches in the locker room. They saw Bandy Andy and two red Bandits and another green Bandit come up to the ring.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The grim Death Burglars… Yep, a fight to the finish with The Hand-it-Overs!"

"We're facing against Bandy Andy? Well that's interesting…" Vivian trailed. "Hopefully we don't hurt him too much."

"Heh heh heh heh heh! We're awful quick, awful agile…and just plain awful!" Bandy Andy chuckled.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

Chopper had two Thunder Rages, and he was never told that he couldn't use items. The green Bandits had 8 HP, so that could be a little tough for him.

"I guess I'll use a Thunder Rage," Chopper used his Thunder Rage, which made lightning strike the Bandits from above. The two red Bandits were knocked unconscious from the attack, while the two green ones were left with 3 HP.

"I'll finish one of the Bandits," Vivian sunk into the shadows and rose up in front of the green one, using a fiery punch to knock him down. Only Bandy Andy was left standing now.

"Heh heh heh. It's show time!" Bandy Andy rushed toward Chopper and rammed into him, making him drop ten coins. He chuckled as he held the big coin up. This made Chopper use his Vulcan Jab on him to make him drop his coins and bring him down to 1 HP.

"All right, Vivian! You can do the honors!" Chopper declared. Vivian nodded and punched Bandy Andy with her Shade Fist, knocking him down and giving Chopper 12 Star Points.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba shouted as the audience cheered for Chopper and Vivian.

"Wow, we did it, Chopper!" Vivian cheered.

"Yeah! I can't believe it!" Chopper smiled.

They headed back to the locker room, where Jolene gave Chopper 6 coins. His rank even rose to 14 as well. Once she left the room, the egg hopped back over to the two while King K. walked over to them.

"Hey, you hear the latest, C-dog?" King K. asked.

"Uhhh... No? What's the news?" Chopper asked.

"Well, my boys said they saw a STUNNIN' babe havin' a juice at the Fresh Juice Shop. King K could use a little shortie in his life, dig? Check her out for me, man!"

"Uh… Why me? I'm only ten years old... And I just want to be in a cleaner locker room instead of this place. Who even made this room anyway? Were people too lazy or something?"

"Beats me, man. I wish I could get outta this place too. I hear most of the fame's in the Major-League room. Wish I were there…but I like it here. All of my buds are here, and I thought I should just stay here instead of move on and be around people I don't know. But you, I think you have a chance at getting there."

"Well, let's hope... But for now, I think I'm going to rest up for a bit." Chopper walked over to the bed and took a quick nap to heal his HP and FP. Afterward, he decided to reserve a match.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, all righty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 13 in the Glitz Pit…The Mind-Bogglers! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to avoid usin' yer hammer! Not even once, son! I wanna see how you do when you ain't got somethin' to beat a fella with. Now get in there an' let's see some acrobatifyin'!"_

After waiting for a bit, the Security Guard walked into the room. "Contadre! Match time! Follow me, bub."

"Got it," Chopper nodded as he and Vivian followed him while the egg sat down on the bench again. They walked up to the ring to see a Pale Piranha, a pale-looking Puff Cloud, and also a pale-looking spider called a Pider.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Gray Entanglers... Yep, a fight to the finish with The Mind-Bogglers!"

"You're about to have a terrible experience!" Vivian declared.

"Prepare to be ensnared, mystified, and devoured!" the Pale Piranha hissed.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

Chopper was about to attack, but he noticed a Goomba in the audience holding a rock that was going to be thrown at him.

"Great… Hold on a second." Chopper got down from the pit and he used a kicking attack to scare the Goomba away. He then got back on the ring and did an Air Kick on the Pider.

"I'll finish this up!" Vivian declared as she used her Fiery Jinx and defeated them. Chopper got 9 Star Points and leveled up. He chose FP, so now he had 20 FP.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!"

"Looks like we overdid it a little bit… Do you think they're OK?" Vivian asked.

"Well... They're just a little dazed..."

Once they left the pit, they went back to the locker room, where Jolene gave Chopper 6 coins and reached rank 13. After Jolene adjusted her glasses and left, King K. walked over to the two. However, his positive expression wasn't there this time.

"Huh? Is there something wrong?"

"Listen, man... Keep it under your uh...glove, but I'm thinkin' 'bout retirin' soon." King K. whispered. "If I stay any longer...well, my future might get shorter, dig? I've been gettin' lots of bruises and injuries, an' it ain't helpin' me here. After next match, I'm gone. It ain't cool, man, that's for sure, but you know what? That's life, Double-Con-boy. Listen... You be cool, man. Promise me you won't forget you once knew the King K!"

"I won't forget. I'll make sure I remember you."

"Thanks… That means a lot to me, man." Once King K. left him be, Chopper decided to go reserve another match.

"Are you sure, Chopper?" Vivian asked. "We've been doing a lot of fighting..."

"Well, the sooner we rise up to a rank, the better," Chopper noted. "We can probably go into that nicer locker room."

"Yeah, I suppose that's true..."

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, all righty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 12 in the Glitz Pit... The Punk Rocks! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to avoid usin' yer hammer like before! Not even once, son! I wanna see how you do when you ain't got somethin' to beat a fella with. Now get in there an' let's see some acrobatifyin'! I know you can do it, son!"_

Chopper noticed that the egg was still sleeping, so he walked over to it and patted it. The Security Guard came and took him and Vivian to the pit, where they found three Hyper Bald clefts. One of them was Cleftor.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Green Torture Squad… Yep, a fight to the finish with the Punk Rocks!"

"Get ready to feel some pain, antenna!" Cleftor taunted, cutting Vivian's words before she could speak.

"Wait, I'm not afraid on you!" Chopper declared, getting in a fighting stance.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

Chopper started by using his Earth Tremor attack. He was only able to make the Crystal Star get big twice, but it was enough to take the Hyper Bald Clefts down. He didn't have anything else to use on them anyway. He was lucky enough to get 9 Star Points from the fight too.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!"

"Gee... That wasn't so hard." Chopper realized.

They were taken back to the locker room, where Jolene gave Chopper 7 coins, and also his rank rose up to 12 as well.

"Now if you'll excuse me... I must be going." Jolene said as she adjusted her glasses and left the room. However, there was one thing missing in the locker room.

King K. was no longer there.

"King K. isn't around here? Aw, that's a shame." Vivian frowned. "I wonder where he went after retiring. But we'll never find out, won't we? Or maybe we might actually find him... Oh well, let's just reserve a match."

"Yeah, kind of a shame..." Chopper agreed as he went up to the terminal and reserved a match.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, all righty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 11 in the Glitz Pit... The Bob-omb Squad! __Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to avoid usin' any of them special moves! I think the crowd's cravin' a nice, long battle at its simplest and finest! Now get in there an' don't go a-grandstandin'!"_

The Security Guard came and escorted Chopper and Vivian to the Glitz Pit while the egg stayed behind on the bench. At the pit, they saw Master Crash and three other black Bob-ombs at the ring.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Big Bomb Boomers… Yep, a fight to the finish with The Bob-omb Squad!"

"Bob-ombs? I don't think this should be a tough fight." Vivian said.

"Here we go, Contadre BOMB! I have advice! Just give up now BOMB!" Master Crash suggested.

"Not a chance!" Chopper objected.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

Once the fight began, Vivian finished the battle with her Fiery Jinx, making the Bob-ombs explode and fall over on the ground, giving Chopper 8 Star Points for the fight.

"Whoa... Not bad, Vivian!" Chopper smiled.

"Ummm... Thanks!" Vivian blushed.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba announced.

They headed back to the locker room, where Jolene gave Chopper 7 coins while his rank rose up to 11. After she left, the two noticed Master Crash looking a little glum, while Cleftor was right beside him.

"Is he sad because I won against him?" Chopper wondered.

"I'm not so sure..." Vivian trailed.

"It is quite lonely without King K around BOMB..." Master Crash trailed.

"No lonely... Him too weak..." Cleftor trailed. "Now him not here. Sound normal to Cleftor."

"You are in BOMB denial, Cleftor. I saw you weeping in that locker BOMB-BOMB!"

Their conversation was cut off when Jolene brought in a new fighter. Chopper's eyes widened when he realized it was actually a Waddle Doo holding a spear.

"What the... A Waddle Doo?!" Chopper gaped.

"You know him?" Vivian asked.

"Well... I know their kind. They serve a tyrant named King Dedede, that's for sure."

"Right this way, Waddler," Jolene said as Waddler followed her inside. "This is your dressing room. You're starting in the minor league, of course, as you've just now started your career. If you don't like this dingy room, I suggest you work your way up through the ranks. When you're ready to fight, you just log on to this computer terminal here. Mr. Grubba will then decide who you'll match up against. You will have no say in this. Why don't you try it once? Walk up to the screen and log on with A. Then pick, 'Reserve a Match.'"

The Waddler walked over to the terminal and reserved a match to find Grubba in the terminal.

_"Well, howdy, The Waddler! Ready to get yer wings dirty, huh? There you go, son! I got a treat fer you: yer first battle's gonna be against the Goomba Bros.! Don't you worry 'bout them... They'll be a piece of cake! just mop 'em up, OK, son? Hey, we wanna get the crowd fired up, so do a triple jab and fall over! You got any questions about detailed rules, just ask the lovely Ms. Jolene, OK, son? Well good luck, pard!" _

"OK, your battle is reserved. At this point, you just wait until Security comes for you. Fighting is pretty basic. The team that drops the opponent's HP to 0 first, wins. If you beat an opponent who ranks above you, your ranking will go up. Then again, if you lose to a lower-ranking opponent, your ranking goes down. Simply winning is not enough. When Mr. Grubba sets fight conditions, follow them. In this case, the condition is to do a triple jab and fall over. Fairly easy. If you satisfy the condition and win, you can battle a higher-ranked opponent next. If you get your rank up to 11th, you'll get a shot at the major league. That's all you need to know for now. Did you understand all that?"

"Of course," Waddler nodded.

"OK, good. For now, just wait until Security comes to get you, Waddler."

"Oh, gee... I wonder if that whole explanation was necessary..." Chopper trailed. "After all, we heard that last chapter."

"Last chapter?" Vivian gawked.

"Uhhh... Well, never mind..."

"Ummm... Hi guys." Waddler greeted. "Yeah... My name's Waddler. THE Waddler, I mean. Nice to meet you."

"Good to meet you too, I guess?" Chopper shrugged. "Don't you serve King Dedede?"

"Who's King Dedede?"

_"Whoa... A Waddle Doo that knows nothing about King Dedede? That's interesting!"_

Before Chopper could answer, a Security Guard came in and noticed The Waddler. "You. Yes, you. The Waddler. Time for your battle, bub. Follow me."

"OK, Security's here to escort you to the ring," Jolene noted. "Try not to get completely destroyed out there."

Jolene left the room along with The Waddler and the Security Guard. Chopper decided to rest before using the terminal, and once he was fully recovered, he went to the terminal to reserve a match.

_"Well, dog my cats! If it ain't the Great Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk! Hoo-wee! Yer gonna love this! Yer next opponent is... Ranked 10 in the Glitz Pit... The Armored Harriers! That's right! Yer darn tootin'! Yer finally gonna make a go at the major league, son! We're expecting great things from you, so don't you go a-lettin' us down, now! Now, listen, son: in this battle, I want you to avoid usin' any items! Empty them pockets! Real men don't need no trinkets to help 'em hand out a proper whuppin', you hear? No get out there and knock some heads the old-fashioned way, will ya?"_

A Security Guard showed up and escorted Chopper and Vivian to the ring

"Well, this should be interesting," Chopper smiled. "If we win this, we get to leave this locker room!"

"I can't wait to get out of there," Vivian smiled. "I enjoy a nicer room anyway!"

As the door closed behind them, the egg sitting on the bench began to crack.

* * *

**The ring-**

"And now... today's main event!" Grubba announced. "The major league awaits the 11th-ranked Great Contadre... But only if he can beat the 10th-ranked powerhouses... The Iron Adonis Twins! First, let's get the Red Bandanna'd Fighter in here, folks! THE GRRRREAT CONTADRE!"

Chopper walked out of the left entrance with Vivian and saw all of the people cheering for them. They were standing in awe at the entire crowd.

"Chopper... This is amazing!" Vivian gasped.

"Yeah, I know!" Chopper agreed as they made their way up to the ring. While they did that, they could hear a lot of comments from the crowd.

"CONTADRE!"

"Kick their iron tails!"

"Don't you dare lose, dude!"

"Love those antennas!"

When they reached the ring, Grubba walked over to them with a grin.

"Hooooooooo-WEEEEEEEEEE! The Great Contadre! How're you feelin'?" Grubba asked as he brought the mic over to him.

"Well..." Chopper began until he felt something come out of him. "BUUUUUUUUURP!_ Excuse me..._"_  
_

"Whoa, nelly! You heard the fella, folks! He's obviously itchin' to mix it up some!"

Grubba heard some heavy footsteps and turned around to see the Iron Clefts come out. Chopper saw two big Clefts that were blue. One had red feet while the other had green. They even heard comments from the crowd on their side.

"Good gravy!"

"Iron 'em out!"

"Whoa! Are spikes legal?"

"Hyuk hyuk! Your challenger is real confident, boys!" Grubba informed as the two Iron Clefts got on the ring. "Yep, he's talkin' trash... 'Iron Adonis Twins?' he said. 'More like Paper Dog-Face Bros.! ...And they stink!' And he said: 'I bet they just play video games an' cry when they lose!' Um, yeah, and then he said... 'Outie belly buttons run in their families! Stinkwads!' ...And so on. Yep."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" the Red Iron Cleft gaped. "How does he know Mom has an outie? That jerk! We're gonna blend you up into a smoothie, pal! And then we're gonna drink ya! Oh, and one more thing... Only smelly stinkwads call other people stinkwads! Understand, stinkwad?"

"Simmer down there, Bro," the Green Iron Cleft suggested before looking up at Chopper. "You! Stinkwad! You're gonna regret opening your yap, pal! See these bods? Solid iron. See these spikes? Yeah, they penetrate any substance. So basically, what I'm telling you is that whatever you try will be completely useless. Think that over in the very short time you have left with a functional brain."

"What? But I didn't even say any of that!" Chopper protested.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

At that point, Chopper and Vivian got in their fighting stance.

"We're gonna do it! We make the major league if we win! Get ready, Chopper!" Vivian suggested.

"Bluh huh huh huh huh... Give up now!" the Red Iron Cleft chortled.

"Well, stinkwads, you're about to learn about our skills the hard way," the Green Iron Cleft declared.

"Oh, yeah? Take this, Iron Clefts! Hi-YAAAAA!" Chopper used his Vulcan Jab on the red one, which didn't do a thing. Chopper gulped and stepped back.

"Uh… This isn't good. ...Wait, I think I have an idea!" Chopper turned around and fled from the battle.

"Chopper! What are you doing? You can run away now! Ugh…" Vivian sighed as she followed him, while the two Iron Clefts began to laugh at them.

"Bluh huh huh huh huh... See? Those two are complete chickens! We tried to tell you you couldn't hit us, but nooooooo..."

"If you want another piece of pummel pie, have a bath and come on back! Punk!" The two Armored Twins laughed at them while the people on the right side cheered for them.

* * *

**Locker room-**

Back in the Minor League locker room, Jolene gave Chopper 1 coin, while his rank remained at 11. After she left, Chopper noticed the egg is nowhere to be seen, leaving them shocked.

"Heyyy… Where the heck is our egg friend?" Chopper wondered. "Did he hop away? I suppose he didn't really need us, then."

"Yo!"

They stopped when they noticed a white Yoshi walk over to them. This Yoshi had a small yellow curl on his head and hot pink boots.

"Contadre! Check me out!" the baby Yoshi noted. "Thanks to you, I hatched safe and sound! Thanks, man!"

"Wait… You were in that egg we found?" Vivian gaped. "Maybe that curl of hair on you is something you got from me?"

"Probably now," Chopper replied.

"Well who cares about that? You guys wanna be champs, right? You want a Crystal Star? I heard it from you while I was in the egg! Yeah! Anyway, I gotta repay you for saving me from old Hoggle out there, so I'll fight for you! I can hold my own! I'll swallow any opponent whole! Just like you! Just leave it to me!"

"Great! I could always use a friend to help me!" Chopper smiled. "But… What's your name? You never told us your name."

"Huh? My name? Lessee... I just came outta that egg, so I guess I don't have a name yet. You seem fired up about it, so why don't you gimme one? Make it cool, OK? It better sound awesome!"

"All right, I'll try to..." Chopper trailed, pondering over a name. "...Well, you sure remind me of Yosho, one of my friends who lives on Yoshi's Island. But, since you look pretty small and tough… Hmmm… This might be a little tough to name you."

"How about we name him… What about Benny?" Vivian suggested.

"Nah, that won't fit. Ooh! I got it! I'll call you… **Scrub**!"

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Scrub, huh? Not too bad, dude. Not too bad at all." Scrub smiled. "Yeah… I like it. It sounds REALLY awesome! OK, Contadre… Let's get out there and do some damage!"

**The Yoshi is now your friend! He'll answer to "Scrub"! Press X to get on and off of the Yoshi! While riding the Yoshi, you'll move faster! Also, while on the Yoshi, if you press A, you'll float briefly in the air! In battle you can repeatedly bounce on enemies using his Ground Pound move or… You can use Gulp to inhale enemies whole and spit them out for massive damage!**

Chopper decided that he should upgrade Scrub, so he went back to Rogueport to get him upgraded so now his HP was 20 instead of 10, and his Ground Pound could do 4 damage instead of 2. His Gulp could do 5 damage, and he learned to use the Mini-Egg attack.

Once they returned to the locker room, Chopper reserved a match on the terminal to have a rematch against the Iron Clefts. However, he was told to appeal to the crowd at least once.

"Since you can only have one person helping you, I'll sit out, OK?" Vivian suggested. "You and Scrub will take care of those Iron Clefts! _I hope…_"

"Don't worry, Vivian! Contadre and I got this in the bag!" Scrub assured. "I may look small, but I'm a pretty tough fighter! I'll even prove it to ya!"

A Security Guard came and took Chopper and the baby Yoshi to the arena. Vivian sunk into the shadows to go to the front of the audience when the two reached the battle arena.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Iron Adonis Twins... Yep, a fight to the finish with The Armored Harriers!"

"You think you can take me and Contadre? HA!" Scrub scoffed, showing off his coolness.

"These ultrahard bods just can't lose!" the Red Iron Cleft declared.

"Get yerselves ready to... _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

With that, the fight began.

"Contadre! Lemme at 'em! We're gonna take these punks this time!"

"Bluh huh huh huh huh... Stinkwad's challenging us again. He never learns!" the Red Iron Cleft cackled.

"Looks like he brought some new, shrimpy partner...as if that's gonna help him!" the Green Iron Cleft scoffed.

"Oh, yeah? Well you show 'em, Scrub!" Chopper suggested after he appealed. Scrub nodded and walked over to the Red Iron Cleft.

"Eh? What in the world does he think he's doin'?"

Scrub used his long tongue to inhale the Iron Cleft and spat him out at his brother, hitting him right by the spike.

"YEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOWCH! You spiked me right in the... THAT REALLY HURTS! Our iron bodies and pointy nastiness are being used against us! Not fair!"

"Oh, dang, Bro! Has he discovered our weak points?"

The two Iron Clefts attacked Chopper, which both did 4 damage to him, but he was able to take it.

"OK, Scrub! Finish them off!" Chopper declared. Scrub used his Gulp once again and spat the Red Iron Cleft at his brother, making them faint in defeat. The battle rewarded Chopper with 16 Star Points!

"Oooooooooorg…"

"Do we have to go back to the minor league now, Bro? I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Cooooooooongragulations! Great Contadre! With this win, you made the major league!" Grubba declared. "Now, THAT, folks was what I call a wiiiiild an' wooly fight! A diggety-dang DOOZY! Keep it up, kid! You're goin' places, I can tell! Hoo-wee! C'mon, now, folks, give it up! We got a new major-leaguer! LET'S HEAR IT FOR HIM!"

The audience began to cheer for Chopper and Scrub as he let out a "Woo-hoo!" while they cheered. Vivian came up to the ring and hugged Chopper.

"You did it! We're going to be out of that disgusting locker room now!" Vivian squealed.

"Aw, YEAH! We did it, Contadre! We are AWESOME!" Scrub cheered as Vivian let go of Chopper.

"Good riddance too! The sooner we go up the ranks, the sooner we can get that Crystal Star!" Chopper smiled.

* * *

**Yes! The minor league is DONE! And we have our new party member, Scrub! Why did I name him that? Well I did that because originally, his name was Yoshi when I first wrote the fic, which felt a bit bland to me. I went with a name that would fit him, and I thought Scrub would do just fine because of his size. Oh, and he's a white Yoshi because they're rare, and that's one of the Yoshis I got when playing the game. Y'know, to make it interesting.  
**

**We start the major leagues next chapter! Isn't it exciting? I don't know, really.**


	14. Someone's Leaving a Threat

After the great battle between the Great Contadre, his fellow Yoshi, Scrub, and the Armored Harriers, Chopper, Vivian, and Scrub headed back to the minor league locker room, where Jolene gave Chopper 7 coins for the battle. They also went up to rank 10 as well.

"And, Mr. Contadre... Mr. Grubba wishes to see you in his office. Follow me, please." Jolene suggested.

The three looked at each other and shrugged and followed Jolene out of the locker room and to Grubba's Office.

"I'm sure we don't have to see that locker room ever again," Chopper assured.

"Good riddance... The major league locker room looked much more comfortable, if you ask me." Vivian sighed.

"I wonder if there will be any food there..." wondered Scrub.

"I wonder too," Chopper agreed.

* * *

**Grubba's Office-**

While they were going to Grubba's Office, Grubba was looking at a piece of paper he pulled out of the file cabinet at his desk. He began to grin, but he stopped when he heard the doorknob turning.

"Uh oh…" Grubba put the paper back in the cabinet once the door opened. Jolene led Chopper, Vivian and Scrub inside, who walked over to Grubba's desk.

"Mr. Grubba... I've brought Mr. Contadre, as you requested." Jolene noted.

"Muh-Muh-Ms. Jolene! You mind yer manners, now!" Grubba exclaimed. "We KNOCK 'round here, missy! Don't you remember 'bout that? Don't try comin' in here without knockin'! I was a little busy here, y'know..."

"I apologize, Mr. Grubba."

"Don't you worry yer pretty li'l head about it none. Now, what'd I want again? Somethin' 'bout Contadre..."

"I brought them here, just to let you know."

"Oh, yeah! Thanks fer remindin' me, hon! I appreciate that! Now then…" Grubba walked over to Chopper. "Contadre, you ol' so-an'-so! Lemme congratulate you, son! Major league already, huh? I had a feelin' you were goin' places, and DANG, I love it when I'm right! You just keep on puttin' tuckuses in them seats! I'm countin' on you, son. I got a special li'l somethin'-somethin' for you. Go on! Take it!"

He handed Chopper 30 coins, leaving him to gape. Even Vivian and Scrub were surprised.

"Thirty coins... Wow!" Chopper gasped.

"So, yeah, somethin' else that's been on my mind… Yer costume ain't cool. It doesn't fit too well 'round here..."

"I'm not even wearing a costume..."

"Oh, don't worry too much. It ain't no big deal, son, but hey. Someday, if you become champ, I'll get you a new one. Somethin' hot pink, maybe with some frills or somethin'. You'll look a sight, son!"

"Ick... That doesn't like like a nice costume..."

"Anyway, that's somethin' for another day, pard. Take a powder, OK?"

"Mr. Contadre, please follow me, if you would," Jolene noted. He and his two partners followed her out of the office and through the hallway to a different door. The Security Guard stepped out of the way and let them into the major league locker room.

"It's great to be in a nicer, cleaner room," Vivian smiled as they stepped in.

"This is the major-league locker room. You will use this room from this moment on. The match system is the same as the minor league... but the bouts are harder. Try not to get completely destroyed out there, OK, Mr. Contadre? Well, if you'll excuse me... I must be going now."

Once Jolene left the room, the three began to look around at the fighters. Unfortunately, no one came over to greet them, which left Chopper a bit baffled.

"What's the deal with these guys?!" Scrub wondered. "Would it kill these guys to show a little friendliness? Sheesh! They're not being respectful!"

"Yeah, tell me about it..." Chopper trailed until he heard footsteps becoming louder. "Hold on! I think someone's coming!"

When the door opened, the champ, or rather, Rawk Hawk entered the room wearing the champ's belt.

"Studly guy, coming through! Listen up, losers! I've been hearing some rising star tearing up the league..." Rawk Hawk trailed until he noticed Chopper. "Well now, look what we have here? You're that kid I saw in the lobby! Don't tell me you're the one! Yeah, you fit the bill, shorty! You seem to look like someone that's named 'The Great Contadre.' Well great my tail feathers! But seriously, I came all the way over here for YOU? Harharhar! What a waste of time!"

"Hey, you don't need to be coming in here and mocking me or anyone else here! That's pretty rude!"

"Of course I can! I'm the champ!"

"What's important is that I need that thing that's on your…" Chopper paused when he looked at the Crystal Star on his belt. He noticed it wasn't glittering like the Diamond Star. "Guys… Look at the belt. I think something's not right about it. It doesn't look like a real Crystal Star…"

"What's your deal, Contadre? Huh? Oh! The champ's belt…" Scrub walked over to Rawk Hawk to take a closer look at the Crystal Star on his belt. Of course, Rawk Hawk didn't like this.

"What in the... Hey! You! Get too close to the Hawk, and you might get RAWKED!" Rawk Hawk squawked.

Scrub turned back over to Chopper. "I'm not sure, but it definitely looks weird. Yeah, it's really odd. But I think you're right, Contadre! This belt is FAKE!"

"The Crystal Star is fake? Then…where is the real one? I'm so confused." Vivian said while Rawk Hawk stepped back, glaring at the three.

"Hey, you think you can just smack-talk the Rawk Hawk?!" Rawk Hawk gaped.

"No, we were-"

"I DON'T THINK SO!" Rawk Hawk cut in before glaring at them. "You got some guts, calling my belt a fake, you shrimpy, no-belt-having wimps! Didn't your momma teach you any manners?"

"Whoa, sorry, yellow dude! I didn't mean to rip on your big, bad belt!" Scrub apologized. _"Not like it's really bad. I think it looks good on a wuss…"_

"Stop making fun of me, punk! You're alive ONLY 'cause we ain't in the ring right now! You! Contadre! If I ever see you under those lights, I'll tear you apart! Remember the RAWWWWWWK! Of course, I think I can let your other friend go. Sorry, but sometimes attacking a girl isn't a best thing for me. But you remember that, Contadre!"

Chopper let out a sigh as Rawk Hawk slammed the door in anger. "Geez... What a jerk he was... He certainly doesn't rawk."

"Wow, I sure pushed that dude's buttons, huh?" Scrub gawked. "But screw him! If we don't know where that star is, then where could it be?"

"The map pointed right at Glitzville, so it MUST be here," Vivian noted. "If that's not the case, then I think there's something wrong with the map. If that belt on Rawk Hawk is fake, where do you suppose the real one is?"

"Hmmm…" Chopper pondered, but he jumped up in fright when he heard the Ice Land theme from Super Mario Bros. 3 playing. In fact, he heard it coming from his Mailbox SP.

"Chopper, is that your Mailbox SP?" Vivian asked.

"Mailbox SP? You mean the ones that were just invented?" Scrub asked. "The ones that can allow you to get mail in a portable than a computer? That sounds pretty cool! But why would it be going off right now? That song on there really sounds creepy…"

"Wait, how do you know about the Mailbox SP?" Chopper gawked.

"Sometimes you hear things as an egg."

"Oh..." Chopper whipped out his Mailbox SP and read the message.

_iF yOu WaNt ThE cRyStAl StAr, HeEd My InStRuCtIoNs._

_FrOm X_

"Who the heck is this X dude?" Scrub wondered. "He talks like he's the man to see about that Crystal Star. Why would he wanna help us out, though? This whole deal seems kinda wack..."

"We'll hopefully find out someday. For now, let's go reserve a match." Chopper walked over to the terminal and reserved a match. It was basically the same procedure as the one in the minor league locker room.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, alrighty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 9 in the Glitz Pit... The Tiny Spines! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to avoid switchin' partners out! Gotta go with who brung you! A fight to the end, side by side. Now THAT'S drama! Now get in there an' stand by yer pard!"_

A Security Guard came for Chopper after fifteen seconds. "Mr. Contadre, it's time for your match. Come with me."

Chopper nodded as he and Scrub followed him to the ring, while Vivian sank into the shadows to go to the front of the crowd to see.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Thorny Demons… Yep, a fight to the finish with The Tiny Spinies!"

"Lemme at 'em! Yeah! Bring it! You ready for a beating?" Scrub taunted.

"Wheeee! It's gonna be fun poking fun at you!" the Spike Top at the front grinned.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

Once Scrub used his Gulp on both Spike Tops, they were defeated easily, which gave Chopper 16 Star Points.

"Wow... That's all it took to defeat them?" Vivian gaped. "This might not be too hard at all...

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba announced.

"That all you got?" Scrub cheered as the audience cheered as well.

All three of them left the ring to go to their nice and clean locker room, where Jolene gave Chopper 11 coins for the fight, making his rank rise up to 9. After adjusting her glasses, she left the room.

"Well, there's not much to do now, right? I think we should go reserve a match. But first, I'm gonna want to rest for a little bit." Chopper walked over to the bed and began to rest for a little bit. It was much more comfortable than the other, that's for sure.

When he was done, he went over to the terminal to reserve a match.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, alrighty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 8 in the Glitz Pit... The Shellshockers! Now listen, son: in this battle, __I want you to win BEFORE you take 20 HP of pain! Our fans don't wanna see a battered hero win by the skin of his teeth, son! Now get in there 'an show me some grit, pard!"_  


A Security Guard called Chopper to go to the pit, and he and Scrub headed over to the ring. At the pit, they saw Koopas similar to King K., except these guys had light blue shells instead of gold. Their skin was a bit darkish grayish as well.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Turtles of Hurtle… Yep, a fight to the finish with The Shellshockers!"

"So-called Great Contadre! Don't think I'm gonna take it easy on you, baby!" The Shady Koopa leader scoffed.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

Chopper just used his energy blast attack, firing a ball of energy at the front one, which did 2 damage, while Scrub used his Gulp to hit the Shady Koopa Koopa and the other one on the ground. The one they attacked was left with 1 HP.

"This could be a little tough…" Chopper trailed. But he didn't take damage because he was able to Superguard their attacks, which defeated the front Shady Koopa. He finished off the other Shady Koopa on the ground with a Spin Kick attack.

"All right, I won't be able to do much here, but I'll probably be able to flip 'em over!" Scrub fluttered up over to the Dark Paratroopa and he flipped it over with a Ground Pound.

"Heh heh heh… Thank you!" the Shady Paratroopa grinned as it got in its shell and spun around toward Chopper - only to have him counter it by grabbing its shell and throwing it back, making Grubba surprised.

"Whoa, nelly! He sure is makin' somethin' interestin' happen here, folks!" Grubba shouted.

Chopper ran toward the Shady Paratroop and used a Vulcan Jab to leave it with 4 HP.

"All right, I'll finish this up, Contadre!" Scrub fluttered over to the Shady Paratroopa and used his Ground Pound on it four times to defeat it, giving Chopper 16 Star Points.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba announced.

Everyone cheered and the three left the Glitz Pit to go back to the locker room, where Jolene gave him 11 coins. After she left the room, Chopper was about to sigh in relief...until his Mailbox SP went off.

"Again?!" Chopper groaned.

"Contadre! You hear that? You just got another e-mail! See what it is, man!" Scrub shouted.

Chopper sighed in relief and pulled it out.

_gO tO tHe WaTeRiNg HoLe OuTsIdE ThE gLiTz PiT_

_FrOm X_

"Man, this guy seriously needs to learn better grammar..." Chopper face palmed. "I mean who puts capital letters randomly? But looks like we should go there. I'd give anything to know who this person is."

"I wonder why we need to head on over there…" Vivian wondered, but she noticed Chopper and Scrub left the locker room. "Uh oh…"

* * *

**Outside-**

"Hmmm… Water is some kind of drink…" Chopper pondered as they went outside. He began to look at a couple of buildings too. "Maybe it's the juice bar? We should go look over there!"

They walked over to the juice bar and the bartender noticed his arrival.

"Oh! It's you!" the Bartender realized.

"Wait, what?"

"You're Mr. Contadre! Yeah, you're the pale green kid I've been waiting for! Actually, you're pretty late... Somebody left a package and a note by the door a bit ago. The letter said: 'Look for a small pale green kid with antennas named Contadre and give him this.' The 'this' the letter was talking about is...this."

The Bartender pulled out a Super Hammer, which made Chopper jump up when it was given to him.

**You got the Super Hammer!**

The background changed to a light pink and a female Toad with a pink cap and white polka dots walked over to him.

"What the heck just happened?"

"Hey there! I'm **Toadette**!" greeted Toadette. "Congratulations on getting the Super Hammer! It's WAY more powerful than your old hammer! Plus, you can also use a wicked-cool new technique! Wanna learn about it? Sure you do! Let's practice! It's a little hard, but I'm sure you'll get it!"

"Uh… Wait, you're Toadette? But I don't know where I am! Could you please explain to me?"

"Whenever you get a new item, I usually come here to show you how to use it."

"Oh... I see now."

"This hammer is much different from before! You can use a brand new move with it! Hold down B and rotate the Control Stick until your body twists up. Then release B to perform your Super-Hammer technique! The key is to rotate a lot before releasing B."

Chopper brought his hammer down, and he began to twist his own body. Once he released, he spun around like crazy.

"Oooh, excellent, Chopper! That was so awesome! You want to try it again?"

"I'm good..."

"OK! Great! You've mastered the Super Hammer! With it, you can break giant yellow blocks and small and giant stone blocks! Not only that, but you can use the Super Hammer in battle!"

"Wow! A new attack for my hammer? That IS cool!"

"See you, Chopper! Good luck on your quest!"

Toadette left and the background changed back to normal. Not only was the attack power of his hammer stronger, but his abilities such as Fighter were also stronger, allowing him to do 4 damage with it.

"So far's I could tell, that hammer's a new model, the HAMMAWHACK 2005..." the Bartender noted. "Real nice hammer all around. Solid craftmanship, good grip, high bonkability. The commercials for this thing say that the hammer chooses its user... They aren't cheap, either, so whoever gave this to you must be a big fan. But... Why leave it in the juice shop? Doesn't that strike you as a bit odd? I mean, it's not like it's that hard to hand a gift to a pro fighter..."

"Wow, so some fan must've given this to me? That was…nice, I suppose. Thanks for giving me this!" Chopper smiled as he put away the Super Hammer, but then he heard his Mailbox SP going off. "Again? Sheesh! I should really turn this thing down!"

He opened up the Mailbox SP to see what it had to say.

_SmAsH tHe BlOcKaDe In ThE mInOr-LeAgUe LoCkEr RoOm  
_

_FrOm X  
_

"Well, you heard him! We need to go to the minor league room to smash that block!" Scrub suggested. "…Though I don't know WHY we need to."

"Ugh, I'm going to hate going back in that locker room. I hope it's not that long." Vivian sighed.

"We'll see what happens. Let's go back inside." Chopper suggested as he and his friends went back to the Glitz Pit.

* * *

**Hallway-**

"Lemme see the e-mail, Contadre! I wanna see what it says!" Scrub begged as he tried to get a good look at it while they walked through the hallway.

"Fine..." Chopper showed him the e-mail while Vivian put her arms on Chopper's head to get a good look at the e-mail. She noticed how badly typed the e-mail is too.

"You weren't kidding when you said that that e-mail isn't written properly," Vivian noticed. "Who would make an e-mail like that?"

They passed by the major league locker room and went over to the door to the minor league. The Security Guard happened to notice them coming by.

"Ah. Contadre, isn't it? I got the word that you wanted to move back down to the minor league again. Can't say I understand why. Anyway, go on in."

The Security Guard stepped aside and all three went in the locker room. As always, it was dirty and dingy as before.

"Ugh… It really smells like… Wait, I think it's coming from those Iron Clefts over there." Vivian noticed as she looked at the two Iron Clefts, who gave Chopper and Scrub faced.

"Someday we'll get 'em back, Bro! I swear that they're gonna witness pain when we face 'em next time." the Red Iron Cleft grumbled as Chopper walked past them. He saw the giant yellow block to the bottom left of the room.

"So this is it, huh? All right…" Chopper spun his Super Hammer and the giant yellow block got smashed. They found a bookshelf, and on the top of it was some kind of paper. They also noticed a broken computer and a shelf they could jump on, so Chopper and Scrub got up there.

"Crud, this gap is a little too far for me to jump," Chopper gulped. "Wait… Scrub! You can help me get over there, right?"

"Sure thing, Contadre! Get on my back and I'll flutter over this gap!" Scrub declared. Chopper got on him, which he didn't happen to find that heavy. "Y'know, you're not heavy! I think I'm fine with you getting on my back."

Scrub fluttered over the gap and got on the bookshelf. Chopper picked up the dubious paper and Vivian helped both of them down by extending her ghostly tail. They all looked at the paper, with Chopper holding onto it and looking carefully. Scrub even managed to get a look too.

"Whoa, Contadre! That's some scientific paper on the Crystal Stars! Who'd be investigating those things besides us? They even took pictures! Who'd leave something like this lying around? This just REEKS of funny business!"

"And this paper literally does reek!" Chopper added. "We better get out of here and look carefully at this paper. NOW!"

They left the small little area in the room, but Jolene came in the locker room and noticed them, making them stop.

"Uh oh..."

"Looks like someone's busted," the Red Iron Cleft snickered.

"This is going to be interesting," the Green Iron Cleft added.

"You again... Mr. Contadre, what are you doing in here?" Jolene asked. "This is the minor-league locker room. Major-league athletes are forbidden. Even if they weren't, it's hardly appropriate to bash down our walls, hmmmmm?"

"Well, look, Jolene... We were just..." Chopper was cut off when Jolene noticed the paper he was holding.

"What's that you got? A dubious paper? I'm going to have to confiscate that paper, thank you very much." Jolene took the paper from him and headed to the door. But before leaving, she said, "And go back to your locker room. You don't need to be here anymore."

"Aw, that's just great. She took the paper from us!" Vivian frowned. "Now how are we going to find information about the Crystal Stars?"

"I know, right? What's with that girl?" Scrub asked. "We busted our humps getting that information! Some people just gotta rain on parades! Well, at least we know the Crystal Star's here!"

They headed back to the major league locker room and all they could do right now WAs reserve a match, so that's what Chopper did when he went to the terminal.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, alrighty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 7 in the Glitz Pit... The Poker Faces! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to stand pat, OK? Do...not...attack...at all. The crowd loves yer partner, so give 'em what they want! Drive 'em bonkers! Now get in there and share the spotlight!" _

A Security Guard came to pick Chopper and Scrub up whileVivian went into the audience to watch the fight. They saw two metallic enemies covered in spikes called Bristles, and they both gulped when they saw them.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Ultimate Weapons… Yep, a fight to the finish with The Poker Faces!"

"Lemme at 'em! Yeah! Bring it! You ready for a beating?" Scrub taunted.

"Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo! You're gonna be coleslaw, kid! And that ain't good!" one of the Bristles cackled.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

The enemies had 2 HP and a defense of 4. Not only that, but using a hammer or jumping on them wouldn't work. Getting close to them would make their spears attack them, and jumping on them will make them take damage.

"Whoa, I don't think this is going to be easy…" Chopper tightened his bandanna and waved to the crowd, making people adore him, and squealing could also be heard by some girls.

"Aw, crud! None of my attacks are going to help us here!" Scrub sulked until he checked the items they had. "Wait, I think you might have a POW Block. Lemme try that!"

"Go for it."

The baby Yoshi used a POW Block and block with a POW appeared over he him. Once he hit it, the Bristles were knocked down, giving Chopper 8 Star Points for the fight. He leveled up and chose to upgrade his HP, now having 25 HP.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba announced.

"Is that the best you got?" Scrub grinned.

"I know, right? I thought we were goners!" Chopper smiled.

"CONTAAAAAAAAAAAAADRE!"

"Wait... I know those voices..."

The Iron Clefts looked pretty angry as they jumped onto the ring, kicking the Bristles out of the way. Grubba himself was a little surprised.

"What? The Iron Clefts just walked right in to attack Chopper?" Vivian gasped. "That's not right…"

"Whoa, nelly! I don't believe my eyes, folks! The Iron Adonis Twins are in a rage!" Grubba gaped.

"Oh, come on... Do we REALLY need to fight you guys again?" Chopper groaned as he got in a fighting stance.

"Yeah! I know!" Scrub agreed.

"You made us looks like suckers the other day, and now you're gonna pay for it!" the Red Iron Cleft exclaimed. "Awww... A little tired from your match, Great Stinkwad? Too bad! Prepare for pain!"

The gong rang, and Chopper started with his Appeal, while Scrub used his Gulp to attack both Iron Clefts and leave them with 1 HP.

"YEEEOW! That hurts!"

"You know, bro... I DID tell you this would be a bit risky..."

The good news was that Chopper was able to Superguard their attacks, but it didn't do any damage to them. But one last Gulp from Scrub finished the job. The battle gave them 12 Star Points as well.

"Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuurgh... We lost, after all that... We reek."

"Hoooooooo-WEEEEEEEEEE! That's our Great Contadre, friends and neighbors!" Grubba grinned. "Kid don't even blink when the Iron Adonis Twins barge in and attack! Woo! Tough! He's too dang tough! Yeah, this kid is only bound for bigger things, folks! Until next time, everyone... See ya!"

* * *

**Major league locker room-**

Back at the locker room, Jolene gave Chopper 12 coins, and also his rank rose to 7. Jolene left after that, and everyone heard the Mailbox SP going down. Even the Dark Koopatrol, known as the Koopinator, could hear it.

"You. Contadre. Turn that down." the Koopinator suggested.

"All right, sorry about that. Let's see what it says. It better be important." Chopper took out his Mailbox SP and opened it to read the message.

_Keep sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong and you are D-E-A-D M-E-A-T._

"Man, THAT dude sounds peeved!" Scrub gaped. "I'm thinking that isn't our X buddy. Who would send something like that?"

"I don't know... Probably someone who doesn't like us... Hmmmmm..." Chopper pondered for a minute, trying to think of someone who dislikes him. "...Maybe Rawk Hawk?"

"Well we can't just jump to a conclusion right now..." Vivian trailed.

"Yeah, I guess so," Chopper walked over to the terminal and reserved a match.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, alrighty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 6 in the Glitz Pit... The Fuzz! Now, listen, son: in this battle, I want you to avoid usin' any items! Empty them pockets! Real men don't need no trinkets to help 'em hand out a proper whuppin', you hear? No get out there and knock some heads the old-fashioned way, will ya?"_

A Security Guard came into the locker room for Chopper. "Mr. Contadre, it's time for your match. Come with me."

Chopper and Scrub followed him to the arena, where they saw a black Fuzzy, a green one called a Green Fuzzy, and a pink one called a Flower Fuzzy. From what Chopper could see, it didn't look like Scrub would be helpful.

"Uh… Vivian, maybe you can help here." Chopper suggested..

"OK, Chopper," Vivian went up to the ring while Scrub stayed back. At this point, Chopper began to remember how much he hated Fuzzies two years ago.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Bottomless Vacuums… Yep, a fight to the finish with The Fuzz!"

"Meeeeork! Meeeeeeork! We'll suck your SOULS! MEEEEEORK!" the Fuzzy shouted.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

Up in the upper audience, two Phis disguised as Toads were watching the fight. They saw Vivian use her Fiery Jinx to defeat the Fuzzy and allow Chopper to use a kick attack on the Flower Fuzzy.

"Interesting… So Chopper's fighting in this battle arena." one Phi noted. "Maybe our time to shine will come soon, once they're gone."

The Green Fuzzy just sucked 3 HP away from Chopper right now, so he used his Vulcan Jab on the Green Fuzzy to defeat it. They were rewarded with 12 Star Points.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!"

"Woo hoo! We did it!" Chopper cheered.

"_**HOOOOOLD IIIIIIIIIT!**_"

"Oh, what now?!" Chopper wondered. However, his annoyed looked changed to a gape as he saw two Phis hover down, removing their disguises. Vivian was shocked as well.

"It's that robot!" Vivian gasped. "But...there's two?"

"Whoa, nelly! What do we have here? Folks, it looks like we got ourselves some robots who want a piece of the Great Contadre!" Grubba announced.

"What do you want?" Chopper asked as he got in a fighting stance.

"Look, we came here for a reason, and we're not letting it go down to waste," the first Phi explained. "We're the Phis, and we serve Master Gemerl! He wants those Crystal Stars, and we're going to get them for him! First we're going to kick your butt, and then we're going to blow this place up once the Crystal Star is in our hands!"

"And there's nothing you can do to stop us!" the second Phi declared. "Now watch us as we kick you around like the little scrub you are!"

"Hey! That's my name!" Scrub shouted as he jumped into the ring. "And don't you DARE talk to the Great Contadre like that! I know he's young as a father, but I'm gonna make him proud!"

"Hey, who's this little pipsqueak?" the first Phi wondered before pounded on the head four times by Scrub, while Chopper used a Vulcan Jab on it next, knocking down the Phi.

"Gah!" the Phi standing scanned Chopper and then used a Vulcan Jab on him, leaving Chopper confused.

"What the… How can a Phi use my own attack? ...Well, I don't want to get into questions right now. Let's finish them!" Chopper used his Vulcan Jab on the Phi and then Vivian finished it off with a Shade Fist, giving them 10 Star Points.

"Urgh… Retreat! Retreat!" the Phis quickly flew out of the Glitz Pit and broke a small part of the ceiling while at it.

"I don't believe it, folks! This kid's got more guts than ever! Hooooooo-WEEEEEEE!" Grubba grinned. "Now that's a fight that I've been wantin' to see! Havin' his friends work together to beat down those robots. Hot-diggity-DANG! Until next time, folks! See ya soon!"


	15. Bowser's Attempted Revenge

Back in the major league locker room, after their fight against the Fuzzies and those Phis, Chopper got 13 coins from the fight, and his rank rose to 6. They were not too far from being the champs now. Once Jolene left the room, they saw something on a small, tall table near the benches. Cake. Sweet, delicious, yummy cake. It had a strawberry on it too, and it looked delicious. Chopper and Scrub were drooling over the cake.

"Hey. You. Contadre. Jolene brought you a piece of cake. From a fan, I guess." the Koopinator informed. "I saw her bring it in here. She told me to tell you that it's for you. So help yourself."

"Oh, man! I've been DYING to eat something sweet and delicious ever since I was in that egg! Man, this is going to be DEEEEEELICIOUS!" Scrub used his long tongue to grab the cake, but Chopper inhaled it, recovering all of his HP, FP, and SP. "Aw, man! Why'd you have to eat that cake? I wanted a piece of it too!"

"Well, I don't think you need it..." Chopper trailed.

"Well I'm hungry!"

Chopper noticed Scrub's stomach growling. "Hmmmmm... OK, I guess I'll get you something. Do you want something, Vivian?"

"I'm not hungry, so I don't need anything," Vivian assured.

"OK, I'll be back."

Chopper took off, and after five seconds, he returned with a hot dog with ketchup and mustard on it.

"Here you go, Scrub. If you're hungry, have this instead. I wish I could find some candy, but sadly, I couldn't. Maybe we'll be able to find some…like at Dream Land. Yeah… That could work."

"Thanks, man! I knew you'd do something for me!" Scrub chomped down on the hot dog and felt a lot better.

"I think we should go reserve a match right now," Vivian suggested. "There's nothing else we can do anyway."

Chopper nodded and walked over to the terminal to reserve a match for them. "I bet we'll all want a break after we're done with the Glitz Pit..."

"Yeah, I agree."

"What're ya talking about? I could do this all day!" Scrub declared.

"Heh heh... I don't know why, but sometimes you remind me of myself." Chopper smiled.

"Well, I kinda like your personality."

"Oh."

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, all righty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 5 in the Glitz Pit... The Magikoopa Masters! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to avoid switchin' partners out! Gotta go with who brung you! A fight to the end, side by side! Now THAT'S drama. Now get in there an' stand by yer pard!" _

"OK… So I guess you can help me, Scrub. This won't really be hard anyway." Chopper assured. Scrub smirked and did a pelvic thrust. A Security Guard came to escort the two to the ring, while Vivian did the usual: watch the fight.

There were three Magikoopas at the ring. There was a Red one, a White one, and a Green one on a broomstick. They all had 7 HP, which didn't look too bad for them.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Underworld Servants… Yep, a fight to the finish with The Magikoopa Masters!"

"You think you can take me and Contadre? HA!" Scrub scoffed.

"You, fool, would do well to fear our dark magic..." the Red Magikoopa trailed.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

The fight began, with Chopper attacking the Red Magikoopa with a Vulcan Jab. This one could boost enemies' attack by 2 by making them bigger.

"All right, time to finish this one off!" Scrub fluttered over to the Red Magikoopa and used his Ground Pound to take him down. The White Magikoopa just healed himself, which did nothing, while the Green Magikoopa fired magic at Chopper, hitting him dead on.

"OK, let's take out the White one now," Chopper took out his hammer and brought it down on the White Magikoopa, and then Scrub finished him off with his Ground Pound. The Green Magikoopa scowled and fired magic at Scrub, only to Superguard it.

"I'd rather attack this Magikoopa on the ground, so you attack it first, Scrub," Chopper stepped aside and let Scrub flutter over to the Green Magikoopa to bring him down, and then Chopper punched him multiple times to defeat it, giving them 13 Star Points.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba announced.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! How'd that floor taste?" Scrub scoffed.

"Well at least we managed to win that!" Chopper smiled.

"YOOOOOOOOOOOU!"

"Oh, great... ANOTHER person after me..."

Chopper gasped when he saw Bowser stomp his way through the crowd and jump into the ring. However, unlike the other two fights, he seemed more surprised by this. Vivian got into the ring to join him.

"Whoa! Another fighter's stormin' in, screamin' his fool head off about somethin'!" Grubba gaped. "Contadre has lots of foes, folks! Some who don't even know his name! Will he live?"

"Word on the street was that some little doofus with antennas was in Glitzville...and lookee here!" Bowser explained. "I swore that I would get back at you one day after you humiliated me back in Star Haven, and I didn't forget it!"

"What? You STILL remember me?" Chopper gaped as he tightened his bandanna. "I was hoping that you would forget about me! You didn't give up, didn't you?"

"Oh, the great Koopa King NEVER gives up! Now's my chance to take you down while I can! And talk about perfect timing! Now all these folks get to watch me murdalize you!"

"Great, we got another fight ahead of us!" Scrub groaned.

"Gwaaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha! I am gonna DESTROY you! And I have witnesses." Bowser looked down at the crowd, who were booing at him. "Oh, SHUT UP! I'll roast you if you continue that!"

**Tattle: **_That's Bowser, the so-called "King of Koopas." Hold on, what the heck is he doing here? Max HP is 30. Attack is 3. Defense is 1. He'll ground pound you and he might disable one of your abilities for a couple of turns, and his fiery breath can hit you and your partner. There's a chance you could get burnt! Don't try jumping on him, because he's got a defense point. Just attack him with anything else you got and you might be able to win this. But what's he doing here? This makes no sense at all!_

"He's got defense? Aw, man! My Ground Pound's not going to do a thing!" Scrub whined. Chopper decided to attack Bowser with a Vulcan Jab, and then he let Vivian use her Shade Fist to burn him.

"I've got some brand new moves to show you, Chopper! Like THIS!" Bowser got in his shell and was surrounded by flames. He tossed himself toward Chopper, but he was lucky to guard the attack. At least the burn status did something when Bowser took damage from it.

Chopper decided that kicking his face would be a good idea, so he used his Air Kick on Bowser, leaving a couple of bruises and angering him. Everyone began to cheer for Chopper until Bowser used his fire breath on some of the audience watching.

"_**QUIET! ALL OF YOU!**_" Bowser roared. He was too distracted and got punched by Vivian's Shade Fist, making him bring his attention back to Chopper.

"Oh, you want some too? All right!" Bowser unleashed his fiery breath upon Chopper and Vivian, which did 3 damage to them. Luckily, it didn't burn them.

"Wow... I think he's stronger than your sisters..." Chopper groaned.

"Well, I don't know about that..." Vivian trailed.

"I'm gonna take you down!" Scrub declared as used his Gulp to inhale Bowser and spat him out. The Koopa King quickly shook himself.

"Ooog… I didn't like it in there." Bowser moaned. He didn't see Chopper punch him in the belly, unfortunately..

Bowser knocked Chopper away with a flaming punch. Unfortunately, that was enough to burn him and make BOTH of them take damage from the burn status on them. Vivian helped Chopper up, who rubbed his head from the attack.

"All right… We can still finish this up. He's only got 8 HP left." Chopper charged up a ball of energy and hurled it at Bowser.

"After this punch and another attack, we'll have him defeated!" Vivian informed as she sunk into the shadows and appeared right in front of Bowser to punch him with her fiery fist, burning him once again.

"Owf! Well, I'd expect nothing less from you, Chopper! Figures you'd get some licks in!" Bowser cringed as he walked over to Chopper and used his ground pound on him, preventing him from using his hammer.

"Great… I can't use my hammer. Oh well, I'll finish this!" Chopper ran toward Bowser and used a Rising Break attack, which did about 5 damage.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" the defeated Bowser fell to the ground, giving Chopper 20 Star Points for the victory.

"Oh, yeah! We did it!" Chopper smiled.

"He wasn't as tough as I thought!" Scrub scoffed.

"You only attacked him once, though..." Vivian noted.

"Well... It was still awesome..."

"Gruuuuuuuuuuurgh..." Bowser moaned as stars circled around his head.

"Hoo! That's our Contadre! He don't even bat an eye when some nut ambushes him!" Grubba smirked. "Tough! Yer too tough, son! And yer only gonna get tougher! Stayed tuned, folks! Until next time, everyone... See ya!"

* * *

**Major league locker room-**

Back at the locker room, Chopper received 13 coins from Jolene, and his rank rose up to 5. Once she left, the three heroes were left confused after their battle.

"I don't understand why Bowser was there," Vivian wondered. "Have you had any conflict with him? He did mention something about Star Haven..."

"I fought him two years ago and ended up winning," Chopper explained. "Being the guy who usually forgot things, I was hoping he would forget about me. I guess I was wrong."

"But ya do like fighting him, right?" Scrub asked.

"Oh, yeah. I kind of enjoyed that fight, honestly. I'm going to take a quick nap before reserving another match. I wanna get myself healed up first."

After taking a quick nap, Chopper went over to the terminal to reserve a match.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, all righty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 4 in the Glitz Pit... Craw-Daddy! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to __avoid usin' yer hammer! Not even once, son! I wanna see how you do when you ain't got somethin' to beat a fella with. Now get in there an' let's see some acrobatifyin'!"_

They waited for a Security Guard to come, and then they were taken to the arena, where they found only one enemy standing in front of them. It was a Dark Craw, which are people that tend to guard places with spears in their hands. The dark blue skin showed that it was a Dark Craw.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Dark Gatekeeper… Yep, a fight to the finish with Craw-Daddy!"

"Whoa, look at this guy! He looks REALLY tough…" Scrub gaped. "But what am I complaining about? I think we can take him!"

"_**Foolish mortals… I will drag you through the gate to the netherworld!**_" Craw-Daddy hissed.

"Well he sounds pretty…creepy." Chopper gulped.

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

Chopper noticed that he had 20 HP and an Attack of…_6_!

"HOLY…! Look at this guy's attack! SIX? That is WAY too much!" Chopper gaped. He wasn't even going to jump on this guy's head because of his spear pointing up. He couldn't use his hammer, but he could use his Fighter ability.

Chopper decided to start off with a Rising Break so he could deal 6 damage, while Scrub used his Gulp on Craw-Daddy. This left him with…9 HP.

"Whoa! This isn't good! Er, I mean… _**You're going to wish you've never done that.**_" Craw-Daddy brought his spear toward Chopper and rammed right into him, leaving chopper with 19 HP.

"Oh, man! That's not good! Wait… He's got 9 HP left. We're…going to take him down this turn? Wow." Chopper used a Spin Kick on Craw-Daddy, and Scrub finished it up with his Gulp, giving them 15 Star Points.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba announced.

"Is that the best you got?" Scrub taunted.

They returned to the locker room, where Jolene gave Chopper 14 coins, and also his rank rose to 4. After realizing this, Chopper ended up smiling.

"Rank 4... We're getting close to the end, guys!" Chopper smiled until he let out a yelp when his Mailbox SP went off.

"Chopper! It must be that X person!" Vivian gasped. "…Or maybe it could even be that person who threatened us."

"Let's see. I WISH I could change the music on this thing. It's creeping me out!" Chopper pulled out his Mailbox SP to read the message.

_gO tO tHe TeLePhOnE bOoTh OuT oN tHe PaViLiOn_

_FrOm X  
_

"Oh, it's that X person. Thank goodness! I wonder who gave the threatening letter…" Chopper sighed. "Anyway, we better go back outside. I think there's something at the telephone booth we saw."

They left the locker room, but they noticed Rawk Hawk was near the locker room with his belt on, who noticed them come out. It looked like he was actually waiting for Chopper, unlike before.

"Contadre! Good timing, you skinny little punk." Rawk Hawk grinned. "Uncle Rawk Hawk's got some advice for ya."

"Advice? What kind of advice? Oh, forget it. Just tell me already." Chopper suggested.

"If you keep stealing the spotlight from me, you're gonna enter a world of hurt! Quit making such a splash, if you value your puny life! Harharharharharharhar!" Rawk Hawk quickly went back into the champion's room, chortling.

"Hey! Who does that guy think he is, threatening us?" Scrub growled. "Hold on a sec… Threatening us… Maybe that threatening e-mail really did come from that chicken! Contadre! We better be careful next time we see him!"

They headed outside and saw at the telephone booth, a Storage Key.

"What's this doing here? Who left it here?" Chopper wondered as he grabbed it, but he was interrupted by another e-mail. So he took out his Mailbox SP again and read the message.

_gO tO tHe StOrAgE rOoM nExT tO gRuBbA's OfFiCe_

_FrOm X  
_

"Umm… Now we need to go to some storage room? This is getting very confusing…" Vivian trailed.

"Tell me about it," Scrub agreed as they walked back into the main lobby and they noticed a poster with Chopper on it.

"Well it's about TIME I get some love around here!" Chopper smirked. After that, they walked into the hallway to see Jolene and a Security Guard by a locked door. That must be the storage room.

"So you're telling me that you have no idea who got inside?" Jolene concluded. "What do we pay you for?"

"I'm awfully sorry, Ms. Jolene," the Security Guard apologized. "I heard a noise in there, but I couldn't find nothing... Maybe it was a little mouse, but I don't know."

"Hmph. Fine, leave the rest of this matter to me. Go back to your post. And listen to me carefully: do not EVER tell anyone of this or I'll have your job. I swear that I will."

The Security Guard walked away and left the hallway while looking nervous. Jolene saw Chopper, Vivian, and Scrub, so she walked over to them, trying her best not to look unprofessional.

"You! Mr. Contadre, this is highly inappropriate! What business do you have here? Please, I must ask you to stay out of places where you have no business being."

"Uhhhh... OK?"

Jolene quickly left before another comment could be made, leaving the three confused.

"What's her problem? We were just walking by and she just tells us to stay out of places where we don't belong!" Scrub gawked. "Oh, forget her, Contadre! Let's just go into that storage room just like X said!"

Chopper took out the storage key and unlocked the door. They were hoping to find something of importance inside.

* * *

**I don't know why, but I like Craw-Daddy for some reason. It reminds me of a weird but funny character my friend thought of... No, I won't tell you what the character's name is. But at least we had a Bowser fight!**

**Oh, and there's an important thing I have to say. I won't be uploading any chapters tomorrow and Saturday. Maybe I can update Sunday, but I'm not keeping any promises. I'm going somewhere, so I won't have a computer to work on this. Thank you.**


	16. The Cake is a Lie

**All right, I'm back! Sorry about no updates on my story for three days. I could've uploaded a chapter yesterday, but I was too exhausted from sitting in a car and having to be going through so much rain (I wasn't driving by the way). But enough about that. Let's just get back to the story.**

**Oh, and I couldn't help but put that for the title of this chapter, even if I never played Portal and find the joke a bit overused.  
**

* * *

Chopper, Vivian, and Scrub were able to unlock the door and go to the storage room instructed by X. They didn't know what was going to be in there, but once they made it inside, they saw gray crates that resembled stone blocks. Actually, they were stone blocks!

"Interesting room here..." Chopper trailed until he noticed someone else in the room. "Wait a second... It's you! You're Ms. Mowz, aren't you?"

"Ms. Mowz?" Scrub gawked.

"Oh, it is her!" Vivian gasped.

Ms. Mowz turned around and noticed them come in. "Oh! Mmmm hmm hmm hmm! If it isn't the little cheese I met before! How are you doing with the Crystal Star hunt now, dear?"

"Ms. Mowz? What are you doing here?" wondered Vivian. "Are you still stealing badges like you usually do? …And are you flirting with Chopper?"

"No, I wasn't," the mouse thief responded with a shake of a head. "I met him before and he's small. He's like a little cheese to me. And yes, I was looking for some badges, but now I'm done around here. You don't need to worry about me now."

"Oh, interesting! …But a security guard heard you in here." Scrub mentioned. "Were you making any noise in here, mouse-burglar person?"

"Oh, please! No one heard ME! I'm the best mouse-burglar of all time! I'm silent! It's quite obvious that someone else must have been monkeying around in here…"

"Maybe it was a real monkey monkeying around here!" Chopper gaped only to be ignored.

"But to be honest, I don't know who else came in here."

"So somebody else was here before you? Dang, we could've gotten some good information if you saw who came in here. But oh well. You just came here for badges, so you probably wouldn't know if anybody came in here anyway."

"Yes, that's true. But now that I've got what I needed, I'll be on my way. As for the rest, help yourself to whatever you like." Ms. Mowz jumped off the crate and was about to leave, but she just remembered something. "I almost forgot, little pale green cheese... This arena holds many secrets, you know. You should be very careful, lest you end up like those poor souls upstairs. And with that, good-bye small antenna boy! Perhaps we shall meet again!"

Ms. Mowz left stylishly through the door, but what she told them about these "souls" confused the three.

"Did she say 'poor souls that are upstairs?'" Vivian wondered. "Umm… I don't think that this pit sounds safe with something like that..."

"No kidding... That does sound a little scary..." Chopper shivered until he heard his Mailbox SP go off. Groaning, he took it out and read the message.

"You really need to get a different ringtone for that," Scrub suggested. "That really does creep me out!"

"I can agree," Vivian nodded.

"Let me just read this message first," Chopper suggested.

_fInD tHe StAiRcAsE sWiTcH tO rEaCh ThE aTtIc_

_FrOm X  
_

"Staircase switch? What is this X person talking about?" Scrub wondered. "Man, I wish I knew where the switch is. Wait, Contadre! Those blocks! How about you break 'em with your hammer!"

"Good idea!" Chopper pulled out his Super Hammer and smashed all of the Stone Blocks in the room. He found a Charge P badge over to the right, and to the left, he found a blue ! switch on the ground.

Paper began to flip down and stairs appeared. Everyone looked confused, but they went up the stairs. They found a locked door to the right, and to the left, a big yellow block. Unfortunately, a bunch of crates were in the way. Luckily, there was a small crate next to a large one that Scrub could use to flutter over.

"All right, Scrub! Let's get over there!" Chopper declared as he got on Scrub when they got onto the crates and fluttered over to the crates. Vivian sank into the shadows to get to the block as well.

"Go ahead, Chopper. Smash the block with your hammer." Vivian suggested. Chopper took out his hammer and spun it around, smashing the block to pieces. They found a hole the block was on.

They went down the hole and were now in an air duct. They could hear a voice all the way to the right down a small hole. It was WAY too small for them to fit through. To the left was an air conditioner that Chopper could fit through if he turned sideways.

"Hmm? I can hear something through this hole. Let's listen and see what's going on down there." Chopper said quietly. He knelt down and began to listen carefully, as well as his two friends.

It appeared to be Grubba's Office down below. Grubba was busy talking to Jolene about something shocking.

"...So, you didn't find hide or hair of nobody in the storage room, that what yer sayin'?" Grubba deduced.

"Yes, Mr. Grubba. It appeared to be secure." Jolene assured. "Don't worry about it, sir. I've taken the necessary precautions. It was most likely just a rat or something."

"Well, no big deal either way. Ain't nothin' in there we'd miss too much anyway. Thanks fer stayin' on top of this, Jolene. Hey, an' by the way, any word on King K?"

"I'm afraid we still don't know the whereabouts of King K, Mr. Grubba. We couldn't find him anywhere. Since I couldn't find him anywhere, I had no choice but to delete his spot on our roster per regulations. The Glitz Pit no longer has any official connection to KP Pete, a.k.a. King K, I'm afraid. I have, of course, taken the same steps with all fighters who have gone missing."

"Hoo, fighters have sure been goin' missin' a lot lately! How many is that overall this year? Five? What in tarnation's goin' on? I even heard some security ijit sayin' the Pit's cursed!"

"I doubt that, sir, but I certainly don't understand the disappearances."

"Well, fer the time bein', tell the other fellas that King K headed on home for a spell. If word gets out about missin' fighters, it sure ain't gonna be good for business, no siree! Nasty rumors have a way of sendin' folks runnin' to the hills, know what I mean?"

"I understand completely, Mr. Grubba. I'll take care of everything, sir." Jolene made her way to the door, but Grubba's voice stopped her.

"Y'know, Jolene... Yer a dang fine manager, but you just plumb disappear sometimes... I gotta know! Where in the world do you go, darlin'?"

"Uh... Th-That's..." Jolene stammered while her face froze. "Mr. Grubba, I know you're my boss, but I don't believe that's any of your business. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you where I go. That's utmost secrecy."

"Easy! Didn't mean to pry, now!" Grubba gawked as he stepped back. "How 'bout this, then... Heard of the Crystal Star?"

"N-No... I've never heard of such a thing, Mr. Grubba. I never heard that in my entire life."

"Okeydoke, well, I 'preciate yer time, Ms. Jolene," Grubba smiled, a bit relieved. "You go ahead an' run along, now, y'hear?"

"Thank you, Mr. Grubba," Jolene sighed as she adjusted her glasses and left the office. She mumbled something as the door slowly closed, which Grubba didn't appear to hear.

"Well, if you ain't a fine how-do-you-do! Seems like good fighters are a dyin' breed." Grubba frowned as he leaned back on his chair. "That wild child Contadre is just about the only draw I still got 'round here. I don't know why, but after I came back here, them fighters have lost their memories on what happened! But I guess that's not too much of a big deal, ain't it?"

"Whoa, Contadre! WHOA! Did you hear that? Fighters are going missing, dude! That ain't cool!" Scrub gaped, shocked to hear these news. "Was that guy talking about King K, the minor-leaguer? I thought he retired!"

"I thought so too," Chopper agreed. "But didn't Grubba say that the fighters lost their memory? Something's really fishy around here…"

"I'll say! I had a feeling something wasn't right about this pit." Vivian mentioned. "It's like…everything has just repeated itself. Well, I wouldn't exactly say that, but you know what I mean, right?"

"What in the hey?!" Grubba exclaimed, hearing the voices from above. "Dang ceilin' is spookin' me! HEY! Somebody up there?!"

_"Um… Belch?"_

"...Hoo, nelly! Just a little burpin' beetle... Here I am, thinkin' someone's up there a-peepin'! I gotta relax...take some yoga classes or somethin'... Yep. Well, back to the ring!"

Grubba quickly got up from his chair and left his office to prepare for some more fights in the Glitz Pit.

"Whoa! Whoa, man! We dodged a bullet there!" Scrub sighed. "I thought it was going to be game over for us there!"

"Yup! I'll say!" Chopper gasped..

"Hey, but did you hear that guy blabbing about the Crystal Star? That Jolene lady acted pretty guilty when he let that one slip out... Well, whatever. For now, we better bail before someone finds us here!"

"I think we can use that airway to get out," Vivian pointed to the airway, where air seemed to be going down to the storage room. Chopper turned sideways, along with the other two and they went back into the room.

"We better go reserve a match right now. There's nothing else we can do, I'm afraid." Chopper suggested. They all agreed and returned to the major-league locker room and went to the terminal to reserve a match.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well alrighty then! Lemme just see here... Yer next will be... Ranked 3 in the Glitz Pit... Hamma, Bamma, and Flare! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to void usin' any items! Empty them pockets! Real men don't need no trinkets to help 'em hand out a proper whuppin', you hear? No get out there and knock some heads the old-fashioned way, will ya?"_

A Security Guard called Chopper and he and Scrub went to the arena. They found a Hammer Bro., a Boomerang Bro., and a Fire Bro waiting for them.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Big Bad Brute Bros…" Grubba announced. "Yep, a fight to the finish with Hamma, Bamma, and Flare!"

"You think you three dudes can take us on? Ha! We're gonna taken you down the old fashioned way!" Scrub scoffed.

"My grandpappy's hammer is gonna strike you down, man! Here it comes!" the Hammer Bro. grinned.

"Get yerselves ready to... _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

When the gong rang, the fight began with Chopper using a Vulcan Jab on the Hammer Bro., along with Scrub using his Gulp to spit the Hammer Bro. at the Fire Bro. To their relief, the Hammer Bro. was finished.

The Fire Bro. attacked by spitting a fireball at Chopper, which he managed to guard, and the Boomerang Bro. threw his boomerang, hitting the two twice. To finish up the fight, Chopper used a kick attack on the Boomerang Bro., and Scrub used his Gulp to finish up the fight, giving them 22 Star Points.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba announced.

"Is that the best you've got?" Scrub scoffed.

They returned to the locker room, where they received 14 coins and rising up to rank 3. Once Jolene left, they began to relax for a minute.

"Man, I can't believe we're getting so close to the end!" Vivian smiled. "We're almost going to be up against the champ! I think that's great!"

Chopper heard his Mailbox SP going off again. "Well looks like X needs us to do something. …Again."

He pulled out his Mailbox SP and began to read the message, but it wasn't a message he appreciated.

"Oh, no... Not this guy again."

"What is it, Contadre?" Scrub asked.

"Take a look for yourself."

_This is your last warning! Stop snooping around about the Crystal Stars! If you don't, you'll suffer the same fate as the others who have gone missing..._

"That's certainly not X..." Vivian trailed.

"It's that guy again!" Scrub guffawed. "How does he know so much about this Crystal Star? Why would that chicken want us to stop looking for the Crystal Stars? Plus, he sure must know about these missing fighters too! Man, when we find that chicken I'm sure gonna butt stomp him!"

"I have a feeling that it's not Rawk Hawk," Chopper pondered. "He wouldn't have an idea on the Crystal Stars, to be honest. I have a feeling that this is someone else… But if it IS Rawk Hawk, then we'll get him to confess. For now, let's just reserve a match."

Chopper walked over to the terminal again to reserve a match. And of course, he got the usual.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well all righty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 2 in the Glitz Pit... Chomp Country! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to win BEFORE you take 20 HP of pain! Our fans don't wanna see a battered hero win by the skin of his teeth, son! Now get in there 'an show me some grit, pard!" _

However, before the Security Guard could call him to the ring, Jolene walked into the room first.

"Pardon me, Mr. Contadre. Another gift arrived from one of your admirers. I'll just leave it over here, if that's OK? Do with it what you will."

She took out a slice of cake and placed it on the table. When she left, Chopper rushed over to the cake, along with Scrub. However, he paused for a moment.

"What's wrong, Chopper?" Vivian asked.

"I don't know why, but this cake looks so...different. It doesn't seem like the cake I love. I think there's something suspicious about it. I say we ignore this cake."

"What? You're going to ignore it?" Scrub gaped. "Oh, fine. You could've used it, but oh well."

A Security Guard came in and led the two to the arena. Once they were gone, the Shady Koopa walked over to the cake, licking his lips.

"Mmmmmm… Cake… Well, if he's not going to have it, don't mind if I do!" the Shady Koopa grabbed the cake and ate it in one bite. "Mmmmmmm! Delicious!"

Unfortunately, that was where things would go bad for him.

* * *

**The ring-**

Up at the ring, Chopper and Scrub saw two red Chain Chomps waiting for them. They looked really mad, because they were painted red, according to some of the people in the audience.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Red Ore Fear Orbs... Yep, a fight to the finish with Chomp Country!" Grubba announced.

"Man, I wish I had that cake! I'm starting to feel a little bit hungry…" Scrub trailed.

"I'll get you something later, OK?" Chopper assured.

"ARF! ARF! ARF! ARF! ARF!" one Red Chomp barked.

"Eeeugh... Doesn't look too friendly."

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATTLE!**_"

Chopper noticed that their defense was 3, which wouldn't do much against them with his attacks. It'll only do 1 damage to them.

"Hmmm… I guess if I use my Super Hammer attack and you use your Gulp, we might be able to finish this battle!" Chopper deduced. Scrub agreed while he walked over to the Chain Chomps and used his Super Hammer attack on the first one, knocking that one toward the other one, which did 1 damage.

"Sweet! Now to finish this!" Scrub used his Gulp on both of them and it was over. Chopper got 16 Star Points from the battle, and the two Red Chomps were left dazed in the end.

"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!"

The crowd cheered as the three returned to their locker room, where Chopper got 15 coins, while his rank rose to 2. Once Jolene left the room, they noticed the Shady Koopa lying down on the ground on his back.

"What the… What's with that guy?" Chopper gawked.

"Bluuurgh... Body...went...numb..." the Shady Koopa moaned. "Stupid...cake... Hate...cake... Never...eat...cake...again... Can't…believe…I…didn't…resist…cake… So…good… But…so…bad…"

"So there WAS something wrong with the cake…" Vivian trailed. "It's a good thing we didn't eat the cake, or else we could've been the one lying on the ground like him. But I feel bad for him."

"So do I. Right now, I need to rest. There's only one more fight until the champ!" Chopper walked over to the bed and began to rest to recover his HP and FP. He wanted to make sure he was well-rested for his semi-final fight in the Glitz Pit.

* * *

**Later-**

_"So… He has reached rank 2 now. He is almost up to the champion…but if he wants to get there, he will need to get past me if he wants a piece of that no-good yellow chicken."_ the dark blue armored Koopa, known as the Koopinator, thought as he looked at the sleeping boy._ "Even if this boy is only ten years old, I'm still not going to go easy on him. He's proven himself that he can take all of these fighters in the Glitz Pit, and he can prove that he can beat Rawk Hawk if he defeats me. He's going to need some luck against me. I'm pretty sure he's going to need it against an armored Koopatrol such as myself." _

Scrub was sleeping on top of the bed, while Vivian was sleeping right by the bed, thinking about something.

Chopper woke up and got out of bed. Afterward, he poked Vivian and Scrub to wake them up. However, he noticed something different about Vivian. Her hat wasn't on, and when she woke up, he noticed one of her eyes could be seen. They were absolutely beautiful, and once he saw them, he thought he was looking into space. Her eyes were so beautiful, her eyes reflected into his.

"Chopper… Are you OK?" Vivian asked before she noticed he was looking at her beautiful eyes. "Oh, I see now. To be honest, nobody has really seen my eyes except for my sisters. Not even Mario has. I guess you're most likely the first."

He still said nothing. Luckily, no one else could see her eyes except for him. "Chopper, could you not let anyone know about my eyes? They would probably want to look at them all the time, and I wouldn't feel good seeing people around me. So… Keep it a secret, OK? Just between us?"

Chopper got out of the trance and nodded. She gave him a hug for thanks, but it felt more like a thanks. "Oh, geez... What was with me? I suddenly saw your eyes and... I don't know! Something weird happened.

After she let him go, she put her hat back on, and they heard a flush, which woke Scrub up.

"Who? What? Where?" Scrub saw the Shady Koopa from come out of the bathroom, feeling much better after the cake incident.

"Ahhhhhhhhh… I feel like a new Koopa!" the Shady Koopa sighed. "But it sure does suck that there's no more toilet paper. I had to tear off a piece of a magazine with the picture of Rawk Hawk!"

"Heh heh... Good idea!" Chopper smiled.

"But I feel much better now. But I better be careful NOT to eat somebody's cake. Like Contadre's. Augh. That cake was delicious, but I went numb!"

Scrub looked at the bathroom, and he felt like he needed to go. "Excuse me for a second, Contadre!"

"What's wrong?" Chopper asked.

"Uhhhhh... I've gotta go!" Scrub jumped off the bed and ran over to the bathroom and shut the door and locked it. Everyone could hear running water and…let's not get into anything else. Chopper was cringing for a moment and Vivian was frowning. The Shady Koopa had possibly the weirdest, disgusted face in the locker room.

After the flushing, Scrub came out, feeling much better.

"Ah! Now I'm feeling much better! I can't believe I even learned to take a crap all on my own! I must be awesome to do such a task!"

"Uhhhhh... That's nice to know..." Chopper trailed while everyone else was gawking.

"Ummmmmmm... OK..."

"Well that is an accomplishment..."

"I don't think I've used the bathroom before..."

The Shady Koopa quickly ran over to the bathroom door and shut it closed "Er… I think it's for the best."

Chopper nodded in agreement before he walked over to the terminal to reserve a match. The Koopinator wasn't paying much attention, but he heard Grubba's voice coming from the terminal.

_"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, all righty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 1 in the Glitz Pit… The Koopinator!" _

_"I guess this is it. I'll finally have my chance to face off against the so-called Great Contadre."_ the Koopinator thought._ "He is going to see what kind of power I have…for an ex-champion!"_

_"Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to avoid switchin' partners out! Gotta go with who brung you! A fight to the end, side by side! Now THAT'S drama! Now get in there 'an stand by yer partner!"_

At that moment, the Koopinator left the locker room, and then a Security Gaurd came to pick Chopper and Scrub up to go to the pit. Vivian watched the fight in the audience and when they made it up to the ring, they saw the Koopinator waiting for them.

"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Bandanna'd Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Razor Blade Brigadier… Yep, a fight to the finish with The Koopinator!" Grubba announced.

"So we're finally facing the guy who used to be the champion..." Chopper trailed.

"Hey, this shouldn't be too bad!" Scrub assured. "I mean, he's not even the champ!"

"You. Finally, I get a piece of you. Finally, we'll see who's truly stronger." the Koopinator hissed.

"It's still funny that he got his ass handed to him by a chicken..."

"Scrub..."

"OK, sorry!"

"Get yerselves ready to… _**BAAAAAATLLE!**_"

The battle began and Chopper started off with his Vulcan Jab, only to have it do 2 damage to the Koopinator. This made him a little shocked.

"Oh crud… This guy has 2 defense! Not only that, but he's got 5 Attack and 25 HP! This…is not good at all." Chopper gulped, but Scrub was able to damage him a little with his Gulp attack.

"Oof! Not bad. But I'm not like the others, you know. You wish to see my power? Very well, I might as well go for it." the Koopinator got in his shell and attacked both Chopper and Scrub, taking 5 away from them.

"Whoa, that did a lot!" Vivian gasped.

"Yeah, it did…but I got my punches!" Chopper declared as he used his Rising Break on the Koopinator to take away 4 from him and allow Scrub to use his Gulp once again. The armored Koopa was left panting for a bit.

"Hmmm… Very well. I've saved up a special attack for anyone who actually managed to get me down this far." the Koopinator raised his attack up by 5, which was NOT good at all. This left Chopper a bit worried.

"Chopper! Your Quake Hammer! Use it on him!" Vivian cried. Chopper jumped up a little and nodded, using his hammer to pound the ground and flip the Koopinator over, allowing Scrub to Ground Pound him.

"Dang it! Curse my shell and not allowing me to get up so easily!" the Koopinator cursed. Chopper smirked and came down on him with a kick attack, which did 4 damage because of being flipped over, which made him give up while he received 15 Star Points.

"You... You win, Contadre..."

We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba announced.

Chopper felt relieved, because he did take some damage there, but at least it was all over. There was only one more battle left, and it was against the champ!

Jolene gave Chopper 16 coins for the match at the locker room and his rank rose to 1. Unfortunately, Chopper ended up hearing his Mailbox SP go off when she left the locker room.

"Whoa, Contadre! That was loud!" Scrub gasped.

"Man, that again! All right, time to check who it is." Chopper opened the Mailxox SP and began to read the message. Thankfully, it wasn't from the guy threatening them before.

_rEmOvE tHe GrEaT cOnTaDrE pOsTeRs In ThE lObBy_

_FrOm X  
_

"What? I have to remove my own poster in the lobby? That's not fair…" Chopper frowned, but Vivian grabbed him and Scrub to go into the shadows to head back into the lobby, where they found two posters of Chopper upstairs.

"All right, time to tear down the posters!" Chopper punched the one on the left and realized that it did nothing. Vivian grabbed the poster and tore it off. A key dropped down to the ground.

"Hey, this must be it! But what could it be for?" Scrub picked it up and decided to hold onto it for now, but then Chopper got another e-mail, so he decided to check the message.

_gO tO tHe SeCoNd FlOoR oF tHe StOrAgE rOoM_

_FrOm X  
_

They headed to the second floor of the storage room and saw the lock on the door.

"Ah! So this is what the key's used for!" Scrub took out the Storage Key and unlocked the door with it, revealing a room with more crates. In the middle of the crates was a Fire Block.

"Oh no… Not this again." Chopper gulped.

"What do you mean, Contadre?"

"It's something you weren't there for..."

Vivian knew she had to do it, and she didn't actually want to do it. She frowned as she lit Chopper's butt, which made him crash into the block, making space for them to see a big stone block.

"I hate that… At least the flame stuff is over for right now. Let's see what's under this block." Chopper could hear some moaning under the block, which made him gawk. "Uh… I don't know if I should. It sounds like there's a zombie down there."

"It doesn't sound like a zombie to me," Vivian responded. "I don't think they exist anyway. I say break it anyway This X person must have a reason why we need to be in here."

"OK, I'll do it," Chopper whipped out his hammer and spun it around to smash it. All three were left shocked when they noticed two familiar people lying on the ground.

It was King K and Bandy Andy, and the three were left shocked.

"WHOOOOOOAAAAA! It... It can't be! Bandy Andy! And King K!" Scrub gaped.

"But what are they doing here?" Vivian gasped. "I thought King K. said he retired! …And there was probably a reason why Bandy Andy was nowhere to be seen in the locker room!"

"Oooooooooog..." Bandy Andy moaned, as well as King K. At this point, they could barely move.

"I… I don't believe it! King K and Bandy Andy? But… How could it be?" Chopper walked over to King K., who did nothing but moan, but he did hear something from Bandy Andy.

"Con... Con... Contadre... Come…over here…" Chopper turned around to Bandy Andy and knelt down to listen to his weak voice.

"Bandy Andy! What happened here?!" Chopper cried.

"Contadre…GAH! Listen...to me...URK!...man..." Bandy Andy moaned. "Don't...get...near...the...ring...when...no...one...is...around... Ohhhhhhh..."

"What do you mean don't go near the ring when there's no one around?" Unfortunately, Bandy Andy couldn't say much. He ended up becoming unconscious, to their dismay. They heard someone's footsteps and the door moving, however.

"Hmmm?" Chopper turned around and saw Jolene, who quickly left the room. His two other friends noticed her too.

"Contadre! You see that? That was Jolene!" Scrub gaped. "This is craziness! What is going ON in here?!"

"I'm so confused! I don't understand what's going on here either!" Vivian agreed. "First we hear that Grubba was talking about the fighters and Jolene losing their memory about what happened around with him, and now we find Jolene spying on us when he see two fighters we haven't found? I don't know what to say…"

"I know… This is all becoming very mysterious." Chopper sighed. "We're going to find out what's going on here! Hopefully we find out who this X person is and who the person sending those threats to us are! All we can do is face off against Rawk Hawk. Hopefully we'll get some information from him."

They all headed back to the major-league locker room, where Chopper took a nap in the bed so he was fully prepared to face…the Rawk.

* * *

**Yeah, with all this stuff going on later in Chapter 2, things are not looking safe for the group. But, I think it's time to RAWK in the next chapter (no pun intended. Expect to see that horrible pun in the next chapter...)!**


	17. Contadre vs Rawk Hawk: It's About Time!

After a good hour of sleep, Chopper got out of bed and was ready to kick some butt in the fight against the champ.

_"I suppose the Great Contadre played fair against me in our battle," _the Koopinator thought._ "Now let's see how he does against the champ. Despite flipping me over, I think he didn't do too bad against me. I'll probably root for him, I suppose..."  
_

He watched Chopper stretch and get a drink of water from the water fountain in the locker room. Vivian and Scrub also woke up, recovering their strength. But now that Chopper was rank 1, it was time to fight against the champ.

"OK, you two! This is it! It's time we go against the CHAMP!" Chopper declared. "The time has come at long last. I can't believe it, after all of these big fights we had to go up against. But let's not worry about anything else for right now. It's time to reserve our match!"

"Yeah! Let's do it!" Scrub cheered.

"And maybe we'll get a clue on the Crystal Star too," Vivian added.

"Oh yeah, that too..."

"Let's get started!" Chopper smiled as he went over to the terminal to reserve a match.

_"The Great Contadre!" _Grubba greeted._ "Howdy! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk! Well, guess what? Your next match is... THE TITLE MATCH! Hoooo-WEEEEE! Darn tootin'! You're up against the champ, Rawk Hawk! Now, I wanna see a fair an' excitin' match, so don't you let me down, now, you hear? Now listen here, son: in this battle, I want you to use at least one special move, OK? The crowd needs somethin' flashy, you catch my drift? Give 'em a good show. Now get in there an' blow the roof off, son!"_

"Chopper, maybe I should also come with you to this match," Vivian suggested. "You know, since Rawk Hawk's the champion, maybe you might want my help in case if Scrub can't fight or there's a bit of an issue."

"Well I've got nothing against that. You can if you want." Chopper nodded as a Security Guard came in to escort them to the ring.

"Mr. Contadre, it's time for your match. Come with me." the Security Guard called out.

Chopper looked at Vivian and Scrub, who exchanged nods. With that, they walked over to the security guard and followed him into the hallway. But there was something odd. The Security Guard was leading them a different way instead of to the ring, which was supposed to be to the right.

"Wait a minute… Hold up! Where are you going? This isn't the way to the arena!" Chopper noted.

"Yeah, uh, you go this way this time 'cause it's a special match," the Security Guard explained. "So don't ask any questions right now and follow me."

Chopper frowned as he, Vivian and Scrub continued to follow the Security Guard to the wrong direction. Needless to say, none of them were pleased with this.

"Hey, hold it, meathead! This doesn't seem right…" Scrub trailed as the Security Guard led them into a room that looked a little blue, and it also seemed to resemble the minor league locker room, to their dismay.

"You three wait here," the Security Guard ordered as he quickly left the room before they could say anything else, while the three heroes were confused. The condition in this locker room was much worse than the minor league.

"Hey! This ain't the ring! It's a minor-league locker room! And it's empty!" Scrub guffawed. "That guy said to wait... But we're missing our title bout!"

"This room is disgusting too!" Vivian added. "I don't know what's going on at the ring, but I'm feeling very worried that we're going to miss the whole fight! We might even end up forfeiting!"

* * *

**The ring-**

"Now fer today's main event!" Grubba announced. "The top dog of the major-league... The Great Contadre... Is finally gonna throw down with the champ! The one...the only... RAWK HAWK! First to enter the ring... The Feral Nuclear Reactor! RAAAAAWWWK HAAAAWWWK!"

Rawk Hawk entered the pit as all of his fans began to cheer for him.

"YOU GO, CHAMP!"

"RAAAAWK HIM!"

"EEEEEEEEE!"

Rawk Hawk came up to the ring with his champ's belt on with a cocky look.

"Hooooo, DOGGIES!" Grubba shouted. "Champ! How're you feelin', son? Yer challenger's a handful!"

"He don't want a handful of THIS! Unh-unh!" Rawk Hawk grinned as he began to flex his muscles. "There's only one champ...and it's ME! Even if this Contadre wuss ever shows up, what's he gonna do, huh? NOTHING!"

"But the Great Contadre made it to the top of the majors faster than anyone, ever! He's on par with the Great Gonzales on this! He even reached this far faster than YOU did, Champ! What you got to say about that?"

"What do I have to say? PBBBBBBBTTHHHHBBTH! THAT'S what! Who cares what this guy did to a lot of chumps? 'Cause now he gets RAWKED!"

* * *

**Empty locker room-**

"OK, that is IT! Nobody's coming for us, man! Hear me? Let's go kick some tail!" Scrub walked over to the door to open it, but he found it to be locked, to their dismay.

"Awwwwwwwwwwwww... WEAK! Some punk's locked us in! We're trapped in here!" Chopper and Vivian jumped up a little in shock while Scrub kicked the door, and that didn't do anything.

"What? We're locked in here? Who would do something like that?" Vivian gaped.

* * *

**The ring-**

"And now for our challenger... The Red Bandanna'd Fighter... THE GRRREAT COOONTADRE!" Grubba turned over to the left, but he didn't see Chopper come out of the ring.

"...Hold the phone, folks! What the hey's going on? What happened to the Great Contadre?"

"Harharharharharharhar! I'll tell you what happened! He fears the RAWWWWWWWK!" Rawk Hawk answered.

"Hoo-WEE! What a stupefyin' development, folks! Did the Great Contadre really turn yella an' head fer the hills like a dog? I tell you what, folks... If he don't show soon, he's a-gonna forfeit the match!"

* * *

**Empty locker room-**

Back in the empty locker room (once again), Vivian was trying to open the door this time. She even tried to use her fire to burn it down, but for some reason, it didn't seem to work, which surprised her and Chopper. Meanwhile, Scrub kicked the wall in the room and slammed his fist on the wall.

"I can't BELIEVE it! We're gonna forfeit our match if we don't show!" Scrub cried. "I don't know who did this, but I'm gonna get the one who's responsible for it. If only there was a way outta here…"

"The only thing interesting here is this Peach poster," Chopper mentioned as he walked over to the Peach poster and poked it. "...Wait, there's something strange about this."

"What is it, Chopper?" Vivian asked.

"Don't you usually feel the wall underneath posters?"

"No... What's the problem?"

"I'm not feeling anything under here."

"Whoa, really?" Scrub gawked. "Then there must be something under there!"

"All right, let's see," Chopper grabbed the poster and tore it off, which revealed a small room with a TV and a table for playing poker. "Holy... What's a small room like this doing here?"

"It looks a little more comfy than the locker room, I suppose," Vivian shrugged.

"But it's too small!" Scrub whined. "I'd prefer something better and comfy for someone like me..."

They walked over to the door, and it turned out to lead them to a locker room that looked like the major-league one, but the red tiles were blue instead.

"All right… Let's see…" Chopper began to look around in the room, but he didn't find anything interesting, so he checked the bathroom. The toilet was actually pretty big. "What? Is this toilet for big people like the one I saw in Star Castle?"

"This toilet is probably the size for someone like Rawk Hawk," Scrub scoffed while letting out a snicker. Chopper gave him a confused look before looking back at the toilet.

"Actually, we might be able to go through this…as gross as that sounds," Vivian noted.

"What do you mean? Something like...flushing ourselves down?"

"Mmmm-hmmm..."

"Awww man! That sounds kinda gross!" Scrub gagged.

"I wonder if this is what Mario had to do..." Chopper pondered as he jumped into the toilet and used it like a pipe. After Scrub saw Chopper flush himself, he was a bit interested in it and flushed himself down as well. Vivian followed through last, though she knew she wouldn't enjoy it.

The Security Guards in the hallway could hear the sounds of the water in the pipes, which left them gawking.

"What in the world?" one Security Guard guffawed. "You don't hear something like that everyday..."

Chopper and his friends came out of another toilet, which was the one in the major league locker room. When they got off the toilet, they were all wet, especially Vivian, whose hair was wet.

"Well this is great… My hair's all wet now." Vivian frowned as she noticed water dripping down from her hair. "But I'm not going to make too much of a big deal over it. The ride wasn't that bad..."

"Dude, I got SO much respect for plumbers now!" Scrub commented. "I guess they can do this kind of stuff! But anyway, let's get Rawk Hawk!"

"Yeah! It's time to rawk!" Chopper cried, making his partners give him weird looks. "...Sorry."

They left the locker room and headed on over to the ring. Grubba heard the door open to the left and saw Chopper, Vivian, and Scrub come out. He was excited, while Rawk Hawk was disappointed.

_"What?! He managed to get out?!"_ Rawk Hawk thought in anger.

"The moment you been waitin' for, folks! The Great Contadre just entered the arena!" Grubba announced as the crowd began to cheer.

"CONTADRE! CONTADRE!"

"Looks like we made it, dude! And the crowd is LOVING US! We are STARS, baby!" Scrub grinned. "Come on, let's go lay the smack down on that big chicken."

"Yeah, let's do it!" Chopper declared as the three made their way to the ring while the crowd continued to cheer.

"You rock, man!"

"YEAH! YOU THE LITTLE MAN!"

"CONTADRE!"

"YOU'RE LATE!"

"YOU'RE LATE!"

"Wow, look at everyone cheering for us. It must be tough to be famous, though…" Vivian trailed as she looked up at the crowd once they got onto the ring.

"Just listen to this crowd hoot 'n' holler fer the challenger, Great Contadre!" Grubba shouted. "Will his punches an' kicks of hurt 'n' harm be enough to rock the Rawk Hawk's socks? Now, at long last, the battle to end all battles is here! Let's keep it clean, boys!"

As soon as the gong rang, the fight instantly began with Rawk Hawk removing his champ's belt and crossing his arms.

"All right, Contadre! We're fighting the champ! I'M...SO...FIRED...UP!" Scrub cheered.

"Harharharharharharhar! You wimps should've stayed locked up, safe and sound!" Rawk Hawk scoffed. "I don't know how you got outta there, but you shouldn't have left that locker room!"

"Wait… What are you saying? Hold on a minute… Did YOU get that security guard to lock us in that locker room?!" Chopper gaped.

"You're darn right I did! I also sent you that poisoned cake, suckers! That's what happens when you mess with me, baby! You meet the pain train!"

"I can't believe it… So he's been trying to sabotage us this entire time…" Vivian trailed. "If that's true, then you probably sent Chopper those nasty e-mails about the Crystal Stars."

"Huh? I have no idea what you're babbling about now. What's a Crystal Star?" Rawk Hawk gawked. "No, wait... I DON'T CARE! I may not play exactly fair, but I got skills, punk! And now, you're about to meet 'em all, baby! Prepare to be RAAAAAAAAWKED!"

"Or rather, let's RAWK!" Chopper declared.

"Hey! Only I can say 'Rawk', you little punk!"

**Tattle: **_That's Rawk Hawk! He flips, flaps, and slaps! ...That's what the book says. Max HP is 40. Attack is 4. Defense is 0. He's really good at aerial maneuvers, but other than that, he's pretty…actually he can be a little tough.. One thing you should know is that Rawk Hawk NEVER fights above the board. Carelessness leads to lifelessness, y'know!_

Chopper decided to start off with his Earth Tremor attack, and after making it grow five times and making it come down on Rawk Hawk, he made him take 6 damage from the heavy attack.

"All right, let's go!" Scrub fluttered over to Rawk Hawk and used his Ground Pound on him, leaving him with 30 HP left already.

Rawk Hawk began to strike both Chopper and Scrub by flipping. He did 4 damage to them and laughed at them after they took damage.

"He's not too shabby… But 4 damage isn't a big deal. The Koopinator can do at least 10!" Chopper assured as he used his Vulcan Jab on Rawk Hawk, knocking him back, making everyone cheer. Vivian attacked with her Shade Fist on him to leave a burn on him. Chopper was about to say something about fried chicken, but he thought it would be too stupid.

"Pbbbth! Not too shabby! You're better than I thought. This may actually be fun! Don't get your head swelled, though, 'cause got a ways to go! Check this out!" Rawk Hawk grinned as raised a finger.

"What's he planning?" Vivian asked.

"I have no idea..." Chopper trailed.

"TIME TO RAAAAAAAWK!" Rawk Hawk shouted as he jumped onto the wall and came charging at Chopper. Luckily, the attack was Superguarded, and the yellow chicken took 1 damage and also damage from the burn.

"Heh… That was cool. All right, I'm going to Power Bounce him now." Chopper stomped on Rawk Hawk about six times, and then Scrub used his Ground Pound on him, which began to frustrate Rawk Hawk.

"Man, you're kinda annoying! How DARE you turn the Rawk back on the Hawk? I should've just taken care of you before the battle. I'm getting lazy, I guess. Well, since it's come down to this, I guess I got no choice but to..."

Rawk Hawk stomped the ground and a railing came up on the ceiling. He grabbed onto it and began to shake it to make a bunch of stuff from the upper part of the pit come down on Chopper, Vivian, and Scrub.

"Uh oh… Not good!" Chopper began to guard some of the attacks, though he took 6 damage and Vivian and Scrub took 4.

_"Use the Quake Hammer attack…" t_he Koopinator thought while he watched the fight. He saw Chopper bring out his hammer and smash the ground with it.

"Uh oh…" Rawk Hawk fell off the railing and he came down, allowing Scrub to use his Ground Pound on him again.

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Bah! I've only just begun to RAAAAAWWWWWWK!" Rawk Hawk performed his flip attack on Chopper and Vivian this time, with Chopper Superguarding the attack.

"OK, Chopper! Finish off the fight!" Vivian suggested.

Chopper nodded and ran toward Rawk Hawk and performed a Rising Break on him, sending him flying upward and making him fall over on his back in defeat.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Rawk cried weakly. "I... Rawk Hawk... The champ... The undefeated master... I've lost to...such losers..."

Chopper leveled up after getting 20 Star Points and upgraded his BP to 12. However, he couldn't help but find that fight a little on the easy side. But hey, that didn't bother him too much.

"Yuuuuuurg..."

"Dude... We actually did it..." Chopper gaped.

"I'm so pleased!" Scrubs grinned.

"Folks, I feel like my eyes just popped outta my head! We got ourselves a miracle!" Grubba gaped. "Technique versus technique! Raw power vs raw power! A clash of superhumans! Folks, this was truly, honestly, without any question, no doubt, absolutely... The most legendary, amazin', improbable, history-makin' bout of all TIME! And the victor in this match fer ages was... THE GRRRREAT CONTAAADRE! Congratulations, Contadre! Yer the champion, son! Give him a hand, folks! The new Glitz Pit champ! THE GRRRRREAT CONTADRE!"

The crowd began to cheer for Chopper and his friends as they made victory poses.

"CONTADRE! CONTADRE!"

"CONTADRE! CONTADRE!"

"CONTADRE! CONTADRE!"

"CONTADRE! CONTADRE!"

"CONTADRE! CONTADRE!"

* * *

**Major league locker room-**

"Well, you finally did it, son! Today's yer first day as the new champ! Here's yer belt!" Grubba grinned as he gave Chopper the champion's belt. "Tell you what: I'm gonna go ahead an' get you set up in the champ's room right away. Ms. Jolene, be a peach an' show Contadre here the champion's room, OK?"

"Absolutely, sir. Well then, Mr. Champion... Would you follow me, please?" Jolene suggested as she escorted Chopper and his friends to the champion's room. They already saw the room before, but they knew that this was much more comfy than the major league locker room.

"Congratulations again, Mr. Champion. From now on, this is where you'll stay. It's your room now, so make yourself at home. You will use the terminal as you always have, of course. Will there be anything else?"

"Nah, I'm good," Chopper replied.

"Well then, have a nice day, Mr. Champion," Jolene adjusted her glasses as she left the room, and Chopper got on the bed to relax.

"YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! We finally made it, Contadre!" Scrub cheered. "But... Y'know, Rawk Hawk sounded really clueless about the Crystal Star... We still don't have any leads on that thing. I mean, where the heck could it be?"

"That's something I'm wondering right now…" Vivian pondered, but the silence broke when they heard a voice coming from the air duct that was in the upper corner of the room.

"Hold on… What's that voice? It sounds kind of like a ghost…" Chopper tried to listen to the voice, but he was stopped when his Mailbox SP went off. Everyone in the room was nearly startled by it.

"ACK! Chopper… That just scared me right now!" Vivian cried. "You should really turn that thing down to be honest."

"Yeah, that's something I mentioned before," Scrub said.

"You're right, I really should," Chopper agreed as he pulled out his Mailbox SP and began to read the message.

_fInD tHe GhOsT iN tHe ChAmP's RoOm_

_FrOm X  
_

"This X person is still e-mailing me when I already became the champ? Huh… I guess even after I became the champ, it's not over yet. I think there's definitely something fishy going on here, and we're going to have a look at what it is through that duct!"

After getting on the presents, Chopper used Scrub to flutter on the top of the door and then to the duct. He then smashed the door with his Super Hammer ability and they proceeded on in the duct. Whatever that voice was, chances were it could lead them to the Crystal Star.


	18. Ultra Grubba: This is a REAL Fight

"We're in the air duct, right? Where does it lead, Contadre?" Scrub asked as they continued through the air duct. Chopper walked over to the other door and ended up hearing the voice. He made a signal for Vivian and Scrub to come over to him and they listened quietly to the voice.

_"Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk! Well, THAT'S in perfect condition, as usual!" _

"Hey, that sounds like Grubba's voice!"

"Shhhh! Keep quiet, Scrub!" Chopper shushed.

"He might hear us like last time!" Vivian whispered.

"Oh... Sorry."

_"Yep, long as I got THAT baby workin' fer me, this ol' bod ain't NEVER gonna get weak! But I'm gonna have to watch my tootsies here fer a little bit... First I let that King K ijit walk in on me when I was with...THAT... An' now I can't shake the feelin' that Jolene an' Contadre are onto me... Well, I guess I'll burn that bridge when the time comes. I'll just disappear 'em…or perhaps wipe their memories away! I was lucky that that evil shadow demon let me upgrade that device! Nobody remembers a thing about what happened with me!"_

"All this time… It was Grubba?" Chopper gasped. "He wiped away everyone's memories? I can't believe that everyone in the arena only had their real memories lost!"

"Shhhh! Chopper! Stay quiet! You don't want to get Grubba's attention!" Vivian shushed. "We barely made it out of there and we may not get out of this one if we make so much noise!"

_"I better lock this room up tighter 'n a peanut butter jar at a squirrel convention. An' I'll just go ahead an' hide the paper relatin' to THAT in the desk drawer..."_ the three heard a drawer being opened and closed before Grubba's voice continued on. _"There we go! Y'know what, though? Since I'm thinkin' aloud, here... Good fighters ain't nothin' to mess with. Even Rawk Hawk lost to Contadre. This new champ might have to disappear purty soon an' have his memory wiped away. For my sake... I was lucky to get everything back to normal for me, thanks to that 'evil thing.'"_

They could hear the door shut, but Vivian's eyes widened upon hearing the word 'shadow demon'. "…Evil shadow demon? I don't know why, but I find that word familiar to me for some reason…"

"Me too… But let's not worry about that YET… Let's bust through the door first." Chopper brought out his hammer and used his Super Hammer attack to knock the small door away onto the ground, which led into Grubba's office Thankfully, he wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"I think he's gone… Let's check out that desk drawer of his…" Scrub suggested. Chopper nodded and walked over to the desk drawer and opened it, where he noticed a paper with some blueprints on it.

"Hmmm… What's this?" Chopper picked up the blueprints and began to look at them thoroughly. He noticed something on it that made him gasp. "Guys! Apparently there's a machine under the ring using a Crystal Star! I guess the Crystal Star powers this thing up…"

Vivian floated over to Chopper and looked at the blueprints too. "It can suck the power out of people and it can even wipe away their memories on what happened. It says it can be from any incident…like when Grubba was here before. He must've used this to come back here and become rich and stronger! This could be why King K. and Bandy Andy were so weak… Poor guys."

Grubba came back into the office and noticed the three in his office. When he saw Chopper holding the blueprints, he jumped up in shock.

"We found you out!" Scrub shouted.

"GREAT GALLOPIN' GULPITS!" Grubba exclaimed. "How in tarnation did YOU get in here, son?! Well, slap me an' call me Sassafras! Yer starin' at my secret paper, too!"

"Enough, Grubba! We know everything!" Chopper exclaimed as his Yoshi friend glared at Grubba. "To think this whole time I trusted you! You have a lot of explaining to do right now, you know!"

"Whoa, nelly! This ain't good!" Grubba gulped, making a run for it.

"Hey! We can't let him get away!" Scrub growled. "He's going to pay for all of this!"

The three followed Grubba out of the office and into the hallway. They happened to notice him going into the ring.

"OK, so he's going into the ring. He better get ourselves prepared!" Chopper tightened his bandanna and then hit the Save Block. They walked over to the arena door, where the Security Guard let him through for some reason.

Once they went into the arena, they saw nobody around except for Grubba up on the ring. Chopper jumped into the ring, along with his three friends as they prepared to confront the villain.

"Bravo, Contadre. Bra-freaking-O. Ya managed to discover all that happened. But y'all are a coupla slack-jawed idiots fer lookin' through that paper..." Grubba trailed, sounding more serious. "Now you know my big secret, I'm afraid yer gonna have to take a li'l ol' dirt nap!"

They all felt the ground shake as four poles rose up in the corners of the ring, making an electrical fence so they couldn't get out. Grubba sank into the ring and came back up, but with a red and black machine. The Crystal Star could be seen at the top.

"Contadre! Up there! That's the Crystal Star, right?" Scrub asked.

"Yeah! You're right! That is the Crystal Star!" Chopper gasped.

"We can't even leave this ring… He's got us trapped." Vivian noted as Grubba chortled.

"Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk! How you like my machine? Pretty dang nice, huh? Yep, I've been suckin' power from fighters with this baby! SLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURP! Yer darn tootin'! An' you know why? 'Cause it keeps my bod forever young, son! An' if I don't manage to suck yer energy out, then I can just use a nice ol' flash with this thing. BANG! Yer memory's gone! Good thing that a shadow demon gave me a chance at comin' back here! I warned you before about them Crystal Stars, but you seemed to just ignore my warnins'!"

"I can't believe it! So you were sending us those nasty e-mails? !" Chopper quickly got in his fighting stance. "Listen, Grubba, you've gone TOO far now!"

"Oh, just shut yer traps, now! I'll use MY Crystal Star however I dang please!" Grubba declared. "You probably wouldn't be able to take me on! Check THIS out! HRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSCLE-UP!"

Grubba began to absorb some power from the Crystal Star and began to grow bigger. His skin changed to dark gray and his hair became spiky and black. His teeth became sharper, and black spikes appeared on his tail. He was also surrounded by a dark mist.

"ULTRAAAAAAAAAA GRUBBA! Hoo-wee! I'm gonna smoosh you guys into guacamole an' snack on yer energy, too!" Ultra Grubba stomped the ground, which made the electric fence turn green.

"Ultra Grubba? This doesn't look too good…" Chopper trailed. "But I'm not afraid of you!"

"_**ULTRAAAA!**_ I'm a powerhouse now, you pesterin' li'l pieces of prairie piffle! So long's I have this here machine, my bod'll be rough, tough, an' machobuff!"

**Tattle: **_That's Ultra Grubba. He's Grubba all souped-up on Crystal Star power. Max HP is 60. Attack is 4. Defense is 0. His attack pattern is simple: first he increases the number of times he can attack... Then he powers himself up with all sorts of crazy power-uppy moves. So, it's pretty important to pay close attention to how he's powered himself up. The craziest thing about this meathead is that he used to be that chubby Grubba. I guess the Crystal Stars really ARE powerful!_

"He's got 60 HP? That's outrageous!" Vivian gaped. "This is only Chapter 2 and we're fighting a boss with 60 HP? This could be tough…"

"Then it's time to use my Power Bounce to soften him up a bit!" Chopper began to stomp on Ultra Grubba, and after seven times he stopped. He allowed Scrub to use his Mini-Egg, allowing him to throw three eggs at Ultra Grubba, shrinking him and lowering his attack by 2.

"That should work out well!" Scrub smirked. "He's got a high attack, so it was probably best if I did that anyways."

Ultra Grubba allowed himself to use two abilities per turn, which left him open for an attack. He got beaten down a bit by Chopper's Vulcan Jab, leaving a couple of bruises on him.

"Oof! Man, I didn't know you were such a harder hitter!" Ultra Grubba cringed.

"You know, I can play as hard as I want. This isn't like the other battles. This is REAL." Chopper noted after landing one more punch on Ultra Grubba, knocking him back at the electric fence and electrocuting him.

"Great hoppin' Koopas! If this keeps happenin' to me, I'll become fried Clubba!"

"Uhhh... What?" Chopper gawked.

Vivian used her Shade Fist on Ultra Grubba so she could leave a burn on him. But he didn't seem so worried right now, because he was still in perfect shape from all of those hits.

"Oh yeah! Keep it spicy! You know I love a good tussle, Contadre! Keep on scrappin', son! 'Course, it ain't gonna do you much good in the end..." Ultra Grubba raised his attack by 3 and then stepped back and came down on Chopper with a stomp, which dealt 5 damage (because he's small), but he also got hurt from being burnt.

"Ooh! That did a lot…" Scrub cringed as Vivian helped unflatten Chopper while he used his Ground Pound on the tubby Clubba. Chopper was able to use an Air Kick attack afterward.

"Yer makin' this fight pretty interestin', Contadre! Too bad yer not gonna stand a chance. Yer too small fer me!" Ultra Grubba grinned as he raised his defense by three while grinning..

Ultra Grubba stepped back and stomped on Vivian, who managed to successfully guard the attack. The burn effect wore off after taking one more damage from it and he was no longer small. He was also left with only 32 HP.

"OK, now I'll try to do some heavy damage to him while you land another burn effect, Vivian!" Chopper suggested.

"OK," Vivian nodded as Chopper used his Rising Break on Ultra Grubba to make him hold his stomach in pain, and then he got punched in the face by Vivian's flaming punch.

"YEEEEEEEEOUCH!" Ultra Grubba quickly shook himself and then raised his attack by 3 and came at Chopper - only to have him Superguard the attack and deal damage to him. Not only that, but he took damage from the burn as well.

"Yeesh... That fire might fry me up, that's fer sure..."

"Yeah! We're getting him down! We rock!" Scrub cheered as Chopper jumped up and he used a spinning kick attack to hit Ultra Grubba in the face multiple times, while Scrub let himself Ground Pound him.

"Not too shabby, Contadre!" Ultra Grubba complimented. "You got showmanship, an' that's GOLD in this biz! But this here battle's just gettin' started! It's time I showed you some real moves! Back in the day, I had so many rump-kickin' moves, they had to make some illegal!"

"What? Illegal? How's that even possible?" Chopper gawked.

"Oh, trust me. My moves were a real threat! Anyway, I think I might need a little more juice here!"

Ultra Grubba clenched his fists and began to absorb more power from the machine. The three heroes jumped up in shock as they saw Ultra Grubba get even bigger and stomp the ground. The large Clubba used his ability to allow himself to go twice per turn, so this left Chopper and his friends for an open attack, so Chopper used a Vulcan Jab on him and then Scrub used his Ground Pound to leave him with 10 HP.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! I ain't finished yet, Contadre!" Ultra Grubba wheezed. "Ain't over 'til it's over! That's the way it goes in combat sports, son! And lemme tell you somethin': fortune's gonna smile on me in the end, punk!"

He began to pant, but not after making himself dodgy and landing a punch attack on both Chopper and Scrub.

"He's almost down, so we don't need to worry about a thing!" Chopper punched Ultra Grubba, but he ended up missing. Scrub, however, was able to hit him, unlike Chopper.

"Ha! And you thought you could beat us? You're already getting tired!" Scrub scoffed. However, they were also a little battered up too. Vivian's hair was a little messy, Chopper looked dirty, and so did the Yoshi.

"I ain't givin' up yet, punks!" Ultra Grubba hissed as he raised his attack and then he turned around and performed a flip attack on Chopper, making him feel so exhausted and beaten up.

"I'm not done either…" Chopper panted as he began to store up energy in his fists and rushed toward Ultra Grubba, making a huge Rising Break attack on him. This sent him flying up and then to the ground, which he happened to topple over on.

"_**YAAAAARGH!**_"

"Just like how you defeated Rawk Hawk..." Scrub realized.

"Uh huh," Chopper nodded.

Ultra Grubba dropped 34 Star Points for Chopper. Thankfully, Ultra Grubba's power was gone and ended up turning back to his regular form.

"Noooo... How'd this happen?" Grubba moaned. "How could a perfect bod like mine lose to some stupid little ten year old kid? Oh...Great...Contadre... Great fight, there, son. Great...fight. Urrrrrrrrrgh..."

Chopper walked over to Grubba and put his foot on his head while raising his arm.

"I'm sorry, Grubba… But this is for your own good." he was about to make another punch attack, but he was too tired to do so. "...I don't think I can do it."

"Why not?" Vivian asked.

"Not only do I feel a bit exhausted, but I don't think it's the best option..."

"Mr. Champion!"

Chopper and his friends turned around to see Jolene.

"Jolene?!"

"...No, I mean... Chopper." Jolene corrected. "Please allow me to offer my earnest thanks for defeating that foul Grubba."

"What? What do you mean?" Chopper gawked. "Did you know what was exactly going on this whole time?"

"I can't really explain much now. I really have to apologize... I'm so sorry I had to get you involved... But you must understand... I had to learn the truth about what Grubba was doing by any means."

"So... Does that mean you were never really secretary-like?" Scrub wondered.

"Let me tell you everything. I had a little brother once, by the name of Mush. He'd have done anything for me. Our family was always poor, so he became a fighter here to support all of us... He managed to become champion at least twice, but he suddenly went missing one day. Our family was inconsolable. I had a feeling what was going on after the same incident happened, so I got hired on as the manager and investigated in secret. As I looked for clues about my brother, I accidentally saw Mr. Grubba return and transform into that dark monster and wipe away everyone's memories about the previous events. Seeing what I was up against, I pretended to lose my memory so Mr. Grubba wouldn't suspect me and so I could try to figure out what was going on. I almost gave up hope...and then you appeared. So I decided to secretly guide you."

"So our mysterious X person was actually…" Vivian gasped.

"Correct… It was me. Once I saw you fight through the ranks, I knew you were the only one who could challenge Grubba and save the Glitz Pit from any evil plans he had up his sleeves."

"Geez... That's a lot for you..." Chopper gasped.

Jolene walked up to the ring, which no longer had the electrical fence surrounded it and looked down at Grubba. "Now, sir... No! Not 'sir'! Grubba! I want answers, right NOW! What did you do with my precious little brother and everyone's memories? You know exactly what I'm talking about! Prince Mush and all the fighters you wiped their memories of!"

"Urrrgh... Prince Mush... He... He was gettin' in the way of all of my plans…" Grubba moaned. "I had him...urgh...disappear... Any which way you look at it...oooog...he ain't around these parts no more. I got back by taking Prince Mush just to get you back here an' get rid of you. Unfortunately, it didn't look like that all worked out fer me. But yer brother's gone fer good. An' those memories of the other fighters are all gone too."

"...No! I...suspected as much... Oh... Poor, sweet Mush... I can't believe you did all of this just for wealth and power… You are an awful person." Jolene sniffled.

"Poor Jolene…" Chopper trailed. "She may have not acted the best toward us, but she really cared about her brother and all the fighters."

"Chopper! What's that?" Vivian pointed up to the Crystal Star, which began to fire a bunch of energy out of the ring. It spread throughout the Glitz Pit and went into the fighter's heads, regaining their memories.

_"Whoa! What happened?!"_

_"Hey! I'm not the champ?!"_

_"Grubba was behind this, wasn't he?!"_

Not only that, but a Toad with a hot pink polka dotted cap like Jolene came out of the machine. It was Prince Mush.

"Whoa… Holy… Am I back in the Glitz Pit? Oh, man! This is GREAT!" Prince Mush gasped.

"MUSH! Your back!" Jolene walked over to Mush, having tears of happiness coming down her eyes.

"Sis! Is that really you? What are you doing here? I was just… Well… You know…"

"There, there, Mush. It's OK. It's all over...finally..." Jolene turned back to Chopper. "Now, Chopper...the Crystal Star is yours."

The gold Crystal Star floated down beside Chopper, and he pointed to himself. "You mean, you want me to take the Crystal Star?"

"It's better that you have it...so that nothing like this will ever happen again."

"Gee, thanks, Jolene!" Chopper smiled as he grabbed the Crystal Star, which spun around his head. When it floated above him him, he held it up high.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star power is now 3! And Chopper learned the special move Power Lift!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_Glitzville's seamy underside was a dark, dangerous place seething with conspiracy... With the help of the lovely Ms. Jolene, Chopper revealed Grubba's evil plans… And acquired the second Crystal Star by defeating the monstrous Ultra Grubba. Grubba had used the power of the Crystal Star to run his power-draining machine... What other hidden powers might these strange and mystical items possess?_

* * *

**Hot-diggity-DAMN! Chapter 2 is finally done! It was a pretty long chapter to be honest (though it's not the longest chapter in the story)... But it's over! And yes, I had to put that line there again. I like it a lot...**

**And yes, according to the title of the chapter, the boss fight was a REAL fight. Anyway, we're headin' back to the interludes next chapter! Hoooo-WEEEEEE!**


	19. Chapter 2 Interlude

At the X-Naut Fortress, Grodus was talking to an X-Naut PhD, which were X-Nauts with white jackets and a blue body. They were the researchers of the group, and they work on the chemicals and other important things like potions. Apparently they were discussing about the Crystal Star.

"…And then this 'Great Contadre' defeated the champ AND some dark-looking Clubba guy who was using the Crystal Star's power," the X-Naut PhD concluded. "I'm sorry to say this, sir, but the Crystal Star got snatched by somebody else."

"The Great Contadre? Who is this Contadre person? Have you described him?" Grodus asked.

"Well, sir… He certainly looks like Chopper, but with a red bandanna. Hold on… I did some research on him, and it said that he's the last of his species left. At least, that's what I THINK right now. But I swear, this Great Contadre looks exactly like him!"

"You fool! The Great Contadre IS Chopper! Your kind are supposed to be smart! How could you NOT recognize Chopper in a red bandanna and take him as someone else? ! HE was the one who got the Crystal Star!"

"I'm sorry, sir. I don't have such a great sight, to be honest. As of right now, we only know where four Crystal Stars are. There's the one in Rainbow Train, the one in Glitzville, the one we discovered in **Boggly Woods**, and that Crystal Star we found in Rogueport Sewers."

At that moment, Lord Crump came into the room, asking, "All right, what'd I miss around here?" while letting out a burp.

"Lord Crump… Why have you come here? I'm in a middle of…" Grodus paused as he realized something. "Hold on a minute… Forget what I just said. Perhaps you'll be of good use for right now."

"Whuh? What now? I'm a little busy right now with uh… Wait, let me check my schedule." Lord Crump pulled out a piece of paper, which was pretty greasy. When he saw how greasy it was, he rolled it up and whistled.

"Lord Crump, we're pretty sure Chopper will be going to Boggly Woods. I'm sending you there right now to find the Crystal Star and also to take care of that boy. You must not fail."

"Whuzzat? Oh, yeah, sure! Roger, Grodus! I'll go take care of that kid! And with that… Pow! I'm gone!" Lord Crump threw down a smoke bomb and after the smoke disappeared, he was still standing there.

_"I think I should've ran…"_ he sweat dropped as he quickly left the room before Grodus could say anything. Though, he didn't care. He was pondering at the moment.

"Hmmm… Perhaps sending Lord Crump alone is not such a smart thing to do. I'm going to need to get other people to help them. But… Who? …Hold on a minute. Get over here, X-Naut!"

An X-Naut came into the room with a part of his costume having gravy on it. "Hmmm? What's that all over you?"

"Huh?" the X-Naut looked at his collar and found gravy all over it. "Aw, crap! I got gravy all over this suit! This sucks!"

"Well go get the **Shadow Brothers **over here right now. I have a job to assign them." Grodus ordered.

"Oh, those guys? The ones that just joined you five hours ago? Yes, SIR!" the X-Naut gave him a salute and left to tell the Shadow Brothers to come, and they understood. Three shadows ended up rising from the ground.

Basically, they were like the Shadow Sirens, except they were guys. Their leader, Mysterious, had a blue head with big black eyes, an evil-looking smirk, a hat that had blue and red stripes on it. His body and arms were a red color, while he wore blue gloves, unlike Beldam, who had white. He liked to use magic like Beldam, but he mostly used water, but sometimes fire, though his is weaker than Vivian's.

The middle one was a purple color with a purple and white-striped hat. He had no eyes and had a frown on his face. He wore white gloves, and his body was muscular. Unfortunately, he's the only one that doesn't speak. His name, however is quite obvious. His name is Purple.

Last but not least, the youngest one was a shadowy black color, with a black and white-striped hat. He had two big white glowing eyes, but no mouth. He wore white gloves like his older brother too, but isn't that strong with magic, but he could still fight. At least his shadow punches could lower defense. Since he's like a shadow, his name is Shadower.

"All right, Grodus. Make this quick!" Mysterious groaned. "We were in the middle of a card game for Pete's sake! I'm already winning anyway, and I just wanna finish the damn game already!"

"Quiet down, Mysterious. Now's not the time for this." Grodus snapped as he pulled the sketch out. "We discovered where a fool named Chopper is going, and I need you three to go after him. Take the map from him, and if you choose to destroy him, you may do so."

"Somebody named Chopper, huh? Heh heh heh… Oh, no need to worry, sir. My brothers and I will handle this with no problem at all! Isn't that right?" the leader asked as he turned to his brothers, who gave nods. "Excellent... Now let us go! Purple! Shadower! We've got ourselves a job to do!"

With that, Mysterious sank into the shadows, but not before grinning.

Purple mumbled as he sank into the shadows. When Shadower noticed them go, he jumped up in shock.

"H-Hey! Wait for me, guys!" Shadower sank into the shadows in order to follow them.

"Chopper… I loathe you." Grodus growled.

* * *

**Sublevel 4-**

"I wonder if Chopper read that mail I sent him…" Peach wondered as she sat in her uncomfortable bed. "I hope he knows that I'm OK and that I'm with TEC. But with TEC's memory gone, how am I supposed to get his help? And now he wants me to teach him about love again."

Before she could go to the showers, the door to TEC's room opened up and she knew that she had to go see him. She walked through the hallway to meet TEC once again, who had been waiting for her this whole time.

**"I've been waiting for you, Princess Peach," **TEC noted.

"That mail I sent to Chopper… Did it reach him?" Peach asked.

**"Yes. I can confirm that Chopper received the mail."**

"Thank goodness. So why did you bring me back in here? Do you want me to teach you more about love?"

**"Well… My sensors did detect something interesting while I was watching you. It's like I wanted you…to tell me a little bit more about myself. You said before that you knew things about me, correct?"**

"Why… Yes, I do." Peach nodded. "I helped you find some information about what Grodus plans on doing with the Crystal Stars five months ago. Do you know what he' planning on doing now with twenty of them?"

**"I'm afraid I cannot find the answer to that,"** TEC replied.** "Sir Grodus hasn't told anyone what his reasons were. But he keeps his plans in his own room. No, I'm not asking you to go there. It is too dangerous to go there."**

"Well… I think that's all you really did for me. Is it OK if I could contact Chopper again?"

**"You may do so," **Peach thanked him and began to type up her mail. She told him she finished, and then it got sent to Chopper. **"The mail has been sent. You may go back to your room if you wish."**

"Thank you. At least you seem to remember what's going on now…though not as much, unfortunately. Good night, TEC."

**"Good night, Princess Peach," **TEC said after Peach left. The room got dark once again as TEC went to sleep.

* * *

**Petal Meadows-**

"_Stupid cheating Chopper…_ Who would've thought that fool would be in Glitzville…"

Bowser was walking around in Petal Meadows and jumped on the grass. He looked pretty angry right now and felt like he wanted to burn the whole place down with his fire breath.

"Did you say something, Your Rudeness?" Kammy Koopa asked.

"Uh, no! Nothing at all, as far as you know!" Bowser assured. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's just up ahead here. Y'know, that pipe that leads to a place filled with toys? You said that there's a Crystal Star there!"

"Yes! It should be by a red pip," Kammy noticed they were right in front of the pipe. "Oh! Right there, Lord Bowser! That pipe should lead us to a land where toys are real! It's Toy Kingdom, I'm pretty sure."

"Right then, Haggy! Let's go hunt for that Crystal Star!" Bowser jumped into the pipe and found a pathway to go. It was pretty flat, with some yellow blocks and brick blocks too. He noticed there were Goombas and X-Nauts around too.

"Ready to roll!" Bowser declared as he began to stomp his way through, jumping on a Goomba and then burning an X-Naut to crisp with his fire breath. The Goombas didn't attack, but the X-Nauts did come after him.

"Hey, who's that guy coming over here? Oh, screw it! Let's get 'em!" the X-Nauts picked up some rocket launchers and began to fire at Bowser. They even threw toys at him, which did nothing.

"Gwaa ha ha ha!" Bowser hit one of the yellow blocks, and a piece of meat came out. He grabbed it and ate it, which made him grow even bigger. He was able to stomp on the X-Nauts easily.

"This meat sure is tasty!" Bowser broke another one and grew so big, that he was invincible after eating the meat. He began to run into everything in site, and he sure was enjoying it!

"I think this is a good place for a vacation!" one of Chopper's Koopa friends, Koopla, from two years ago, was sitting on a chair reading a magazine on how to make your shell tougher. This was something she would usually look at when she was bored. She wore a blue sweatshirt, had blonde hair, blue boots and a pink shell that she hated.

"I never thought going to Rogueport would be such a bad idea. It's pretty damn awesome!" Koopla smirked. "But I thought I saw Chopper with some shadow girl. Is that a new girlfriend he has? I mean, I remember what happened when Bow was around him. …Well he's going to need some luck with that..."

Koopla noticed Bowser coming through Toy Kingdom, stomping everything in sight. "Aw, CRUD! Bowser's here! Great... Why does he ALWAYS have to come and ruin everything for me? Arrrgh!"

She got in her shell, and when Bowser stomped over, she got knocked away toward Music Kingdom without a scratch on her shell or herself.

"YES! I'm free!" Koopla grinned as she got up. She was about to run off, but a bunch of Music Notes surrounded her. "Crud..."

* * *

**Continuing Bowser's Segment-**

Bowser stomped through so much that he cleared everything in his path. He even broke a pole with a flag on it and destroyed a small castle that he was meant to go in as normal Bowser. With that, he ended up becoming normal sized.

"I don't believe it, Your Evilness! You crushed everything in sight!" Kammy cheered as they found a small town filled with toys, and they noticed Bowser and quickly walked over to him. Apparently they were teddy bears.

"What is this? A teddy bear convention?" Bowser guffawed. "I'm not here to huggle with these…_ahem_…freaky things. I want to BURN them and get the Crystal Star! So you better be careful, teddy bears!"

A white teddy bear came toward him, but he punched it with a flaming fist, sending it back. "Back off! I need to find Princess Peach and that Crystal Star!"

Kammy noticed a cardboard version of Princess Peach standing in front of a house. But she thought it was her. "Lord Bowser! Look over there!" Kammy pointed to the "Trojan Peach" that she saw.

"Bingo! Princess Peach! Man, that was easy!" Bowser grinned as he stomped his way over to the house to greet her. "I've found you, my princess. I, Bowser, the mighty Koopa King, offer my greeting!"

"..."

Kammy and Bowser looked at each other, a little confused.

"Now, now! None of that silent treatment! You're coming to my castle with me! There's plenty of room for you anyway, my dear!"

"Mweh heh heh! Clearly she's so overcome with joy that she's been left speechless!" Kammy snickered. "The mind of a maiden is, well, rather…complicated. Mweh heh heh heh heh!"

"Gra ha ha ha ha ha ha! I see! I see! How refined! How elegant! Awesome! I suppose I could live with a silent princess! It might even have perks, you know? Now let's grab her and find that Crystal Star!"

Bowser stomped over to Peach, and it ended up making her fall over. He noticed she was only made of cardboard, which left him slack-jawed.

"It… It was made of CARDBOARD?! Are you KIDDING ME?!"

"The Crystal Star isn't here either," a teddy bear informed. "Sorry, but it was taken by some pale green kid who beat us earlier."

"_**Whuh-WHAAAAAAT?!**_" Bowser gaped. "Oh, that's just dandy! Not only do I look like the huge, mighty king of GUYS WHO TALK TO PIECES OF CARDBOARD… But we were beaten to the Crystal Star!"

"Oh dear… This is absolutely horrible…" Kammy trailed.

"This is all your fault, Haggy! If we weren't at Glitzville, then we could've gotten that Crystal Star! GAH!" Bowser stomped the ground in anger, while Kammy was shaking in fear.

"Your Evilness! Please stop!"

* * *

**Phi Base-**

Down in the Phi Base, at the bottom floor, in Gemerl's room, he himself was aiming his laser gun that he could use by transforming his hand into the gun at a Chopper dummy he ordered the Phis to make. He was trying to be steady with his aim and was hoping to blow the dummy up. Oh, and he also had a dummy of Vivian and Scrub too, since they were other people that were with Chopper.

"Steady now…" Gemerl was about to fire, but when two Phis came in and interrupted, he missed, which made a hole on the left side of the wall. "What the heck? I was busy trying to… Hold on, how come you don't have the Crystal Star with you? Don't tell me you…"

"Sorry, sir. That Chopper kid was too fast!" the first Phi apologized. "He even had a shadow girl and a white spunky Yoshi kid with him! They were pretty tough, especially 'cause we got ourselves beaten!"

"Well you would obviously find them tough if you lost!"

"Oh... Sorry, sir..."

The second Phi punched the first, making its head spin around. "Don't apologize! Master Gemerl doesn't want us to apologize to him, you idiot! Don't you remember what he told us?"

"Both of you be quiet!" Gemerl snapped. "So you didn't beat Chopper. Don't worry about that. Did you get any information from him when you scanned him though? You did scan him, right? You should've done that when you saw him."

"Of course I did, sir. I got all the information I needed!" the second Phi nodded. "Yup! This information may be long, so you need to listen to EVERYTHING I say right now. It's very important for you to know this."

"OK, I listened to what you just said. You _did _want me to listen to what you were going to say now anyway." Gemerl said as he crossed his arms. "Whatever, just get on with it already."

"Good, now listen up! Chopper used to live on a planet called Mondrao. It's a planet inhabited by some strange people that have round feet and no legs, sometimes a body, arms, and a head. Well, not everyone is like that. Chopper, for instance, is a spherical shape, which is very rare for his species. They can have any kind of head. They can be square, round, and diamond-shaped. His parents are named Tonberria, the mother, and Toalune, the father. Yes, their names are weird, but what do you expect their name to be? George? That sounds so…dull."

"That's it? I was expecting more besides that…" Gemerl trailed as his laser arm gun changed back to his hand.

"His home planet was destroyed by somebody named Lord Maquano, who is, or WAS perhaps the most EVIL thing in the universe. He destroys planets because they're in his way or just out of enjoyment, and he doesn't even care who's on there. He was responsible for the death of Chopper's father. Straight into his heart with his sword! Very very painful! I sure wouldn't wanna be him! To be honest, I actually feel bad for the kid. Wait, what am I saying? I actually wanna destroy him!"

"_Ahem_…"

"Oh! Sorry! This all happened when Chopper was FOUR! That is something I don't want to see. Anyway, he made it to another planet, but then Maquano went over there to take it over, so Chopper had to stop him to save his planet and avenge his parents and his people. So he had to stop him for many years. But then something interesting happened. He went to the Mushroom Kingdom and had to save the place and Star Haven from the Star God, Staris. Also, Maquano went there too! Apparently his brother, Bob, got killed by him. Chopper's best friend, Flyer, got brainwashed by that demon knight too. Man, he's done so much to harm Chopper, to be honest. Apparently, the last time Chopper saw him was when he tossed a light orb at him trapped him in it and was sent through space."

"Interesting… But I don't care if Chopper's an orphan." Gemerl noted. "I hate that little boy, and I wish to tear him apart. You got enough info, and I'll make sure I keep that info. Right now, tell two Phis to go to Boggly Woods and find the Crystal Star there. So, that means get out right now."

"We will certainly get out of here!" the two Phis said at the same time, running out of the room.

"So, Chopper… I've got enough information on you." Gemerl slowly turned around and "grinned". "Perhaps I can use a weakness you have against you. It seems that you have a weakness of fighting against your loved ones and friends. Maybe someday I can arrange that. Heh heh heh…"

Gemerl stopped laughing when he saw the Chopper dummy. He punched it, which knocked it to the ground. "I despise you so much. I don't know who else is after those stars, but they definitely belong to ME! I won't risk killing you either, so be prepared once we meet."

* * *

**Glitz Pit lobby-**

Chopper, Vivian, and Scrub were at the front lobby of the Glitz Pit, along with Jolene, Rawk Hawk, the Iron Clefts, King K, and Bandy Andy. Jolene happened to explain everything to the fighters, which they seemed to remember everything about Grubba from before. Actually, he had handcuffs while being beside two Security Guards.

"So now you must leave…" Jolene trailed as Chopper sadly nodded to her. "I understand. If you must, you must. We won't delay you. I hope you succeed in finding the rest of the Crystal Stars. Good luck!"

"Contadre, I wanna tell you..." Rawk Hawk began. "I'm sorry for everything I caused to you and your friends... Rawk Hawk ain't gonna play dirty anymore, especially when it feels like there's no accomplishment in it. I'm gonna hit the weights, take some vitamins, and win the title fair and square! That's how I should've done it a long time ago. And once I get back in the ring, I'm never, EVER gonna lose again! Remember: when life rocks you, RAWK BACK!"

"Listen, Con-money... Thanks for everything, man." King K thanked. "You're one the nicest dudes I ever met, and if you ever need it, I got your back. Me, I think I'm gonna chill here and improve my skills. King K's back, baby! And it's all thanks to you, dog! You're my boy, Chopper!"

"Security, you may take Grubba to prison now," Jolene ordered. The two Security Guards nodded as they began to walk over to the exit.

"Hot-diggity-dang it! All my plans! Ruined! I would have gotten away with it if it weren't fer you meddlin' fighters an' yer li'l scrubby dinosaur!" Grubba rambled. "Contadre! Listen now, son! I'm gonna get back at you one day fer this! It'll be when you never expect it to happen! An' if I don't manage to get out of a stinky jail cell, then I'll send someone after you!"

The two Security Guards brought him out of the pit and left Glitzville to go to a prison for him to stay in.

"Yeah right! Like he'll even succeed in his task!" Scrub snickered. "When you're dealing with Contadre, of course you're going to fail!"

"Now that Grubba's out of the picture again, I'm going to take over running the Glitz Pit," Jolene declared. "If you ever decide to return to the ring, just come back! I'll keep your spot open. You have tons of fans, and they'd absolutely love it if you made a comeback! Anyway, think it over, OK? And travel safe!"

"We will!" Chopper smiled as he ended up removing his ability, now that he didn't need to have it on. He, Vivian, and Scrub went back outside, where they all began to stretch after the fight against Ultra Grubba.

"Man! That was awesome!" Scrub grinned. "Too bad we're not really going to be heading back there. So what's next on our menu? Where exactly do we go if we're going to be finding the next Crystal Star?"

"Well…" Chopper began, but then he heard the gourmet race theme playing from his Mailbox SP. Scrub heard it too, but he didn't seem to jump up from the song. He found it to be catchy.

"Hey, you got some mail! But who is it from anyway?" Scrub began to wonder as Chopper took out the device and opened it to read the message. He knew that it was Peach giving him an e-mail.

_Dear Chopper,_

_I'm sure you're very concerned about me… But please know I'm fine! I'm actually more worried about you and Mario. The fiends who kidnapped me are searching desperately for the Crystal Stars. I'll try to learn what I can about them. I'll e-mail again if I uncover anything, OK? Hopefully we'll be able to see each other soon._

_-Princess Peach-_

"Oh, cool! You got an e-mail from a princess! That must be pretty awesome! …But where exactly do we go? You never answered my question."

"Leave it to me!" Chopper made a sharp whistle and the Warp Star began to come from behind Chopper. He jumped on it and also helped Vivian and Scrub onto the Warp Star.

"Whoa! What's this thing?" Scrub gaped.

"It's the Warp Star. We're going to travel to Pop Star with it!"

"That sounds like a lot of work."

"It...kinda is."

"We're going on this Warp Star again? How nice…" Vivian smiled as they began to take off toward Pop Star.

* * *

**Dream Land-**

Once they made it to Dream Land, they landed in front of the Mayor's house, who came outside to see them return.

"Chopper! You've returned!" the Mayor gaped. "You were out for some time, I must admit. What was going on that took you so long?"

"Well… We had to fight in an arena to get the Crystal Star." Chopper explained. "It turns out that the one who hosted it was the villain, and HE had the Crystal Star. But no worries! We've taken care of him no problem! Look!"

He took out the Gold Star, which made the Mayor gasp.

"Excellent! So you've gotten two Crystal Stars so far! You are doing a good job! There are only eighteen left to find. I fear that that might take a while. Say, who's that white little…creature you got with you?"

"Who, me? I'm Scrub!" Scrub introduced as he made a pose. "Contadre found me in an egg, and he and Vivian decided to take care of me! Yup! I hatched and became this! I. Am. AWESOME!"

"Chopper, we better go to the Fountain of Dreams, fast! We need to find that next Crystal Star!" Vivian suggested.

"Yeah, we gotta do that," Chopper agreed.

"Say... Have you still found any sight of Kirby?" the Mayor asked.

"Sadly, we haven't... I'm hoping to find him, though."

"Well, for now, you should go to the Fountain of Dreams. You need to find that next Crystal Star!"

Chopper put the Crystal Star away and nodded, so he, Vivian, and Scrub headed toward the Fountain of Dreams, while the Mayor waved goodbye to them.

Once they made it to the fountain, they saw by one of the light blue trees, Fumu was sitting there with a book. She was actually writing something, which was a hobby for her.

"Everything seems to be going peaceful around here. Cappy Town and Hatty Town seem to be getting along just fine, and King Dedede hasn't plotted anything yet." Fumu said as she wrote in her book. "But for some reason, Escargon isn't with him right now. But a boy named Chopper came here and he's on a quest to find the Crystal Stars."

Chopper was able to grab the book from her and began to look at it, a little confused. When Fumu noticed she wasn't holding it, she noticed Chopper reading it.

"Chopper! Give that back!" Fumu demanded while Chopper decided to give it back to her. She also noticed both Vivian and Scrub with him. "Who are you two? You're both…kind of odd. Are you people from Earth?"

"We're around the areas of a place called Rogueport," Vivian explained. "My name's Vivian."

"And I'm Scrub!" Scrub introduced. "I'm pretty awesome, just to let you know! …Now where does the Crystal Star need to go?"

Fumu pointed over to the star pedestal, so he ran over there. Chopper shrugged and ran over there, along with Vivian. The first thing he did was get on the pedestal.

"OK, do what you need to do already, Contadre!" Scrub noted.

"You don't need to call me that you know. I'm not in the Glitz Pit." Chopper told Scrub. But he didn't care. He liked calling him Contadre, and that's what he was going to call him.

Chopper held up the Crystal Star and it disappeared from his hands. The light blue light appeared around the huge fountain as he saw the two Crystal Stars to his upper right, which left Scrub in amazement.

"Holy… This is really cool!" Scrub gaped.

The Magical Map began to float above Chopper and a bunch of light began to go in it. It looked like the next Crystal Star had been located at a big tree in a woods that looked pale and dull. A green Crystal Star appears to be there.

**The location of a Crystal Star has been recorded on your Magical Map!**

Chopper began to look at the map carefully while Scrub began to beg to see, so Chopper let Scrub take a look at the map, and then Vivian took a look too.

"Hey, I remember that place… I've been there before." Vivian recalled. "I think we should go back to Professor Frankly to see what he has to say."

"Yes, we should," Chopper agreed.

* * *

**Frankly's house-**

"Ah! Now I see…" Frankly deduced as he closed a book he had on the table.

"Well spill it out, gramps! Where's the next Crystal Star?" Scrub asked.

"It's in Boggly Woods. The third Crystal Star is inside a great tree there. Some odd creatures appear to live in there. If memory serves, there's a pipe beneath town that leads to those woods."

"Boggly Woods, huh? I was told from Peach that there are others that are looking for the Crystal Stars." Chopper recalled. "In fact, I even heard some weird gray robots looking for them. I don't think we're alone on this hunt."

"Uh oh. If these people are also looking for the Crystal Stars…" Frankly began. "What could they hope to achieve? Could they use its power to… Ugh! Too many unknowns! Unfortunately the only clues we can rely on are the Crystal Stars and that map."

"I guess all we can do now is go to Boggly Woods and hope to get that Crystal Star," Vivian suggested.

"Yes, I recommend you do that right now. And find it before those others do…such as Peach's captors and those robots! For now, I'll research more on these Crystal Stars and find out more information on why there are twenty more.

"Got it," Chopper nodded as they left the house. However, they stopped when they found Luigi in the same area.

"Oh! Hey, Chopper! Long time no see!" Luigi greeted.

"Luigi? Holy… I never knew you'd be here!" Chopper gaped. "Why did you come here anyway?"

"Well I'm on a little quest of my own! Well, KIND OF. I wanted to go visit the Waffle Kingdom to see Princess Éclair… I mean QUEEN Éclair and the Chestnut King. Yeah, I went there one time to rescue her and defeat that king, but that was her lover, apparently. Want me to tell you the whole thing? It's kind of a long story…"

"We don't have much time. We gotta go down to the sewers. But thanks for the offer." Chopper waved goodbye to Luigi and he and his friends went down the sewers to the area with the big yellow block. Chopper saw the same creature from before run into the small hole in the wall. Beside the whole were some bars blocking the way of a doorway.

"What was that?" Scrub gawked.

"I saw that thing before, that's for sure..." Chopper recalled.

"But it got away," Vivian noted.

"We can follow him no problem! Watch this!" Chopper turned sideways, and so did his partners. They were able to slip through the bars to go into the doorway to an area with some stairs that didn't lead to anywhere. The creature noticed them and ran away.

"Wait! Don't go!" Chopper followed the creature over to the corner, which soon realized it was trapped.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeek! D-Don't eat me! Please! I beg of you!" the creature shrieked.

"What? You can talk? And who said I was going to eat you? You're not a bad guy…"

"So… You didn't come here to eat me?"

"Of course not!"

"You're all not bullies either?"

"Guess again, nerd!"

"Noooooooo! Leave me alone, you big bullies!"

"Scrub! Why did you say that?!" Chopper asked.

"Aw, man! I just wanted to make it a little interesting!" Scrub kicked the ground in disappointment.

"Relax, little creature…thing. We're not bullies. Scrub was only kidding anyway." Chopper assured.

"For real? Phew! Boy, that's good." the creature sighed. "I thought for a second I was in grave danger…like my sister and friends at the Great Tree! …Wait, why should I be telling you this? You might be enemies!"

"We're not enemies. Hold on a second… Frankly said there are small creatures in Boggly Woods. Would you be considered one of those?"

"Wh-What? Why do you know about me? NOOO! Y-You must be... You guys are working for those X-Nauts, aren't you? You chased me here! Noooooo! It's the end!"

"X-Nauts? They're there?" Vivian asked.

"Y-Yeah... They are. H-How do you know about them?"

"Hey, Vivian… Aren't those the guys you told me were after the Crystal Stars too? They sent you and your sisters after them, right? I guess we can take them down before they get that star!" Chopper smirked. "OK, small creature thing! Could you tell us what happened?"

"Well... OK. This gang of bad guys who call themselves X-Nauts came to where I live. They came inside our Great Tree and started tearing it apart and causing trouble. So...I've come all the way here looking for help. They said something about searching for the Crystal Star."

"The Great Tree, huh? Interesting… The Crystal Star seemed to be located in that tree, and if THAT'S the case, then they want it! Do you know anything about the Crystal Stars?"

"Well… Not really. We keep that a little secret after what happened five months ago. To be honest, we Punies kept it in our tree. Say, could you guys help us out? Maybe chase them off? If you do, we'll give you that Crystal Star. We can have the Puni Elder give it to you! I mean, it's something you need, right? You help us clear them out, ans you can get that star. So what do you say? Let's not waste any more time. I'm begging you!"

"Sure thing. We'll help you get rid of those X-Nauts." Chopper nodded.

"Really? You aren't joking? You'll do it?"

"Of course I'll help you!"

"Oh, thank you so much! This is great! I'm so happy! My name is Punio. Pleased to meet you. I'll take you to where I live. Follow me, OK?"

Punio walked over to a small crack in the wall to the right, saying "It just this way," as Chopper ran over to the crack and noticed he was too big to fit in.

"I don't think we can fit in there…" Vivian trailed.

"Oh, right. I almost forgot. Hang on a second." Punio went through the hole and was checking for a switch.

"All right, let's see… The Puni elder said there's some button around here that opens up a secret entrance we sealed a couple of months ago… _**AH-HA!**_"

A doorway up the stairs flipped over and so did some small windows. Chopper looked surprised and they all went up the stairs. But first he went to the right to get a Damage Dodge Badge, then he went to the right to a small, square-shaped area and a small, gray pipe that was attached to the wall.

"You can get to the woods we Punies live in by going through that pipe there," Punio informed. "OK! Hurry! Hurry! There's no time!"

Chopper looked at his friends and they nodded. With that, all four of them headed through the pipe…to Boggly Woods.

* * *

**I decided to have Grubba get arrested, since you NEVER see him ever again after you beat him in Paper Mario 2. Yes, he had to curse out, and he did say he'll get his revenge...but how?**

**Anyway, we're going to Boggly Woods next chapter! I personally LOVE the music there! It's probably my least favorite chapter in the story, but I don't think it's that bad either.  
**


	20. Bogging Through Boggly Woods

**CHAPTER 3**

**-The Great Boggly Tree-**

Chopper, Vivian, and Scrub came out of the gray pipe and landed on some light blue leaves on the ground. The sky appeared to be a light brown color, and the tall, gray grass had a strange white color to it that made it feel like snow. Punio came out as well and jumped off the pipe.

"This is it? This is Boggly Woods?" Scrub asked in disappointment. "Crud… I was hoping it would look more bright and colorful than this. Darn it."

"Don't worry, Scrub. It's not so bad, to be honest. It's very peaceful." Chopper commented. "I like it a lot more than Music Kingdom, I'll admit. It actually looks very mysterious. What'll we run into next anyway?"

"Yeah, I do find this place very pretty," Vivian smiled as she cupped her hands together. "I really haven't been here that long, but I guess I'll get a better look at this place now!"

Punio stepped in front of the group and checked the pathway ahead. "Um, OK, just a bit further and we should be able to see the Great Tree. The elder and her friends are waiting for us there... Oh yeah, and I think my little sister's waiting there too! Come on! We gotta go before it's too late!"

"All right!" Chopper hit the Save Block to save his game, and then they headed over to the next area. However, they stopped when they saw the Shadow Brothers were there, which left Vivian surprised.

"Huh? Who are they? They look similar to me…but they're much different." Vivian noticed as they began to listen to them.

"OK, boys! It's time we got to work!" Mysterious declared. "You! Shadower! Could you explain to me what we need to do? I need to remember a little."

Shadower ended up face palming. "Again? You forget so much! Sigh… All right, we were ordered by Grodus to find some boy named Chopper and take his Magical Map. So… Should we get rid of him and whoever's with him too?"

"Well Grodus didn't care what he wanted us to do. I think if we destroyed him, it would make things better! But, yeah, I think that's what Grodus wanted us to do. Good job remembering that." Mysterious noticed that Shadower had something he was holding on, which made him raise an eyebrow. "Hmm? Shadower! What's that you got with you? Did you steal something from the pizza guy again?"

"What? No!" Shadower answered as he took out a small yellow star. "I don't know where this came from, but I found it on the ground. It looks pretty interesting, I must admit. I wonder where it came from."

"…So you found it on the ground. Well I could care less if you keep it or not. What DOES matter is that we get the sketch out. So… Shadower, would you do me a favor and get that stupid thing out already so we can find out who Chopper is?"

"Uh… What?" the youngest Shadow Brother gawked. "What are you talking about? I don't have the thing! You said that it was way too important for me to hold onto, so you should be the one who has it!"

Mysterious smacked Shadower in the face. "WHAT?! How could you say that I had it? Grrrr! You idiot! You always think that you can blame everything on me! You think it's right to blame things on someone when you probably screwed it up?"

"Well… Um…" Shadower didn't know what to say. However, Purple noticed Chopper and his friends, so tapped Mysterious on the shoulder, but he was moving his arm off him to get him to stop.

"Stop it now, Purple. …What? A pale green antenna fellow, a purple shadow girl with pink hair and a small white Yoshi? This isn't time for your stupid little games! We have something more important here!"

"What do you mean?" Shadower asked before Mysterious gave him a glare.

"YOU! How could you lose that sketch?!" Mysterious exclaimed. "I would kick your butt if I wanted to! …But I know it's best not to do that to my own worthless brother."

"But… Listen, Mysterious, I never had the thing with me." Shadower objected, looking a bit sad. "Why are you blaming this on me when I didn't have it? Are you just doing this so it's not your fault?"

"_**SILENCE!**_" Mysterious was about to punch Shadower, but he stopped. "Forget it. It's not even worth using violence to get the sketch from you. Sigh… Fine, then I guess there's only one thing that I suppose I can do."

Mysterious used his magic to make the yellow star come over to him. He grabbed it and put it away before Shadower could grab it. "Since you won't admit that you forgot the sketch, I'm taking this from you. Oh, so sorry… Well too bad! It's your punishment that you forgot it!"

"B-But, Mysterious…"

"No buts! You know, we wouldn't be in this situation if you didn't lose that map!"

"Bro... Oh, what's the point?" Shadower sighed.

"Man, I share his pain," Vivian noticed. "It feels like when my sister would blame everything on me. I don't know who's worse... Beldam? Or that blue and red shadow person?"

"Well it's best if we just moved on," Chopper whispered. "I'm a little worried they might find out where I am at this second and they'll go after me. Yes, we NEED to get moving. But I do agree that I feel sorry for him."

They began to walk on, with Scrub looking at the trees. "Hey guys, don't those trees look like upside down cones? I mean, look at them…"

The others decided to take a look as well, and they ended up agreeing with him.

"Yeah, you're right, Scrub. They look like cones. Why didn't I notice them before?" Vivian wondered, while Chopper wonder as well. But since he was distracted, a Pale Piranha bit him, which made him take 2 damage.

"Ack! A Pale Piranha landed a First Strike on me!" Chopper cried. He quickly whacked at the Pale Piranha to take it out, while Vivian used her Shade Fist on the pale-looking Cleft that was by the Pale Piranha.

"These guys aren't too tough. I thought the fighters in Glitzville were tougher!" Chopper scoffed after whacking at another Pale Piranha. Since there were a lot of them, he decided to get on Scrub to go faster.

"Contadre, aren't you fast yourself?" Scrub asked.

"Yeah, but I guess the author had to limit my speed at times because it makes you feel useless..."

"Author?" Vivian gawked.

"Ehhhh... I have no idea, honestly."

After clearing all of the enemies around the area, they moved over to a smaller area with less white grass than the other area. They could see in the background a pipe, a bottomless pit, and a tree. There was a gray pipe right near them.

"Hey, what's that over there, Punio? Is that the Great Tree you've been telling us about? It doesn't look so big to me…" Chopper trailed, looking a bit disappointed at its size.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Chopper. When we get closer to it, it'll be bigger than you thought it was! That's where we Punies live. That's home. Uh, of course, it's just not us in the tree. Lots of Jabbies and Piders, too. Well, anyway, Chopper... Follow me!" Punio went into the small hole in the pipe and made his way toward the tree in the background.

"OK, let's follow him, I suppose," Chopper shrugged as he jumped into the pipe and followed Punio in the background. Scrub and Vivian followed too and when they made it to the tree, they saw how big it was.

"Whoa… I guess you weren't kidding about this place being huge, Punio! …Punio?" Chopper saw Punio was at the front of a pink door with a red light above it. From what they could see, he was certainly not happy.

"I think something's wrong… We better go ask Punio what's wrong." Vivian suggested.

The other two nodded in agreement and made their way over to Punio, who was looking confused.

"Yo! Punio! What's the problem?" Scrub asked.

"Uh oh… This isn't good. This door's light was green when I came out of this tree. Not only that, but the entrance where we Punies go through has been sealed!" Punio frowned. "It's nowhere to be seen! I think somebody locked this door from the inside. But I can't open this door. I thought I could save everyone… I guess I'm nothing but a fool."

"No problem! I'll open this!" Chopper walked over to the door and tried to pull it open. "Wait, there's no handle on this."

"Try kicking it," Scrub suggested.

"No, kick AND punch it!" Chopper began to kick and punch at the door, but sadly, it didn't seem to work.

"OK, we're screwed."

"What? No way, Contadre! We're not giving up right now!" Scrub snapped. "We need to get that door open, and that's final! Hey! Punio! You got any ideas on what we should do?"

"...Uh... ...…...Um... ...…...Hmmmm... ...…...Ermmm... ...…...Mmmmmmmm... …...Hrrrmmmmmmmmmmmm... I GOT IT!" Punio crawled over to one of the trunks of the tree, where they were a little above the pink door. Chopper, Vivian and Scrub followed him up to the trunk and listened to him.

"Long ago, the Puni elder told me about a secret entrance somewhere around here. We can get in through there! I'm completely sure of it! I even used it before! Uh, problem is... I doubt finding it is going to be easy. I don't exactly remember where this entrance is. You're not going to see 'Secret Entrance' labeled on it."

"I don't mean to be really worried and all, but how are we going to find somebody's secret entrance?" Vivian asked.

"Well, it's hidden by this invisible...thingy."

"A thingy?"

"Yeah, it's a thingy. We need to find and remove the thingy. Boy, but removing a normal thingy sounds tough enough, let alone an invisible one! Uh... Oh! Got it! I know someone to help! Surely, he can help us!"

"Who is 'he'?" Chopper asked.

"We found him in the Boggly Woods one day, and he was lost. He didn't seem to be evil or anything. In fact, he seemed very positive and fun! For some reason, he has some strange ability to inhale stuff. We were a little scared he would eat us, but he didn't even bother with it. He was allowed to stay in Madame Flurrie's house at the deepest corner of the woods, so… Let's head back in the direction we came from."

"Hmm… Inhale stuff… That sounds VERY familiar to me… We should head on over there right now, I suppose." Chopper said. So they left the Great Tree and headed back into Boggly Woods.

* * *

**Another location in Boggly Woods-**

"(Man, it feels good that I'm at a safe place,)" the voice began from inside a house. (It really stinks that I lost him, unfortunately. But these woods are really cool! It's dull, but it's a nice place to be in, to be honest! But those Crystal Stars… How on earth am I going to get them now that I'm separated? Man, I think this is going to be tough for me. But at least the Punies were nice to me! I think I should go pay them a little visit! Now where's my star…?)"

After searching, he realized that it couldn't be found anywhere. "(**_OH NOOOOO! _**I can't believe it's gone! Where did it go? Did it get stolen? Did I drop it somewhere? What am I going to do?)"

* * *

**Near the pipe to the Great Tree-**

After leaving the great tree and getting out of the background, they were back in the woods. Scrub wanted to rest for a moment because they were walking for quite a while. Since they were going to be waiting for him, Chopper, Vivian, and Punio were playing a game of charades and were doing pretty badly at it.

"Chopper, what are you even doing?" Vivian asked.

"You gotta guess!" Chopper whined.

"Well... I can't even tell what it is..." Punio trailed.

"OK, that's it. I think I'm done." the pale green kid sighed as the three decided to relax for a bit.

"Ummm… So since we're no longer playing charades, what are we supposed to do?" Vivian questioned. "Scrub is resting for a minute, so there's no way we can get going now, right?"

Scrub opened one eye and gave a light snicker. _"Heh heh heh… They actually think I'm resting right now. But you know, some Yoshis just wanna relax. …Like me! I'd rather just sit here on this pipe instead of go traveling. They'll go find that person or whoever while I wait for them here." _

"Hey, Mr. White Dinosaur. We need to get going now." Punio said as he got on his belly. "I know you're pretending to be sleeping. I'm sorry, but we can't stay here all day. Some Pale Piranhas or Dark Puffs could come here any minute."

"Aw, man! How did you see through me?" Scrub gawked as Punio jumped off him. "…Is it that green bulb on your antenna? That must be it! …Or maybe that's just to give you light. Well who cares. I'm going."

The white Yoshi made his way toward the next area, but he ended up getting knocked back by a Dark Puff. Everyone couldn't help but chuckle at him, who sulked.

"Man, you kind of remind me of a Yoshi friends of mine two years ago," Chopper recalled. "His name was Yosho, and he thought of himself as a ladies man, apparently. Oh yeah, I remember the first time meeting him. Heh heh heh… It was hilarious!"

"What happened?" Punio wondered.

"Well, basically, one of my friends checked a bush, and some voice was flirting with her, so she went over to me and told me to do it. Although... She tried to seduce me... I hated that so much..."

"So he tried to hit on a ghost partner that seduced you?" Vivian asked, who frowned upon hearing about Bow.

"Well… Yeah, but I never liked liked her! Don't think that! In all honesty, I never wanted her to join me, because I had a feeling something would go terribly wrong! …But she didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought. Don't think we had any relationship. Because we didn't."

Vivian's frown turned back to a smile. "All right, I'm fine with… Wait! Don't bother with what I said!"

"With what?" Scrub asked.

"Ummmmm... It's nothing, really."

"OK… Let's just go." Chopper got Scrub up and they all headed to the next area, where they could see a gray pipe going up to a paper airplane panel. But it seemed to be too low for them to cross over to the ledge on the other side.

"I can see some kind of passageway over there," Vivian noticed as she floated over to the hidden pathway that went up between the trees. Chopper went through there to go up to a blue ! switch to the left.

"Oh, cool! A switch!" he brought his hammer down on it and Scrub noticed the pipe became longer.

"Cool! The pipe extended! Contadre! Go back over to the pipe and become a paper airplane! I think it might help!" Scrub called out, leaving Punio confused.

"Contadre? What do you mean, Mr. White Dinosaur?" Punio gawked. "Isn't his name Chopper? That's what I heard…"

"Well his name is Chopper," Vivian explained. "I guess Scrub still calls him Contadre because they both met at the Glitz Pit."

"What? His name's Chopper? Well, I think he's Contadre, but I'll remember his real name, OK? I just like to call him by his cooler name." Scrub smirked and gave a thumbs up.

"All right, let's keep going now. Since the pipe's back up, I can get us across!" Chopper headed over to the pipe to get to the top. He became Fighter Chopper to fire an energy sphere at the Shine Sprite and then he removed the ability and made it to the other side with his friends as a paper airplane.

Chopper saw a red ? block, so when he jumped under it, a Beam Charge badge was revealed to be inside, which would allow him to charge up an attack with his Beam ability to deal more damage. Afterward, they found a yellow house in the background with a pink roof.

"Look! There in the distance! That's what I was telling you about." Punio cheered. "This is Flurrie's house, but right now we allowed somebody else to stay there after she left the woods. Hopefully he'll be able to help us get into the Great Tree."

"You never really answered my question before," Chopper recalled. "Who is this 'he' person you're talking about? Is his name Him? Or He?"

"We don't know what his name is. In fact, we can't understand a thing he says either. He talks in some kind of other language. It's mostly "Poyo" or something along those lines. I don't know, exactly."

"Hmmm… Poyo, huh? Why does that sound familiar? Well, anyway, let's go to the house." Chopper turned sideways to go through the small bushes and to the gray pipe to reach the house in the background. His friends followed him into the house.

The inside of the house had a dark blue ground with hot pink walls. They saw some short stairs going over to a door. Punio walked up to the front of the whole group.

"…Uh… Excuse me!" Punio didn't hear anything, unfortunately. "Ummm… Maybe he isn't here. I wonder if he decided to go out and walk around in the woods."

They made their way over to the door ahead, but since Punio couldn't knock, Chopper did it for him.

"Hello? Are you there?" Punio asked.

No response.

"Well, I guess he isn't here... We might as well look inside." Chopper suggested as he was about to reach for the doorknob.

"(NO! Don't open the door! I'm not coming out of here yet!)"

Chopper's eyes widened as he brought his arm back, but for some reason, he understood the voice "Hey! I can understand what he's saying! He doesn't want us to open the door…"

"He doesn't want us coming in?" Punio gawked. "Uh… Excuse me, person that I don't know much about! …What are you doing in there still? Weren't you going to be coming out of here to give us a hand?"

"(…Hmm? That voice sounds familiar.)" the voice realized. "(Sounds like one of those Punies. Is that you Punio? I would help right now, but unfortunately I lost something. I'm not going to leave this place until I find it, and I don't know where it is! It's either lost, somebody stole it, or either it's somewhere around here. I don't know exactly. I'm trying as hard as I can to look for the star. But it's nowhere to be seen!)"

"He said that he lost some kind of star. Wait… A star… Sounds like something I know about!" Chopper began to think for a moment back when he encountered the Shadow Brothers. "Wait! I think I know where your star is! We'll get it back for you, OK?"

"(That's fine! I'd really like it back!)"

"So we need to get that star from those three shadow people. It doesn't sound like a big problem at all." remarked Vivian.

"We should go confront them about it," Scrub suggested. Chopper nodded and began to head back to the beginning area of Boggly Woods with his friends.

* * *

**Back with the Shadow Brothers-**

"See, Mysterious? I TOLD you! You had to blame me for the sketch…AND I DIDN'T HAVE IT!" Shadower whined.

"Oh, be quiet. Don't be such a crybaby about it. We don't have time to be arguing about some stupid sketch. We need to study it! Now then…" Mysterious took out the sketch and began to look at it. "Hmmm… Interesting… Wait, THIS is who we need to go after? You gotta be kidding me! A short, round pale green boy with two antennas and stubby arms? Seriously!"

Purple and Shadower took a look at the picture, with Shadower noticing something about him. "Hey, isn't that kid who passed by here earlier with some other friends?"

"What? …Come to think of it, it does look like him. Wait a minute… That WAS him! You gotta be kidding me! Shadower! This is all of your fault!"

"What? I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Oh yes you did! Why didn't you warn me earlier?!" Mysterious roared. "I'll definitely be dealing out some terrible punishments later for you! I can promise you that!"

"But you're the one who had the…"

Mysterious smacked Shadower once again. "Did I give you permission to speak? NO! Either you shut up, or I'll have your tail cut off and have it hung up on the wall of our house! …Or better yet, I'll leave you in a garbage can for a week! How would you like that?"

"But I… Oh, come on! This isn't fair…"

"Oh, and about that stupid star you picked up earlier… I was THINKING about giving it back to you, but not anymore! Plus, now YOU'RE going to have to figure out how to find this Chopper kid!"

Purple mumbled to himself as he was forced to listen to the fight between the two.

* * *

**Later-**

When the group returned, they noticed the Shadow Brothers happened to be asleep. It could've been because they got exhausted after the argument. Purple probably fell asleep because he felt like it.

"They're asleep? Ummm… OK." Chopper poked Mysterious with a stick, which made him open his evil black eyes, making an evil grin appear on his face, which made Chopper back away. The leader bonked Shadower's head and nudged Purple to get up. They seemed a little tired but they noticed Chopper too.

"Well well well! If it isn't Chopper!" Mysterious grinned. "I don't know why somebody such as yourself is an enemy of Grodus's, but you must not be too bright if you came here looking for us. You know why? 'Cause we were waiting for YOU! Yeah! You didn't expect that, huh?"

"Yeah! I remember now! THESE freaks were the ones with the… Wait a minute… Hold up for a second!" Scrub gawked. "What in the heck do you mean that you've been waiting for Contadre?"

"Bah ha ha ha! Listen here, I don't have much time to be talking to a Yoshi such as yourself! And first of all, that's Chopper! Second, there's no way I'm going to be allowing you to be hunting for those Crystal Stars. So… Gimme the map. Right now. Wait, I'll take it when I'm done kicking your butts!"

"I don't understand how you know about the map and the Crystal Stars. Wait, you said you were working for Grodus? Who are you people anyway?" Vivian asked, readying some fire on her finger.

"Most people who want our names are often disappointed. But, if you want to know our names, we'll tell you, shadow girl." Mysterious declared as he cleared his throat.

"We are…"

"The Three…" Purple continued.

Mysterious glared at Shadower, who finished off with, "Oh! Right! Shadow Boys!"

"So they're the Three Shadow Boys? Uh… Hmmmm… That name… I don't really know." Chopper got back in his fighting stance anyway and clenched his fists. Punio, on the other hand, was left confused.

"Shadower! You idiot! That's Shadow BROTHERS! Not Shadow Boys!" Mysterious roared. "Where did you even get 'boys' from anyway? We're MEN! Big, strong, manly men! …Except for you that is! All you are is just some kind of _**CRYBABY**_!"

"What? How am I a crybaby? I don't really cry anyway!" Shadower cried.

"Well you're definitely doing it right now, crybaby."

"I don't understand why you think of me as a crybaby. Why are you always punishing me for things I don't do? Face it, bro! You're forgetful!"

"Oh, you're definitely going to be getting a big punishment for that, Shadower! Talking back to your older brother like that… Not cool at all! At least your brother, Purple, is more obedient than you!"

"Punishment? That's not fair!" Shadower sighed and face palmed. "And Purple only listens to you because he says nothing! YOU silenced him in the first place!"

"You don't need to mention something from the past. I should give you an extra punishment for that too!" Mysterious exclaimed. "But that's for much, MUCH later. So now, let's get to work, my brothers! Purple! Shadower! Let's get this doofus and stick him in a pipe! Yes… I think that's a nice idea."

"What? That wasn't very nice? You sure have a lot to say for someone who's both blue and red. I honestly have no idea why you're both those colors. But I don't really care! You're going down!" Chopper declared while Scrub let out a growl at them.

"Pbbbbbbbbt! You think that growl scares us? HA! This is certainly going to be a terrible day for you, Chopper!" the leader scoffed. "Purple! Shadower! How about we show these three fools precisely what we can do!"

All Purple could respond to was with a nod.

"Yeah, Bro! I know." Shadower nodded.

"And don't let me see you guys slack off! If we fail, you're gonna get it!"

**Tattle: **_That's Mysterious. He's the oldest of the Shadow Brothers, and he sure looks kind of mysterious! Max HP is 12, Attack is 2, and Defense is 0. Now, he may have the least amount of HP, but he's a big threat with his magic. He can use his magic to make his brothers get bigger, or make you smaller! Plus, his Tidal Wave attack can be pretty strong, doing at least 3 damage to you. I'd go for him second. I think he's cruel, I mean, look how he treated his brother!_

**Tattle: **_That's Purple. He's Mysterious's younger brother and the strongest one. Max is 15, Attack is 3, and Defense is 0. He's got the most attack power and he can even cause an earthquake with his earth magic! He'll even boost his attack up by 3 too, and he'll do A LOT of damage! I would highly, HIGHLY recommend taking him out first! I'm telling you! It's best if you did! You'll get creamed with him out there!_

**Tattle: **_That's Shadower. He's the youngest of the three Shadow Brothers. Max HP is 13, Attack is 1, and Defense is 0. To be honest, he's no threat to you whatsoever. He CAN attack both you and your partners later in the fight, but he's just…pretty weak. Sometimes I feel a little bad for him. How does he handle Mysterious punishing him and beating him up? No wonder he seems kind of angry at times. I would say save him for last._

"OK, let's take Purple out first. He seems to be the big threat. I'm gonna have to jump on him, sadly." Chopper said as he quickly jumped on Purple's head, knocking him back over to Mysterious.

"Gah! Get off of me, you big oaf!" Mysterious pushed Purple off, but then he got hit by Vivian's Shade Fist, leaving a burn on him.

"Go!" Mysterious pointed at Chopper, and Shadower sunk into the shadows to appear in front of Chopper, only to have him guard the attack, which did no damage to him. Purple appeared right in front of Scrub and he brought both of his fists down on him. He was about to crush him but then Chopper punched him and knocked him back. Sadly, it didn't count for any damage.

"Stay. Away. From him!" Chopper growled as he became Beam Chopper and he swung a beam attack at him.

Mysterious used magic to make a small wave hit Chopper and Vivian, which dealt 3 damage to the two of them. Scrub quickly shook his head and noticed how much HP Purple has.

"Oh, cool! He's down to 4 HP! Lemme do the honors, Contadre!" Scrub hollered as he fluttered over to Purple and used his Ground Pound on his head, making him moan and fall to the ground.

"One down, two to go!" Chopper smirked.

"Whaaaaaaaaat?! How could this be possible?! You took down Purple?!" Mysterious gaped. "Grrrrr! You're tougher than I thought, antenna boy!"

Shadower was able to punch Chopper this time with his fist, knocking away his ability, and then Mysterious fired a little bit of fire magic at Vivian, who managed to guard the attack.

"Hey! He's got fire magic too! How is that possible?" Vivian gaped as her fists were surrounded in a flaming glow.

"Well how about we take him out next?" Chopper suggested as he walked over to Mysterious and performed a flip jump and stomped on his head, making three Stylish moves to help get more Star Power.

"That was GREAT!" Chopper spun around and made a pose. Vivian smiled and then left a burn on Mysterious with her Shade Fist.

Mysterious didn't looked pleased with how Shadower was doing after his past attacks. "Shadower! What do you think you're doing, making a wimpy punch? ! You have shadow magic! So _**USE IT!**_"

"OK! Sheesh!" Shadower twirled his hand and then brought it down, making shadow lightning hit Chopper, Vivian, and Scrub. The sad thing was that it only did 1 damage to them.

Chopper was able to stomp on Mysterious again, and then Vivian finished him off with another Shade Fist attack. "Aggghhhhh! Now it's all up to you, Shadower! Finish…the job! …_Cough_…_wheeze_…"

With those words, he collapsed.

"Uh… OK?" Shadower looked at Chopper and his friends and saw they weren't glaring at him.

"Look, we don't REALLY want to hurt you," Chopper informed. "I don't think you belong with your brothers. We can help you."

"Says you! I don't trust you guys!" Shadower got back in his fighting stance and fired shadow lightning down at Chopper and his friends to deal 1 damage.

"Well, OK…" Chopper brought his hammer down on Shadower, and then following that, Scrub used his Ground Pound to leave him with 5 HP.

"Oh, man… I don't feel so good..." Shadower moaned as he attacked with shadow lightning again, and then Vivian punched him with her Shade Fist. Afterward, Chopper walked up to the young Shadow Brother.

"Sorry that I have to do this," Chopper apologized as he jumped on Shadower's head, which made him collapse.

"Ooog… Why did I fail you, Bro? Now I'm going to get punished…" Shadower moaned as Chopper received 26 Star Points from the battle. At that moment, Mysterious slowly got back up, as well as his brothers.

"WHAT?! How is this possible?! We lost already?! Oooog..." Mysterious growled. "I suppose we got a little too overconfident… Wait a minute, you two didn't pull your weight! If you did, we would've had the whole fight! Prepare for some world-class punishment when we get home! Yeah! That's right! But for now… _**Retreeeeeeat!**_"

They began to run away from them, with Shadower mumbling "_Ow! Yeah, Bro…_" as he fled. The star they had dropped, which Shadower turned back to get, but when he looked at Chopper and his friends, he simply fled and left the item behind.

"All right! We got it!" Chopper smiled as he grabbed the star. "OK, let's get going now!"

* * *

**The house-**

The first thing Chopper did when he entered the house was knock on the room the person was in. "Hey! We got your star!"

"(Really? Great! That's just GREAT! All right, I'm coming on out right now. Have the star out with you.)"

The door slowly opened, and Chopper jumped up when he saw Kirby come out of the room.

"Kirby? Is that really you?" Chopper gaped.

"Poyo? (Chopper? Man, I can't believe it! I didn't expect you to show up here! I didn't know that you came back here with my star!)" Kirby cheered, while Vivian and Scrub were confused.

"What? You know him?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah, he was actually supposed to help me find the Crystal Stars, but some kind of turret at a base on the moon blasted our Warp Stars and sent us down toward Earth," Chopper explained. "Yeah, it's a true story. I gotta say, I never expected to see you here, Kirby! Amazing!"

"Poyo! (Yeah! I can't believe I survived that!)" Kirby smiled.

"So you two know each other? Wow! That's great news!" Punio cheered.

"Wow! That's gotta be interesting!" Scrub smirked. "So if you two weren't separated, he would've been traveling with us before. That would've been pretty cool!"

"Poyo? (So you're saying that there's a problem in the Great Tree, huh, Punio?)" the pink puffball asked. Poyo! (I think I know just what to do! …But why are you here, Chopper?)"

"The Crystal Star led us here," answered Chopper.

"Poyo? (Hmmm? There's a Crystal Star here! Yay! I guess I didn't fall here all for nothing! Let's go over to the Great Tree then!)"

**Kirby has joined your party! Press and hold X to have him inhale anything around him such as rocks blocking the way or some secret paper areas that may be in the way! In battle, Kirby can use his Cartwheel attack to attack enemies on the ground or up in the air… Or he can use his Inhale ability to spit out enemies into each other!**

"Poyo! (Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!)"

With that, Chopper and his new (or old) companion Kirby, along with the rest of the group, made their way back to the Great Tree.

"It's time to save my kind and my sister!" Punio declared. "I hope we're not too late..."

* * *

**Yeah, I'm sure you guys knew it was Kirby in there. No Flurrie this time. I don't know, I didn't think Flurrie would actually fit in this story as one of Chopper's partners. And besides, I like Kirby a lot more.**

**Next up is where Chopper and Co. go into the Great Tree and see what has happened!**


	21. The Great Boggly Tree

When they went back to Boggly Woods, Chopper inhaled a Dark Puff and ended up getting a gold crown with a green diamond in the middle of it on his head with a tornado on top. He could now spin in a tornado with his new Tornado ability, but this time he could use wind powers to blow things away.

"Well, this should surely be useful, right?" Chopper smiled.

"Poyo, (It's pretty important that we keep that ability with us,)" Kirby suggested.

After their long travel, they made it back to the Great Tree, where they all walked up the trunk that Punio said there was an entrance to. Kirby began to take a look at it and was confused.

"Poyo? (I don't know what this is. What do you want me to do? Eat this tree? …OK?)" Kirby used his Inhale ability and a piece of paper from the tree came off, allowing him to swallow it. A small Puni entrance labeled "Secret Entrance" appeared now that it was revealed.

"Hey! There we go! That's the secret entrance I was telling you about!" Punio cheered. "…But I guess it _is _labeled 'Secret Entrance.' Huh… I think I forgot about that. But that's not important. We can finally get inside! So, here I goooooooo!"

Punio jumped into the hole, which left Chopper, Vivian, Scrub and Kirby to talk to each other. Chopper already introduced Vivian and Scrub to Kirby while they were going to upgrade him to Super-Rank before returning. Apparently Punio was still busy.

"Poyo? (So these friends of yours are Vivian and Scrub?)" Kirby asked. "Poyo! (Cool! So you got Scrub from an egg and you were nice to Vivian that made her join you? I didn't know you had a girlfriend, Chopper!)"

"Hey! You… You uh… Take that back!" Chopper stammered. This caused Vivian to giggle at him while Kirby smirked. Chopper's cheeks started to turn red with embarrassment.

"Poyo! (Admit it, Chopper! Vivian IS your girlfriend, isn't she? She's even giggling at you! I think you do find her cute, right? Because I think she thinks the same way!)"

_"Dang, he got me good," _Chopper thought as Kirby laughed._ "I'm not exactly sure if she does or not, but I feel like if I'm nice to a girl or something, she'll just end up kissing me. But Kirby seems to be really getting me with this."_

"I have NO idea what you're saying, Kirby," Scrub mentioned. "But who cares? I'm sure Contadre'll tell us if it's important!"

"I wonder what's taking Punio so long…" Vivian wondered until the red light on the door changed green.

"Chopper! Can you hear me? I got the door open!" the door opened up and Punio came out.

"Hmmmmm... How'd he do that without arms?" Scrub questioned.

"He's got legs to help him..." Chopper trailed.

"It's a good thing I was able to open this from the inside. Let's go!" Punio declared.

Chopper nodded and did a flip as he jumped down to the door. They all headed inside the tree and saw white bushes, some strange, water-like veins on the walls and also black and white statues in the middle of the area. There were also some small streams too, with a small waterfall coming down.

"Uh... Hmmm? Weird... Usually everyone's here, but it doesn't look like it now... What the hey?" Punio gawked. "Hey! Elder! Everybody! Come out! HELLOOOOOOOOOO?"

"Looks like nobody's home..." Chopper trailed.

"I hope we're not too late," Vivian said worriedly.

"Ehhh... I wouldn't worry about it!" Scrub assured. "I mean, how can it get any worse?"

A pink door to the right with a red light turned green when two X-Nauts came out and noticed Chopper and his friends.

"Poyo... (Good one...)" Kirby groaned.

"Hey! Not my fault!"

"What the heck? Who are you guys? How'd you get in here?" the first X-Naut asked as both walked over to the group. "I thought we locked the doors tight?"

"Wait a minute… That's the Chopper kid who's looking for the Crystal Stars!" the second X-Naut realized. "Yeah! I remember those antennas of his! …And why is Beldam's sister with him anyway?"

"WHAAAAT?! He IS? Oh, boy! Good thing we came here just in time! Let's get him and that traitor!" This made Chopper and his friends get in their fighting stances, with Scrub growling at them.

"So they know about us? I guess they were expecting us to show up." Vivian frowned. "…It also feels like I'm a target too, I believe…"

"But, dude, we can't do that!" the second X-Naut recalled. "Lord Crump told us to tell him IMMEDIATELY if we found him. Don't you remember?"

"Dude, you're not thinking right!" the first X-Naut said as he smacked his buddy. "Don't you know what happens if one of the _minions_ capture the hero? If we do just that, we'll get all of the credit, AND we'll get promoted, just like we wanted to."

"Oh, yeah… Right on! Let's rock this little punk!"

"One, two, three…BREAK!" the two X-Nauts got in kung fu stances and charged at Chopper, only to have one of them get knocked back by a tornado attack that took away 4 HP from one. They had 6 HP from what they could see.

"Poyo, (All right, I'll finish the X-Naut guy,)" Kirby declared as he performed a Cartwheel and knocked the X-Naut with 2 HP left down, defeating him. The X-Naut standing charged at Kirby and knocked him back with a body slam.

"Whoa, that wasn't pleasant," Chopper noticed before he spun around like a tornado and ended up hitting the X-Naut with his fists.

Kirby slowly got back up after taking 3 damage. "Poyo! (Hey! Let me finish him off!)" he inhaled the X-Naut and spat him out at the other, making them dizzy and helping Chopper receive 6 Star Points with ease.

"C-Crud! That stung, man! I don't know about you, but he's good…" the second X-Naut cringed.

"I guess reporting to Lord Crump isn't such a bad idea after all! We better run for it!" the two X-Nauts ran from the five and locked the pink door to the right that was near a Save Block, a Heart Block and a gray pipe going up.

"Pretty slick work, handling those guys, Chopper. Seriously, way to go!" Punio complimented.

"Ahem... What about us?" Scrub guffawed. "We did some of the work too!"

"Poyo, (Chopper and I only fought them,)" Kirby mentioned.

"But the question remains... Where did everybody go? What could possibly have made them leave this place?" Punio began to ponder for a moment until another strange gray creature with a yellow bulb on its antenna walked behind a statue.

"Hey, was that one of them?" Chopper asked as he decided to remove his Tornado ability for now. Punio also noticed the Puni walk behind the statue and look at Chopper.

"Finally, SOMEBODY shows up!" Punio sighed as he walked over to the Puni behind the statue. "What are you doing hiding back there? Come out, for Pete's sake! You can't stay behind there forever, especially now that we've got these new allies!"

Punio brought the Puni over to Chopper and his friends and gaped at them. "Whoa! They're… They're huge! Not as huge as the plumber, but still pretty big!"

"Am I being called fat?" Chopper frowned.

"No, they just think we're bigger than them," Vivian answered.

"Oh..."

"Uh... Are you sure your huge antenna boy won't try to eat us?" asked another Puni that popped out from behind the statue. "He looks pretty hungry..."

Chopper looked like he wanted to barf by now. "Why would I want to eat you guys? You're definitely not something I would eat..."

"Hey, hold on a second..." Punio paused. "Who else is behind there?"

A couple of more Punies showed their faces from behind the statue and commented at the new allies Punio brought. Most of their comments seemed to be directed at Chopper.

"Oh, man… He wiped the floor with those guys."

"Why is he green and round?"

"Who are those other people that are with him?"

"He looks scary!"

"He'll crush us!"

"I don't like him!"

"Wow, he's got two antennas? Nice…"

"Now, don't worry, everyone. This is Chopper, and he's our friend." Punio assured. "He's here to help along with his friends! All those bad guys? Chopper'll stomp every one of them, just like those last goons."

Nine Punies that looked the same as the other Puni Punio found walked over to Chopper. "Huh? This is it? Wow, there are so few here… Well, it's better than nothing, so we'll have to make do! Let me formally introduce… Chopper…"

"WAIT!" a fat Puni with an orange bulb showed himself. "How do we know this kid is our ally? He's not from here, and chances are he could be one of them in disguise!"

"Wait, what?!" Chopper gaped.

"Who's the fatty here? Contadre!" Scrub gawked as the fat Puni walked over to Chopper. "Don't let him try to stop you!"

"Puniper! What're you saying? He's not one of them!" Punio defended. "Listen, we can all fight alongside Chopper and chase those goons out of here! We can take back our tree. We can take back our homes! I mean, we tried last time with Mario, and we succeeded! We know what those goons want anyway!"

"Hah! Punio... Seriously, you need to listen to yourself!" Puniper scoffed as he walked over to Chopper. "Trying to sound like you're so important! You have no idea what kind of trouble we've gone through when you went out! And that was Mario! We don't even know this kid! We can't always trust everyone we see!"

At this moment, Chopper began to take action. "Look, I know you don't exactly trust me and all, but those X-Naut guys are after ME! We know things about them anyway! How? Just ask my good friend Vivian."

"Poyo… (More like girlfriend…)" Kirby began to snicker, making Chopper glare at him for a split second.

"And not to mention you guys trust Kirby. I actually understand what he says. You would trust what he would say, right?"

The Punies thought for a moment, and afterward, they agreed by giving a nod.

"How exactly do we know that you can understand what Kirby can say? And is that REALLY his name?" Puniper asked.

"Poyo, (Chopper's telling the truth,)" Kirby nodded. Poyo. (I was actually supposed to help him UNTIL we got separated. I think those X-Nauts have to do with it! But still, we're here to help, and I think you should trust us.)"

"Hmm? Interesting… He REALLY said that?" Puniper gawked as he tilted his head a little.

"Wait, there are more Punies, aren't there? Where are the others?" Vivian asked as Puniper and the rest of the Punies let out a sigh.

"Well, they've been captured...by those goons! The elder... Everybody... Including... Your sister, Punio!"

"_**WHAT?! PETUNI?!**_ Tell me that isn't so!" Punio gaped.

"Oh, it's so, all right! She was taken off somewhere with the rest of them! They said it was because we wouldn't tell them where to find that Crystal Star that came back here. We told them we'd never heard of it to make sure they wouldn't find it."

"Well those X-Nauts are no fools..." Vivian trailed.

"They looked kinda idiotic to me," Scrub scoffed.

"Oh, poor Petuni..." Punio trailed. "Well, that absolutely tears it! We've all got to go look for them right away! Right this second!"

"What are you saying, Punio? We can't do anything to those giant goons alone!" Puniper exclaimed. "Besides, they aren't alone. That Jabbi tribe got back in league with them again. They want revenge after what we did to them, and they're hoping to make this tree their own once we've all been driven from it. This is it for us. The end! And adding this round pale green kid and his friends to our ranks won't help a bit!"

"How can you say that? You can't know that! We HAVE to try, don't you see? Think about it! If we all get together we can take care of any stupid Jabbies! So, who's with me, huh? Come on, everyone! Let's pool our strength!"

"Hah! Oh, Punio... Always thinking so unrealistically... Well I'm not in on this! You'll have to prove that this plan'll work, because I think you're nuts with it! We only have four people that can fight, while there are over a HUNDRED of those goons here!"

"A HUNDRED? Wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Tell you what: you and Mr. Antennas there can get the revolution started!" Puniper decided. "If you can free our friends who got locked up somewhere in the tree...then perhaps I'll be convinced that you are indeed here to help. Hah! Like that'll ever happen! Please! It's impossible to defeat an army of goons!"

"Fine! We'll show you!" Punio declared. "Right, Chopper? Right? C'mon, follow me to glory! Let's go help them!"

"If you say so… And Puniper… Here's a little something." Chopper began, looking down at the fat Puni. "If we prove you wrong, you gotta roll around on the floor in front of EVERYBODY! Yeah, you heard me!"

"Psh! Like that's going to happen!" Puniper shot back as Chopper and Co. walked over to the pipe by the door to head higher up in the tree.

* * *

**Upper level-**

Once they all came out of the pipe, they looked a little messed up, with Chopper's antennas looking messy, as well as Vivian's hair.

"Man, that pipe ride here was a little crazy," Vivian sighed as she got off the pipe while fixing her hair. "My hair's a mess right now. I should fix it a little. Could you all just turn back for a minute? Usually I wouldn't want people to see my eyes."

"Poyo? (Why? There's nothing wrong with showing your own eyes.)" Kirby noted. "Poyo? (Is that the reason why you wear that hat, Vivian? Uh… Chopper, maybe you can tell her what I just said, OK?)"

"He said something about your eyes. He was asking what's wrong with us not seeing them." Chopper explained.

"It's...a little complicated," Vivian stated.

"Poyo? (Complicated?)"

"Oh, whatever. I say we see what's around here." Scrub decided as he ran over to the pipe ahead, but he tripped and fell on a black and white X right by the pedestal. "What the… Hey, Contadre! Take a look at this!"

Chopper, Kirby, and Punio walked over to the pedestal while Vivian turned around and removed her hat to fix her hair, since some girls don't like to have messy hair.

"Oh! I think this is something the elder's been telling us about!" Punio recalled. "If a stone is placed there, we Punies would immediately walk over to it because it's shiny and beautiful."

"Wait, you go to things that are shiny and beautiful?" Chopper gawked. "So, if you saw outer space, you would GO there?"

"Well... I'm not so sure on that..."

"OK, I'm done," Vivian mentioned as she put her hat back on and followed the others up the pipe to a upper level of the tree. Once they came out, they were in a larger area with about two X-Nauts.

"OK… You got any fives?"

"Go fish."

Apparently they were playing Go Fish, but they were interrupted when they saw Chopper whacked them away with his hammer, and then Kirby knocked one away with a Cartwheel attack.

"Poyo! (It feels GOOD to be fighting again! Oh boy! Love it love it LOVE IT!)" Kirby cheered after spinning around. Everyone else looked at each other, confused, but they all got him back up and went into the pipe to go to the upper level of the room.

There, they saw a Yux, an X-shaped enemy that was a lime-green color. To them, they looked pretty weird, but after taking it down with a jump and a Cartwheel, it was defeated (they've got 4 HP, just to let you know) and went into the pipe ahead.

* * *

**Meanwhile-**

An X-Naut was standing in a storage area, where there were a couple of chests and some crates. He looked at his wrist as if there was a watch (which there wasn't) and looked bored.

"Man... This is brutal." the X-Naut sighed. "How much longer 'til we find that stupid Crystal Star? Not even those puny Punies we captured know about it. I mean, they should've known already by now! After all this pointless searching, I'm thinking we're looking in the wrong place... Or ARE we?"

Just then, a mysterious figure jumped down and knocked the X-Naut out cold.

"_Um… Ouch?_"

* * *

**Previous room-**

Chopper and Co. came out of the pipe to find two cells. One was a red color, while the other was blue. The red cage has some weird-looking Puni hunched back a little, with a purple bulb.

"Elder!" Punio cried out as he quickly walked over to the red cage to the Puni elder. They noticed how bored she looked as she noticed them walk over to the cell.

"Punio! Is that you? You're looking well." the Puni Elder said calmly.

"Why are you so calm, Elder? You're trapped! And this is a daring rescue of you!"

"Maybe the X-Nauts injected her with some kind of medicine to keep her calm," Chopper pondered. "Or maybe… She's a robot!"

"…No, not likely," Vivian replied.

"Yeah, you're right."

"Oh, a rescuing, is it?" the Puni Elder gawked shortly. "Well, thanks, I suppose. Those are quite exciting. But...I think you ought to help the other Punies before you rescue me."

"Uh… You got any idea on where the other Punies are, Puni…elder…whatever the heck you are?" Chopper asked.

"…Big brother? Is that really you, Punio? Is that you too, Mister Pink?"

Kirby and Punio heard the voice, which made them stop as the Puni Elder began to ramble on.

"Hrmmmmmmm... Let me think... Where was I? Ah. Yes. Right. Your question. The rest of the Punies... Unfortunately are locked up…"

They ignored the elder as they saw a Puni a little smaller than Punio with two small gray spots on her and a pink bulb on her antenna.

"Petuni! Thank heavens! You're here! You're safe!" Punio cried.

"I knew you'd come for me, Punio! I just KNEW it!" Petuni smiled.

"Of course I would, dear sister! And I've brought us a mighty ally! Look at him! We're going to get you out of there right away, I swear. You just hold tight a second."

"OK!" Punio turned back over to Chopper.

"Chopper! Listen... We've got to find the cell key or we're going nowhere!"

"Of course," Chopper nodded and walked over to the pathway to the left with his friends, only to find a knocked out X-Naut and a familiar-looking mouse.

"Oh, well, isn't this a nice treat!" Ms. Mowz exclaimed as she noticed the group. "We must stop meeting at such places like this, don't you think?"

"Hey… It's you again!" Chopper gaped. "Why do we always see you all the time? Really… I don't understand why we keep seeing you."

"Poyo? (Do you know her, Chopper?)" Kirby asked. "Poyo. (It sounds like you do.)"

"Yeah, I saw her twice."

"Well, anyway, I heard there were nice badges to be found here, so I came looking..." Ms. Mowz trailed. "Only problem is, I've been running into more trouble than I expected. How's your little Crystal Star hunt?"

"Eh… It's going fine. We got two so far, and now we're looking for the third one in here. So far, we're not having any luck in finding it."

"Oh, I see. Well things like that happen all the time. You and your friends will hopefully find that star anyway. Mmm hmm hmm hmm! But enough about that. LOVELY to see you all again."

Ms. Mowz jumped up to an exit, which showed a small light. "The precious Crystal Star you're looking for is most likely near the bottom of this tree. Trust me, I actually explored that place. Good luck finding it before the others! Mmm hmm hmm! Take care, cute little pale green antenna boy! Perhaps we may see each other soon! …_Perhaps_."

And with that, she left the tree, only to have the X-Naut knocked out wake up. He slowly got back up and looked around, only to notice Chopper.

"Urgh, my aching... Hey! You! You're the dirtbag who hit me from behind, aren't you?"

"What? We didn't do such a thing!" Scrub guffawed. "You were knocked out when he first saw you!"

"Oh, yeah, real fair, you scum! You fight dirty, you get dirty! And I'll be doing the dirting! Let's fight!" the X-Naut got in his kung fu stance and charged at them…only to be taken down by Chopper and Kirby.

"That was the easiest fight EVER!" Chopper declared as he walked over to a chest to the left that wasn't open and found an Ultra Shroom. The X-Naut had a Red Key that Kirby took, so they brought it back to the red cell and opened it.

"Elder! We're back! we're here to rescue you!" Punio cried as they all walked into the open cell, where the elder was silent.

"Is she OK?" Vivian asked.

"FOOLISH CHILD!" the Puni Elder exclaimed as she grew to a bigger size, knocking Chopper, Vivian, Scrub and Kirby back. "Punio! Sit down this instant and keep your mouth shut!"

"Oh great… She's a lecturer." Scrub groaned.

"Huh? What? Why? What did I do?" Punio gaped. "Uh... Listen, Elder, I don't know why you're mad, but we came here to help you..."

"Stop your mumbling, you!" the Puni Elder snapped. "And mind your elders! You whelp! How could you abandon your sister and run off like that... Absolutely shameful!"

"But... But, Elder... I just went to find help... To help rescue you..."

"Oh, stop with that whining! You never interrupt an elder mid-lecture! NEVER!"

"You're free, you know..." Chopper chirped.

"You stay out of this! I'm only speaking to Punio here! Now then... You wonder why the other Punies call you a 'doofus' sometimes? That's why. And your time to be a doofus is over, because you're going to end up leading our Puni tribe one day! That day is not far off! ...And THAT is why you need to listen! Now, first of all..."

* * *

**Several hours of hag lecturing later-**

Unfortunately, because of how long the lecture was, everyone but Punio and the Puni Elder fell asleep.

"...or else!" the Puni Elder finished. "You got that? From now on, you've got to get your act together, Punio!"

"...Yes, Elder. Yes, I understand." Punio slowly nodded.

"Bah! Only answer ONCE! ...But say, by the way, why are you here, anyway?"

"Uh, I was just telling you... We came here to rescue everyone. We started with you, Elder."

"Oh! Is that so? Well good!" the Puni Elder grinned. "In that case, get me out of here already! Criminy! This cell is cold, which isn't good for the old back, and there's this damp stench..."

The Puni Elder left the cell while Chopper and his friends woke up. "Uh... Well, there she goes. Enough standing around!"

Punio went over to the blue cell along with Chopper and his friends. "Just you wait, Petuni! I'll be right back for you!"

"OK, big brother! I'll be waiting." Petuni nodded.

"C'mon, Chopper! I'll meet you down at the entrance!" Punio said as he began to head on down to the entrance where the Puni Elder was, as well as Scrub. Kirby looked over at the blue cell with a frown on his face.

"Poyo… (Don't worry, Petuni… We'll get you out of here. I can promise you that.)" Kirby assured as Chopper told her what he said.

"I understand, Kirby. I hope you come back safe and sound!" Petuni hoped as Kirby walked over to Chopper.

"How do you know her?" Chopper wondered.

"Poyo, (She was the first one to find me,)" Kirby explained. "Poyo. (She's the reason why the Punies get along quite well with me too.)"

"Oh, really? That's interesting. Say, I wonder if she's your girlfriend..."

Kirby light slapped his face. "Poyo! (Chopper! Really?!)"

"I'm just kidding! Learn to take a joke!"

"Let's go follow them, Chopper!" Vivian grabbed Chopper's hand and brought him into the shadows. When they emerged, they were back at the entrance of the Great Tree. Punio, Scrub, and Kirby (who had to run back quickly) just made it.

"Aw man! You beat us? No fair!" Scrub pouted.

"Well, if it isn't Punio..." Puniper trailed as he walked over to Punio. "Hmph! You heard me! Hmph! I can't say I expected you to manage to save the elder."

"I told you I could do it!" Punio smirked.

"Well, looks like you gotta go roll over now," Chopper smirked. "Yup! I rescued your elder, and now you gotta do it!"

"You just saved the elder, not all the Punies!" Puniper turned back over to Punio after glaring at Chopper. "And you... Don't get a swelled head! This doesn't mean I'll fully accept you as our leader... And it definitely doesn't mean I completely trust that pale green antenna kid, either. For starters, you still haven't rescued the other Punies yet. I'm not lifting an antenna to help until you do."

"_**You stubborn MULE!**_" the Puni Elder snapped as Chopper and his friends' eyes widened. "Deplorable! How DARE you talk like that, knowing what we're up against? We must stand together now! We must take back our tree! Don't you understand that?"

"But... But, Elder..."

"Shut your trap, Puniper! And mind me, you hear? You'll help Green Antenna here... What'd you say your name was again? It was, er... It was Chort, wasn't it?

"It's 'Chopper'!" Chopper corrected. "Get your names right!"

"He's Chopper! I mean, sheesh! Haven't you heard his name before?" Punio groaned.

"Yes, yes, simmer down, you," the Puni Elder said. "And everyone else, help Chortle clear out the tree!"

"Oh geez..." Chopper face palmed. "She pronounced my name wrong..."

"Oh, all right, Elder... Whatever you say." Puniper sighed. "I'm not heartless or anything. To tell you the truth, I'm worried about Petuni, too. And you're right, we have no choice. We must fight! Right, everybody?"

All of the Punies jumped in response, making the Puni Elder grin.

"There you go, my Punies! That's the spirit."

**10 Punies joined your party! **

"Thanks, you guys…" Punio smiled.

"Umm… Could I ask you something?" Chopper asked as he walked over to the Puni Elder. "We're looking for a green gem called a Crystal Star… Would you happen to know where it is?"

"The Crystal Star, eh? Hrrrrrmmmmmmm... Yes, perhaps..." the Puni Elder nodded. "Hidden down, down, down, at the bottom of this tree is a funny-colored stone. But what do we do with it? Oh, right: "Guard it from evil and give it to a pure heart..." That's what generations of elders have been taught. Might be the Crystal Star... Chorty! Or...Chortle! I'm thinking you better get it before those goons do. I don't quite see how just yet, but I bet it's connected to us getting our tree back. You got all that, Chortle? Crystal Star. Bottom part of the tree. Go to it."

"Thank you!" Chopper smiled.

"Oh! Hold your horses! I forgot something! Before you can get the Crystal Star, you must save all of the captured Punies. Yup, you'll never get to that gem without the help of the Punies. Not a chance. So here, you'd better take this."

The Puni Elder took out an orb that looked like the sun. "It's the Puni Orb. It's the symbol of our leader. If you place this in the pedestals you see around the tree, the Punies will gather. Just remember to take the orb with you when you're done using it. Because, well, if you don't, everyone'll just kind of hang out and stare at the orb."

"Well, I guess it shows that they like things that are shiny," Chopper replied as he took the orb.

"All right, guys! Let's go rescue everybody!" Punio declared as all the Punies jumped up and were right behind Chopper.

"Er… I don't feel comfortable being surrounded by Punies…" Scrub trailed. "...Actually, not really. Let's just go."

"Oh, and one more thing…"

Chopper toppled over before he could get too far and turned to the Puni Elder after getting up.

"So sorry! So sorry! I've been awfully forgetful as of late. Now then, where was I? Oh, right! On your way to the Crystal Star... If you lose any of the Punies and have a hard time finding them, just come see me. What I'll do is, I'll give a whistle to call 'em back here. You got all that?"

"Yeah, I got it. I think we should head over to that pedestal we saw earlier." Chopper suggested.

"Yeah, let's do that," Scrub agreed as they led the Punies up the pipe to the pedestal, where Chopper put the Puni Orb in. This made the Punies go over to it and stare at it. This made a pipe appear near the other one.

"Poyo! (Oh! Look at that!)" Kirby cried.

"A pipe! Now we can go to the lower part of the tree!" Vivian squealed.

Chopper nodded and jumped onto the pipe and headed deeper into the Great Tree.


	22. It's a Trap!

Apparently, the pipe that appeared by the pedestal led to the room past the locked door at the entrance. A pedestal was right next to the pipe, and there was also a circular pillar between them and a ledge up ahead that had a pipe. To the left, they happened to notice two X-Nauts.

"Eep! Chopper! It's those goons again!" Punio shrieked.

Chopper quickly landed a first strike on an X-Naut with his hammer and another hammer attack took care of them. Kirby used his Cartwheel attack on the other X-Naut and after using his Superguard, they became victorious. Once they were gone, Chopper pressed a switch near the door to turn the red light green, unlocking the door.

"All right, so we took care of those X-Nauts and also unlocked the door. What else do we need to do?" Chopper asked as Kirby looked down the gap and saw some bubbly water.

"Poyo! (Water! I see water! I'd like to go in there!)" Kirby squealed.

"Wait, hold on Kirby..." Chopper tried to stop Kirby, but he immediately jumped into the bubbly water…and then he came back up trapped inside of a bubble…

Chopper jumped up a little and used his Inhale to get him back over to him. Afterward, he looked down at the water. "Hmmm… You know, I think I can try something. I think my Tornado ability allows me to blow things. Kirby, you can also inhale them when they're in bubbles to get them over to the other side."

"What? He's going to eat us? No way! I'm NOT doing it!" a Puni cried out. Chopper explained to them that they were not going to be eaten, and he also told them they were probably too gross for people to eat.

"Oh... Well that's fine..." another Puni sighed in relief.

"Let's go then! It's time we saved those Punies and also Punio's sister!" Scrub declared.

Chopper walked over to the pedestal and then placed the Puni Orb in there to make the Punies pile up and stare at it. After that, he became Tornado Chopper. "Let's get these Punies over to the other side!"

He began to blow all of the Punies off the edge, and when they came up they were in bubbles. Kirby inhaled them all and spat them out over by the pipe at the other side. It turned out to be successful.

"That wasn't so bad! We can keep going now!" Vivian smiled as the four heroes jumped onto the pillar and to the other side. They got a Shine Sprite from down below too before going into the pipe.

They found in another area with a spider creature called a of Pider that came down, and the Punies got scared and ran away from it, screaming "Eek! A Pider! It'll eat us!" as Vivian punched the Pider with her fiery fist and burnt it to a crisp.

"Poyo! (Wow, Chopper. I guess your girlfriend DOES have some pretty powerful magic there!)" Kirby noted.

"Kirby... Stop with that, please..." Chopper sighed.

"Poyo... (Fine...)"

They found a black and white statue on top of a paper airplane panel when they moved over to the wall on the left. Kirby inhaled the statue and swallowed it whole, only to be met with the paper airplane panel in front of him.

"Poyo? (What's this?)" Kirby asked.

"It's a paper airplane panel. Watch this!" Chopper walked over to it and turned into a paper airplane. He began to fly down over to another panel that was aiming toward the left, and he used it to go to a black and white platform with a Shine Sprite. After that, he went back up to lead the Punies down to the lower area of the place, where there were some Pale Piranhas to beat up. He ended up leveling up too, and he decided to go with FP, which was now at 25.

"I never knew this tree would be so big!" Vivian gasped. "…Well I never saw it when I came here before, but this place is nice."

Everyone went down the pipe to an area with a narrow pathway around them. But to their right, Chopper noticed a weird bug that ran away from them.

"What the… Do you guys know what that was?" Chopper asked.

"That was a Jabbi! Based on what Puniper said, they're helping the intruders and trying to seize the tree." Punio explained. "Our tribes have been enemies for a long time now. Every time we meet, we fight. A lot. ...But I used to get along with Jabble. He's one of the Jabbi tribe... I wonder if even Jabble is my enemy now..."

"Let's see what's below us first! I would like to see what's there!" Scrub suggested.

"All right..." Chopper sighed and took the pipe down to the lower part of the room. To their left, they saw a wall with a little part of it exposing some paper that could be peeled off.

"Poyo! (I got this!)" Kirby inhaled the paper off and swallowed it. A doorway was revealed, so they all walked into a shop that left the four heroes confused.

"Hold on... A shop?" Chopper gawked. "What's a shop doing here?"

"This is one strange tree..." Vivian trailed.

"Howdy-do-dah-day, bud! Welcome to Pungent's shop!" a Puni with a blue bulb on its antenna greeted. "If you want anything, just choose whatever's here on the table!"

Chopper looked at the items on the table, but something alerted Scrub to his left. He heard something behind the crates. He also seemed to notice a bug-like wing as well.

"Yo! I thought I saw something!" Scrub noticed. When they walked over to the crates, a small little Jabbi came out. It was smaller than the Jabbi they saw before, from what they could remember.

"It's one of those Jabbi guys!" Chopper gaped.

"Hey! It's Jabble!" Punio gaped. "Why are you hiding back here?"

"Whoa! A Jabbi? Not good!" Pungent gasped. "That little feller's gonna get mixed up in my stock! ...But I suppose I can't go disciplinin' him. He's still just a kid, after all."

"But he looks like a threat! Let's get him!" Scrub grinned before Chopper grabbed his tail and pulled him back. "Hey! What gives, Contadre?"

"No, we can't do that. I say we just leave him be." suggested Chopper.

"What? He IS the enemy, though..."

"Yeah, but he's alone, and I don't see him trying to hurt us either."

"Poyo. (He is pretty lonely though. It kind of reminds me of when I was alone in Boggly Woods.)" Kirby remarked. Poyo. (It's a good thing that Petuni found me and convinced the Punies that I'm on their side and all. It stinks they couldn't understand me.)"

Chopper noticed Jabble jump up, like he was trying to say something. "What's that? You want to join us? …Y'know, that actually sounds like a good idea!"

"I had heard the rumors... From Kirby to them Jabbies..." Pungent trailed. "Yeah, the word is out: this kid is not too shabby when it comes to helping people out! I tell ya, as a people person and a salesman, I must say I'm more than a little jealous!"

After returning to where they were at before, they walked over to the area where the Jabbi ran. They saw a giant hive with a small entrance. Ten of them came out of the hive, ready to fight against the Punies.

"An army of Jabbies? This doesn't look good." Vivian frowned.

"Everyone! It's the Jabbies! It's a 10-Jabbi squadron!" Punio cried. "Uh... Let's get them! Come on, Chopper!"

"_**Attaaaaaaack!**_" Chopper cried as the Punies and Jabble clashed and began to fight against each other.

"Whoa, nelly!"

The Punies and Jabbies began to beat each other down, with some Punies falling to the ground, as well as some Jabbies. Chopper and his friends were forced to watch the battle, unable to do anything to help.

"C'mon! Why can't we just squish them?" Scrub guffawed. "We're bigger than them!"

"Poyo, (We have to let them fight on their own,)" Kirby remarked. "Poyo! (That's how they'll grow stronger anyway!)"

"Yeah, Kirby's right," Chopper agreed. "Us helping them fight this tribe isn't going to make them any better..."

After a long brawl, with a couple of dazed Punies and Jabbies, the Punies were able to emerge victorious.

"Wow! We did it! We defeated every last Jabbi here! Now we have to destroy the Jabbi hive fortress!"

The Punies rushed into the hive and everyone began to feel some shaking from inside the fortress. After the last shake, the fortress was completely destroyed.

"Now how did they do that?" Chopper gawked as they went to the next area to find some statues with a Puni, star, moon, and sun. Near it was a black and white wooden X and also a chest. Chopper opened the chest and he held up a Blue Key.

"Hey! This is the key we've been looking for! Awesome! Now we can save those Punies and also your friend, Kirby!"

"Poyo! (I can't wait!)" Kirby cheered as they made their way back to the prison room.

* * *

**Prison room-**

The Punies in the blue cell were nervous. One Puni began to explain that they wouldn't return, and he was just finishing up.

"...and they'll never come back and that's that and what's gonna happen to us and..." the Puni paused when he noticed something Petuni had. "Hey, by the way... What's that thing you've been holding on to so tightly?"

Petuni took out two Dried Shrooms. "They're mushrooms…"

"Oh. Not to be, you know, rude, but they look all dry and wrinkly and gross."

"Yeah, yeah, I know... I picked it so I could give it to Kirby and my brother to eat. But then I got captured and stuck in here, and after a few days it dried out...

"Oh, really? Great story. Anyway, don't worry so much. All my complaining aside, I'm sure Punio and Kirby will return."

* * *

**Five minutes later-**

Chopper, his friends, and the eleven Punies returned to the prison area, with Punio being the first one out of the pipe.

"Petuni! I'm back! We brought the key! We're opening the cell right now!" Punio cheered as he walked over to the cell, along with Chopper, who was getting a bit tired.

"You seem awfully tired. What happened?" Petuni asked.

"Let's just say we had to go a LONG way…" Chopper sighed as he took out the key and unlocked the door. All of the Punies came out of the prison cell and watched the reunion between Petuni and Punio.

"Big brother!" Petuni cried.

"Little Petuni! Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you?" Punio asked.

"Nope! I'm fine!"

"Thank heavens!"

"Hey, big brother... I have something for you! I meant to give you this sooner, but... Mushrooms are your favorite, aren't they, big brother?" Petuni pulled out a Dried Shroom. "But... Well, this one kinda got dried out..."

"Well, I'll definitely have it! Thanks, Petuni!" Punio took the Dried Shroom from his younger sister and began to chow down on it. From what the heroes could see, he was definitely cringing.

"_Oh, nasty..._"

"_I think I'm gonna hurl..._" Chopper gagged.

"Big brother... It was icky, wasn't it? I'm sorry." Petuni sighed as her head hung low.

"No, not...URK! ...Not at all!" Punio faked. "Mmmm-MMMMM! Delicious! Very...uh...urp... Very...gag...yummy..."

"Big brother? You OK?"

"GIMME A HUG, PETUNI!"

Punio rushed over to Petuni and gave his little sister a hug. "Hey, quit it, Punio! C'mon! Don't get all mushy! Everyone's staring!"

"Well, it was just a really sweet gesture, that's all."

"...Aw, it was nothing!"

**90 Punies have joined your party! Now there are 101!**

"Uh… Are you sure we can take care of all of these Punies? There sure are a lot of them…" Vivian trailed.

"I hope so too. I guess I gotta be Captain Olimar now." Chopper declared, pretending he had a space helmet and a red light on his head. "Now I gotta give a name to one of you guys..."

"Actually, I think that won't work..."

"Hey, Kirby! I got you one too, if you want it." Petuni mentioned as she gave Kirby a Dried Shroom. The pink puffball smiled and thanked her as he ate the Dried Shroom, not caring whether or not it was bad.

"Poyo! (Well that was something for me to eat!)" Kirby smiled.

They headed back to the area they were in before and went to the left on the narrow path. They had some problems, with Piders coming down from the ceiling. The Punies were rather afraid of them, but Vivian took care of them before they could jump off the pathway.

After making it through, they found another Jabbi hive. But this time there were one hundred Jabbies that came out. Everyone but the Punies were rather surprised.

"Everyone! It's the Jabbies! It's a 100-Jabbi squadron!" Punio cried. "Uh... chaaaaaaaaarge! Come on, Chopper!"

"Uhh... Go get 'em" Chopper shouted as the Punies and Jabbies clashed and began to duke it out. Some Punies got knocked down and then some Jabbies were as well. It all came down to a Puni and a Jabbi, who were attacking each other violently.

"Oh, yeah! This sure is some heavy violence!" Scrub grinned as Kirby covered his eyes while Chopper covered Vivian's eyes, who covered his. Scrub was the only one to not cover his eyes because he actually liked the fight.

Unfortunately for him, it didn't last too long when the Puni defeated the Jabbi.

"Awww... That was too short!"

"Whoa! We beat them! We KO'd every last Jabbi here! Now let's destroy the Jabbi hive fortress." the Punies rushed into the fortress, and when they heard shaking, they stopped covering each others eyes and saw the hive explode.

"How convenient. We didn't look at most of the battle, and now the Punies won!" Vivian smiled. "Let's get moving now, OK?"

They walked over to the next area to find a pedestal, a black and white wooden X and a pipe going down to the lower part of the room. They found a big stump on the ground at the lower part of the room that a gray pipe was sitting on.

Up ahead, they found a small little area with a pedestal that looked a little different.

"Poyo… (That pedestal looks a lot different. I'm not sure what to do, Chopper…)" Kirby trailed.

"Eh, it won't hurt to put it in. There's nothing else around here anyway." Chopper took out the Puni Orb and placed it in the pedestal. Unfortunately, a cage came down and trapped everybody. A piece of paper came off too and revealed a pipe to the right of the cage.

"Uhhhhh...huh? What? What just happened?" Punio asked.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!"

"I don't like the sound of that laugh..." Chopper trailed.

Lord Crump and two X-Nauts jumped down and landed in front of the cage. Chopper jumped up a bit as he gaped at the purple X-Naut.

"Huh? Who are you supposed to be?"

"Who? Me? I'm your greatest nightmare!" Lord Crump declared. "I'm the baddest of the bad! You know who I am? Lord Crump! That's who! You remember seeing some kind of weirdo at some land where dreams exist?"

"Uhhhh... I didn't see you anywhere..."

"I was that one guy in disguise! How could you not know me?!"

"I never even saw you before, so how should I know you were there?!" Chopper questioned. "…And what kind of name is Lord Crump anyway?"

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! You didn't figure it out, didn't you? I'm so good at this! That's why I'm Lord Crump! 'Cause I'm good at what I do, and I'm better than these X-Nauts. That's for sure!"

"Ummmmm... Lord Crump... Was the necessary to say that in front of us?" one of the X-Nauts asked.

"Quiet, Johnson! I'm the one doing the speaking here! Your job is to keep quiet!"

_"Ugh... Typical Lord Crump."_

"Lord Crump…" Vivian trailed, her fists surrounded in a fire glow.

"Man, you guys are dense! Brilliant little trap, huh? And BOY, did you bite on it!" Lord Crump scoffed. "I saw you sticking that silly stone on the pedestals, so I made a fake one... Awesome. I mean, I KNEW it was great, but seeing you fall for it really gives me a warm fuzzy. Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! Talk about complete idiots! You guys are so dumb, it hurts!"

"Look who's talking? You sound REALLY dumb, and not to mention you're a little chubby." Scrub scoffed.

"Hey! If I was an idiot, I wouldn't have made this fake pedestal! And me? Chubby? Yeah, right! Anyway, with you fools out of the picture, I can take my time hunting the Crystal Star. Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!"

Lord Crump and his two X-Nauts left the room slowly, knowing they wouldn't escape. Chopper could only take out the Puni Orb so the Punies weren't piled up around it.

"Chopper! What do we do?" Punio wondered. "Uh... We HAVE to find a way out of here... But what can we do?"

"Ha! Lord Crump thought we wouldn't be able to get out! Well he's dead wrong! Watch this!" Chopper turned sideways and slipped through the bars, along with his three friends.

"Well you guys managed to get out... But what about us?"

"We'll thin of something," the pale green boy assured.

"Phew! I was getting a little crammed up in there." Vivian sighed. "But what about the Punies? How are we going to save them?"

"Poyo, (First we should check what's down that pipe first,)" Kirby suggested. Chopper nodded and headed down the pipe with his friends to find a black ! switch and four statues with a sun, moon, Puni and a star.

"Hey, Chopper! I think I remember seeing this back at the room where we found the Blue Key. I wonder what this will do." Vivian punched the switch and they all felt some shaking coming from somewhere else in the tree.

"What the heck was that? We oughta go check what that is, Contadre!" Scrub suggested.

"Yes, of course. We'll go check it out." Chopper and Co. went up the pipe and left the room to find where the shaking occurred. The Punies were hoping that they would return as they began to wait in silence.

* * *

**Later-**

They were back in the room between the Jabbi fortresses that were gone. For some reason, it all felt silent while they were making their way through the tree. Without any Punies, it didn't feel as cheerful around the place.

However, the silence stopped when they noticed two figures heading over to the right passageway.

"Poyo? (What were those two figures we just saw? Do you have any idea what they were, Chopper?)" Kirby asked.

"No, I didn't see them," Chopper replied, shaking his head.

"I saw them... I think those are enemies. We gotta see what's going on." Vivian grabbed Chopper's hand and began to float toward the room ahead. Thankfully, because of her ghostly tail, she was able to get through the room with ease.

"Crap! We gotta take the long way! No fair!" Scrub frowned as he began to follow Chopper and Vivian, as well as Kirby. Once they made it to the next room, they saw two Phis walking forward, but they soon stopped.

"OK, so Master Gemerl said that there's a Crystal Star here, right?" the first Phi asked. "Well where exactly in this tree is it? I mean, we had to get past some weird slug-like thing with an antenna and the ability to grow huge! You have any ideas?"

"Well I forgot my map…" the second Phi trailed.

"WHAT?! So we came all the way here without a map? What is WRONG with you?! Now we gotta turn back now!" the Phi turned around and saw Chopper, which made it pause. "Crud! It's Chopper!"

"Poyo? (Who are these guys?)" Kirby asked. "Poyo! (They look a lot different than the other people we saw around us! Chopper, do you have any idea what these guys are, because they seem to know you!)"

"They're Phis, and I first found one that was about to attack Vivian. It's a good thing I saved her from them, though! That's for sure!" Chopper got in his fighting stance, as well as everyone else.

_"So he saved Vivian? Yeah, that explains that she's his girlfriend! Now I got the proof I need!" _Kirby thought.

"So, Chopper… You thought you could come here and try to get that Crystal Star, huh? Well too bad!" the second Phi exclaimed. "We're going to be getting that thing first! Why? Because we know you have the map! Once we take you out, we'll get that Crystal Star no problem-o! Attack! Attack!"

The Phis loaded up their laser guns so they could attack, but Chopper attacked with a tornado, making a Phi fly up and hit the ceiling and then come back down. Vivian finished off the Phi with her Shade Fist.

The Phi that was still up fired a red laser at Chopper, knocking away his ability. This made him whack it with his hammer, and then Scrub finished it off with a Ground Pound. Chopper got 4 Star Points from the fight, since they were not as strong as before.

"Retreat! Retreat!" they shouted as they quickly ran away, pushing Chopper out of the way to make a run for it.

"OK… Now let's just see what's ahead." Chopper walked over to the next room with his friends and saw the statue with four black ! switches. He put the statues in the following order: sun, moon, Puni, and star. This made the statue roll away and reveal a doorway.

"All righty! Let's see what's here!" Chopper headed on through the doorway and saw a big chest, so he opened the chest and found green shoes like his own.

**You got the Super Shoes!**

At that moment, Chopper got transported to a familiar-looking area that he saw when he got the Super Hammer. He turned around and noticed Toadette running over to him.

"Hey, it's me again! Toadette! It's so nice to see you again, Chopper!" Toadette greeted. "Congratulations on getting the Super Shoes! These cool kicks power up jump attacks and increase your speed! And you'll be able to use a new technique! So let's practice it, OK?"

"I suppose I can practice it," Chopper shrugged.

"If you press A at the right moment when jumping, you'll do a **Spin Jump**! Timing is everything!"

Chopper listened and jumped and did a flip, which made him come down on the ground on his butt.

"Wow! That was perfect! You're a natural!" a wooden X landed on the ground between them. "You can smash through spots like this with your Spin Jump. Also, you can use the Spin Jump in battle too. Maybe you should give it a try!"

"I probably will," Chopper assured.

"Well, I hope to see you again soon! Good luck on your adventure!"

Chopper got transported back to the chest and noticed he was moving a little faster than before.

"Hey, this might help! Watch this!" Chopper walked to the other room and came down on the wooden X with his Spin Jump. He was able to get a Shine Sprite after jumping over some pillars.

Afterward, they headed back to the area with the trapped Punies. There, Chopper used his Spin Jump to destroy the wooden panel.

"You did it! Yes! Yes! Now we can get out of here!" Punio cheered.

After getting them out of the cage with the orb, they went back up to the upper part in the room before to get them down to the pipe on the stump with Chopper's wind blow move from his Tornado ability. Below the room was a pathway with an X-Naut and Yux. Luckily, Chopper and Kirby took care of them with no problem. Plus, his Jump attack was stronger. He leveled up after fighting them and upgraded his BP to 15 as well.

"Poyo. (I know there's a lower part of this room. I can see it down there.)" Kirby noted as they went to the pipe and headed down there.

"Yux alert, Contadre! At eleven o'clock!" Scrub alarmed.

Chopper saw the Yuz fire a blast at him but he was able to Superguard the attack and defeat it quickly. After that, they searched the bushes for anything important..

"Nope! There's nothing here! I guess we should move on now, right?" Chopper noted as he jumped into the pipe with his friends, as well as all 101 Punies and Jabble. There wasn't much around the area except for water. Chopper decided to jump in to search for anything, but there was nothing he could find. Plus, he couldn't see where he was going because the water wasn't clear.

"Did you find anything in there, Chopper?" Vivian asked as he resurfaced and shook his head. She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the water before they proceeded on down the pipe. After jumping over three pillars in the lower room, the four went up a pipe, leaving the Punies behind and going up to the other side of the water in the upper room. There, they could see a blue button on the ground.

Scrub tried to ground pound it, but it didn't appear to be enough. "What? My ground pound does nothing? Well this bites."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Scrub," Chopper assured as he used his Spin Jump on the button, making all of the water go down to the level below them. Since there was no water in the upper room, Chopper opened up a chest to find a Shrink Stomp badge.

"Poyo, (I wonder how the Punies are doing,)" Kirby wondered as they went down the pipe to find the Punies crossing the pond thanks to the lily pads. Since they were across the pond, they all proceeded down the other pipe near them.

After coming out, they found another pedestal, but this one looked a little different because the panel on the ground was a lot bigger. There was a number that read "101" on the pedestal.

"Well, I guess we need all 101 Punies for this," Vivian informed. "Is everyone here?"

"We'll find out if something happens," Scrub replied.

"I might as well go for it," Chopper placed the Puni Orb into the pedestal and all of the Punies went over to the panel to stare at the orb. This caused the ground around them to shake.

"What's happening? Uh oh... This isn't good!" Scrub gulped.

Instead of something bad happening, the panel they were all on began to descend to the bottom of the tree.

"Poyo? (Well this is interesting… This is how we get to this room?)" Kirby gaped as it reached the bottom.

After hitting the Heart Block and Save Block in the room, they proceeded onward to the next room. They all hoped they were not too late to reach the Crystal Star.

* * *

**Room ahead-**

Lord Crump was walking back and forth in a large room in the tree, and he was certainly getting bored after searching the room.

"Man… That thing's GOTTA be around here somewhere! I just need something to get that star!" Lord Crump frowned before he heard footsteps coming his way. "Buh...huh? What's that? Whoa! Sounds like a mob! Better clear out..."

Lord Crump looked around for a safe place to hide, but he decided to hide behind one of the statues. He noticed Chopper, his friends, and the whole mob of Punies following him over to the pedestal.

"This must be it!" Chopper took out the Puni Orb and placed it in the pedestal. Shaking occurred and also some flashes appeared as well. The middle Puni statue revealed a green Crystal Star that slowly began to float to the ground.

"Poyo? (Say Chopper… Is that the Crystal Star that we need to find?)" Kirby gaped as he gazed at the star. "Poyo! (Because that sure looks like a Crystal Star to me!)"

"Yeah, it is the Crystal Star!" Chopper smiled. "Thank goodness we found it! Let's grab it before anything else bad happens!"

Before he could grab it, Lord Crump got out of hiding and snatched the Crystal Star instead.

"What the… Lord Crump? So you were hiding this whole time?" Vivian gasped.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! Man, I bet you didn't see that coming!" Lord Crump cackled. "Am I lucky to get this thing or what? Or am I just gooooood? 'Oh, you say you need a Crystal Star, Lord Crump?' BOOM! Falls right in my lap! See? This is why I'm faster than you, Chopper!"

"Well that's because I had a bunch of Punies with me! Now hand over that Crystal Star or else!" Chopper shouted as he got in his fighting stance, along with his friends.

"Uh oh… This ain't good. But still, this is kind of humiliating. You shouldn't have been able to escape that cell... So, for insulting my awesome trap, I'm gonna repay you with a little present. Oh it's a fantastic one, chumps! Know what it is?"

"A Crystal Star?"

"Ummmm... I don't know..."

"Your fat butt?"

"Poyo? (You revealing your face?)"

"What? My fat butt?! NO! But I'll show you what I've got!" Lord Crump grinned as he took out a remote control. "What is this, you ask? Oh, just a little something I like to call A REMOTE TIME-BOMB DETONATOR!"

Lord Crump walked over to the wall with the remote in his hand. "I'm gonna use this to bury you and those squirmy Punies in rubble! Sound fun? Well, enjoy your final minutes inside this dank old tree! And with that...pow! I'm gone!"

He pushed the red button and stomped the ground to make a pipe appear so he could make his escape. They only had 300 seconds to get out of this tree…or else it was over.

"Uh oh… Chopper! We can't stay here any longer! We need to get out of this tree!" Vivian cried.

Chopper quickly took out the Puni Orb and then hurried on into the pipe with everyone else to make their escape. They were hoping they wouldn't be too late.


	23. Magnus von Grapple: Lord Crump's Weapon

Once they all came out of the pipe into a small room with a pink door that's locked, two X-Nauts quickly ambushed them. At least Chopper's stomp was able to deal some damage. Kirby finished off the first X-Naut with his Cartwheel attack, making the other X-Naut use a Kung Fu attack…only to have Chopper Superguard it.

The X-Naut got finished off by Chopper's stomp and once they beat them, they proceeded through the door to a room they were in previously. It was the room with the narrow pathway above.

"All right, we can make it back to the exit fast! We just can't stop to go to the bathroom or anything." Chopper said as he noticed Scrub was over at a bush going to the bathroom. He just finished.

"What? I just finished!" Scrub said, looking back at everybody. They all simply began to head back to the entrance of the Great Tree before the bomb exploded. Luckily, they had enough time to make it back, and they happened to catch up to Lord Crump when the Puni Elder was blocking his way.

"You won't be going any farther this-a-way!" the Puni Elder said, which made Lord Crump laugh.

"What? Are you nuts? Move it, you old geezer!" Lord Crump scoffed.

"WHAT?" the loudness in the Puni Elder's voice made her bigger, and it also made Lord Crump shrink.

"Did you just call me an 'old geezer'? Where do you get off, talking like that?"

Lord Crump shrunk once again, becoming smaller than the elder.

"You got no respect, brat! Don't think my age has a thing to do with my might!"

Lord Crump shrunk even smaller.

"Even if it kills me, I won't let you through! I'm ready! ELDER POWER ACTIVATE!"

Lord Crump turned back to normal size and stepped back from her. "Whoa. What's your problem, Gramma? You got an ear hair tickling your brain, or what? Just get outta the way already!"

The Puni Elder began to feel some pain in her, moaning, "Oh! Ooh! What the...OUCH! ...Can't...take...another...step... Oooooooog..." as she cracked her back, which made her a little weak and tired.

"_...Urk!_ What a time for my stupid back to start acting up!"

"You hotheaded old coot! You dare defy me? I could shine my boots with you!" Lord Crump raised his foot in an attempt to stomp on her until a voice stopped him.

"Ahem! I don't think so, Crump!" he turned around to see Chopper, Vivian, Scrub, and Kirby in their fighting stances, ready to take him on.

"There's no way we're going to let you get away with that Crystal Star!" Vivian cried.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! You guys are nuts, you know that?" Lord Crump cackled stupidly. "Oh, well. I guess I'd better shut off this timer. I don't know... Blowing you up doesn't feel so...accomplishing in my eyes."

He took out the remote and pressed the red button to make the bomb stop at 74 seconds.

"Poyo, (Well, at least the tree won't blow up,)" Kirby sighed.

"Yeah," Chopper agreed.

"Don't be relieved just yet! I got a better treat in store for you, Chopper! And don't think I forgot about you too, Vivian! I'm taking you both down…with extra fists! Metal fists, that is!"

Lord Crump pressed the red button again, and this time the ground began to shake. "Awake, Magnus von Grapple! Time for a technological thrashing! Enjoy!"

A robot with a hot pink body with a white X on its body landed on the ground, with the cockpit being made of glass. Lord Crump jumped into it and the robot stomped over to Chopper and his friends, who were ready to take it on.

"Are you crying yet? Yeah? Sorry, but this thing isn't armed with tissues." Lord Crump grinned. "Well, Magnus von Grapple has that effect on people. Total, weeping terror. And you ain't seen nothing yet! Check out the power on this bad boy! It's even been improved for destruction! Oh, now you're going to be feeling some pain!"

"Honestly… What the heck IS this robot? It doesn't look so cool, honestly." Chopper frowned.

**Tattle: **_That's Magnus Von Grapple. It's a giant robot built by the X-Nauts. Lord Crump drives it. Max HP is 50, Attack is 4, and Defense is 1. Its most effective attack is one that takes advantage of its size: a smothering stomp. It can also shoot out its fists, which do these super-gnarly rocket punches. Its fists have Max HP of 2, an Attack of 6, and Defense of 0. Its fists are super-powerful, so it's best to knock them down fast. The thing about this robot is I can't tell if it looks cool, or really, REALLY stupid..._

Chopper knew that using his hammer wouldn't be such a bad idea against the boss, so he whacked at Magnus to deal about 3 damage.

"Poyo... (50 HP and 1 Defense? Hmmm… That's not really good. I don't think Scrub can hurt it at all...)" Kirby noted as he used a Cartwheel on Magnus to deal 3 damage.

"Here it comes, suckers! Magnus von PUNISH!" Magnus walked over to Chopper, but then it decided to stomp on Kirby to deal 4 damage. He was flat like a pancake, so Chopper helped him up and unflattened the pink puffball somehow.

"OK, I'll try something else. Maybe my Spin Jump!" Chopper jumped up on Magnus and used a Spin Jump, and this time it did 4 damage. "OK, it's not great, but it's better than a normal jump."

"My Shade Fist could do something. Let me make a flaming punch on him first." Vivian sank into the shadows and rose up in front of Magnus to use her Shade Fist, leaving the robot with a nasty burn, which infuriated Lord Crump.

"Gah! I never knew a Shadow Siren could pack a punch? Oh, yeah? Well take this!" Lord Crump pressed a button, and Magnus stomped on Vivian when it walked over to her, but she was able to guard the attack to take less damage. The burn left on Magnus also harmed it.

Chopper went off with his Power Bounce and stomped on Magnus six times to leave it off with 30 HP.

"Poyo! (Great! He only has 30 HP left!)" Kirby cheered as he attacked with his Cartwheel, knocking Magnus back a bit. Lord Crump noticed the damage dealt to the machine and looked somewhat worried.

_"Crud… They're good…" _he mumbled as he sweat dropped. "Oh, it ain't over yet, folks! This is so awesome. Check out what else this bad boy can do. You're gonna love it! This might not work out too well for you!"

Magnus von Grapple fired its two fists that detached from its arms and let them float in front of it.

"…Those fists are floating? Those look rather dangerous." Chopper gulped. "Goombella said they can do 6 damage to us, so we gotta take them out first."

"I can do that!" Vivian raised a finger and used her Fiery Jinx to scorch the fists, destroy them, and leave another burn on Magnus after it took 4 damage. After that, Chopper used his tornado attack and hit the cockpit where Lord Crump was, making him fuming with rage

"DANG IT! WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE ALREADY?!" Lord Crump roared. "…I mean, you're pretty tough! I'll admit that, but this is where things are getting started, Chopper! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! Just because you beat a fat penguin doesn't mean you're gonna beat me!"

"Well you're smaller than that penguin anyway!" Chopper shot back. "You're just using a robot because you're too much of a coward to face us!"

"Grrrr... Well, let's see how you like this!" Magnus began to make an earthquake and it hit all four heroes, knocking them over. Luckily the burn Vivian left had effect on the robot, which took 1 damage from it.

"All right, let's see what my Tornado Power attack can do," Chopper began to spin around like crazy and hit Magnus in a tornado, leaving it with only 10 HP.

"Poyo! (Awesome job, Chopper! Only 10 more HP to go!)" Kirby cheered while he used his Cartwheel and got Lord Crump's robot down to 7 HP. At this point, the fight was almost over.

"Come back here, fists!" Lord Crump demanded as Magnus's fists reattached themselves. The robot then brought its foot down on Chopper to deal 4 damage, while the burn status did some damage to the robot, but then it wore off.

"Poyo! (We got this in the bag!)" Kirby used his Cartwheel and made sparks fly everywhere around Magnus von Grapple.

"What? GAH! No!" Lord Crump exclaimed while Chopper smirked and began to spin around again. He struck Lord Crump instantly and it looked like the robot was about to explode. At least they got 29 Star Points afterward.

"Bleeeeee-harrrrgh... This could be the end..." Lord Crump gulped, a bright light now enveloping in Magnus von Grapple and causing it to explode. Lord Crump came toppling over on the ground and hit a bush nearby, dropping the Crystal Star.

Buh! Bu-AAAAAARGH! No! Magnus von Grapple! How could we lose?" the X-Naut commander got up and began to pant as he looked up at Chopper and his friends. "Hurff... Hurfff... Hurffff... I'll remember this, losers!"

Lord Crump quickly fled like a little girl afterward.

"Lord Crump summons us!"

They all saw the X-Nauts running out of the tree as well, with Johnson being the first to escape the tree while the other X-Nauts followed.

"Retreat!"

"Run away!"

"Wait up!"

One X-Naut tripped, but he was able to get back up and flee. Chopper removed his ability and looked satisfied.

"There we go! Your X-Naut invasion has finally ended!" Chopper smiled.

"They're gone! This place can go back to being the peaceful place I remember!" the Puni Elder sighed as she looked over at Chopper. "All right, there, Chortle. You can have the Emerald Star...the Crystal Star that resided in this tree!"

"Sure! ...And it's Chopper."

"Yeah, sure thing, Chortle."

Chopper face palmed before he walked over to the Emerald Star. It circled around him once he touched it, and once it was floating above him, he held it up. His friends smiled as they finally acquired the third Crystal Star.

**You got a Crystal Star! And you learned the special move, Clock Out!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_And so, after pummeling Lord Crump, Chopper obtained the third Crystal Star... With the X-Nauts gone, peace once again prevailed throughout the Great Tree. The Boggly Woods echoed with the Puni songs of joy. But...this may not be the last our hero hears from the vile X-Nauts. They will surely continue to stand in Chopper's way and try to put a stop to his efforts..._

* * *

**Pfffffffft! Yes, Lord Crump got ticked off there. I don't know about you guys, but I like him. Why? Well he's got some funny stuff to say and all that. I like Grodus better anyway. Though, the fight against him in Paper Mario 2 was probably my least favorite in the game...**

**Interludes start tomorrow! ...And we might just have a new one in there too. There's another character that gets his interlude too, you know.**


	24. Chapter 3 Interlude

In the X-Naut Fortress, Mysterious already finished explaining to Grodus what happened, and he listened carefully with his eyes filled with hate because of Chopper's actions.

"What? So you did end up losing to that Chopper character." Grodus deduced. "What good are you if you can't get the job done?"

"Sorry, sir. That Chopper was tougher than we thought." Mysterious grumbled as he quickly glanced at Shadower in anger. "Besides, it's Shadower's fault that we lost anyway. That no-good brother is just too weak to do anything…"

"What? It wasn't my fault!" Shadower guffawed. "You always blame stuff on me! Wasn't it my idea to go steal that weapon we were planning on using? You know, from those Shadow Sirens?"

"Enough!" Grodus roared, silencing the two. "You do realize that we need those twenty Crystal Stars to open a world that one cannot reach easily, do you not? It's important that we have them all! There's a reason why we brought Princess Peach here in the first place."

"Yes yes, you do not need to worry, sire," Mysterious assured. "I got all of this under control. Why? Because _I _stole a secret weapon from those Shadow Sirens! Man, they're one short right now!"

Mysterious turned back to his brother. "All right, boys! Let's get outta here and go prepare our weapon for Chopper!" All three of them sank into the shadows and then an X-Naut walked in and saluted to his leader.

"Sir! I come with terrible news!" the X-Naut alerted.

"You may speak at once," Grodus replied.

"Apparently, the Crystal Star in the Great Tree was taken by Chopper! He gave Lord Crump one heck of a beating in Magnus von Grapple! Yup! Even when we rebuilt it and upgraded its armor, it still got taken down."

"I see… I was expecting this to happen. Have you found anymore Crystal Stars?"

"Ummmm... No." the X-Naut shook its head until he remembered something. "Well we DID see some robots flying off with some orange star or something. I have a feeling that Chopper isn't the only one after them, I'm afraid. I did some research on those robots and it turns out they're called Phis. Their leader is named Gemerl."

"What? So Chopper's not the only one after them. Have you gotten any other information on Chopper?"

"Of course, sir. While researching, I found out that he was able to fight against the God of the Stars. Of course, he didn't kill him. You can't kill a God, you know. But the most interesting thing I found was that he lost his family and his race at the age of four. It said a blue guy wearing a mask saved him. But they said that on wikipedia, and you know that's not always true."

"…So he's the last of his species," Grodus pondered. "I for one, don't care if he's the last of his species. He's a threat to us, and we must get rid of him. Hopefully the Shadow Brothers will take care of that brat. For now, you may research a little bit more."

"Oh, yes!" the X-Naut gave him a salute and left the room. Grodus still had hatred in him, wanting to get rid of Chopper.

"Oh, Chopper... You may have gotten three Crystal Stars, but your luck is eventually going to run out..." the X-Naut leader muttered. "And don't think I forgot about you too, Mario!"

* * *

**Sublevel 4-**

Down at Sublevel 4, Peach got up and stretched, sighing in boredom. "Mmm… No doubt about it. I'm officially bored in here. It's a good thing those X-Nauts didn't come down here to ask me about the map. I feel a little worried if the map's safe. Plus, I've been hearing that they're after Chopper, so he must have the map with him instead of Mario."

The door to TEC's room opened up again. "Well, it looks like TEC wants me again. I just hope that he remembers a little more about me."

With a sigh, she began to walk over to his room, and when she got there, she was greeted by the computer.

**"Greetings, Princess Peach," **greeted TEC.

"You never tell me when you want me to come..." Peach trailed. "Is there more you want me to teach you about love? Or is this something else."

**"****I apologize, but I would like you to go into the X-Naut Party room and ask one of the X-Nauts about their plan. Sir Grodus does not answer questions to his X-Nauts anymore, I'm afraid."**

"But why do you need me to do this?"

**"****I recently obtained specific information that brought an…issue to my attention. This is something that I must know, and it requires your help."**

"Wait, you're the main computer here, right? Why is there anything you don't know? Shouldn't you know everything?"

**"****I am unable to know things that are not entered in my CPU or otherwise recorded. That is why I want you to know what the X-Nauts know about these twenty Crystal Stars and what they plan on doing with them."**

"But isn't it a little too dangerous? I can't just go up there, or else they'll catch me and bring me back to my room!"

**"****That is true,"** pondered TEC.** "But if you wear a soldier's uniform one floor up, you can go into that X-Naut room. Take the room to your right to find a uniform, avoiding detection. You will go into the room looking like a soldier."**

Peach turned around, having a feeling that this plan didn't seem like a good idea. "So you're saying I'll be disguised. I suppose you're not going to be taking NO for an answer, right?"

**"****You are correct."**

"All right… Fine, I guess." she turned back to TEC afterward after pondering. "Well, what do you want me to ask the X-Nauts?"

**"****I will tell you…"**

* * *

**Later, outside TEC's room-  
**

"What in the world in TEC thinking?" Peach wondered as she walked over to the elevator door. "I know he doesn't remember much about me, but that's crazy! He sure is a weird computer…"

She walked into the elevator when it opened and it went up two floors above. However, the door didn't open just yet when it reached its destination.

**"Hold on, give me a moment to open the door. Patrol is coming by soon." **TEC noted as Peach could only hear footsteps walking by the elevator.

"Oh... I never knew you were in control of the elevator..." Peach whispered.

**"****It's clear. Now, Princess Peach… Please go to the room to your right." **the elevator door opened and she walked over to the door with a green light above it. In the locker room, there were lockers (of course) and a dressing room with a pink curtain. Peach opened a locker that an X-Naut uniform happened to be in. She took it and went in the dressing room and began to get changed.

"This thing is too tight! …And it really smells. I guess this is the smell of an X-Naut uniform. Don't they wash them?"

After a little bit, Peach came out of the dressing room looking just like an X-Naut. "Wow, I can't believe I got into that. This thing doesn't feel comfortable at all!"

She quickly got out of the locker room, trying to walk around in the suit to get comfortable with it. Unfortunately, that ended up stopping when an X-Naut called out for her.

"Hey! You! X-Naut! Where do you think you're going?"

She turned around and gulped to see an X-Naut with a black collar and white X on his body. Also, he wore black gloves and shoes.

"Dude, you're going the wrong way! The party's over here!" the Elite X-Naut pointed at the door to her left, which X-Nauts were walking into. She nodded and walked over to the door. Inside, she saw a bunch of X-Nauts dancing on the disco floor with a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. There was one normal X-Naut standing around so she walked over to him.

"Excuse me, um…" Peach began.

"Oh, hello there, fellow X-Naut. The name's Johnson." Johnson greeted. "Let me tell you something: it's always a good idea to come here, especially when you went out on a mission with the fatso Crump."

"The fatso Crump?"

"Yeah, sometimes he bugs me and keeps telling me he's better and smarter than me," Johnson explained before noticing her voice was different. "And why does your voice sound weird? …Are you catching a cold?"

"Ummm..."

"Well it's all right. It's not a huge deal... Though, I don't think you should be in here if you're sick..."

"Oh... OK... But I have a little question to ask you. What do you plan on doing with Princess Peach."

"Oh, that? Uh… That's something personal with Grodus. We just need to keep her locked in that room, and we're not supposed to hurt her. But, I think the reason we need those Crystal Stars is something we were never told about, but I'm guessing it's for conquering the universe. We can't hurt Peach, but we can certainly beat the snot out of Chopper all day!"

"Well… Thank you. I need to get going now." Peach left the party room and began to take deep breaths after leaving. She got back into her dress in the locker room and returned to TEC's room, not looking too happy.

"TEC! How could you listen to them?! Your goal is to conquer the world with those Crystal Stars?"

**"****Of course. I was built for that purpose." **TEC answered.

"But how could you… I've remembered you for a while, and now you want to conquer the world again. Don't you at least remember, TEC?" Peach frowned.

**"****Remember… I remember nothing about seeing you before. I'm sure you love the universe your in, despite having many problems with it."**

"Well what do you know about the twenty Crystal Stars?"

**"****The Crystal Stars are powerful gems that could be used for good and evil. If one such has good in them, and he brings out the twenty stars at a magical pedestal, they will protect the universe and destroy all evil that tries to attack. If someone of evil uses them, they will get anything they desire, and they can conquer the entire universe and make everybody bow down to them. It is impossible to stop them."**

"Oh… Well I think I must inform Chopper about this. I can let him know with this. Let me use your communicator."

**"…I suppose I can allow that. Please use the communicator." **Peach nodded and walked over to the communicator and began to type her mail up. TEC sent it after she finished up.

**"****The message has been sent. Well then, Princess Peach. You have had a busy day. Go back to the room, please."**

"Oh… OK." Peach walked over to the door and she took a glimpse at TEC before leaving the room.

**"****Good night, Princess Peach." **

At that moment, TEC's room got dark and he went to sleep mode.

* * *

**Castle Dedede-**

Back at Dream Land, inside Castle Dedede, the fat penguin himself, King Dedede, was sitting on his golden throne. A red rug led up to his throne and down some small steps. This room was once used to order Demon Beasts from Nightmare Corporation, a company that had been long gone since. The walls were a light orange color, and the ground was light red.

Right now, King Dedede had a plate beside him with a ton of food. He was eating each and every one of them with one gulp. He had a dart in his right hand, and he was aiming it at the door ahead, which had a Chopper doll for a target. He threw it, but then the door opened and Escargon came in, looking battered up. He saw the dart and let out a shriek before ducking.

"Your Majesty! Watch where you throw those darts!" Escargon cried. You could've stabbed me with that!"

King Dedede blinked as he noticed Escargon was battered up and dirty. "Where've you been?"

"Your Majesty… Don't you remember? Back at Hatty Town? You whacked me and sent me far away! It took me DAYS to walk all the way back here! I mean, look at me! I'm so dirty and I also got bug bites!"

"That? …Nope. I don't remember any of that." King Dedede leaned back on his throne. "But why weren't you here to help me look for a new corporation to help us find a way to get these Cappies to do what's best."

"I don't mean to offend you or anything, but all of your Demon Beasts got beaten by Kirby," Escargon informed. "Even if you were to find another corporation, you would have to pay so much Deden for them! Don't you know how much money we lost because of those Demon Beasts? And not to mention our plans always get foiled by those two brats Fumu and Bun."

King Dedede got up from his throne and grit his teeth. "I HATE those two! Why did they have to ruin EVERYTHING I come up with? It makes me wonder why I DIDN'T send them into space! …Hold on, I should've done that in the first place! But now there's a bigger problem. I still can't get over the fact I got beaten down by someone who looks a little like Kirby! I swear, I want to get revenge on him!"

"You know, Your Majesty… While I was getting back here, I DID see something spectacular. When I made it to the Fountain of Dreams, I saw Chopper bringing out some kind of star gem called a Crystal Star. He seems to use some kind of map to locate them."

"Yeah? So? What's so important about these Crystal Stars anyway? Do they have any purpose or something?"

"Well, when I was walking back, I heard a voice calling for me. It sounded…very dark and scary. Let me explain, OK?"

* * *

**A couple of hours earlier-**

Escargon was walking away from the Fountain of Dreams and was now walking past the tree that Fumu was sitting whenever she was bored.

"Boy… I can't believe it took me this long to get back to Dream Land." Escargon sighed. "That was such a far walk! …But what exactly was that Chopper was doing at the Fountain of Dreams? Now I'm getting a little confused."

Suddenly, a voice called out for him. It sounded like a demonic voice instead of a spirit's voice, which made him shriek.

_**"****Escargon… Listen to me." **_the demonic voice began._** "Those are the Crystal Stars. Those can give you such great power. Yes… It can do just that. You want His Majesty to rule Dream Land, right?"**_

"Huh? Who ARE you? And they're Crystal Stars?" Escargon gaped. "…Yeah, I do want His Majesty to rule Dream Land. He's the greatest king of all time! …But how do you know about him? Are you…Nightmare?"

_**"****No, I am not Nightmare. He is long gone. I'm much eviler than that, you fool. I mean… I've been watching over this universe for centuries. If you and King Dedede get those twenty Crystal Stars, you can not only make everyone do your bidding, but you'll take over the universe and get whatever you want! This is no lie..."  
**_

"But how should I know you're trustworthy? Your voice sounds demonic and dark. Are you trying to trick me? Last time we did something like that, we got fooled. It sounds like something bad will happen."

_**"****Oh, don't you worry. Nothing bad will happen…" **_the voice assured._** "You could use those Crystal Stars to become rich if you wanted to. You just need to use a pedestal with strong energy to use their powers to give you anything you desire. World conquering, power, money, anything you desire!"**_

"Hmmm… That sounds interesting! I should go tell His Majesty about this!" Escargon began to head back to the castle, feeling a bit excited to tell the news to his king._  
_

* * *

"…So you're saying a demonic voice told you about the Crystal Stars? He said that you could get…MONEY?!" King Dedede gaped before dollar signs appeared in his eyes while he grinned widely. "Escargon! This is big! Think what we can do with those twenty Crystal Stars!"

Escargon began to think of him and King Dedede relaxing at a spa and also spending time together at a place only rich people could go to. He couldn't help but grin at these thoughts.

"Oh, yes, Your Majesty! That is just BRILLIANT!" Escargon cheered. "I would LOVE to get those Crystal Stars and become rich! So, are we going to head on out and get 'em?"

"What? You think we're going to do it? Wait, yes, we're going to be doing that! What else can we do anyway? Let's go searching!" King Dedede grabbed his hammer and also Escargon and got his vehicle which had a tank gun and headed off to search for those Crystal Stars with Escargon.

* * *

**Phi Base-**

Gemerl was sitting down in his black and white chair and was starting to think of some plans while looking at another dumb plan a Phi wrote for him. He crumpled it up and tossed it in the trash. He then fired a blast at the Chopper dummy and also the Vivian one. A Kirby one was made now because he heard about them from the Phis.

"Stupid Chopper… Why did you even have to come to this world. Stay at your home planet, where you belong! I swear, he made the wrong decision coming here…" Gemerl turned on the TV to take a look what's going around at the Phi Base. He noticed a mysterious figure run through the base, which made his eyes widen.

"What the… Who was that?" Gemerl began to rewind it. He still didn't get to see who the figure was, but he was certainly not happy. "How on earth did somebody get in the base? This place is completely hidden! …Unless one of my Phis forgot to hide the base. GAH! This can't be right!"

Gemerl stopped for a moment. "…I must calm down. Getting angry doesn't solve anything. Maybe if I'm calm, things will work better for me. I need to listen to something. Hmmm…"

He took out a wire and he plugged it into him and he began to listen to His World. "…No, I heard this too much. I need a different song." he changed the song to Endless Possibilities. "Much better!"

At that moment, two Phis came walking in, looking a little battered up from the events in the Great Tree. However, they didn't look sad at all. In fact, they were a bit excited.

"Sir! We have good news…and bad news." the first Phi informed. "Which one would you like to hear first?"

Gemerl stopped playing the song and got up from his chair and walked over to the Phis. "I know what the bad news are. You lost to Chopper, didn't you? Well I saw it coming…again. But you said you had good news to tell me, don't you?"

"Here's the good news! Check it out!" the second Phi pulled out a dark orange Crystal Star, which made Gemerl gasp in amazement.

"You…GOT that Crystal Star in the Great Tree? I don't believe it! You ACTUALLY did something good!"

"No no, we didn't get it at the Great Tree. We went to a place called Poshley Heights, and we went to a museum where we saw a weird penguin. It honestly wasn't that hard!"

* * *

**Some time ago-**

The two Phis were flying over a beautiful town called Poshley Heights, where they saw a museum below them. One of the Phis suggested, "Hey, how about we go down there? I have a feeling we might find something nice down there."

"All right, we'll go there," the second Phi nodded. "But we're making it quick!"

They two Phis flew down to the museum and walked in to find a huge room with a red rug going to…a Crystal Star! The Phis stopped looking at the place and paid more attention to the Crystal Star.

"Holy…! I feel like my eyes are about to explode! It's a Crystal Star! I can't believe we ACTUALLY made it to one! Talk about lucky!"

The two Phis flew over to the Crystal Star and picked it up. "Man! I'm glad to have gotten this now! After getting beaten by that pale green kid, Master Gemerl won't yell at us!"

"Hold it right there!"

"What the..."

They saw a Bumpty with a red bow-tie, a magnifying glass, and a brown cap walk over to them. "Who might you people be? Wait! Let me take a look at you for a moment! …You must be common thieves, if my eyes deceive me. Yes, you must have come to steal that!"

"You're dang right we are!" the second Phi cackled. "We need this Crystal Star to rule the universe! Sorry, buster! This thing's ours, so back off!"

"Oh, no worries, my friends. It's all right. Unfortunately, that's a red herring. Yes, a fake. If you want it, by all means, go right ahead and take it."

"_**WHAAAAT?!**_" the first Phi grabbed the Bumpty and aimed its arm gun at him. "You! You're hiding the REAL one somewhere! Tell us where it is! Now! Or else you're going to have perhaps the most painful death ever!"

"…Well, I suppose I have no other choice," the Bumpty sweat dropped. "If you must know, the real one is in that painting."

"Oh, really? Good! Time to go in!" the other Phi jumped and ended up crashing into the painting. The other Phi saw a pipe in the painting and also one hidden behind the curtains. He let go of the Bumpty and smacked the Phi.

"Idiot! You don't crash into paintings! We gotta go over here!" the Phi jumped into the pipe, as well as its buddy and after going into the door in the painting, they found the REAL one.

"YES! The real one!"

They rushed over to it and grabbed it. "Wait 'till Master Gemerl hears about this! This is AWESOME!"

* * *

**Present-**

"…And THAT'S how we got the Crystal Star, sir," the first Phi concluded. "Are you proud of us now?"

"Yes, you did a good job. I'm proud that you did something GOOD for once." Gemerl said, crossing his arms and nodding slowly. He was satisfied and took the Crystal Star. He watched it glitter.

"It's beautiful…"

"Does that mean we get that promotion?"

"Heh heh heh…no," Gemerl replied as he looked back at the Phis.

"SIR!" another Phi came into the room and walked up to Gemerl. "We discovered where the next Crystal Star is! Apparently, it's in a town called **Twilight Town**. From what I've heard, it's in a pretty dark place, especially where the Crystal Star's being held. It's said that there's an evil monster there."

"A monster? …Then I will send three Phis to go check what's over there! Tell them immediately!"

"Of course, sir! …But that's not all! I noticed at the Great Tree some kind of weird alien species in a uniform. I did research on them and it turns out they're called X-Nauts. They're after the Crystal Stars too."

"What? More people after the Crystal Stars? Preposterous!" Gemerl growled. "I thought Chopper and I were the only ones looking for them. I guess I was wrong..."

"Any other requests?" one Phi asked.

"Well... Actually, there IS something. Apparently I noticed a mysterious figure sneaking around in our base. It didn't look like it was Chopper... I want you guys to increase the security and find out who this mysterious intruder is! We can't have people sneaking in here and discovering what secrets there are in this desert!"

"...Whoops. I think I forgot to close the secret entrance." one Phi sweat dropped.

"All right, then next time, make sure the entrance is HIDDEN! There's a reason why it's a 'secret entrance'!" Gemerl grumbled. "Anyway... I want three of you guys at the next location of the Crystal Star NOW! The rest of you keep your eyes peeled... If we catch this intruder, we can interrogate him for some information. He could very well be an ally of Chopper's..."

"Of course, sir!" the three Phis left the room, while Gemerl sat down on his chair, looking at the Crystal Star.

"So, Chopper has three and I hold one..." Gemerl trailed. "If I'm correct, there could be a chance his map will take him here. I'll be prepared to fight him when that time has come…"

* * *

**Outside the Great Tree-**

"Uh... Thank you, Chopper, for everything you've done." Punio thanked. "We can finally go back to our peaceful way of life now, now that you've taken care of those goons."

"You know, son, now that we get right down to it, I'm kind of sad to see you go," the Puni Elder remarked. "I do love pontificating, so come on by whenever you want to sit and chat awhile."

"Yes, please come back and visit! We'll watch for you!" Petuni nodded. "I hope you have good luck on your quest too, Kirby! I'm probably going to miss your friendliness!

"Poyo! (Me too!)" Kirby nodded. "Poyo! (It was great knowing each other! If I ever have any free time, I'll come see you, OK?)"

"We'll work together from now on to prevent anything like that from happening again," Punio declared. "Thanks to you guys, we feel like we're much closer together as a family. Good luck with the Crystal Stars. Let's hope you can save this world!"

"We'll see you guys later!" Chopper waved goodbye as he and his friends began to leave. Some of the Punies started to cry as they returned to Boggly Woods. Scrub stretched and sat down on the ground next to the pipe

"Whew! Man! Finally! It's just us again!" Scrub sighed. "Taking care of 101 Punies was a PAIN for us. Now we can do things with ease. That Crump guy wasn't that big of a threat, honestly. He was just some guy going 'Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!' And THAT gets annoying."

"Yeah, he was kinda weird...and stupid," Chopper agreed before he felt his Mailbox SP going off.

"Is it that X person again?"

"Scrub, we already know that X person was Jolene... Plus, it's not playing that song."

"From what I can hear, that ring tone sounds like it's from Princess Peach," Vivian noted as Chopper took out his Mailbox SP and began to read the e-mail.

_Dear Chopper,_

_I have uncovered something terrible. According to the X-Nauts, well, Johnson… They're planning on using the Crystal Stars to take control of the world! But there MAY be another reason, but I couldn't get any of that information. Apparently, if a person that is good uses the stars on a pedestal, light will shine in the universe and repel and darkness and destroy it. One with darkness in them can use the stars to take control of EVERYTHING in the universe. You simply MUST get them before those X-Nauts. I will gather as much information that I can._

_-Princess Peach-_

"So those X-Dudes wanna take over the UNIVERSE with those Crystal Stars?" Scrub gawked. "Ummmmmm... Yeah, that's not that original of a motive. They don't really seem pure evil either."

At that moment, Vivian frowned when she heard Scrub say "pure evil."

"What's wrong Vivian?" Chopper asked. "You don't look too good..."

"Well... It's nothing, really." Vivian assured. "I just remembered something bad... It's not important, though."

"Ummmm... OK."

"Poyo? (Well, anyway, I think we should go back to Dream Land, don't you think so, Chopper?)" Kirby suggested. Poyo! (You know what that star you gave me was? THIS!)"

Kirby took out the star and tossed it up. It became a Warp Star, which he was able to jump on easily.

"Oh! Nice!" Chopper made a sharp whistle and a Warp Star came to him. He got on it and now there were two Warp Stars. Scrub decided to get on Kirby's while Vivian got on Chopper's.

"Poyo, (I knew Vivian would join you, Chopper,)" Kirby smirked.

"Uhhhh... What do you... Hey!" Chopper glared at Kirby before they took off, leaving Boggly Woods and returning to Pop Star.

* * *

**Dream Land-**

They landed right in front of the Mayor's house again, where the Mayor happened to notice them return, so he left the restaurant in a hurry and got to the group.

"You made it back! …And you brought Kirby! This is just GREAT!" the Mayor cheered. "If you came here, you must have gotten the Crystal Star! Great job, you four! You've got three of them so far! …But of course, there are seventeen more to find."

"Yeah, I know. It's rather…tough." Chopper sighed. "We've run into some X-Naut guys who are looking for the Crystal Stars. So… This may not be so easy with them around. Plus, there are also robots called Phis after them too!"

"What? Oh, I had a feeling this would happen. The Crystal Stars can grant you the power you need if you're evil. You could control the ENTIRE universe with them! Yes, they're THAT powerful. But there's no time for talking! You must go to the Fountain of Dreams to find the next Crystal Star."

Chopper nodded and they all headed to the Fountain of Dreams. But before they could continue on, Chopper stopped for a moment.

"There's one thing I don't understand. The Mayor gets a letter with no address on it. I have NO idea who sent it." Chopper pondered. "There's no way it could've been Bowser. He wouldn't be able to make darkness cover the sky and destroy the universe. He just kidnaps Peach. It couldn't be Maquano, because I sent a light orb at him and now he's trapped in there for eternity. There's no way he's getting out of there. You guys know who he is, right? Do you, Vivian?"

"Well… I think… I think I heard that name before." Vivian recalled. "I don't remember when, though. I know the Shadow Queen has nothing to do with this because she's been destroyed."

"The Shadow Queen? Who's that?"

"She was an evil lady who was sealed in the Thousand-Year Door by the four heroes, if I could recall. Her evil spirit was trapped in there until it was released. However, she didn't last that long when Mario defeated her. I... I actually helped defeat her."

"You serious?! I never knew you defeated an evil queen!" Chopper gaped. "That's awesome!"

"Oh... Thanks, Chopper." Vivian blushed. "However, whoever's responsible for this remains a mystery..."

"Poyo. (Well we'll find out. We gotta find the next Crystal Star first!)" Kirby declared. Chopper nodded and they made their way to the Fountain of Dreams. Once they made it there, Chopper jumped onto the pedestal.

"OK, here I go!" Chopper held up the Emerald Star and it disappeared. The whole light blue light surrounded the fountain, and three circles now had Crystal Stars, with the green one to the upper right as well. The map was floating above Chopper and was surrounded by light, which began to reveal the next location of the Crystal Star.

A black, dark steeple that looked like it was covered in darkness appeared right by a town that looked like it was one of the creepy areas like Forever Forest. A red Crystal Star happened to be there.

**The location of a Crystal Star has been recorded on your Magical Map!**

Chopper studied the map for a little bit, and knew what to do. "Guys, we need to go see Professor Frankly about this one."

"Poyo? (Professor Frankly?)" Kirby gawked.

"You'll see..."

* * *

**Frankly's house-  
**

"_**WHAT?!**_ The people who kidnapped Princess Peach and those robots want to conquer the universe with the Crystal Stars?" Frankly gaped.

"Yeah! You got that right, Frankly!" Scrub replied. "Those Phi jerks and those X-Jerks want to perhaps enslave everybody or even make them all extinct! No joke at all!"

"Hrmm… This doesn't bode so well. The situation has gotten far more serious than I thought! Then again, I wouldn't be so surprised about their return... Anyway, I've been doing a little more research on the Crystal Stars, and how twenty of them came to be. Thirteen more stars were created so that more power could be used to repel all darkness...or to make the Crystal Stars more powerful for one that is evil... But whoever made them is not yet to be discovered. Sigh… If only I knew a little more."

"Poyo, (Yeah, I wonder who really made those Crystal Stars,)" Kirby agreed. "I know I'm kind of new to this town and all, but I wanna know more about it!)"

"Ermmm… I'm sorry, Chopper, but what did your pink friend say?" Chopper sighed and translated what he said. "Ah, I understand now! I'm so glad you understand what he's saying."

Vivian seemed to be the only one silent, probably because she was feeling a little nervous.

"Anyway, in order to stop that, you must find the Crystal Stars. So… Let's see. This next one looks like it's pointing to Twilight Town!" Frankly noted, which made Vivian gasp.

"D-Did you say Twilight Town?" Vivian gaped.

"I did hear it from the old man's old mouth..." Scrub trailed.

"Why? Do you know something about that place?" Chopper asked.

"Well... Ummm..." Vivian trailed, twiddling her thumbs.

"Well, I heard some rumors that the place has become very dangerous," Frankly cut in. "I know for sure there's a pipe that will take you there. Just go to the west sewers."

"Gotcha! Let's go, guys!" Chopper left the house, along with the other three and went to the west side of Rogueport. They could see another area to the west, but that was a new harbor that they built for more ships to come in.

"I think we gotta go down these sewers!" Scrub looked down at the holes through the sewers, so Chopper went down there with his friends by turning sideways and were in the sewers. There was a gap between them and the platform they were on to the left and also a red Metal Block blocking a doorway.

"Poyo, (Let's check the green door,)" Kirby suggested. They found a rusty old pipe, so they went in there - only to have them come back up.

**The pipe rejected you!**

"Wait, what? The pipe rejects us? That doesn't make any sense!" Chopper kicked the pipe, but it didn't seem to do anything.

"Whoa, Contadre... I don't think that's going to do anything..." Scrub trailed.

"Then we need a plunger! It might be clogged!"

"We need to go see Professor Frankly about it. I think he knows what to do." Vivian suggested.

"...Or we can do that!"

So they made their way back to Professor Frankly and began to explain to him about the pipe.

"Bad news, Frankly… We tried to get into that pipe, but it wouldn't let us through!" Chopper informed. "Yeah, we kept trying and trying, but it did nothing!"

"What? You can't get through the pipe, you say? That's…rather odd, I must say." Frankly frowned.

"Well, got any idea on what we can do, Prof?" Scrub asked.

"Um... Let's see... Ermmm... I might know but I just can't remember what it is... I forgot to tell you this before... I apologize for my bad memory... There's a fellow from Twilight Town that's around here in Rogueport. He'll know how to get through the pipe. Though I don't remember his name... WAIT! It's **Darkly**! He's loitering right here in this part of the town. Go look for him."

"Someone named Darkly? That's sounds good to me!" Chopper and his friends left the house and walked over to the back of the area, where they could see a lime-green person wearing brown, dirty clothing.

"Hey there!"

"Hi there! The name's Darkly! Do you guys need something?" Darkly asked. Chopper began to explain to him about going to Twilight Town and trying to go through the pipe.

"Huh? You want to know how to get through the pipe of Twilight Town? That's easy! You just need something that has your name written on it! Don't you have anything with your name on it? C'mon, everyone does!"

"Well I don't..." Chopper trailed.

"No? Really? OK. Hang on. I'll write it for you. What's your name?"

"My name? It's Chopper. It's spelled C-H-O-P-P-E-R. And where are you going to write my name?"

"Well, where should I write your name?" Chopper lifted his shoe, and Darkly signed his name on the bottom.

"At least it's better than my glove..."

"There! Perfect-a-mundo!" Darkly smiled. "While I'm at it, I'll write your partners' names, too. What are your names?"

"My name's Vivian."

"Scrub, baby!"

"Poyo! (I'm Kirby!)"

Chopper told Darkly his name is Kirby, so Darkly started off by signing Kirby's bottom foot, Vivian's hat, and then on Scrub's white diaper.

"Hey! Watch where you're drawing, buddy!" Scrub yelped. "That's my tail!"

"I don't know what errand is taking you to Twilight Town, but I hope it goes well. I'll be rooting for you!" Darkly smiled as he finished.

They said goodbye to Darkly and headed back to the room with the rusty pipe.

"You know, I still liked the idea with the plunger..." Chopper trailed.

"Poyo, (But you're not even a plumber,)" Kirby noted. "Poyo? (Plus, don't you think this works out a lot better for us?)"

"Hmmmmm... Maybe you're right."

"Well, what're we doing sitting around for? Let's move!" Scrub declared as he jumped into the pipe, followed by Kirby and then Chopper. Vivian looked down at the pipe and then at the sign, feeling a bit nervous.

"Oh... I can't believe I have to come back here..." Vivian sighed. "Sure, this may be where I live, but I'm worried about him returning..."

She quickly went into the pipe afterward.


	25. Enter Twilight Town

**CHAPTER 4**

**-Darkness Within the Twilight-**

Once they all came out of the pipe, they looked up at the sky to see a full moon and an orange sky. Not to mention there were no leaves on the trees either. The houses look a little red because of the red orange, dirt ground, and by some of the trees, there were some black crows with white eyes. More villagers similar to Darkly were in the town.

"Ugh, this place gives me the creeps. Is this Twilight Town?" Scrub asked.

"I think you're right, Scrub," Chopper nodded. "This is most likely Twilight Town. I mean, look at the place! The sky looks orange and twilight-like, and we're probably going to expect werewolves and vampires to come out here and…"

"Poyo! (OK! We get it already!)" Kirby cut in.

"Sorry... Well, anyway... We're in Twilight Town now. So I think we should... Hold on a minute, is that a pig?" Chopper paused when he saw a pig off at the distance. "What're pigs doing here? Is this place a pig farm?"

"Well who cares? I'm kinda hungry!" Scrub grinned as he licked his lips. "So how's about we eat bacon tonight? Vivian can cook 'em up with her fire!"

"No!" Vivian cried.

"What? Aren't you hungry?"

"Well... It's not a good idea... I think I remember..."

"Hey…" Vivian was cut off when they saw a villager walk over to them. "It's been like...um... Five months since anyone's come from...outside. You've all come from far away, haven't you?"

"Whoa, get away from me, creep..." Scrub trailed as he backed away from the villager.

"Scrub, that's not how you greet people from this town," Chopper scolded before turning back to the villager. "Yeah, we're from far away. Especially me."

"Poyo, (And me,)" Kirby added.

"I could tell from how you all look..." the villager trailed. "Are you...adventurers? Because if you are, I think you picked the wrong time to come here. To be honest, I think it's best if you turn back and leave before…he gets you. Wait, but you're adventurers! …Maybe it's the perfect time. Hold on a minute…"

The villager began to look at Chopper, who looked a bit confused. "Hey! What're you doing? Is there something bothering you?"

"I don't believe it! It's…you! Why have you returned to this village to haunt us with your powers?!" the villager gasped as he stepped back in fear. "Just…stay away from us! Please! We don't have much money because of how poor we are, but take anything and leave us alone!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Chopper gawked. "Why are you saying that I'm here to hurt you all? I just came here!"

"Don't turn us into that foul creature! Please!"

"Foul creature? What do you..."

They all paused when they heard a bell ring from a tall-looking evil steeple. "Oh no! You… You did it again! I bet you used one of your powers to make it ring! Now who's going to be it this time?"

The villager was immediately surrounded by purple smoke, and when the smoke was gone, they saw a pig in front of them, making their eyes widen (Scrub's mouth hit the floor). The pig oinked as it ran away from Chopper.

"WAAAH!" Scrub guffawed. "So the pigs are actually people transformed into them?! Now I feel like I lost my appetite..."

"So this is where all the pigs are coming from..." Chopper trailed.

"Oh, badness... Now poor Freddy got turned into a pig... This is not good." an old man with blue green skin, thick gray eyebrows and a mustache slowly walked over to them with the help of his cane.

"Are you going to mistake me for someone else too?" Chopper asked.

"Most of these people are colorblind…except for me and the woman in the shop," the old man informed. "I can most definitely tell that you…_cough_…are not the one responsible for this. You look more light than dark to me."

"Who are you, Gramps?" Scrub asked.

"Poyo... (Yeah, nice nickname you gave him, Scrub...)" Kirby trailed sarcastically.

"I'm the mayor of this poor town. Some call me Dour. I'm not the sharpest fellow, but you must be adventurers, right?"

"Yes, we are," Chopper nodded.

"That's why we're here, I suppose..." Vivian trailed.

"Adventuring is my thing! ...When you're not in creepy, dark places, that is..." Scrub trailed.

"Poyo! (I'm definitely one!)" Kirby answered cheerfully.

"I see… But I can't tell the tale right now. This isn't the place for telling tales, sadly." Dour informed. "Come. Come to my home. I can tell you everything there."

Dour walked over to his house, where everybody else followed him in, despite it not looking exactly nice. "My traveling friends... Welcome to Twilight Town. Well, I'd LIKE to welcome you... But 'welcoming' people is usually a good thing, but it has become nothing but a bad thing now."

"Poyo? (Out of curiosity, what's with all of the pigs? And why are people mistaking Chopper for somebody else?)" Kirby wondered while Chopper translated to Dour.

"Well, that question, pink one, is because our town has become cursed," Dour explained. "We never saw who this monster is, but we definitely saw his figure, and it does look very similar to this boy right here. He's the reason why this town has a curse."

"Whoa! Cursed?" Scrub gaped.

"Yes, cursed. That is the right word, right? Yes, of course it is. You see... There is a forest beyond town, and in its heart is an ancient building, the **Creepy Steeple**. The good thing was that the person responsible for cursing us was now gone…but that only to make things worse for us. This new monster is perhaps one of the most evil things we have ever set our eyes on. He has turned the Creepy Steeple into a nightmare and called it the **Dark Steeple**. Whenever that dark creature rings the bell at the top of the steeple, one of the Twilighters at random will become a pig… He even plans on…feeding us to dragons when everyone has become a pig!"

"What? Whoa, that's TERRIBLE!" Chopper gasped. "Why would this person want to do all of this? Is this some kind of prank? And WHY are some people thinking that I caused this whole thing? I'm getting confused."

"Will my loved ones become swine? Will I, too, become a curly-tailed oinker? I'm very worried, I can't sleep at night." Dour shuddered. "Though night and day are similar here... If this happens...well...the village will be one giant pigpen. Which would be bad. Let me give you advice. Leave us! Leave before you, too, get...piggified!"

"Sorry, Dour, but we can't leave," the pale green boy objected. "I don't care if people take me as the monster! We NEED to get what's somewhere in this place. We can't leave without a star-shaped gem called a Crystal Star!"

"Uh... I don't know about any Crystal Star thing...but in Dark Steeple... There's a glittery red stone shaped like a star..."

"Poyo? (Really? If that's the Crystal Star, then it's DEFINITELY in the Dark Steeple! I can't believe we know where to go now!)" Kirby cheered while jumping up and down.

"Uh... You people... You aren't thinking of going to the Dark Steeple, are you? _Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ..._ Unthinkable..." Dour shivered as he felt the air around him getting cold as he shivered in fear.

"Well we're going there. We need to get that Crystal Star!" Chopper declared. "…Plus, if I defeat that monster, everybody should turn back to normal."

"Hmmmm... Yes, that is true... But going through that forest is dangerous!"

"No worries! I think I've been through worse... I'll be back when we fixed your problem!" Chopper left the house along with his friends and walked to the next area to find some more trees and crows.

"I can't believe we're back here..." Vivian trailed as she looked up at the moon in the sky.

"'Back here'...?" Scrub gawked. "What do you mean by that? We just got here!"

"...I think I worded it wrong. I meant that _I'm_ back here."

"Vivian... Is there something bothering you?" Chopper asked.

"Chopper... This is the place I was born." Vivian confessed, making everyone's eyes widen.

"What?! You were born here? !" Scrub gaped.

"Poyo?! (How is that so?!)" Kirby cried.

"Hey, guys! Shouting while our eyes are widened isn't going to help us!" Chopper shouted, making them stop. "Honestly... It's not a big deal. I live in a jungle. Kirby lives on a star-shaped planet, and Scrub lived in an egg."

"HEY!"

"Well, actually, that's not all..." Vivian trailed. "There's one thing I actually just realized by now once we came here."

All three were listening to her carefully, eager for her answer. "…I actually have a brother. I know what you're thinking. It's not 'The Three Shadow Sirens' if I have a brother. I don't know if he was actually born from my mother. He might be some sort of...creation from my mother and father's DNA..."

Scrub looked at Chopper and Kirby…and then he began to laugh. "Bah ha ha ha ha! Great story, Vivian! What a GREAT joke! …You're serious, right? Because I thought you weren't."

"Uhhhh... I think she is serious." Chopper replied with a blank look.

"...Oh. Well I guess that was unnecessary, wasn't it?"

"Poyo... (It was...)" Kirby groaned.

"Listen, these crows might have something to say," Vivian informed as she floated over to Chopper. "I can help you listen to them if you want me to. Actually, we should try it out!"

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Chopper was cut off when Vivian grabbed his hand and brought him over to a tree with two crows.

"Say, Kirby… What do you think is going to happen?" Scrub asked.

"Poyo! (Well, I have a feeling that they're going to make out!)" Kirby answered. "...Poyo. (…Though they're probably going to listen to the birds.)"

"…I have no idea what you just said."

Vivian pulled Chopper into the shadows and they began to hear voices that sounded like a crow. Unfortunately, Scrub and Kirby couldn't understand them and only heard the word "caw" from them.

"You know, that monster that's causing all of these people to turn into pigs looks quite scary, to tell you the truth…" the first crow trailed. "Those white eyes… MAN, they creep me out, and not to mention the fact that he doesn't smile at all. He seems to always look angry the whole time."

"Really? That's interesting…" the second crow trailed. "I heard he can understand what birds can say! He could even be listening to us now…"

"WHAT? Are you sure? If he's listening to us, then he'll turn us into pigs! I love being a bird and not a pig! I don't want to become bacon, you know! …But I'm sure he's just at the Dark Steeple, doing what he usually does, like watching TV. Not to mention somebody just came here, and now some people are thinking it's him…when he's not the one."

"Yeah, people must be colorblind here. But, I don't think he would be on that television. It doesn't work anymore, remember? Plus, he's not really the television guy. He just wants to turn everybody into pigs instead. You know what I'm saying, right?"

"Yeah…"

Chopper and Vivian rose up from the shadows after listening to the conversation.

"So this monster doesn't smile? Wow… That's interesting." Vivian pondered. "Umm… Chopper, there's also another thing I kind of want to tell you."

Kirby saw them talking, and he heard what Vivian was about to say. "Umm… Chopper… I… …Never mind that. I'll tell you some other time, OK?"

"Ummmmm... OK?" Chopper shrugged.

Kirby looked disappointed, but they all headed into the shop to see a purple lady crying over a pig.

"Oh, a customer… _Sniff_… I'm sorry… We're not open right now. _Sniff_…" the lady sniffled.

"What happened here? Why are you crying?" Chopper asked.

"Huh? Why am I crying? _Sniff_… My husband's been turned into a pig. A pig… _Sniff_… My husband went to the woods yesterday to collect herbs… But no husband came home… Instead, a pig returned! This pig! We got in a fight before he left, and I had called him a chauvinist pig… And now he really is a pig… _Sniff_… But he has a sweet side, too, like cooking my favorite food on my birthday, y'know? And…"

Because of how boring the story was, everyone ended up falling asleep for a while until she turned her attention to them.

"…Yeah. So, ummmmmmm… Are you all even listening?"

Chopper and his friends woke up and quickly nodded. "So, hey… Could you figure out some way to restore my husband to normal? I'll do whatever I can to help. You can even take anything in the storeroom that might help you, y'know?"

They all looked at the door, which appeared to be locked. Since they couldn't do much in the shop, they walked outside to the gate, where a villager was guarding it.

"What the… No! Don't hurt me, please!" the gatekeeper cried, backing away from Chopper in fear. "Look, I can't let you through the gate! You need the mayor's permission to do that, whether you're a monster or not! Sorry, but it's my job to guard this gate! Go ask the mayor for permission, monster!"

"I'm not the monster!" Chopper objected. "I know you're colorblind and all, but why would somebody who JUST came here look like the monster? That makes absolutely no sense!"

"I know! This is ridiculous!" Scrub agreed. "They all think Contadre's a monster! Fine, let's go ask the mayor."

"I think that's for the best," Vivian agreed. However, on their way there, they heard the bell ring once again.

"Whoa! The bell rang, Contadre! Doesn't that mean someone's gonna… Boy… I'm psyched it wasn't my turn to get pigged."

"Poyo... (Who could've... Oh no...)" Kirby gasped as they rushed over to Dour's house and gasped at what they saw.

Mayor Dour was a pig!

"…Oh my gosh... I don't believe it!" Chopper gaped. "…Is this the mayor? Uh oh… If he's a pig, then how are we supposed to get through the gate now?"

"…I don't know. I wish there was some way to get through." Vivian sighed. They heard the bell ring again, so they rushed back to the gate…to find the gatekeeper turned into a pig.

"Poyo! (The gatekeeper's gone now!)" Kirby gaped.

"Yeah, he is gone..." Chopper agreed.

"…Oops! Not gone!" Scrub corrected. "The stubborn dude's a pig! Well, hey, that's actually pretty sweet for us! No pig's gonna get in our way!"

"We've got no other choice, so we need to go through here," Vivian declared. "I can lead you through this place, Chopper. I've been through Twilight Trail many times."

"OK, Vivian... Lead the way." Chopper nodded as Vivian led the group out of town. One thing everyone was relieved about was the fact that the villagers wouldn't be screaming at them for being someone Chopper wasn't.

* * *

**Yeah, I know Chapters 2 and 3 were kind of similar to Paper Mario 2's chapters, but even though Chapter 4 has the same location and stuff, there is something a lot more different here than in Paper Mario 2. You'll find out sooner or later, that's for sure.  
**


	26. Trail to the Steeple

When they left the village, they noticed Twilight Trail had a lot of Hyper Goombas. These Goombas were green with purple feet, and they could raise their attack up by 6. Not only that, but they had to be aware of Hyper Spiky Goombas and Hyper Paragoombas.

Twilight Trail was a little bit calmer than Twilight Town because there were no pigs, and there were no people around to accuse Chopper. It was kind of small, but they could see the trees in the background, which meant there was a forest somewhere along the trail. They also noticed a brown, wooden shed near them as well.

"Wow… Look at this place. It's beautiful, I must admit. But I think I see something in that shed. Let's take a look." Chopper walked into the small shed and when he came out of it, he was holding a Black Key.

"What's that? …Wait, I think I may have seen a key like that before." Vivian realized as she took the key from Chopper and looked at it. "Five months ago! …I saw one in this place called Pirate's Grotto. I don't remember what it unlocks, but I think you get some kind of ability with it."

"Really? No one here has seen me with this key before..." the pale green boy trailed as the Shadow Siren returned the key to Chopper.

Scrub began to shiver. Not because he was cold, but because he was a little scared of this place. "I wish we didn't have to come to such a really creepy place… I hope that monster who's doing all of this isn't freaky either."

"Poyo. (Oh, don't worry! I think everything's going to be just fine. We haven't seen anything REALLY creepy.)" Kirby noticed a dead tree by the pathway ahead covered in grass with a red, scary-looking face. "…Poyo. (…Except for that.)"

Chopper walked over to the tree and he whacked it with his hammer. "Nope, nothing in here!"

Suddenly, a cutter fell on his head and bounced off him and hit the ground. He looked down at it, a little confused, but he ate it and got a yellow cap with eyes and wings that resembled a duck. Also, there was a yellow blade on his head that he could use to cut things.

Well there _was_ some grass in the way of the pathway, so he threw the cutter on his helmet at the grass to cut it, allowing them to move on. He caught the cutter and put it away before continuing on ahead.

They found some Hyper Goombas around the area, but with some quick stomping, fire punching, ground pounding, and cartwheeling, they were able to beat the Hyper Goombas. But there wasn't much in the area except for a brick block that gave a couple of coins.

"Just a couple of coins... Nothing special."

They found a pig in the next area and also a branch that had been knocked down. Actually, it was there for a long time, because nobody even tried to move it before. The bad thing was that there was a key on the other side of the branch.

"Oh, that's just great… We can't get the key now. ...Wait, let me try something!" Chopper threw his cutter at the branch and cut it in half, but it still didn't move, so there was absolutely no point in doing that whatsoever.

"I think we need something to bring the key over here. It's like we need some kind of vacuum to do the trick." Vivian noted. A thought came into Kirby before he used his Inhale to bring the key over. Before he could eat the key, he grabbed it.

"Poyo! (See? Problem solved!)" Kirby smiled. "Poyo. (I think we should go back to Twilight Town and use this on the locked door in the shop. I think it's a GREAT idea to do that anyway!)"

"Good idea, Kirby," Chopper agreed.

* * *

**Twilight Town, inside the shop-**

When they made it back into the shop in Twilight Town, Kirby pulled out the key and used it to unlock the door into a room with a couple of useful items. There happened to be a small, brown chest and also a Black Chest in the center of the room.

"Whoa! We hit the jackpot here! A Jammin' Jelly, a Boo's Sheet, a Life Shroom, and two chests? MAN, we're lucky to be here!" Scrub grinned as he opened the small chest and found a Defend Plus badge.

"A Defend Plus Badge?" Vivian gaped.

"Hey, Contadre! I think this might be helpful! You can take less damage with this thing." Scrub informed as he tossed it over to Chopper and then looked at the Black Chest. "All right! Now let's see what's in here!"

"Wait! Don't!" Before Chopper could do anything, the Black Chest began to wiggle a little, making everybody jump up in fright.

"Hold up! Hey! Who's there? I just heard a voice!" the Black Chest chirped. "There's no way people could be here! It's unlikely!"

"A talking chest? Contadre! Why is there something stuck inside here?!" Scrub gaped. "…But I have NO idea what or who the heck this thing is."

"I've met these chests before," Chopper recalled. "It was...kinda funny."

"What? You've seen a chest like this before?" the Black Chest gasped. "Get outta here! I know what you're going to be saying. 'You're bad like those other chests!' No no no! I'm not like all those other chests, I promise! Look at my eyes. Tell me I'm lying. I'm not, seriously! Just get me out of here! Please don't make me beg!"

"If I get you out of there, you're going to curse me. I saw two of your 'friends, and they did that kind of thing. It's getting really stupid now, so don't even ask me to open it for you. I know it's a trick."

"...What? Come on. You know how ridiculous you sound. I'm practically laughing in here. You think I'm going to curse you when I come out? CURSE you? I did plan on doing something to you, but it's not much of a curse... But it's a new ability that allows you to go to special places... Doesn't that sound nice?"

"Yeah, that does sound nice, but you're just going to go all 'Whee hee hee hee hee hee' and stuff. I mean, it's SO obvious!"

"Come on, just find the key and open the chest, OK? I know it's somewhere around here, but I can't go look for it, because I'm in a chest. So pretty, pretty please?"

"OK, fine…" Chopper sighed as he pulled out the Black Key.

"Oh! Thank goodness! You're going to let me out! Oh, happy day!" the chest began to cheer happily, but once Chopper unlocked the door, the cheering stopped, making the chest cackled.

_**"****WHEE HEE! FOOOOOLS!" **_

The Black Chest opened and the background changed to blue when Chopper was sucked in.

_**"****What were you expecting? Did you think a sweet little girl would pop out? Now I shall give you the mightiest curse of them all! The cursiest curse ever! Fear my terrible power! You will suffer my curse! **__**BE CUUUUUUUURSED!"**_

There were a couple of flashes and Chopper was once again...cursed.

_**"****Whee hee hee hee hee! Now you're cursed, loser! And that's how you'll stay! You won't be able to walk around with this curse! **__**That's how awful it is! Now show me the curse so I can laugh all the more! Press and hold R and rotate the control stick! You will become a tube!"**_

"Sure thing!" Chopper turned sideways and began to spin around and rolled up in a tube. "Well... This is a bit awkward..."

_**"****Whee hee hee hee hee! Your pathetic misery thrills me to the core! Just look at yourself! Oh, I'll bet people are going to be laughing at you! Press B to return to normal! You better not forget that! So long, suckers! Whee hee hee hee hee!"**_

The background crumpled up and it was tossed back into the chest, with Chopper returning back to his friends. Now with this tube ability, they all backtracked back to the tree, where Chopper rolled up in a tube and went under the branch.

His friends were in the tube with him, so they came out of the tube as well. The real problem ahead was a huge bush.

"There are so many bushes around here…" Vivian sighed as Chopper pulled his cutter blade out and threw it at the bush, cutting it down. They saw a green pipe right by them and smiled.

"Good! Now where does that pipe lead?" Scrub looked at the background, where they could see a pipe leading into the woods. When they went into the woods, the ground was purple. Not only that, but there were Crazee Dayzees around too. The trees and grass were a dark color because of how close they were getting to the steeple.

"Poyo! (Whoa! Talk about evil here! Look at this place! …At least there's an opening for us to slip through.)" Kirby mentioned as they turned sideways to go over to the pathway north and began to move to their left. There were other Dayzees around too. There were gray ones that were usually asleep called Lazee Dayzees.

Going to the next area of the woods, they found a golden Dayzee called an Amazee Dayzee running around. This made Chopper jump up a little, knowing that they could give a lot of Star Points.

"Amazee Dayzees! Quick! Catch 'em!" Chopper snuck up behind one and the Dayzee saw him and quickly ran away. Knowing about them, they had exactly 20 HP and 1 Defense. However, the only thing he wanted to watch out for was its Attack Power. It could do 20 damage if it planned on attacking, but it's usually rare. Unfortunately, Chopper wasn't able to catch it.

But they did get something else instead. The Hammer Throw badge was in a red ? box, which was definitely helpful for Chopper, especially when it came to enemies high above.

"I'm sure this should help me," Chopper smirked as he put the badge away. There wasn't much else around the area except a tree. Kirby tried to inhale it, but he ended up tearing a piece of the tree off, revealing a doorway into it…and into the background.

"Poyo! (Interesting! We're finding A LOT here!)" Kirby smiled.

"Yeah, I know. This is really nice!" Chopper agreed.

They went into the next area of the woods through the background to find another path and a round area with nothing around except for a dark spot in the middle. Kirby inhaled the dark spot and a wooden X was revealed, so Chopper used his Spin Jump and went down the hole. In the background, a rock was sitting there, and since he went into the background, he pushed it.

"It's been a while since I got to push something! Very nice!" Chopper smiled as he continued to push the rock.

Vivian noticed the rock near her moving forward, revealing a hole. She then looked over at Chopper, who began to pant a little after that push.

"CHOPPER! COME BACK HERE! A HOLE WAS REVEALED WHEN HE PUSHED THE ROCK!" Vivian yelled. Chopper could hear her and went down the hole in the background to come over to them.

"I don't understand how you could move a rock," Scrub gawked. "It just doesn't make sense, right Contadre?"

"I know it doesn't, but it's logic, right? Let's not worry about it." Chopper jumped into the hole to come out of the other side of the pathway, but he found a Hyper Cleft, which were pretty dangerous when their attack was raised up by 6.

"Uh oh… Not these Clefts! I HATE Clefts! Well, there's only one solution…" Chopper used his Quake Hammer attack and flipped the Hyper Cleft over, allowing Kirby to use his Cartwheel to finish it.

Once they were done, Vivian could feel some dark power near them, which didn't make her feel good in the slightest. "Chopper… We're really close now. I can feel the dark power around here getting bigger."

"Really? Oh, that's not good… We better go find this monster right now and take care of him! Let's move!" Chopper quickly rushed over to the Dark Steeple, with Scrub and Kirby following him.

"Oh… I have a bad feeling about this." Vivian said worriedly as she followed the three through the woods and to the evil steeple.

* * *

**Nothing really special in this chapter, unfortunately. But we'll see two optional bosses next chapter! ...Though we'll probably be fighting one. I think the next part will be MUCH better.**

**Oh, and the Lazee Dayzees are indeed a pun on "lazy". :P  
**


	27. The Evil Dark Steeple

**OK, I promise that this chapter will be a lot better than last chapter. Well, it's just they were only exploring, that's all. I will certainly say that this chapter is darker than the other chapters. Why? Well it's the Dark Steeple! That would explain why, so there ya go. Well, how about we see some optional bosses, huh? That sounds good, doesn't it?**

* * *

The sky around the steeple was now a black color, and so were the trees. In fact, the moon had a dark-looking face on it to show this area as a dark, evil place. The steeple, unlike before, had also turned a black color, and the ground had become very dark.

Once everybody made their walk out of the woods, they looked up at the Dark Steeple. It sure looked creepy to them, with the stain-glass window and the gate blocking the way in. Not to mention there's also a well, but guarding it was a dark ghost. He looked like he had been seen before, in Chopper's eyes, but what remains of him is a scary-looking purple mouth and purple eyes. He happened to notice the four show up as well.

"So this is the Dark Steeple, huh? Wow, it sure looks pretty creepy all right." Chopper commented. "I certainly don't like how it looks anyway. I think it would be better if it was lighter and not all dark."

"It sure has changed ever since that Duplighost left. Too bad there's not much good in here now." Vivian frowned. "It just became the home of someone else, but most likely worse..."

"Uh… Vivian… Do you know anything about your brother?" Chopper asked out of curiosity. "Was he a good person or something? Or was he completely evil?"

"Personally, I really don't know. I remember that he's younger than my sisters, but older than me. I wish I knew more, but I can't. Let's just get the Crystal Star and get out of here. And fast!"

"Good idea!" Scrub walked over to the gate and tried to open it. Sadly, he had no luck in that. "Crud! The door's locked! Who's the jerk who locked the gate anyways?"

Scrub kicked the door in anger, but it didn't seem to work, so he ended up backing away. Kirby, on the other hand, was paying attention to the dark ghost by the well.

"Poyo… (Chopper, look over there. That ghost looks so…creepy…)" Kirby trailed as he looked a little white and stepped back. Scrub tried to be brave, but he ended up stepping away.

"Uhhh... You go over to him." Scrub suggested.

"Uh… Sure, why not?" Chopper shrugged while looking at the ghost, feeling a little nervous while Vivian followed him over to the ghost.. "Why, g-good day to you s-sir…"

_**"****Hey! I remember you…" **_the ghost remarked._** "No, I'm not gonna tell you who I am! But if you're going to go down this well, you need to pay me 80 coins! …Unless you think you can take me on, that is!"**_

"Eh… We don't need to go down that well. I know how to get into the steeple anyway." Chopper turned sideways and then became a tube, with everyone else going into it. They went through the little passage by the gate, ignoring the ghost, who looked eager to fight.

"Awesome! We made it through the gate! Now let's go see what's in this place! I'm not scared!" Scrub grinned as Chopper kicked the door open and found the inside of the place a dark gray color. The upper floor didn't look nice because part of the pathway was kind of destroyed.

Once Vivian got a glimpse at the stain-glass window, she looked shocked. "Chopper! …You may want to look at the window."

"What do you mean?"

"Just look!" she pointed to the stain-glass window, which showed someone who resembled Chopper a bit…but instead he looked darker and had some Hellspawns and Darklings behind him.

"Hey… That…looks like me! But… Why am I up there? That's the question." Chopper gasped before he walked over to the end of the big room and saw a statue with a star on it. He noticed there was a little bit of a hole below too.

"Hmmm…" he pushed the statue and he fell into a hole. Everyone followed him down to help him, but they found out that they went below the steeple into an underground room. A door could be seen to the left, so they walked into there to find a room with torches and also window that showed another room.

"Whoa… These torches are a black color! That's spooky…" Scrub commented. "But this purple chest here is what's making me a little confused. Let's check inside of it!"

"Poyo… (And make sure you be careful too, Chopper…)" Kirby added.

"Don't get worried! Opening a chest won't kill you! Watch!" Chopper assured as he opened the chest. He didn't see anything inside, but many Boos came out of the chest making everyone stand back.

"OHOHOHOHO! HEEHEEHEE! FREEDOM!" the Boos cried as every single one of them flew out. The last one who came out didn't fly away. He looked over at Chopper with a grin.

"A Boo? Hey, maybe they know Bow!" Chopper wondered.

"Bow? Pffffffft! Sorry, but we're not like her and those Boos of her! We do whatever we want!" the Boo snickered. "But, anyway… It's quiz time, interlopers! Just now, when the box opened... How many of us Boos came out? Total!"

Chopper looked at his friends, who shrugged. "Sorry, Contadre, I didn't pay attention.

"Ummm… 200?" the pale green boy shrugged.

"Good… Very good. Take these…math nerd." the Boo dropped an Ultra Shroom, and also a big chest came down in front of him, with the Boo saying, "See you, sucker!" as it flew off, so Chopper took the Ultra Shroom.

"Contadre! Check what's in that chest! It looks like the one in the Great Tree, y'know!" Scrub recalled.

Chopper nodded and walked over to the chest and opened it up…to find some gloves.

**You got the Super Gloves!**

When he looked at his hand, he noticed a flaming glow now appeared. However, he noticed something else: Toadette didn't appear to explain to him about the Super Gloves he just got. It didn't bother him much when he tossed a fireball over to the wall.

"Ooh! I've got my fire power back!" Chopper smiled.

"Poyo! (Whoa! Those gloves! …What's with the flames on them?)" Kirby asked.

"They're gloves that let me use fire now. It's pretty cool!"

"You got fire? It looks like we have something in common now!" Vivian smiled, getting the feeling that Chopper won't be harmed as much by fire. "I think your fire gloves will be very helpful!"

"Let's go back up and test 'em on something!" Scrub suggested

Once they went back up to the surface, or rather, the main room of the steeple, they found a lonely Boo. It appeared to be waiting for them this whole time.

"What's that Boo doing here?" Chopper wondered

"I'm so lonely… Are you four going to be mean to me?" the Boo asked.

"Why would we ever be mean to you?"

"Promise?" the Boo asked again, growing bigger.

"YES! WE PROMISE!" Chopper yelled out.

"Great! OK, boys! Come on out! He said he'll be nice to us, so don't worry!"

A ton of Boos appeared and they began to circle Chopper and his friends. Some of them even began to grab them, which made them all scream and squirm to get themselves free.

"Ack! Get off of me!" Chopper began to spin around with his flaming fists and knocked away a couple of Boos. Vivian even used her Fiery Jinx to light them on fire to keep them away.

And that's when they had it.

"Heee... Hooo... Heee! You said you'd be nice! Let's get 'em, boys!" the Boos all began to combine into a larger Boo known as an Atomic Boo. Nothing much was different about it appearance-wise compared to a normal, Boo, but it was much stronger.

**Tattle: **_That's an Atomic Boo. It's a giant Boo made up of a ton of smaller Boos. Max HP is 40, Attack is 4, Defense is 0. This thing will try to smoosh us. It can also split up and send hundreds of Boos at us. And, when he attacks, we might get so scared that we get confused or can't move. I sure wouldn't want to see this thing standing behind me in the middle of the night... Creeeeeepy..._

"All right, time to test out my fire!" Chopper tossed a fireball at the Atomic Boo and left a burn on it. With Vivian's Shade Fist, it caused the Atomic Boo to have a longer burn on it.

"So two fire attacks can leave a longer lasting burn..." Vivian trailed as the Atomic Boo shrunk in size as a couple of Boos came out and surrounded Chopper and his friends. They covered their faces at first, but when they revealed them, their big mouths revealed their tongues, which was able to take 4 HP out of them all.

"Poyo! (They just touched us with their tongues!)" Kirby gapped.

"Yeah, I know," Chopper agreed.

"I guess this is what Boos tend to do..." Vivian trailed.

"But we're not letting that stop us!" Scrub growled.

"Meh, why not use a Power Bounce?" Chopper ran over to the Atomic Boo and used a Power Bounce and was able to perform seven stomps to deal 8 damage to the ghost.

"Lemme give this big Boo a good ol' butt stomp!" Scrub declared as he fluttered over to the Atomic Boo and landed a Ground Pound on it. Now the Atomic Boo was left with 19 HP left.

"Poyo, (This fight is a lot easier than I thought it would be,)" Kirby remarked.

The Atomic Boo made a couple of Boos attack them again, and this time Scrub got immobilized because of being scared.

"Aw, come on! Not you, Scrub! Oh, fine!" Chopper saw the Boo take some damage from the burn, so he threw another fireball at the Atomic Boo while smirking.

"It's good to have this again!" he said after landing the fire on the big Boo. The good thing was that the attack could target any enemy. It also could do much more damage against some of the ice enemies.

Afterward, Kirby used his Cartwheel to attack the Atomic Boo as, making the giant Boo use a body slam attack, landing on Kirby. Luckily, he guarded the attack so he didn't take as much damage.

"Poyo (Can we just finish this up quickly?)" Kirby asked. Chopper nodded and used his Power Bounce to stomp on the Atomic Boo four times.

"Go ahead, Vivian! You take care of this Boo!" Chopper suggested as Vivian punched the Atomic Boo, which exploded, giving them 20 Star Points. It even dropped a badge called the Lucky Star badge.

"So this badge gives you good luck? Well you should take it, Chopper!" Vivian suggested.

Chopper took it and then they walked to the wooden door to the south. They were outside, walking on the tiles and saw a purple bat called a Swooper fly down to attack. They could suck HP away from them, from what Chopper could remember about them.

After leveling up and upgrading Chopper's HP to 30, they went to the end of the tile pathway, which had a red ! switch. Chopper threw a fireball at it, causing the ground to shake.

"Hey, what do you think that could be? I think it came from the door." Scrub pondered.

Chopper opened the door to see a small room with a stairway being the closest to them. There were three doors, and the one to the south was where the stairway was.

"OK, let's go up those stairs," Chopper went up the stairs and opened the door to be in the upper room of the Dark Steeple. They crossed over a gap with Scrub to get a Steeple Key. From what they could see, they now had to get the stairway to match up with the door on the other side of the main room.

"You know, I think this might take a while," Scrub remarked.

"Well we have to be patient."

* * *

**Five minutes later-**

The staircase was back at the northern part of the room, so they all went there to go to a door that was locked and a Save Block. After hitting the block, they unlocked the door and headed through to find a spiral staircase, as well as a Heart Block.

"I guess this is where the monster must be. Let's go!" Chopper walked up the spiraling staircase to find a spring, and they looked up to see a shining light.

"I guess the top of the Dark Steeple is up here. We better go up there and stop the monster." Vivian declared.

Chopper started by going up the spring, and then everybody else followed as well, hoping to stop the monster responsible for harming the villagers.

* * *

**I think you might all be surprised who this monster is. Wait, boss chapter already? How could that be? ...Well yeah, this is definitely a short chapter, to be honest. But there's only seven parts of this chapter...except a little shorter.**

**Oh yeah, the gloves are something new I put in. Why did I do that? I thought it would be cool. That's really it. But, anyway, boss chapter is next!**


	28. Shadow Chopper: He's Got No Name

When Chopper reached the top room of the Dark Steeple, he found the room wasn't as dark as the others. There was a shower and bathtub with a green curtain, a TV, a lamp, a strange bell and a red rug. Not to mention there was a green rocking chair that looked comfy.

"Hmmmmm... This room doesn't look too bad!" Chopper smiled.

"Hmm? Who are you four?"

They stopped as they saw on the green rocking chair, a black spherical-shaped creature like Chopper made of darkness with two antennas, glowing white eyes, white gloves with black cuffs, golden rings and black shoes (or feet) notice them come into the room.

"What are people like you doing here and how did you get in? This is supposed to be my alone time. Get out. Now." the shadowy monster clenched his fists, with had a light purple glow around them. His angry look was not something to laugh at.

Chopper, on the other hand, was starting to twitch.

"Wait… So, this monster…is actually a shadow of…_**ME?!**_" Chopper gaped. "No! This can't be! How can I have a counterpart? Metal Chopper is already evil enough! Why is there another!"

"What? This guy's the monster? I thought it was something bigger and evil-looking!" Scrub scoffed. "…Wait, this must be why those villagers were mistaking Chopper for him! But seriously? He looks like Chopper but darker? That's not original…"

"I don't know how you got in this steeple and up here, but I'm more than welcome to throw you out of here," the shadowy Chopper noted as he eyed the window, which made Kirby back away.

"Poyo… (Ummm… If you'll excuse me… I think I should get out of here!)" Kirby was about jump down the hole, but the shadow Chopper snapped his fingers and the hole was blocked by some purple star energy.

"No. I don't think so." he got off his chair and walked over to Chopper, who was still twitching. He smacked him in the face with star energy, knocking him back to the wall.

"Chopper!" Vivian gasped as she rushed over to him and looked at the injured Chopper. She looked down at him and noticed a mark on his face from the shadowy Chopper's attack. She looked up at the monster and threw a fireball at him.

"Star Spear!" Shadow Chopper (We'll just call him that for now) swung his arm and a purple spear-like energy came toward the fireball that Vivian shot at him, destroying the fireball.

"Poyo! (Whoa! This guy's good!)" Kirby gaped as Chopper slowly got up and got in his fighting stance.

"OK, what's your deal? YOU were the one that turned everybody into pigs, huh, **faker**?" Chopper asked, clenching his fists that had a fire glow around them.

"_Faker?_ You fool. It's obvious that you're the faker." Shadow Chopper scoffed. "I mean, YOU? Comparing yourself to ME? Look at yourself! I don't think you look good enough to be my counterpart! Not to mention I've been around here much longer than you. I'm about one thousand years old, while you…look like you're ten. Of course, people will believe you're not a faker because EVERYONE believes the good guy."

"And you turned everyone into pigs?" Vivian asked.

"Why yes, that was me. They deserve it for what they've done to me."

"You stink, fake Chopper! Why'd you wanna turn those villagers into pigs anyway?" Scrub growled.

"So you're all curious, aren't you? Fine. I'll tell you my exact reason. Revenge."

"I wanted to get revenge on them for so long…but I guess I might as well explain to you WHY, since you probably have no idea why I would want to get revenge."

* * *

**Shadow Chopper's POV, flashback-**

I used to live in Twilight Town before those villagers showed up. Even then, I still wasn't a happy person because of certain events. After those events, I found Twilight Town and lived there with three, purple ghosts that I was told were my "sisters". They looked nothing like me, so I hardly believed the person who told me that.

Anyway, I relaxed there most of the time there…until those villagers came and chased me off. I had no home, and I wanted to kill them all…or rather, make them suffer for how long I had to suffer.

I was lucky enough to find a steeple, which is this one. I found it a month ago, and I went in there to find some guy in a white sheet…He wasn't satisfied when he saw me arrive, but I threw him out of the steeple and I took it over. It went somewhat like this:

"So, you're the one who owns this place, right?" Shadow Chopper asked.

"Yeah? What're you doing here, Slick?"

"Beat it."

"Wait, what?! This is MY place!"

"It was your place. Now I'm taking it over."

The white sheeted person flew up and tried to attack me, but he was too weak. A Star Kick was all it took to send him flying out the window, and it looked like he ran away, so I decided to live in this place.

A bell was in the same exact room, and when I looked at it and punched it, I saw at the village, somebody turned into a pig. I knew that I could get back at them with it. Not to mention I found a red star-shaped gem that allowed me to curse them all and prevent them from escaping - for the exception of one person...

* * *

**Normal POV, end of flashback-**

Shadow Chopper showed his golden rings. "You know what happened to me? How I was born? I was a creation gone wrong. I was meant to be a test for some Ultimate Life Form, which means I AM a prototype…but my power was too much. These rings keep me from using that ultimate power. If I were to take them off…I could possibly die. But who cares about that? Those villagers are pigs, and that's how they'll stay."

"What? Isn't there a BETTER way to solve your problems instead of turn everyone into pigs?" Chopper guffawed. "The villagers are so poor, and you're making them all miserable! That's so selfish of you to do something like that! Not only will we get that Crystal Star from you, but we're gonna make sure you get what you deserve!"

"Crystal Star? …I heard about those." Shadow Chopper pondered. "They can give you a lot of power if you have all twenty of them. If you have more, then I suppose I should take them from you. Perhaps that's why you've come here, Chopper. That is your name, is it not?"

"His story… He said something about three sisters… Could he…" Vivian gasped. "No. There's no possibility he's actually my brother. He looks NOTHING like my sisters and I. I don't like seeing him… But he's responsible for the Twilighters becoming pigs, so we need to beat him and get the Crystal Star."

"Yeah, exactly," Chopper agreed.

"Enough now! Stop talking to your girlfriend and let us fight! Our fight will prove who's the tougher one."

"Augh! Why does everyone call her my girlfriend? That's it! You're going down!" Chopper declared as Shadow Chopper crossed his arms.

"You are foolish to face me, you know. I won't go easy on you like most people. You've been warned."

**Tattle: **_…Huh? Wow, this is SO weird and scary! This…fake Chopper, which I'll call him, isn't even in here. Well, I see something that looks just like him in here… But he's got no name! But he's more fake than real to me. Max HP is 50, Attack is 5, Defense is 0. He can use some kind of star power. I don't know if many people have such an ability! Fake Chopper will also use some kind of other powers too, and they can do A LOT! I think he can also heal his HP too, so watch out. I can't believe he did all of this to make the villagers suffer! I mean, look at his angry face! What a jerk!_

"All right… If he's got his star power with him, I'll use my power then!" Chopper swung his arm and threw a fireball toward Shadow Chopper, which left a nice burn on him. Vivian punched him with her fists too to make the burn last longer. Shadow Chopper swung his arm and fired a Star Spear toward Chopper, which knocked him back to the wall. Like before, his Star powers hurt him big time, especially when he took 5 damage.

"Now, you were saying _I_ was the faker? I'm actually dealing as much more damage than you are…" Shadow Chopper scoffed as he felt the burn hurt him. This gave Chopper his chance to make an attack.

"Hi-YAAA!" Chopper's fists were surrounded by flames as he spun around, hitting Shadow Chopper with them, which knocked him to the ground. This allowed Scrub to make an attack.

"All right! Now's my chance to strike! I hope your fire attack doesn't do anything to me, Contadre…" Scrub trailed. Chopper told him not to worry and he walked over to Shadow Chopper and used his Ground Pound on him. Scrub began to chuckle…until Shadow Chopper used his Star Punch to knock him away. Chopper looked shocked when he saw the baby Yoshi hit the wall with a bruised nose.

"SCRUB!" Chopper turned around to Shadow Chopper and boy, did he look angry. He clenched his flaming fists and glared angrily at him.

"Your little friend can't put up much to defend himself. How pathetic." Shadow Chopper scoffed as he gave Chopper a signal to come and attack.

"Oh, you're going down..."

Chopper charged and was about to punch him, but then Shadow Chopper blocked his punch with his fists. But luckily, he shot a fireball at him to leave him open, so now it was Kirby's chance to make a move.

"Poyo! (I think I should test out my Stone attack! That should do a lot of damage!)" Kirby began to float up by taking in some air and came down on Shadow Chopper as a stone. He did about 6 damage, which was much more than Shadow Chopper's attacks.

"Fine. If you're going to play hard, then I might as well play hard myself! I'll show you how you REALLY use a Crystal Star!" Shadow Chopper held up the Crystal Star, which began to glow, making Chopper, Vivian, Scrub, and Kirby frozen in time.

"Oh, yes… That should do it. Thankfully, I can use this Crystal Star's powers to make my ability to stop time much stronger! And now you're going to see how powerful my attacks are…" Shadow Chopper began to make a quick attack on all four, and they all took 7 damage once he snapped his finger.

He made time flow back to normal, and Chopper and his friends saw how much damage they took.

"Oh, boy… We're not looking so good right now. We need to recover!" Chopper decided to use his Power Bounce on Shadow Chopper and was able to stomp on him six times. Vivian decided to take out a Super Mushroom and give it to Chopper to eat, making him recover 10 HP. Apparently, Shadow Chopper wasn't the only one to plan this. He used Star Heal to recover 10 HP as well.

"He can recover his HP as well? That's not good…" Vivian trailed. "Well Goombella's Tattle said he could heal, but I wasn't suspecting him to do it now."

Scrub began to wipe the blood off his nose and pounded on the fake Chopper with a Ground Pound to get back at him. "That's for punching me in the nose, faker!" Scrub yelled after knocking him back with one last kick.

"OK, Chopper! Take him down, and fast!" Chopper nodded to Scrub and tossed a fireball at Shadow Chopper, leaving him with 15 HP.

"Hmph! Not bad… Not bad at all…" Shadow Chopper trailed. "You seem to be putting up a good fight. I didn't expect you to not stand up to my attacks so easily. …But I still have one trick up my sleeves! This is something only one the prototype of the Ultimate Life Form has!"

Shadow Chopper's eyes became red and he looked at Chopper. Suddenly, purple smoke appeared around him and then another Chopper was standing there. Chopper not only looked shocked, but he was confused as well.

"What the… Now he came look like me too?" Chopper gaped before he gripped his hammer. "C'mon! You're basically a recolored version of me! …But you're darker and eviler."

"Yes. I have shape-shifting powers. Now you'll be fighting yourself from now on. And let's see how you manage to stand up to your OWN attacks!"

Fake Chopper (since he turned into Chopper) walked over to Chopper and stomped on him. He was able to guard the attack and take 4 damage instead of 5…and THEN he hurled a fireball at his fake. Vivian decided to leave a longer burn on Fake Chopper, so she punched him with her fiery fists, leaving him with 6 HP.

This time Fake Chopper hurled a fireball of his own at Kirby, leaving a burn on him and also making him take 5 damage. Well, Fake Chopper got hurt too by it, so he only had 5 HP left.

"All right, this is it!" Chopper's feet were surrounded by flames and then he ran over to Fake Chopper and stomped on him with them.

"Whoa… When did I learn that? …Wait! It must be the Super Gloves I got! They gave me this fire power!"

Fake Chopper was turned back into himself as he coughed. "…What? You…beat me already? But…how?"

"Because you were a little overconfident," Chopper smirked as Shadow Chopper was left dazed while Chopper got 24 Star Points.

But, once Shadow Chopper fell over on the ground, his grunts didn't sound as dark as before. They sounded more...childish. Not only that, but Chopper's happy look changed to an angry look. Something's not right here...

When Shadow Chopper dropped the Crystal Star, Chopper walked over to it and let it circle around him. Everyone was left silent as he held the Crystal Star up.

**You got a Crystal Star!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_Chopper defeated his "shadow" self in the Dark Steeple, and found the fourth Crystal Star. The people in Twilight Town got cured from the curse. This Crystal Star did not seem to be a problem though... Leaving the Dark Steeple, Chopper sets out to find the other Crystal Stars._

However, Scrub looked a little disappointed right now. "That's IT? That's all you got? Man, this guy was a piece of cake! And for someone who calls himself the 'Ultimate Life Form!' This is TOO easy!"

"Poyo? (I thought he was a prototype?)" Kirby gawked.

"Enough now, _stupid little Yoshi and pink puffball_…" Chopper grumbled. "We already have the Crystal Star. We should get out of here."

"Hmm? Chopper… Your voice sounds kind of different. A little deeper than before…" Vivian trailed.

"My voice? Oh, the Crystal Star just made my voice, well, you know. It's their powers that made me this anyway."

"I never knew the Ruby Star had this kind of effect..."

"Poyo, (Well if that's the case, then I think we should just go,)" Kirby suggested. "Poyo! (Man, I don't know what's up with you, but something's not right. The fight wasn't so bad, and it's like we just won so easily!)"

"We should just get out of here for right now. It's best if we did that." Chopper suggested as he jumped down the hole, making everyone else look confused. But they jumped down anyway, leaving Shadow Chopper on the ground for now.

"G-Guys... Where are you going...?" Shadow Chopper moaned as he slightly opened his eyes to see Chopper, Vivian, Scrub and Kirby leaving.


	29. Finding the Monster's Name

Shadow Chopper slowly got up and moaned after a few minutes. He rubbed his head, feeling the pain that was delivered there, but he happened to notice his arms were black instead of pale green.

"Huh? What's this? Why am I suddenly all dark?" Shadow Chopper walked over to the mirror, and when he saw himself, he freaked out. "NOOOO! I'm… I'm… That faker? I mean, seriously! Why did I become THIS?! I… I look so terrible!"

Shadow Chopper checked out the window and noticed "Chopper" and his friends were back in the village. It seemed like the villagers were congratulating him for "defeating" him.

"Well done, Chopper!" Dour congratulated, while the rest of the villagers did the same thing.

"We were wrong to judge you!"

"We're safe from being pigified now!"

"Can I have your autograph?"

"People are giving him credit when I was the one who saved them. This just isn't right at all. Man, I wish I could do something to help, but I got nothing, unfortunately." Shadow Chopper frowned until something hit him. "Hold the phone! I'll just tell my friends it's really me! My voice will get their attention! Especially Vivian!"

Shadow Chopper was about to use his speed to go down the stairs below him, but he ended up toppling down the hole and down the stairs. Once he got back up, he hit the Heart Block, looking confused.

"What the… How come I can't run fast? This is so weird!" Shadow Chopper began to slide his feet toward the door, and he saw some kind of yellow and white fire-like energy below his shoes.

He walked out of the room and jumped down onto the ground, but his dark shoes were actually making him hover over the ground. "Weird… Is this what Shadow Chopper can do? That's strange… I don't like going fast by skating or something. Yeah, that's another thing I'm wondering... How can he move fast like me? Gah…"

Shadow Chopper kicked the door open and proceeded out of the Dark Steeple. Hopefully he could tell his friends that "Chopper" was not really him. He ignored the ghost by the well and walked through the woods. Alone.

* * *

**Twilight Town-**

"OK, boys! We're going to get Chopper this time! Oh, yes! This time, we'll get that map from him and also blow him up!"

Back in Twilight Town, the Shadow Brothers were preparing for their next attack on Chopper. Mysterious was about to take out the grenade called the Superbombomb out, but he noticed he didn't have it.

"Hmm? Where's the Superbombomb that I had? Oh, yes! Now I remember! I gave it to you, Shadower! Now give it to me so we can destroy Chopper and take the map!"

"What? What are you talking about?" Shadower asked.

"…Oh don't tell me. You lost the Superbombomb, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about? I never had that bomb. You said it was too important for me to hold onto, so you should have it, right? I think you dropped it somewhere, or maybe you left it somewhere else? …Or maybe you were just holding it .5 seconds ago."

Mysterious checked his uh…"pockets" for the grenade, but he found nothing. "…DANG IT! …You liar! You ALWAYS have to make excuses such as 'Mysterious! I don't have it! You said that I would lose it, so you took it!' Or… 'I went to the bathroom and I gave it to you, so you lost it!' Well I'm not going to fall for anything else from you again!"

"But you were the one who had the sketch of Chopper," Shadower protested. "And I know you had the Superbombomb with you. Don't you remember? I remember the most out of you guys. Purple wouldn't say anything, and you just like him more for no reason! And no, I'm not making any stories up!"

"Bah! I know you're just making up another story! That's what you always do! …Sucks that we can't do much without it. Oh, fine then. I got a better idea…for Purple and I, that is!" Mysterious grinned. "Shadower! Since you dropped it somewhere around here, YOU will go look for it!"

"…What? That's just stupid! Making me do all the work…" Shadower gawked before he stopped for a second. "Hold on a minute. What are you and Purple gonna do while I do all of this work?"

"Well… While you go and look for that Superbombomb, Purple and I are just going to take a nice siesta. I'm sure you don't know what that word means, but who cares. We're gonna take a good ol' nap! You got an hour to find that grenade, you hear me? ONE HOUR! Now let's beat it, Purple."

Mysterious left by sinking into the shadows and Purple muttered as he went into the shadows to follow. Shadower was left angry as he punched the tree.

"Dang you, Mysterious! I hate you so…" Shadower closed his eyes as he rested his arm on the tree. "Why must I get all the blame? I didn't do anything wrong..."

* * *

**Twilight Trail-**

Shadow Chopper was running away from a couple of Hyper Goombas while was hurling fireballs at them. Thankfully, he still had his ability to use fireballs, his Spin Jump and his Super Hammer. Without them

"MAN! That was intense going through those woods! Going through all alone was so painful, especially with those Crazee Dayzees and Lazee Dayzees!" Shadow Chopper saw the wooden shed near him and sighed in relief. "Oh, THANK YOU! So…much…backtracking! Too…MUCH! All right, I'm gonna head on into Twilight Town and try to help my friends before they're in risk of becoming in danger!"

However, he was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Well well well… Look who decides to show up?"

Shadow Chopper looked up at the sky and saw "Chopper" tear through the sky, leaving a hole in the background and then landing down on the dirt ground. Shadow Chopper was left gaping at "Chopper".

"So, you thought you could come back to town and convince everyone that you're really Chopper?" "Chopper" asked. "Well from the looks of it, nobody will believe you. Face it. Nobody cares about you anymore. You're just a mere shadow just like I was for many years. Now you know how it feels for YOU to be me!"

"You! Give me back my name and body NOW!" demanded Shadow Chopper. "Trying to ruin someone's life is just wrong, and that's what you're doing to me! Do you LIKE to ruin people and make them suffer?"

"Did you just say 'like'? There's no such thing as 'like' to me." "Chopper" scoffed. "All there is for me is 'hate, darkness, and destruction.' That's what my mind thinks about. While you? I'm sure it's mostly 'happiness, love, fighting, eating, jumping, and running.' And this 'love' is what all of the people back at the village are giving me. I get mobbed there, and being around all those people sickens me. Did you see how happy they looked?"

"Well I'm sure they're happy. While me? I'm not! Not even I can smile!"

"Yes, that's something my body is incapable of. I once had the ability to feel emotions, but now the only emotion inside me is hatred. Apparently my hatred hasn't left me. I was hoping this body would help me, but it doesn't seem like it. Oh well... This body is a little more comfortable than mine."

"How did you even get me into this body?" Shadow Chopper asked.

"Well, you see... I have the ability to change into any shape I want, as well as using a unique kind of power called 'Star' power. No one else in the universe has such a power like mine. However, with my shape-shifting abilities aside, the Crystal Star gave me one ability... I could use it to claim a person's name and body. Once you defeated me, I secretly used the Crystal Star's power to claim your name and body, while you became stuck in mine."

"Hmmmm... So there's more to you than I thought."

"Well that's not it," "Chopper" noted. "You see, not only do I get your name and body, but you are left without a name. And when the time comes, you'll be erased for good!"

"_Erased?!_ But I can't just let myself get erased from this world! I have a universe to save and Crystal Stars to collect!"

"Hmph... I COULD just let you get erased now, but I feel like that's way too easy... Fine, I suppose I'll give you a chance."

"A chance? What do you want me to do?" Shadow Chopper asked.

"I want you to guess my name," "Chopper" declared. "If you somehow manage to guess my name correctly, then perhaps I'll give you back your name and body. But I honestly doubt that will happen. Nobody around here knows my name, so your chances of guessing correctly are pretty low."

"Guess your name? …Fine, I'll do it. After that, we're going to settle this once and for all!"

"All right, then! Guess my name! If you're wrong, then we're just going to settle this, OK?"

"Fine… Let me think." Shadow Chopper began to ponder, but there was something strange. There was no lowercase P. Since he didn't know his name, he said something random. "…You're name is French Toast!"

"French Toast? WHY would somebody name their creation THAT?" "Chopper" gawked. "_…Idiot._ Well there's not much else to do except for crushing you. And just so you know, running away won't help you!"

"OK!" Shadow Chopper hurled a fireball at "Chopper", but it didn't do any damage to him! "…What? My attacks don't do anything?"

"Well that's nice for me," "Chopper" stomped on Shadow Chopper, but it didn't do anything either. "My attacks don't do anything either? !"

Shadow Chopper knew he had to run, so he used his dark shoes to flee from the fight, leaving "Chopper" to mutter the words "chicken" at him.

Once he made it into Twilight Town, he saw everybody was back to normal. Well, for them at least. As for him, no. He saw nobody around, so he walked to the other area of the town to see Shadower right by the tree, silent.

"Uh oh… One of the Shadow Brothers is here? This can't be good…" Shadow Chopper gulped before he heard voices coming from Dour's house, so he walked in to see "Chopper" and his partners in there.

"Thank you so much for what you've done, Chopper," Dour congratulated. "You've saved this town from that evil monster! You did such a good thing!"

Upon hearing the word "monster", Shadow Chopper was left a little saddened. People would consider _him_ to be a monster now.

"I can't believe that Shadow Chopper wasn't destroyed. At least he's no threat for." Vivian sighed. Scrub had a bandage around his nose now after having his nose bleed. He happened to notice Shadow Chopper standing by the door.

"Guys! That faker's back!" Scrub shouted, making Shadow Chopper jump up in fright and quickly shake his head.

"What? No! It's me! Ch..." Shadow Chopper tried to say his name, but he was unable to spew out his name.

"Poyo? (What was he trying to say?)" Kirby gawked.

"Well it doesn't matter! He's here!" Scrub growled. "I'm going to make him pay for making my nose bleed!"

"We shouldn't have to worry what he said," "Chopper" assured, giving Shadow Chopper a glare. "After all, he turned the villagers into pigs... I think we should go with round two on him!"

"Don't listen to that fraud! He's not really me!" Shadow Chopper cried.

"Shut it, faker!" Scrub snapped. "We're not going to believe you!"

"All right, guys! Let's take him down" "Chopper" ordered as everyone except for Dour attacked Shadow Chopper with a hammer, stomp, flaming punch, ground pound, and a cartwheel that threw him out of the house.

Once Shadow Chopper got up, his bright, white eyes looked much duller and now he was a bit low on HP from the beating. He also felt a little hurt emotionally.

"I don't believe it… They don't believe me. That faker's right. Nobody cares about me at all. I guess I'm just going to be like him from now on…" Shadow Chopper closed his eyes as a tear came down his face. Even if he was trapped in a body that was meant to only have hatred, his own emotions didn't seem to leave him.

But before he could brood over that (kidding…), he heard some rustling going on from the bushes. He saw Shadower searching the bushes for the Superbombomb.

"I can't believe Mysterious made me do this. This is bull!" Shadower growled as he smacked at one of the bushes. Shadow Chopper blinked before rubbing the tears off him.

_"Wow… He doesn't seem to be so happy. I think I should go over there to make him feel a bit better..." _Shadow Chopper thought as he walked over to Shadower. "What's wrong? Why are you so angry?"

"Oh, you wouldn't care what I'm doing," the young Shadow Brother sighed. "…But if you're really curious, I'm looking for something very important."

"You mean this?" Shadow Chopper found a grenade from behind one of the bushes, which made Shadower jump up in surprise.

"That… That's it! That's the Superbombomb! Now my bro's not going to punish me!" he took the grenade from Shadow Chopper and noticed it was broken. "_**NO! **_It's… It's broken! Oh, man... This is BAD! Now my bro's going to punish me for sure!"

"Hey! Don't feel bad! It's just a bomb! No big deal…"

"Yeah… You're right. You don't seem too bad after all. In fact, I feel a little better." he grabbed the Superbombomb and threw it into a bush, which luckily didn't explode. "Forget this stupid thing!"

After he did that, he turned back to Shadow Chopper. "So then… What's your name? You gonna tell me or what?"

"Ummm…" Shadow Chopper trailed.

"Hmm? What's that? I couldn't hear you."

"My name was stolen… Plus, I'm not able to say my name..."

"Your name was stolen? Ummm… OK. So it was stolen. Yeah, I suppose things like that happen every two secon… Huh-WHAAAAAAAAT?!" Shadower gaped. "Your NAME was stolen? That's outrageous!"

"I know! I'll tell you what happened." Shadow Chopper began to explain the whole story to Shadower about the events in Twilight Town. He knew for a fact that Shadower was highly interested in it.

"Holy… GEEZ! You got some serious problems!" Shadower realized. "Your friends actually beat you up and threw you out? Well I can definitely see how you look right now. I feel pretty bad for you... You seem really nice despite looking like you're something evil. But I swear your voice sounds kinda familiar..."

"_Gulp!_"

"Nah, probably not. I'm going to help you, either you like it or not! You helped me find that Superbombomb, so I'm going to help you get your friends and your name and body back! That's how it goes! …But MAN, you look terrible! I gotta do something about it! ...Oh! Here!"

Shadower zapped Shadow Chopper with some shadow energy and was now fully healed, with his eyes turning back to a bright white color.

"What was that you just gave me?" Shadow Chopper gaped. "I feel much better now!"

"I thought it would be a good idea to heal you. You didn't deserve that… And being alone isn't right either. So, how's about we get going?"

**Shadower has joined your party! Press X to have Shadower turn Chopper invisible to go through walls or floors that are light gray! You can move a little, but only for a short time. In battle, Shadower can lower enemy's defense with his Shadow Punch… Or he can make Chopper or himself invisible to avoid an attack!**

"All right! …Now we need to find a way to get your name and body back. You got any suggestions?" Shadower asked.

"Hmmm... I don't know... I think we should..." Shadow Chopper paused for a minute and remembered the time when he went into the shadows with Vivian near some crows. "I think I can understand what the crows are saying around here. From what I can recall, this body is sure to be able to understand what crows can say."

"Good! Let's go check them first!"

They went to the crows by the gate, but since the crows happened to notice them, they couldn't get them to talk.

"They're not talking..." Shadower trailed.

"We might have to disappear," Shadow Chopper pondered. "You can turn us invisible, right?"

"Sure thing!" Shadower made Shadow Chopper invisible, while he became transparent as well. It reminded him of when Bow used to make him invisible two years ago, especially in Bubba Blubba's Castle.

"So, that kid meeting with the mayor, he's actually the bad guy, right?" the first crow wondered. "And nobody even knows. Humans can be so stupid sometimes, it makes me want to peck them right in the nose or in the brain."

"The only soul that knows the bad guy's name is locked under Dark Steeple, I hear," the second crow recalled. "If no one knows his name, he's unstoppable. Nobody, and I repeat! NOBODY can stop him…but then if his name isn't discovered, he and the person he stole his body from can't hurt each other…"

"Well if somebody DID say his real name, then it's most likely that his magic will be destroyed."

"Hmmm… I wonder how this is going to end up. That poor kid isn't even cared about now. I feel so bad for him…"

"Hey, did you hear that?" Shadower asked, turning themselves visible. "If we go searching under Dark Steeple, then we can find out that bad guy's real name! So… We better head off there!"

Once they headed outside of Twilight Town, Shadow Chopper was welcomed by another voice, and "Chopper" jumped out of the background again, making a hole and landing on the ground.

"So… That's the one who stole your name, huh? Man, he DOES look familiar, you know." Shadower recalled as Shadow Chopper gulped.

"I've been waiting for you… You're not going to be going anywhere this time." "Chopper" informed. "And what's this? You got a friend to help you? Pathetic! I'll give you another chance to guess my name I suppose, so go ahead and give me it!"

"Ummm…" Shadow Chopper ran away and headed away from the town. Shadower followed him as well, knowing that they wouldn't be able to do anything.

"So you run away like cowards. Hmph! What chickens…"

* * *

**Near the Dark Steeple-**

"Get off of me!" Shadow Chopper threw a Lazee Dayzee to the ground and shot a fireball at it, making it run away because it was on fire. He began to pant a little bit. The Lazee Dayzee ended up falling asleep after the flames on it were gone. Shadower used his Shadow Punch to punch a Crazee Dayzee away, making a shadowy fist fire at the Dayzee, sending it flying away.

"Phew! We sure took care of them! And we even made it to the Dark Steeple!" Shadower sighed as they reached the gate to Dark Steeple. "Man, this place looks creepy... But maybe it's a good thing you're in that person's body, since anybody around here will know you're the one who lives here, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Shadow Chopper nodded. "But man, those Dayzees remind me so much of those Dayzeeflower Girls I met back at the Mushroom Kingdom. They all kind of like me now… No, not in that way, I mean friendly kind…"

"You met those people? Uh… I never heard of them. What's important right now is that we go to that well and search for that bad guy's name." Shadower noticed two Phis were running away from the well, from the ghost Shadow Chopper previously saw.

"Run away!"

"We can't do it!"

Shadow Chopper and Shadower saw the ghost by the well smirking while the Phis flew away. Before going to the well, they hit the Heart Block and Save Block first just in case and then walked over to the well, only to have the dark ghost block their way.

_**"****Where do you think you're going now?" **_the ghost asked._** "Ha ha ha! No no no no! You can't go down this well, you know! You know why? It's mine! …But still, do you even remember me? I was freakin' awesome when we fought! …This is what's left of me."**_

"Who's this guy?" Shadower wondered, despite being ignored.

"Nope, I still don't know who you are," Shadow Chopper replied. "And how do you know who I am anyway? You shouldn't even KNOW who I am anyway!"

_**"****Oh, so you wanna fight me instead of paying 80 coins?! OK! You asked for it!" **_the ghost growled._** "And don't think this is going to be such an easy fight! I can do A LOT of damage to you guys! I'll even show you!"**_

**Tattle: **_Whoa, who's this weird ghost guy? He's creeping me out a little! Max HP is 50, Attack is 10, Defense is 0. …WHOA! That attack is so HIGH! He's got some other attack that can deal 12 damage too! Maybe it was better to pay the coins instead of fighting this guy. He's REALLY tough… But I'm sure you can take him on. It shouldn't be a problem! ...Right?_

"Whoa… That's kind of tough. I think I gotta use some Power Bounces on this guy! …It's the only way that we'll both be alive." Shadow Chopper started off with his Power Bounce and he stopped after seven times.

"OK, that's good! You dealt 8 damage to him! Now let me just make my attack!" Shadower made a punch away from the dark ghost and a shadowy fist came at him, lowering his defense - even though he didn't have any defense. But, it still did 4 damage.

_**"****All right, punks! Time for the punch!" **_the dark ghost punched Shadow Chopper back off the stage, but he was able to come back on, using a Boo's Sheet to protect himself.

"Good idea! I'll still be able to make an attack!" Shadower made another Shadow Punch on the dark ghost, while Shadow Chopper was left unharmed when the dark ghost tried to attack. He laid a Power Bounce on him afterward and then his last stomp was a kick in the face. He did a flip after that, landing a Stylish move.

"That was pretty stylish! I'm going to try one!" Shadower attacked the dark ghost with his Shadow Punch, and after that, the ghost was left with only 20 HP. He was angry, so he tried to attack, but the Boo's Sheet prevented Shadow Chopper from getting hit.

"Whoops! You missed!" Shadow Chopper said as he landed another Power Bounce on him, but then he realized that his Boo's Sheet was gone. He did five stomps and allowed Shadower to attack next.

_**"****Do you even KNOW who I am? Y'know, that annoying guy with the motorcycle? BOB? I'm still here, and I'm gonna be awesome! Take this!" **_

Bob managed to punch Shadower to take 10 out of him. This left the Shadow Brother with only 5 HP, which left him in grave danger.

"Oooog… I don't know if I can take another hit…" Shadower moaned.

"Wait a second… This guy is Bob? I thought he was dead!" Shadow Chopper gaped. Nonetheless, he hurled a fireball at Bob to leave a good burn on him, and then Shadower made his attack.

_**"****Oh crud… Only 2 HP left?! That's bull! Oh, whatever!" **_Bob charged at Shadow Chopper, but he was able to Superguard the attack and make him take damage. AND… Because of the burn, he took damage and ended up getting defeated.

"Well... That was a little anti-climactic for this fight..." Shadow Chopper trailed. But the good news was that he leveled up after receiving his Star Points. He went with upgrading his FP to 30, so he now had 30 HP, 30 FP, and 15 BP.

_**"Arrrrrgh! You... You'll regret doing that!" **_Bob yelled until he faded away.

"Well looks like he's no longer guarding the well, and not to mention he got defeated so easily. Kinda strange... But, oh well!"

"Ummmmm... What was that supposed to be?" Shadower gawked.

"Oh, it's just a bad pun I made," Shadow Chopper explained. "A lot of people get angry over them. ...Well, in my REAL body, of course."

"Well, I will admit that was pretty terrible. Anyway, we're not here to talk about puns. We need to get into that well!"

Once they went in the well, they landed on the spring at the bottom to help them from getting any injuries. They found a Buzzy Beetle try to attack them by charging at them while they were in their shells. Unfortunately, fireballs didn't seem to work against them, so they moved on to find more Buzzy Beetles. There were even Spike Tops as well, so after a while, they beat them and got a Tornado Jump badge.

"There were A LOT here! At least we took care of them!" Shadower sighed. "Let's check out that gravestone blocking the pathway ahead."

Shadow Chopper pushed the gravestone that was in their way up, but once he stopped, it began to slowly move toward them. He gulped, "Uh oh…!" But luckily, Shadower managed to make them invisible so the stone would go phase through them.

"Oh... Well that works." Shadow Chopper sighed.

They walked into the door near them and found a Shine Sprite and Save Block, so they got both and Shadow Chopper rolled up in a tube when he saw the small little pathway that they went through to find a wooden X in a small room.

"Oh! Interesting!" Shadow Chopper used his Spin Jump and smashed through the ground, falling down the hole and into the room that he remembered seeing before. However, this time, he was in the hallway behind the windows that he couldn't access before.

"So THIS is how you get to this part of the room…" Shadow Chopper trailed as he became a tube again when he saw a small little path again to the left, where they found a small room with four chests and a green parrot.

"There's some treasure here! Let's see what we got here!" Shadower suggested as Shadow Chopper found a Power Plus badge, a Mr. Softener, a Steeple Key, and by a light bulb, a lowercase P.

"Wait, what's a lowercase P doing in here?" Shadow Chopper gawked. "Wait… I think when that faker told me to guess his name, there was no lowercase P! So, from what I believe, his name must have the letter P in there! However... We don't even know his name..."

"Let's hear what the bird has to say! …But we gotta make sure he can't see us." Shadower noted as he made themselves invisible. The green parrot looked around, wondering where they went.

"Skrawk? What happened to those two weird shadows that were just here? One of them looked familiar to me…" the parrot trailed. "It was almost nice to have some company... I haven't had company for a long time. I mean, no matter how important it is that no one knows his real name... Locking me up in here just because I know it... And making me guard the name's stupid letter... No way for someone who took over this steeple to treat a parrot such as myself! And I'm so hungry! I REALLY want a cracker... **Tipral**, you're a small meanie! When's my feeding time, huh?"

Shadow Chopper and Shadower appeared, which made the parrot yelp out. "Skra-WAAAAAAAAAARK? Uh... Pretty bird! Pretty bird! Chirp, chirp! Uh... Do you have my crackers, Tipral?"

"Uh huh…" Shadow Chopper slowly nodded as he unlocked the door right by him and were back in the hallway with the big chest.

"Well well well! We sure heard you, bird!" Shadower grinned. "So his name's Tipral, huh? Now that we got his name, we can go get your name and body back!"

* * *

**Twilight Trail, near Twilight Town-**

"He should be here any second now..." Shadow Chopper trailed as they made their way over to the small shed.

"So you show up at long last?" "Chopper" asked as he ripped through the background and landed in front of them. Both Shadow Chopper and Shadower got in their fighting stances, but they seemed more confident now.

"Hmmmm? What's this? You look rather confident. I can see it in your eyes..."

"Well, it's just a little something I found out recently..." Shadow Chopper explained.

"Oh, really? Well, you know... I'm getting a little tired of this stupid game." "Chopper" noted. "So, I think I'm planning on having you erased right about now."

"Hold on a minute!" Shadower cut in. "You still didn't let us guess your name!"

"Hmmmm... Yes, I didn't. Fine then. Go ahead and give me my name, No-Name! And believe me... NO ONE knows what my name is."

"Oh, really?" Shadow Chopper said with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe you should think again on where you should hide your secret, _Tipral_!"

At that moment, Tipral's eyes flashed white. "Wha… What did you just say?! Tipral?! No… This…can't be…"

Tipral shut his eyes tightly as he covered his antennas. "No… This… Impossible! How in the world did you…"

_"So what should we name this…creation?"_

_"We'll call him…__**Tipral**__. Yes… Tipral will do."_

"_**NO!**_" Tipral opened his eyes as if he felt a barrier within him shatter and quickly ran past Shadow Chopper and Shadower to the Dark Steeple. From what they knew, he couldn't take it anymore.

"Well, looks like it's our turn to get him!" Shadower smirked. "…He seemed really shocked though. But we gotta do what we need to do, so let's go follow him to the Dark Steeple!"

"Good idea!" Shadow Chopper nodded and the two began to go to the Dark Steeple to have their final face-off against Tipral.

* * *

**Yeah, I know the optional boss was kind of short, but I know for a fact the next chapter won't have a short fight! The funny thing is, I always pronounced his name as "Type-roll", but it sounds more like "Tip-roll" to some of you guys. It's...one of those names I thought out of nowhere five years ago, and it just stuck with me. :P**

**Anyway, the REAL boss chapter starts tomorrow!**


	30. Tipral: Fight for the Name and Body

After about another five minutes of backtracking, Chopper and Shadower made it to the top of Dark Steeple. They were exhausted from the long walk, and they were lucky to hit the Heart Block below the room. Right now, they could see the moon becoming a darker color. From what Shadow Chopper knew, just because everyone in the village was back to normal didn't mean it was all over.

"Ugh, you are one persistent little boy, coming all the way back up here just to catch me," Tipral groaned as Shadow Chopper and Shadower noticed him standing right by the green rocking chair, just like when they first encountered him.

"This is the end of the road, Tipral," Shadow Chopper declared. "It's either we fight or you give me back my name and body!"

"Fine. Fine. I see now. You want to fight. I was actually HOPING that you would come here to fight, because my powers to erase you no longer work. But that's not going to stop me from crushing you! Now that the curse has been broken, we should be able to hurt each other."

"Then this makes things easier for us," Shadower muttered as Tipral turned to Chopper's friends.

"All right now, everyone. Let's crush these fools and make them regret coming here!" Tipral realized that Vivian, Scrub and Kirby looked confused, so he cleared his throat to try to act somewhat like Chopper. "_Ahem! _Let's do this!"

"Of course, Chopper! We'll be right beside you!" Vivian assured.

"This faker couldn't take us on himself after what we did to him last time, so he teamed up with one of the Shadow Brothers!" Scrub growled. We're gonna take you down, you hear us, fake Contadre?"

"Scrub? Why… Why are you growling at me? Listen to my voice! I'm _Chopper_!" Shadow Chopper cried, now being able to say his name with Tipral's curse broken. Shadower, on the other hand, was starting to twitch a bit.

"Poyo! (You're going to wish you've never come here, fake Chopper! I am dead serious!)" Kirby declared.

"Excellent. Good, my loyal minions..." Tipral nodded in approval before turning to Shadow Chopper. "You better be ready now, nameless nobody. Four against two isn't going to be helping you here!"

Shadower stepped back a little. "Chopper? The guy who stole your name and body is Chopper… So… Does that mean _YOU'RE_ really Chopper?"

Shadow Chopper paused as he turned to Shadower, but then he sighed, knowing that he had to tell the truth. "OK… To tell you the truth, yes… I'm really Chopper. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you…but I thought it was right to help you, like I helped Vivian."

"I can't believe it… This whole time… I was helping my enemy, Chopper… Mysterious is right. I AM an idiot!" Shadower sighed as he sank into the shadows, leaving only Shadow Chopper.

"Oh no… I'm all alone." Shadow Chopper said in shock, while Tipral noticed Shadower leave the steeple.

"Well, it looks like it's four against one now. There's a big chance that you'll lose now. Now, my loyal minions! We must put an end to this faker once and for all!" Tipral shot a fireball at Shadow Chopper, who managed to out of the way.

_"Great… I'm all alone… But I can't attack my friends. That wouldn't be right. If I focus on Tipral, I should be able to become victorious." _Shadow Chopper hurled a fireball at Tipral to leave a burn on him. Since he fought him before, he knew his stats were exactly the same.

Tipral brought his hammer out and walked over to Chopper to whack him with it. This did 5 damage as usual. Next up, Vivian used her Shade Fist on him and left a burn on him.

"Ouch! Vivian! Don't you recognize my voice? That imposter's voice is too dark!" Shadow Chopper cried as he stomped on Tipral's head after he got hurt by the burn effect. Tipral was also hurt by the burn effect as well thanks to Shadow Chopper's fireball.

"I wonder if you can actually handle your own fire attacks! Let's see how you deal with it!" Tipral threw a fireball at Shadow Chopper, but then he jumped up and hovered up with his dark shoes. Kirby tried to get him with his Cartwheel and knocked him onto the ground.

_"I'm sorry, bro…but I have to be honest. Chopper's really a great kid, and he's been treating me much better than you have. He feels more like a…friend."_

When Shadow Chopper got himself up, he heard something coming out of the shadows behind him. When he turned around, he saw Shadower standing right in front of him.

"Chopper! Listen! I'm going to fight on your side!" Shadower declared. "I'm sorry about earlier, but I made my decision now. I ain't turning back now! Let's take down this fake Chopper!"

"Shadower... Thanks..." Shadow Chopper thanked before he turned back to Tipral and clenched his fists.

Shadower used his Shadow Punch and managed to strike Tipral with the shadowy punch. Now that Shadower was on Shadow Chopper's side, he knew this fight would be a little easier.

"So that Shadow Brother came back, huh? Well I'll give him a good butt stomping for ya, Contadre!" Scrub growled as he fluttered over to Shadower and stomped on him twice. Shadower managed to bring his arms up and guard the attack to take no damage.

"Dang it! It didn't do anything!"

"No worries, Yoshi," Tipral assured. "We need to get this faker!"

"Remember, Shadower," Shadow Chopper began. "We need to focus only on Tipral. I'd rather not hurt my friends, y'know?"

"I completely understand, Chopper," Shadower nodded.

Tipral threw another fireball at Shadow Chopper, but he was able to Superguard it and not take any damage. Shadow Chopper threw another fireball because the burn effect wore off both of them. Vivian tried to punch Shadow Chopper, but he was able to Superguard that attack as well, making her take damage instead. Though, admittedly he kind of regretted doing that, but he had no other choice.

Shadow Chopper went with using his Power Smash to whack Tipral to take away 6, and then Shadower used his Shadow Punch afterward. It was good that he was not far from being taken down.

"Hmph! I had enough!" Tipral swung his arm and fired a Star Spear at Shadow Chopper, knocking him down. Vivian, Scrub and Kirby were left looking confused.

"Poyo? (Wait, when did he learn to use a Star Spear?)" gaped Kirby.

Shadower had to make his attack now, so he attacked Tipral with his Shadow Punch, and when Shadow Chopper got back up, he threw a fireball at him. Tipral once again used his stomp to hit Shadow Chopper and then Scrub used his Ground Pound on Shadower again. Nonetheless, the two had the fight in the bag now.

"Shadower… I think we'll need to work together to finish this up." Shadow Chopper suggested. He nodded and then the shadowy Chopper got on Shadower. He jumped up while the Shadow Brother attacked Tipral with his Shadow Punch.

"GAH! …Huh…?" Tipral looked up and saw Shadow Chopper with flames on his feet. He stomped on him with his scorching feet and jumped off of him while performing a Stylish move. This left Tipral exhausted and unable to fight back.

"Impossible! How could I…lose? ! I'm a prototype of the Ultimate Life Form!"

At this moment, Tipral felt dazed and fell over on the ground. His partners stepped back in shock as Shadow Chopper and Shadower got 25 Star Points.

Tipral dropped the Ruby Star he was able to get back, and not only that, but he was transformed back into his dark self.

"What the…" Chopper's partners guffawed.

Light energy surrounded Shadow Chopper as he spun around, and then purple smoke surrounded him. After it was gone, Chopper was back in his own body and was smiling as well.

"Yes! I'm finally back to normal!" Chopper cheered.

Tipral got back up, glaring at Chopper. "Fine! You beat me. Big deal. But this isn't the last time you'll ever see me. Next time, you bettered be prepared. For now… Farewell!"

"Wait… This whole time Shadow Chopper was really you? So we were all being tricked..." Vivian trailed sadly as she floated over to Chopper.

"Don't worry about it! I'm fine!" Chopper assured. "There was a reason why I didn't fight back at Dour's house and why I didn't fight you guys. Don't apologize to me, because I already forgive you. OK?"

Vivian smiled and gave Chopper a kiss on the cheek, which left the pale green boy with a puzzled look with her kiss left on him. Vivian couldn't help but giggle, but Chopper was glad he didn't fall over like last time he got kissed by her.

_"Yuck! I don't know what ghost cooties can do to you..."_ Chopper thought.

"Poyo! (Yes! There's proof right there!)" Kirby noticed as he saw Chopper wipe the kiss off his cheel. "...Poyo! (…But I can't believe it. We were hoodwinked!)"

"…So, who's this shadow guy, huh?" Scrub wondered. "Isn't he one of the Shadow Brothers we fought at Boggly Woods? But why would Contadre team up with one of those goons?"

"Well, er…" Shadower stammered before Chopper stepped in to defend him.

"Don't call him a goon! He's one of us now!" Chopper declared.

"Really? But, um… Why would he be on our side?" Vivian asked.

"Because he doesn't deserve to be with his brothers! Did you see how they treated him? Plus, he's my friend, and he's a great guy after what he's done for me!"

"Oh, thanks for sticking up for me, Chopper," Shadower smiled. "That was pretty cool of you to do that."

"Well, I guess thanks to him, you came through this OK…" Scrub trailed as he rubbed the side of his head. "No sweat, right?"

"Yeah, we're cool," the shadow brother gave Scrub a thumbs up before he turned back to Chopper. "So… Chopper, I'm sorry about earlier. You don't mind me joining you, right?"

"I don't mind at all!" Chopper answered. "Did you see what you did against some of those enemies? Plus, you can lower DEFENSE! That's GREAT!"

"Poyo?! (He can lower defense?!)" Kirby gaped.

"Whoa... That's impressive..." Scrub gasped.

"Yeah, that can be helpful..." Vivian trailed.

"Oh, wow! That's great to hear!" Shadower smiled.

**Shadower has REALLY joined your party!**

"Thank you very much, Chopper. In all honesty, being around my brothers made me feel a little uncomfortable. You saw how Mysterious treated me back in Boggly Woods, right? Well, I'm hoping by joining you, things will get a lot better for me."

"Trust us, it's pretty awesome," Scrub smirked.

"I'm sure it will be," Shadower nodded before looking at the Ruby Star and then Chopper. "All right, Chopper... Go ahead! Let's grab the Crystal Star and get out of here!"

"You got it!" Chopper nodded before he walked over to the red Crystal Star, which began to circle him. Once it floated above him, he held it up, and this time, it wasn't a fake Chopper. It was actually him.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 5! And Chopper learned the special move Art Attack!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_Chopper defeated the "so-called" faker who stole his name and appearance, and now he has four Crystal Stars. That means he only has sixteen more to find! Now Chopper heads off on his next adventure with his new friend, Shadower... But what about Mysterious and Purple? And what about the evil Tipral? Is that the last time we'll ever see him?_

* * *

**Twilight Town-**

"Gah! Where is Shadower? He's late as usual! Purple! Do you have any idea on where he could be?" Mysterious asked as he and Purple were looking around for their brother.

Purple just shrugged, leaving Mysterious to grumble. "Great… If he left us for good, then that means we're the TWO Shadow Brothers! Who's going to replace him now?"

At that moment, they saw Tipral skate by his dark shoes, which made Mysterious smirk.

"Hmmm… Perhaps are search will be easier than I thought it would!"

* * *

**Meh, it's kind of short, but the boss chapter here wasn't that long anyway. We're going to the interludes, and then we're going to... Well, you'll find out.  
**

**The strange thing is, the next interlude has some big fights, and it's a bit of a long one too, so you might like it if you wanted a longer chapter. Plus, we'll be introduced to... *shot to prevent me from answering*  
**


	31. Chapter 4 Interlude

**Oh yeah, don't expect to see a scene with Peach this interlude. It's probably the only one that doesn't have her. But I think that's fine, because I'm not usually a fan of those parts.  
**

**Anyway, moving on.  
**

* * *

"Are you sure about this? Speak up, X-Naut!" Grodus demanded, who was speaking to an X-Naut PhD.

"Yes, sir, quite sure," the X-Naut PhD confirmed. "I did some more research on those Crystal Stars and Beldam's words were right. The Crystal Stars have some kind of odd powers to them, and with all twenty of them, you can make all of your wishes come true…such as world domination…or perhaps taking over the universe!"

"Excellent… So Beldam's words are true. I suppose she's also right about the Crystal Star being in some cave far out in the ocean… Is it **Unagi's Cave** that she was talking about?"

"Yes, we were told by her that there are a couple of islands in order to make it over there. How dangerous is it? Well we haven't heard much on how dangerous it is. There's a giant eel named **Unagi **that lives there. That Crystal Star…is on his tail. To be honest, we'd be risking our lives if we were to get that Crystal Star!"

"I don't care how many of you get eaten by that eel," Grodus said coldly. "What's important is that we get the Crystal Star. Even if it's a risky mission, we need to get them no matter what! That's what's needed for our plan to work..."

"Wh-What?! Y-You're actually going to risk losing X-Nauts to a giant eel?!" the X-Naut PhD stammered. "I did some research on this eel, and he's considered to be the most feared monster in the seas around Rogueport. I heard he was able to escape a painting from a castle in the Mushroom Kingdom owned by Peach and escape into the sewers to reach the seas around Rogueport. Ever since then, not many ships have gone out to sea. Some people don't even come back to tell the news about Unagi..."

"Well that's not going to stop us. I know who can handle a ship with no problem. For now, send the Shadow Sirens out to find Chopper! …And perhaps they can also help us with that Crystal Star."

"Hmm? Who do you plan on sending out, sir?"

"I'll send him in soon. For now, you are dismissed."

"Very well, sir," the X-Naut PhD crossed his arms in the form of an X and left the room. Before Grodus could call Lord Crump in, he ended up coming into the room covered in soot.

"Grodus… I'm getting bored. When are you sending me out on a mission?" Lord Crump asked. "That chump humiliated me back in that tree, and I'm getting pretty ticked about it! I wanna have my chance of getting a Crystal Star as well!"

"Well, Lord Crump..." Grodus began before he was cut off.

"Hold on a second... What do we even plan on doing with the Crystal Stars? Rule the world? 'Cause honestly, you haven't told me what we were going to do with 'em. Plus, why did we kidnap that princess?"

Grodus began to ponder for the moment while turning away from Lord Crump. But after a while, he turned back to him. "Hmmmm... Very well. I suppose I can tell you what those are for and why we got Princess Peach.

"Oh! Sweet!" Lord Crump fist pumped as Grodus cleared his throat.

"You see, Lord Crump… Those Crystal Stars are what we need to…"

* * *

**One explanation later-**

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA! That's AWESOME!" Lord Crump gaped. "Man! I didn't know you had it in you, Grodus! THAT is evil!"

"You must not tell any of the X-Nauts about this!" Grodus warned. "This is only between us! If you do somehow manage to tell any of them, I'm going to have to let you go..."

"Wh-What do you mean let me go?"

"Send you out into space where you'll suffocate!"

"Whoa... OK, you have my word, Grodus. I'm not going to tell ANYONE about them! ...Now, what did I come here for? Oh yeah! I'm bored, and I came here 'cause I wanted to go out and take down that kid!"

"Well you came here just in time," Grodus noted. "You see, there's a cave out to the south of Rogueport where the ferocious Unagi the Eel lives. Apparently the Crystal Star is on his tail. You and the X-Nauts must go there and get that star!"

"Hold on... Isn't Unagi that sea monster many people have feared? You really expect me to take that thing down? !"

"Our ships were designed to take down any sea monster in its way! Now, to get that star, I recommend capturing the eel and snatching the Crystal Star quickly! You're bound to get it with ease..."

"Huh... That doesn't sound like a bad idea. Sure, I'll go ahead and do it! And don't you worry, Grodus. I'll be back with that star, for my name isn't Lord..."

"Yes, I know already," Grodus growled. "Now get out of my sight!"

"Oh... OK." Lord Crump scurried out of the room, leaving only Grodus, who couldn't help but think whether this plan would work or not. However, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a green phone beside him ringing, so he picked it up to answer it.

"Hello? What do you want? I'm a little busy right now…"

_"Huh? Are you that X-Weirdo leader? Listen! I've gone through A LOT to get your phone number, and I'm telling you to stay out of our way! The Crystal Stars belong to US! Not some alien race!"_

"Who is speaking to me right now?" Grodus gawked.

_"Who? Well, since I know you're Grodus, I might as well tell you who I am. I'm Gemerl! Leader of the Phis!" _

_"Gemerl... I swear I've heard that name before..." _Grodus thought._ "...Wait, he's the leader of those Phi things I was told about!"  
_

_"We're a robotic race that has come here to take over the universe," _Gemerl explained._ "I'm giving you a warning here. Stay out of our way and keep away from those Crystal Stars!"_

"Don't be ridiculous!" Grodus hissed. "I'm not letting a bunch of robots get in my way! We X-Nauts are not all rainbows and unicorns. We're quite nasty. Perhaps nastier than you and your pieces of scrap metal."

_"Ha ha ha! Yeah, good one. My Phis are quite nasty too. They're not afraid to take on anybody, and they don't run away that easily. They can even copy your moves and use them against you! In fact, even I can do that! If we were to face off against each other, I would probably win the fight."_

"Well we already found a Crystal Star. We'll be adding one more to our collection. I'm pretty sure you don't have any. In fact, I shouldn't be wasting my time talking to you, robot pest!"

_"Well we..."_

Gemerl was cut off when Grodus quickly hung up the phone so he couldn't hear him anymore.

"Those robots and Chopper will not stop me! Once the day finally comes, my plans will finally come into place and the universe shall be mine! …And not even TEC can do anything about it! Foolish computer…. It's a good thing I wiped away his memory so he wouldn't remember anything about Peach. I've kept all of his previous data in a disk in my room… But now, no one can stop me! Everybody will kneel down before the X-Naut regime! And then I shall make a new world. One that's about me and made by me! GAAACK ACK ACK ACK ACK!"

Unfortunately, he didn't notice a camera watching the whole thing from down below the fortress.

* * *

**Boggly Woods-**

Bowser came stomping his way through Boggly Woods. From what he could recall, there was a Crystal Star located somewhere in the woods. Some Pale Piranhas and Clefts stood no chances when Bowser rampaged past them. He seemed to be enjoying it, while Kammy Koopa was staying behind and not having all the fun.

"Gra ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, baby! I remember being here! …It was when that Mario beat me to the Crystal Star here!" Bowser grumbled. "I'm pretty sure there's one of those babies in the tree! …And I'm talking about the Crystal Stars!"

"Of course, Lord Bowser! …Those days weren't so great." Kammy remarked. "That weird Puni hag thing and I ended up getting in a fight. Oh… That was no good for me…"

_"Oh, yeah! The hag vs hag thing! Man, I need to see more of those fights often!" _Bowser thought before he turned to his sidekick.

"Right, then! Let's go find that Crystal Star! Hmmmm…" Bowser noticed by the gray pipe that led to the Great Tree, Tipral was standing by the pipe and facing away from the group.

"Could it be? Is that actually Chopper?" gaped Kammy.

"Well it's payback for ruining me back at Glitzville!" he growled as he was about to breathe fire, but Kammy went over to Tipral first.

"You! Chopper! What are you doing in a place like…" At that moment, Tipral snapped his fingers and Kammy got knocked away. "Unngh... That was painful..."

"All right, Chopper! What are you doing here? Answer me NOW! Or else you're going to get one heck of a burning!" Bowser roared as Tipral turned around, leaving him to guffaw. "Hold on… You're not Chopper! …But why do you look just like him?"

"Don't ask why I look like him," Tipral said angrily. "I heard you were looking for the Crystal Star here, right? Well you're too late. I lost my Crystal Star, and the one in the Great Tree is gone. You should just turn back now."

"_**Huh-WHAAAAAAAT?!**_ Chopper beat me here?! GAH! Now where am I going to find the next one?! WHERE?!"

"…Go to Unagi's Cave out at sea. You want me to help you? I'll do it." Tipral snapped his fingers and Bowser was sent high up into the clouds.

"_**AAARRGGHH!**_" Bowser yelled as he landed on a cloud. When he finally got up, he noticed a level awaited him, just like when he went to Music Kingdom.

"Ready to roll!" Bowser began to stomp his way through the clouds, and he jumped on some falling platforms. He noticed three Dayzee girls flying up in the sky though. One had orange petals with a light yellow face, light red arms and legs, the next had light yellow petals, a golden yellow face and light blue arms and legs, and the third had black petals with a light yellow face and light green arms and legs.

An X-Naut tried to attack Bowser, but he stomped on him. "That's right! Stay on the ground like you should! I'm going to be your new ruler soon! Gwa ha ha ha!"

Bowser opened his mouth and scorched a Goomba in a green sock. While he did that, the three Dayzee girls noticed him.

"Girls! Do you see that? I think it's Bowser from before!" Blayzee noticed as Bowser grabbed a piece of meat and grew bigger (the Dayzee girls' names are said in the same order as they were described).

"Bowser? Why is he here?" Kayzee wondered. "That bad, mean Koopa shouldn't be here! We should just ask him to leave right now!"

"Are you kidding me, Kayzee? You don't ask people like him to leave! I say we beat him up right now!" Tayzee suggested. She stopped when she saw Bowser grow even bigger while stomping through everything in his path.

"Gwa ha ha ha ha! I'm INVINCIBLE!" Bowser cackled as he crashed into every single thing in his path. And then finally, he got the flag and crashed into the castle…and unfortunately, he ended up landing in front of Flurrie's house and turned back to normal.

"Oooog… I thought it wouldn't end like this…"

"Your Dizziness!" Kammy cried out, who was able to fly through everything else in the woods and make it to Bowser. "Where were you, if I may ask?"

"…Up in the sky."

"Really? Neat! I never thought you could do such a thing! And who are your friends who brought with… Uh oh…" Kammy gulped as she saw the Dayzeeflower Girls fly down, who looked like they were going to fight Bowser. "Your Nastiness! We're being under attack!"

"All right, Bowser! It's over! It's time for you to get what you deserve!" Blayzee declared as Bowser slowly got up and turned to the girls.

"_**…****GRAAARGH!**_"

He opened his mouth and breathed fire on the Dayzeeflower Girls, covering them in soot. "How is it that EVERY TIME I go out to do somewhere, I get chased by girl scouts?! Listen! I DON'T WANT YOUR COOKIES! Get outta here!"

"Yes, you little brats! We're in the middle of a Crystal Star hunt!" Kammy spat. "And we can't let that boy Chopper get them!"

"Chopper? You mean that boy I traveled with to stop you? Tee hee! That adventure was fun!" Kayzee recalled. "Blayzee! Can we go see him and his friends? Can we? Can we? I know you would like to see him!"

"I don't know, Kayzee…" Blayzee pondered. "You know, I think we should! Nothing bad happened back at home, so I guess it was good coming here. Let's just hope everything's safe…"

"With Kojo Pete out of the city, everything's just fine," Tayzee sighed. "And I was hoping we'd be able to kick some butt around here!"

"It's not all about fighting, Tayzee. Anyway, let's go, girls!"

And with that, they flew off, leaving Bowser guffawed as they flew away from him.

"Since when can girl scouts fly?"

* * *

**Phi Base-**

Gemerl hung up the phone, feeling like he achieved nothing. "Great… That didn't help at all. It appears this Grodus person still doesn't care if I told him to stay out of our way… Well that's just perfect."

He was about to relax, but two Phis had to interrupt him and bust through the door.

"Hey! Have you ever heard about KNOCKING?!"

"Oh... Sorry, sir." the first Phi apologized.

"Well, what do you want?"

"Well, we think it's time for you to make your speech now," the second Phi suggested. "Y'know, about the whole Crystal Star and where the next one is after we ran from that dark ghost by the Dark Steeple? You said you were going to do that."

"Oh, yes… I almost forgot about that." Gemerl realized. "Give me some time to get ready… Oh, and one more thing..."

"Yes, sir?"

"Get out of here!" Gemerl instantly kicked them out before he had time to relax again.

"It's a good thing those Phis got me this star. Maybe I SHOULD give them a promotion for their job…but I don't feel like it. It's not easy to get promoted, you know." Gemerl got up from his chair, fired a blast at the Shadower dummy and then grabbed the Crystal Star.

"It's show time," he walked over to his teleporter and was transported out of his room and to an auditorium - which was not in the base. It was somewhere out in the desert, and they kept it hidden underground like their base.

As he made his appearance on the stage, all of the Phis cheered for him. He could hear some whistling…and some exploding. A gray machine that could show pictures was on the stage, as well as a big screen behind the Phi leader.

"Hold your applause, Phis! Wait until the END!" Gemerl suggested as he turned on the machine, which flashed a picture of a Crystal Star on the screen.

"You see… We're hunting for these Crystal Stars. Of course, you guys know that, because I mentioned that to you guys before... And then we have to deal with THIS kid..."

Gemerl changed the picture to Chopper, which made all the Phis boo.

"Yes, keep booing! That's exactly what I want to hear, especially for him... You see, he's gotten FOUR Crystal Stars so far! The Diamond, Gold, Emerald and Ruby Star. I did a little research and know the whereabouts of three of them. One is called the Sapphire Star, which is located somewhere out in sea in some cave that's owned by a dangerous sea monster called Unagi."

The Phis cheered for him, but Gemerl gestured them to stop again.

"Another Crystal Star I discovered...happens to be in the hands of someone else. I don't know how we'll be able to get that one. But, don't think that it's over. The Garnet Star, on the other hand..."

Gemerl took out the Garnet Star, which sparkled on the stage, making the Phis cheer as Gemerl nodded in approval.

"Yes! I was able to acquire a Crystal Star! Apparently it was located in a town called Poshley Heights, a place where many rich people tend to go to often. There's a museum there, which happened to have the Crystal Star located there..."

"Hey! We're the ones that got the…"

"Silence, Phi! I never told you to speak!" Gemerl snapped. "Now… Onto business. You see…" he pressed the button on his remote again and it switched over to a picture with both Chopper and Grodus on it, which made the Phis boo once again.

"Down with Chopper!"

"Who's that other guy?"

"Boo!"

"…We're not the only ones looking for the Crystal Stars, apparently," Gemerl informed. "We have two others searching for it as well. One that's a hero, and one that's some kind of alien with some robotic head. Apparently that alien person is holding onto one of the Crystal Stars. Of course, we're not going to let them stop us."

"Then what do we do about it?" a Phi asked.

"Well… I've heard that the guy, supposedly named Grodus, is sending his troops over to Unagi's Cave. However, it actually isn't located IN the cave. The eel itself, Unagi, happens to have the Sapphire Star stuck on its _tail_!"

The Phis all let out a gasp.

"Also... I heard some tales from my research, and apparently sailors have not returned from the seas when they ventured out. Chances are that the eel must've gobbled them up. And, since it prefers live things, the chances of it attacking us are _very_ slim. We're robots, and sea monsters aren't interested in robots. Now... We're going to need some bait if we're going to lure that sea monster! That way, we have an easier chance of obtaining the Sapphire Star!"

"Awesome! So how are we going to get out at sea, and what if we have to deal with Chopper and those X guys?" a yellow Phi with blue eyes and a golden fin-like object on its head pointing up called and Elite Phi asked.

"Well… We need a ship. If we're going to fight, it will be ship vs ship! Yes… That will do nicely." Gemerl decided. "You all must get yourselves ready! We can't be slow, because if we are, then they'll beat us to the punch! So go! And do not fail me!"

"YES, SIR!" the Phis gave Gemerl a salute and they all flew out of the auditorium with their jetpacks. He grinned as he watched them go.

"Excellent… Everything is going well." Gemerl smirked. "There's only one question… Who came into the base before? That's what I want to know… Well I'll find out sooner or later."

With that, he teleported out of the auditorium and back to his base.

* * *

**Twilight Town-**

Chopper and his friends, including their new friend, Shadower, were able to return to Twilight Town. They finished explaining all the details to Mayor Dour, who looked shocked.

"I can't believe that we were thanking a fake Chopper this whole time…" Dour trailed. "I'm so sorry about this, Chopper… After all you've done for our town… Have we…hurt your feelings?"

"Well, I know that I was violently thrown out of your house by my friends, and I was completely ignored, so… I guess my feelings were hurt." Chopper frowned. "Not to mention people accused me of being Tipral."

"Yeah, most likely. When I saw him give me a hand, he was beaten up, and I actually felt bad for him." Shadower mentioned. "So I guess we can all say that his feelings were hurt. A lot…"

"…I see…" Dour frowned. "We apologize for all of that. It's OK if your feelings were hurt after all of that. But, you were really the one to bring back light into our dim little town! Everybody of Twilight Town thanks you!"

"So now… Where exactly do we go now, Chopper?" Shadower asked as he turned to Chopper. "Do we bring the Crystal Star back to the Thousand-Year Door?"

"The Thousand-Year Door has been sealed ever since it was previously opened," Vivian informed. "We don't need to go there. Plus, the pedestal no longer works. We don't REALLY need to be there now. Chopper knows where to go, right?"

"Yup! We just need to call down a Warp Star! Like this!" Chopper made a sharp whistle and a Warp Star came down for him to get on. Kirby summoned his and got on his as well. Scrub and Shadower got on Kirby's, while Vivian went on Chopper's.

"MAN! Why does Vivian get to go on Contadre's? I would wanna go on his 'cause he's awesome!" Scrub complained.

Kirby patted him on the head to calm him down and they all took off and were now heading to Dream Land.

"Chopper… Do you think that Tipral is really the brother that I've never known about in so many years?" Vivian asked.

"I'm not sure... But he looks nothing like you or your sisters!" Chopper mentioned.

"Well, I was told he was a clone from my mother's DNA..."

"Oh... Well he said he was a prototype of something I don't remember... Well, whatever. We don't have to deal with him right now anyway!"

"Yeah, I suppose that's true..."

* * *

**Hatty Town, Dream Land-**

Once they landed down in Hatty Town, they saw all the Cappies looked worried. The Mayor walked out of his house to Chopper and his friends.

"Hey, Mayor! We got the Crystal Star we needed!" Chopper took out the Ruby Star and showed it to the Mayor, but even then, that didn't change the Mayor's worried expression.

"Chopper… We have bad news." the Mayor gulped. "We just got a call a couple of hours ago that Dream Land will soon be taken over…"

"Is this King Dedede's doing again? 'Cause if it is, I'll go take care of him!" Chopper declared as he cracked his knuckles while a flaming glow surrounded his hands.

"We'll take care of whoever's responsible for this! You don't have to worry!" Vivian assured. "Just tell us who it is and we'll be ready!"

"Well… His name is… **Meta Knight**."

* * *

**Out by the ocean-**

A large ship with bat-like wings and a mask an the bow of the ship could be seen underwater. The lights were on from looking at the windows, and there were a couple of people running around and getting the ship ready. According to many people in Dream Land, this was one of the largest ships in Dream Land. It was called the Battleship Halberd.

Inside the Halberd, there was a Waddle Dee with a captain's hat named Sailor Dee and also a tan bird in a captain's outfit called Captain Vul. The steering wheel was just like a pirate ship's steering wheel, and a small skull headed guy with a helmet and horns named an Ax Knight was driving it.

"Captain! Everything's looking good so far!" Sailor Dee announced. "There's nothing missing or any problems with the reactor core!"

"Excellent! Then we're ready for takeoff!" Captain Vul smirked. "The Halberd is finally ready to take off!"

"So you like it, Meta Knight?" Ax Knight asked

At the back of the room, a blue person in a silver mask was standing in the room with his blue cape wrapped around himself. Two knights were beside him, with one of them being Sword Knight, who was in dark green armor, with his helmet being shaped like a vertical oval. He had yellow eyes, large, dark green pauldrons, blue clothing, dark green boots and a yellow sword.

Meta Knight's other servant was in green, with his helmet being shaped similarly to Sword Knight's. However, he had a red tuft of hair on his helmet unlike the other knight. His pauldrons were green with a yellow trim, and he wore a blue shirt, as well as yellow shoes. His sword was silver, but it had a spike on each side of its edge. They were his personal servants after he saved them from a dangerous, red wolf monster. Sword Knight sometimes goofed off, while Blade Knight was more serious and military-like.

"Good. Everything's how I wanted it to be." Meta Knight nodded in approval. "Now the time has come, my servants. This is the day where I, Meta Knight, rule this boring land!"

The Halberd rose from the waters and began to fly over the ocean. Meta Knight looked out the window and looked at the beautiful sky. While he was a servant of King Dedede, he didn't always like the way he ruled. Perhaps he could take over and make things his way?

However, his thoughts were soon interrupted by one of his servants.

"Ummm… Lord Meta Knight… Look!" Sword Knight pointed out the window, where they saw two Warp Stars coming their way. Captain Vul's mouth dropped as he saw the five flying their way.

"You gotta be KIDDING me!" Captain Vul roared as he slammed his fist on the wall in anger. "Kirby's come back here to invade my Halberd again?! Grrr! This time we're going to be ready!"

"Simmer down, Captain!" Blade Knight snapped. "We came prepared this time! Sir Meta Knight had us install a new laser cannon."

"Pfffft! Yeah, and it only took us four days without any breaks!" Sword Knight pouted as he crossed his arms. "Er… Yeah, that's right. Four days, I suppose."

Sword Knight's pout was stopped when Blade Knight smacked him.

"Sword, you're the reason why it took four days! Now shut up and let's get back to work!" Blade Knight ordered before he looked out the window to see another Warp Star. "…Hey, I think I see somebody else on the other Warp Star. Some pale green kid… We'll take 'im down!"

"Hmmm?" Meta Knight took a glimpse of Chopper coming his way. _"So, he shows up... I knew he would come here..."_

"Lord Meta Knight! What are your orders?" Captain Vul asked.

"Fire all bombs at Chopper!" Meta Knight ordered. "We can't let him get to the reactor core! If he manages to get to it, this Halberd is going to be going down! Send some troops to guard the reactor core as well. This could get ugly…"

* * *

**Outside-**

As Chopper was flying to the Halberd, his Warp Star was unfortunate to get hit by a bomb he didn't see coming his way. It struck the Warp Star, making it crash down to the ocean.

"Uh oh... The Warp Star's crashing!" Chopper gulped.

"This isn't good..." Vivian trailed.

"Kirby, what do I do?!"

"Poyo! (Abandon your Warp Star then! You can still get on the Halberd!)"

Chopper nodded and jumped off, allowing him to free fall down to the ship. Vivian was able to get off as well and follow him. However, she couldn't necessarily free fall when her ghostly tail could only attach to something.

"Hmmm…" Chopper was coming near the ground, so he shot a fireball, making a hole in the ground and landing inside the Halberd. He found a Poppy Bro. Jr.'s, and some Meta-Knights. One was a Mace Knight that was in purple with pauldrons with a yellow trim, and it also happened to be carrying a flail that was held by a chain.

"Don't let him reach the reactor core, or we're finished!" the Mace Knight noted. The Poppy Bro. Jr. threw a bomb at Chopper, but once he inhaled it, he was given a light blue floppy hat.

"Take this!" Chopper threw the bombs at them, and it knocked them away, but it didn't defeat them yet.

"Crud… These guys are not easy." Chopper noticed the the pipes in the brown, metallic room were leaking, and the smoke coming from them made the room foggy. Everyone began to cough now.

"Who did that?" At that moment, the Meta-Knights and the Poppy Bros. Jr. were taken out by a Fiery Jinx, Ground Pound, Cartwheel, and a Shadow Punch. The smoke cleared up, and he saw his partners.

"We're here, Chopper. Don't you worry about a thing!" Shadower assured as he punched the door with his Shadow Punch, but he realized it wouldn't work. He began to think, and he knew what to do.

"I got it!" Shadower made Chopper invisible and pushed him through the door to a diamond-shaped rainbow core, which controlled the entire ship. Chopper threw a bomb at it, but it slightly hurt it.

"Well that's not going to do anything," Vivian noticed a laser firing at them, so they immediately jumped out to avoid it. This gave Chopper an idea. He jumped at the laser cannon and he made it fire at the core, which destroyed it.

The Ax Knight noticed a TV screen near him turning to a bright red. "Ummm... Guys? Does anyone know what that thing means?"

"Wait, what're you talking about?" Captain Vul asked as he walked over to the screen. His eyes widened when he noticed the word "Warning" on it. "Oh, no... No no no no no!"

"Any problem, Captain?" Sailor Dee asked.

"Of course there's a problem, Sailor Dee! Who's the idiot that attacked the Halberd's core?!"

"That...would most likely be the guys who came here," answered a Mace Knight.

"_**WHAT?!**_"

Sirens began to go off and they realized that the Halberd was going to crash into the water. Everyone began screaming for their life, with Captain Vul flailing his arms around as he ran around, while Meta Knight stayed calm. Sword and Blade looked at him with confused looks.

"Sir Meta Knight? You seem rather calm…" Sword trailed. "Do you know what we should do though?"

_"We've failed easily…" _Meta Knight thought as he shut his eyes._ "But now I know what Chopper can do to such a ship… But that doesn't mean I'm done with him. There's only one thing left to do."_

"Sir Meta Knight! What do you want us to do?" Blade wondered.

"Attention all crew! Evacuate ship! Now!" ordered Meta Knight, while Captain Vul opened the window.

"I gotta get outta here! There's no way I'm staying here! I'll see you guys later!" Captain Vul jumped out the window and began to fall into the water. Unfortunately, a shark fin happened to be on his tail, causing him to shriek and swim away toward some land.

"Well there goes the captain. He's going to get himself eaten by a shark." Sword Knight turned around and saw Meta Knight walking out the door in the room. "Sir? Where are you going?"

"I have to pay somebody a little visit," answered Meta Knight. "You and Blade get out of here now. I'll meet with you guys later."

As Meta Knight left, Sword was left confused, but Blade didn't take his time. "You heard him, Sword! We're gettin' out of here pronto! That's Sir Meta Knight's orders!"

"Yeah, I know, but don't you think that was a little... I don't know... Strange?" Sword wondered. "A lot of times he lets us stay by his side, but now he wants us to go without him."

"Orders are orders. Either we go out now, or we're swimmin' with the fishes!"

"Ugh... Fine. You're always being so serious."

"You oughta stop goofin' off and actually listen for once! Come on now!" Blade took off, along with Sword. All that remained was Sailor Dee, who was unsure of what to do.

"Oh... So it's just me now..." Sailor Dee trailed. "What should I do...?"

He noticed the Ax Knight wasn't taking control of the ship because he made his escape. All he could do was follow the Meta-Knight out of the room and hopefully to an escape pod. He certainly didn't want to jump out like Captain Vul. He didn't want to be chased by sharks, for Pete's sake!"

* * *

**Back with the heroes-**

Chopper and his friends were able to get out of the core room and to the outer room, where they were in an elevator, going up to the next room that led outside. By the door was a Save Block and Heart Block.

"Oh! How convenient!" Chopper hit both of those, removed his ability, and then they headed outside. They found it a little big on the top of the Halberd, and they noticed somebody on one of the wings.

"All right, we gotta escape this ship before it's too late!" Scrub noted.

"I'm afraid that's impossible at this point.

They all looked up and saw Meta Knight with his cape wrapped around himself standing on the wing. He looked down at the five, but mostly he looked down at Chopper and Kirby.

"Are you Meta Knight?" Chopper asked.

"You would be correct. I've been waiting for you, Chopper…" Meta Knight jumped off the wing and landed in front of the group, his cape no longer wrapped around him.

"Huh? How do you know my name?" Chopper asked with a confused look before getting in his fighting stance. "Did you talk to King Dedede or something?"

"No. To tell you the truth, I knew you for a long time. Do you remember me?"

"Well... No. You're just some guy in a mask. You should be more specific, please."

"Don't you remember the time you were taken to my starship on your species' planet? The one who rescued you?"

"Well no, but I…" Chopper paused as his eyes widened. "Hold on a second… That was YOU who rescued me?!"

"Correct. You were a very lucky boy at that time. Your mother pleaded for me to help you off that planet. She told me to give you that rainbow heart that gave you those abilities you now possess. In fact, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't be alive, nor have all those abilities."

"Whoa... I can't believe this guy knows so much about Contadre!" Scrub gaped. "But, why is he trying to take over Dream Land? In fact, isn't he the good guy?"

"He used to be... But it doesn't look like it anymore..." Chopper trailed, clenching his fists. "Look, Meta Knight, surrender now! We don't want you taking over this world! Everyone likes it the way it is!"

"Oh, don't think taking over Dream Land was my only reason for bringing the Halberd up, Chopper the Star Warrior of Planet Clara!" Meta Knight said boldly, making Chopper step back a bit.

"Wait... Star Warrior? But my parents were Star Warriors!"

"Yes, they were. Star Warriors are soldiers that fight against the evils throughout the universe. And since you were the son of not just one Star Warrior, but two, you have inherited the title."

"How can one 'inherit' the title?" Chopper wondered. "You're seriously confusing me!"

"Your parents raised you so you could one day be able to fight alongside other Star Warriors. You were planned to become one, according to your mother. Not only that, but a Star Warrior must prove they can earn the title by accomplishing their task, which you were able to do when you first defeated Maquano on Clara."

"Poyo… (Wow… So Chopper is also a Star Warrior...)" Kirby gasped.

"OK, fine. I'm a Star Warrior. It's not like a special title to me, especially where I collect Crystal Stars." Chopper said, shrugging that aside. "Anyway, I didn't come here to listen to you chat, Meta Knight. Why are you doing all of this?"

"Well, one of the reasons was because I didn't like how Dream Land was like. Kirby once thwarted my plans to take over this place, but when he was left with you, I took my chance to ready the Halbred and take over this place. Unfortunately, you returned, and most of my plans failed. And I said most of them."

"And what's your other plan?"

"My other plan...was to duel with you one-on-one."

"Duel Chopper? Look, we don't have the time to do this, so please…" Vivian's words were ignored by Meta Knight, who brought out his weapon. A sword formed from the hilt and created a golden sword with three spikes on the edges.

Meta Knight took no time to speak. He came charging at Chopper, with his wings allowing him to fly at him and knock him away with his sword by the flat side. A red bruise could be seen on Chopper's cheek.

"Ow! What the heck?!" Chopper slowly got up, but Meta Knight continued to whack him with his sword multiple times. Vivian gasped when he saw him point his sword at Chopper when he got up, rubbing his swollen cheeks.

"You're lucky that I had it from this angle," Meta Knight said as he pointed his sword sideways. "If it was from this angle, you would have been sliced in half."

He stepped back and took out a spare sword and threw it in front of Chopper. "I suggest you take it. I usually fight fair against my enemies. I would like to see if you meet my match…"

Chopper grabbed the sword and ate it, giving him a green floppy hat with a yellow pom-pom and a sword with a blue hilt. He could see that Meta Knight had 40 HP, an Attack of 4, and 0 Defense. Not too bad…

"All right, if you want me to fight… I will!" Chopper ran toward Meta Knight, swinging at him and knocking him back.

"Not bad… I can see you learned a lot." Meta Knight grunted as he charged at Chopper, both of them blocking each other's attack. Before Chopper could attack again, Meta Knight whacked him in the head with his sword and then whacked him away like a tennis ball, taking 4 away from him.

"Chopper!" Vivian cried as

"That is not the proper way to block an attack!" Meta Knight charged at him with his wings, but then Chopper blocked the attack with his sword, and then knocked him away with a Sword Beam.

"Yes… That's good…" Meta Knight jumped up and attacked again. Chopper kept guarding his attacks to prevent himself from getting hurt. Meta Knight noticed that Chopper swung, but he dodged it with ease.

"Wow, I can't believe Contadre's sucking..." Scrub trailed.

"Scrub!" Vivian shushed.

"Not a good time to talk!" Shadower added.

"You just left your guard down, Chopper!" Meta Knight informed as he whacked Chopper further away with his sword. Afterward, Chopper got back up and was getting pretty angry. "And here I thought you had some skill. You have potential, I'll give you that."

"Well I defeated Maquano with a beam sword! So I'm sure I could defeat you!"" Chopper rushed back at Meta Knight and swung, but unfortunately, his attack was dodged. Meta Knight swung again, and this time Chopper jumped over his attack. Now he spun his sword around like a drill and knocked Meta Knight far again.

"THIS is what happens when you mess with me!" Chopper knocked him back with another swing from behind. Meta Knight was only left with 20 HP. His friends began to cheer for him.

"C'mon, Contadre! You can take him!" Scrub called out.

"Please don't let yourself get hurt!" Vivian cried.

"Poyo! (And be ready!)" Kirby added.

Meta Knight began to pant, but then he fired a Sword Beam at Chopper, knocking him by the Halberd's wing and partly destroying it.

"This is called the Sword Beam, which you used before. I'm sure you know this move, since you used this ability before…" Meta Knight raised his sword again as he began to store some energy in it. "Unlike your sword, mine, Galaxia, can store up more power and make a Mach Tornado! It could even destroy this entire ship…and I will risk using it…unless you take me out…"

"Uh oh… This isn't good!" Chopper gulped as he noticed Meta Knight's sword glow. He had to attack fast before he can pull it off. So… He got off the wing and swung at Meta Knight. It did some damage, but it didn't knock him away.

"It's useless! You can't knock me away with Galaxia being stored up!"

"Oh, yeah? Then how about THIS?" Chopper jumped up and he swung his sword down, making a Sword Beam hit him. It left Meta Knight with only 10 HP, but that wasn't enough.

"You're too late, Chopper! Take this!" Meta Knight brought his sword down on the Halberd and unleashed his Mach Tornado. Chopper gaped as he saw the large tornado suck him in. He began to fly all over the area until he fell on the ship, taking 8 damage. Not only that, but the Halberd took some serious damage and was getting closer to the water.

"Wow... That must've hurt..." Scrub trailed.

"Of course it did!" Chopper moaned.

"So, I see you lived... No matter..." Meta Knight charged at him, but Chopper quickly got himself up and kicked Meta Knight's mask, allowing him to jab at his opponent. Meta Knight let out a grunt and fired another Sword Beam. It ripped through some of the Halberd, but Chopper was able to guard it and only take 5 damage.

"Ungh... Not bad, Chopper..." the masked warrior let out a groan from having only 6 HP left. Chopper still had some energy in him for a Sword Beam, so he raised his sword and stored some power until it began to glow white.

"Sword Beam!" Chopper cried as he swung his sword and managed to knock Meta Knight back. When he fell over on his back, he dropped Galaxia. Not only that, but his mask cracked and broke off, revealing his face. Chopper was surprised to see him with white eyes and pink blushes like Kirby. In fact, he looked just like Kirby!

Although, Chopper's thoughts were a little different. "Those eyes... I can't help but feel that he looks almost like Tipral..."

"He looks more like Kirby to me..." Vivian trailed.

Meta Knight quickly got himself up and disappeared from their sights with the help of his cape. He didn't bother to look at Chopper or say anything. The five, however, were confused.

"What a strange warrior..." Shadower trailed. "I can't believe he knew that much about Chopper..."

However, their conversation they were about to have was put at a halt when they heard some explosions coming from the Halbred. Chopper and Kirby called in two Warp Stars and took off with Vivian, Scrub and Shadower.

It was too close, but they escaped, and the Halberd sank into the water with one last explosion. Meta Knight watched them make their exit on the edge of a cliff near the ocean with a new mask.

"So… He does hold some skill in him. But not enough... Next time, I won't go as easy on him."

With that he flew off.

* * *

**Fountain of Dreams-**

Chopper and his friends came down and landed by the Fountain of Dreams. They were all so exhausted - well Chopper at least. He was the one covered in bruises from Meta Knight's sword. But now they were at the Fountain of Dreams, where they were safe.

"Man, Contadre! You took a lot of damage from that duel against Meta Whoever!" Scrub commented, noticing the bruises on Chopper.

"Well he's fine, so we don't have to worry now," Shadower assured as Chopper removed his Sword ability. "But… Chopper is a Star Warrior? And he was rescued by Meta Knight? How odd…"

"Well everything's OK, right?" Chopper sighed before he felt himself being hugged by Vivian, who was happy that he was fine. His cheeks turned red with embarrassment, to his dismay. _"At least Bow isn't here… I think she would've smacked her by now…"_

"It's good that you're safe," Vivian smiled as she let go of Chopper. "That fight really made you exhausted, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but now let's just go," Chopper turned around to the Fountain of Dreams, but Meta Knight was in their way, making him scream and fall back on the ground.

"Meta Knight? Did you come back to fight against me or something?!"

"Relax… I'm not here to attack." Meta Knight assured. "But, I did hear from His Majesty that you are hunting for the twenty Crystal Stars, are you not?"

"Well, yeah… But…"

"Listen, Chopper… I'm warning you right now. I know what will happen when you get all twenty of them, and the results are not good. You're going to end up causing a huge cataclysm thanks to the shadow demon's power. It will leave the universe even MORE vulnerable when it opens up a dark world!"

"Where did you get this from?"

"Long ago, a shadow demon once invaded this world, but with my ancestor's fighting skills and the shaman's magic, we were able to push it away from our world. However, before this happened, the shadow demon created jeweled stars called Crystal Stars. It created thirteen, to be exact. With those and the seven other Crystal Stars, it could be able to activate the dark power to not only darken the universe, but destroy it as well.

Meta Knight then left with his cape, making everyone confused, especially Kirby. "Poyo? (Wait, so the Crystal Stars can do something bad to the universe?)"

"Well I'm not entirely convinced," Chopper declared. "He's not the one who made them anyway. We should just keep looking for those Crystal Stars. Besides, those X-Nauts and Phis are going to use them to conquer the universe! We can't let that happen!"

"While I think Meta Knight could be saying something important, letting the X-Nauts and Phis get a hold of them is not a good idea..." Vivian trailed.

"Then let's find the next Crystal Star!" Scrub suggested.

Chopper walked onto the pedestal and held up the Ruby Star, making it disappear and then appear on the blue light around the pedestal, as well as the other three Crystal Stars. The map began to reveal a new location, and it looked like a cave appeared in the sea area with a couple of islands. A blue Crystal Star was shown there.

"Huh... This is interesting..." Chopper trailed as Vivian looked at the map as well.

"We need to tell Professor Frankly about the information Meta Knight told us," Vivian suggested. "Maybe it's something he should know about…"

"Good idea!" Chopper nodded, and they all headed back to Professor Frankly's.

* * *

**Frankly's house-  
**

"Whuh-Whuh-WHAAAAAAT?!" Frankly gasped as the group finished their explanation. "A strange, masked person named Meta Knight told you that the Crystal Stars would open up a dark world beyond your imagination… And those fiends most likely want to use the power of the Crystal Stars to conquer the universe by going there? Oh, this is very chilling to my spine... However, I managed to find some information similar to this too."

"Really? Well what do you have?" Shadower asked.

"Hrmm… Well it did say that the demon who created the thirteen Crystal Stars wanted to use them to conquer the world…or possibly open up a new world. But they can also be used to protect the universe from such evil that could try to invade. If Meta Knight told you part of it, then he most likely does not know about the other effect!"

"Really? Was he just trying to trick us?" Chopper gaped. "If that's true, then we can't listen to his words! Where's the next Crystal Star?"

"Well… It seems to be pointing to a few islands…and a cave. I certainly don't know the location."

"Oh... That blows." Scrub frowned.

"Although, I have heard tales from many people that their friends once went out to sea to find some treasure. They never returned..."

Vivian gasped as she cupped her hands over her mouth. "What? Are the seas dangerous?!"

"At this time, yes. A sea monster by the name of Unagi dwells in the ocean, awaiting for anyone to come by. He doesn't take his time to make his move. He'll come out and take you with him. That's how most sailors now ended up..."

"That's not stopping us from going after the star," Chopper retorted. "We're going no matter what!"

"Poyo... (But that monster seems dangerous...)" Kirby shivered.

"That thing's nothing different to what we faced. If this thing wants a fight, then we're going to give him a fight."

"I also heard from people that a blue star is stuck on its tail," Frankly mentioned.

"That must be the Crystal Star..." Vivian trailed.

"But it was pointing to a cave," Shadower recalled.

"I guess it was because the cave belongs to that sea monster..." Chopper trailed. "Anyway, if we're going to go out, then we need to get ready. Professor, any ideas on how we can go out to sea?"

"If you could find a ship and a ship navigator, that would work just fine. If you check the harbor to the west of Rogueport, you'll find PLENTY of ships!"

"So we gotta go check a ship out! Check! We better go check now, Contadre! And fast!" Scrub suggested.

"Yeah, I know, Scrub. First we gotta go upgrade Shadower." Chopper headed to Merlon's house, where he upgraded Shadower to Super-Rank. He could use Shadow Smite, which allows him to strike all enemies with his shadow power. It was something he used against Chopper and his friends when they fought him and his brothers.

After that, they went to the west of Rogueport and to the harbor. They saw a lot of ships, and also a Goomba with a pirate bandanna. They walked over to him about a ship.

"Excuse me, sir, but would you know where we can find a ship?" Chopper asked.

"A ship? Well sure, moron…I mean kid!" the Goomba replied. "Go to that black one over there! A perfectly good ship is right there, waiting for you! So, enjoy yourself now, OK?"

"Black ship? Ummmm... OK." the Star Warrior looked over to his friends, who gave him a shrug before going to the black ship.

They looked at the black ship when they got to it. It looked a little creepy to them, but they simply got on it and entered the door that was in front of them. They found some barrels, some crates and some cobwebs in the brown room…but that wasn't all.

_"OoOoOoOooOooOoOoOoOoOoOoO... Who dares enter my ship... Those who enter the next room will be lost in darkness…" _

"Whoa! What was that?!" Chopper gasped, getting a bit startled._  
_

"Er… C-C-Contadre… Maybe we sh-should just t-t-turn back right n-n-now…" Scrub stammered. Chopper felt a little scared, but he knew they had to keep going, so they walked into the next room to find a lot of treasure. Coins, chest, and a lot of other valuable things.

"Whoa! We hit the jackpot here!" Shadower gasped.

"Hey! I take everything back! We're going to be RICH!"

_"OoOoOoOooOooOoOoOoOoOoOoO... You ignored my warnings..." _the scary voice moaned._ "Now come intooooooooo my... _HACKPTH! HORK! AHEM! _...OoOoOoOooOooOoOoOoOoOoOoO..."_

A tornado appeared near them and a big, pirate skull with a captain's hat and blue eyes appeared while letting out coughs.

"What in the world...?" Shadower gawked.

"Bah! That's it! I had enough with this 'OoOoO' business!" the floating skull spat. "I am a pirate, blast it! Pirates. Don't. MOAN! …And what do we have here? A small little kid and some weird friends? Who are you? Answer me now!"

"Well, who're you?" Scrub asked.

"The name's Cortez! Now answer my questions before I'm forced to get it out of you!"

"Well… My name's Chopper, and I would like to ask if we could uh…borrow your ship? Y'know, to go to a cave?" Chopper sweat dropped.

"How can I trust what you're saying, amigo? I know the look on your faces! I KNOW just what you want! You're...after... My TREASURE!" Cortez howled. "And you're asking to use my ship? Forget it! I will not lend my ship to any thieves!"

"But we're not thieves!" Chopper objected. "We only came here because we need to get somewhere! We don't…"

"_**ENOUGH!**_ I'll just have to deal with you! I'll turn your antennas into bone polishers, amigo! Yohohohohohohohohohoho!"

Another tornado surrounded Cortez, and the whole group gaped when they saw his head attacked to a spiny going down to a pile of bones. He also had four arms with four weapons in his hands. They were two swords, a cutlass and a hook.

**Tattle: **_That's Cortrez, the most feared pirate back in the days. I don't understand why he thinks you're after his treasure… Max HP is 40, Attack is 4, Defense is 1. He's not really that tough now after he stopped stealing people's treasure. But watch out! He'll sometimes attack four times, and that could be bad!_

"All right, I'll just try something fast!" Chopper inhaled a cannonball in the room and got a captain's hat, an eye patch on his left eye and a cutlass. "Yup! Now I'm Pirate Chopper! It's kinda interesting, 'cause I got this ability pretty late on my previous adventure..."

"Well I guess I should lower his defense too…" Shadower lowered Cortez's defense by 2 with his Shadow Punch, which only did 4 damage.

"Aaaaaargh! You'll pay for that!" Cortez jabbed Shadower with his weapons, taking 4 out of him. Shadower cringed, but he was able to stand up again.

At that moment, a cannon appeared from Chopper's mouth, and he fired a cannonball at Cortez. After that, Shadower attacked him to take 5 away from him.

"You know, this guy really isn't that tough!" Chopper smirked while guarding Cortez's attack. Now this time he landed a Power Bounce on him, stomping on him seven times.

"Hey! His defense is 0! I can make my attack on him! Awesome!" Scrub butt stomped Cortez's head and left him with 15 HP left. Not too bad at all!

"This fight is actually going down quick…" Vivian trailed. Kirby agreed, but he got hit by Cortez's sword while distracted. Unfortunately, the lowered defense left on Cortez was gone, bringing his defense back to 1.

"Yohohoho! Now my defense is back to normal!" Cortez cackled.

"Aw, man! Oh well, we still got this." Chopper assured as he jumped up and attacked Cortez with his cutlass, and then Shadower lowered his defense again with a Shadow Punch.

Cortez knew that he wouldn't last long, so he knocked away Chopper's ability with his sword and then raised his attack by 4. Everyone gulped, but that was the same exact damage as Meta Knight's Mach Tornado.

"Uh oh… That can't be good. But that's just the same as Meta Knight's Mach Tornado." Chopper ended up tossing a fireball at Cortrez, leaving a burn on him. Since he was low on HP, Vivian raised a finger and let her Fiery Jinx finish him off. Her attack was able to destroy Cortez's spine and leave nothing but his head.

"Yeah! We did it!" Scrub cheered.

"Good work taking down his spine, Vivian," Chopper thanked, making Vivian blush.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MY TREASURE!" Cortez cried as he dropped 24 Star Points and then shrunk to a smaller size. When he looked at the group, he didn't have anything left in him.

"_…I am done for…_"

Actually, that wasn't the case. He was able to grow back to his normal size and leave everyone alarmed.

"Yohohohohohohohohoho! You are foolish, amigo! I am not dead!" Cortez roared. "Well, technically, I was already dead...but my spirit endures, tied to my treasure! There's nothing you can do to me! I do not live, amigo! And now I'm going to finish this!"

"I'm telling you! I'm NOT here for your treasure!" Chopper cried.

"Cortez? What's going on?" Everyone heard a different voice and turned around to see an old, brown Bob-omb with a white captain's hat, a gray mustache, a pirate ship's steering wheel on his back and blue feet.

"Admiral Bobbery? Is that you?" Vivian gasped.

"Vivian! It's so good to see you!" Bobbery smiled. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine!" Vivian grabbed Chopper and brought him over to her old friend. "This is Chopper. He's someone I'm traveling with. C'mon, Chopper! Say hi!"

"Ummmm... Hi." Chopper greeted.

"Why hello there, boy!"

"Are you the person who owns this ship?"

"Oh ho ho! Well, I don't OWN it, but I travel the seas with Cortez!" Bobbery chuckled. "…But what was going on here earlier?"

"Ah, Admiral Bobbery! These five tried to steal my treasure!" Cortez explained. "Now that you're here, you can just get them out."

"Now now, Cortez! There's no need to go at everyone who comes here. This boy's just a friend of Vivian's! He didn't seem like he was trying to do any harm anyway."

"I only came here because I needed to use your ship to go find a Crystal Star in a cave."

"…Crystal Star, you say? Why, I hunted them with Mario!" Bobbery recalled. "…Do you know him?"

"Yeah, of course I do!"

"Well, any friend of Mario's is a friend of mine!" Bobbery grinned. "And did you say you need to go to a cave? Unagi's Cave to be exact? Hmmm… We were thinking about sailing there."

"So, you're willing to take us out?"

"Hmmmmmm... All right, my boy! I'll be honored to take you and your friends there! Only because you know about those Crystal Stars. Did you know that I traveled with Mario and your friend Vivian once?"

"No, not at all! How was it?" Chopper asked.

"Oh, it was great! There was so many things I got to see, especially after my wife Scarlette passed away... I'm sure she's pleased to see me go out and do something for once."

"Ummmm... Hey, how about starting the ship?" Scrub suggested.

Bobbery let out a chuckle. "All right, then! Cortez! Start the ship!"

"All right…" Cortez grumbled as he made the ship move thanks to the Skull Gem, which made the ship begin to take off.

"Whoa! This is pretty cool!" Chopper gaped. "Well, I guess getting to that Crystal Star won't be as hard as I thought it would be!"

"Poyo... (Yeah! But I wonder how it'll turn out…)" Kirby wondered as the ship left the harbor and to the sea. Their quest to find the Sapphire Star has just begun!


	32. Stranded on Pudgy Island

**CHAPTER 5**

**-Eels and Islands-**

Chopper was relaxing outside in a chair while wearing sunglasses on the ship. Scrub was sitting in a chair right next to him. He, too, was wearing sunglasses and he held a tropical drink in his hand with a little lemon hanging from the cup.

"Man, this is the life, I'll tell you!" Scrub smirked as he looked over at Chopper and thought he saw a lot of girls around him. A lot of them were pretty, and even girls like Bow and Vivian appeared around him as well. But when he rubbed his eyes, he noticed they were gone. "What in the world...? That was so weird..."

"Uhh… Scrub… Is there anything wrong? Why are you looking at me in a confused way?" Chopper asked, which made Scrub jump up a bit.

"I thought I saw something. Er… Never mind that." Scrub began to lie down again. Kirby was just sleeping on the ground, and Vivian was looking at the ocean, with her hair blowing through the wind. She sighed as she looked out at the beautiful ocean, which looked as clear as she remembered it to be.

"Y'know, nothing really has been going on lately," Vivian realized. "How far are we from Unagi's Cave anyway?"

Bobbery got up onto look-out and began to check what lied ahead. "Well, I do see an island nearing us. But I can see the cave further ahead past a few islands! Yes! That must be it! Unagi's Cave! Chopper, my boy! We must make haste if we are to get to the cave!"

Chopper sprang up and saw the cave a little further away, but he stopped when a giant purple eel flew up in the air and caught a Cheep Cheep in front of them. Not only that, but the eel chomped off a piece of the ship.

"Ack! What's going on! The ship! It's…" Shadower could see the ship tilting, and they could hear a voice, too. The sound of Unagi and his size alone was enough to make most of the crew's eyes shoot wide open.

"Why… This ship has a good taste to it!" Unagi hissed as Bobbery jumped down from the look-out. "It's a good thing I'll sink it, because I'll be having another meal!"

"What? Who dares attack my ship?!" roared Cortez as he appeared outside of his ship. "…Unagi! Well you seem rather hungry! But it's too bad you won't be having any meals today!"

"Ah... So you're the legendary Cortez! I heard so much about you... 'Tis a shame that your ship will be going!"

Cortez had other plans, however. He made his ship surrounded in blue flames and managed to reach the island. They had to stop right by the beach because it would sink by the docks because of the damage.

"Phew… We barely made it out of there. Is everyone safe?" Bobbery asked. Scrub was shivering, while Kirby got up, noticing that they were on an island rather than a cave.

"Poyo? (Huh? What's going on? Are we at the cave?)" Kirby took a look by the edge and saw the sand. "Poyo! (This isn't a cave! It's some kind of beach! Hey! Can someone tell me what's going on?!)"

"Well, Kirby… Unagi made his move." Chopper sighed. "He attacked the ship and now we're stranded on…Pudgy Island? What's so pudgy about this island?"

"Hold on a second..." Scrub paused. "You were able to somehow use your magic to get us over here... So, why can't you do that to get us to the cave?"

"My magic is limited, amigo," Cortez explained. "If I were to try that, I'd be very exhausted. I'm connected to this ship, you know, so what ever I do affects me as well! And right now, I've used up a lot of my power to bring this ship over here. You didn't expect some consequences to my power?"

"Oh... Well that makes sense..." Chopper trailed. "I'm going to get off the ship now. It's weird that this place is called Pudgy Island..."

"Where'd you hear that from?" Shadower asked.

"Over there," he pointed to a sign by the green grass that was by the sand as he jumped down. He could feel the water rising up to his feet. Scrub jumped down with him as well, but he didn't enjoy the water.

"Brrrr! This water's cold!" Scrub's teeth began to chatter until he got out. It was warm on this island, but the water wasn't. The nice weather around the area was nice, though.

"It's really nice here! I wonder what could be around here anyway?" Vivian wondered.

Chopper decided to whack at one of the trees and a coconut came down. He gave it to Scrub to eat because he liked coconuts. Chopper gave one to everyone else too. Kirby put his coconut in his mouth, but Chopper pulled it out and smashed the coconut to crack it open.

"Just drink the milk that's in it. Don't eat the whole coconut." Chopper suggested as Kirby drank the milk from the coconut.

"Poyo, (Not bad, I suppose,)" Kirby commented.

"So… Wait, we're just going to stay at this ship and do nothing? I don't know if that's really fun… Bobbery, what do you plan on doing?" Shadower asked as Bobbery jumped down from the ship.

"Well, there's not much I can do. I explored this island once. I already know what's here, so I'll leave you five to explore it." Bobbery declared. "I'm sure you'll meet some nice people there! There's a small village if you need to buy some items too! I'm going to be helping Cortez fix this ship while you guys go out. So, good luck!"

"Thanks!" Chopper walked toward the direction the arrow was pointing and headed through the small jungle with everyone else. They could see Spear Guys in this small area, so Chopper simply threw a fireball at them to burn the leaves off them and make them flee.

"I never saw Shy Guys around here…" Vivian trailed. "I wonder why they're here. I never saw them at Keelhaul Key, Riverside Station, Fahr Outpost, and the Palace of Shadow. I guess we might be seeing Shy Guys now."

"The Palace of Shadow?" Shadower gawked, getting his attention. "Isn't that where…"

Chopper instantly gave Shadower a sign not to say another word, and he just nodded. They went off with defeating the Spear Guy with a Shadow Punch and they kept going.

"Why don't we check what's in these bushes!" Scrub suggested as he checked one bush and found an Earthquake item, so he held onto it for now. There wasn't much else around here, unfortunately, so they simply headed off to a village with a couple of tents and small houses. Toads, Koopas, and Bob-ombs could be seen here.

"Poyo… (So this is the village, huh? Nothing really exciting here. Is there anything we can do?)" Kirby asked.

But before they could do anything else, they stopped when they saw two blue fire spirits with yellow eyes come into town, making all the people around shriek in terror.

"EEEEEEEEEK! Everyone! They're here!" Everyone in the village ran away as soon as the enemies showed. The two Embers cackled as everyone hid in their huts and were about to burn one of the huts down. However, they were interrupted by Chopper and his friends, who got in their fighting stances. The two Embers turned around and got angry.

"Now now, no need to get all angry. We're the good guys." Chopper assured. "We help people. Just tell us what's wrong and we'll try to help you, OK?"

Embers: ?

"I don't think they're friendly, Chopper…" Vivian trailed before the Embers charged. Chopper jumped back and was about to throw a fireball at them, until Vivian grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Don't! These enemies are made of fire! If you end up using more fire on them, it will just make them stronger! If only we had water. We could take them out easily then…"

"Well if fire won't work, then I guess my hammer will just have to do," Chopper walked over to the Ember and brought his hammer down on it, and then he did a back flip, making the audience go nuts because of his stylish move.

"Awesome stylish, Contadre! I guess I'll attack." Scrub walked over to the first Ember and used his Gulp to spit it out at the other, defeating the first Ember, while leaving the other with only 3 HP left. Of course, this one rammed into Chopper, but he was thankfully not burned.

"OK, I guess I'll finish it off," Chopper whacked both Embers with his hammer out of the village and got 6 Star Points from the battle. Now that the Embers were gone, everybody came out and saw them gone.

"They're gone? YESSS!" the Toad cheered. "Now we can enjoy ourselves without them bothering us! Thank you so much, people! We're saved!"

A pink Bob-omb Buddy, a Koopa with a blue bandanna with some scars on his head and a strange-looking guy in a purple hat and yellow overalls came out too and noticed them.

"Hey, were you guys the ones to beat those Embers? If so, thanks for doing that!" the pink Bob-omb thanked. "The name's Bambo! This here is Kooplang, and our new buddy here is Four-Eyes!"

"Hey, there, guys! …What's with Four-Eyes? Why does he remind me of someone I know?" Chopper wondered as Four-Eyes jumped up a little.

"Buh huh huh? No! I'm not someone you know!" Four-Eyes cried. "I'm not working for those X-Nauts either! Trust me! I'm just some guy that no one cares about. I'm being honest here. Even ask my buddies!"

"Er… I don't know what you said, Four-Eyes." Kooplang gawked. "Anyway… What brings you people here? You got stranded here because of that eel? That's why we're on this island."

"Poyo… (That turtle guy creeps me out…)" Kirby whispered to Chopper, who nodded in agreement.

"Well, we came here to go defeat that eel," Chopper declared. "He's got the Crystal Star we need anyway! So don't worry, guys! We're going to take care of that eel and make the seas a safe place! I can promise you that."

"Pffffffft…" Bambo began to chuckle and then began to laugh. "BA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Oh, man! Seriously! You actually think you can take down an eel that has gobbled down so many people?! Good one, buddy! That's gotta be one of the best ones I've ever heard so far!"

Kooplang smacked him to get him to stop laughing. "Uh… I think he's telling the truth."

Upon realizing this, Bambo's eyes widened. "Are you CRAZY?! That eel will eat you whole! Do you know what his favorite food is?! _Bob-ombs!_ That's why I can't leave this island! The only safe place now is land! Because of Unagi, we can't go fishing, and we can't go swimming either! He's the reason why foreign fish usually mess up the food chain! He eats ANYTHING in sight!"

"Eats anything in sight?" Scrub gulped. "Oh… That doesn't sound good. I don't know what to think about this…"

"Don't be scared. I fought things bigger than that eel." Chopper assured, giving Bambo a smug look. "I fought a Star God that's stronger than that thing! He even had 1,000 HP and an Attack of 28! I bet Unagi doesn't have THAT much HP! Not to mention I beat a robot and a Clubba!"

"Really? Wow… That's pretty cool. I never knew you could do THAT." Kooplang gaped. "Hmmm… If you want to fight that eel, you'll have to take the safe way. You need to travel through this island and two others. The sea isn't too deep by those areas when swimming, so you won't be a target to that eel. Unfortunately, boats cannot go there, so you can only swim…or surf."

"So we need to do that? That's not really bad. I guess we might as well go for it, Chopper." Vivian suggested as Chopper turned to her and nodded.

"How far do we need to go through this island?" Scrub wondered. "I wanna know so we don't get all lost."

"I still think you guys are nuts," Bambo mentioned. "It's just like with the other people that went out to fight him."

"That's still not stopping us from going," Chopper declared.

"Poyo! (We'll get that eel and the Crystal Star! Come on, guys! We should get going!)" Kirby declared, with everyone else following him into the jungle. There, they found a slope going up to a gap. If they jumped down, they would fall on some sand.

"OK, Scrub! Looks like you'll be of some use here!" Chopper noted as Scrub smirked and let his buddy get on him so he could flutter over the gap. Vivian, Kirby, and Shadower could get over there easily, while Chopper and Scrub were forced to take that way.

"Poyo. (There's not much around here, but I think we can get through this place,)" Kirby stated as he saw the tree ahead that could help them reach a high ledge ahead. "Poyo. (I think that tree can help us go to the next part of the island.)"

"Good idea, Kirby!" Chopper rushed over to the tree and began to climb up it. Scrub did the same thing as well as Kirby. Vivian and Shadower simply floated up instead of climbing up the tree. Now that they did that, they went to the pathway ahead, where they found themselves in an area with a bridge. Below them was a river that led down to the ocean, and a blue bird that had goggles on. They could charge down at them and deal some heavy damage with their beaks. They had 9 HP, from what they could see.

"So… What are those birds? Bird Pilots? We can take that bird!" Scrub scoffed.

Before he could throw an egg at it, Chopper inhaled it and got a Native American headdress on his head and two feathers on the headdress that could be transformed into feathery wings whenever he wanted to fly. He also got small two red lines on the side of his face, just to help those to know that he became Wing Chopper.

"Already taken care of, Scrub!" Chopper assured, showing off his wings. "Now I got this Wing ability to help me in any situations!"

"...Showoff."

"Hey! I'm not a showoff!" he retorted before he walked across the bridge to the other side, where they all found a small mountain to go up to the ledge above them.

"Well, there you go, Chopper! Now you can fly up there! …But how is Scrub going to get up there? Wait a second…" Shadower grabbed Scrub, which made him struggle.

"Hey! Lemme go!" Scrub cried. "You can't just grab me like that! I'm too awesome!"

"Hold still, Scrub," the Shadow Brother groaned as he managed to bring him up onto the high ledge. He let the Yoshi go, who stopped struggling and realized where he was.

"Oh... Well that's one way to solve something. Good work!"

"There's a problem that's solved! Now I just need to go up there!" Chopper jumped and suddenly had wings that allowed him to fly up. Kirby held his breath and he began to float up while Vivian extended her ghost-like tail to reach the high ledge.

"Well, I don't see much around here. We should just…" Chopper turned around and he saw a yellow Piranha with red polka dots, and green lips rise up. They were Poison Piranhas and had about 10 HP. Not only that, but they could poison them, so they had to be careful.

"Uh oh… This can't be good. Wait… They're plants! I know what to do!" Chopper threw a fireball at the Poison Piranha, burning it down. Kirby didn't exactly feel good about this.

"Poyo? (Uh… Is it really a good idea to burn plants, Chopper?)" Kirby asked. "Poyo. (I know they're deadly, but this can something cause something bad to happen, you know? The grass could go on fire and burn us all…except maybe Vivian.)"

"Yeah, you got a point, Kirby…but it's not too bad. Let's just see what else is around here." Chopper walked to the next area to find two Embers circling a palm tree. They didn't hear anybody's voice, but they knew there were two circling the tree.

"Huh? Look at those Embers! What on earth are they doing around that tree?" Vivian asked.

"Beats me," Shadower shrugged as Chopper attacked one with his hammer, landing a First Strike on the Embers. After Chopper made his next move with his hammer, the first Ember was gone. Shadower attacked the other Ember with his Shadow Punch, since he didn't actually touch it. It left the Ember with 3 HP left.

"This isn't too bad! We're really bringing the house down right now!" Scrub grinned until he got burnt by some fire from the Ember, taking 3 damage. At least Chopper finished it off with his Feather Gun by shooting a feather at it and getting 6 Star Points.

"Yeah! That was awesome!" the white Yoshi fist pumped. "…To be honest, this island kind of reminds me of Yoshi's Island. I wonder how Yoshis even lay eggs anyway. Don't the females do that kind of stuff? …In fact, how is an egg made for others?"

"Er… Scrub… I don't know, really…" Shadower trailed. "Well, yeah, I probably DO know… But you just came out of an egg, right? Maybe you should wait until you're older, OK? You can hear this when you're about uh… fourteen."

"Yeah, I'm kinda confused… How exactly do females lay eggs? Do any of you got any ideas?" Chopper asked. Vivian shook her head, knowing that she was a Shadow Siren and all…and that Shadow Sirens never learned this.

"Wait until you're older so…" Before Shadower could continue, they all heard some leaves bristling up in the palm tree. They all stopped and began to listen. Scrub's heart began to race as he looked around his surroundings.

"What's that noise? …Is there some kind of dragon or snake here? I don't like those… If there are, somebody hide me!" Scrub began to get in the fetal position as Shadower sighed and made him invisible in case if there was anything dangerous around them.

"I think it's coming from the tree," Chopper heard the bristling coming from the tree, so he pulled out his hammer. "I'll go take a look at it."

Chopper walked quietly toward the tree, grasping his hammer. He quickly whacked at the tree, and suddenly a bunch of coconuts fell on his head, knocking him out. Not to mention a pink thing came down on the ground, with its head stuck in the ground.

"Poyo! (I got this!)" Kirby smacked Chopper in the face in order to wake him up. He did, and he didn't look happy. But Kirby told him that he was knocked out, and he understood and didn't get angry.

"All right, now let's see what's over here," Chopper saw orange feet sticking out of the pink body, and when he pulled the person out, he saw a pink Bob-omb with a blonde ponytail that was like a fuse. She also had a red pirate bandanna with white polka dots and white heart-shaped wings that spun around when she was about to explode.

"Huh? Oh, it's only a pink Bob-omb. Thank goodness! Scrub! It's OK! It's nothing dangerous!" Chopper assured, making Scrub move and become visible. When he noticed the Bob-omb, she slowly got up and shook her head quickly.

"Arrr! It's good to be back up! Thanks, matey!" the Bob-omb thanked. "I be stuck in that tree for hours 'cause of those Embers! I thank ye fer the help, lads!"

"Ummm… Who the heck are you?" Chopper asked, looking confused, along with his friends. "Are you one of the Bob-omb Buddies or something?"

"Arrr! Me name? Me name be **Bombette**! Or, at least that's what I think." Bombette wondered. "I don't know much now, but I be told that I have bombnesia!"

"Bombnesia?" Scrub gawked. "What's bombnesia?"

"You know, I have no idea..." Shadower trailed.

"It sounds like amnesia, but it sounds like it's for a Bob-omb..." Vivian pondered.

"Wait… I remember Bruce having an ex-girlfriend named Bombette." Chopper realized. "Could this actually be her? I remember she left after being kicked by Koopla. …This is where she came? I don't believe it. Hey, Bombette! Do you know anything about Bruce?"

"Bruce? Who is this Bruce ye speak of?" Bombette wondered. "I was told I have bombnesia. I don't even remember anything. Sorry, matey… I wish I could, but I cannot."

"Well what are you doing here?" Vivian asked. "There must be a reason for you being here. Are you here because of Unagi?"

"No, I came here lookin' fer treasure! Yes, I think that's what I wanted. Have ye seen any treasure around here?"

"No, we haven't found any," Chopper replied, shaking his head. "In fact, the reason why we're here is to go look for a Crystal Star that's in Unagi's Cave."

"Yarr? A Crystal Star? Why, that sounds like treasure! Tell me yer name, little boy! I would sure like to go treasure huntin' with ye!"

"It's Chopper. Not too hard to memorize."

"Chopper, eh? Well, I'll stay with ye fer now. I suppose that's what's probably best. But I'll make sure I'm useful to ye with me explosions!"

**Bombette has joined your party! Press X to have Chopper throw Bombette, who will then walk a few steps and explode! Use her explosions to blast cracks open, destroy walls, and activate switches! You can even throw her onto ledges above you! In battle, she can detonate on ground-bound enemies! Or, if you like, you can throw her at an air-born enemy with her Bomb Throw!**

"So, now! Now that I'm here, let's search for treasure!" Bombette declared.

"Well, I guess it's good to have another female partner here," Vivian said in a relieved voice. "I felt a little lonely without a girl to talk to, but I guess it should be OK now."

"All right, this is good! Another party member! And one that can explode! Awesome!" Scrub cheered as they moved on to the next area, where they found a crack right near a wall ahead.

"Well, I think this be me chance, Chopper! Throw me at the crack and I'll let it rip!" Chopper nodded and picked Bombette up in order to throw her by the wall. Her ponytail acted like a fuse, and she blew up the wall, making a cave entrance appear.

"A cave? Well this is interesting! Let's see what's in here!" Chopper removed his Wing ability and rushed into the cavern, with Bombette following up ahead. Unfortunately, it was dark, and they couldn't see anything.

"Uh oh… It's dark in here. That's not good. How are we supposed to see what's here?" Chopper then saw a Lava Bubble appear right in front of him, which made him shriek…

Until he inhaled it.

"What kind of shriek was that? That's…a weird shriek…" Bombette trailed.

"But he's ten. What can you expect?" Vivian shrugged, while Bombette was left confused. However, she paused when she saw Chopper change.

He got himself a fiery gold tiara with a green gem in the middle and light red skin with his gloves and shoes a darker red color. He spun himself around like he was perfoming a Spin Attack and the flames made the room light up. The ground was filled with water, but it only went up to part of Chopper's feet. Water was also dripping down from the ceiling.

"Interesting…" Shadower trailed as the drops of water came down on Chopper's fiery head, but they were small, so it didn't get rid of the flames on his head.

"All right… Let's see what's around us." Chopper walked through the water to the next room, where they found a black chest by a shining light from a hole in the ceiling. The sky could also be seen from that hole.

"Hey! You! Over there! Can you hear me?" the Black Chest began to wiggle around as everyone else walked over to the chest.

"Of course I can hear you!"

"Oh, thank goodness! I was hoping that you would be the legendary hero!" it sighed. "Listen, being in this chest for many years, it's cramped up! I can't really do a thing in here except sing songs. Of course, the dead people in the next area won't let me…"

"Dead people?" At this point, everyone began to shiver in fear.

"Yeah, there's a pile of bones in the other room! I guess that's where the people who died in this cave are. Or perhaps that's the remains of the people who got eaten by that eel. Yeah, that's it! Listen here though… I can't really stay in here, and I would like to be outta here before that eel comes here! Could ya give me a hand?"

"Umm… You're basically going to curse me, aren't you?" Chopper wondered.

"Oh… That? OK, I'll admit it. It's some kind of curse, but it HELPS you." the Black Chest confessed. "It's not meant to make you suffer. That's what the others try to do. Don't worry, I'm not like them. I can pinky swear!"

"…But ye don't have any pinkies," Bombette mentioned.

"Oh, yeah, that's true. No pinkies here. It's REALLY dangerous to be here now, and I don't wanna be trapped in here forever. I'll give you a new ability that should help you here! I SWEAR!"

"OK… Fine. I'll believe you for right now." Chopper sighed. "I'll help you find the Black Key."

"GREAT! You might wanna be quick. I heard that the key is by those pile of bones. Go fast!"

They all listen to the chest's words and quickly headed over to the next room before they could let themselves become in grave danger.

* * *

**Do you REALLY think I was going to leave the whole Bombette story out of the sequel? Nope! Now we know where she is, but now there's a big problem with her... Oh yeah, and a pile of bones in the next room? That's...rather creepy. But whatever. We're going to probably be leaving Pudgy Island next chapter and meeting someone else!**

**And yes... Bombnesia. I went there. *shot*  
**

**...And this is the last update before school, unfortunately. Updates on the story might not be as much now, which is a shame.  
**


	33. Come Here, Slick!

**Like I said before, updates will be a little slower than before. It's my not fault! Blame school for its long days and homework stuff! But enough about that. This isn't school. This is Paper Chopper, and I'm supposed to give you the chapter, so here.**

* * *

Everybody saw a huge lump in the upper far right of the room. In fact, there were piles of bones everywhere in the room, which made Scrub shiver and turn white (even though he's already a white color).

"HOLY…" Scrub covered his mouth before he could go screaming again. The only one who didn't look afraid was Bombette, who began to sniff the air.

"Ah! Do ye all smell that?" Bombette asked.

"Ummmm... I don't smell anything..." Chopper trailed.

"That's the smell of the dead! It smells so good! Don't ye all agree? As a pirate, this is what ye be findin' in caves an' down at the sea! …Oh, and also some pirate battles, but I'll just blow things up instead. After all, I _am_ a Bob-omb."

"Um… Chopper… I don't like this place." Vivian said worriedly as she went down to his size and went behind him, while Kirby's eyes went white in fear. "Bombette, I understand you like this, but I don't think we do."

"Kirby?" Chopper began waving his arm in front of his face. He than smacked him lightly to get his attention, which made him jump up in fright.

"Poyo! (AGH! I'm being attacked!)" cried Kirby.

"Calm down, Kirby! It's OK! It's safe right now… Well, I wouldn't SAY that right now. There's a pile of bones around here." Chopper took a deep breath and walked around the room. Small splashes could be heard from his movement, and the Cave Bones simply lied there. These bones had blue boots instead of green, like the Dull Bones.

Chopper looked up at the top of the bone pile and saw something that interested him. There was a Black Key sitting on the top, which made him smile, but he knew that he had to go up those piles of bones.

"Climbing up those bones might not be safe. You could get stabbed or even stub your toe." Shadower mentioned. "There's NO way you're going to do that, Chopper. I mean, you've gone through a lot of pain, especially when you were beaten up by Meta Knight."

"Arr! Leave this to me!" Bombette climbed up the pile of bones and once she got to the Black Key, she realized something: she had no arms to carry it. "…This be a problem now... I've got no arms to help me!"

"Then try to bring it down here," Chopper suggested.

"Hold on a second..." Vivian trailed, realizing something. "Goombella could carry a book around her, and she had no arms. Yet... Bombette here can't carry something like a key down?"

"Y'know, Vivian makes a good point there," Scrub agreed as one of the Dry Bone's eyes began to glow blue and swatted Bombette off the pile of bones and into the shallow water. "Oh, crud! Those bones are alive!"

"Are you all right, Bombette?" Shadower asked, helping Bombette up, but she merely pushed him out of the way with a bold look.

"I don't need ye help!" Bombette scoffed. "I'm a pirate! Pirates are capable of doin' things themselves!"

"Ummmm... Yeah..." Chopper sweat dropped.

Three Cave Bones rose from the pile of bones with its scary blue glowing eyes. What else did these Cave Bones have? Well, their heads looked a little cracked because of being in the pile for so long.

"_Join usssssssss…_" the three Cave Bones moaned as they pulled their leg off to use it as a weapon. Bombette stepped back and got in a fighting stance, her fuse ready to go off. Of course, explosions could kill these guys, as well as fire.

"Whoa! Wait, these guys are affected by fire and explosions." Scrub realized. "So… I guess Contadre, Vivian and Bombette can take care of these creepy guys! Give 'em all ya got now!"

"I think these guys will go down in no time!" Chopper unleashed his fire breath upon the Cave Bones that was at the front, burning it down because fire could destroy bones in the Paper Mario universe somehow (unlike in the Mario games, where fire doesn't work).

"Now it be me time to show ye me moves!" Bombette's fuse began to go off and she ran toward the next Cave Bones and exploded right in front of it, destroying it as well. Everyone's mouth was left agape as she landed on the ground.

"Poyo… (Holy… That was really cool!)" Kirby gasped.

"Indeed!" Chopper Superguarded the last Cave Bone's bone and then defeated it with his fire, giving them 6 Star Points and also dropping the Black Key. After getting it, they headed back to the black chest.

"Yeah, yeah. Whoop-de-doo. You got the key." the Black Chest said sarcastically. "Let's have a little party. Now just get me outta this stupid chest already."

"OK! Sheesh!" Chopper sighed as he unlocked the Black Chest. "No need to be rude."

"All right. Here we go… Since you're just itching to get this over with… A-HEM! _**WHEE HEE! FOOOOOLS!**_"

The chest opened up, and as usual, Chopper found himself in the blue background with the yellow eyes and mouth above him in the background.

_**"****You dopes fell right into my absolutely positively brilliant trap! And now you will SUFFER FOR IT! Oh, yeah! I am so EVIL! Bathe in the foul, awful stench of my armpits! …Wait a minute, what? That wasn't it… Ah! You fools will be cursed forever for you insane stupidity! You knew you would regret it, and now you'll regret it even more with this curse! B-E C-U-R-S-E-D!"**_

There were a couple of white flashes and Chopper became cursed. "Oh, whoop-de-doo. I'm cursed. I'm sure suffering..."

_**"Hey! Don't copy me like that! ...Uh, I mean... Whee hee hee hee! Now look at you! You're cursed, but good! Now you'll suffer, suffer, and SUFFER! …Wait, that's maybe a little too much. Are you all right? That didn't hurt, did it? Bah! You're cursed, and that's how it'll be! If you see a panel with a wave, you will be able to surf on the water—but only if you have the Water ability."**_

"Really? That sounds interesting…" Chopper said sarcastically

_**"****Really? It's that good? Ahem! Whee hee hee hee! That's right! It's interesting enough to make you fall on your knees! Now I must be off, worm! Oh, and hey, listen… Thanks for letting me do my thing. I feel MUCH better now."**_

The background turned back to normal as the cursed background crumpled up and disappeared. Everyone else was left confused for a moment, as if they were wondering, "What the heck just happened?!"

"Well now… That curse didn't seem bad now, did it?" Bombette wondered.

They couldn't do much now, so they walked over to where the water began to get deeper. They could see a shining light coming from a pathway underwater.

"Let's check through here," Vivian suggested.

Once they went underwater, Chopper's Fire ability was gone, so instead, he inhaled the water. From that, Chopper got himself a golden crown containing a cresting wave on his head. He also changed to a translucent blue color with purple shoes.

"Well I guess this can help!" Chopper swam out of the cave and when he surfaced, they were in a small pond right by a pathway going to the beach right by an island up ahead. They didn't ask any questions, so they tried to cross the ocean to the next island, but it wasn't easy.

"Dang it! I hate that I can't stay underwater forever like Contadre! Your so lucky, man!" Scrub grumbled, who was swimming up on the surface, while Chopper was swimming faster due to his Water ability.

"Y'know… This is a really nice ability to be using! I'm liking this!" Chopper smiled, but unfortunately, before he could do more swimming, he bumped into sand, which meant they were right near the next island. Thankfully, the waves were able to bring them all to shore, due to them being big. It even wiped Chopper's ability away, so he was lying on the sand by the shore of the next island without his ability.

"Well, that was nice, wasn't it..." Shadower moaned.

"Arrr! Well at least I ain't seasick." Bombette sighed as she got herself up.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee hee! Well now! You certainly got yourself washed up on shore down, didn't you?" Chopper raised his head and saw Beldam grinning down at him. Marilyn stood there as if she didn't have any idea what was going on. Oh, and not to mention the pirate Goomba from before was with them too!

"Hey! Look at that! He's even got sand on his face!" the Goomba cackled before Beldam smacked his face to shut him up while Chopper wiped all the sand off him. The rest of Chopper's friends were able to get up as well.

"Sis? What are you doing here? Have you come back to stop us again?" Vivian asked, getting in a fighting stance. "…And have you ever known about Tipral and a possible relation between us? I want answers right now, Beldam!"

"So you kept that girl with you, huh? Fine. Yes. The whole thing about Tipral is true." Beldam admitted. "Now, Vivian… No need to get all fussy with me. However… You DID betray me and went off with your little boyfriend! So there's no point in telling you everything."

"Hey! Vivian's not my girlfriend!" Chopper growled. "You take that back!"

"Well, I'm certainly not going to take that back, Chopper! I'm sure she is!"

"Then who be the pirate Goomba person?" Bombette asked, eyeing the Goomba.

"Oh, him? He's not really a Goomba. He's just that freak-in-a-sheet that I replaced after Vivian left." At that moment, the pirate Goomba was surrounded by purple smoke. When it was gone, a white Duplighost with a blue party hat and bow-tie appeared before them.

"Umm… Yeah… My name is Doopliss… Remember?" he muttered.

"Now then! We were sent to take care of you, and that's what we plan on doing!" Beldam declared. Come my sort-of-lovelies! Marilyn! Freak-sheet!"

"_**Wait!**_" Beldam turned around to Doopliss, who blurted it out. "Lemme take him! Don't worry, I got this in the bag anyway!"

"Wait... Him? Take on us?" Chopper blinked as Doopliss glared at him.

"Hey! Slick! You remind me of that guy who threw me outta my home! I don't like you, and I bet you don't like me! So… I'm going to take you on!"

Doopliss walked up to face Chopper, while Beldam face palmed before she and Marilyn decided to let him take care of them. They sank into the shadows, and once they were gone, the Duplighost smirked at turned back to them.

"So now! You gonna run, Slick? Or are you gonna fight?" Doopliss wondered. Chopper got in his fighting stance and so did the rest of his friends. "Yuk yuk yuk! I thought so! All right, let's settle this!"

**Tattle: **_So Doopliss joined back with Beldam? Wow… That's something. He's a Duplighost, if you don't have a clue. Max HP is 40, Attack is 4, and Defense is 0. He's pretty much a pushover, so you can probably beat him down._

"Meh, I guess he's not tough. I can land a burn on him!" Chopper tossed a fireball at Doopliss, which burned him. He would've made a cheesy comment toward him, but he decided not to.

"I guess I should make me attack as well!" Bombette rushed over to Doopliss and exploded in front of him. Instead of walking like some Bob-ombs would do (like Bruce), she dashed straight at Doopliss instead to explode.

"Oof! Man, Slick! You sure got some power in you! I'll give you that! But let's see how you take THIS!" Doopliss flew up and came down at Chopper with a headbutt, knocking him back into the water.

"Poyo! (Uh oh!)" Kirby used his Inhale to get Chopper back onto the beach. After that, the pink puffball used his Cartwheel and rammed right into Doopliss, burying him in the sand.

"Oh, great! Now I can't get outta here…" Doopliss struggled to get out of the sand, but he ended up getting stomped on by Chopper's Jump attack. He needed a new plan to attack them, and this one wasn't working.

_"Hmmmmm... I think I have an idea! This should surely work!" _Doopliss thought, his W-shaped mouth turning to a grin_._

His eyes began to glow and he suddenly disappeared. He then appeared right in front of Bombette and suddenly turned into a thunder cloud. Instead of attacking her, he floated above everyone and struck lightning down on them.

"YEOW! Man! That HURT!" Scrub cried.

"I'll say! I think we need to be extra careful against him…" Shadower suggested.

When Doopliss turned back to normal and laughed, the shadowy ghost punched him with his Shadow Punch, followed by Chopper's hammer.

"OK, time to regroup here… So you think you're all being a bunch of heavies, huh? Well, if you can be heavy, then I'll be heavy! Check this out!" Doopliss's eyes began to glow red and he once again disappeared. Chopper noticed something scanning him before he noticed another Chopper rise up from the ground.

"You gotta be kidding me…" Chopper face palmed. "There's ANOTHER shape-shifter here?! This isn't right. AT ALL!"

"Yuk yuk yuk yuk! Oh, MAN! Am I glad to be in a body like this!" Doopliss cackled. "It makes me feel like I can get all the girls now with a cute appearance! …But now you'll be fighting yourself! Hey, look at me! I'm a hero named Chopper!"

After that, Chopper got stomped on by Doopliss, so he returned the favor with his own jump. Vivian left a burn on him to weaken him a little more with her Shade Fist.

"Just a little more and I got this!" Doopliss went for another stomp on Chopper, but he Superguarded the attack, leaving the fake Chopper with only 4 HP left. That was good enough to take him out now.

"You know what? Go ahead, Scrub! You finish the fight!" Chopper suggested.

"Really? That's awesome!" Scrub smirked and before he fluttered over to Doopliss to beat him down with his Ground Pound. This made the Duplighost turn back to himself and before he became dizzy and collapsed.

"Noooooo! I lost!" he cried as he dropped 18 Star Points. Chopper also gained a level, so he chose to upgrade his BP to 18.

Doopliss slowly got back up, dazed, but he seemed disappointed. "Aw, RATS! I just got beat down by a little ten year old kid! I oughta get back at you with some pranks! …But that will be next time! I'm outta here!"

He ran away…but he went toward the beach instead. "Hold it! This is the wrong way!" Doopliss turned back and turned into a bird, flying away.

"So Doopliss is back with Beldam again?" Vivian gaped. "I wonder why he chose to side with her… This is something I don't understand…"

"Arr! Who cares! We beat him, and now we can explore this island! Let us go, Chopper! We have some treasure to find!" Bombette headed on into the inner part of the island, so Chopper followed her, and so did everybody else.

* * *

**Outer part of the island-**

Vivian floated over to the sign and read what the island was called. "So this is called Swelling Island? That's…really weird, but I don't know where exactly the name comes from. Do any of you guys know?"

"Well, it might be 'cause of this lump," Bombette eyed at the big lump from far away. "Maybe that's why they be callin' this place Swelling Island! Pirates sometimes had so much acne, the island itself grew acne as well. Yes, I think the island began to swell up, and in the middle is a big pimple! I remember hearin' about this once after I got bombnesia!"

"Pbbbbbbbbbbbbt! Oh, man! THAT has got to be hilarious! The pirates had bad acne or something?" Scrub laughed hilarious until he realized something. "Oh... Pirates with acne? That's kinda gross..."

"Well, what can I say, Scrub? Pirates sometimes have bad acne. It's not their fault." Shadower shrugged. "They're meant to look like that. Well, that's what they were made to look. They're weird, nasty, and they smell."

Bombette instantly gave him a glare, which made him sweat drop. "Though... Not all pirates are like that!"

"So, this place is called Swelling Island, huh?" Chopper pondered. "Well, exploring this island should be pretty swell, don't you guys agree?"

Cue the groans from everyone...

"Hey! Come on! This island was totally asking for it! ...Fine, let's just go."

Chopper whacked at a tree, only to find nothing in there. He whacked at the rocks in the jungle area. Sadly, there wasn't much around. The thick grass was a green color, and there were vines around the trees. The only enemies they seemed to notice were Embers.

"Hold on…" Chopper became Water Chopper and squirted some water from his mouth and got rid of the Ember, which seemed to work out just fine for him. They also seemed to noticed some swells around the ground.

"Poyo… (Eugh… I don't like those swells… Is there any chance that it could…pop?)" Kirby wondered. Chopper DID see a crack in one, which didn't give him a good feeling in his, well, stomach (if he even has one...)"

"Bombette… Can these things…pop?" Chopper asked as Bombette decided to blow it up, and when it popped, a bunch of disgusting liquid stuff got on everyone. It was all over Chopper and Bombette, being the closest, and Vivian's hat and hair had it too. Scrub, Kirby, and Shadower had the least amount of liqui on them.

"Ewwww! What is this stuff? It's really gross…" Vivian gagged. "And now my hair's covered in this stuff. I wish there was something we could do. Bombette… Why did you blow that lump up?"

"Oops! Sorry! Silly me!" Bombette giggled, but she stopped for a moment as she blurted that out. "…Wait a minute! What on earth did I just say?! Yar! I can't talk like a girl! I'm a freakin' pirate!"

"Umm…. What the heck did she just say? …Errmmm… I know that she sounded a little girly first, but then she stopped and changed her voice? That's weird." Scrub gawked. "But, onto what happened before! GROSS! I'm covered in this liquid stuff that's like plasma!"

The baby Yoshi began to run in circles, which left everyone confused. Kirby ended up stopping it by putting his foot in the way and making poor Scrub trip.

"Poyo... (Sorry about that, but I just wanted to slow you down…)" Kirby apologized. "Poyo! (We can't just keep running around. We need to get this…whatever it is off of us!)"

Chopper decided to check what was ahead, and they saw a big gap between them and another passageway that requireed a vine to swing across. Below was a nice pond.

"Hey! Look down there! We got ourselves some water!" Shadower saw steam coming up from the water. "…This must be a hot spring. I think we can relax in here too."

"Well, in that case…" Scrub dove into the spring - only to bump his head in the water.

"Ooh… That be a bad one." Bombette walked down the steps to their south and then went in the spring. She began to feel better, and THEN she got Scrub back up, despite not having any arms to do so.

"Man... Why the heck did I do that?" Scrub grumbled.

"Maybe 'cause yer brain's the size of a pea!"

"Hey! It is not!"

"Well, I guess we can clean this stuff off in here," Vivian went into the hot spring and began to relax. They decided to clean off the goo that was left on them from the swell.

When Vivian got the goo off her gloves and face she noticed she noticed her hair had it on her still, and knowing what would happen if she took it off, she sighed and did nothing else. "…I can't get the stuff off my hair if everyone's here…"

"Er… I'll help you. I'll even take care of your hat! Watch what I do!" Chopper pulled off one of the tall thick pieces of grass and took off her hat. He closed his eyes because he didn't want to be succumbed to her beautiful eyes. When she put the grass over her eyes, he opened them.

"OK, I'm going to go ahead now," Vivian put her head under the water, and when she came back out, the goo stuff was gone. She sighed in relief as she quickly shook her head, getting some water off her hair.

"There you go! You're much better now!" Chopper smiled, while Vivian smiled and took off the grass that was covering her eyes. This made the young Star Warrior cover his eyes.

"It's OK, Chopper! You don't need to worry." Chopper uncovered his eyes, but he still saw Vivian without her hat on, which made him quickly cover them when he saw Vivian's eyes for a split second.

"Your hat is still off, though! I don't wanna succumb to whatever I did before!"

"It's OK, Chopper... I'm just happy for what you did." Vivian smiled as she leaned over and kissed Chopper's cheek. She even let out a giggle as she blushed at Chopper, who was shuddering from the kiss.

"You... You really didn't have to do that..." Chopper trailed, unsure of how to react. He felt like this kiss was a little different than before. _"If she likes me, I'm not so sure what to do..."_

Vivian put her hat back on and told him it was all right for him to open. He opened his eyes and noticed her hat back on, which made him sigh in relief, but he felt himself getting hugged by her._  
_

"Vivian, why're you doing this?!"

"Because you're a nice person," Vivian smiled.

Meanwhile, Scrub and Shadower were relaxing…until a bubble rose up. Kirby, Shadower, and Bombette glared at the small Yoshi, whose eyes widened in surprise.

"Er… That wasn't me! Honest!" Scrub cried.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry for that..."

They heard another voice, and they turned to their right to see a yellow guy with a long nose and in red pirate clothing. He also had a weird grin on him. This made Scrub shriek and start punching him in the face. What was strange was that he was in the hot spring in his full attire, just like everyone else in the hot spring.

"Stop it! Please! Don't try attacking the Great Flavio! I need this beautiful face to keep me looking beautiful as ever! So stop attacking!"

Scrub listened and got off of Flavio, but Bombette was still glaring at the yellow man.

"What's this? Why is there some weird…whoever ye are in here? Were ye…spyin' on us?" Bombette growled. "If so… Prepare fer some explosions that'll be comin' at ye!"

"Well... Look at the time! Time for me to go!" Flavio got out of the hot spring and used the vine above it to make his way across the gap.

"Well we're not letting him get away! After him!" Shadower cried as Chopper and Scrub had to use the vine to get across while Shadower got Bombette up to the area so they could keep following him. Vivian and Kirby simply flew up to follow them.

"Poyo? (Why the heck was that guy in the hot spring with us?)" Kirby wondered. "Poyo. (Shouldn't he have, you know… Left when we came here? This is just weird… I don't feel comfortable going in a hot spring now.)"

"I don't know, Kirby… I don't mind being in a hot spring. But I just realized something…" Chopper trailed as his face turned red. "_I think girls like it when you do nice things for them…_"

"Hey, Contadre! Can't we go a little faster?" Scrub asked. "…Wait! There's a big rock in the way!"

Chopper decided to pick up Bombette and throw her over to the big rock blocking the way. Once Bombette blew up the rock, they found a more open area ahead with three trees. Flavio got scared and climbed up the middle one.

"Go away, you nasty pirates! I'm not giving you my precious treasure!" Flavio cried, throwing leaves down at Chopper. He simly smacked his forehead and knocked him down with his hammer.

"Listen! We're not pirates!" Chopper shouted. "…Well I guess Bombette is, but she's not a bad guy, er, girl. The only reason why we're here is because we're trying to find Unagi's Cave. Would you happen to know where it is?"

Flavio stopped squirming and looked up at them. "Ummm… Yes! The cave, you ask? Well, I, Flavio, will be honored to go take you there! But it's going to be a dangerous one because of the thick jungle here. But I'm experienced with this place! …By the way, how did you even get here?"

"Well, Admiral Bobbery was happy enough to let us come to Pudgy Island by using his ship. Well, it's Cortez's, but he gave us permission to let us go on his ship and travel over there. HOWEVER… We got here by swimming. The water's not deep, you know."

"Ah! Interesting! So you've come for treasure…but not from me, right? I'm too rich to let myself get robbed. Don't suppose you're looking for…the Crystal Stars, aren't you?"

"Yeah, we are," Chopper nodded, which made Flavio jump cheerfully.

"Excellent! Then we shall breeze through this no problem! Follow me, if you would!" Flavio headed off to the thick vines that were in the way. "Oh, dear… I don't think I can get through this. Don't suppose you got something to **cut through here**, right?"

"I can handle that!" Chopper became Sword Chopper and cut through the grass. With a sword in his hand, cutting through stuff wasn't as hard. There wasn't much to cut down except some tall grass up ahead, where some Embers revealed themselves. However, they were sure there was more out there.

"Uh oh… Watch out! An Ember is by one of those swells!" Shadower cried as the Ember popped it - but it got extinguished in the process because of the liquid stuff. It also got on Chopper's sword, which made it all rubbery now.

"What? I didn't know this stuff can make things rubber! MAN…" Chopper removed his ability and then saw some Poison Piranhas and Lava Bubbles up ahead. They took them down and then found the beach. They could see another island up ahead right next to Unagi's Cave.

"Hey! We're right by the third island! So… How are we going to get there?" Scrub asked.

"With this!" Flavio pointed to the canoe, which made everyone smile as they gazed at it. It was made of gold, and it could stay afloat!

* * *

**Fifteen minutes later-**

"Row faster!" Flavio shouted.

Everyone began to row the canoe with paddles. Well, Bombette couldn't, but she was being used as a paddle, which was NOT pleasant at all.

"I didn't know rowing this boat would be like this…" Vivian groaned.

"Hey, how come Flavio's not doing any of the work?" Scrub whined.

"Because, I don't want to get my clothes wet," Flavio declared.

"Poyo... (Wow... You can't handle getting wet...)" Kirby groaned.

Their trip to the next island could be fine, but then a boat further away was gone once Unagi rose from the waters.

"I feel like this won't be a nice trip…" Chopper gulped.

* * *

**Heh heh heh... A swell island indeed! Dang, I wanted to put in that pirate ship thing, but I guess I'll do it next chapter. Because the next one WILL have an epic battle! I can assure you that!**


	34. X Nauts Vs Phis: Battle to the Cave

**Good news, everyone! I'm off today and tomorrow! Hopefully, more chapters can be uploaded today! Yes! All right, enough about that. We're not supposed to talk about school, remember? This is a story filled with adventure! …Not school. So let's get on with it.**

* * *

Everyone was starting to get exhausted. They didn't have enough energy to row the boat anymore. They just couldn't take it. But there was something different about the water once they got closer to the island. It looked more of a light blue and it seemed a little murky. It could be because Unagi required his home to be murky in order to stay alive.

"Look at this… This just looks…bad." Chopper commented, too exhausted to even row the canoe. They could see a big Blooper jumping up from the water, but then they saw the purple eel jump out as well and eat it with one gulp.

"Yar? The water's… They're murky…and also the giant eel just ate a big Blooper!" Bombette gasped. "This could be a problem here… Chopper! We must be careful in these waters! It could be dangerous…"

"Wait! I think it's OK! Unagi's just going back into his cave for a little nap!" Shadower noticed as the eel returned to his cave, which happened to have a gate in the way. "I think we're safe for now… At least, until the eel wakes up. So we need to row this boat fast!"

"Really?!" Scrub gaped as he began to row faster. Everyone else did the same thing because they wanted to get over to the island ahead.

"Hold on a minute!" they stopped and saw Four-Eyes coming over to them while rowing his canoe. "Listen to me! …Have you gotten that Crystal Star yet?"

"Why… Four-Eyes! It's so great to see you again!" Flavio grinned. "How have you been doing lately, my fellow crew member? I'm just here with uh… Captain 'Tenna here. Yes, he's just rowing my boat for me!"

"We're getting near the Crystal Star," Chopper informed. "I mean, we're right near the cave. We just need to find a way inside first. I think this island could help us... Well, I HOPE so. ...Wait a minute, why would you want the Crystal Stars?"

"Er… I just heard of 'em! That's all! No, don't ask why, but I just need to hear so I can get one for Gro—I mean I'm just interested in seeing 'em!" Everyone looked confused, but they decided to move on. Four-Eyes, on the other hand, eyed the screen and gave a glare.

"Hey! You there! In front of the computer monitor! Yeah, I'm talking to you! It may be obvious to who I am, but no telling Chopper! You got that? I can't blow my cover right now!" Four-Eyes began to row away from them while Scrub looked around the area.

"'You there in front on the computer monitor?' What on earth was that guy talking about? I don't see anyone in front of the computer monitor!" Scrub guffawed. "You guys see it?"

"No, but that's not important," Vivian noted.

"Oh... Well, I guess it isn't."

They made it to the dock on the island, and when Scrub began to lay down and relax, Shadower gestured him to get up.

"Aw, come on! I wanna relax for once!" Scrub groaned.

"We can't relax yet," Bombette noted. "We've got treasure to find!"

"Well, I suppose I'll just stay here," Flavio declared. "You can get to the island no problem, I suppose! Just watch out for anything evil that could be around, Captain 'Tenna!"

Chopper sighed again and walked around on the grassy island with his friends. There weren't many trees like before. It looked more barren…and not to mention there were a few bushes around.

"_Fury… I crave for…__**FURY!**_"

They all heard a voice coming from a bush. Chopper's left hand was surrounded in fire energy as he walked over to the bush. What he found there was a small green bean man with a red cloak and hood, which made his face look dark and unable to be seen, while his hands were in his cloak.

"What the… Who's that?" Chopper poked him before he turned around, where light blue spiral glasses and a freaky smile could be seen. He was eating…an apple? Well some of the trees here must have fruit.

"Who is that? Is he someone insane?" Vivian asked. The small bean person got up, and he seemed to be a little taller than Chopper.

"Hold on a second... This guy looks familiar..." Chopper pondered.

"What is Fawful seeing right now?" Fawful poked Chopper between his eyes and grinned evilly.

"Hey! Don't poke me!"

"I have remembering! The Green Antenna has-"

"Look, we gotta go now, sorry to bother you," Chopper cut him off as he began to quickly get away because of how creepy Fawful looked. Everyone else followed him, while Kirby looked at him with a confused look and then followed.

After they left, Fawful began to laugh. "I have chortles! Now that they have walked away like a stuck-up girl that's not interested in someone! Now it is time…for Fawful to have fury!"

Fawful brought his hood down and his head could be seen, which was green like his arms. He took out his Headgear and flew away with it, wanting to go take over the world or something.

* * *

**Area ahead-**

The funny thing was that they found some Green Fuzzies in the next area, as well as Flower Fuzzies too. Chopper, Vivian and Scrub remembered seeing them back in Glitzville, but that didn't stop them from fighting them. They quickly took care of them and found a blue ! switch up ahead by the outer part of the island where the beach was.

"Poyo! (That's it? This is the whole island? It's…really small though!)" Kirby guffawed. He was about to hit the switch. but Bombette kicked it instead, and at the cave, the entranced blocked by a gate tore off, so now they could go into the cave.

"Awesome! The cave's open for us!" Chopper cheered…until a cannon fired at the cave and made some rocks fall down at the entrance, blocking it. "What the heck?! Now it's blocked?!"

"Who fired that?!" Bombette exclaimed.

"I'm not so sure..." Vivian trailed.

At that moment, they saw cannonballs splashing into the water, making everyone wet. They saw right by the cave, a dark gray pirate ship with an X-Naut symbol on the sail.

"Pardon me, guys... Buh huh! No, I mean... Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! BUH HUH HUH HUH HUH!" Four-Eyes climbed up onto the cannon, laughing at all six of them, which made them raise an eyebrow.

"Uhhhh... What's going on here?" Shadower wondered.

"Poyo... (Oh, great...)" Kirby groaned.

"So sorry to surprise you…" Four-Eyes apologized. "No, wait… Since when do I need to be polite? Good job revealing Unagi's Cave, where the Crystal Star is! Oh, yeah! Seriously! Good job revealing it for ME!"

"HEY! AREN'T YOU FOUR-EYES?!" Chopper yelled. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING AWAY FROM YOUR FRIENDS?! YOU KNOW IT'S DANGEROUS UP THERE, FATTY!"

"Pffffft! What's with this lukewarm reception, huh? What is this, a funeral? I'm making a dramatic entrance, here! Yeah, yeah! I'll just spell it out for you idiots! You may have known me as Four-Eyes... But I'm actually..."

Four-Eyes spun around and got back in his normal attire "Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! The great LORD CRUMP! Oh, MAN, did I fool you!"

"What? Look, I think your disguise was too obvious." Scrub scoffed. "You should've gone for one that wouldn't make you look obvious!"

"Yeah, none of us are surprised..." Chopper trailed.

"What?!" Lord Crump gaped, but he decided to ignore them. "Like I need to listen to you… I'm on a schedule here! It's time I got that Crystal Star once and for all!"

"But you just sealed the entrance!" Chopper shouted. Lord Crump realized this and face palmed.

"Gah! Next time, I better THINK before doing those kinds of moves! Oh, whatever. I'll just wipe you all out! Say your prayers, Chopper! 'Cause it'll be your last!" Lord Crump was about to fire another cannon until another cannonball hit his ship.

"_**WHAT THE…**_"

Lord Crump turned around and saw a different ship. This one was a gray color with a Phi symbol on the sail. A bunch of Phis were on the ship, and they kept firing at the X-Naut ship.

"Don't let the X-Nauts get the Crystal Star!" an Elite Phi shouted, making the Phis fire their guns at the ship.

"Lord Crump! We must fight back." Johnson declared. "We can only leave Chopper alone for right now."

"Rrrrrrrrrgh! Fine!" Lord Crump fumed. "Fire at the ship full with robots! We'll get Chopper later!"

The X-Naut ship fired at the Phi ship, which allowed Chopper and his friends to make a run for it. Once both ships collided, there was a big battle going on.

"We need to go back to Pudgy Island," Chopper suggested. "I know it's going to be a long way, but we have no choice!"

"I suppose you're right. There are too many of them there." Vivian agreed, but luckily, when they made it back to the dock, they saw Cortez's ship coming over, which made them all sigh in relief.

"We made it, Chopper, my boy!" Bobbery assured. "We were able to fix the ship and now it's ready to sail!"

"Good!" Chopper sighed. "But we have a BIG problem! The cave is sealed and there are two ships that are after me! We need to fight back!"

"Oh, no problem! We can do that!" Bambo and Kooplang were on the ship as well, and also some Toads. Chopper and his friends got on the ship, and Embers appeared on the sail, which made Chopper get in his fighting stance.

"Relax, muchacho. These Embers are on our side." Cortez assured. "They're going to help us against those ships."

Chopper nodded to him and then they headed over to the cave, where the ships were battling. The Phis and X-Nauts noticed the ship and jumped up in fright. The Embers attacked both ships, and the other two attacked theirs.

"Now! Chopper! Go ahead and settle it! I would suggest taking care of Lord Crump first…" Bobbery advised.

"Good idea!" Chopper jumped onto the X-Naut Ship and stomped on Lord Crump. This made him summon a couple of X-Nauts to give him some help. Chopper's friends joined him as well.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! I'm gonna turn you guys into wee seeds..." Lord Crump chortled. "...Wait, scratch that. I'll turn you into SEAWEED! Buh huh! Enjoy, losers!"

"Hey! I'm the one who makes the bad puns! You take that back!"

"Then how about we fight?"

"Fine!"

**Tattle: **_That's Lord Crump. This guy again? MAN, he never learns to give up! Max HP is 30, Attack is 4, and Defense is 0. Watch out for those X-Nauts! If you use an explosion, you can blow some of them away. I wouldn't worry about Lord Crump, because all he does is use body slams._

"All right, I guess I'll start with a Power Bounce," Chopper Power Bounced Lord Crump on the head and stopped after about seven stomps. Vivian attacked Lord Crump and his X-Nauts with her Fiery Jinx afterward.

"Go, X-Nauts! Attack!" Lord Crump ordered. The X-Nauts tackled Chopper to take 5 away from him and then Lord Crump body slammed Vivian.

"That's for betraying Grodus!" Lord Crump scoffed. Vivian didn't look happy, but she was not going to make another attack, as much as she wanted to.

"A stomp wouldn't hurt, I suppose," Chopper had to stomp on Lord Crump because his hammer would require him to attack the X-Nauts, so he jumped over his X-Nauts and stomped on Lord Crump's head, making him cringe in pain.

"Argh! Stupid kid!" Lord Crump growled.

"Want me to throw you at Lord Crump?" Chopper asked.

"Go fer it!" Bombette nodded as Chopper picked her up and threw her at Lord Crump, exploding upon impact.

Lord Crump made a sharp whistle and the X-Nauts retreated. "Buh huh huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh! You're not gonna get off that easily, losers! Let's see how you like THIS! _**X-NAUTS!**_"

A bunch of X-Nauts appeared hanging onto a railing above them. They only had 6 HP though, so they decided to simply take care of Lord Crump before they make their attack. He only had 6 HP left, so it wasn't going to be too bad.

"I think we got this! I'll attack Crump and then you use your Stone attack, Kirby!" Chopper decided.

"Poyo! (I like that!)" Kirby nodded as Chopper tossed a fireball at Lord Crump, and then the pink puffball attacked with his Stone attack, which knocked the leader down.

"Oof! …Argh! I'm not going down so soon! It's time I cheated in a fight!" Lord Crump got up and retreated…only to eat some food to recover his HP. When he came back, a bunch of X-Nauts were surrounding him.

"Oh, come on! He can't do that!" Scrub guffawed.

"Whew! Now THAT was a close one!" Lord Crump sighed. "I thought I was aced for a second there! But I'm not finished yet! Watch this! C'mon, X-Nauts!"

The X-Nauts all became a ball and Lord Crump got on the top. The ball rolled over Chopper and his friends to take away 5 HP from them, which was certainly more than they've taken from a single attack of the commander. Lord Crump body slammed Chopper, but he was able to Superguard the attack, which made him take 1 damage.

"All right, we're taking him down this time!" Chopper declared as he used his Power Bounce on Lord Crump again and stomped on him seven times. Scrub gave him a good Ground Pound afterward. Now he was left with 17 HP.

This time, Chopper was able to guard the X-Naut ball. His friends did too, but Scrub got hurt by Lord Crump's body slam afterward.

"I think if I just Superguard one more attack, I think we got this!" Chopper said as he performed a stylish as he jumped on Lord Crump. Since Shadower didn't make an attack, he punched him with his Shadow Punch.

"Oh, crud… I'm not dying so soon, Chopper!" Lord Crump grabbed an X-Naut and threw him at Chopper, but the attack was guarded as usual. He seemed angrier than before and he performed a body slam on Shadower afterward.

"Yeesh... His weight makes it more painful." Shadower cringed.

"OK, let's finish this!" Chopper stomped on Lord Crump, and once he stepped away from the X-Nauts, he picked up Bombette and threw her right at Lord Crump, making an explosion on the ship.

"Whoa… That's something." a Phi gaped as Lord Crump dropped 20 Star Points and was lying on the ground in defeat.

"Unnghh... That kid beat me...again..."

* * *

**A battle with the X-Nauts and Phis AND Fawful making an appearance? Wow, this must be intense... But we're going to the cave next chapter, so we're getting near the boss!**


	35. Cavern of the Eel

Chopper and his friends quickly jumped off the spiky X-Naut ship and got back onto Cortez's. Lord Crump slowly got back up and shook his fist at them in anger, and then he kicked the ground in anger for his loss. He was even beaten up too, with his cape a little ripped and having holes.

"MAN! What the heck is WRONG with me?! How could I lose...again?! I HATE LOSING!" Lord Crump complained. "Now I gotta think of another excuse for Grodus! Grrrrrrr! And with that...pow! I'm gone!"

The X-Naut ship made a getaway, leaving only Cortez's ship and the Phi ship standing.

"Hey… That ship's leaving!" an Elite Phi smirked. "Does this mean we got Chopper to ourselves to fight? Awesome! Just. Plain. Awesome."

As the Phi ship made its way over to the ghost ship, Chopper showed off his flaming hands.

"I'll do the same thing as I did to those guys!" Chopper warned, making the Phis jumped up in fright and turn back around, afraid of getting their uh…butts kicked by Chopper and his friends. He looked rather surprised. "Wait... That was it?!"

"Heh heh heh! That was easy! That Lord Crump guy was a piece of CAKE! …Hold on! You leveled up, Chopper!" Scrub noticed. Chopper realized this, so he upgraded his BP to 18, since 30 HP and 30 FP were fine enough.

"Excellent work, Chopper! We've taken care of those goons for now!" Bobbery confirmed. "With that, we can get you into Unagi's Cave! …He's swimming around these seas right now, is he?"

"It's OK, Bobbery. I think he's taking a long nap at this second." Shadower predicted. "We don't need to worry if he's going to attack us or not. We're perfectly safe from harm. …But the entrance is sealed. How are we going to get through now?"

"I'll handle that. Embers!" Cortez summoned a bunch of Embers, which got rid of the rubble in the way. After about three minutes, they got the last of it, and the ship sailed inside. There wasn't much land around in the beginning of the cavern.

Bambo walked over to Chopper with a worried look. "Umm… Listen to me. Are you REALLY going to go after Unagi? It's REALLY dangerous! I warned you before, and I think you should reconsider doing this…"

"Didn't you hear what I said before? I took on a STAR GOD!" Chopper reminded. "I BARELY won the fight! HE was actually a tough guy. I bet this eel probably has 50 HP or something. You know how much he's got?"

"I think he has 40 HP," Kooplang informed.

"40 HP?" Chopper began to burst in laughter afterward. "See? I told you he wouldn't be so threatening! I mean, we fought Doopliss, who had about 40 HP! That's practically the same!"

"But... He IS dangerous..." Bambo reminded.

"Arrr! Listen 'ere, Bob-omb Buddy!" Bombette cut in. "We're here fer the treasure! And you even saw us defeat that fat guy earlier! He had about 60 HP, while an eel has only 40! I bet the fight will be a joke!"

"Well, don't underestimate him! He's tougher than you think! Because he will definitely…" Bambo's words got interrupted when the ship came to a halt. Apparently, pieces of a different ship were floating up on the water.

"Oh… I was hoping it wouldn't be like this." Bobbery sighed. "Well, Chopper, my boy, it seems like you're on your own here. The ship can't go past these. I think you might have to jump on the shipwreck."

"Really? Well that's a shame. Thanks for the help though, Bobbery." Vivian thanked as Chopper jumped onto a piece of the shipwreck and saw some more floating pieces of a ship. This piece had a water panel too.

"I think I can just surf through here!" Chopper equipped his Water ability and jumped into the water. He summoned a wave, which allowed him to stand on it and take him through the waters.

"This bites. Why can't we go swimming?" Scrub groaned as he jumped into the water and began to do some strokes. Kirby shrugged and went in the water too. They could see the bottom of the ocean floor below them in this cave. There was sand and rocks down there.

"Poyo... (This place is cool, I guess. But it seems kinda creepy…)" Kirby trailed.

"Now my diaper's gonna get wet," the Yoshi pouted.

Chopper stopped surfing and went underwater. There were a few Cheep Cheep bones and Blooper remains down there. He felt like he was going to vomit.

_"Oh, geez… I don't like seeing those…" _Chopper ended up vomiting…water. But, I suppose that's better than real vomit. Right?

"Ye…vomited water? How is that possible?" Bombette asked. Vivian was holding onto her because she had no arms, and therefore could not swim except using her feet to move. They didn't look down because of the bones.

"Scrub… Don't even THINK about looking down. It's not good down there, and I'm not lying." Chopper suggested. Scrub nodded as they found some sand ahead and a doorway that must lead to somewhere else.

"All right, I think we should be safe because of the water. Let's go see what's around here." Chopper headed toward the cave-like room to find a long, narrow path with water dripping from the ceiling.

"I don't like the looks of this place at all, Chopper. It's kind of dark in here." Vivian said worriedly as Chopper decided to remove his Water ability. His gloves had flames on them, lighting the room up a little.

"I guess this works… Well, a little bit. We need some more light in here." Chopper frowned.

"Here, let me help," Vivian lit up some fire too, and they could see a little more. No enemies around, no water on the pathway, and no eel. But once they walked through the pathway, they saw some water ahead past some floating rocks. They could see a damaged ship that led over to another cave passageway. So… They jumped onto the rocks and then to the ship.

"Hmmm… Ye know, I wonder why there's a poop deck on the pirate ship…" Bombette began to wonder, and so did Chopper. But he then realized something about the poop deck.

"Wait… Is it where you take a…" Chopper stopped and shook his head. Everyone snickered a little, but they simply walked into the next cave area to take the narrow path to the next area…until…

"_**FREEZE!**_"

"Oh, what now?!"

Four Dry Bones came down, but they were wearing masks that were red, black, yellow, and green. Their boots were the colors of their masks too. Chopper jumped up a little and gaped at them.

"What the… Are you the Koopa Bros.? Did you…die?!" Chopper gasped.

"The Koopa Bros.? Pbbbbbbbbbt! We're not those wusses!" the Dry Bones in red scoffed. "Y'know who we are? The Dry Bros.! That's who! I'm Dry Red! People like you aren't welcome here, y'know!"

"Yar! Then we'll fight ye to get through here!" Bombette declared. Dry Red smirked and gave his brothers a signal to fight.

"Let's get 'em!"

They rushed at Chopper and his friends, and they knew they had to fight against…a mini-boss.

**Tattle: **_Those are the Dry Bros. Are they supposed to be related to the Koopa Bros. or something? I see no resemblance. They all have 10 HP, their Attack is 3, and Defense is 1. Fire DEFINITELY works against them. Explosions can work too, but they actually defeat them, so use fire attacks on them is you want to win. So… Vivian and Bombette just might work here. Be careful when they all work together. They'll do about 8 damage to you!_

"All right… I guess we can just use fire on them!" Chopper threw a fireball at Dry Green to deal 3 damage, and then Vivian used her Fiery Jinx after to burn them. Basically, Dry Green had taken 8 damage while the others had taken 5 damage.

"Whoa! This kid's got some guts! Let's take it to overdrive, boys!" Dry Red ordered.

"Good idea," Dry Black nodded.

"Yeah, we'll give 'em something!" Dry Green grinned.

"Oh, yeah! We're going break their legs, right?" Dry Yellow asked in a hyper voice. Dry Red walked over to him and punched him in the face.

"Shut up, Dry Yellow!"

"Yup... They definitely remind me of the Koopa Bros..." Chopper sighed.

"I told you, we're not the Koopa Bros.!" Dry Red growled as they got in their positions and made their attack, with Chopper Superguarding Dry Green's attack. Vivian, Kirby, and Shadower got hit by them, however.

Once they all got hurt by the burn effect, Dry Green fell to the ground, mumbling, "…Finish the job…"

"Well I guess we can finish this up, huh?" Chopper hurled a fireball at Dry Yellow, and then Bombette blew him up with her Bomb attack to finish him off.

"I'm dead…" Dry Yellow said as he collapsed, making Dry Red face palm.

"You're already dead!" he and Dry Black got in their shells and rammed into the six, doing only 5 damage, apparently. Their burn effect was gone, but they were left with 3 HP, so they didn't have much else left.

"Oh, crud... This isn't good..." Dry Red gulped.

"I got this!" Bombette walked over to Dry Black and blew him up into pieces, and then Dry Red got defeated by Chopper's fireball. They got 18 Star Points from the fight, which was nice.

"That fight...was a complete joke..." Chopper trailed.

"Poyo! (I didn't get to do anything against them!)" Kirby whined.

"Curses! We were not tough enough!" Dry Red hissed. "Oh, well… We're getting out of here!"

The Dry Bros. were forced to retreat, unfortunately, so the group of six walked through the caves past them and found a bigger room with no water around.

"Huh… I guess this is a safe place for right now. Nothing bad's around here." Chopper hit the Save Block and Heart Block before they walked over to the crack in the wall. Bombette seemed disappointed, though.

"Yar? So… This whole cave is this?" Bombette guffawed. "I be a little disappointed… Not to mention the chapter and fight was a little short."

"That's what happens when you have a hard time thinking of something. At least this is ENOUGH… Anyway, let's blow up the wall!" Chopper picked up Bombette and threw her near the wall. She blew it up and found a new area up ahead.

"Yar? This be something new..."

"Let's go check it out!" Vivian suggested as they walked through the pathway that Bombette blew up. Whatever they were going to find was probably going to be a little surprising…

Or will it?

* * *

**Yeah, this is one of the shorter ones... But, we can't always have long chapters, right? Well, they'll get a lot longer later on. Trust me.  
**

**Well, next chapter is going to be, well, the boss chapter! Yup!**


	36. Unagi: The Monster of the Seas

After the explosion from the wall, they all walked to the next room to find…a huge pool. They noticed a huge underwater city around, which made everyone gape in amazement, especially when they jumped into the water

"Whoa… This is where Unagi lives?" Chopper gaped.

"This... This looks like the lost city of Atlantis!" Vivian gasped. "I remember hearing those tales... I never knew they were actually true."

"Atlantis? Yar! I bet there be treasure around here!" Bombette smirked.

"Yeah! We'll get rich!" Scrub grinned.

"Poyo... (I'm not so sure about that...)" Kirby trailed.

"It feels a little murky here…" Chopper trailed, looking at the water around them. "But where could Unagi be right now? That's the question…"

They swam down to the bottom, looking at the big city. There was a big temple up ahead, and it had some kind of eel scent coming from it. The door was even big enough for an eel to fit in. There was a problem, though. Scrub couldn't stay underwater forever, since his face was starting to turn blue. He had to swim up to the surface to catch his breath. Kirby swam after him to help him.

"Poyo, (Sorry, Chopper, but I'm not going to let this...whatever he is stay alone,)" Kirby decided, while Scrub had no idea what he said, so he decided to lie back in the water.

"You know, this might not be back," Scrub realized. "Giant eels can be a little scary, you know?"

Kirby nodded in agreement to him as they decided to watch the four swim into the temple. In there, they saw a hole in the center of the room, and snoring could be heard.

"I wonder what that can be…" Vivian wondered as she took a look down the hole to see Unagi's head sticking up, which made her shriek. Her hat actually floated off her because of the water. Shadower's hat did as well, and his afro was revealed under his hat.

"Oh, crud! I was hoping no one would see my awesome afro. It takes A LOT to get this thing on, you know." Shadower noted as he tried to grab his hat and put it back on, but he had a hard time reaching it.

"Wait... You have an afro?" Chopper gawked.

"Yeah... Mysterious always hated it, though. But why do I care? He's not that likeable."

Before he could do anything else, Chopper saw Vivian's eyes and and looked like he was staring into space once his eyes were set on them. Unlike Shadower, he could succumb to her beautiful eyes.

"This isn't good…" Vivian trailed while blushing. Unagi's eyes opened, and he rose up from the hole, looking at the four. He didn't see Vivian's eyes, since she covered them quickly. Shadower was just able to grab his hat and put it back on.

"Who are you people?! How did you get into my lair?!" Unagi asked in a monstrous voice. Chopper saw the Crystal Star, so he quickly got in his fighting stance.

"Look! We're here to take care of you!" Chopper declared. "That's right! AND… That Crystal Star on your tail! We need that thing!"

"You? Slay me? HA! Impossible!" Unagi cackled. "I'm the most feared thing of these seas! I'm on the top of the food chain! You're too small to take me on anyways! Look at you! I suppose I should just gobble you up!"

"Arr! Ye think ye can take us on, eh? Well, 'ow about we prove ye wrong?!" Bombette suggested. "This boy's taken on a Star God before! I'm sure ye'll be beaten down with some explosions an' hammerin'!"

"Oh ho ho ho ho! What a naïve Bob-omb! You'll be a nice little meal for me. It's been a while since I had Bob-omb! You all seem to make great meals, now that I'm rather hungry. This will be a tasty meal! Mwa ha ha ha ha!"

**Tattle: **_That's Unagi the Eel. He's the most feared beast in the seas as of now! He's even on the top of the food chain! Max HP is 40, Attack is 5, and Defense is 1. He'll attack with his tail and even take a bite of you. This beast is dangerous…but he only has 40 HP? That seems like a complete joke! Well, it's all right, since this eel is probably weak, so use a lot of attacks on him! …But not fire! Fire doesn't really work underwater!_

"No fire? Well I guess my attacks are useless." Vivian sighed, noticing the flames on her finger went out. "I can't do anything right now anyway. My hat's up at the ceiling. I think you guys can just take care of him for right now."

Chopper decided that using his Sword ability would be better because he could use it in water, so he swam over to Unagi and slashed him with his sword. The defense that he had only made him take 3 damage.

"Let me lower his defense real quick. That'll be a good idea." Shadower declared as he gave Unagi a good Shadow Punch and lowered his defense by 2. So Unagi had 0 defense now.

The eel bit Bombette, which did 5 damage and made him smirk. "Hmmmm… I actually like that taste. I think you'll be the first one, Bob-omb!"

"Oh, NOW you did it! I'm SO going to make you die for that!" Bombette growled as she charged at Unagi and exploded. When she landed back by her friends, she blinked for a second, realizing what she said. "…Yar? What did I just say there? That wasn't my kind of voice…"

Chopper shrugged and used his Power Jab, managing to jab at Unagi six times to deal 7 damage, making Unagi let out a screech. It even left some marks on his skin. He whipped at Chopper with his tail and knocked him toward a wall. This eel was MAD, and he showed it off!

"I was lucky to have this ability, so I think I should use it," Chopper swam toward Unagi and used a D-Down Slash, leaving a scar on Unagi, which began to anger him even. Bombette once again, blew up to deal some damage.

"We are doing pretty good right now! He's more than halfway done with! This is going to be EASY!" Chopper found rocks coming down when Unagi hit the ceiling. He guarded the attacks, but took 3 damage in the process. Shadower lowered Unagi's defense first with a Shadow Punch, which did only 4 damage instead of 5. Chopper whacked at Unagi with his hammer afterward. Now Unagi only had 7 HP left.

"Urgh… This is not good at all…" Unagi decided to raise his attack by 5, which was not good for Chopper and his friends. But they had this fight in the bag, so it should be over in no time!

"OK, so he raised his attack. We can still beat him!" Chopper assured as he jabbed at Unagi, causing him to scream, and then Bombette finished him off with an explosion. Unagi began to scream in horror, and it was certainly louder than before.

"_**GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!**_"

Unagi sank down in the hole in defeat, which made Chopper smile. "See? I told that pink Bob-omb guy we'd be able to take him down! Yeah, he only had 40 HP! This fight was a cakewalk!"

"Hold on... The Crystal Star didn't come out of the hole..." Shadower trailed.

"Is it over yet?" Vivian asked, still covering her eyes to avoid people seeing them. Chopper swam up to get her hat and gave it to her. She put it back on so she didn't have to cover her eyes.

"Thanks, Chopper," she blushed, but before she could do anything though, they heard some shaking, which caused Chopper's hat and sword to get sucked into the hole, and a huge current pushed them out of the temple and back outside in Atlantis. Scrub and Kirby saw them come up to the surface. A big rock happened to be floating on the surface, to their luck.

"Let's get on this rock! We'll be safe here!" Scrub suggested.

"Yeah! Good idea!" Chopper nodded as they swam over to the big rock and got on it. They all saw Unagi rise back up, but his eyes were red and so were his scales. Not to mention his teeth had become red too. Everyone was surprised when they saw the eel covered in flames.

"Poyo? (How can an eel in the water be on fire?)" Kirby questioned.

"I'm not through with you yet! I still have more than you think!" Unagi roared. "This time, you're not going to be leaving this place!"

**Tattle: **_Uh oh... It looks like Unagi's not finished yet... This could be a problem. Max HP is 40, Attack is 7, and Defense is 1. His scales are capable of shooting fire at you, and even he can breathe fire on you! However, being on fire means he also has a weakness. Water will certainly help you take out those flames and touch him! Although, that effect's not going to last forever. Also, why is this eel on fire when he's in the water? Is he breaking logic?!_

"Err… Lemme see…" Chopper became Water Chopper and squirted water at the eel, causing him to have his flames go away. He was rather…dizzy at this moment, so Shadower used his Shadow Punch afterward to lower his defense.

"This reminds me of Bloopink. He doesn't really attack when he was covered in ink. It's just like Unagi!" Chopper then saw Unagi's scales shot some fire at Chopper, but it only did 1 damage because of his Water Ability.

"Huh… I guess he still attacks… Meh, we can still finish it." Chopper squirted more water at Unagi to deal 4 damage, and then Bombette used her Bomb attack on him afterward. At this moment, the eel's flames returned, and he spewed out a large amount of flames on everyone.

"WHOA! That hurts!" Scrub cried as he noticed himself covered in black soot. Everyone took 7 damage from the attack, while Chopper only suffered 5. Everyone shook the soot left on them and let it go back into the water.

"Ah, yes... My fire breath is capable of a lot!" Unagi grinned. "Not many people have witnessed it, you know! Usually those who have gotten me this far end up dying in the end!"

"Well we're not stepping back now! You're not going to disturb any more sailors when we're done with you!" Chopper squirted more water at Unagi, and then Shadower went to lowering his defense with his Shadow Punch.

"Arrgh! Even with flames, the water is harmful to me!"

"Man, I wish I can do something, but I think this is the only thing that probably works for the best…" Scrub trailed.

"Don't worry, Scrub. You'll get your chance to fight another boss someday…" Chopper assured as he performed a Stylish as he jumped on Unagi's head. Bombette exploded right on the eel too, leaving him covered with shoot.

"Grrrgh! What is WRONG with me today?" Unagi quickly shook his head to get the soot off him before his flames returned. He spat some fireballs at Chopper and Vivian, who guarded them easily.

Kirby wasn't sure what to do. He knew his Stone attack could damage him, so he floated over Unagi and turned into a stone, smashing his head down onto the rock, leaving him with only 5 HP left.

"Hmmm… I got the perfect finisher!" Chopper raised his arms up, and the water began to get wavy. Everyone looked around, and they were surrounded by a water shield. A wave appeared behind them, making Unagi gulp.

"Oh no… Is this...the end?" Unagi gaped.

The wave came down on Unagi, and the flames on him were gone. Not to mention the sword Chopper had from earlier were in those waves, which was able to go right through the eel's head.

"_**AAAAAAAARGH!**_"

Unagi let out a death screech as he sank down to the bottom of Atlantis, with his body slowly disappearing. Afterward, the waves stopped and Chopper removed his ability. Everyone else was amazed by the sight they just witnessed.

"Whoa… That was awesome." Scrub gaped.

"That's only if I had that ability," Chopper mentioned. "I'm still weak to electric, you know. Water beats fire, electric beats water, fire beats ice and grass. I still have flaws, you know…"

"Yeah, every element has at least one weakness," Vivian nodded.

"Poyo? (But where's the Crystal Star?)" Kirby wondered.

At that moment, they saw something glittering in the water. They noticed the Sapphire Star slowly rising up from the waters and land right in front of Chopper and his friends.

"Hey! That's..." Shadower began.

"Arr! Chopper! The treasure!" Bombette exclaimed, cutting Shadower off. "So, this is the treasure ye've been seeking all this time? They…look rather cool! So! I think I'll be stayin' with ye this whole trip! You'll probably need me help anyway."

"Ummm... You sure about that?" Chopper gawked.

"Would a pirate ever lie to ye?"

"Well... Actually, most pirates lie to people."

"Oh... Well, I'm speakin' the truth here! I'll stay by yer side, an' maybe ye can help me with this whole...bombnesia thing."

"Yeah, I think it's for the best. It's better if we look after you anyway!"

After Chopper finished his conversation, he walked over to the blue Crystal Star, and once he touched it, it began to circle around him. Once it floated above him, he held it up high with a smile.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power has increased to 6, and Chopper can learn the special move Sweet Feast!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_And so, Chopper defeated the most feared beast of the seas, and now peace has been restored there. With this eel gone, ships can finally sale without being in trouble, and pirates can continue to rob! …If that's a good thing, that is. But how do the X-Nauts and Phis know about each other? Will they meet again and fight for the Crystal Star? With Chopper's friend's ex-girlfriend, Bombette, who has suffered bombnesia, they began to leave the caves to return back to Rogueport. Now only fifteen Crystal Stars remain…but will they be easy to achieve?_

* * *

**Yes, Shadower DOES have an afro. Why? Well I didn't know what to give him, honestly. Plus, afros are cool, and I would actually like to have one if I could. Yeah, that's weird, but I am weird sometimes. **

**This boss was a little on the easy side, but it CAN be tough... But Chapter 6's boss is probably tougher...and cooler.**


	37. Chapter 5 Interlude

In the X-Naut Fortress, Grodus was speaking to Lord Crump, who was in his projector screen. He was a bit nervous this time, due to failing Grodus a second time. However, he had an idea.

"So, Lord Crump… You bring me news, don't you?" Grodus asked.

_"Whuzzat? Er… I mean, yeah! I got some good news for you!" _Lord Crump nodded._ "Did you know what I did against Chopper? I…"_

"…Failed to defeat him and got beaten up yourself?" Grodus finished. "I can tell by the look of you that you lost. Your uniform is dirty, and you got some soot on you as well. Don't think lying to me will help."

_"Oh, fine! I lost! You happy now? Blame that pink Bob-omb girl for blowing up in front of me! Yeah, Chopper's got himself another female partner…and she is REALLY tough! But, you know 'em! When you make girls angry, expect to get your butt kicked." _

"So you admit losing, huh? I knew you would blow it again. You sicken me, Lord Crump."

_"Look, I'm sorry. Seriously. We thought... We thought we had him cornered, but..."_

"Stop talking, Lord Crump," Grodus snapped. "You just stand by until my next order. And, Lord Crump? Think of this as your last chance. Understand?"

_"Roger that, Sir." _

"Then leave."

The projector screen turned off and Grodus was finally alone again. He decided to stretch and relax for a little. "Finally. I have nobody to bother me now. If Lord Crump didn't get the Crystal Star, then I'm sure those Phis didn't either. I have one Crystal Star in my hands...and Chopper has five. And if I remember, only seven are needed to open the Thousand-Year Door, so if that Gemerl robot has one, then I know for a fact that he holds the next one…"

His thoughts were interrupted when an Elite X-Naut entered the room.

"Sir! Someone wishes to see you." the Elite X-Naut informed. "I think he replaced Mysterious's brother, Shadower. He came here alone, though…which I find rather odd. But, nevertheless, he wishes to see you."

"Is that so? Well bring him in. Perhaps he can be of good use."

The X-Naut nodded and gave him the X salute before leaving. At that moment, the door opened, and Tipral walked into the room, which alarmed Grodus.

"What? How did YOU get here, Chopper? Are you here to spoil my plans?" Grodus brought his scepter up, but then he took a look at him and brought it down. "Hmmm? What's this? You're not Chopper, are you? Speak now! Tell me who you are!"

"My name is Tipral, a creation that went wrong," Tipral introduced. "I know many things… Including other worlds, and how strong people are. How do I know this? I've seen a lot for a thousand years…"

"So… You're a thousand years old? …But you don't look like you're that age. What age do you LOOK like, though?"

"I look more twelve, I suppose…or thirteen. I suppose twelve is more suitable than thirteen. Anyway, I came here because you're looking for the Crystal Stars, correct? Well, I can help you get them."

"Hmmm? This is interesting…" Grodus trailed. "Well, for now, I would like you to go find that Crystal Star that's in the hands of a robot named Gemerl. He must have the sixth Crystal Star. But… The question is, where could its location be?"

"I have my ways, Grodus. I'll go search for it right now. But I got something to do before going there…" Tipral disappeared using his teleporting abilities.

"Hmmmm... So he has the ability to teleport too? Well, this is a strange person to come to me... But if he has skills against Chopper, then he should be of good use!"

* * *

**TEC's room-**

"Hmm… So you called me in here again, TEC." Peach said as she entered the room, looking away from the computer. "What could it be this time? Do I need to answer some questions or teach you more about love again?"

**"…Princess Peach…" **TEC began.** "I need you to do something, but I feel that it will be a little dangerous."**

"What? Something dangerous? What is it?"

**"While you were sleeping, I got some information on Grodus. He said that…I did have some memory before, and he keeps it in his room. He has a data disk with all information on the Crystal Stars, his plans and the answers to everything you need to ask."**

"A data disk on all the information about those Crystal Stars and his plans?" Peach gasped. "…So you need me to become disguised or something?"

**"Unfortunately, you cannot go in there as an X-Naut. Not only that, but the door was designed so only Grodus would be able to enter his own room. There's a scanner above the door that can identify Grodus and allow him in and keep others away. Not even Lord Crump is allowed in there."**

"Then how am I supposed to go in there?" Peach asked before she noticed a robotic hand take out a pink parasol and place it in front of her. "A parasol? What does this do?"

**"You can use this parasol to turn you into anybody you want, as long as you stay behind them. Right now, Sir Grodus is speaking with some X-Nauts. So… You must use it on an X-Naut and go in the room so you can be Grodus. So, go up the elevator first to the floor you were on before."**

"Well… OK. I guess I should." Peach grabbed the parasol, which happened to be the Sneaky Parasol, and she walked out of the room and went up the elevator. Once she came out, she saw an Elite X-Naut walking by. Luckily, he didn't happen to notice her.

**"Use the Sneaky Parasol to turn into that X-Naut. And be quiet while doing so." **TEC suggested.

Peach snuck behind the Elite X-Naut and used her parasol to turn into an Elite X-Naut herself. She looked at herself and noticed the height she was now.

"Huh... I don't feel uncomfortable right now..." Peach trailed. "It almost feels like I'm not even wearing his uniform!"

**"Hold on… Sir Grodus is coming out of the locker room." **

Grodus walked out of the locker room and was walking over to a door that led to the potion room, where the X-Naut PhDs were testing some chemicals.

"I need to see how those PhDs are doing. They've been telling me about a special chemical they've been creating, and I wanna see if that's true…" Grodus trailed as he walked past the Elite X-Naut and proceeded. Peach knew that it was her chance, so she used her parasol to become Grodus.

"_There we go! I'm Grodus now! It's time to go to his room now to find that disk." _Peach headed into the room where Grodus usually stayed in, and at the right, behind the computer, there were two red Yuxs guarding the door. Peach simply walked over to the door as the Yuxs greeted them and noticed a scanner scan her. A green light appeared over the door and allowed her to go in.

Inside, she found a huge tank full of Piranhas, a computer on a desk and a white carpet with the X-Naut symbol on it. She checked the shelf in the corner for a disk, and she found two disks. One happened to be labeled "TEC."

"This must be the one," she grabbed the unnamed one and put it in the computer, which showed an NES version of Chopper stomping on a dark-looking enemy called a Darkling a couple of times. Then his friend Flyer flew over it and made a "ding" noise, which informed that it was complete.

"YESSS! I did it! Now to put this back and go to TEC's room again!" Peach put the disk back and held on to the disk labeled "TEC", and then she headed back to TEC's room, using the parasol to turn back to normal. She was relieved to be finished with it.

"OK, TEC, I was able to put the disk with Grodus's information on it. What should I do with this?" Peach asked, holding onto the disk with "TEC" labeled on it.

**"Please place that in the Main Disk Drive," **demanded TEC. Peach shrugged and placed it in, which showed a loading screen. After the loading finished, the two were silent.

"So... Do you remember everything?" Peach wondered. "And what about that other disk I put in Grodus's laptop?"

**"…I'm analyzing both of them right now. For now, please use my communicator." **

Peach shrugged and typed up the e-mail she made and sent it to Chopper. But before she could go, another voice was heard.

"Hold on a second," Peach turned around and gasped when she saw Tipral walk into the room. "I have a reason for being in here. And what's this? The main computer is talking to Princess Peach."

"Who…are you? And why do you look like Chopper?"

"I am Tipral. That's all I'm going to say to you?"

"…Are you going to tell Grodus about this?" Peach asked, looking a bit worried.

Tipral crossed his arms and began to ponder. "Hmmmmm… If you do ONE thing for me, then I won't tell. I need the location of the next Crystal Star. You! Computer! You're 'perfect', right? If so, you can tell me the location of the next star."

**"Very well… I have no other choice. The next Crystal Star is in an underground base in Desert Sands. It's hidden, so it may not be easy to find."**

"Good. That's all I needed." Tipral left the room by teleporting, which left Peach a little worried.

"Oh, man... This might not be good..."

* * *

**Dream Land-**

Up by a cliff, Meta Knight was looking at the ocean with his cape wrapped around him. It was dawn, and beside him were Sword Knight and Blade Knight, who were watching the sun rise at the moment. Meta Knight was one to watch the sun rise on top of a cliff that was by the ocean. His ancestors used to do this before, and he wanted to keep it that way.

"So, Sir Meta Knight… Is it true that you were the one who rescued Chopper?" Sword Knight asked. Meta Knight looked at his servant, but then he looked back at the sun. He seemed rather…silent.

"Sir Meta Knight! You can tell us everything. We won't tell a SOUL!" Blade Knight assured. Their master turned around and walked away from the cliff, but he looked up and saw Fumu and Bun, which made him stop.

"Hmmm? What are you two doing here?" Meta Knight asked.

"Well we were just walking around and ended up seeing you here," Fumu explained. "Is it true that you rescued Chopper?"

"It's OK to tell us, you know," Bun assured.

Meta Knight turned around and hung his head low as he closed his eyes "Sigh… Fine. If you must, then I'll tell you that I did. His mother wanted me to go help him get out of here, so I did just that. I didn't ask questions and did the job like a Star Warrior would do. When I found him, I took him out of the house and to my ship. She gave me a rainbow heart called the Sacred Heart that was meant to be given to Chopper. When he absorbed that thing, he was given powers he never had. You see, that heart contains a lot of power in it. No, it's not perfect. It just helps Chopper with a few things, such as to fight."

"But why was Chopper the one chosen to leave?" Fumu asked. "In fact, if he's the last of his species left, then how will he be able to bring them all back? By that, I mean… How is he supposed to… I don't know, honestly."

"That? Well, there might be something that I was told by one of my friends. She told me she ended up rescuing a girl on the same planet as Chopper's and helped her get to someplace safe. If I could recall, it was a girl from the same town Chopper was supposedly in, and I believe they're the same age."

"Awww! They could go out then!" Fumu smiled as she imagined the two dating. However, the thought bubble above her head showed Chopper glaring at her.

"It doesn't mean all of that is true," Meta Knight added. "I don't remember everything..."

"But you do remember saving us," Sword smirked.

"Sword! No time for stupid jokes!" Blade snapped.

"Hey! No need to get angry over that!"

"Err… I don't know about this. Isn't Chopper ten years old?" Bun questioned. "He obviously isn't ready to go out with a girl. Most boys usually aren't. ...Did this friend tell you anything about her?"

"Well, I believe she is the daughter of two famous people who were supposedly celebrities on Mondrao..." Meta Knight trailed.

"Oi! That's interesting!" Sword gaped. "But I wonder where she is…"

"I don't know where she could be, but that doesn't concern me right now. For now I must go." Meta Knight began to spread his wings out and he flew off, holding onto his sword, Galaxia.

"If Chopper ever did find this girl..." Fumu trailed. "I wonder what her reaction would be..."

"I wonder the same thing," Bun agreed.

As Meta Knight flew, he looked down to see two Waddle Dees holding spears slacking off by the forest. He noticed this and flew down to them, defeating the enemies that tried to attack him with Galaxia.

"What are you two doing at this moment?" Meta Knight asked, making the two Waddle Dees jump up and turn around.

"Err… Nothing! We were just patrolling! His Majesty ordered us to patrol this place!" the first Waddle Dee cried, noticing Meta Knight's sword pointing at him.

"You should know your place. If His Majesty told you not to slack off, listen to him. I don't care if you're picking up flowers or thinking of rainbows. Do your job, and you'll be fine. Got that?"

"Yes, Sir Meta Knight!" the Waddle Dees saluted and then Meta Knight walked away. Once he was gone, they sighed in relief, glad to have not been harmed by him.

Meta Knight went back to flying around Dream Land, where he passed by Cappy Town and Hatty Town, and then by a hill, he saw a vehicle he knew from before. That tank gun and the jeep-like structure (without the top) of the vehicle was what he knew about the owner.

_"What is King Dedede and Escargon doing right now? Is this another one of their schemes again where they fail?" _Meta Knight thought as he flew down to the vehicle. Apparently, the two got stuck in some mud.

"Uh oh… Escargon! Why are we stuck at this moment?" King Dedede cried as he kept hitting the pedal as hard as he could. Sadly, the mud pit was deep, and it was difficult for them to get out.

"Well, I'm not so sure..." Escargon trailed.

"Then find out!" the king kicked his secretary off the tank and into the mud. Escargon grumbled as he brushed himself and noticed the wheels stuck in the mud pit.

"Bad news, Your Majesty… We're stuck in a mud pit. Let me try pushing it." Escargon began to push it, while King Dedede kept hitting the pedal. Unfortunately, for Escargon, he got more mud all over himself.

"Almost got it…and…YES!" King Dedede got the tank to move again, and he stopped for Escargon to get back on. "Geez... You look pretty dirty. When's the last time you bathed?"

"Just... Just keep going..."

They then drove up a steep hill, and at the top, they found Meta Knight in their way.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing, Meta Knight?!" King Dedede guffawed. "You're in our way, you know!"

"What exactly are you doing right now, Your Majesty?" Meta Knight asked. "Are you possibly searching for those Crystal Stars?"

"Well of course! That's why we're here! We need to get those so we can be filthy stinkin' _RICH!_"

"Yup! We'll be able to get all we want!" Escargon grinned.

"Your Majesty, you know you won't find anything here," Meta Knight noted. "There's a ninety-eight percent chance that you _won't_ find a Crystal Star here. They're around a place called Rogueport. Not here. Not to mention Chopper can use those stars to fight. There's no way you can beat him now that he has five of them in his hands."

"What made him collect those? Did you help him?" King Dedede wondered.

"You traitor! You're on our side!" Escargon growled.

"That's absurd. I'm your faithful servant. I do anything His Majesty wishes." Meta Knight slightly chuckled before he kicked the tank, which began to go down the hill into the mud.

"WAH! Not again!" King Dedede cried.

"Hey! If you're a servant, you could've shoved a bit lighter!" Escargon shouted as the masked warrior heard a crash.

"It's probably better that they don't find them," Meta Knight muttered. "I may not be much of a hero, but we can't have the whole universe in total darkness."

* * *

**Phi Base-**

Gemerl was sitting on his chair and was looking at the computer screen to make sure if anyone was sneaking through the base like he saw before. He was tapping on the keyboard with his robotic fingers to change the areas of where the camera was while he fired a laser at the Bombette dummy he made.

"I need to know who's sneaking into my base so I can obliterate him! If Grodus sent one of his X-Nauts to sneak into the base, then that's a big problem." Gemerl grumbled, who was starting to get bored. However, he noticed the mysterious figure run through the base, which caught his attention. "There it is! I wonder how he's able to get through here… That's something I must know first of all."

Gemerl noticed an Elite Phi walk into the room. It happened to look exhausted and a bit beaten up as well.

"Bad news, sir… Unfortunately, we lost the battle." the Elite Phi informed. "Neither did the X-Nauts win the battle. …BUT, before you get angry at me, I have some more interesting news that you would DEFINITELY want to hear!"

"I wasn't going to get mad at you anyway. You get more respect, you know that?" Gemerl reminded. "Of course, you're not a higher rank than some other Phis like me, because I'm the best of them all. But, I would like to hear what you have to say. It better be important."

"OK, I'm gonna tell you. After doing a little bit of searching, I was able to find out where Chopper is going to next. Gemerl, sir… He…is coming here."

"WHAT?! Oh, this isn't good… Now we're going to…" Gemerl paused and realized something. His worried expression turned to an evil grin (even though he has no mouth) as he rubbed his robotic hands together.

"What is it, sir?"

"Actually… With Chopper coming here, this can actually be a GOOD thing!" the Phi leader realized. "If we're prepared, then there's no way Chopper will make it through here alive! Besides, he won't even get down to the bottom floor now that my pets are guarding it."

"Are your pets the Smorgs you captured while out in the desert?"

"Yes, those are the ones! It was pretty dang easy, too!"

"Hmmm… I don't know, sir… Chopper already took down an eel, and he had 40 HP…both rounds, that is. Yeah, so that guy has about 80 HP, really."

"But Unagi isn't like me. I'm much stronger. I'm the Gizoid, don't you remember? I'm the ultimate weapon! Now that I can control my weapons and power, I can be considered a perfect robot…next to that E-123 Omega guy… I THINK I'm perfect, but I don't know exactly."

"Well, of course we can take on Chopper!" the Elite Phi assured. "You are indeed a tough enemy to face off against, I'll give you that! Now, let me think for a moment… What else did I have to say?"

The Elite Phi began to think, and then it snapped his finger. "Ah-HA! I remember! You know that person you were thinking was sneaking around? Well we were able to spot her before she got away."

"Oh, really? Now that's... Wait, did you say it's a 'she'?"

"Yeah, it turns out this intruder is a girl! I know, pretty surprising!"

"A girl was sneaking in our base?! Ugh... Here I thought they were simply ones that didn't want to get dirty or only cared about their make-up. I guess there's more to them than I thought! What color was she anyway? Was she human?"

"Well… I can tell you that she's…a mix of a reddish pink and a reddish hot pink, I suppose," the Elite Phi pondered. "I'm not one hundred percent sure, but that's what I know so far. So, I guess she isn't human."

"Sheesh… We need better security here. I mean, now there's someone who's sneaking through the freakin' base! And the sight of pink... It just SICKENS me!"

"What's wrong with pink?"

"It doesn't suit me," Gemerl replied. "Plus, it's not my cup of tea anyway. It's stupid, if you ask me."

"Er… What about that pink friend that Chopper has?"

"Which one do you mean? Chopper's girlfriends are all pink. …Well the shadow ghost is purple, but she has pink hair. One guess, the next girlfriend Chopper gets is pink, right?"

"There's a pink friend that isn't a girl. You know, that round one similar to Chopper? That one's a he. So, there's a male that IS pink with him. But, yeah, pink is not necessarily the best color in my eyes."

"Good. You know your place." Gemerl nodded in approval. "Well, anyway… There's not much to do now. You go help everyone get prepared. I'll keep the Crystal Star in a safe place."

"Yes, sir!" the Elite Phi nodded as it quickly exited the room. Gemerl turned back to his computer and began to search the desert. He noticed a small town with an apartment called "Our Apartments" there. He looked a little surprised to see someone walk in there, but he couldn't see who it was.

"What?! There's a small town here too?! Oh great… Perhaps that girl lives in that pink building. Hmmm? What's this?" Gemerl also saw the Dayzeeflower Girls flying over the desert, which he wasn't happy to see.

"Since when can little girls fly?! Are they stopping by the town? Great… I don't like this one bit. I should seriously find a way to make this place completely invisible and wipe it off the map. Or better yet, I should destroy the town! Yes… That sounds nice…"

Gemerl leaned back on his chair and put the Garnet Star in a safe capsule. "I'm ready for you, Chopper... If you somehow manage to make it all the way here, be ready to face against me! I'm much stronger than a giant eel! Size doesn't matter, you know..."

* * *

**Unagi's Cave, near the entrance-**

Chopper was jumping onto each of the broken ship parts at the beginning of the cave, trying to get out as fast as he could. His friends were following him. Vivian and Shadower were lucky, since they could simply float over the water, which seemed to tick Scrub off a bit.

"You gotta be kidding me! They can float above water while I, a baby Yoshi, have to jump onto these ship parts? Man, this sucks…" Scrub grumbled as he looked back and saw Bombette jumping to them, but she ended up falling in the water.

"Well look who's talkin'! I have no arms to help me! Ye can at least grab onto things! Arr!" Bombette growled as she tried to swim, but she wasn't worried because Unagi was dead because of the sword being stabbed in his head. Kooplang happened to notice them coming up to the ship and gaped.

"Oh my gosh! Guys! They're still alive!" they all took a look and they, too, saw Chopper jump onto the ship, along with his friends. Well Bombette needed help getting on the ship because of her lack of arms.

"You guys are still alive? What happened to Unagi?" Bambo wondered. "And what about the Crystal Star?"

"Hold on! Cool your fuse!" Chopper began to search through his "pockets" and pulled out the Sapphire Star. Everyone except for him and his friends gaped as they gazed at it.

"WOW… I don't believe it! You actually beat Unagi! You, my friend, deserve a medal!" Kooplang congratulated. Chopper blushed and shook his head, telling him that a medal wasn't necessary, and that he needed to go back outside. With that, they sailed outside and away from Unagi's Cave.

"Whoa! Look at the water!" Bambo gaped, noticing the water becoming clear. "This water's gorgeous!"

"Bambo, I believe you owe Chopper an apology," Kooplang informed.

"Wait, what?! No way!"

"Well, you should..."

"Oh, fine..." Bambo turned back to Chopper and walked over to him. "Look, I'm sorry I doubted you guys. I was just trying to help you guys prevent yourselves from getting eaten. But, I guess you proved me wrong."

"You're dang right I did!" Chopper smirked. "And for that... You... Actually, you don't need to do anything."

"Good riddance."

When he finished his conversation with the two, Bobbery walked over to Chopper and is friends.

"Well, Chopper, we sure had a great adventure…but sadly, it'll come to an end, I believe," Bobbery stated. "I enjoyed sailing with you, and I hope one day that we get to see each other again. Ah, good times we had…"

"Yeah, this was pretty interesting," Shadower agreed.

"Now, muchacho, before you go… I have something to give you. This is a very important item, and I want you to treat it with care." Cortez floated over to Chopper and gave him a red orb. "This is an **Ultra Orb**. I don't really know what powers it can give you, but I hear it's very useful. I don't really want it, so I'm sure you can use it for something. Think of it as an apology for before."

"Ummm… OK!" Chopper put the Ultra Orb away for now as they were heading back to Rogueport.

"Yar? Where are we goin' now?" Bombette wondered.

"We're going to a place called Rogueport," Vivian explained. "That's basically where we go for the most when we get a Crystal Star."

"Rogueport? Arr! That sounds like a place filled with thieves! But is it a good idea to go there anyway."

Chopper explained to her that they need to be there because Professor Frankly was there and he had all that good information on the Crystal Stars. She seemed to nod to his explanation and understood everything.

After about forty-five minutes, they made it back to Rogueport Harbor.

"Oh, and Chopper… Anytime you want to go sailing again, let me know." Bobbery noted. "You're always welcome to come sailing with us!"

"Thanks! Now I gotta get going. I gotta go find the next location of the Crystal Star. I don't know if it'll be easy or not. But see ya!" Chopper waved goodbye as they left the harbor and returned to the center of town.

"So... What do we do with that weird red orb?" Scrub wondered.

"I think I remembered something like that," Vivian recalled. "It looks like a crystal ball! I think a fortune teller would be interested in it!"

"Merlon!" Chopper realized as he headed over to Merlon's house. When he showed it to the shaman, he took it and realized something.

"Chopper... With this, you can bring your partners up to Ultra-Rank!" Merlon informed.

"Really? Well, that should be nice!" Chopper smiled.

"Just tell me who you want to upgrade, and this will do the trick.

Chopper had enough Shine Sprites with him, so he upgraded all of his partners to Ultra-Rank. Right now, Vivian had 40 HP, Scrub had 35, Kirby had 35, Shadower had 45 and Bombette had 50.

"Then you may go!" Merlon declared, as there was no one left to upgrade. Chopper still has 6 Shine Sprites left, though. Vivian learned Infatuate, Scrub learned Stampede, Kirby learned Fireball, allowing him to ram into all enemies on the ground, Shadower learned Shadow Attack and Bombette learned both Hold Fast and Bob-omb Blast.

"…I just realized that I have the least amount of HP right now," Chopper realized. But nonetheless, they went outside and both Chopper and Kirby summoned their Warp Stars. Bombette decided to join the Warp Star Chopper was on, so now he had Vivian and Bombette with him.

But before they could go, Chopper heard his Mailbox SP go off.

"You should check that e-mail, Chopper," Vivian suggested, so Chopper took out the Mailbox SP and read the message.

_Dear Chopper,_

_I have good news! An odd computer named TEC found out about his memory disk, and I was able to retrieve it for him! With the memory disk, perhaps he might know about my reason for being held here. If TEC's memory comes back, then he can tell me everything. I'll give you the information once he tells me it, so be patient, OK?_

_-Princess Peach-_

"She got information from an odd computer named TEC? How odd…" Chopper trailed.

With that, they decided to take off. Chopper decided he would not go to the Mayor and went to the Fountain of Dreams.

* * *

**Fountain of Dreams-**

"Say, Chopper… How come we didn't walk over to the Fountain of Dreams like we usually did?" Shadower asked as they landed by the fountain.

"I didn't want to waste time," Chopper answered as he walked over to the pedestal. "We can't just sit and talk, you know. We gotta hunt for those Crystal Stars!"

Bombette looked confused as she stared at the fountain. "Yar? What the heck IS this place? Wait… A different world… Err… Chopper, I'm gettin' a little confused."

"Eh… We're not going to be here that long, so you don't need to get confused." Chopper jumped on the pedestal and held up the Sapphire Star, making it disappear and then making it appear around the blue light, along with the other four Crystal Stars.

"Whoa… This looks pretty cool." Bombette was awed at this, but then she saw the map floating above Chopper, which was glowing a white color as it began to reveal a new Crystal Star.

The map began to show a base in a desert, and further away from the base, to the left, was a town with a pink apartment. It showed a dark orange Crystal Star at the base. Once Chopper took a look at it, he gaped.

"Wait a second… The Crystal Star is in some kind of base?" Chopper pondered for a moment until he realized where it could be. "Wait a minute… Guys! We're going back to Frankly's! We gotta know something right now!"

* * *

**Professor Frankly's house-**

"Interesting location, my friends…" Frankly trailed. "It looks like this Crystal Star is located in one of the newest places around Rogueport. It's in **Desert Sands**, a desert that can be calm at times, but there are a couple of sandstorms that can occur."

"So it's in Desert Sands, huh? Interesting…" Chopper trailed. "But there's one other question… The Crystal Star is pointing to some kind of base. You have any idea where that could be?"

"Hrrmmmm… I don't know much about it, but let me see if I have something." Frankly walked over to his shelf and found a book on Desert Sands. "Ah! Here we go! This is it! It says that a robot was spotted one day out in the desert. Some gray kind of robot, I presume?"

"Poyo! (Those are the Phis!)" Kirby cried.

"Phis!" Everyone else shouted.

"Hrrrmm? A Fee? I have no idea what you're talking about? What's a Fee?"

Everyone instantly toppled over on the ground.

"It's 'Phi'! Not 'Fee', ya nutjob!" Scrub corrected, getting up. "Man, how many bricks piled your head anyway?"

"Oh, never you mind now! Unfortunately, I don't know much about getting there. I'm sorry, but that place is new."

"I'm back, Professor Frankly!" Goombella informed as she walked into his house, which gave Frankly an idea.

"Ah! Goombella! Perfect timing!" Frankly exclaimed. "You DO know how to get to Desert Sands, don't you? If so, would you mind telling them where it is?"

"Certainly!" Goombella nodded. "All you gotta do is go to the sewers through the opening in West Rogueport and go down the pipe near your right. There, when you find a crack in the next room, you'll find a tan pipe behind it. I hope that helps!"

"I guess it does. We should go check it out, Chopper." Vivian suggested.

"Yeah! We can kick some Phi butt!" Scrub grinned.

"An' let's make sure they don't steal the treasure!" Bombette added.

"Uhhhh... I think they already have the star, Bombette..." Chopper trailed.

"Oh... Then let's take it back!"

They all went down to the sewers to where they were when they had to go to Twilight Town. But instead, they jumped down to the pipe near their right and walked through a pathway to the left, and then thy went down some stairs to their right to see a crack in the wall.

"Whoa! What happened to the Goombas?" Chopper wondered, noticing no Goombas around. "All I can see now are Koopatrols and Hammer Bros.! Did Bowser's minions find this place and come here? This isn't good…"

"Chopper! I see the crack! Throw me to it and I'll blow it up!" Bombette declared.

Chopper picked her up and threw her at the cracked wall, which blew it up and revealed a small room with a tan pipe.

"There it is..." Vivian trailed.

"Well, since we're here, we might as well get a move on. Let's go, everyone!" Chopper quickly jumped into the pipe, with his friends following. One thing for sure was that they were looking forward to kicking some Phi butt.

* * *

**Chapter 6 is probably going to be a cool chapter. Yeah, I think it'll be the coolest of the three Chapter 6's. It's interesting, I suppose, and the boss is pretty tough, too. There wasn't a desert in Paper Mario 2 (though I guess Riverside Station is kind of like a desert...), so I thought putting a desert here wouldn't be such a bad idea, even if I'm not a big fan of them.**

**Yes, we're going to see LOTS of Phis in Chapter 6.**


	38. A Girl From the Past

**CHAPTER 6**

**-Phis in the Sandy Desert-**

"What a day! Sneaking into the Phi Base was so fun!" a girl's voice said as she headed over to a pink building called Our Apartments "…I hope they didn't notice me. I know there's some kind of camera in the room, but they're security is so bad. It's always funny to see how some of those robot guys react in such stupid ways! It's a place to go around to get away from some people here. Especially those people who have to laugh at my name... But I guess I'm a bit popular enough."

She ran up to her door on the sixth floor, which happened to have a heart on it, and she unlocked the door to go into her room.

"But I can't help but feel that some of my friends do things that I'm particularly not interested in. And great, I'm talking to myself as well!" she sighed as the door closed. "You know, being the only one of my kind is kind of hard. Ever since I was rescued from Mondrao, I haven't seen another one of my kind. I even miss that one boy I liked back there. None of the people here remind me of him, sadly..."

When she sat down on her sofa in her pink room, she began to ponder. "Well, I haven't been doing much outside of that base. I heard there were some moles that I could hit with my hammer. Maybe I should go find my Hearty Hammer! Tee hee! It's such a strange, but cute name for a hammer, I suppose. ...Wait a second..."

She noticed it was nowhere in the apartment.

"_**No… NO…NOOOOO! **_It can't be! My Hearty Hammer! It's not here! Who could've stolen it? I can't leave without that thing! It's my most prized possession and my only weapon!"

* * *

**Sand Town-**

Chopper came out of the tan pipe, and he was right by a couple of houses. Once he stepped foot on the sand, he felt it getting hot around him. It was also dry was well, but there happened to be a fountain in the center of the town, which was nice.

"Wow… It feels so hot here. Good thing his hat's on my head, or else it would be worse…" Vivian trailed. Scrub, meanwhile, began to sweat in the heat. He felt as if it was a hundred degrees.

"Man… I can't stand the heat here. Can't we just go somewhere else or refresh ourselves? Wait!" Scrub rushed over to the fountain and he began to drink from it. He felt relived afterward.

"I don't know if that was a good idea..." Shadower trailed.

"What're you talking about? I was thirsty!"

"Yeah, but it's a public fountain. You never know what could be in there."

Scrub's eyes widened as he covered his mouth. "OK... I think I see your point."

"Poyo? (Why did the next Crystal Star have to be in a desert?)" Kirby groaned. "Poyo! (It's so hot! Gah! I wish it was back in another beach. THAT was paradise. It was great!)

"Yeah, that's true. I remember one of my friends said that she hated the desert so much. Ah… Good times. …Well, kind of." Chopper recalled, thinking about Koopla's hatred of the desert.

And that suddenly reminded Vivian of something.

"Chopper, is Bow your girlfriend?" Vivian asked.

Chopper jumped up a little and he shook his head. "What?! No! I don't have any girlfriends! She was just some ghost girl that apparently fell in love for me for some reason. Honestly, I didn't like being kissed by her..."

"Bow? Maybe we should go see her some time." Shadower suggested. "Now I'm a bit curious."

"Yar? I don't see how this be important." Bombette gawked. "What about the treasure?!"

"Yeah, Bombette's right. This isn't anything important. We have to find out about the Crystal Star. Let's go look around." Chopper suggested as he walked around the town, passing by the fountain. Shadower, despite saying that it wasn't a good idea, dumped his head in the fountain to cool him off.

"Oh man! That feels MUCH better!" Shadower sighed.

"Come on, man!" Scrub guffawed. "You told me things could be in there!"

"I know, but I seriously had to do it. It's so HOT out here!"

Eventually they followed everyone else and found some kids walking out of school nearby. They were Toads, Goombas, Koopas, Dayzees and many others that were apparently attending school. Even some Mousers attended it!"

"You know, I didn't see **Heartsy **in school today. I wonder where she was… Was she absent again?" a Toad boy asked.

"That girly weirdo that attends this school? Well, it's a shame she wasn't there, 'cause makin' fun of her name is usually fun!" a male Shy Guy snorted.

"Oh, I know what you mean!" a female Bandit agreed. "She thinks she's sooooo clever, cutting school like that! I'd like to see her when she finds out she won't be getting in a better school!"

"Hey, now! Don't be so harsh on her!" a female Dayzee suggested. "She's not ALWAYS absent. This was probably the second time she's been absent anyway! Besides, Heartsy's a nice girl, and she's cute as well. You people just judge her because of her name and how different she is!"

"By different, you mean someone like him?" a Mouser asked, pointing to Chopper.

"Huh? ...Oh! Hi there! I'm Chopper!" Chopper greeted, giving the kids a wave. Some of them simply laughed at them as they walked away, leaving Chopper to guffaw. "Hey! What's so funny?! You never saw someone like me?!"

"Arr! Well these kids have no respect fer us!" Bombette growled.

"Yeah! Those jerks!" Scrub grumbled. "They have no idea who they're laughing at!"

"I suppose they're not the greatest kids in the world..." Vivian trailed.

"Yes, sometimes the children do tend to be a little...like that toward outsiders," a Toad wearing a green robe and veil said as he walked over to the six. "Hello to you all! My name is Harry! I'm the Mayor of this town!"

"Oh... At least someone isn't laughing at us..." Shadower trailed. "Good riddance!"

"I apologize for the rudeness from those children. Outsiders aren't meant to be treated like that! Then again, the people around here have never seen outsiders such as yourself around these parts."

"All right, Toad person!" Scrub began. "Tell us everything about the Crystal Star!"

"Scrub! That's not how you get answers from people!" Vivian scolded.

"Anyway..." Chopper began. "We're looking for something called the Crystal Star. Do you have any clue on that?"

"Errrmmm... Unfortunately, I don't..." Harry trailed, shaking his head. "I'm only an expert on this town, not what lies outside of Sand Town. However, I do believe there might be someone who could give you a hand. She's someone who usually leaves this town often. I'm sure most of the children might know about her!"

"Well spill it out, Gramps!" demanded Scrub. "We wanna know!"

"Scrub, he isn't even old!" Chopper noticed.

"Oh..."

"Well, my friends, that girl you're seeking is named Heartsy."

"...Heartsy?" Scrub tried to hold in his laughter. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and he was laughing hysterically. "BAH HA HA HA! You serious?! There's someone in this world named Heartsy of all people?! Who would name their kid that?!"

"Well who would name someone Chopper?" Chopper asked.

"...Yeah, I suppose you have a point. But that name sounds so bad it's funny!"

"Yes, a lot of people seem to say some stuff like that," Harry mentioned. "You know, it's kind of funny... Six years ago, a female warrior came to this very place with her and trusted the girl to an old man who tended to go outside of Sand Town. He would even take her out at times and show her some skills with the hammer. They had a great relationship, but not all relationships last forever..."

"What happened?" Vivian asked.

"The old man was getting old, and he was very sick as well. He died and let her stay in the room she now lives in in Our Apartments. I've been trying to help her out a bit, but for some reason, she has been doing very well on her own. She even goes out of town on her own. That must mean the old man was good with his training."

"Poyo... (That's sad...)" Kirby trailed.

"I feel a bit sorry for her..." Vivian said solemnly.

"Hmmmm... Well, if she's the key to helping us find that Crystal Star, then we're going to need to find her." Chopper declared. "Do you know where in Our Apartments she is?"

"Well, from what I can recall, she's on the sixth floor in room 603. Try not to forget about it!"

"All right. We might as well go there then." Chopper decided as he began to run over to the pink building up ahead. Scrub was disgusted with the pink color, but they headed in and ran to the elevator to the far upper right, passing the Toad lady at the desk. Upon entering the elevator, they noticed the walls were hot pink.

"Errrr... There be a lot of pink here..." Bombette trailed.

"Yeah, it must be pretty famous around these parts," Shadower pondered.

As the elevator door closed, they all heard elevator music that sounded like E-101 mkII battle theme. Scrub began to tap his foot to the music as he grinned.

"Hey! I like this song!" Scrub commented.

"Poyo, (Has a nice touch to it,)" Kirby nodded.

The elevator door opened and they found a pink carpet hallway with doors of different colors. It was nice, especially because they were getting sick of the color pink. However, when they reached room 603, the door was, you guessed it, pink. There was also a red heart in the center of the door as well, which made sense. After all, her name is Heartsy.

"I must admit. This apartment is pretty big. I think it would be nice to stay in here, really…" Vivian trailed as she looked at a purple door. "I suppose the room itself is purple if the door is purple?"

"Oh, geez... This door has a heart on it." Chopper sweat dropped. "I swear, this isn't something I'm looking forward to now..."

But, he knew he had to get this girl's help. He walked up to the door and gave a knock.

"No, no," Bombette said, pushing Chopper out of the way. "Yer not knockin' hard enough! We should make sure it's loud enough fer her to listen!"

When they noticed her fuse light up, everyone cried out as Chopper quickly stopped her fuse from lighting up.

"Hey! Why'd you stop it?!"

"Do you wanna blow up the whole building?!" Chopper exclaimed. "Look, how about I knock a little harder?"

"Do it, Contadre!" Scrub agreed as Chopper knocked a little harder.

_"Hello? Who's there?"_ Now they knew she heard it.

"Ummm… Hi there." Chopper greeted, feeling a little nervous. "Are you, by any chance, Heartsy?"

_"Me? Oh, don't tell me you're one of those people that are here to make fun of my name..."_ she groaned. _"I've been getting pretty sick of that! I'm sure you're just another Goomba or Shy Guy or something..."_

"What?! I'm not any of those! I'm someone a lot different than everyone else here, actually. In fact, I'm pretty much the last of my kind..."

_"What?! You're the last of your kind?! Aw... Now I feel a little bad for thinking you were someone else..."_

"Well, your name is pretty funny!" Scrub snickered.

_"Who was that? Are there more people with you?"_

"...Yeah, there are, but they're not bad people!" Chopper assured. "In fact, the reason why we came to you is because we heard you knew something about the Crystal Stars! At least, that's what we heard from the mayor..."

_"Oh! So you spoke to the mayor! OK, now I'm thinking you're one of those good people. Well, I DID happen to spot a little something when I was sneaking through a base full of robots! If that's what you're looking for, then yes, I think I know where it is!"_

"I don't know why, but her voice sounds kinda cute..." Scrub trailed. "Don'tcha think so, Contadre!"

"Stop it, Scrub!" Chopper snapped before turning back to the door. "Anyway, do you think you can take us over there? We desperately need to get that gem, because if we don't collect them all, chances are the universe will be destroyed."

_"The universe getting destroyed... Huh..." _she trailed. _"...Wait, the universe will get destroyed if you don't collect it?! Oh my gosh! Well, I think I should help you find that Crystal Star! ...Although, I wish I could, but I have a small problem."_

"What's the problem?" Vivian asked.

_"My Hearty Hammer's gone missing! That's the only weapon I have that I can defend myself with!"_

"Pbbbbbbbth! Wow... Even the name of her hammer sounds hilarious!" Scrub snickered.

_"I can hear you, you know! And besides... Dumb name aside, it's actually helped me through a lot. I'm pretty sure it could knock you out!"_

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!"

"No, we're not going to fight," Chopper declared. "That's going to get us nowhere!"

_"Yeah, I think you're right... Wait, I never got to know your name! You seem like a nice person!"_

"My name? Well, I'm Chopper."

_"That sounds like a strange name, especially for around here... But, I think it sounds cute! Hee hee! Anyway, here's the deal: if you can find my Hearty Hammer, then I promise I'll help you get into that base. You know, you-scratch-my-back-and-I-scratch-yours?"_

"That sounds like a fair deal," Chopper nodded.

_"Good! I'm pretty sure my hammer is somewhere outside of town. I just hope it's safe and sound..."_

"Then that means we're leaving this apartment," Shadower declared as everyone left the apartment.

* * *

**Outside-**

"Why do we need to get her hammer?" Vivian wondered. "I mean, she sounds sweet and all, but couldn't she have come with us? I think that would've been more acceptable."

"Yeah, I know. But it was her choice I guess. We can find that hammer no problem anyway! Let's go out of town and check!" Chopper headed out of town and found a barren area with some rocks, and not to mention Poison Pokeys.

"Hey! What be over there?" Bombette asked.

They happened to notice two Phis talking to each other. Since they didn't spot them, they decided to listen in to the conversation, and boy, was it worth listening to.

"I don't understand why we're close to town," the first Phi wondered. "Isn't it dangerous for us to be here? Sure, we're supposed to be waiting for that girl and all, but come on! What if someone comes out here and sees us? That would be bad."

"Yeah, but orders are orders. Master Gemerl wanted us to wait at this place, and that's what we're going to do. But don't think we came here for nothing. I found THIS!" the second Phi pulled out a red hammer that had a horizontal yellow trim on the top and bottom of the hammer. The face was pink with a red heart embedded in the center, and the handle was a pink color as well.

"What the heck is that?! I mean, who would even carry a hammer like THAT?! ...I bet it belongs to that girl, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I'm sure it does…" the second Phi nodded until a light bulb lit up above his head. "Hey, if we brought this back to Master Gemerl, do you think we can get that promotion…or possibly get credit for finding something that belongs to the girl? I mean, we can scan it and see who it belongs to. That way, we can find where the girl is and get rid of her! That sounds perfect!"

"Hey, that's not a bad idea at all! I think Master Gemerl would let us hold the Crystal Star if we did that. Good idea there, Phi!"

"Ahem!"

The two Phis turned around and saw Chopper in his fighting stance, along with his friends.

"Gah! It's Chopper!" the first Phi cried, but soon paused and then pondered. "Hold the phone… If we capture Chopper, we can probably get even more credit! Y'know… I think it was a good idea coming here! First we find the girl's hammer, and now we find Chopper! Man! Master Gemerl is definitely going to be pleased with us!"

"Give that hammer back, Phis! We need it!" Bombette demanded.

"Really? All right, if you need it, then let's see you take it from us! I dare you to try and take it!" the Phi was suddenly struck by an explosion from Bombette, taking 6 away from it. Chopper finished the Phi off with his hammer, which was all it took to get rid of 10 HP.

"Whoa! They've gotten tough! His friends can deal 6 damage! That's baaaaaaaaad!" the second Phi aimed its gun at Chopper and fired a laser at him, which took away 4 from him.

"Well these guys got stronger too…" Chopper trailed before he stomped on the Phi's head with his Jump, and Vivian finished it off with her Shade Fist.

"Retreat!" the Phis cried as they got up and ran away, dropping the Hearty Hammer. Chopper managed to grab a hold of it, but his eye was twitching when he held it up.

"Er… I do NOT feel comfortable holding this." Chopper cringed.

"Yeah, that hammer looks too girly for you," Scrub mentioned. "I bet it belongs to the girl."

"I'm pretty sure it does... Vivian, do you wanna hold onto it?"

"OK, Chopper," Vivian nodded as she took the hammer. "Let's go back to Sand Town."

* * *

**Sand Town-**

"Poyo! (I'm glad to be back in town!)" Kirby smiled as they set foot back in the town.

"Well we finally got the hammer. So, we're going to go back to that girl, right?" Vivian asked as she looked at the hammer. "…I still wish she went with us. I mean, this is pretty much her own responsibility..."

"I guess it's too late for that," Chopper shrugged.

"Yeah, but then again, Contadre's one to do stuff for other people," Scrub mentioned. "I don't think he'd say no to a girl anyway..."

"Poyo! (Can we go in the apartment place now? It's getting HOT out here!)" Kirby groaned.

"Yar! I don't want me fuse lightin' up!" Bombette agreed.

Chopper nodded before they all quickly headed over to Our Apartments to get away from the heat, and once they got back in the lobby, they felt cool. Probably because there was an air conditioner in the rooms.

* * *

**Sixth floor, near Room 603-**

When they all came out of the elevator, they sighed in relief. Not only that, they didn't feel as hot compared to being outside. Although, it wasn't as cool in the hallway than it was at the lobby.

"Boy, we sure ran into something back there, didn't we?" Shadower sighed. "Those Phis didn't want anyone seeing them, but we ran into them. But, only we saw them, so it wouldn't make much of a difference now, would it?"

"Arr! We don't need to worry now." Bombette assured. "I wish we were out on the seas like before. Pirates are not really interested in deserts… We need a pirate ship, with a poop deck! That's what we need!"

"A poop deck? Err… Yeah… I still don't understand poop decks. Anyway, I say we deliver the hammer now." Chopper decided as he walked over to room 603 and knocked on the door, and this time, he made sure Heartsy could hear them.

_"Huh? Are you all back again? Did you get my hammer like I said?"_ Heartsy asked.

"Yeah, we got it!" Chopper nodded. "Vivian, give me the hammer."

"OK," Vivian nodded as she gave the hammer to Chopper.

_"All right! Let me come out!"_

When the door opened, they noticed a reddish pink girl with a heart-shaped head with long, reddish hot pink hair and a red outlined mouth come out. She was wearing a red, sleeveless sundress that went to her knees, red, comfy boots that were almost like sneakers, a golden wrist ring with a red ruby embedded in them and white gloves. She was around Chopper's size, but slightly taller.

"Hey, she's actually cute," Scrub realized.

"Poyo, (Yeah, I guess I agree,)" Kirby nodded.

"Hi, guys! So you're the ones who brought me my hammer, huh?" Heartsy asked, looking at the group, but mostly paying attention to Chopper. "So, Chopper... Do you have my hammer?"

"Yeah, it's right here," Chopper nodded, giving her the hammer. She smiled as she took it and looked at it herself.

"Finally! I've got my hammer back! I was almost starting to worry about it..."

"Well, now that we got your hammer, can you help us?"

"Yes, I'm going to..." Heartsy nodded, putting the hammer away. However, she couldn't help but look at Chopper a little more carefully. "You know, there's something strange about you... You said you were the only one of your kind right?"

"Uh huh. It stinks, honestly..."

"But there's something odd about you... It's almost if I recognize your face or something... You kind of remind me of someone..."

"Really?" Chopper gawked as Heartsy suddenly realized it and snapped her finger.

"Oh! Now I see it!" Heartsy smiled cheerfully. "I can't believe I'm not the only one of my kind now!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Don't you get it, Chopper? We're actually the same species!"

Everyone but Chopper and Heartsy: **_UUUUWWHHHAAAAAAAAAA?!_**

"Wait... HOW can we be the same species?! We don't look that similar! I'm a round shape, while you... I guess you technically have a body..."

"Our kind doesn't always look exactly the same, you know," Heartsy mentioned. "Hold on... Chopper, who were your parents?"

"My parents? They're named Toalune and Tonberria. Why?"

Heartsy let out a gasp as she realized another thing. "It's... It's actually you! I actually remember seeing you back on Mondrao!"

"Wait, hold on..." Scrub cut in. "Are you saying you know Contadre?!"

"Yes, I do! I think when I was two, there was a boy I had a crush on at the Daycare when my parents had to go to work. He was also the first boy I ever got to kiss at my birthday party!"

"Hold on, I don't get what you're..." Chopper paused as his eyes widened. "Wait a second... I think I remember that now! That's when my fear of the cooties had just begun..."

When he looked up at the girl, he almost saw an image of the girl who kissed him when he was two. "That was you..."

"Yes, I knew your name sounded familiar!" Heartsy squealed. "I was sad that I would never see you again because of what happened to our planet, but to see you still alive makes me happy! You're still as cute as before, too!"

Chopper noticed Heartsy get a little closer to him, which made him step away from her while shaking in fear. He even noticed red hearts fluttering over the girl. "Heartsy... Please! Don't do this to me! I'm too young to have a girlfriend anyway! I'm only ten!"

"Tee hee hee! It's OK! You don't have to be so worried! There's someone you know here! Plus, I'm also ten, so it makes things even better!"

"Yeah, and it just so happens that the person of my kind to survive was someone who liked me! And she also happens to be the same age as me!"

As Heartsy continued to gush over Chopper, everyone else but Vivian were left confused.

"So, let me get this straight..." Shadower started. "Chopper happened to know this girl back on his birth planet? And this same girl happened to be someone who was and is still in love with him?"

"Poyo, (Looks like it,)" Kirby nodded.

"Yaaarrrr... Who ever knew she still thought of him when she thought he be dead?" Bombette wondered.

"You know, since you were the one to help me get my hammer back, I think I should give you a reward," Heartsy suggested, giving Chopper a wink.

"A r-reward? Oh, that's fine. If it's a Mushroom or Star Piece, I w-wouldn't mind." Chopper stammered. "Those are some important items, you know!"

"I'm talking about a _special_ reward," she giggled as she blushed with red lightning bolts on her cheeks in the same way as Chopper would. "After all, you're someone special in my eyes! And people who help me that I find special deserve rewards like this! I think rewarding you with a nice, sweet kiss should be just fine, especially for my _boyfriend_!"

"Wait, b-boyfriend?!" Chopper and Vivian both gasped in unison.

"Of course, silly! Why would I not consider you my boyfriend when I liked you before? Anyway, you deserve this, so pucker up!"

"C-Come on, Heartsy! Can't we talk about this?!" Chopper cried.

Unfortunately it was too late. Heartsy was able to hug Chopper and leave a nice, sweet kiss on his cheek. His eyes widened in fear as he felt her lips touch his cheek. He began to remember the horrors of being kissed by her again when he was at her third birthday party. Except that time, she kissed him on the lips.

Vivian noticed Heartsy lift a leg up as she continued to kiss Chopper, who was trying to pry himself out of her grip. But sadly, he failed to do so. Vivian was unsure how to react either.

When Heartsy let go of Chopper, he began to wipe his cheek as fast as he could. "YUCK! That was one of the worst rewards I was ever given! Never do that again!"

"Oh, Choppy! That was one of the best kisses ever!" Heartsy squealed. "You're just so cuuuuuuute!"'

"Man, I can't believe she kissed Chopper!" Scrub gaped. "Hey! Girl! How about one for me?!"

"Ummmmmm... I don't think so. You're probably the one that made fun of my name anyway, so I don't think you deserve it."

"Dang..."

"But I think I can leave one more for you, _Choppy_!" Heartsy smiled as she blushed and kissed Chopper on his other cheek. Chopper had nothing else to say and ended up falling over, making Heartsy giggle.

"Poyo... (I hope Chopper's all right...)" Kirby trailed.

"Umm… I don't think Chopper's really interested in you." Vivian noted. "I saw the look on him, and he did not like being kissed by you…"

"Are you jealous?" Heartsy wondered.

"What? No!"

"That sounded like jealousy to me... But, whatever. I'm glad to be reunited with Choppy again!"

"Choppy?! No no no!" Chopper cried. "I don't like that name!"

"Can we get to the point already?" Shadower asked.

"OK! OK! Cool your hat!" Heartsy sighed. "So, you guys need to go into the Phi Base, correct? Well, now that you've helped me get my hammer back, I guess I might as well help you get in there. Besides, I'd do anything for Choppy anyway, now that I mention it! I wouldn't even mind if he proposed to me!"

"_Propose?!_ NO!" Chopper gaped.

"Yeah, we need to find that Crystal Star," Scrub nodded. "And maybe we can kick that leader's butt if we have the chance while we're at it!"

"Yeah... That's important..." Vivian trailed.

"An' maybe we can find some loot in the base too!" Bombette declared. "Pirates don't always have to use ships to get loot, you know..."

"Yes, we'll find the Crystal Star and get out of the base," Chopper said before looking at Heartsy. "However, I don't want you trying to gush over me! I'm NOT your boyfriend, OK?"

"Oh, I can't promise that," Heartsy smiled, pinching Chopper's cheeks. "You don't need to get so grouchy, you know. You should be happy to see an old friend back!"

**Heartsy has joined your party! Press X to make Heartsy use her hammer to whack Chopper over things that are too far for him to jump, such as cliffs, lava, spikes, and also quicksand! Press Y to make Chopper run away from Heartsy and run past lasers and other things! In battle, she can use her Hearty Hammer to attack a foe with her hammer… Or she can use Refreshing Love to blow a kiss at Chopper to recover some HP each turn.**

"Let's go down to the main lobby and leave this place. I would let you explore my room a bit, but I don't think we have the time. Maybe we can hold hands, Choppy?"

She noticed him immediately make his way over to the elevator.

"Oh, right."

When they were all in the elevator, Heartsy gave a smile to Chopper, but he simply stayed away from her and decided to stay by Kirby.

"Poyo, (You're overreacting, Chopper,)" Kirby noted. "Poyo! (And besides, you never acted like this when you were around Vivian!)"

"I know... But she's gushing over me... And I don't feel safe around Heartsy..." Chopper gulped, noticing Heartsy wave sweetly to him. "You see?"

"So… How have things been for ye?" Bombette asked.

"Oh, me?" Heartsy asked. "Well... They've been all right. I do have some friends here, but some of them like to do all of those girly things like make-up and shopping. I personally don't like those stuff. It's kind of boring, if you ask me. Sometimes I just play my Nintendo GameCube in my room whenever I get bored."

"Wait, you seriously play video games?" Chopper gawked. "I never knew that!"

"Just because someone's a pink color doesn't mean they're completely girly. But there's probably one thing that seems to matter more than that..."

"What is it?"

"My family, my friends...and also you!"

"Oh... Thanks?"

When the elevator door opened, they noticed Harry was at the lobby waiting for them.

"Oh! There you guys are! I wanted to see if things were OK!" Harry smiled as they approached him. "Heartsy! How's it been?"

"Hi, Mayor!" Heartsy greeted. "You're seriously not going to believe it, but this boy is actually the same species as me!"

"I don't completely believe that," Chopper denied.

"What? But I know about your family and that birthday! What else do I have to give to you?"

"Ummmmmm... Carry on, I guess."

"OK... Anyway, Choppy is..."

"Don't call me that either!"

"Simmer down already!" Heartsy groaned. "Honestly, no need to act up like this!"

"Fine..."

"Anyway, _Chopper_ also happens to be someone I met back on Mondrao. He was the first person I ever liked and kissed!"

"Ah! That's interesting!" Harry smiled as she noticed Heartsy grab a hold of Chopper's hand. "I'll admit, you two do make a nice couple. Who would've thought there'd be two people of your kind left? And it makes it better that you're the opposite gender of the other! You could get married and have children and revive your race!"

"I know, right?"

"Hold on a second!" Chopper cut in. "I... I honestly don't understand much of this."

And unfortunately, he never did, because he didn't have any experience on love. After all, he is ten years old...

"Well, I'm going to enjoy being with Choppy!" Heartsy smiled, sighing sweetly at Chopper. "You just made my heart flutter to see you back..."

"Let's go already…" Chopper sighed as he got free from her hands and left Sand Town, along with his friends and his "girlfriend", Heartsy. Vivian, on the other hand, was feeling saddened as they made their way to where they were before.


	39. Walking Through the Desert

Before they went out into the desert, Chopper went back to Rogueport to go upgrade Heartsy to Ultra-Rank. She now had learned Hearty Throw, which allowed her to throw her hammer at any enemy, whether they were on the ground or up in the air. It also pierces through defense, which is nice. She also learned Hammerang, which allowes her to throw her hammer toward all enemies on the ground. Since it acts like a boomerang, her hammer comes back to her. Also, she now 40 HP, having 15 without being upgraded.

"All right, so now we're out in the desert, huh? Wow, this place looks…pretty barren." Scrub pointed out. "There's not really a lot here besides Poison Pokeys and Poison Clefts. Wait… Poison Clefts? Since when were THEY in here? …Oh yeah, there are Tuff Puffs too…and not to mention Bandits."

"Scrub, we were here before," Chopper reminded.

"Oh... Whoops!"

"Yeah, this place sure is crawling with them. I don't like it…" Shadower trailed as they took a couple of steps to take a look around. Chopper was up at the front, and Heartsy walked beside him with hearts fluttering over her head.

Chopper stopped and saw Heartsy next to him, which made him take a couple of steps back from her…without saying a word. But that didn't seem to be doing anything, because she simply got closer to him.

"Can someone tell her to stop? I'm getting a little nervous…" Chopper sweat dropped. "Man, if I was a prince, then I would be safe from harm…"

"If you were a prince, then I could be your princess!" Heartsy smiled as she hugged him. "I would love that! Tee hee hee!"

Chopper slipped out of her grasps and went back to everyone else while panting. "Can't we save this for another time? Right now, we gotta go find that Phi Base. You're supposed to be helping us. Not cuddling with me and giving me your cooties!"

"Poyo! (Relax, Chopper. She's not gonna bite!)" Kirby assured. "Poyo... (She seems really nice. I think she would actually help us if something bad happened…)"

"Oh, all right. I'll just calm down about it. As long as you don't try anything, such as kissing me and all, Heartsy."

Heartsy nodded to him, but not before giving him a wink, which freaked him out. But she stopped when she noticed a Bandit coming toward them.

"Choppy! Look out!" she quickly jumped in and pushed Chopper out of the way, preventing him from getting hit by the Bandit. Shadower was the one to take care of the Bandit after it failed to hit Chopper.

"That was a close one," Shadower sighed. "That Bandit almost got Chopper. It's a good thing Heartsy saved him…or else he could've lost his coins, items, or badges…or he could've lost his Super Gloves…"

Apparently, when Heartsy pushed Chopper out of the way, she was lying on top of him and holding him. She got back up afterward, but she was able to sneak a hug, which made Chopper feel uncomfortable.

"…OK, you were just helping me there. That's fine." Chopper assured as Vivian helped him up. Heartsy went back over to the group, while Vivian sighed when Chopper headed over to them.

"I don't think I'm going to get my chance now. …Though I think he feels better around me than her." Vivian noticed as she followed the group through the area, avoiding the quicksand pits around and defeating the Pokeys here.

"Hmmm… I think I see some quicksand ahead. It's not going to be easy to get through, but I can certainly get you across." Heartsy assured as they got to a big quicksand pit. They could see regular sand to the other side.

"As long as it has nothing to do with any of that stuff, I'll be…" Chopper was cut off when Heartsy swung her hammer and sent him flying over to the other side. She made it so he wouldn't get hurt from it. "…FIIIIIIIINE!"

"Whoa… That was intense. Well, he's not hurt, but Contadre sure took that one." Scrub noticed. "Say, Heartsy... Could you get me over there?"

"Ummmmm... OK. Though, this might hurt." Heartsy brought her hammer back and looked at everyone else. "And don't think I'm going to shout fore! It's your problem if you get hurt!"

"Errr... OK..." Bombette trailed as Heartsy got Scrub across. Everyone else headed over there, with Heartsy getting Bombette over there with her hammer. She got stuck in the sand, so Vivian pulled her out.

They had to get Heartsy to the other side, so Chopper tried using his Inhale ability to make sure she could get across. When she got across, he helped her up, which made her blush.

"That was sweet of you to do that," Heartsy smiled before she realized something. "Hold on... Did you just...act like some kind of vacuum cleaner?!"

"Well, I was given this rainbow heart thing that lets me run fast, have a better jump and inhale things like a vacuum. I can steal abilities with it!"

"Oh... That's interesting. That's a lot more than what I can do."

"Arr… The sands are so dry. So dry, that I'm quenching in thirst." Bombette cut in, who was dying of thirst. Heartsy began to check if she had a bottle of water, and she actually did, so she gave it to her.

"You should have this, then. Don't worry, I got another one, plus I'm not thirsty. Don't worry! Take it!" Heartsy had the water bottle out…but she just realized something. "Oh, yeah… You don't have arms."

However, Bombette was able to snatch it from her and drink the water. While Vivian had no idea why she wasn't able to do it before, it didn't matter at this point.

After finishing, Bombette smiled. "Say, fer a girl that's in love with Chopper, ye sure are nice!"

"Thank you," Heartsy smiled. "I always carry some water around here because of how dry it is. That's why I have about two bottles of water."

"Yeesh... Kindness can do a lot..." Chopper trailed. "But I still don't like the fact that she likes me!"

He noticed his mouth was getting a little dry too.

"Here, Choppy! You can have my last bottle of water." Heartsy said, offering him a bottle. "You're too young to die out here in the desert. I'm used to it, so I don't get as thirsty. I'd do anything to make sure you're safe… Plus, who else would I marry?"

"OK, fine. …But you gotta stop calling me Choppy." Chopper swiped the water bottle from her and began to drink it. He felt much better after drinking it and smiled afterward. Heartsy smiled too, but then he quickly stopped.

"…Let's just move on," Chopper quickly moved on ahead to find some Poison Pokeys. No big problem. They could take these guys, so Chopper whacked at the first one with his hammer.

"You have a hammer too? That's so cool! We're like a hammer couple now!" Heartsy finished off the Poison Pokey with her Hearty Hammer. When she brought it down, hearts came out of it, and the Poison Pokey was beaten.

The other Poison Pokey went over to Scrub and shot a spike at him. It went right into his leg, causing him to scream. Chopper jumped up in shock and clenched his fists at the Poison Pokey left.

"Oh, NOW you've done it!" Chopper hurled a fireball at the Poison Pokey, and Heartsy finished it off with her hammer. Scrub was holding his leg, trying to pull out the small spike in his leg.

"Auugh! Get it out! Get it out!" Scrub cried as he tried pulling it out, but Shadower told him to stop.

"Don't, Scrub!" Shadower cried. "If you pull it out, you're going to let all the blood come out. Not to mention it'll hurt even more!"

"Then what do I do?!" he gaped as Heartsy went over to him and knelt down to look at the spike.

"Don't worry! I brought a First-Aid Kit just in case of something like this. Y'know, just to be on the safe side." Heartsy took out a white box with a red plus on it and found a band-aid and a little spray.

"All right," she pulled out the spike, making Scrub shriek, but she told him to stay calm. "Now, this might sting a little, so try not to scream or anything."

Heartsy sprayed a little Pain Reliever on him, and he tried not to scream. Then she put a bandage on it, and the pain was gone.

"Hey… Not bad! How'd you learn to do this?!"

"Well, when you go out in the desert, you need to be prepared," Heartsy shrugged.

"That was pretty nice of you! Contadre's pretty nice as well!"

"Yeah, I think he is," Heartsy turned back over to Chopper and went over to him with a sweet smile. "I'm so sorry, Chopper, but I'm just happy to be with the love of my life!"

"Bleah! I don't like hearing about that stuff!" Chopper gagged. "And it's not something I want to hear about either."

"Yeah, I suppose you have a point," Heartsy sighed, though she stopped when she saw something up ahead. "Hold on a second… Who's that over there?"

She let go of Chopper and pointed over to the rock at the distance. Chopper turned around and gasped, as well as Vivian.

"Hey, that's… That's Tipral!" Chopper gaped.

"Tipral? Who's that?"

"Ah, so you finally managed to show up," Tipral noticed. "I'm not surprised to see you guys looking for that base. Unfortunately, I haven't found anything yet, but it doesn't mean I'm going to let you get through here so easily!"

"Wait, hold on a second..." Heartsy paused. "There's Choppy here... And now there's someone who looks like him. I swear, if he's your evil twin that's trying to fight over me, I'm probably going to get annoyed. Those have been done to death anyway!"

"Fight over you?!" Tipral guffawed. "Why would I want to? You and the rest of your friends are better off dead, just like Chopper!"

"And you say as if you've never lost..." Chopper scoffed. "We beat you. Twice!"

"And we're ready to blow ye up again!" Bombette declared.

"I think fighting's just a waste of time. But if you insist, then I will." Tipral teleported in front of Chopper and was about to punch him until he ducked. "Let's just settle this, all right?"

"Well if you want a fight, then you've got one," Heartsy declared, getting her Hearty Hammer out and making Tipral raise an eyebrow.

"That's your weapon...? A red hammer with its face having a heart on it? ...Actually, I'd rather not bother asking questions on that."

"Yeah, I agree," Chopper nodded, getting in a fighting stance. "Now let's fight!"

**Tattle: **_That's Tipral. He's that creep who looks just like you! Why is he back? Max HP is 50, Attack is 5, and Defense is 0. Nothing much has changed with him. He still has all the same moves as before... If you remembered how to beat him before, then you should be fine against him._

"So Tipral's back? Well that makes sense, because he said something about being back." Vivian recalled. "But we'll make sure we give him a better beating than before…"

"Yeah, I remember that, Vivian," Chopper agreed before he turned back to Tipral and stomped on his head to deal 4 damage. Heartsy attacked him with her hammer afterward, which made the dark being rub his head.

"_Stupid hammer… _I see your friends can deal heavier damage…but you seem to deal the same amount. It's no big deal, really." Tipral swung his arm and fired a Star Spear at Chopper. He was able to guard it, to his luck.

"Well you just took 10 damage already! I think we can finish this up rather quick!" Chopper smirked as he jumped over to Tipral and brought his hammer down on him. He felt good hitting his enemy as he jumped back over to his team.

"I really liked how you pulled that off," Heartsy swooned.

"Heartsy... We're in a fight here..."

"It's payback time!" Scrub cut in as he fluttered over to Tipral and stomped on him with his butt to take 6 away from him. Tipral cringed in pain as he slowly rubbed his head.

"Not bad… You got me down to 30 HP. But I still got a few more tricks up my sleeves." Tipral looked at Heartsy and clenched his fists, making star power surround them. He then charged at her. Chopper gasped and immediately jumped in the way to take the hit. Heartsy was left surprised as Chopper was left on the ground in a bit of pain.

"Poyo…? (Wow… He actually did that?)" Kirby gaped.

Chopper slowly got back up and ran back toward Tipral and whacked him with his hammer afterward. Even from getting hit by Tipral's attack, he still had it in him to fight back.

Bombette had nothing to say at this point, so she walked over to Tipral and blew up in front of him. This made him snap his fingers and let the Bob-omb get hurt by Star Magic.

"Oof! …Well that's not gonna do much to me. I have about 50 HP!" Bombette smirked.

Since Tipral had 20 HP left, Chopper stomped on him, and then Kirby used a Cartwheel to get him down to 10 HP. But Tipral didn't care. He was panting, but he was not going to give up so soon.

"Fine… I have no other choice but to unleash my most powerful attack." Tipral clenched his fists and was surrounded by star energy. "You'll see how powerful I am once you witness this!"

"Oh no you don't!" Chopper threw a fireball at him to leave burn on him. But he didn't care. Then Vivian attacked with her Shade Fist, and he stopped and collapsed. Chopper leveled up and upgraded his HP to 35 after they celebrated.

"Wow, you really did that to protect me? I think you really do care about me." Heartsy smiled as she blushed at the Star Warrior

"OK, so I took a hit from you. Big deal. Fine, I'll admit that you're a friend. I'll say that. What you did for Scrub was a very good thing. I think you are sweet. I just wish that you…" Chopper felt Heartsy give him a hug for thanking him. "…don't hug and kiss me…"

"Tee hee hee! I can always not do that for a while, but I will, because I love you." she giggled. "Being close is important, especially for people in a relationship."

"But we're not in a relationship!"

"Well, if you REALLY want me to stop for a long time, you gotta kiss me on the lips," Heartsy smirked as she winked at him.

Chopper got out of her grasp and stepped back. "I'll pass! I'll admit you are cute, but I'm Chopper. I'm someone who needs to do my job and just move on. …And not to mention I think kissing is kinda gross."

"Well, since you said no..." Heartsy gave him a quick kiss on the cheek that made Chopper fall over.

"Bleeaugh! Stop it!" Chopper cried.

"Ummmmm... Guys..." Shadower cut in. "The base?"

"Oh... Well, we might as well get going. We're not too far from the base anyway!" Heartsy grabbed Chopper's hand and dragged him through the desert with everyone else following. Vivian still felt a little jealousy in her, unfortunately

But could she actually get him back to her?

* * *

**Yeah, I wanted to show how sweet Heartsy can be. I'm sure you all saw that coming with her being the one who's the same species as Chopper. Though, don't expect her to be sweet all the time. There will possibly be times she gets angry. Kind of sucks for Chopper that he has to deal with stuff like this. :P**

**But anyway, we're going into the Phi Base next chapter! So prepare to see some evil robots and also some fighting!**


	40. Infiltrating the Phi Base

**I know that fight against Tipral was a little short, but later the fights get a little longer. Trust me. They will DEFINITELY be longer. Anyway, how about we get started here, huh? It's show time! …But this isn't a show…**

* * *

With Tipral's defeat, they were able to move on ahead with ease. Of course, they knew Tipral would get up sooner or later and get out of the desert. But that didn't matter for them now. When they reached the next area, they didn't see much around. The only thing they could see were two stumps and a rock on the ground. It almost reminded Chopper of Dry Dry Desert for some reason.

"This is the location where the base is," Heartsy informed, walking over to the two stumps. "All you have to do is hit these two stumps into the ground and the base will be revealed!"

"That's a pretty cruddy hiding spot," Scrub commented.

"That's what I first thought when I discovered it."

"Hmmmm… Hold on, let me try something with this rock." Chopper opened his mouth and began to inhale the rock. Since Heartsy was near it, she was forced to grab a hold of one of the stumps to not get sucked in. After swallowing the rock, Chopper got a navy blue samurai helmet with a red tuft of hair on top of the guard on the back with a star on the forehead piece. His skin even changed to a light brown tint, and his shoes became a dark brown.

"Stone Chopper! Yes!" Chopper cheered. "I was wondering when I would get this one! I think I can take care of these stumps!"

"Choppy..."

"What is it?"

"Next time, could you tell me when you're going to inhale something?!" Heartsy cried, her hair a bit frizzled up. "I mean, I could've been trapped in there!"

"Oh... Sorry about that..." Chopper frowned.

"It's... OK." Heartsy smiled as she fixed up her hair. "I don't think it's such a big deal anyway."

"Unless you kiss him," Scrub muttered until he was smacked by Chopper. "Ow! Contadre! What the heck?!"

"Anyway, let me test out my new Stone ability!" When Chopper jumped up, he transformed into a statue of Vivian and landed on the first stump.

"He became a stone of myself. That's kind of funny." Vivian giggled as Chopper turned back to his regular form and then became a stone of a fist pounding the ground. Once he took care of the last stump, the ground around them began to shake.

"Oh dear eggs! This shaking is intense!" Scrub cried. As the shaking continued, a sandy dome appeared was revealed after a part of the background was flipped away. A red button was revealed to be next to the door, which left Heartsy gawking.

"Hey… I don't remember the Phis having this red button…" Heartsy trailed. "Wait, hold on a minute… I think I got an idea! …But I might have to use my hammer on you, Choppy. I'm really sorry if you end up getting hurt..."

"I'll just become a stone and let myself hit the button," Chopper assured. "…And would you stop calling me Choppy? It's 'Chopper'! Not 'Choppy'! Man, that's probably…the third time I get a nickname! First Chortles, then Captain 'Tenna, and now Choppy…"

"But I think the name's cute, especially for a cute boy like yourself!"

"Ummmm... Maybe we should go into the base now..." Vivian suggested.

"Yeah, let us do that," Chopper agreed.

"OK, I'll get ready," Heartsy said as she readied her Hearty Hammer.

Chopper, meanwhile, turned into a statue of Heartsy, who was holding her hammer and looked prepared to fight.

"Hold on... Since he turned into a statue of her and Vivian earlier, do you think he can turn into a statue of us?" Shadower wondered.

"Maybe he'll turn into a statue of me!" Bombette declared.

"Fat chance!" Scrub scoffed. "He'll obviously turn into one of me!"

"Poyo... (Guys... This isn't the time...)" Kirby groaned.

"Stand back!" Heartsy cried, making everyone step away from her. She whacked the statue of herself toward the red button, which made the door open. Chopper turned back into his regular self and removed the ability. They all stepped foot in the base only to find themselves in a skinny hallway leading to an elevator.

"Poyo? (Huh? This elevator… Does this lead to the base?)" Kirby asked.

"Yeah, I believe it does," Heartsy nodded.

"Poyo?! (You can understand me?!)" Kirby gaped.

"Yeah, that kind of surprises me too!"

"So you also know of the 'poyo' language..." Chopper trailed.

"Actually, our kind can understand it. It's actually the one language they don't need to learn, but they don't really speak it."

"Weird... I thought you were born with two languages you could understand - with the one we're speaking now being one of them."

While they were talking about that, the rest of the group were gaping at the hallway.

"This base… It's very odd. But this is just the beginning." Bombette said, noticing the floor and walls were a tan color, but they didn't worry so much about it and they proceeded on to the elevator ahead, which was silver with a symbol of a Phi on the floor. Everyone wasn't satisfied with it, however.

"I don't like the looks of this place at all," Shadower shuddered. "It's suddenly changing to some kind of mechanical base…"

They saw the tan colors going away, and it began to change. The walls changed to a silver color, which made everyone gape once again.

"Poyo! (It's looking less like a desert!)" Kirby noticed.

"Yeesh… Everything's changing a lot around here." Chopper realized. "I mean, it was just a normal desert house or something, and now look at it! It's like we're in a new dimension! What the HECK?! This isn't right!"

"Hee hee! I never knew you made funny jokes!" Heartsy giggled.

"...No he doesn't," Shadower cut in. "Trust me. Some of his jokes suck."

"What makes you think that?" she wondered as she put her hands on her hips. "Are you jealous of him?"

"Nope. Bad puns. He _spouts_ them."

Heartsy blinked for a second with a blank look. "Oh. I think I get what you mean now."

Once the elevator opened, they found themselves in a small room with a green glass-like ground and a couple of lights on the walls that were red, blue, green and even yellow. Thankfully, there didn't happen to be any enemies around in the room.

"It's a good thing that there aren't any Phis around here. We're safe for right now." Scrub sighed. But once he walked over to the door, it opened on its own and two Phis were right in front of it, causing the Yoshi to shriek and hide behind Chopper.

"Wait! Scrub! Be careful! You don't want to move too fast!" Heartsy cried. "That bandage could come off of your leg, you know!"

"You serious?! Dang!"

When the two Phis noticed them, they drew them arm guns and pointed them at the heroes.

"Ah-HA! So you finally show up, huh, Chopper?" the first Phi smirked. "And look! That girl's with him! …But they both seem similar. Only a little. Don't suppose that's actually Chopper's girlfriend?"

"Hey!" Chopper shouted before he noticed Heartsy smiling and blushing at him with her arms behind her back, which caused him to step away from her.

"Hold on… I thought that shadow girl or whatever was his girlfriend." the second Phi recalled, which made Heartsy's eyes flashed white as she glanced at Vivian. "This is seriously getting mixed up! I don't know which one is his girlfriend now!"

"Let's just take them down, and then we'll have some biscuits, OK?" the other Phi looked at him, but then the one up at front got attacked by Chopper's stomp, followed by Shadower's Shadow Punch.

"Oh, no! Not Jerry!" the Phi came charging at Chopper and fired a red laser at him, causing him to take 4 damage. But, it was just 4 damage, so Chopper just took care of the Phi with his hammer, and then a Cartwheel from Kirby.

"Poyo! (That was easy!)" Kirby smirked.

Unfortunately, it wasn't over yet. The two Phis' eyes flashed red.

"_Bzzzzzzzzzzzt! Warning! Warning! Self-destructing in ten…_"

Everyone gasped and began to flee. But, unfortunately, there was nowhere else to go. The only thing they COULD do, however, was push them into the hallway ahead. So Shadower knocked them back with his Shadow Punch and then Chopper used his Tornado ability to blow them out of the room. An explosion could be heard afterward.

"Well that was a close call!" Bombette sighed. "I thought we'd be roasted up or somethin'! Ha ha HAR!"

Chopper clenched his hammer as he slowly walked over to the door. The good news was that the Phis were gone, so they were safe for right now.

"Oh, thank goodness! They're gone! Now we can take a good look around here. Now, let's see…" Chopper walked around in the hallway to check for anything. There was no enemies around, so they were safe.

"The coast is clear? Let's go check this place then!" Scrub declared as he and the group walked into the hallway to find some beeping lights and the green glassy ground flashing. All the way to the right, there was another door with a Phi symbol on it. Upon approaching it, the door opened up on its own. "Holy... That door just opened on its own! That's awesome!"

"Well, these robots do have a lot of technology in their hands..." Heartsy trailed.

"You don't sound so excited about these doors..." Shadower trailed.

"I've been through here a couple of times. It kinda got old."

"Ahhh."

Through the door, they found tiles that were filled with lava, which the heroes were not happy to see. But across the lava tiles was a wall with a crack.

"This might require both Heartsy and Bombette to do..." Chopper pondered.

"Yar! I'm up fer the job!" Bombette declared.

"OK, just be careful," Heartsy said as she used her hammer to throw both Chopper and Bombette across. When they landed by the cracked wall, Chopper gave her a toss and let her blow up the wall.

After the explosion, the lava tiles became hard like a rock with steam simmering up from the ground. They were able to walk on it without getting hurt. Meanwhile, Heartsy was keeping an eye on Vivian, who happened to notice her looking at her.

"What's wrong, Heartsy?" Vivian asked.

"Was that Phi telling the truth? About you being Chopper's girlfriend?"

"Ummm… Uhh… _Oh, man... What do I say? I don't want to get in a terrible argument! Those aren't enjoyable!_"

"Look, I'm not going to blow up on you. Just say yes or no."

Vivian frowned, not sure if she was telling the truth. "Well, I'll admit I kind of, sort of... Ummmmm... Well I find Chopper a nice boy after what he did for me."

"What did he do?" Heartsy asked, getting a bit curious.

"I've been treated horribly by my oldest sister, Beldam, and when we were sent to go after Chopper and get the map and Crystal Star, she made me go out on my own to find him. That's where I got attacked by a Phi, but he managed to save me. He even gave me the sketch my sisters and I ended up losing. I was surprised, especially when I decided to help him out. He was so...nice to me."

"Oh... You were treated badly by your sisters? I'm kind of sorry to hear about that. I kind of have an older sister that didn't like me, and she wouldn't let me do anything fun, so I understand. Did you...kiss him?"

"Ummmmmmm... I guess I did..."

Heartsy felt a bit of jealousy in her, but even then, she knew the odds were most likely in his favor. "Personally, I'm sure Choppy will be with me because of us being the same species. If you like him, then fine, but don't think you're going to get to Chopper so easily with me around. But, maybe we can be friends?"

"Well..."

Vivian was cut off when Bombette walked over to them.

"Err… What are ye two doing here?" Bombette wondered. "Are ye havin' some girl talk or somethin'?"

"Yeah, we are, Bombette," Vivian nodded. "You should join us some time! All three of us can get away from those guys! …Though, I don't mind being with Chopper..."

Heartsy smiled as hearts appeared over her head as she looked at Chopper off at the distance going into the hole.

Bombette seemed to realize what they meant. "So ye both like him, don't ye? Well he's more friend fer me. Not to mention he's a treasure hunter himself!"

"Though, you're not really a pirate..." Vivian trailed. "You have bombnesia."

"Bombnesia?" Heartsy blinked. "Oh, come on! That's a terrible pun!"

"Don't blame me," Bombette muttered. "Blame the author..."

"It's a good thing we got that key!" Chopper smiled as he came out of the hole holding a key. "This Elevator Key is ours! I think we can use it to go down another level. Let's check!"

They all headed back into the hallway and walked over to the Phi Elevator right by him. After swiping the card, the lamp on the top of the elevator opened, only to have Phis come out of the elevator.

"Crud…" Chopper gulped. But before the two Phis could attack, Vivian, Bombette and Heartsy sprang into action and defeated the two Phis.

Shadower blinked as they finished the Phis off with ease. "Uhhhh... OK, I guess I'm fine with that."

"See? Sometimes you need girl power to take down some of these bad guys!" Heartsy smiled before looking at Chopper. "…And you need girl power to love someone…"

She batted her eyelashes at Chopper, which caused him to sweat and step back from her.

"Poyo… (Well the girls are definitely getting along just fine...)" Kirby trailed. "Poyo! (I think it should be safe for all of us!)"

"Yeah, because when girls fight, that's when you need to take cover..." Chopper sighed.

"Well we can't do much now, can we? Let's go down to the lower level." Shadower suggested. Everyone agreed and walked into the elevator, which began to take them down to Sublevel 2.

"I call shotgun!" Scrub chirped.

"There's no shotgun here," Chopper blinked.

"Oh..."

* * *

**Sublevel 2-**

The elevator door to Sublevel 2 opened and everyone came out of it. There was still some room in there for all seven of them. Vivian, Bombette, and Heartsy were having a nice conversation, even though Heartsy would look at Chopper at times and give him a wink, which made him stand back over by Kirby.

"Poyo… (Those girls are definitely getting along just fine. I have no idea why…)" Kirby wondered.

Chopper shrugged, but he wanted to look around in the hallway. There are a couple of doors around, one to the far left, one to the far right and two doors near those. There were many doors they could go in.

"Wow... Look at all of these doors." Bombette blinked. "Maybe we should go left."

Unfortunately, the door to the left was locked, so they couldn't go in there. They decided to go to the closest door to them on the right to find a gray rug with a TV and a Nintendo GameCube connected to the TV.

"A Nintendo GameCube? Awesome! Let's see what they got!" Scrub checked the games, but he heard a gun noise and turned to see two Phis in the same room. One was a Phi Scientist, which wore got a lab coat to show it's a scientist.

"Outta the way. NOW!" the Phis demanded.

Scrub gulped, looking down at his leg. Chopper quickly grabbed him so he wouldn't get himself hurt and threw a fireball at the scientist, while Bombette blew up the scientist as well. Once that Phi was taken care of, they looked around in the room for anything. All they found was a couple of games such as Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Mario Sunshine, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, A Gameboy Advance with Sonic Battle, Sonic Advance 3 and also saw a poster with an orange robot that looked a little similar to Gemerl named Emerl on it.

"This is a uh…strange room, I suppose," Chopper blinked.

"Poyo! (I'll say!)" Kirby agreed.

"There's nothing we need in here anyway, so we should just get out of here… OK?"

Chopper walked out of the room with Scrub, and Heartsy came out as well and saw how he was holding Scrub.

"Hey, Choppy… Let me hold onto him, OK?" Heartsy suggested, inching over to Chopper. "Since you're kind of like his father, maybe I should help you!"

"Huh?" Chopper gawked.

"Err… Go right ahead, Contadre. I guess she can do that." Scrub nodded.

Chopper shrugged and gave him to Heartsy. She simply looked down at him and then back at his cute boyfriend of her's.

"This is good! It's like Scrub is our son, while we're married! It can help us with parenting when we're much older!" Heartsy smiled.

"Wah! No no no!" Chopper cried. "Never in a million years!"

"You know, since you helped me get hatched, you are kind of like a father..." Scrub trailed.

"No I'm not!"

"Well, if Choppy's like the father, then I can be like the mother!" Heartsy declared. "This'll work out just fine! Maybe I can teach you how to kick some butt with a hammer!"

"Kicking butt? YEAH!" Scrub fist pumped.

"Let's get going," Shadower suggested as everyone else walked out of the room. They decided to go to the other room close to the elevator. There, they found a disco room with some Phis and blue floating Phi heads with green eyes called Phimatites. They don't attack, but they support weaponry and can recover any of the Phis' HP.

Everyone was confused when they saw them dancing.

"Huh… So this floor must be where all of the Phis go to relax and all that. Interesting, I suppose…" Heartsy trailed until an idea struck her. "Choppy... Maybe we can have a dance..."

Chopper wanted to scream in terror, but he couldn't.

"No… Screaming isn't going to help." Chopper muttered. "Oh, fine. Go ahead, Heartsy… Do your worst. I think it's literally impossible for me to escape you..."

"Escape me? I'm just trying to help you. And you don't need to scream anyway." Heartsy assured, wrapping her arms around Chopper, which made him shake in fear. "I just want to make you feel better."

"And you're not doing that!"

"Here. Maybe this'll help!" Heartsy gave Chopper a kiss on the cheek, which made his eyes flash white with disgust.

"Eww! That didn't help one bit!" Chopper cried as he wiped the kiss off his cheek. He even ended up falling backwards and knocked the Phis in the room down like dominoes.

Kirby couldn't help but laugh. "Poyo! (Ha ha ha ha! Oh, man! Look at THAT! The Phis fell down like dominoes!)"

They looked at the pile of Phis lying on the ground. One of them happened to be unintentionally touching another's butt.

"Hey, someone's touching my butt. Hands off!" the Phi smacked the hand off, while Bombette decided to finish the job by exploding in front of them.

"Arr… It feels good to be blowin' that stuff up." Bombette said proudly as she landed on the ground. "I can smell the oil from the robots right now… Wait… That smells like a gas leak."

"Gas leak?!" Heartsy gaped.

Everyone evacuated the room and in slow motion, jumping into the door to their right. A huge explosion could be heard from in that room.

"Phew… That was CLOSE!" Shadower sighed in relief. When they turned around, they saw some giant hammers pounding on the bridge, which had an electric ground below. They were moving pretty fast as well.

"Poyo. (Uh oh. This isn't good.)" Kirby gulped before he began to squint, and past those hammers was a chest. "Poyo! (Chopper! There's a chest up ahead! …But there's no way we can get to it with those hammers going down fast!)"

"Well, we're screwed," Scrub blinked.

However, Heartsy had an idea. She walked over to Chopper and put her hands behind her back and blushed at him.

"Ummmmm... Heartsy... What are you doing?" Chopper gawked, stepping away from her.

"Well, Choppy... I don't think that kiss I gave you back in Our Apartments was that special enough." Heartsy said as she batted her eyelashes at him, causing Chopper's cheeks to turn red. "It's much more romantic to kiss each other on the lips! I think now's the perfect time!"

She closed her eyes, leaned forward and puckered up, but Chopper let out a gasp and began to run from her.

"NO! I WANT TO LIIIIIIIIIIIVE!" Chopper cried as he ran past all the hammers and reached the chest. Heartsy opened her eyes and was left with an annoyed look.

"Awww... I was hoping that I would actually get to do that..." Heartsy huffed.

"Seriously, you gotta do that more when we have something like that," Shadower suggested. "I mean, he sprinted past those hammers!"

When Chopper stopped, he turned around and noticed he was near the hammers. He couldn't help but give a smug look. "…Well that was close. I'm so smart with what I do."

Chopper opened the chest and got a Phi Key from inside. He also noticed the hammers stopped working, so he decided to walk back instead.

"I'm SO awesome! I got away from Heartsy's girly kisses, and I'm safe! There's possibly NO way I'm gonna have anything bad happen!"

He still had his smug look on his face, and his eyes were closed. But unfortunately, because his eyes were closed, he couldn't see what was going on when he reached his friends. Heartsy realized she had her chance and ran up to Chopper and kissed him on the lips. His eyes widened in fear as he felt her lips on his.

"…BLEEAUGH! Why did I jinx that?!" Chopper cried as she let go of him and hugged him instead.

"Hey, did you honestly think I was going to let you get away like that?" Heartsy smiled as she rubbed her cheek on his. "That was probably the best kiss I ever had..."

"Could you please let go of me? I need my personal space..." Chopper trailed.

"Yeah, I guess so," she let go of Chopper, who quickly wiped his mouth of her kiss. Afterward, they left the room and went back into the hallway and over to the locked door that was to the left.

"So, we can finally go through that door?" Bombette wondered.

"Well, let's just see what's through the door now," Vivian suggested.

Chopper pulled out the Phi Key and opened the door to a furnace. The pathway near them circled down to the bottom of the room, where Toads could be seen working and chained up. An Elite Phi and a Phimatite were watching them work.

"Excellent… They're working just as usual! Go faster on those diamonds!" the Elite Phi demanded. Everyone happened to notice the Toads were very skinny and dirty.

"I can't believe we ended up in this mess," an orange, polka-dot capped Toad moaned. "I guess this is what happens when you discover their evil base… I feel like I'm going to die now."

"Keep working!" the Elite Phi took out his communicator and he began to talk to Gemerl from it. Chopper and his friends quietly went down, where Shadower made them invisible so they wouldn't be seen.

"This... This reminds me of when I saw people on Clara being forced to work for the Hellspawns..." Chopper recalled, remembering that horrible event.

"I can't believe they're doing this to these people!" Heartsy gasped, gripping her hammer in anger at the Phis. "I swear I'm going to give those Phis what they deserve and help free those Toads!"

"Hold on a second!" Chopper cut in, grabbing a hold of Heartsy's arm. He would've grabbed her hair, but that would've been a bad idea. "I think it's too dangerous for you to try to rescue them on your own."

"What are you talking about? I can handle myself just fine!"

"Yeah, but I...don't want you getting hurt. I... I...should probably help you." Chopper held out a hand, which made Heartsy gasp while her eyes glittered.

"Oh, of course I'll marry you, Choppy!"

"That isn't what I meant!"

"Hee hee! I know, I know! I was just joking." Heartsy giggled. "Of course, I'm willing to have you help me. Why would I say no to you anyway? I think I can trust you!"

"Arr! I'll make a distraction!" Bombette declared as she became visible and walked over to the Elite Phi and Phimatite. The elite minion dropped his communicator, which fell down through a hole and into the lava below the red furnace room.

"…Phimatite! Gimme a weapon!" demanded the Elite Phi.

"Yes, sir!" the Phimatitie took out an electric staff for the Elite Phi, who spun it around and aimed it at the Bob-omb. It charged toward Bombette, but got hit by a Fiery Jinx by Vivian. The Phimatite also suffered from damage and was defeated with the help of Shadower's Shadow Punch.

"Go on, people! We're here to set you free!" Chopper and Heartsy got the chains off of the Toads to help set them free.

"Heartsy?" one of the Toads gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"We're here to rescue you, that's what," Heartsy answered. "So shut up and go!"

"Well, I think it's nice of you to rescue us. We were starving here! ...Oh, and who's your pale green friend here?"

"Who, Chopper? Yeah, that's his name…but I call him Choppy 'cause it sounds cute! He's also the same species as me and the first boy I ever had a crush on in the past. Seriously, he's one of the cutest people I've ever met! I'm also hoping that I mar-"

"No no no, no no no o!" Chopper cut in. "She is NOT my girlfriend! Don't listen to a word she says, please! Just get out of here before you're caught!"

"Ugh... OK, I guess I did ramble a bit..." Heartsy sweat dropped.

The Toads shrugged and immediately left. They both saw a blue triangle right by one of the minerals, so Chopper grabbed it and looked at it. It had a Phi symbol on it, so it must be some sort of key.

"What's what? Some sort of key?" Shadower asked.

"Could be. It seems like a key… We should check this out somewhere else." Chopper suggested before he saw the Elite Phi drop an Elevator Key, so Vivian took that, since she was closer to it. It was a yellow color, unlike the other, which was blue.

"It says that it can take us down to Sublevel 3," Vivian noted. "I guess that's our next destination. So I guess we should go there."

They headed back into the hallway to the other elevator, where Vivian swiped the card. The elevator door opened and allowed them all inside.

"Looks like we're going down to Sublevel 3!" Heartsy smiled. "I've never been down this part of the base because the Elevator Key was tough to find."

"Poyo? (Then how did you know about the Crystal Star?)" Kirby asked.

"A couple of Phis mentioned it. Unfortunately, I'm not going to know everything around Sublevel 3 and 4, so all I can do is help fight some of the Phis."

"Then we'll be ready for anything thrown at us," Chopper smirked. "Bring it, Phis!"


	41. Deeper in the Base

**So we're halfway through the whole base? Wow… It went rather quick, didn't it? Well Sublevels 3 and 4 will be a bit tougher, since there are Elite Phis and Phimatites there instead, and also Phi Scientists. Is that a little tougher for the base? Well I suppose, since Elite Phis have 12 HP, an Attack of 5 and a Defense of 1. But we'll see how it goes.**

* * *

As everyone walked out of the elevator door, they saw between them two huge gaps that not even Scrub could get past with his fluttering. Kirby looked up too and saw an air duct that was open, but it was too high for them to reach. Chopper even tried to reach for it but he couldn't get up there, to his dismay.

"Well, it looks like there's a gap to get to the doors to our left and right," Chopper sighed. "The Phis are getting a little smarter with their security now… But how are we going to get over them? Scrub probably can't flutter over there so easily!"

"Yeah, you're right. I can't flutter over there." Scrub grumbled. "Y'think someone else can get you over the gap?"

"Maybe I have an idea..." Heartsy smirked, taking out her hammer and giving Chopper a wink. "Now hold still!"

"Oh no!" Chopper cried, shielding his face with his arms. "I'm not letting you try to kiss me again! This time, I've come prepared!"

"What makes you think I was going to kiss you? All I'm trying to do is help you across the gaps! Is that all to ask? ...But, if you really want a kiss, I think I can arrange that for you."

"I think he doesn't want one," Vivian noted.

"Oh, OK..."

Heartsy brought her hammer back and then swung it like a golf club to get Chopper over the gap. In the next room the door led to, there was a Phi Statue and electricity that was circling around the room.

"Oh, geez... This must be a little dangerous..." Shadower gulped.

"Let's just wait for the right moment to move," Chopper suggested. "I'm sure we'll be able to get through here once the way is clear."

After everyone got across, they were led into a small room with more electricity circling around a pole. A couple of boxes were stacked up to the right and led up to a doorway. Well, more like a small duct than a doorway.

"We can't jump over that electricity. All we can do is hide when it comes toward us." Vivian said as she floated beside Chopper. Once the electricity made it near them when they tried getting to the boxes, she pulled him into the shadows to avoid getting electrocuted.

"I don't think becoming invisible will work, unfortunately…" Shadower trailed. "So all we can do right now is just wait here. OK?"

Heartsy squinted to see if it was the right moment to go, and she quickly rushed before the green electricity hit her and reached to the boxes with ease, where Chopper and Vivian were.

"Poyo? (So… She got over there? That stinks… I wanted to make it over there!)" Kirby pouted and crossed his arms, but after a while, he stopped and turned back. The three, meanwhile, walked into the air duct, and they found a wooden X on the ground ahead.

"Why is there a wooden X on the ground?" Heartsy wondered. "I'd try something, but I don't think it'll work."

Chopper turned around and gasped at Heartsy, since he didn't expect her to be here.

"Wh-What are YOU doing here?!" Chopper asked nervously.

"Don't worry, Choppy," Heartsy assured, talking sweetly to him. "I'm just here to help you. That's all."

Chopper shrugged and used his Spin Jump to smash through the wooden panel to go down a hole into a secret little room, where they could see another air duct entrance to their left. There happened to be a small pipe leading to the air duct.

"This room is very small… I don't see much here…except for that big chest." Heartsy noticed, pointing to the chest, which got Chopper's attention. There were no guards or anything around it.

"Go ahead, Chopper. Open up the chest and see what's inside!" Vivian said as Chopper gave her a nod and slowly opened up the chest. He saw some new shoes, so he grabbed them and held them up.

**You got the Ultra Shoes!**

"The Ultra Shoes? I LOVE these things!" Chopper cheered. "…Not as much as the Diamond Shoes, though…"

The background changed, with only him in it while he put on the Ultra Shoes, while his Super Shoes disappeared for some reason that I'm not exactly sure how.

"This should be great! Time for my Tornado Jump!" Chopper jumped, but his Tornado Jump didn't seem to work. "What gives? I can't use it? So… Basically I just go faster and that's it?"

He stopped when he heard footsteps from behind him, so he turned around and saw Toadette walking over to him.

"Hi, Chopper!" Toadette greeted. "You remember me, right? It's Toadette! I told you how to use those Super items! I see you got the Ultra Shoes. They're GREAT!"

"They kind of look the same as my other shoes... But I'm fine with that!"

"Let's practice how to use them, OK?"

"OK, but I had the Tornado Jump before with these," Chopper mentioned. "What happened to it? Did I lose it and make these shoes worse?"

"Oh, that Tornado Jump? You don't need it now. This one will make you spring up high. In fact, it's called the **Spring Jump**! If you jump and hold A and rotate the control stick, you'll fold up and then spring up to amazing heights! Try it!"

"Ummm… OK!" Chopper began to fold up and then launched himself upward. He ended up grabbing onto a skinny pipe above him. He realized what he just did and his eyes went white at this point. Not in fear, but in amazement.

"Great job! You just pulled off the Spring Jump! You can move around on the pipe if you want, and you can also let go by pressing B. Remember that, OK? For now, I'll see you when you get another item!"

When Toadette left, Chopper let go of the pipe and landed on the ground before returning to the Phi Base.

"Choppy! What was going on? You looked like you were a little dazed!" Heartsy shouted, which made Chopper blink for a second.

"Was I on some snooze cruise or something?" Chopper gawked. "I'm a little confused… Can anyone explain to me what just happened?"

"You got a hold of those new shoes, but you ended up dazing off a bit," Vivian explained.

"I was getting a little worried about you..." Heartsy trailed.

"Really? I still have them? Hold on, let me try something!" Chopper walked under the small pipe by the air duct above and used his Spring Jump to launch up and grab a hold of it.

"Chopper has the ability to launch up to great heights? I'm impressed!" Vivian smiled as Heartsy jumped up and grabbed a hold of his shoes. She also climbed up to Chopper and hugged him in a way to hold onto him.

"Wh-What are you doing?!" Chopper cried.

"Try to get out of here with you," Heartsy answered with a sweet smile. "Besides, it's better if we're closer!"

"Ugh... Fine. I guess you're not going to let go, aren't you?"

"Nope."

Chopper sighed and tried to get himself into the air duct, even if it was a bit difficult with Heartsy holding onto him. The pipe ended in the middle of the duct area, so Chopper had to let go. He was thankfully able to find a Phi Key, but he was forced to drag himself through the air duct because Heartsy was still holding onto him.

"Heartsy! …I think this is too much love!" Chopper cried as Heartsy sighed sweetly and raised one of her legs while being dragged around.

"But I like it this way," Heartsy declared.

"But it feels like you're squeezing me!"

After realizing this, Heartsy opened her eyes and let go of Chopper.

"You're right… I think that's too much."

They found a hole near them, so they headed down there to return to the hallway, where they found two Elite Phis. Chopper's friends heard them and they returned to the hallway. Vivian simply rose up from the shadows to get back to them easily.

"Hey! It's Chopper! How did he make it down here?" the first Elite Phi asked.

"I don't know, but let's get them!" Before the Elite Phis could attack, they were frozen solid. At that moment, a familiar Duplighost appeared by the frozen Phis, watching the seven, thinking he was invisible.

"Who the heck is that?" Heartsy gawked.

"Huh? …Crud! You didn't see anything, Slick! You hear me? You saw NOTHING!" Doopliss disappeared, with Beldam rising up from the shadows and face palming. She then turned back to Chopper.

"Well well well! If it isn't Chopper and Vivian!" Beldam grinned. "So how is your little hunt going? Well you certainly won't be getting down to the bottom level! You know why? 'Cause we've planned everything out! Mmmwee hee hee hee hee!"

"Who's this hag? Is she an enemy of yours, Chopper? And how does she know you and Vivian?" Heartsy wondered, but Vivian quickly explained everything to her. "Wait... This ugly thing's your sister?"

"Yeah..." Vivian nodded.

"Hag? Ugly?! What are you babbling about, you pink brat?!" guffawed Beldam. "I am beautiful! Unlike Vivian, who is perhaps the most UGLY thing in the universe…"

"Sis… If you don't get out of our way, I'll have to get you out of the way myself." Vivian warned, aiming her finger at her. "And don't think you can beat me with your magic. Fire can beat ice. You should remember that."

"Yes! Exactly! Now then, ugly witch… Either ye get out of the way, or Vivian here'll burn ye!" Bombette lit her fuse as a warning. "…An' I should add a little explosion to it as well!"

"It's not wise for me to take you all on alone, but expect us to stop you, Chopper! As of now, I must go, so I'll see you next time, you stupid little kid…" Beldam let out a snort before sinking into the shadows, making the young Shadow Siren lower her finger.

"I guess she didn't want to fight. Well we better go check the door ahead." Vivian suggested.

Everyone agreed and they walked over to the door for Chopper to unlock it. They found a factory-like room with a bridge and a window by the wall leading over to the other side. Below them was hot molten magma.

"Whoa… Talk about hot! Man, these Phis sure have hot rooms!" Scrub gasped, who was sweating at this point. Chopper looked up by the window and looked down at the red X mark that was by the skinny pipe.

"Hey, I got an idea!" Chopper used his Spring Jump to reach the skinny pipe and then got through the window. He was at the other side of the room, where he found more hammers coming down and also some Phis were in the room nearby.

"Umm… You guys need to get over here!" Chopper cried.

Everyone who could fly brought the people who couldn't through the window and landed by Chopper. When everyone saw the hammers, they knew what was coming.

"Poyo, (This should be interesting,)" Kirby said as Heartsy approached Chopper.

"Great... Another one of these..." Chopper sweat dropped.

"Choppy, I think I have another idea..." Heartsy cooed as she batted her eyelashes.

"...No, I'm not doing it! I refuse to run through this!"

"But I just thought of sharing another kiss with you!" When he turned around, he saw Heartsy leaning forward and puckering up. His eyes widened, but he turned around.

"Not happening. I'm sure most people just want to see how I react anyway."

"You can easily run through that, though," Scrub informed. "Just do it!"

Heartsy looked a bit disappointed with his reaction, but she had another idea.

"Well, I guess if I maybe this might change your mind," she waited for Chopper to turn around and then blew a kiss toward him.

"Aaack! No no no!" Chopper fled from the girl and ran past the hammers to reach the switch. Realizing what he just did, he bashed the switch with his hammer to make the hammers stop and allow his friends to make it to him.

"Nice job there," Shadower complimented.

"Did I get anything?"

"I can give you this," Heartsy noted, preparing to kiss his cheek, but he quickly ducked like a pancake to avoid her. She noticed this and got a bit annoyed for a small moment before moving on.

They went up the stairs to the north to head to the bridge going to the right and found some gaps they had to cross over with Scrub and Heartsy. And finally, at the end… Chopper found an Elevator Key.

"Finally! We got the Elevator Key! Now how do we get outta this mess?" Chopper asked before he saw a small pipe above him, so he used his Spring Jump to grab it and move toward a platform above the door to find a red circle. He grabbed it and jumped down. "Another color shape… This is so odd… What are these for?"

"Maybe it's some kind of cookie! Yeah! THAT must be what it is!" Scrub was about to bite it, but Heartsy pulled him away. "Hey! What'd you do that for?!"

"That's probably an important item we need!" Heartsy cried. "Eat it, and we might not be able to get through here! ...Plus, that doesn't even look like a cookie in the slightest."

"Yarr... We have the Elevator Key, so why don't we get goin'?" Bombette suggested.

Everyone agreed and headed back into the hallway. With the Elevator Key, Chopper swiped it by the elevator, which allowed them to go down to Sublevel 4.

"I think this is the bottom level below..." Heartsy trailed.

"Then the Crystal Star must be close," Vivian realized.

* * *

**Gemerl's room-**

Gemerl was leaning back on his chair in his room, but then an Elite Phi walked into the room, which interrupted his moment.

"Master Gemerl! Chopper and his friends are heading down to this exact floor!" the Elite Phi informed.

"What? They're down at this floor ALREADY?!" Gemerl exclaimed. "…Well I expected this. It's time to release the Smorgs…"

"But, sir! We can't really control those creatures!"

"They're the only thing to stop Chopper! Do it NOW!"

"OK, sir…" the Elite Phi walked over to the terminal and began to open the force field for the Smorgs… Whatever they were, Gemerl seemed satisfied releasing them.

* * *

**In the elevator-**

The seven stood in the elevator in a silent manner. For some reason, the way down to Sublevel 4 was most likely going to be longer than the other sublevels.

"So... Anyone got a good joke?" Scrub wondered.

"Hey, I've got one!" Chopper answered.

"Don't, please," Shadower retorted. "I don't think that's a good idea..."

"I'll listen to your joke," Heartsy smiled, putting her arms behind her back as she inched closer to Chopper. His response? He simply backed away from her until he hit a wall.

_"OK, I think I'm dead,"_ Chopper thought.

Heartsy inched closer to him now that he couldn't move back. She even puckered up, now that she had a chance to kiss him. Chopper's eyes widened in fear and forced him to shut his eyes close because of how much he didn't want to see this happen. She got closer and closer until...

A beeping sound was heard, which made her stop.

"Oh, thank you!" Chopper sighed.

"So we're at the bottom floor, huh? Well that must be where that Crystal Star is!" Scrub smiled. "Man, we're SO close to it now!"

"Poyo... (Yeah, you're right. We're getting pretty close now…)" Kirby trailed.

The elevator door opened up and they all walked out. There was no door at all to the left. The green ground was flat as usual, and there were no gaps. The only thing they happened to see was a hole up in the ceiling.

"It's odd that there's no door to our right. Maybe this is because the bottom floor is a private area?" Vivian wondered. She floated over to the door, which had a green scanner. It scanned her, but it seemed to deny her access by giving her a red X on the screen instead.

"I guess only a Phi can go in there. If only there was a way to get inside…" Chopper pondered before Shadower nudged him. "I'm trying to think here..."

"There's a hole up in the ceiling, you know," Shadower informed. "Just use your intense jump and maybe we can find something up there."

"Oh... I didn't know about that." Chopper began to fold up, and then he sprung high up, grabbing a pipe in the hole.

"Did he grab something?" Scrub asked.

Heartsy walked over to the hole and looked up. She saw Chopper did grab a pipe and nodded to the Yoshi. After that, she jumped up to get into the hole with the help of her hammer.

"Yar? How can she do that?" Bombette gawked. "Whatever happened to us three workin' together? …Wait, I bet she just wanted to be with Chopper. Yes, that must be why…"

"Poyo, (That might not be good for him,)" Kirby realized.

When Chopper looked back, he noticed Heartsy, which made his eyes widen.

"You're still following me, Heartsy?" Chopper gasped.

"Why would I leave you, Choppy?" Heartsy giggled. "I'm here to help you anyway."

"Well, you're helping me, so that's fine...as long as you don't kiss me. And please stop calling me that! ...Anyway, we need to look for something that can help us get into that door. It's kinda dark here too… I'm going to light the room up."

His hands were surrounded in a fire glow, which helped light the room up.

"That's very nice, Choppy! Let's go search for something! …Wait!" Heartsy paused when she saw the head of a broken Phi lying on the ground. Chopper picked it up and held it up, looking a little confused.

"Er… All right… We'll take this!" Chopper jumped back into the hallway, along with Heartsy, and they walked over to the door. Chopper held the Phi head up at the front, and a green circle appeared, which allowed them to go in.

"Sweet! We're in!" Scrub walked in to find a small room with a silver door ahead. There wasn't much here except for a camera. They could even hear some laughing out somewhere, which it sounded like Gemerl.

_"And then the Toad walked over and a Thwomp fell on him!" _the Phi explained._ "Every single part of his body was smooshed! It was AWESOME!" _

_"Ho ho ho ho! Good one, man!" _Gemerl laughed._ "I could give you a promotion at comedy, if you want! …But there's no such thing, and I'm not going to anyway. But, onto the real stuff. That door should keep Chopper and his filthy friends outta the room ahead!" _

"Who are you callin' filthy? You pieces of scrap metal?" growled Scrub.

Gemerl and the Phis stopped laughing, so they looked at their computer to see Chopper and his friends. Gemerl glared at the Phi and smacked it.

_"Idiot! I thought you sealed the room shut?!"_

_"I did! But I guess they somehow got in the room! …Wait, I think there was a broken Phi up in the attic. Crud… But it's not my fault, sir! We still have that those…things, right?" _

"What do you mean by 'things'?" Chopper gawked as Gemerl pressed a red button._  
_

_"Of course. Now then, Chopper… Allow me to introduce myself..." _Gemerl cleared his throat._ "I am Gemerl, the leader of the Phis, and I'm afraid you won't be going any further. Smorgs! Get them!" _

They suddenly heard some voices coming from the ceiling, and when it opened, a bunch of small black creatures with yellow eyes landed on the ground in front of them.

"What the heck are those things?!" Heartsy gawked, gripping her hammer.

_"Gah ha ha ha! Sorry, but it doesn't look like you'll be going any further!"_

"SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG!" the Smorgs chanted.

"Uhhh... In English?" Chopper gawked.

"AAAAAAGH!"

"Oh, that's better!"

"Chopper, I don't think it was them..." Shadower trailed.

They heard another scream coming from the pile of Smorgs, and there they saw Mysterious, Purple and Tipral stuck in the pile.

"Dang it! There are too many of these stupid creatures! I can't…get…out!" Mysterious cried.

"I'll save you guys!" Chopper declared, gripping his hammer and bashing at the creatures. Unfortunately, that didn't make them any happier.

"_**SMOOO-OOORG!**_"

"Chopper... I don't think ye made 'em happy..." Bombette trailed.

The Smorgs threw the three enemies out of the room and began to act as some sort of object as they combined, now having a soft, hot pink center and also black tentacles. From what they could tell from their eyes, they weren't happy.

"_Gah ha ha ha ha! These little...or should I say one BIG creature is called the Smorg!" _Gemerl cackled._ "I found these things wandering in the desert, and once they came to attack me, I captured them, and made them come on my side! These things will blow you away! So, are you going to turn back, or will you fight these creatures?"_

"**_SMOOO-OOORG!_**"

"No way! We can take these things with no problem! Just watch us, Gemerl!" Chopper clenched his fists and got in his fighting stance, along with his friends. "Bring it on, Smorg...things!"

**Tattle: **_That's a Smorg. Lots of Smorgs gathered to create this huge monster. Max HP is 50, Attack is 5, and Defense is 1. It attacks with weird tentacles. Defeating the tentacles will drop the body's defense to 0, making it easier to attack. The tentacles will regenerate, but use that time to deal a ton of damage, OK? It may also take other forms with higher Attack powers, I don't really know. Just try to beat this thing before it becomes even stronger!_

"So we can take out their tentacles? Well I guess we can do that first. We need something that can hit all three tentacles." Chopper noted.

"I can try to hit them, but since they're up in the air, that's probably not possible..." Heartsy trailed.

"Then I'll hit them," Vivian decided as she raised her finger and scorched the Smorgs with a Fiery Jinx. This was strong enough to get rid of the tentacles and leave its pink body vulnerable.

"Great! Now let's test out my Spring Jump…" Chopper folded up and sprung upward. He landed on the Smorg's pink body, which did 10 damage. Thankfully, the Smorg was unable to attack, so they were relieved.

"All right! Now I think I can attack it now!" Heartsy smiled as she waited for Chopper to jump on its body to deal 6 damage. She readied her Hearty Hammer and used her Hearty Throw to hit the body and deal another 6 damage, which left it with 28 HP. It was getting angry, and it grew three tentacles back and smacked Chopper, Heartsy and Shadower with them to deal 5 damage.

"This thing can attack three times? That's not right!" Chopper guffawed. He let Bombette use her Bob-omb Blast to destroy the tentacles, and then he dealt some damage to the body afterward. Unfortunately, that's when things got worse for them.

"…What is the creatures doing?" Heartsy saw a huge, snake-like mouth (or hook) form up and attack the seven to deal 10 damage. Everyone cringed in pain, especially because of how much HP they lost.

"Gah! That's not good! It just took away 10 HP from us!" Heartsy gripped her Hearty Throw to hit the hook-like tentacle and destroy it, allowing Chopper to stomp on its body.

"OK, let's make this fight end quickly. We can't waste any more time. I'm going to use a Spring Jump, while someone else finishes it!" Chopper folded up and shot up high and stomped on the Smorg's body with a Spring Jump.

"I'll finish it!" Heartsy declared as she brought her Hearty Hammer down on the body, causing it to swell up and explode and make all the Smorgs get sent flying. Chopper received 28 Star Points, and not to mention a level up. He decided to upgrade his FP to 35 this time.

"SMORGSMORGSMOOoOoOoooo..." the Smorgs moaned as they flew out of the room and fled from the heroes. Gemerl, on the other hand, wasn't paying attention, so he didn't notice them defeat it.

"So Gemerl's room must not be too far. If he's looking for a fight, then we can take him! Let's go!" Chopper walked over to the silver door and opened it. The only thing that stood between them and the Crystal Star was Gemerl.


	42. Gemerl: Face Off Against the Leader

Once they all stepped foot in the next room, they saw how big it was. They could see a bridge they were on, and down below was…nothing. They couldn't see what was down below, sadly. The green glassy floor led to some stairs, with some Elite Phis and Phimatites around the room.

"This… This room is huge!" Vivian gasped, as well as everyone else when they saw all of the machines. There were some hammers that weren't on the bridge, and a huge amount of papers flying below them.

"What a strange room this is..." Bombette trailed.

"Well this place ain't a match for us!" Scrub declared. "C'mon, Contadre, let's go!"

"You're right, Scrub. We just need to go to Gemerl's room quick!" Chopper went up the stairs, knocking down an Elite Phi and destroying a Phimatite with his fireballs. Heartsy was the one to finish the job on the ones that were still moving.

"Poyo? (How come you got to finish them?)" Kirby asked.

"Because I was there first," Heartsy answered as they carried on ahead.

"Look at that, Contadre!" Scrub gaped, pointing at the door ahead. "There are two orbs up ahead and a sealed door! Got any idea on what that could be?"

Chopper began to think, and then he threw a fireball at both of them, making the door unlock. Near it was a Save Block and Heart Block.

"Poyo? (So we're finally at the door to Gemerl's room, huh?)" Kirby wondered as Chopper hit both blocks. "Poyo. (Well, this is it! This guy could be a little tough, though… He seems like he would be.)"

"All right, guys… Let's go." Chopper walked over to the door and opened it to enter with his friends. They found a room that was a little big, a computer and dummies of all seven of them in the corner.

"Dummies of us? How'd this guy get dummies of us?" Scrub wondered.

"That's something I'm wondering too..." Vivian trailed.

"Well well well… So you managed to defeat those Smorgs and make your way here. Bravo. Yes, bravo indeed…"

They saw a black and yellow chair facing the back, which slowly turned around. Gemerl was revealed to be sitting on the chair and slowly applauding them.

"So you're Gemerl…" Chopper trailed. "You…"

"Look like the Phis?" Gemerl flew up with his jetpack and slowly descended until his feet were touching the ground. He gave everyone a glare, and when he looked at Scrub, he received a growl from the Yoshi. "You honestly think I'm afraid of you, you little dinosaur? You should be the one that's afraid of ME! Do you know why? Because you're all here, you've brought me five of the Crystal Stars! Add one and I'll have six! You just fell right into my trap!"

"Wait... So you simply let us through the base to get to you?" Shadower gawked.

"Yup! And I gotta say... That worked pretty well for me! Thank you soooooo much!"

"Huh... That's interesting..." Heartsy trailed. "Then again, I bet you're going to say something that's in the book about taking over the world or something stupid like that."

"Rule the world? Oh, no. I'd rather rule the universe, personally." Gemerl replied, giving her a glare afterward. "And you must be that girl who's been sneaking through my base! Well, at least I'll be able to take care you you myself!"

"Well, it's six against one here. I'm sure Choppy and I can take you down with ease!"

Gemerl paused for a moment. "Wait... What kind of nickname is that?"

"A nickname for my boyfriend? Is there a problem?"

"That's the stupidest nickname I've ever heard! It can easily make a bad pun!"

Chopper was about to make a bad pun, but Bombette slowly shook her head at him, which forced him to shut up.

"Look, let's save the talking for later," Chopper suggested. "You have the Crystal Star, and we're here to take it back!"

"Take it back? I found it before you, for your information. But, I honestly don't think it matters now. We're both hunting for the same treasure, but for different purposes. And if you refuse to hand them over, I might as well take them by force!"

"But there's a small problem... It's six against one!"

"Yes, I know it is. Your girlfriend just told me."

"OK... Wait, Heartsy's NOT my girlfriend!" Chopper growled. "If you wanna go, then let's go! You should be a cakewalk"

"Careful, Chopper..." Vivian trailed. "I'd be cautious with him if I were you..."

"Then fight we shall!" Gemerl grinned. "Oh, I've been waiting a long time for this! And don't assume I'm just like the other Phis. I have much more skill than any of them! And now I get to see what you're capable of!"

**Tattle: **_That's Gemerl. He's the leader of the Phis, and he is no one to be messed with! Max HP is 60, Attack is 6, and Defense is 2. He attacks by charging right at you with his jetpack, firing a barrage of missiles, firing lasers at you, and even flying up to spin around. By the looks of this, he must be pretty skilled at fighting! And you said he was going to be easy… Wait until you see him use his shield and his healing…and his Breaker Beam! That is DANGEROUS! He seems to be even harder than Unagi with these kinds of attacks! Watch out!_

"60 HP? Whoa… Well Unagi had 80 HP, so this isn't anything different." Chopper walked over to Gemerl and stomped on him, but that only did 2 damage because of his defense. "Dang it… He's got a high defense… This may be a little tough."

"Don't worry about it, Choppy!" Heartsy assured, pinching Chopper's cheek. "We're just getting started!"

"Don't pinch my cheek, please..."

Heartsy gripped his Hearty Hammer and bashed Gemerl with it, causing him to cringe in pain and also slowly rub his head. Heartsy seemed a bit satisfied, but Gemerl was able to recover from it easily.

"Heh heh heh… You see my defenses? That's what can make me tough to beat! You want to see what I can do? Then I will show you!" Gemerl bent down and charged at Chopper and Heartsy at a fast pace with his jetpack and tackled them to deal 6 damage.

"Whoa… This guy's no joke…" gaped Scrub. Nevertheless, he used his Gulp to inhale him and spit him out, followed by Chopper's hammer.

"I can barely do a THING! I wish I could actually do some good damage against him!" Chopper grumbled as Gemerl laughed and fired a red laser at Chopper, who brought his guard up to take 5 instead of 6 damage.

"Guarding... Well, that won't be a big deal for me." Gemerl smirked.

"OK… I'm not going to be able to do much." Chopper sighed. "One of you guys need to find something to lower his defense. Shadower! You can lower his defense to 3, right? Do that!"

"All right! Will do!" Shadower fired a shadowy fist at Gemerl, which lowered his defense down by 3, allowing Chopper to stomp on him to deal 6 damage. He performed a stylish move and landed on the ground with a happy look.

"Ah! This feels so much better!"

"And we can also deal more damage too," Heartsy smiled. "Plus, you do look pretty cute when you smile..."

"Uhhh... Thanks?"

"Grrr! My defense is down! Very well… I'll take the time to show you some of my stronger attacks…" Gemerl hovered up and began to spin around while curled up. He homed in on Kirby and managed to send him flying back, which did 8 damage to the pink puffball.

"Poyo! (Man, this robot is showing no mercy!)" Kirby grunted as he got up. He took this time to use his Cartwheel to hit Gemerl. Chopper stomped on him afterward, which left him with 24 HP.

"This fight isn't as bad as I thought," Vivian smiled. "We might have this!"

"Ugh... I'm not looking good here… I suppose I should shield myself." Gemerl threw a shield down and was now surrounded by a green energy shield. "With this shield, you won't be able to deal any damage to me!"

"Well… We may be in some trouble here…" Bombette trailed.

"That's not stopping me from attacking," Chopper declared as he ran up to the cackling Gemerl and stomped on his shield, which turned it blue. When he delivered his last stomp, he was able to shatter the shield.

"Ugh… I just realized that the green shield isn't as strong…" Gemerl face palmed, but he soon stopped when he saw Bombette rushing toward him and leave an explosion behind. He was left with 20 HP from that, and his defense was also back to 2, which made him grin.

"Heh heh heh... Well, maybe I should show you one of my stronger attacks!"

Gemerl began to fire one powerful missile which came down toward Chopper. He gulped, but Bombette stood in front of Chopper and took the hit instead, which did 10 damage to her.

"What?! I wasn't trying to attack you, you stupid bomb!" Gemerl growled.

"Whoa… I don't know WHY you did that…" Chopper gawked as he looked at Bombette, who slowly got up.

"I've gotta take the hits fer ye sometimes," Bombette noted. "That's what bein' me first mate is all about."

"First mate? I'm not a pirate..."

"Choppy, we still have a robot to fight," Heartsy informed.

"Oh! Right!" Chopper walked over to Gemerl and delivered a Power Bounce on the robot's head. After eight stomps, he bounced away from Gemerl and landed back by his friends. Vivian sank into the shadows next and appeared in front of Gemerl. She used her Shade Fist to deliver a fire punch to the robot and leave him with a burn before returning to her friends.

And from what Gemerl knew, things weren't turning out too good for him.

"…This isn't good. Very well, I will show you my STRONGEST attack!" Gemerl touched the blue glass button on his yellow fin-like object, and his eyes began to glow, and so did his fin and all of the yellow parts of his body. "So... Are you all scared now?"

"…We need to act fast!" Chopper declared as he bashed Gemerl with his Power Smash to leave him with 4 HP, and then Vivian pulled everyone into the shadows for safety. When Gemerl fired his Breaker Beam, a light blue beam fired out of his large arm cannon that his arm changed into, but it ended up missing, to his dismay.

"It missed... Great."

Thankfully, when Chopper and his friends rose from the shadows, he still had another chance to attack. But instead, he decided to use his Recovery Mode to recover 15 HP.

"Ahh... So much better!"

"Crud… He recovered his HP. THAT'S not good." Chopper groaned before he began to Power Bounce him, leaving him with 10 HP after nine stomps. With the burn effect on him, it left him with 9 HP. Heartsy took this time to make an attack, so she rushed up to Gemerl and bashed his head with her Hearty Hammer once again.

"Looks like you're almost done for," Heartsy smirked. "Ready to surrender?"

"I'm not going to give up, especially to people like you!" Gemerl recovered 15 HP again, bringing his HP to 20. To counter that, Shadower lowered his defense with a Shadow Punch and then Chopper jumped on him, leaving him with 10 HP.

"Hmmmm... Not bad! Let's see how you like another missile!"

Gemerl fired another big missile at Chopper, who was unfortunate enough to take the damage from the attack. Seeing this, Heartsy was fuming and bashed Gemerl as hard as she could with her hammer.

"Don't you EVER do that to him again!" Heartsy roared.

"Calm down, little girl! Do I have to blow you up to?! ...Actually, great idea!"

"Choppy! Finish him quick before he fires another missile"

"OK..." Chopper took a deep breath and ran over to Gemerl and jumped on him before he could fire a missile at Heartsy. This caused him to emit a couple of sparks.

"Grg-AAAARGH!" Gemerl fell over on his back, unable to do anything else in defeat. Chopper smiled as he received 36 Star Points.

"Urgh…" Gemerl slowly got up, but he was too injured to say much. "T-This isn't…the end… You may…have won this time…but I will get my revenge soon… Remember that, Chopper…"

With the remaining energy left in him, he hurried over to the teleported and used it to escape from the base. Fortunately for the heroes, he didn't bring the Garnet Star with him.

"Thanks for helping me out, Choppy," Heartsy thanked. "That explosion could've been a big problem for me... I wish I could repay you."

Before Chopper could say anything, she hugged and kissed him on the cheek, making him cry out once again.

"Heartsy! Stop with that!" Chopper cried. "That's gross! It's also not what I wanted!"

"That's not what I had planned, though," she informed as she let go of him. "Actually, I was hoping to come with you on your hunt for the Crystal Stars."

"Wait, you wanna come with us?" Scrub gawked. "Well, you did seem to help us a lot through this base. I think it's a good idea!"

Everyone else seemed to agree as well, but Chopper was the only one to not respond.

"Well, Choppy? Can I come with you?" Heartsy wondered.

"Well... I guess you can." Chopper shrugged. "After all, it's nice to actually see one of my kind around here..._even if she's in love with me and kisses me a lot_... But anyway, yeah, you can help us. The more the merrier, I suppose."

"Thank you so much! I was hoping to stay with you. After all, you're the only boy I've ever liked. And everyone else here is pretty friendly too." Heartsy walked over to the capsule and used her hammer to break through the glass. She took the Garnet Star out and walked over to Chopper while holding it in front of him.

"Here you go. You deserve this."

When Chopper grabbed the Garnet Star, it began to circle around him until it was above him. With a smile, he held up the sixth Crystal Star.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 7!**

**END OF CHAPTER!**

_Chopper retrieved the sixth Crystal Star from the evil Gemerl and defeated the robot as well! All of the Phis began to retreat as they headed out to someplace unknown as of now. With Chopper's new (girl)friend, Heartsy on their side, they knew fighting the bad guys would be a lot easier for them. But would it prove to help them out in the future?  
_


	43. Chapter 6 Interlude

Back in the X-Naut Fortress, Grodus was talking to Tipral, who failed to stop Chopper and got carried out of the base by the Smorgs, along with Mysterious and Purple. As for the Shadow Sirens and Doopliss, they hadn't heard anything from them. There were a couple of other X-Nauts in the room too.

"What is the matter with you idiots? Falling right into a trap at that base? That's asinine!" Grodus roared.

"Sorry, dude. I mean, sir!" one X-Naut apologized.

"So let me guess… Chopper managed to get through that base with no problem and defeat the leader and got the Crystal Star, correct?"

"Well I suppose so. I tried to stop him out in the desert, but I failed…" Tipral trailed. "I'll try to find some better information as soon as I can."

That's when it hit him. He remembered seeing TEC get a hold of a data disk and also a memory one. If Grodus were to make him pay, this would be the chance to make it up for him.

"Urrgh… This little pale green antenna fool is getting those Crystal Stars so easily!" Grodus growled. "He could get them all in no time! I will NOT let this happen. Those gems were mine! Sigh… I think I'd better alter my plan a little bit..."

"Well… What about the Thousand-Year Door?" Tipral spoke up. "Maybe if you can SOMEHOW control that demon, you would be able to take over the world…and maybe you can get just what you wanted. Such as that new world?"

"Hmmm? That sounds interesting… But that demon left me as a head five months ago. I'm not going to fall for another trick like that ever again."

"Now, before you say anything else… I have something important you might want to know. That means you X-Nauts must go." Tipral turned his head to the X-Nauts, who didn't appear to leave and were left confused.

"I said go!"

After throwing a Star Spear at their direction, the X-Nauts jumped up and scurried out of the room.

"What is it, Tipral? Speak up now!" demanded Grodus as Tipral walked over to him and began to give him all the info.

"WHAAAAAAAAT?! Are you sure? Speak!"

"I'm not joking. I even saw him helping her…and he even got your memory disk that you kept in your room."

"Hrrrrgh... I thought I wiped his memory long ago! This is TREASON! ...Oh, and I will certainly make him pay."

* * *

**Sublevel 4-**

"TEC sure hasn't called me in for a while…" Peach trailed, who was sitting on her bed and waiting patiently. "Maybe it's time to do that now? …Or perhaps he's a little busy at this point?"

The door to TEC's room opened up, which made her gasp. "Well I just said that right on time… Here we go…" With that, she got off the bed and walked into TEC's room and greeted him with a nice smile.

**"Hello, Princess Peach. I have… I have reached the conclusion." **TEC deduced.** "I can remember everything now… And I have missed you so much. But now is not the time to have a conversation. I have found something in that data. It is **_**very **_**important."**

"It's important data? Can you tell me now?"

**"Yes… I suppose I shall. But this information…is shocking. The only way to avoid this…is by letting you escape. You MUST get off of this fortress. Off the moon. There's more to this than you think."**

"More to it? What do you mean, TEC?"

**"I will explain everything. Just listen to the whole thing. It's not only that, but I…discovered where one of the Crystal Stars are." **

TEC began to give all the details to why Peach was here and where one of the Crystal Stars were. Peach was looking shocked the entire time.

"No… This… This is terrible!" Peach gasped. "I…don't believe it! Why would Grodus ever want to do that?!"

**"This is why you must escape. I don't know why, but Grodus is planning on doing this again. I need you to follow my instructions exactly if you are to get off the moon."**

"But… Wouldn't they know that you helped me?"

**"Sir Grodus knows that my memory was once erased. He will never know. But that is inconsequential. I would like you to be safe. That's all that matters."**

"TEC..." Peach trailed.

**"I am the base's computer. No one will know of your escape if I keep silent. Please do not worry about me. Escape. Escape as quickly as possible."**

"...OK, TEC. But I need to inform Chopper about this before I go... He doesn't know where I am. This is no longer just my problem..." Peach walked over to TEC's keyboard and began to type up an e-mail for Chopper. Little did she know that two people were opening the door to TEC's room.

"Hold it right there, Princess Peach!"

The princess turned and saw Grodus and Tipral come in through the door.

"Eeeeeeeeeek! You again!" Peach gasped.

"TEC... You miserable machine..." Grodus hissed as he walked over to TEC. "We all know what you're up to, traitor! Thanks to Tipral, I know that you sent Peach to steal that memory disk! Face it, TEC, you've been caught!"

"Wait… You said you wouldn't tell Grodus that!" Peach gaped as she looked at Tipral.

"I don't always keep my promises," Tipral said as he crossed his arms. "Besides, Grodus wanted something good, so I told him TEC was helping you."

"So, TEC, what do you have to say to yourself? Trying to take something valuable from me and trying to help Peach! That is unacceptable! But, I suppose it doesn't matter in the end... Especially with what I have planned for you!"

"You… You monster! What are you planning to do with him?" Peach asked.

"Gaaack ack ack ack! Well, that one is obvious! There is one thing to do with a malfunctioning computer! Cut the circuit and delete all the programs and data that caused the malfunction! And this time, I plan on replacing you! Obviously, all data relating to Princess Peach must go, as well... Yes, we must be absolutely sure nothing like this happens again..."

**"No... I am... I am normal... There is no malfunction..."**

"We know you're lying, TEC," Tipral retorted. "If you were normal, you would be on our side. I saw you helping Peach."

"Yes, he is correct. Now, Tipral: at the same time, we shall press the red buttons on TEC's sides." Grodus walked over to the red button to the left of TEC while Tipral went to the right. They pressed them at the same time, which caused TEC's screen to go blurry.

"TEC! NO!" Peach shrieked.

**"Mail...sent... ... Princess Peach... Remember that...I...l...o...v...e...y...o...u..." **

**Deletion Complete**

"_**TEC!**_"

"Gaaack ack ack ack! Too bad, Princess Peach. TEC is no longer with us." Grodus cackled.

"No! You inhuman beasts! How could you?!" Peach cried.

"Just stop it, Princess Peach…" Tipral scoffed. "You, worrying over a computer. How pathetic."

"Besides... We have some important plans just for you. Oh, yes… VERY important indeed…" Grodus said with a grin.

"No!" Peach backed away, but Tipral blocked her with his star powers and kept her encapsulated in a star block.

"Gaaack ack ack ack!"

* * *

**Rogueport Harbor-**

Bowser came stomping over to the harbor of Rogueport, causing people to scream in horror, but he didn't care. He walked over by the dock and looked at the ocean, which caused him to get angry.

"You gotta be kidding me! I can't swim through the sea! I'll end up drowning and sinking to the bottom, where the Bloopers will laugh at me and even take my shell!" Bowser roared.

"Your Grouchiness! Simmer down!" Kammy suggested. "I can make things a little easier for you. Just watch and learn!"

"Pffffffft! I'll watch, but I'm not gonna learn! …Ooh!" Bowser saw a bridge form together and rise above the water with the help of Kammy's magic. He grinned as he walked over to the bridge. What was even better was the fact that his weight didn't make the bridge sink.

"Haggy! Where the heck do you come up with this stuff? This is awesome! You're a genius!" Bowser began to hurry on, with Kammy following her.

"A genius, am I? Neat!" Kammy grinned as she followed. Luigi walked over to the bridge and looked confused.

"Eh? Is that Bowser? What's he doing here? Is he causing any ruckus?" Luigi gawked. "…Well he's leaving this place, so I shouldn't even bother. I wonder how Princess…I mean Queen Éclair is doing with her king now. Who was it? I think he WAS the Chestnut King…"

He looked around the harbor, hoping that he would see Mario. "Man, I can't believe I haven't found my bro here. He wasn't at home…so I thought he would be here. No sight of him whatsoever…"

Luigi walked away from the harbor with a worried face. He had people with him, such as a crisped Blooper named Blooey, a red cherry Bob-omb named Jerry, a Buzzy Beetle with a wrench on his shell named Torque, a green Dayzee named Hayzee, and a strange white species that looked a bit like a mashed potato name Screamy.

* * *

**Over the water-**

"Ready to roll!" Bowser declared as he stomped his way through the bridge, jumping over some gaps that would make him fall in the water. Cheep Cheeps can be seen jumping up from the water like in the original Super Mario Bros.

The X-Nauts charged at Bowser, but he squished them and continued to move on. He hit a yellow block to get some meat and he burnt a Goomba to crisp.

"Gra ha ha ha ha ha ha! This is so good! I feel like I can do anything like this! Nothing can get in my way! Gwa ha ha ha ha!" Bowser laughed…but then an X-Naut ahead attacked him and he went back to his normal size.

"Careful now… You need to pay attention to your surroundings…" Kammy warned. Bowser didn't pay attention to her and ended up hitting her with his tail, which made her fall in the water. When she swam up to the surface, she was left soaking wet.

"Sometimes I wonder why I go with him…" Kammy began to think for a moment before she saw Bowser already grew huge and he stomp through everything, and then he made it to the flagpole ahead, crushing the small castle in his path to Pudgy Island. She got out of the water and followed Bowser over to the island ahead.

"What is this place? It's like some sort of island! Kammy! Tell me what's here!" demanded Bowser.

"Well this place is called Pudgy Island. It's a big island home to…some people." Kammy pondered as she saw two people up ahead. "Like that Koopa and Bob-omb!"

"Excellent! We'll ask them about the Crystal Stars!" Bowser stomped his way over to Bambo and Kooplang. The Bob-omb Buddy was scared and screamed, while Kooplang was left confused.

"WOWZUH! Who the heck are you?" Bambo asked.

"Um... _Gulp!_ Bambo… That's Bowser, King of Koopas!" Kooplang frowned. He bit his lip when he looked at those sharp teeth.

"He is? Oh... _**AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!**_"

"Calm yourself, Bambo! Let's just hope he doesn't harm us!"

"Hey, you weirdos!" barked Bowser. "You know anything about the Crystal Star that's on this island?"

"The Crystal Star?" Kooplang thought for a second until he remembered something about it. "Sorry, buddy…but I'm afraid you're not gonna be getting that."

"And why's that?"

"'Cause I've got a homemade explosive device right here!" he picked up Bambo, whose eyes widened.

"What are you doing?" Bambo asked.

"Something that needs to be done!" Kooplang answered as he threw the Bob-omb Buddy toward Bowser, whose eyes widened.

"_**INCOMING!**_" Bowser cried as he got hit in the face by Bambo. Sadly, nothing happened. "Huh? That was it? That was your weapon? Pfffffft! My fire breath can do better than that!"

"Lord Bowser... That's not a good idea..." Kammy gulped.

"Why not? I can show these two why they shouldn't mess with the great Bowser!"

"No, seriously! You don't wanna blow up the whole island!" Bambo exclaimed. "The Crystal Star was already taken by our buddy Chopper!"

"_**Whuh-WHAAAAAAT?!**_ I got beaten by Chopper again? Why am I always so SLOW?!" Bowser began to stomp the ground angrily, but then he turned back to Kammy.

"So what do we do now?" wondered Kammy.

"We're getting out of here pronto! We need to find those Crystal Stars before Chopper does!"

"Of course, Your Angriness! We'll get going right now!" At that moment, Bowser and Kammy left the island, making Bambo and Kooplang sigh in relief.

"You know... I always knew his breath stunk." Bambo said.

"And I always knew he was that ugly," Kooplang added.

* * *

**Dream Land-**

It was nighttime right now, and King Dedede and Escargon were riding their tank back on the road. It was dirty, and they were covered in mud as well thanks to a certain masked warrior. Even King Dedede was in a bad mood thanks to him!

"Lousy servant," King Dedede grumbled. "I swear I'm going to punish him for getting my robe AND my tank dirty!"

"Your Majesty… Maybe we should just go home." Escargon moaned. "I really want to wash this off… If this mud dries up, then we'd have to scrape it off! THAT would be bad!"

King Dedede turned his head to Escargon while gritting his teeth. He grabbed a hold of his hammer and bashed the escargot's head with it.

"Oh, FINE! We'll clean this off first! I'm getting tired of your yapping for once! Have it your way! …But you gotta drive the car."

"You want me to drive?" Escargon looked at the steering wheel, which had mud on it. "Oh, fine. I guess I will."

King Dedede stopped the car and got on the passenger's seat, but because Escargon was still sitting, he ended up sitting on him. It took him a while, but he was able to squeeze out of King Dedede's weight and get on the driver's seat.

"Err… Maybe you should lose a little bit of weight, Your Majesty." Escargon suggested before he felt himself getting hit in the head by King Dedede's hammer once again. They quickly headed back to the castle, where they washed off all the mud and got back in the throne room, where the king sat on his throne to get back to business.

"All right, now let's see if I can find another company..." King Dedede trailed as he searched through the universe. "There's GOTTA be one somewhere!"

"You're at it again, Your Majesty?" Escargon sighed. "You've been searching for days and we haven't found even one… There's no way you can possibly…"

"Oh! I found one at long last!" King Dedede clicked on the area of the corporation as he took a sip of his juice. He saw that it was called T.C.

"There's this one place called T.C. It says it stands for Tartara Corporations..."

At that moment, King Dedede spit his juice out. "Really? Maybe we oughta check these guys out!"

He pressed a button on the arm of his throne and sent a message to them. "Hey... What gives? How come they didn't respond to us?"

"That's because they don't instantly reply one second later," Escargon informed. "It looks like it'll take twenty four hours for them to receive the message."

"Great... Well, all we can do is wait."

"I wouldn't go to them if I were you…"

King Dedede turned his head and saw Meta Knight behind a pole walking over to them.

"Were you eavesdropping on us, Meta Knight?" Escargon asked.

"You could say that…" Meta Knight trailed. "You're making a big mistake by going to them. They're far worse than Nightmare's company. I don't wish to tell you much, but it would be best if you stayed away from them."

"Why would I listen to you now?!" King Dedede exclaimed. "You kicked my car and we were sent back down into the mud!"

"You know, I AM your servant, but sometimes I need to do things for the better of you, such as preventing you from getting those Crystal Stars. However, if you want, I WILL tell you where Chopper goes to find the next location."

"Really? Interesting… Go ahead and tell us right now."

"Tell us the WHOLE thing! We won't get mad at you!" Escargon assured.

"Fine. I will." Meta Knight sighed. "Chopper collects those Crystal Stars and heads back here in order to go to the Fountain of Dreams. If I'm correct, he should be going there soon… I can feel something… Hmmmm? This feeling is much different…"

"What are you feeling in your head?" King Dedede asked.

"It feels like…an evil queen's spirits. I'm sensing something bad that could possibly happen... I should get to Chopper right away."

"And why would you want to help Chopper? You have any reason?"

"…That is none of your business. I'm going to the Fountain of Dreams. If he gets that seventh star, he could be falling right into a trap…" Meta Knight hurried out of the castle, which left King Dedede and Escargon to look at each other.

"Well we're certainly not going to sit here and do nothing! I think it's time I got my revenge on Chopper! And you're going to help me!" King Dedede declared as he grabbed Escargon.

"Wait! Your Majesty! I can't fight!" Escargon cried. "All I can do is throw spiked balls at people! That's not powerful!"

"Well I don't care! You got something, so you're going to use it! Maybe I'll give you a spear or something too... Anyway, we're going to clobber Chopper once and for all!"

And with that, the two of them headed out of the castle and went back to their fully cleaned car and took off.

* * *

**Desert Sands-**

"Well that worked out better than I thought," Chopper smiled as he got out of the base with the Garnet Star. "We sure trounced Gemerl and stole his Crystal Star!"

"But he got away..." Vivian trailed.

"Well that be no problem!" Bombette assured. "Now let's go back to town! I'm sure we can relax there!"

"Go back to town? But we can just go back to Dream Land!" Chopper said.

"I'm with Contadre on this one," Scrub declared.

"Well... We COULD go to Dream Land, but there's a small problem..." Heartsy trailed.

"Poyo? (What's that?)" Kirby wondered.

"You see... With school and everything... If I just leave without giving them a notice, things might not go well for me. I may be forced to kind of, well... Drop out. Or some might think I'm dead, but if that's what some might think, I probably won't care. Not giving my teacher a notice might not help me in the future..."

Chopper let out a sigh. "Fine... We'll go back to Sand Town. It's probably for the better anyway."

"Of course it is! Because when we leave, I can be much closer to you!"

"I'm screwed..."

* * *

**Sand Town-**

When they returned to Sand Town, they happened to hear the bell ringing over by the school, with a couple of kids coming out of the school. Some of them they remembered, especially the Shy Guy bully, and even the female Bandit.

"Heh heh! Well well well! Looks like the hearty girl decided to skip school!" the Shy Guy smirked. "Such a shame, 'cause I wanted to make fun of your name again!"

"You don't have to be so mean, you know..." the Toad boy trailed.

"Heartsy, do us all a favor and take a hike," the female Bandit suggested. "You're nothing special..."

"Hey, you guys should leave her be," Chopper suggested.

"Hey, it's this kid again!" the Shy Guy laughed. "Why are you standing up for her? What're you, her boyfriend?"

"Yes, I am indeed her boyfri- No! She isn't my girlfriend!"

"Well I think we're boyfriend and girlfriend," Heartsy smiled.

"Ha! I guess she needs her little boyfriend to protect her!" the female Bandit laughed. "And I guess these two make such a nice couple considering how similar they look!"

"But Contadre's round, and Heartsy's pink," Scrub noted.

"You know what, that's it!" Heartsy declared, walking up to the two. "I'm getting tired of having to hear you two ramble on! I don't usually get incredibly angry, but you're starting to really get me mad!"

"What're you going to do about it?" the Bandit scoffed. "Obviously you don't..."

Heartsy took out her Hearty Hammer and walked toward them. "Do I have to use this against you guys? Because I'm hoping I don't."

"Oh... Well..." the Shy Guy sweat dropped. "I was actually thinking of using the pale green kid as a basketball."

"Hey!"

"But, now that I think about it... OK, I'm going to go." the Shy Guy took off, as well as the Bandit, who didn't want to have to deal with Heartsy's hammer.

With them gone, Heartsy sighed in relief.

"Hey, you did a good job standing up to them," Chopper commented. "I don't know if I could've done that."

"Actually, you kind of helped me with that. I should be thanking you." Heartsy smiled and kissed Chopper on the cheek, causing his eyes to widen before falling over.

Mayor Harry happened to spot them and walked over to them. "Ah! You guys are back here, I presume? Have you gotten what you needed?"

"Yeah, we did," Vivian nodded.

"And Chopper's apparently taking a nap..." Shadower trailed.

Kirby had an idea and got some water from the fountain. He dumped some of it on Chopper's face, causing him to quickly get up and shake himself, causing some of the water droplets to get on a couple of people.

"Listen, mayor..." Heartsy started. "I'm going to be leaving this place with my friends to go collect a couple of more gems shaped like stars. But, with school and stuff, that might be..."

"Ho ho ho! Don't worry, my dear. I think I'll take care of that." Harry assured. "If you want to go on your little adventure with your boyfriend, then I'll try to do something about it."

"Ummmm... There's an error with your sentence." Chopper noted. "I'm not Heartsy's boyfriend..."

"So you're willing to help me! Great!" Heartsy cheered as she hugged Chopper. "Don't you think this is going to be exciting, Choppy? We'll be traveling around the world together! I think this should be nice..."

"I think it would be nice if you let go of me..." Chopper trailed, which made Heartsy let him go.

"I wish you all luck on your trip! And please, don't let anything get in your way either."

"Yar! With me around? Nothin' will get in our way!" Bombette declared.

With that, Chopper and Kirby summoned their Warp Stars and got on them. Scrub and Shadower joined Kirby on his Warp Star, while Vivian and Bombette got on Chopper's. Heartsy instantly got on Chopper's and made sure she was close to him, which made Chopper's face turn white.

"Well I want to be with you on the Warp Star," Heartsy declared. "I think you'd like it anyway!"

"I think I'd like it if you weren't so close to me..." Chopper trailed.

They took off and went into space. Heartsy closed her eyes and smiled as she let her hair blow back from the space wind. "Hey, Choppy... Don't you think I have pretty hair?"

"Your hair? Uhhhhhh... I guess it's pretty...?" Chopper blinked, unsure of what to say before receiving a kiss from Heartsy. "Gross! Stop kissing me, Heartsy! You should know I don't like it!"

"Fine, I might as well not, considering that you're steering that thing."

"Look! We're getting to Pop Star!" Vivian pointed to Pop Star off at the distance. "We're almost there!"

* * *

**Hatty Town-**

When they landed in Hatty Town, they found the Mayor at the front of his house, and he also happened to approach them.

"You're back, Chopper! And let me guess: you got the Crystal Star?" the Mayor asked.

"You bet!" Chopper replied as he held the Garnet Star up. The Mayor gazed at it and watched it sparkle. It sure was a piece of beauty.

"This is beautiful! You've gotten six stars already! Now there are only fourteen left to find! Keep up the good work!" the Mayor smiled before he looked at Heartsy. "…And who is this girl right here close to you?"

"Oh, me? I'm Heartsy! Believe it or not, I'm actually the same species as Chopper." Heartsy greeted.

"Really?"

"Not only that, but we met back on our birth planet! He's actually the first boy I liked and now we're boyfriend and..."

"No we're not..." Chopper cut off before he could get kissed by her.

"Well, you know what I mean," Heartsy said.

Chopper let out a sigh, but he paused when he heard something going off on his Mailbox SP.

"Chopper… What is that?" the Mayor asked.

"My Mailbox SP. I think it's another e-mail. Let me check." Chopper pulled out his Mailbox SP and began to read the message. All of his friends surrounded him just to read the message.

"Read the message already. It's probably from Princess Peach." Shadower suggested.

_Chopper,_

_I must tell you where I'm being held. I'm on the moon. Yes. The moon that floats out in space. And I learned something even horrifying. Grodus is trying to find and easier way to collect the twenty Crystal Stars to open a new world, but in order to bring this monster's body back to life, they need my…_

"…It's cut off," Chopper noted.

"Wait, so Princess Peach is up on the moon?" Scrub gaped. "That's insane! …But cool at the same time!"

"You're trying to save a princess as well?" Heartsy gawked. "Hold on a second... Who's the princess you're trying to save?"

"Princess Peach."

"You know, I've heard of that name before... Yeah, I guess it's pretty obvious."

"Well we have no time to waste. We need to go to the Fountain of Dreams and find the next Crystal Star!" Vivian suggested.

"Yeah, let's go!" Chopper agreed as they took off.

* * *

**Fountain of Dreams-**

"So this is the Fountain of Dreams?" Heartsy smiled. "This is pretty! And it's also kind of romantic..."

"Pretty? Yes. Romantic? Well..."

"Yeah, how about we talk about something else?" Shadower suggested. "No offense, Chopper, but I'm kind of tired of hearing that stuff..."

They noticed Fumu was also around, which she happened to spot them and walk over to the group.

"Hey, guys!" Fumu smiled. "So you're finally back?"

"Yeah, and we beat the snot out of a robot leader!" Scrub said. "You should've been there! It was awesome!"

"I could've been there, but I'm not one to get into something like that..."

"Choppy, who is this?" Heartsy whispered.

"Her name's Fumu, and no, she isn't my girlfriend," Chopper answered.

"I wasn't wondering whether she was your girlfriend or not..."

"Hey, it looks like you brought a new friend! ...Or rather, two!" Fumu noticed.

"Yar! Me name be Bombette!" Bombette introduced.

"And my name's Heartsy," Heartsy introduced. "And please don't laugh..."

"It's OK, I won't laugh," Fumu assured. "So... What are you supposed to be?"

"I'm actually the same species as Chopper, who also happened to be someone I liked back then and still do today."

"Hold on... I think I was told there was another one of Chopper's kind. And I'll admit, I kind of like seeing a girl of his kind going out with him. It's...pretty cute!"

"Yeah, I know. But I don't want to get into details like that... That can get annoying. ...What's that you got in your hand?"

"This?" Fumu looked down at her book. "This is my journal I usually write in. I usually keep it with me to write about some things. You wanna see?"

"Sure thing!" Heartsy took the book from Fumu and began to read through a couple of pages. "I like this stuff. It gives me an idea of what there is around here. I'd actually be interested in exploring this place."

"Really? Not many people have actually read this stuff because they're too busy with other stuff. You really like it?"

"Of course!"

Fumu gave her a smile, but her smile stopped when Chopper told Heartsy that they had to get going.

"Oh... Well I can't stay here forever. I have to help Choppy, y'know?"

"OK... Well good luck." Fumu waved goodbye as the group headed over to the pedestal. "I think I just found a new friend."

However, when Chopper approached the pedestal, things weren't going to get any better.

"We've been waiting for you, Chopper!"

Chopper stopped when King Dedede jumped down in front of him with his giant hammer. Escargon revealed himself too, being behind the king.

"King Dedede? Escargon? I haven't seen you in a LONG time…" Chopper gasped. "Hold on, didn't Escargon get sent somewhere far?"

"Yeah, and that was YOUR fault," Escargon growled, gripping his spear. "It's time for our revenge, Chopper! His Majesty will have the honor of taking you down!"

"Exactly! After you humiliated me in Hatty Town, I didn't go out for DAYS!" King Dedede recalled angrily. "I couldn't bear to see those Cappies laugh at me. But now I'm over that, and now I'm ready to take you down! I even found a new corporation that'll probably gimme some monsters to destroy you! But maybe I'll use 'em for something else when I squish you!"

"So… You know this penguin from somewhere?" Vivian whispered.

"Let's just say I gave him a beating before I met you all…" Chopper replied.

"You're going to regret facing us!" Escargon declared. "And don't think we forgot about you either, Kirby!"

"Poyo! (I'm not afraid of you!)" Kirby scoffed.

**Tattle: **_That's King Dedede. He's the king of Dream Land, and boy, is he angry. Well probably because you beat him down before. Max HP is 50, Attack is 6, and Defense is 0. That hammer is DEADLY! It can deal about 7 damage to you! His Inhale allows him to spit you out at your partner. He is definitely a powerhouse…and he has probably been training for a while to defeat you._

**Tattle: **_That's Escargon. He's King Dedede's assistant. He looks kinda weird… Max HP is 30, Attack is 4, and Defense is 0. He'll throw spiked balls at you, jab at you with his spear, and he'll even give King Dedede…food? I think that lets him recover his HP. If I were you, I'd take him out first. But… Food? ...Huh, it says here that despite taking a lot of beatings from his king, he still cares for him. You just can't help but feel sorry for the poor guy...  
_

Chopper went ahead and stomped on Escargon first, him being the bigger target. Vivian thought attacking both would be a good idea, so with her finger sparkling, flames hit both King Dedede and Escargon and left them with a burn.

"Oof! Your Majesty... I don't think this is such a good idea..." Escargon moaned.

"Quit your whining and help me fight him!" King Dedede walked over to Chopper and purposely tripped over, making him fall over on him to deal 6 damage. Escargon pulled out a black Gordo and threw it at Vivian, but she guarded the attack to only take 3 instead. They both got hurt by the burn effect as well.

"Since Escargon's at the back, we need to use attacks that don't require you to attack at the front," Chopper decided to become Stone Chopper and came down on the escargot as a stone, while Heartsy used her Hammerang to throw her hammer and hit both of them.

"Your hammer may be big, but I doubt yours could be thrown like me!" Heartsy scoffed.

"Well at least I don't have a girly hammer!" King Dedede laughed.

"Yeah! That's the stupidest hammer I've ever seen!" Escargon agreed as he laugh, which angered Heartsy.

"Here I thought I'd be finished with this stupid stuff..."

"Anyway, you've got some skills, Chopper. But let's see how you deal with THIS!" King Dedede brought his hammer up and brought it down on him, knocking his ability away. Escargon took out a Poison Gordo and threw it at Scrub, who was able to Superguard the attack and take no damage.

When they were both harmed by the burn from Vivian, it quickly wore off. However, Chopper was able to finish Escargon off with one more stomp, making him collapse on the ground.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty… I can't go on…" Escargon moaned.

Scrub fluttered over to King Dedede and used his Ground Pound on him, leaving him with 30 HP.

"Grrrr! You may have taken down my secretary, but I'm still gonna take you out!" King Dedede began to inhale Chopper like a vacuum, and he spat him out at Heartsy. Despite getting hurt, she noticed Chopper was now holding onto her, which made her smile.

"I like how much care you're showing to me," Heartsy noted. "It's really sweet of you!"

Chopper's eyes widened as he let go of her and stepped away from her. Not only that, but he noticed red hearts over her head too.

"Ahem! This should be easy now!" Chopper ran over to King Dedede and stomped on him, and then Kirby used his Cartwheel attack to get him down to 18 HP.

King Dedede's face looked red as he jumped up and came down on Kirby. He guarded this attack, however, and it left him open for Chopper to stomp on him. Following that was a Bomb attack from Bombette.

"Urrghh… This isn't good." King Dedede groaned as he brought his huge hammer out and brought it down on Chopper. It was a powerful attack, so he did take more damage from that.

"He's only got 6 HP left. I can do this…" Chopper walked back and then rushed toward the king. As he jumped up, he made his Spin Jump attack on him, stomping once, and performing a ground pound afterward on the second jump, making King Dedede collapse on the ground.

"Nooo! So…close!" King Dedede moaned before he became unconscious. Chopper got 34 Star Points and also a level up. He decided to go with BP, so now he had 21 BP.

"Well, now that that's over, we should go find the next Crystal Star. Go ahead and bring the star to the pedestal." Vivian suggested.

Chopper nodded as he jumped onto the pedestal and held up the Garnet Star. "All right now… Let's see what's next."

He saw the star disappear and reappear around the fountain. Meta Knight was on the branch of one of the trees, getting a glimpse of this scene.

_"Hmmmm… If he gets that seventh star…he could endanger Rogueport for eternity… But I can't do anything about it…" _Meta Knight thought.

Once the Magical Map began to glow, Chopper saw a fortress up on the moon and a multicolored Crystal Star.

"Guys… This Crystal Star…" Chopper trailed. "No… I don't think it's likely… Didn't Princess Peach say that she's on this place?"

"Yar?" Bombette gawked.

"No way! That IS it!" Scrub gaped.

"You know… I think we ought to see Professor Frankly about this one." Shadower suggested.

* * *

**Frankly's house-**

"Hrmm… If what this map indicates is true, the location of the seventh Crystal Star is... The moon." Frankly deduced.

"Yar! So it is up there!" Bombette gaped. "Princess Peach is up there too! …But how do we all get to such a place? 'Tis high up in the sky…"

"Yes, it is… But I do remember how to get there. According to some research, you must go to Fahr Outpost. They have a cannon that can be used to blast you there."

"We need to get to the moon using a cannon? Way past cool!" Scrub smirked.

"I know how it sounds, really. Though I'm not entirely sure of all the details... Accounts from Fahr Outpost speak of a device that can launch anything, anywhere. Even to the moon!"

"But... Wouldn't the gravity hold us back?" Chopper wondered.

"Their cannon is fast and strong enough to blast you all the way to the moon. So no, it won't hold you back. Once in outer space, there _is _no gravity."

"Won't we, I don't know... Suffocate?" Shadower wondered.

"Weren't we just traveling through space before?" Heartsy replied. "I'm sure we weren't suffocating..."

"I remember there being a little secret entrance to the pipe that takes you there," Frankly recalled. "A **Metal Block** is in the way…but there's nothing around that can even break a Metal Block. No, your hammer won't do. You might need something called the **Ultra Hammer**. I don't know where it could be, but if you get one, you can smash those Metal Blocks."

"Wait… Chopper! I remember seeing a chest in the middle of Rogueport!" Vivian remembered. "It's under a high ledge, actually. I'll show you!"

Vivian floated out of the house, with Chopper and the rest following her quickly. When they got to the center of town, they saw a big chest on top of the high ledge.

"That's the chest? Y'know, I was wondering the same thing. I think I can get it down." Chopper walked under the ledge andused his Spring Jump. However, once his head hit it, he began to float down like a piece of paper. The chest, though, landed on the ground. Everyone saw it land, but no one got hurt.

"All right, let's check this thing out," Chopper opened the chest and found a hammer that was a red and yellow color. He held it up in joy, remembering this hammer that he had before.

**You got the Ultra Hammer!**

Chopper was expected to meet Toadette and listen to her give all the details, but sadly, he didn't. Unfortunately, he didn't get a new move with his Ultra Hammer outside of battle. However, he could smash Metal Blocks with it.

"That looks like a cooler hammer than your other," Heartsy commented. "Too gray."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. I like this more, honestly." Chopper said as he examined it. "Reminds me of when I first had this..."

"Poyo! (Let's get going then!)" Kirby declared.

They headed down to the sewers to the area with the green door that led to Twilight Town. This time, however, Chopper smashed the Metal Block to the left and found a blue pipe in the shadows ahead.

"That must be it, Choppy! Now we can go find the next Crystal Star!" Heartsy cheered.

"It better be worth it," Shadower said.

"Let's just go into the pipe…" Chopper jumped up and went in the pipe while his friends followed. If Peach was up on the moon, then chances were they would be meeting another enemy...

* * *

**Putting a King Dedede fight with Escargon was a pretty cool idea, I must admit. I made it so the Ultra Hammer in this story can smash Metal Blocks so it shows it hasn't gotten weaker than the one from before. Also, I always thought Heartsy and Fumu would make good friends. It kind of reminds me of the friendship between Chopper and Flyer.**

**Oh yeah, and Chapter 7 IS actually one of my favorite chapters. Actually, Chapter 7 from each Paper Mario game is my favorite, with Super Paper Mario's Chapter 7 being my favorite one overall. Yeah, I know it sounds insane, but it's true.**


	44. The Fahr Away Outpost

**CHAPTER 7**

**-Chopper Shoots the Moon-**

Everyone got out of the pipe, and they saw snowflakes coming down from the foggy white sky. One even went down on Chopper's head, and also one came down on Scrub's nose. And since there was snow, it meant the place was cold. Both Chopper, Scrub and Kirby began to shiver.

"Man, it is STUPID cold out here! I don't know how long I'll be out here!" Scrub whined before he sneezed. Icicles came out of his nose and landed by Kirby, who picked them up and looked confused.

"Poyo… (Yeah, this place IS cold. It's probably the coldest place I've been in.)" Kirby commented.

"With this kind of cold weather, it might be difficult to go through here," Heartsy shivered. "Too bad we didn't bring any winter clothing with us... Even I'm getting cold..."

"We need something to help us get warm," Vivian said.

"I have no suggestions..." Shadower trailed.

"Well, then… If we are to stay warm, ye all would have to get a little close to each other. Ye know, body heat, or somethin' along those lines?" Bombette suggested, who didn't feel cold. It was most likely because Bob-ombs were capable of handling such cold environments.

"Body heat? Is that such a good idea?" Scrub asked.

"Well... I think it might help." Heartsy smiled as she turned to Chopper, who quickly backed away. "What? I think it's for the better anyway."

"Not for me! I have a better suggestion." Chopper took another step back, but he accidentally fell over in the snow. Vivian helped him up and noticed the snow left on his face resembled a beard.

"Here, let me get this off," Vivian wiped the snow off Chopper so he could get back to what he was planning on doing. He conjured up a fireball and let it stay on his hand. He started to feel much warmer, which caused Scrub to run over to it first and feel warm.

"Ahhhh... Now THIS is what I'm talking about!" Scrub grinned.

"But we need more than just a small fireball," Heartsy said. "We can't just huddle up together!"

"But you're perfectly fine with huddling up with Chopper only..." Shadower trailed.

"...Yeah."

"Well I'm sure I can do something," Vivian said as she conjured up a flame. "If we all stay close and not huddle too close together, I'm sure we should be just fine."

"C'mon, Contadre and everyone else! Let's move!" Scrub suggested. "Fahr Outpost should be just up ahead! I think!"

"Yar! Then off to Fahr Outpost we go!" Bombette declared as she hurried on ahead, while the rest of the group stayed together and followed her.

"I don't know if this fireball is enough... I'm gonna make things easier." Chopper became Fire Chopper, and he felt much warmer. Now everyone knew to stay close to Chopper, so they did that as they moved on.

They headed over to the next part of the snowy field and found some light blue puff clouds called Ice Puffs. They only had 9 HP and an attack of 4. They were also capable of freezing any of them, which could be very dangerous.

"Ice Puffs…" Vivian muttered. "They can be a hazard. I think I should help you with these fights, Chopper."

"Yeah, I think you should…" Chopper agreed as he breathed fire on the Ice Puffs and Ice Piranhas to deal some extra damage, and her Fiery Jinx finished them off, since her fire attacks were capable of dealing a lot of damage to them.

"So I'm guessing we won't be able to do anything?" Shadower wondered.

"That stinks... Especially since I was the most recent one to join you guys." Heartsy frowned.

"Phew… Let's see what's ahead." Chopper suggested after he collected all the coins the enemies dropped.

They moved on to the next area, where they found a dirt path on the snowy ground. Chopper whacked at some trees, but there weren't anything in them except for a Snow Fruit, which could make any of them resistant to being frozen. However, a red ? block on the ground did contain a HP Plus P Badge, which Heartsy quickly picked up. Afterward, they hurried on ahead, where they saw a town. A blue dome could be seen in the big area of the town, and gray Bob-ombs with furry hats were walking around in the town.

"So we've made it to Fahr Outpost… This reminds me of when I came here with Mario. It hasn't changed ever since." Vivian recalled.

"Hrmmm… Now where could that cannon be?" pondered Bombette.

"We should go speak to these villagers and see what we can get. That's the most we can do at this point." Shadower suggested. Kirby nodded in agreement and walked around. They decided to speak to the first villager they could find.

"Welcome to Fahr Outpost," the Bob-omb greeted. "Whoa! Look at those flames on your head! OK, now I give you my special flame-head-viewing personality analysis, da? Ah. Da. Da. Hmmmmm… Da, da, I have got it now… Your flames means… That you are an angry and hot-headed boy. So, how did I do?"

"That doesn't really suit me..." Chopper trailed. "It's just an ability."

"No, do not protest. I know. No one likes to admit their faults."

"Do one for me!" Scrub cried out.

"And me too," Heartsy added.

"OK, I give you my special big-nose-viewing personality analysis, da?" the Bob-omb said.

"Big nose...? You serious?"

"Your big nose means... That you are a very snotty Yoshi who tends to snort."

"What?! That doesn't define me!" Scrub guffawed.

"Let's see what I am," Heartsy smiled, feeling that hers would be better.

"OK, now I give you my special pink-face-viewing personality analysis, da?" the Bob-omb declared.

"Pink-face? What...?"

"Your pink face means... That you are a very mean person that likes to hurt people and you have no regards to anyone."

"...You serious?" Heartsy asked while slack-jawed.

"So how did I do? No, do not protest. I know. Not everyone likes to admit their faults."

Both Scrub and Heartsy were fuming in annoyance while the rest decided to go over to another villager. Most of them were hoping that they wouldn't have to get angry.

"This is Bob-omb Village, DA-BLOOIE! There is nothing here, DA-BLAMMO!" the Bob-omb informed.

"Ummm... OK..." Chopper trailed as he spoke to another villager.

"Hello, traveler. First time in Fahr Outpost, KA-BOOIE? What? Fahr Outpost cannon? …Wah! I apologize for that. No, I just had distraction… It is nothing, KA-POWIE!"

Unfortunately, they couldn't get anything from the villagers, so they headed over to the town area of Fahr Outpost. They found a statue of a cannon in the center of the town on a plaque. Beside it was a green Bob-omb with a mustache and a furry hat like the others.

"Let's go ask that guy," Chopper suggested. Everyone agreed and walked over to him and spoke to him.

"Da... What business do you have here?" the mayor asked.

"We'd like to use your cannon so we can go to the moon," Chopper replied.

"What? A cannon? ...No such thing is here."

"Wait, what? But I heard about a cannon being here! We are CERTAIN that there is DEFINITELY one in here!"

"What do you want me to say? We do not have one!"

"But we heard about a cannon being here!" Scrub gaped. "Don't lie to us, man!"

"We have no cannon. Simply put." the mayor stated. "I suggest you leave now and forget about whole cannon thing."

Nearly everyone sighed and decided to turn away, since they had a feeling that the mayor was most likely too stubborn to listen to them. However, there was only one who didn't give up just yet and walked over to the mayor herself.

And that was Bombette.

"Arr! Now listen here, Bob-omb!" Bombette started. "Yer the mayor, correct? How can an official like ye lie that way to these people?"

"SHUSH! You call yourself a Bob-omb? I spit at you!" the mayor whispered.

Chopper quickly turned around and smirked at the mayor. "Actually, she's a Bob-omb who thinks she's a pirate, and she can certainly talk to you like that!"

"You know the rules, Bob-omb! There is to be NO mention of cannon to non-Bob-ombs! NO mention! We must not allow it to be used for evil..." the mayor trailed.

"Of course I would know all about that, ye little blowhard," Bombette replied. "I'm tryin' to fight off evil at this moment! And now, we need to use that cannon if we are to go to the moon, matey! An' if we don't...the entire universe could end!"

The mayor's eyes widened before he started to ponder. "Hm... Universe ending... Ummm... Well, we cannot have something like that happening here... This is a nice place… Still... You cannot use cannon right now because of certain...circumstances."

"Circumstances?" Chopper gawked.

"Poyo! (Then tell us!)" Kirby exclaimed.

"Kirby, I don't think exclaiming is going to do anything..." Heartsy trailed.

"We need to have special permission from Goldbob to use cannon," the mayor explained. "He is the one who started whole blasting-things-to-faraway-places policy... Once he got rich, he let business slide and does not start it up again... However, he DID start it up once, but decided not to do that anymore. Also... General White was the one who devoted himself to operation of cannon... But since Goldbob let business end, he stopped using cannon and took key and left."

"Goldbob an' General White?" Bombette pondered.

"Da, that is correct. If you want to use cannon, you must find Goldbob and General White."

"Very well!" the pink Bob-omb whirled around to her friends. Chopper an' mateys! I think I remember seein' a gold Bob-omb in a hat, an' his wife and child at Sand Town when we returned! Considerin' he has 'gold' in his name, we should try askin' him! As for General White… I'm not too sure..."

"Wait, back at Sand Town?" Heartsy gasped. "I didn't expect to be going back there so soon! Maybe while we're there, I can show you my whole room, Choppy. I DO have a GameCube there."

"The GameCube sounds cool, but I don't think we'll have time," Chopper replied. "Plus, I'm guessing you just want to kiss me... Anyway, you did a good job with that, Bombette!"

"Why thank ye! Now let's get goin' before the universe starts to end!" Bombette suggested.

With that settled, they began their way back to Sand Town. Some were excited to go back, while others were not looking forward to the extreme heat of the desert.

* * *

**Right after a long interlude chapter, we have a short little chapter here! And yes, I HAD to do that with the name of this chapter. :P**

**What's next? Probably everyone's favorite sidequest in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door! :D  
**


	45. Searching for General White

**These chapters for Chapter 7 are a little short, I'm afraid. This could be another short one, with getting permission by Goldbob and finding General White. It's not my fault! It's the game's fault, so go blame that instead of me. But less talking, more story stuff.**

* * *

Since they were told that Goldbob is in Sand Town, they made their way there with the help of the pipe. Some people took notice and watched the heroes make their way around the town. For some reason, Scrub felt a bit uncomfortable.

"Why are so many people looking at us? It's kinda creepy…" Scrub trailed.

They saw the two bullies from before watching them and giving them glares, especially toward Heartsy. However, she didn't let it bother them. Chopper tried his best to ignore them too, but he stopped when he saw a gold Bob-omb with a mustache and a top hat, a silver Bob-omb with a pink hat, and a small, orange Bob-omb that appeared to be the son.

"Bombette, are you sure this guy is actually Goldbob?" Chopper asked.

"Yar! Why else would he be gold?" Bombette answered.

"Wait, you decided it was him because he's gold?" Shadower gawked. "Bombette, that's not the best way to guess who someone is."

"Actually, that is Goldbob," Vivian informed, making everyone pause and look over at her.

"Vivian, how do you know this?" Chopper wondered.

Vivian began to explain all the details to them about her meeting him with Mario when she went to see him with the plumber. She even mentioned that she saw him in the Excess Express. Of all the people, Chopper seemed to be the one who believed her the most.

"Hmmmmm... Well, I guess he is Goldbob..." Chopper trailed. "That's a bit more detail than Bombette's reason."

"Poyo, (But she was still right,)" Kirby added.

"Yeah, I can agree," Chopper walked over to Goldbob and decided to give him a nice greeting. "Hello, there. You must be Goldbob, am I correct?"

Goldbob heard his voice and turned around to see him. "Why, good day to you, Contadre! You are looking good as usual! What can I do you for today, hmmm?"

Contadre... Apparently that name would still be around this place.

"We wanna activate the damn cannon!" Scrub demanded.

"Whoa! Scrub! Watch what you say!" Chopper snapped before turning back to Goldbob. "…Well he's right. We would like to use the cannon in Fahr Outpost to go to the moon so we can save the world."

"Huh? You must use the cannon in Fahr Outpost to save the world?" Goldbob looked down at the ground and pondered. "Hmmm... Well, that IS rather a pickle, isn't it? Very well, then! I remember the Great Gonzales wanted to use the cannon for something important, and considering that you're doing something similar. If it's very important, I guess I might as well give you a hand, yes?"

Chopper gave him a nod in approval as Goldbob looked back up at him.

"The truth is, I had hoped to resume my business with that cannon someday... And just between us...I only stopped because my wife said she didn't like the noise. Sadly, it takes a hefty bit of coins to get that cannon working... So... I'll need you to demonstrate just how much you want to use that cannon. If it were a matter of money, just how much would you pay, if I may ask?"

"Hmmm… Let me think for a moment…" Chopper checked how many coins he had, and he had about 624 coins. Considering that this was a cannon, it would be pretty expensive. "…I'd pay everything I have!"

"Whoa! You're giving all of that up?!" Heartsy gawked. "That's a bit too much for you, Choppy... Plus, how are we going to pay for the wedding when we finally get married? And what about our future children? Money is kind of important for that..."

"Ummm… What?" Vivian asked

"What? That's NEVER gonna happen." Chopper replied, looking a bit nervous. "Besides, what's more important? Saving the universe, or getting married? Personally, I think saving the universe is much more important."

"I can agree with you on that, I guess," Heartsy nodded. "Sometimes money needs to be given up..."

"...Anyway, Goldbob, I'd give everything I have!"

"What? Are you telling the truth?" Goldbob gawked. "You'd pay every coin you own? Every single one of them? You, er… Really? So… Really?"

Chopper replied with a simple nod.

"Well, I suppose I'm just surprised to hear you say that. Staggered, actually. You know that means you'll be left with zero coins? With absolutely nothing? You know that, do you?"

"Of course! I came here for the deed, and if I'd have to pay all my coins, I will!"

"I mean, think of it, man! If you spent all your coins…and I mean ALL of them… You would certainly face a great deal of difficulty down the road. ...Like the whole marriage thing with that girlfriend of yours! You need money for that!"

"Whoa! Don't side with her!" Chopper gaped. "I'm too young to get married!"

"Hmmmmmm... Yes. That is true..." Goldbob trailed. "But hold on. I want to make sure you're doing this fully aware of the consequences. Are you sure you won't regret this later? Absolutely sure? I mean, what if you want to buy something?"

"Yo, Contadre! He's right! This may be risky!" Scrub noted. "What IF you wanted to buy something? You wouldn't have any coins!"

"Scrub, I'm doing it," Chopper decided. "We need to get that Crystal Star up there!"

"I can really take them all?" Goldbob asked. "Really? You won't say 'Just kidding!' later on or any sort of tomfoolery like that?"

"Dude, just take my dang coins!"

"Well, all right then… If that's what you want, then I will,"

Chopper emptied all of his coins, which were given to Goldbob. Everyone was still left a little surprised about him giving up his coins.

"Well, maybe we can plunder fer some booty later!" Bombette suggested. "That way, we'll get our money back!"

Everyone ignored her as they looked back at Goldbob. "Hmm... Well you've certainly shown me something, sir. So... I give my permission for you to activate the Fahr Outpost cannon."

Goldbob handed Chopper the manual called the Goldbob Guide. "Oh... And I wasn't serious earlier, my dear fellow. How could I take money from you? You may be an ex-champion, but it's wrong to take a bunch of coins from a child. I was just kidding about all that! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! _It's a shame, I suppose..._but I'll return your money."

Chopper was left surprised when Goldbob returned his money back to him. "Oh, wow…"

"Now soldier on, my boy! If you're looking for General White, I can tell you he's a white Bob-omb in a captain's hat. He's been traveling around this place for quite a while, I must admit…"

"General White... I don't know if I saw a white Bob-omb arou-" Chopper paused when he remembered seeing a white Bob-omb back in Music Kingdom. "Guys... I might have an idea where General White could be."

"Poyo? (Really? Where?)" Kirby wondered.

Chopper summoned his Warp Star and jumped on it. Kirby, unsure of what he was doing, summoned his, and then everyone else joined them and left Sand Town. Chopper's Warp Star took the lead as it began to head over to Music Kingdom.

* * *

**Music Kingdom-**

When both Warp Stars landed at Music Kingdom, Kirby did a flip to jump off, while Chopper ended up landing on his head, resulting the pink puffball face palming. Everyone else jumped off normally and looked confused at the pink sky and the musical notes around.

"Oh, Chopper… This reminds me of when we first met." Vivian sighed happily as she looked around. "It was really nice, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was pretty cool," Chopper agreed. "Although, you were never around this area..."

"Arr! I don't know this place! …Wait, did ye an' Vivian go here first?" Bombette asked.

Chopper turned to the pink Bob-omb and decided to explain the whole story, with him meeting her on Rainbow Train and him and her defeating her two sisters to get the Diamond Star.

"Poyo… (Interesting story you got there, Chopper...)" Kirby trailed. Poyo. (Too bad I wasn't there to help you before. This place looks cool!)"

"Actually, if you were with me, I don't know if Vivian would've joined me," Chopper realized.

"I guess that's agreeable..." Vivian trailed before she noticed some musical notes walk over to them and talk to them. Like before, they were talking in their own kind of language, which left a lot of them confused.

"What're they saying?" Scrub gawked.

"Yar! I bet they be wantin' some of our treasure!" Bombette declared, her fuse lit up, which everyone tried to blow away. Chopper brought his guitar out and strummed a few notes.

"...and the Bob-omb should realize that we're not thieves," the musical note finished.

"What did you just do?" Heartsy asked.

"It's kind of a long story..." Chopper trailed. "Say, did you happen to meet someone named General White?"

"General White? You mean that Bob-omb guy with the mustache?" the musical note wondered. "He was here a while ago, but I think he went someplace else. Wait, let me think for a sec'… Oh! I know! He said something about going to the beach to the south! …I wish I could go to the beach…"

"Really? I guess we need to go to Pudgy Island, then…"

"Treasure! Now we're gettin' somewhere!"

Everyone ignored Bombette as they got on the Warp Stars and took off once again.

* * *

**Pudgy Island-**

"This is a nice place for a vacation," Heartsy smiled as they landed on the island. "I've never been to the beach before, and I heard it's pretty nice. Too bad we can't be here that long."

"Hey! Chopper! Glad to see you! I have NO idea why you're here!" Bambo said as he ran over to Chopper.

"Who's he?"

"A Bob-omb Buddy," Chopper answered. "Say, have you seen someone called General White?"

"General White?" Bambo pondered. "Oh, him! Sorry, but he's not here. He was here a second ago, but he left in a hurry. Now that I think about it, I think he said he was heading to some arena or something..."

"Arena? Oh, yeah!" Scrub fist pumped. "We're going back to the Glitz Pit!"

"Glitz Pit?" Heartsy gawked. "What's that?"

"It's a place where Contadre and I kicked butt! He even became the champ!"

"Really? Hey, then I guess the boy of my dreams is also a champion! This is getting better every minute!"

"...You do realize that Goldbob said I was an ex-champion, right?" Chopper blinked.

"Yeah, but it's cool that you were a champion!"

With that out of the way, they used their Warp Stars and left the island to head over to the Glitz Pit. Heartsy seemed a bit disappointed to leave the area, but she understood and waited for Chopper to go to their next destination.

* * *

**Glitz Pit-**

Once they landed, everyone took this chance to gaze at the place. They saw some posters with Rawk Hawk around, and there was even the hot dog stand and the juice bar. Rawk Hawk happened to be outside and saw Chopper and his friends.**  
**

"Well well! Looks like the Great Contadre's here!" Rawk Hawk grinned as he made his way over to Chopper.

"Uh oh..." Vivian gulped.

"What do you want?" Chopper asked.

"Look, I'm not here for any trouble," Rawk Hawk assured. "I just wanna thank you for what you've done."

"...Really?"

"Yeah! Remember when I told you I'd go win the title fair and square? Well, I actually managed to do that. See?" Everyone looked down at the belt he was wearing. "Yup! Now the fans love me again and go wild too! But, whenever you're not on an adventure, I wanna have a rematch against you! This time, a fair one."

"All right, I suppose I will!" Chopper smirked. "But only when I have nothing else to do."

"Right. I might as well go." Rawk Hawk was about to go, but he remembered something. "Oh, I think I forgot to tell you something important. You see, I have a brother, but the difference is, he's a bit of a thug. He goes around on his weird Hovercycle thing and taunts some people. If you ever catch sight of him, try to stay away from him."

"Hmmmmm... All right. Thanks for the warning."

"No problem. Good luck, Contadre! And don't let anything stand in your way." Rawk Hawk left afterward, leaving some of the people confused.

"Hovercycle? Brother? Looks like his bro is someone you don't want to meet!" Scrub said.

Chopper agreed, while Vivian suggested that they go to the juice bar. They followed her in to find the bartender and an attractive female Toad with hot pink polka dots on her cap and a black outfit. Scrub couldn't help but suspect her for someone that they knew before. However, Chopper walked over to the bartender.

"Hello there, Contadre! What can I get you?" the bartender asked.

"Actually, we were wondering if someone by the name of General White came here," Chopper replied.

"General White? Oh, you must mean that white Bob-omb, huh? Yeah, he used to come here all the time. But I haven't seen him lately. Now that I think about it…I think he headed off to some huge tree...or not."

"Poyo! (The Great Tree! Chopper! We gotta go over there!)" Kirby cried.

They took no time to relax and headed off toward the Great Tree.

* * *

**The Great Tree-**

Everyone (with the exception of Chopper, Vivian, Scrub and Kirby) were all gaping at the size of the tree. They were even interested in the whole area as well. Even if black and white wasn't the nicest thing, it seemed to fit here.

"WOW… That is a big tree!" Shadower gaped. "I can't believe I've never seen that!"

Chopper was forced to drag everyone else into the tree, where they were even more surprised to see the Punies.

"These things live here?" Heartsy gawked. "So strange... But they're pretty cute!"

"Chopper! You're here!" Punio cheered as he ran over to him. Petuni also came over to him when she noticed Kirby.

"Hey, Kirby! Glad to see you're all OK!" Petuni smiled. "How's it all going for you?"

Kirby decided to explain everything to her while Chopper translated everything. She seemed to be interested in his story, while Chopper turned over to Punio.

"Say... Do you have any idea where we could find General White?" Chopper asked.

"Eh? General White?" a Puni stepped in. "Yeah! He's an old Bob-omb with this great mustache. But... I have no idea where he went. He may have said he was going somewhere dark..."

"Twilight Town…" Chopper realized. "Come on, guys, let's go."

He gathered everyone up, who were busy looking at the room. Heartsy was busy holding one of the Punies and hugging it. The Puni seemed to blush and enjoy the hug, but it had to stop when Chopper grabbed her hand and pulled her away, forcing her to let go of the Puni. She ended up liking that more.

When they went outside, they took off once again and headed to Twilight Town.

* * *

**Twilight Town-**

When they landed, some of them weren't too pleased with the atmosphere of the place, especially Bombette and Heartsy.

"Err… I don't like it 'ere…" Bombette trailed.

"Yeah, it's too gloomy. It's not something I'm interested..." Heartsy trailed. "It needs to be a bit brighter here!"

"Admittedly, I'd kinda like that," Scrub agreed. "So, Contadre... Who should we ask?"

"I'm not so sure..." Chopper pondered.

"Let me take care of this," Vivian floated over to the closest villager near them. "Ummmmm... Hello there. Do you know where we could find someone by the name of General White?"

"Huh? General White?" the villager wondered. "Yeah, I know that old guy. He's a white Bob-omb, right? He was here until recently. What? Where did he go? What am I, his secretary? He looked tired, I know that."

Vivian slowly floated back to Chopper with a disappointed look. "Sorry, Chopper… I got nothing…"

"Great... Just great." Chopper sighed. "Now how are we going to go find General White?"

"We should go back to Fahr Outpost..." Heartsy suggested. "We don't know where else to search."

"Hmmmmmm... Maybe I have an idea."

"Really? Tell us." Shadower suggested.

* * *

**Ruins of the Thousand-Year Door-**

"...This was your idea? Coming over to an old door?"

"I was actually thinking of looking around here," Chopper replied. "But I guess he's nowhere to be seen here."

"Come on, Chopper! You don't just take us to a random place!" Heartsy face palmed.

"Poyo... (Yeah... This was rather pointless...)" Kirby added.

"Well, then I apologize for bringing you all here," Chopper frowned as he looked back at the door he remembered seeing before. "That door… Man, I feel like there could be something creepy through there. I remember when I found this place… Ugh… I don't like it one bit."

"That door does look a bit ominous," Shadower agreed.

"Yar! We could blow it up!" Bombette suggested, seeing the cracks around the door. "It looks like it could be blown up!"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Heartsy noted. "Choppy, we might as well go. ...Ummmmmm, are you even listening?"

"Hey, this thing has seven stars on here!" Chopper noticed. "…Wait a second… Could this be the seven Crystal Stars? The ones I saw from that book? Hmmm…"

"This door… It still haunts me to this day..." Vivian trailed as she looked up at the door. "After she was gone, I never went back in this door again. I'm…a little scared to go in there. I feel like she's still around…but as something else…"

"Who's 'she'?" Chopper asked.

"…It's best not to hear the story. I wouldn't want you or anyone else getting worried."

"Hey, this is Contadre we're talking about! What makes you think he'll get worried!" Scrub asked.

"Scrub, this story isn't anything you've heard before..." she floated away from the door, leaving Chopper to look at it.

"I wonder what she said who's in here…" Chopper looked at the door and felt a dark vibe coming from it. "Hmmmmmmmm?"

"_**Muh huh huh huh huh…" **_

"WAH!" Chopper jumped back in fear as he heard a dark voice echoing from the door. When Vivian noticed this, she floated back over to him and comforted him.

"What happened?" Vivian asked.

"I heard a strange, dark voice coming from the door... I don't feel safe here."

"Don't worry, Choppy, I think it's OK," Heartsy assured, patting his shoulder while smiling. "If there's someone you need, I can help you."

"Poyo, (I think we should get going,)" Kirby suggested.

"Yeah, that is for the better," Chopper agreed, leaving the ruins. Everyone else followed him, but Vivian stopped and looked back at the door.

"Could it be possible that... No. It couldn't be!"

She followed the group out while these thoughts plagued her mind.


	46. Blast Away!

When they returned to Fahr Outpost, the first thing they did was tell the mayor the news.

"What? You cannot find General White?" the mayor asked.

"Sadly, we couldn't," Chopper nodded sadly.

"Hmmmmmmm... This is not good..." As the mayor pondered, one of the treasure chest-like house's door opened, with a gray Bob-omb with a white captain's hat, blue feet and a black mustache walking out. Though the mayor was paying no attention, everyone else could see him, with Scrub's mouth dropping.

"Ahhhhhhhhh... That pale green antenna boy… Where has he gone to?" General White mused as he walked back into his house, exhausted from his long travels.

"Now, where did he go...?" the mayor wondered, while everyone was pointing to the house General White was in, but that didn't seem to catch his attention. "This makes trouble for us... We definitely need him... Otherwise we cannot even operate that thing... So... What to do..."

"AAAAAAAAARGH!" Scrub screamed. "We traveled all around Rogueport for this guy, and he just so happens to be in his house! GRRRAAAAAAAAAGH!"

"Easy now, Scrub," Shadower suggested. "As much as I'm ticked off, that's not going to help us. I suggest we go in and speak to him."

Everyone agreed and headed over to the house and opened the door. Inside, they found a dark red rug, a table, a bed and a fireplace.

"What a cozy room," Heartsy smiled. "This looks like a place where people can sit down, relax and have marshmallows!"

"Mmmmmm... I'd love marshmallows." Chopper sighed and licked his lips, just like Kirby was doing.

Vivian noticed General White was asleep, so she gestured everyone to go over to him. Scrub poked the white Bob-omb, but he didn't appear to wake up. In fact, they wondered how he got to sleep so quickly.

"So, how are we supposed to wake him up?" Bombette asked. "Yar! Touchin' won't help him get up!"

"Hmmmm... I might have an idea!" Chopper said as he snapped his finger. He jumped in the air and stomped on General White twice, making a "Nice" and "Good" appear after each stomp. Sadly, it didn't seem like it was working.

"I have an idea!" Heartsy got her hammer up and lifted it, but Shadower stopped her. "Shadower! What're you doing?!"

"We're not trying to kill this guy!" Shadower cried. "I don't think a hammer will work!"

"I'm not going to hit him that hard... Just relax." she brought her hammer down on General White, but not as hard as she would with an enemy. Sadly, it didn't seem to work, so Scrub began to Ground Pound him. That didn't even work.

Chopper continued to jump on General White, but he wouldn't wake up. They all concluded that he was a heavy sleeper. A big one at that. Kirby suggested inhaling, but everyone shook their heads, making him frown.

"Just wake up already!" Chopper whined, causing him to hear a snort. "...Huh?"

"_Guhh-norf, snorf, norf..._" General White blinked before he got up by performing a back flip and yawned. "Now, who are you? Can't you see I'm tired? I do not need your attention... I just want to take a siesta, as it is all hopeless..."

"...That's it? All I had to do was tell you to wake up? After spending ten minutes trying to get you awake, I had to do THAT?!"

"Hmmmm? What seems to be the trouble, boy?"

"Sigh... Never mind that. We've been looking for you for a WHILE…"

"Hut? Those...antennas. Those gloves... And that hammer, even..." General White trailed as he squinted at Chopper. "Hut-hut! I have been looking everywhere for you! It's a miracle, I say!"

"What? YOU were looking for ME? But… Why?" Chopper gawked.

"This is very surprising..." Vivian gasped.

"Why? Well... So we can bring that cannon back online, of course! I had lost my life's work yet again... My very reason to live... I found myself at wit's end... I thought my career was going to be over… And then the Rogueport fortune-teller told me... 'Seek the pale green boy with the antennas... the one with the hammer and white gloves...' 'He will truly fulfill your dreams.' Or something like that..."

"Well, we _are _here to use that cannon," Chopper noted. "We just need to get ourselves blasted over to the moon!"

"Hut? You need to use the cannon to help you save the entire universe? Hip-hip-HOOOORAH! That fortune-teller was right! So, what are we waiting for? I shall get the cannon ready, so do tell the mayor! Now get moving! Hut-hut!"

General White cheered as he made his way out of his house, leaving some of the heroes dumbstruck.

"How come jumps didn't work against him?!" Scrub gaped.

"I guess because violence isn't always the key to solving things," Vivian answered.

"You...kind of have a point."

They left General White's house (to Heartsy's dismay because of the fireplace) and returned to the mayor, who was surprised to hear the news.

"So, cannon is back online?" the mayor asked. "Well, I could just explode with delight second time! Now, let us shoot you guys to moon!"

"We finally did it!" Vivian cheered as she hugged Chopper. "Now we can get the seventh Crystal Star!"

"Y-Yeah," Chopper nodded, his face turning a bit red. "Let's go follow the mayor."

The seven followed the mayor over to the open field up ahead where the strange dome in the background was. General White was waiting for them too with an eager look on his face.

"Choppy, I'm not so sure if this is going to be a safe procedure..." Heartsy whispered.

"I don't know either. I'll admit I'm a bit scared." Chopper agreed.

"Now you stand here," the mayor ordered. Chopper was about to speak, but he was cut off. "No, there's a good reason why you stand here. Don't worry, you be fine."

"Let's hope..." Chopper sighed while the mayor walked over to General White.

"Maybe you shouldn't have really left, y'know?" he whispered. "Then again, big bomb cannon has been a little…overheated…"

"No worries. I'm used to this." General White pressed a red button on the remote he held, and Chopper and his friends fell through a hidden door underneath them.

"General White! Is big bomb cannon ready!" the mayor asked.

"Hut! Leave it all to me! Now, men! You all know the drill! Start loading the big bomb cannon and make sure it's set!"

"Ho!"

"Hup!"

"Hut!"

"BOOM!"

"Now! Positions, everyone!" the mayor ordered.

The Bob-ombs got themselves ready, and two followed General White into the dome in the background. It looked like a very technical room, but then again, all computer rooms are technical.

"It is time… Bring guidance system online!" General White ordered.

"Bringing systems online…" the Bob-omb to the left began to turn on guidance systems. He turned over to the general and said, "System is now online!"

"System check! The cannon is ready to be set up! How long has it been overheated, Major Joe?" General White asked the Bob-omb, Major Joe. He turned over to his general as well.

"Well, it's been overheated for four months after we blasted Mario out to the moon," Major Joe answered. "No worries, sir! Everything is JUST fine! Everything is all clear. We're ready, general…"

"All right… Ahem!" General White reached for the radio and pulled it over to him. "Prepare for detonation sequence! Open outer hatch, Private Steve!"

Private Steve pressed a button by using his head, and outside, the hidden door Chopper and his friends fell in became much bigger.

"Open inner shuttle! Elevate! On my mark!"

The inner shuttles began to open up, while a giant cannon rose up from the hatch. It was much bigger than anything they've ever seen in Rogueport.

"Sighting! Target is the moon!" General White shouted, which made the two Bob-ombs use the controller to aim the cannon.

"D Direction: 75.38. Elevation: 54.66. Range: 389603." Major Joe aimed at the big, yellow moon up in the sky. "Wind Speed: 1.08. Correct Direction: 3.03. Correct Elevation: -2.39."

"_Target locked! Chamber hatch open!" _

The chamber hatch on the cannon opened up, allowing for anything to jump in.

"Now! EVERYONE IN!" the mayor ordered, causing an army of black Bob-ombs came out of nowhere and jumped into the chamber hatch.

"Close chamber hatch!" General White ordered. As the hatch began to close, the Bob-ombs began to whine.

"It's crowded in here, BOOM!"

"Hey, stop pushing, BA-ZOOOOM!"

"OW! OW! OW! You're on my foot, BA-BOOM!"

"It's tight in here, PLOOM!"

"I'm getting nervous..."

"Stop breathing on my neck!"

"When's dinnertime?"

"Someone's touching my fuse! Get off it!"

"Conditions all green! Standby...OK!" General White confirmed.

"It is time! Big bomb cannon: _FIIIIRE!_" the mayor shouted. The cannon fired, and out came Chopper and his friends, who were screaming as they were sent flying out. The Bob-ombs who blew up in the hatch were OK and began to parachute down.

"YAAAAAHOOO!"

"YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!"

"That was so awesome!"

"I could explode in joy!"

"YAY! IT'S TACO TIME!"

"Good luck, Chopper! …You're going to need it up at the moon." the mayor said as he looked up at the sparkling star in the sky.

* * *

**Outer space-**

"YAHOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAA!"

"POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYO!"

"HEEEEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEE!"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

"HOLD ONTO ME, CHOOOOOOOOOOPPYYYYYY!"

As they continued to fly into space, they noticed the moon coming up ahead. Chopper clenched his fists as he dove toward the moon, just like Scrub was doing in a way to imitate him. In the end, they ended up landing on the moon, but Chopper ended up landing headfirst, causing his head to get stuck, just like Scrub.

Everyone else, however, were able to land just fine.

"What a landing that was," Shadower sighed. "At least it's over."

"Poyo, (We're far from the planet now,)" Kirby realized.

Chopper and Scrub were able to get themselves up and quickly took a look at their surroundings. The moon appeared to be dark yellow, with a couple of rocks around. The sky itself was blue and had constellations of Fire Flowers and Mushrooms.

"Whoa! That was AWESOME!" Scrub cheered. "Man, who knew adventurers got to do stuff like THAT! I wonder what's around here…"

"Same here," Chopper agreed before his antennas began to twitch. "...Huh? What's that noise?"

"Chopper… I hear a voice…" Vivian warned nervously. Everyone stayed silent for a moment and began to listen to the noise.

"_Fury... Fury... Fury..._"

"Chopper, matey… I can hear the voice coming from one of the rocks…" Bombette noted. "I suggest we be careful 'round here…"

Chopper gave her a nod while noticing a yellow Cleft with orange feet ahead. "Oh... Looks like we know what kind of enemies are here."

"Those Moon Clefts around here look like they have a tough defense. I'll flip them over with an explosion an' ye finish 'em off!"

When they began to walk, they noticed how slow they felt. Because of the gravity it was hindering their speed. Well, mostly Chopper's.

"Gah! I don't like this!" Chopper frowned. "I can't move that fast..."

"Hey, then catching you won't be so hard," Heartsy realized, making Chopper's eyes widen. "I'm only kidding... But I guess it works in my favor."

They heard the creepy voice again, so they slowly made their way to the rock where they heard the noise. They were all left with complete surprise - except for Heartsy.

"Who the heck is this guy?" Heartsy gawked.

"Hey, wait a sec... Didn't we see this guy before?" Chopper blinked, noticing the red hooded beanish person turn to him with his creepy grin. "Yeah, that grin is what I seem to remember."

"Shiver me explosions! We saw him on that one island!" Bombette exclaimed.

"Poyo? (How'd he get here, though?)" Kirby wondered.

"Fawful sees you now…" Fawful hissed as he stepped closer to Chopper, causing him to back away. "You had the destroying of Cackletta! It gives Fawful immense fury after what you did!"

He reached for his blaster and aimed it at Chopper, whose eyes widened. "Whoa! Put that thing down! There's no reason to shoot me!"

"Yeah! Plus, I'm sure Contadre can take ya on!" Scrub declared. "No one's stepped in his way!"

"Scrub, I don't think Chopper would be here if he did this stuff himself," Shadower informed.

"Oh..."

"Now Fawful will say farewell to you, fink-rats!" Fawful roared, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "You, Green Antenna! Fawful will be giving the revenge like a waiter serving food with marshmallows! _**I…WILL…HAVE…VENGEANCE!**_"

"Bring it on," Chopper challenged, getting his hammer out. "Looks like I have someone to test my new hammer on!"

**Tattle: **_Whoa… Who the heck is THIS guy? That smile is SOOO creepy! Max HP is 60, Attack is 6, and Defense is 1. Omigosh! You don't think he could be a psycho, would you? He looks like he wants to kill you and…did he just say revenge? Hold on… Do you know him from somewhere? Tell me right now, Chopper! I need the details! …Ha! Just kidding! Well… He's still creepy, so just attack him, OK?_

Chopper made his way over to Fawful and brought his hammer down on him. He was happy to deal a lot more damage with his hammer. His Copy Abilities could also do more damage, which he was happy with. However, even when Fawful got hurt, he was still grinning.

"Gah... He's still grinning." Chopper cringed.

"I know how you feel," Heartsy agreed. "This guy is WAY too creepy!"

She got her hammer out and brought it down on Fawful's head. The bean couldn't help but cackle and mock her hammer, which got her irritated.

"You fink-rats will have regretting of Cackletta's death!" Fawful cried afterward as he fired a blast at Chopper and took 6 away from him.

"Wait a sec... Cackletta? I swear I've heard that name before..." Chopper trailed, pondering for a moment. "Wait, hold on a sec... I never killed that person! She was a ghost when I saw her!"

"Oh, so you met this person once..." Vivian trailed.

"Yeah, and I wasn't too happy to see her. Anyway, what ability should I use on him? Hmmmm… Y'know, I haven't used much of Fighter for a while…" Chopper put his Fighter ability on and used a Vulcan Jab on Fawful, while Shadower lowered his defense with his Shadow Punch.

"Poyo, (OK, we got him down to 40 HP…but that's still a lot,)" Kirby said. "Poyo... (He can deal some tough damage too. Then again, Gemerl was a bigger pain…)"

Sadly, the pink puffball wasn't paying attention to Fawful, who shot him with his blaster.

"Poyo! (Ow!)"

"Well, his defense is down a little…so we can make a few attacks before his defense comes back," Vivian mentioned.

Chopper nodded and delivered a punch to Fawful, who got knocked back toward one of the rocks, causing it to smash. Despite that, Fawful was able to get back up just fine.

"Wow! I'm surprise he was able to still stand up to that!" Heartsy gaped.

"Fawful can take all of the tomatoes that have been thrown at him! Fawful has the 110 percent power!" Fawful babbled on until he got burnt by Vivian's Shade Fist.

"That should shut you up, you weirdo," Chopper scoffed. Vivian giggled at him, but she stopped when Fawful ran up to Chopper to tackle him. Thankfully, it was Superguarded, so Fawful ended up taking damage instead.

"Phew…" Vivian sighed in relief and saw Fawful take some damage from being burnt. This allowed Chopper to make his next move by dashing toward Fawful and kicking him. It was a strong attack, so it did 7 damage.

"Poyo. (I should take down some of his HP as well. I'll become a stone and attack!)" Kirby floated over Fawful and came down on him as a stone, leaving him with 12 HP.

"He's almost finished..." Heartsy trailed.

"Urgh… _**FURY!**_" Fawful roared before fired another shot at Chopper, but this time, his Fighter ability was knocked away. Scrub gasped and growled at the bean, trying to show off his "teeth" (even though he doesn't have any).

"Grrrr! You'll pay for hitting Contadre, bean-o!" Scrub walked over to Fawful and used his Gulp to inhale him and spit him out, leaving him with 6 HP. "Yo! Contadre! You should finish him off right now! Use something that'll take him out in a turn!"

"Oh… I _know _what I'm gonna do…" Chopper smirked as he walked over to Fawful and performed a flip, showing flames on his feet and stomped on him to deal 7 damage.

"_**Nyargh!**_" Fawful let out a scream as he collapsed on the ground, which rewarded Chopper with 31 Star Points and a level up. Chopper went with 40 HP, which gave him the same amount of HP as Vivian and Heartsy.

"Ha! That showed him!" Scrub fist pumped. "Next time, you better think before you attack! Or else Contadre will kick your butt again!"

"No… Fawful…need fury…" Fawful moaned as he slowly got up and gave them a childish cackle. "_**I HAVE ESCAPING!**_"

They all saw Fawful take out a strange object that had rockets and a sucker above a small glass capsule in between the rockets and put it on his head. They were about to catch him, but he got away.

"Arr… That was intense, Chopper…" Bombette sighed. "I mean, did ye SEE how insane he was?! It shivers me timbers…"

"You got that right," Chopper agreed. "Though, the name 'Fawful' almost sounds a bit familiar to me... ...Nah, probably nothing big."

"But how the heck did he manage to get on the moon in the first place?" Shadower asked. "He didn't use a cannon like us. He must've gone here another way... We might as well find out."

They noticed that the rock had a crack in it, so Chopper grabbed a hold of Bombette and threw her over to the rock. When she blew up, an Ultra Shroom was revealed to be behind in the rock.

"Hey! An Ultra Shroom! Boy, I NEED these!" Chopper grabbed the Ultra Shroom and put it away. Afterward, they looked around on the moon for anything special, but they didn't find anything special. However, they had to deal with a couple of Moon Clefts, which Bombette took care of by flipping them over, and there were new Yux enemies that were dark gray instead of lime-green.

"I think these are Z-Yuxes," Vivian recalled. "I remember seeing them."

"They shouldn't be a problem," Heartsy assured as she threw her hammer at one of them, since apparently, her hammer wasn't able to reach it. Chopper was able to finish it with his jump. But even then, they didn't find anything special.

However, when they reached the third area of the moon, they saw a fortress with a shield around it. They noticed a pipe in the background that could take them there, but they didn't see any sign of a pipe.

"Poyo? (How are we supposed to get in the fortress without a pipe in sight?)" Kirby wondered. "Poyo? (And doesn't that place look a bit familiar to you, Chopper?)"

"Yeah, I remember seeing this before!" Chopper realized. "When we were first taking off to go search for the Crystal Stars! This is the place that shot us down!"

"My sisters and I even overheard the X-Nauts speaking about it too," Vivian recalled. "I guess those were you two..."

"X-Nauts? Hold on... Does this mean this could..."

"Hey! Are we going to stay here and talk?!" Heartsy exclaimed, making everyone turn to her. "We have to find a way in the fortress! Talking isn't going to get us anywhere, you know..."

They listened to the girl and examined the area for anything. The only thing of notice was a large, cracked rock that was near them. A lit up light bulb suddenly appeared over Bombette's head.

"Leave this to me, matey!"

"Got it!" Chopper nodded as he picked her up and threw her at the rock. Once she blew up, a pipe was revealed to be under it.

"Let's go, guys!" Scrub declared.

"Yeah, before those Z-Yuxes get us," Shadower added.

Everyone noticed some Z-Yuxes firing projectiles at them, making them all jump into the pipe and go into the background. When they came out of the pipe, they made their way over to the fortress up ahead.

Was it possible that the Crystal Star was located in another enemy base? This began to haunt Chopper's mind as he opened the door and entered the fortress.

* * *

**Three short chapters in a row... Yeah, I'm sure some of you guys are hoping for something a little longer. Thankfully, the next chapter should be a bit longer than the previous three, so you guys don't have to worry.  
**

**...And I'm sure people are wondering how Fawful got here. Hmmmm... Well, maybe we'll find out sooner or later.  
**


	47. Storm the X Naut Fortress!

With the fighting Chopper had gone through on the moon, he now had 40 HP, 40 FP, and 27 BP, which would most likely help him for what was up ahead. Aside from that, the heroes entered the strange fortress and found a little tunnel surrounded in glass and a moving floor leading up to a door ahead.

"This place feels a little unsettling and suspicious..." Heartsy trailed, having her hammer ready. "I'd be on the lookout of I were you!"

Everyone else decided to take Heartsy's advice and had their guard up just in case. Chopper and Kirby were especially ready for anything, considering the last time they got close to this place. Upon moving to the moving floor, they let it take them up to the door, allowing them into the next room. What surprised most of them was that the door opened on its own upon approaching it.

"Hey! The doors open on their own!" Scrub gaped. "Awesome..."

"But we saw this in the Phi Base," Chopper pointed out. "It's nothing new..."

"Well I think they're cool."

With a shrug, Chopper headed through the doorway first to find a square-shaped room with a couple of rectangle-shaped glass windows showing the spacey sky and stars, and the floor was gray and metallic, with the center depicting an X-Naut symbol. A Save Block and Heart Block was thankfully in the room too.

"Huh... Interesting design here..." Chopper trailed. "Doesn't that symbol look familiar to you guys?"

"Yar... That symbol be remindin' me of that ship we ran into near that monster's cave!" Bombette exclaimed.

"Monster's cave? I don't know when that occurred..." Heartsy trailed, unsure of what they were talking about.

"Guys..." Vivian began. "I know this place. We're in the-"

Unfortunately, she couldn't finish her sentence when two X-Nauts dressed in dark gray and red came out of the door across from them. Upon seeing them, they instantly got in their fighting positions, and the two Elite X-Nauts took notice of them, especially Chopper.

"Hey! What do we got here?" the first Elite X-Naut asked, noticing the group. "Wait… Hold on a sec…Who the heck is that, dude?"

"Whoa! That's Chopper!" the second exclaimed. "I don't know how he got here, but we shouldn't just stand here! Let's get him!"

The two enemies got in kung fu stances and charged at the group. Since Chopper had his Ultra Hammer ready, he approached the one in front of him and bashed its head. He felt a smile appear on his face when he saw how much damage it did to the Elite X-Naut. Despite having a point of defense, it was still better than 4 damage.

Scrub walked over to the same Elite X-Naut and used his Gulp to attack both X-Nauts and deal 6 damage. The one in front was left knocked out, while the other refused to back down and made a kung fu sound.

"HUAAAAAAH!" the Elite X-Naut charged into Chopper, taking 5 HP out of him. Considering the enemy only had 4 HP left, Chopper performed a flip in the air and jumped on the Elite X-Naut's head twice to knock it to the ground and reward him with 8 Star Points.

"Well, that was easy," Chopper smiled, giving a thumbs up for their victory. Eventually the two Elite X-Nauts got up and looked at their bruised bodies and then at the group.

"Oh, geez... Did we just get our butts kicked?" the first Elite X-Naut asked.

"From these bruises, I bet!" the second exclaimed. "Let's get out of here!"

The two instantly bolted out of the room while screaming, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Who were those guys?" Heartsy asked. "They look nothing like anyone I've seen..."

"They're X-Nauts," Shadower answered. "I can't believe I was working with these guys before..."

"I know," Vivian agreed. "Though, it was my sister's idea in the first place..."

"Hold on a second..." Scrub pondered. "If there were X-Nauts here, do you think we're in their fortress?"

"Arrrr! I be thinkin' the same thing!" Bombette agreed. "Chopper, matey! I believe this is where the Magical Map led us!"

"Hmmmm... Yeah, I believe so." Chopper agreed. "I'm guessing the X-Nauts have the seventh Crystal Star... And if this is their fortress, then Peach must be here as well!"

"Poyo? (How about we get back at them for what they did to us?)" Kirby suggested, giving Chopper a smirk. "Poyo! (They mess with us, now we mess with them!)"

"Getting revenge? Well... I don't know about that... But, since we need to find the Crystal Star here, I think that's all right..."

Chopper hit the Heart Block to recover his stats and then hit the Save Block afterward. The seven entered through the door where the two Elite X-Nauts escaped and discovered a long hallway with a door straight ahead. There was also an elevator door as well, where the two Elite X-Nauts from before ran over to.

"Aw, crud! They followed us!"

"Well they're not getting in here anytime soon! 'Cause we hid the Elevator Key in that room ahead!"

"...Dude, you just told them where to get it! You son of a-"

The elevator door closed on them, and what they heard was some yelling until it began to fade. The heroes could only blink before approaching the elevator door. The terminal that once appeared green was now red.

"...Well at least we know where to find the key to this elevator!" Chopper smiled. "I bet it'll be easy, right?"

"From what I see here, this place does look a bit familiar to the Phi Base," Heartsy deduced, looking at the long hallway that looked similar to the Phi Base's hallway. "If it's a lot like that place, then exploring this area shouldn't be too difficult!"

Chopper noticed an Elite X-Naut charging behind the reddish pink girl. "Heartsy! Watch out!"

He tackled her to the ground and let the Elite X-Naut miss its attack. Vivian gave it a Shade Fist and then Kirby inhaled the enemy and spat him into the wall to knock it out. The Elite X-Naut was left dazed while leaving behind some coins an a Thunder Rage.

Heartsy looked up at Chopper and blushed at the sight of him holding onto her. "Oh, Choppy... Doesn't this feel so romantic?"

Opening his eyes, Chopper was left gaping before he quickly let her go and stood up. "No, Heartsy! I was just helping you! There was nothing romantic about that!"

Hearts appeared over the girl's head as she giggled. "But what you did was really sweet! I think that earns you a little something!"

Chopper blinked for a moment before he got kissed on the cheek by Heartsy. He quickly closed his eyes and covered his face in disgust while Heartsy smiled while blushing. "Your face is even red, Choppy! I know you like it!"

"No I don't!"

"Hey, lovebirds!" Bombette shouted, interrupting them. "We've gotta get movin'!"

Chopper instantly agreed and bolted over to the door, wishing to not be near Heartsy for a while. He wiped the kiss off his cheek while at it while the rest followed. Vivian slightly frowned as she finally approached the door, but Kirby was able to reach him first before opening the door. They were brought into a square-shaped room with multiple tiles on the floor with the exception of where they stood and where a gray chest was ahead, which had a metallic floor. There was also a yellow ? block in the upper left corner.

"Huh? What's this?" Shadower wondered, seeing the tiles flash yellow for a moment. "That was strange..."

"Well it's nothing too big," Chopper shrugged, stepping on the tiles and getting electrocuted in the process. It also made him skyrocket upward and land on the safe area too. "YEOW! That was shocking!"

The group inspected the tiles and noticed them flash yellow for a moment another time. Vivian took out a single coin and tossed it onto the tiles while they weren't flashing yellow. It ended up getting electrocuted and turned into ash.

"This floor is electrified," Vivian informed. "I don't think even Shadower and I could get across this..."

"Poyo! (Then I'm guessing the floor isn't electrified when it's flashing yellow!)" Kirby realized, noticing the tiles flash yellow again.

"There's gotta be a way to get through them!" Chopper cried, slamming a fist into his hand. "Obviously there's a way to get through this! We just need to me fast enough!"

Something suddenly sparked in Heartsy's mind that made him smile and get closer to Chopper. "Hey, I might have an idea!"

"What do you..." Chopper's face felt fear when he saw her close to him. "Wh-What are you d-doing?!"

"You know, I don't think that last kiss was enough... Maybe this time, we can kiss on the lips?"

Chopper's eyes widened in fear, and he was soon blazing across the tiles once they flashed yellow. Upon noticing he was on the safe area and away from Heartsy, he cheered.

"Woo-hoo! I'm safe!"

Disappointment was now in Heartsy's face, but despite that, there was one thing she could do. She blew a kiss that turned into a heart and let it fly into Chopper's face, making him fall back on the chest in the process.

"Dude... How could you do something like that?" Scrub gawked.

"That's hardly realistic..." Shadower trailed.

After shaking himself, Chopper turned to the chest and found a blue key card. For some reason, this turned off the electric floor as well.

"Shiver me timbers!" Bombette exclaimed. "The electric floor just turned off! How strange..."

Vivian flew over to Chopper and checked the key card in his hands. "Yes, this is definitely the Elevator Key. Come on! We need to put this in that terminal!"

After hitting the yellow ? block that contained a Super Shroom, the group headed back into the hallway and reached the elevator. Chopper took out the Elevator Key and inserted it into the terminal, turning it to green rather than red. They had to squeeze themselves into the elevator with how small it was compared to the elevator in the Phi Base.

"Yeesh! This is tight!" Scrub cried. "I don't know if I can breathe!"

"Poyo... (Yeah... It is...urk...pretty tight...)" Kirby grunted.

Being closest to the elevator buttons, Shadower pondered for a moment, wondering where they should go. The only levels they could go to were Sublevels 1 and 2.

"Hmmmm... So which sublevel should we go down?" Shadower asked.

"Yar! Pick any of them! I'm too stuffed in here!" Bombette cried. "It ain't good for me fuse! Especially bein' near Vivian here!"

Vivian would have taken offense to that, but she had to admit she was right. Chopper was unfortunately to be near Heartsy, who was rather happy to be close to him again. As for Shadower, he chose Sublevel 2, and soon the elevator door began to descend after closing.

"Well, here I am again… In the X-Naut Fortress…" Vivian sighed. "I wonder if they made some changes around here… Mmmmmmmm…"

"We'll see, Vivian," Chopper replied, cringing from the tight space. "I'm pretty curious about this place too!"

* * *

**Sublevel 2-**

The elevator door opened, and everyone came tumbling out. Chopper happened to be at the top of the pile, and that caught the attention of an X-Naut PhD, who was over by the left side of the hallway carrying some chemicals in its right hand.

"Hold it right there, Chopper!" the X-Naut PhD shouted. "How on earth did you get in here?!"

"Uhhhh... I found the base?" Chopper shrugged, getting up. His eyes widened when he saw the chemicals the X-Naut held thrown near his foot. "Geez! What're you trying to do, kill me?!"

"Exactly."

Vivian managed to get up just in time and scorch the X-Naut PhD with her Fiery Jinx. The enemy could only cough as it got covered in soot before falling over on his back. Thankfully, the X-Naut PhD was not dead, or else Vivian would've felt sorry at the most.

"Well, that takes care of that..." Vivian trailed, turning to the group and watching them get out of the pile. Kirby was apparently at the bottom and flat like a pancake. Chopper took out a bike pump and helped use it to unflatten the pink Star Warrior.

"Yarrr..." Bombette trailed, unsure of what to think. "How are you...er...unflattening him like that?"

"I'm not so sure..." Chopper trailed, finishing the job. "I mean, aren't we made of paper?"

"I don't know if we should be saying that," Heartsy whispered.

"Errmmm… I say we just get going and forget about that."

They decided to move on and walked over to the door close to their left. The room they entered had a table full of chemicals that were contained in a test tube and Erlenmeyer Flask, and next to a purple and green chemical was a balance. There was also a machine with six red buttons, but it didn't appear to be on at the moment.

An X-Naut PhD caught their attention and threw one of its chemicals. Heartsy used her Hammerang ability to throw her hammer at the X-Naut like a boomerang and knock it out before the hammer came flying back to her.

"Yar? These chemicals… There ain't much here, unfortunately. I say we ignore these and get movin'!" Bombette suggested.

They left the room and entered the door to the far left to find another similar room that included square-shaped tiles that were electrified.

"Another one of these rooms..." Shadower trailed.

"Maybe I might have to do what I did before," Heartsy smiled, turning to Chopper. She was about to say something sweetly to him until she noticed something up on the wall. "...Oh, wait. There's a diagram up on the wall."

"Poyo, (I guess you have to walk on the tiles shown on the diagram,)" Kirby noted. "Poyo! (But I can just float over to the chest!)"

Kirby took in some air and began to float over the electric floor. Before he could get over there, however, a camera dropped from the ceiling and shot a laser at the puffball, forcing him to let out the air and land on the electric floor. The rest of the group watched as he let out a cry and skyrocketed into the air before landing beside them.

"So THAT'S not working…" Chopper trailed, looking up at the diagram. "All right, let's see what I can do..."

He followed the diagram and carefully began to make his way across the tiles. Surprisingly, the correct tiles he stepped on did not electrocute him, so he had no problems with that. When he reached the safe area, he opened the chest and got a Card Key, turning the electric floor off in the process.

"Nothing stands a chance against us! Especially Contadre!" Scrub cheered. "So what do you think that thing is for?"

Chopper shrugged as he walked across the floor and left the room. His partners followed him into the hallway and passed the two doors, the second elevator, and another door until they reached the far right door. Enemies such as a Z-Yux and an Elite X-Naut were trying to attack, but they ignored them and entered through the door.

Entering the next room, they discovered it to be large compared to the other rooms, and a large X-Naut symbol was on the ground. Up ahead was a computer that could show off holograms, and right behind the large computer terminal was a door. This room looked specifically familiar to both Vivian and Shadower, and it certainly didn't give them a good feeling.

"What's up with you two?" Heartsy asked, taking notice of them.

"This is where Grodus usually would stay and give orders..." Vivian explained.

"Grodus?"

"He's the leader of the X-Nauts," Shadower answered. "But it's so strange... I'd expect him to be here. Where do you think he went?"

"I don't know..." Chopper trailed, balling up his fist. "But he's probably hiding somewhere here! I bet he's holding the Crystal Star anyway! Maybe we oughta-"

He was interrupted when he felt himself get struck by ring-like projectile. Chopper cringed before turning his head to what hit him. It was a red Yux...or rather, an X-Yux. Bombette's fuse quickly lit up, and she prepared to blow up in front of the X-Yux. Surprisingly, her explosion didn't appear to hit the enemy.

"What the..." Bombette gawked as soon as she got up. "Arrrr! Something's not right! That explosion should've hit that thing!"

Chopper could only shrug before he jumped on the X-Yux's head. After guarding the ring-like projectile it fired, Kirby used a Cartwheel, and then Chopper finished it off with another jump. He claimed his Star Points and went behind the computer terminal to the door before him. Through that door was a room with a white carpet with an X-Naut symbol on it, a brown table with a computer, a book, and a flag with an X-Naut symbol. Beside the table was a large chair.

There was also a brown shelf to the upper right that included many blue books, and a little aquarium containing a Piranha was around too.

"So... This is Grodus's room..." Vivian trailed. "I don't think I've been here before..."

"Wait... I see something over by that self!" Chopper realized, approaching the shelf to see a pair of gloves. "Wait... Are these..."

He pulled the two white gloves out of the shelf and realized they were just as similar as his Super Gloves. He smiled as he raised his arms over the item.

**You got the Ultra Gloves!**

"Yes! Brand new gloves! I was hoping I'd get something like this!"

Before he could do anything, Chopper found himself teleported into a tutorial-like area from before. Toadette was approaching him with her usual smile.

"Hey, Chopper!" Toadette greeted. "I can't believe you ALREADY got the Ultra Gloves! These things are fantastic! You know why? They allow you to not only use fire, but you can also use ice! Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah, it is cool," Chopper smiled, his new gloves now equipped on his hands. "...Wait, what's ice gonna help me for here anyway?"

"Don't you remember? They freeze things! It's good to use it in things such as water and lava! But that's not all! You can use the Ultra Fire or Ice ability! This allows you to fire some elemental balls at all enemies while doing more damage to them, but at a much faster pace! There's a chance if you use ice, sometimes you can freeze enemies! Give the Ultra Gloves a try!"

"Umm… OK?" Chopper began to fire ice balls rapidly from his hand. He couldn't help but gape at how fast he threw them. "Holy… This is amazing! I never knew I could do this! …Not to mention I got an icy feeling in my hands."

"I know, right? It feels cold! Sometimes, you need to shoot ice balls or fireballs rapidly at something like water or doors that are required to be open by using ice. Not to mention giant snowballs could ALWAYS be in your way wherever you go. You better be careful with that!"

A fire and ice block came down. The fire block looked a lot different, however. This one was an orange color, while the other was red. The ice block was a white color, like Chopper's ice balls.

"You can destroy these blocks with your Ultra Gloves!" Toadette noted. "Pay attention to which ones are which… Well, that's all I have for right now! I wish you luck on your adventure! I hope you find those fourteen other Crystal Stars!"

The background changed back to normal, bringing Chopper back into Grodus's room.

"Yo, Contadre! What was going on?" Scrub asked, making Chopper quickly shake his head.

"Uhhh... I think... I think I was on another snooze cruise..."

"Yet again?" Heartsy gawked. "So whenever you get a hold of a new item like that, you end up dozing off? ...Come to think of it, I never thought you had gloves with elemental powers..."

"Well, let's not get in too much of a discussion," Shadower suggested, pointing at a green Card Key that was in the aquarium with the Piranhas. "We have a little problem here..."

Heartsy thought of an idea and eventually drew her hammer out to smash the glass, but Vivian quickly grabbed her hammer and lowered it.

"No! Don't smash that!" Vivian cried. "That might not exactly be the smartest choice..."

"Why not?" Heartsy wondered.

"Well, if you smash it, you might flood this entire room, and with the electronics here, you never know what kind of damage will be caused. We could be caught in the damage too, you know..."

Upon pondering, Heartsy lowered her hammer and gave her a nod. Kirby, on the other hand, happened to notice a small pipe.

"Poyo! (Hey! Maybe this pipe might give us an idea!)" Kirby exclaimed.

"Hmmmm... Hey, I might have an idea!" Chopper cried, hurling an ice ball into the pipe and freezing the water, along with the Piranha. "Well, the water's frozen now! But how do we get a hold of that Card Key?"

"Arrr! There's somethin' in Grodus's drawer!" exclaimed Bombette, taking notice of the kunai knife inside. Vivian flew over to the drawer and picked it up.

"Why would Grodus have something like this in his drawer?" Vivian wondered before looking back at Chopper, who looked like he wanted the item. "Oh, you want this? What for?"

"Just toss it to me. You'll see."

Vivian shrugged and tossed the kunai to Chopper, who opened his mouth and inhaled the weapon and got a hold of a new ability. His skin turned to a light purple tiny, while his gloves and feet became a darker purple. His helmet looked a lot similar to the Stone helmet, except it was a red rather than blue. There were three gold stars on the front of the helmet, with the middle one being bigger than the other two, and the tuft of hair on the helmet was purple.

"Yes! I'm Ninja Chopper!" Chopper cheered, turning his attention to the glass and slicing it in half with a vertical swing from his kunai knife. It didn't even shatter, and the frozen water stood in place as well. He sliced that in half and let the Card Key fall out.

"Poyo! (I'll get it!)" Kirby cried, grabbing the key just in time.

"Yeesh... We sure wrecked Grodus's room. Especially the aquarium!" Shadower noticed.

"Not like I care," Chopper shrugged, removing his Ninja ability in the process. "Grodus is a bad guy, and this isn't something I'm going to pay him back after he kidnapped Peach."

"But in the meantime, let's get out of here," Heartsy suggested. "We gotta be quick if we're going to rescue Peach!"

Everyone agreed and left Grodus's room and headed back into the hallway. There was a door closest to them that they decided to head in, which led into a locker room with two curtains in the upper right corner. Possibly for changing uniforms?

"A locker room? Who would've thought X-Nauts would have a locker room?" Chopper gawked.

"Hey! I see two notes stuck to this table here!" Scrub noticed, pointing to the two notes. "It looks like it says some interesting things here!"

Chopper approached the two notes and read the large, white one first.

_How to activate the switch: ...[Left, Right, Middle]... Do NOT forget!_

"Huh... Interesting..." Chopper trailed, turning his attention to the small, pink one. "Let's see what this one says..."

_Today's code is [014029]. Do NOT forget it!_

"Let's keep this memorized, OK?"

"Or better yet," Heartsy ripped the two papers off the table and put them away. "Just in case you forget!"

"Ummm... OK."

They left the room and walked past the locked elevator and entered the door ahead of them to find tanks filled with projects that resembled Yuxs. It looked like it was an experimental room.

Two X-Naut PhDs happened to be having a little discussion too.

"OK… So these Yuxs are meant to do most of the work for us, right? And they're… **A-Yuxs**?"

"Yup. They're going to be the GREATEST of them all! …And I'll add in C-Yuxs for those C Units we found and programmed to obey us! Man, experimenting with things are so cool…"

They stopped for a moment when they saw Chopper and his friends looking at them. They looked at each other for a moment before drawing some chemicals from their jackets.

"Aw, great! Chopper and his stupid friends are here! Let's get 'em!"

The PhDs got ready to attack, but since the air duct to the upper right was open, Chopper managed to run over there just in time and use his Spring Jump to grab a small pole from above. He let go of the pole where it was safe and looked over to his left to find a vent.

"All right, I'll check over there…" Chopper walked over to the vent and turned sideways to drop through the cracks and landed on top of one of the machines in the teleporter room. He looked rather amazed, seeing the teleporter. on the floor. "No way… The X-Nauts got a teleporter too? Wow, they have some GOOD technology…"

He saw a red cog on the other machine, so he leaped over the gap and grabbed the cog.

"I wonder how my friends are doing… I better go check on 'em." Chopper muttered as he walked back into the experimental room to find the two X-Naut PhDs knocked out.

"We've taken care of them, Choppy!" Heartsy assured, holding her hammer almost like a bat. "No worries!"

"Well, OK… We should probably go back to Sublevel 1, now that we have a Card Key. Maybe there might be something there to help us?"

With everyone in agreement, they headed back to the elevator.

* * *

**Meanwhile-**

"Man… Polishing this bad boy up has been a real pain lately…" Lord Crump mumbled, polishing his brand new robot. "When's Chopper coming over here for the Crystal Star? I'm starting to get bored here! And I HATE being bored!"

He looked up at his robot after finishing polishing it. "Well, at least this thing is all ready. Yeah… **Magnus von Grapple 2.0**… A perfect name for a perfect machine! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! I am SO awesome with making machines! No one can deny it! …But there's one thing I don't understand… Why did Grodus want me to wait for Chopper with the Crystal Star? Also… Why the heck did he take that Princess Apple or something? Hold on… That's not right… Oh! Princess Beach!"

* * *

**Sublevel 1-**

Everyone fell out of the elevator once again, but it was Scrub that was lying on the top this time. They eventually got off, taking deep breaths as usual, with the exception of Chopper. He was too busy wiping off a kiss left on his cheek.

"Maybe next time we should take turns going in the elevator," Chopper muttered. "I don't want to be too close to people..."

Heartsy gave him a wink before heading to the door all the way to the left. They found themselves in a room with three machines with three red buttons, a crane and a platform with a couple of items, such as coins, a Star Piece, and two badges.

"It doesn't look like anythin' is on," Bombette noticed.

"Hey, I might have an idea!" Chopper smiled, taking a red cog out and placing it to the upper right machine where the other cogs were. The three machines with the red buttons were turned on, but the buttons themselves were not on. Chopper pressed them all, but nothing happened. "Huh? That didn't work..."

"Hold on a moment..." Heartsy took out the white piece of paper from before and read the message. She approached the red buttons and pressed them in the following order: left, right and center. The sound of sirens were soon heard before noticing the crane activate and move over to the crane machine.

"How the heck did you get that right?" Chopper gawked.

"I checked out the paper I took," Heartsy replied, giving Chopper a wink. "You can thank me later!"

Chopper was slightly shaking a bit from the wink until he heard Scrub speak to him.

"Check that machine by the platform, Contadre!"

He walked over to the machine and grabbed a hold of the control. Soon, the crane was moving over to the large platform and started to hover over the items as Chopper moved the joystick.

"Hey... This is like playing a video game!" Chopper smiled, getting the Star Piece and the two badges called Feeling Fine and Feeling Fine P. Upon further inspection, these two badges were capable of preventing him and his partners from getting poisoned.

"Poyo! (That's definitely a useful badge!)" Kirby gaped.

"Hey, considering it's called Feeling Fine, it might help you when you get kissed by Heartsy!" Scrub laughed.

"Yeah! ...Wait, what?!" Heartsy gawked. "That better be a joke!"

Upon hearing that, Chopper instantly put the Feeling Fine badge on in a snap. "Whew! Thanks for the advice, Scrub! This'll surely help me!"

"Uhhh... I really don't think that will do something like that." Shadower face palmed. "But I doubt it'll make you change your mind. Let's leave this room."

They left that room and walked to the end of the hallway to their right. There was a terminal glowing red that Chopper approached, but all he was asked for was the passcode. Unsure of what it was, Heartsy showed him the paper with the passcode and then punched it in.

"There we go! I'm actually glad you brought those papers here!" Chopper smiled, which Heartsy couldn't help but blush at his compliment. With that aside, the terminal turned green, and they entered the door into another room.

"What's that thing ahead?" Bombette asked, taking notice of the Thwomp in the room.

"Oh, no... Not this again."

"Poyo? (Chopper, what are you talking about? Did you see a Thwomp like this before?)" Kirby asked.

"Yeah, we've run into something like this before. Though, its eyes look a lot different..."

"I'm guessing it might want to ask us the same thing," Vivian deduced as they approached the Thwomp. Chopper touched it to make the ground shake around them and cause the Thwomp's computer-like yellow eyes to light up.

"Weird..." Shadower trailed.

"Well well well… What do we have here?" the Thwomp wondered. "Who are you, huh? You came here to get the elevator key so you can access the computer room?"

Chopper only replied with a nod.

"Yeah, I thought so. Well then, you're gonna have to beat me to get it! And if you lose, your life is MINE! You hear me? MINE! So, what do you say?"

"Umm… Why do you remind me of that Thwomp between Music and Toy Kingdom?" Chopper asked.

"Oh… My brother? Yeah, he stays there. I'm staying here in this fortress. Why? 'Cause I like it here. If you don't like it, I don't care. Anyway, are you going to challenge me or not?"

"Let's challenge this chump!" Scrub shouted.

"Yeah, we might as well..." Chopper trailed while the Thwomp spun around and stopped harshly.

"Mmmm hmmm hoo ha ha! You're MINE now!"

Soon, the seven heroes were thrown into another game show. Everyone but Chopper and Vivian were gawking, and the Thwomp across them was wearing a bow-tie like before.

"Contadre... What kind of place is this?"

"Poyo? (What the heck?)"

"This is weird..."

"Yaaaarrr! Shiver me timbers! The background changed!"

"Here I thought we were actually going to fight..."

"And here we gooooo, folks! The main event!" the Thwomp announced. "The 68th Annual Quirk Quiz! YAY! If you get 5 correct answers to the following questions, then you win, win, WIN! But if you get just 3 wrong answers, you're toast! You don't wanna be toast, folks! Oh, no… You DEFINITELY don't want to…"

"Ummm… I got a feeling that being toast is the worst thing…" Vivian trailed.

"Well, what're we waiting for, huh? Heeeeeeeeeeere we go! Question Number One: Exactly what's hidden here?"

"Elevator Keys, of course…" Chopper answered.

"You suuuuuuure about that?"

Chopper nodded making a ding trigger around them. The Thwomp spun angrily and gave them a glare.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! You're correct! Crud! But that was an easy one... You won't do so well on the next one, I GUARANTEE that! Here we go, sucker! Now, Question Number Two! What is the name of the test of the Ultimate Life Form?"

"Well, obviously the answer is Tipral."

And he was indeed correct.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! You're correct! Crud! But that was too easy for a kid like you... You won't do so well on the next one, I GUARANTEE that! So you better be ready, chump! Here we go, sucker! Question Number Three! Combine blue and yellow together. What do you get?"

"Green is the obvious answer…" Chopper said. He was indeed correct, and the Thwomp got angry again.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! You're correct! Crud! But that question was also an easy one... I doubt you'll do so well on the next one, I can GUARANTEE that! So you better be ready, chump! Here we go, sucker! We're onto Question Four! It's elementary…for non-idiots! Where was the one, the only, Sapphire Star?"

"It was on Unagi's tail!"

"You suuuuuuure about that?"

"Yes..."

"GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! You're correct, you jerk! You've already gotten FOUR correct?! You're kidding me! Well, fine! I'm gonna toss an extra-hard one your way! You happy now, sucker? Good! And now, Question Five! Who is the boy Heartsy is madly in love with?"

"Wait, WHAT?!" Chopper gaped. "What kind of question is THAT?!"

"'Madly'?" Heartsy gawked.

"You gotta answer me, kid!" the Thwomp suggested.

"It's me, apparently..." Chopper groaned. "Or rather... Chopper."

"Hold on a second, are you suuuuuuure about that? Maybe it could be wrong!"

"Of course!"

And the answer was correct. The Thwomp was surely angry over this loss.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Cuh-Correct! That's five correct answers! Crud! You win!"

They were soon returned to the X-Naut base, and they could tell the Thwomp was fuming.

"I'm so mad right now! I can hardly see straight! I lose! I LOOOOOOOOOSE! Fine! But I really hate you! More than that plumber! Takes this, you bum!" the Thwomp dropped the Elevator Key with some shaking and before going to sleep, shouted, "PBBBBTHBTH!"

Chopper blinked for a moment before picking up the Elevator Key. "Well... Might as well go to Sublevel 2 to put this in."

While they made their way to Sublevel 2, Heartsy was still left a little confused over that last question.

_"Madly in love? Ummmm... I don't know what to think about that."_

They were soon at the elevator in Sublevel 2 and were allowed access after Chopper put in the Elevator Key. Thankfully, this elevator was much bigger, which helped them breathe better.

"Whew! I'm glad this is bigger!" Scrub sighed. "More room for us for once!"

"Yeah, definitely..." Chopper smiled before noticing Heartsy near him. "Uhhh... My badge prevents you from kissing me!"

Heartsy was left a little annoyed, but an idea struck her. "Well... Then I'll see if that is truly the case."

Chopper's eyes widened before he covered his face and cowered in fear. Scrub was laughing like an idiot, Kirby was unsure of how to react, Shadower face palmed, and Vivian frowned.

"Arrr... Well, this be some good TV..." Bombette trailed.

* * *

**Sublevel 3-**

The seven came out of the elevator again, with Chopper wiping his cheek again. "I thought the Feeling Fine badge would come in handy! Scrub, why did you have to do that to me?"

"I thought that would actually help?" Scrub shrugged. "I'd guess it would make you feel fine..."

"And I feel better," Heartsy declared.

Upon inspecting the hallway, they only found a far door to the left and a far one to the right. They decided to head into the left door first.

"Poyo... (Another tile room...)" Kirby groaned, noticing the electrified floor and the lit up tiles.

However, unlike the other rooms, these tiles were actually moving on their own. Plus, they were blue.

"Oh, boy... I better be careful here..." Chopper trailed cautiously.

"I could just use my hammer to send you flying across, but I think it's too far," Heartsy said, looking at her Hearty Hammer. While she did this, she heard Chopper scream and fall on the safe ground.

"Ugh... It threw me off!"

Heartsy noticed a little mark left on Chopper's cheek from the electrified floor. "Hmmmm... Well you look like you have an injury left on your face."

"Yeah, I... Wait, what are you planning?"

"Ummm... I think it's better if you don't." Vivian suggested. "It might not make things better..."

"Fine..." Heartsy sighed, making Vivian smile as Chopper got up and went back on the tiles when they came back. He was being more cautious this time and eventually made it to the chest across the room. He got a yellow Card Key, triggering the electric floor to turn off.

They left the room and began to make their way to the right door, since it was the only one left in the hallway.

"I think we're getting close to our destination…" Shadower trailed. "Perhaps Princess Peach is somewhere on this floor?

"Perhaps..." Chopper pondered, entering through the door into a small room with three red terminals and a locked door ahead. "What in the..."

"Arr! Chopper, matey! I understand this!" Bombette declared. "These terminals require ye to put the Card Keys in! Put 'em all in their right spot!"

Chopper nodded and put the Card Keys in the terminals to make the red lamp above the door turn green, allowing them access to the next room. To them, it looked more like a factory than anything else.

"Holy… We just stumbled upon a BIG room here…" Chopper gaped, looking at the machine near them that didn't appear to be on. Up ahead was a slightly tall fence, and a blue ! switch was past it. An X-Naut PhD was near the fence, but Heartsy's Hammerang took care of it.

"Let me handle this once!" Bombette suggested, eyeing the blue ! switch. "Throw me over the fence!"

Chopper shrugged, picked up the Bob-omb, and threw her over the fence to blow up the switch and turn the conveyer belt on. With his paper ability, he and his friends turned sideways to go through the barred wall and onto the conveyer belt. However, an obstacle was in their way, so Vivian grabbed Chopper and pulled him into the shadows to go under it.

"Uhhh... How are we supposed to get through that?" Scrub gawked.

"Simple," Shadower answered, turning the rest invisible to go through the small wall. Vivian came back up from the shadows with Chopper and got onto the yellow and black platform that came down for them to get on.

"Who would've thought these X-Nauts would come up with ideas like this?" Chopper wondered. "This is one strange room..."

The platform took them up to a red bar platform on top of a fence, where they found another yellow and black platform moving left and right. They got on that and let it take them to a pipe on the top of the fence to the left.

Chopper was led into the background, where he found a moving platform moving left and right approaching him. He jumped on it and let it take it to a platform moving up and down. When ascending, there were two platforms to his left moving in his direction, which he used to reach an Ultra Shroom on a red platform.

"This should be useful!" Chopper smiled before putting it away. "Just watch your back, guys..."

Everyone else nodded while he reached the up and down platform and leaped onto the red gear ahead, which helped lead to a lift going up.

"A lot of platforming here..." Shadower commented. "But we're able to conquer it without any problem!"

"I'm guessing these X-Nauts underestimate us," Heartsy deduced.

"They certainly do!" Chopper smiled, walking on top of the red bar platform and using the other three moving lifts to get to another red bar platform with a pipe. They used it to return to the foreground near a paper airplane panel. "Ooh! I get to be a paper airplane again! Stay here, guys!"

Chopper transformed into a paper airplane and began to soar over the platforms below him until he landed on the second moving platform to his left, which helped him go underneath the paper airplane panel and hit a blue ! switch, creating golden stairs.

He used the golden stairs to get up to the door at the end of the room, which had a red lamp above it and a terminal with a red light. However, Chopper did remember seeing a Card Key before, and he could even see it up ahead to his left, so he jumped down onto the paper airplane panel again.

"Back already, Contadre?" Scrub gawked. "Did ya find anything?"

"Yeah, I did," Chopper nodded. "I'll let you guys see!"

He transformed into a paper airplane again and let everyone jump in with him, and he began to make his way fully across until a large fence was in his way. Chopper and his friends landed on a red fenced platform to get the Card Key and landed on the gray ground below. There was a Save Block and Heart Block there, and a Z-Yux was waiting for them, but Chopper jumped on it a few time to defeat it and level up. He upgraded his HP to 45 before they made their way back to the golden stairs and up to the door.

After inserting the Card Key, the door was unlocked.

"All right! I'm guessing the room up ahead is where Peach might be!" Scrub deduced. "It's GOTTA be! After all that difficult platforming, I'd guess Grodus would be waiting for us through here! So what're we waiting for?!"

"Yeah, I'd assume the same thing," Chopper nodded. "Well... OK, guys, let's go!"

With everyone ready, they headed through the door, hoping to find what they came for.

* * *

**Well this was certainly a long chapter, wasn't it? That's pretty much the X-Naut Fortress for you!  
**

**And to top it all off, we have a boss chapter coming up!**


	48. Magnus von Grapple 2: Return of the BUH

Upon entering the room, they noticed the large, circular fence-like ground in the center, along with a silver platform. The ground around the fence was more of a dark gray. Spotlights hung from the ceiling and flashed onto the fence-like section of the floor. But what caught them off guard more than anything was the annoying laughter that filled the room.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!"

"Oh, great... Not that laugh..." Chopper groaned, seeing Lord Crump standing on the silver platform. He was standing next to a robot that resembled Magnus von Grapple. It had a black body with a yellow X painted across. The number two was painted red in the middle of the yellow X, and its arms, rather than being gray, were now blue. Its hands now included red paper airplane daggers rather than round, useless hands. "And look what else he's got standing near him!"

"Poyo? (Yeesh... Does this guy ever learn?)" wondered Kirby.

"I've been waiting for you losers!" Lord Crump exclaimed. "Oh, MAN, have I been waiting! And you know how much I HAAAAAAAATE waiting? A lot! I almost felt like that I've been waiting for over five hours! I was starting to get impatient here!"

"What do ye mean about that, chump?" Bombette gawked. "Have ye been wantin' us to come 'ere this whole time?"

"You're dang right! Buh huh! I used the Crystal Star to lure you here... So that I could take all of YOUR Crystal Stars! How brilliant is THAT, huh?"

"That's perhaps the most unoriginal plan you've ever come up with…" Chopper trailed.

"Whuh?! How DARE you say that to the great Lord Crump?! My plans are the greatest! Their like…the skin of fried chicken! The good stuff! But I'm not finished yet either! There's something else I think you should know: your little Peachy friend isn't even in this place anymore!"

"So Peach WAS here…" Vivian trailed. "Where did you take her?"

"BUH! BUH! BUH! BUH! BUH! Like I'd tell you the plan! That's novice-villain style! I exceed that! And I'm going to prove that by test my new machine! You guys are gonna be the perfect workout for... Magnus Von Grapple 2.0! And don't go, 'Hey, Lord Crump! You already made a Magnus von Grapple 2.0!' I've upgraded it a little. This thing's gonna blow you all away!"

"Oh, really now?" Shadower pondered while Lord Crump got into his new machine.

"I hope you're up to the challenge...because this thing is raw horsepower, kiddies!" Lord Crump exclaimed. "BUH! BUH! BUH HUH HUH! BUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH-HACK! Hwaugh...koff! Whew..."

"So this is the weird X-Naut leader you've been telling me about? Then who took Princess Peach, then?" Heartsy asked.

"No, I don't think this is the real leader," Chopper replied. "Surely the real leader took Peach out of here..."

"Well how about we show this thing who's boss, Contadre?" Scrub suggested, getting in a fighting stance.

"Yeah, we certainly will!" Chopper smirked, getting in a fighting stance as well, just like the rest of the group.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!" cackled Lord Crump through his robot. "Yeah, the last version was trashy, so we improved it much more... One...two...a DOZEN! Get ready for a whole new way to experience pain, you junior-varsity losers! You'll be the first victims of my machine!"

"We'll see about that when we finish trashing your robot!"

**Tattle: **_Ugh! How many times do we have to face this guy? Well, this is Magnus von Grapple 2.0. It's Lord Crump's "new" machine. Max HP is 70, Attack is 7, and Defense is 2. He'll detach the fists like before, and they have 5 HP…and they can deal 10 damage! When this thing's HP gets low, it'll start to recover HP AND it will fire its machine guns at you! I guess Lord Crump was REALLY trying to take you down with this one… _

"70 HP? That's more than Gemerl! …Hold on a moment… We can probably chip this guy down easily. Let's see…" Chopper looked at his cold hand, but then he checked his Special Moves. "Y'know, I think THIS is a good time to use Power Lift. We NEED to use that move, and I'm going to do it right now!"

"Power Lift? You mean you're going to raise our stats?" Shadower wondered.

"Uh huh! Just watch!" Chopper brought the second Crystal Star up, and suddenly a couple of arrows and Poison Mushrooms appeared between them and Magnus. He had mini stars to throw at the orange and blue arrows while avoiding the Poison Mushrooms.

"Hit 'em! Hit 'em!" Scrub shouted. Chopper threw stars at the orange and blue arrows, and after about thirty seconds, they all got their Attack raised by 2 and their Defense by 3.

"Great! Now let's weaken this robot a little bit! I'll start with a nice Shadow Punch!" Shadower moved his arm back and threw a small shadowy wave of energy shaped like a fist at Magnus 2.0, taking 6 HP out of the robot and lowering its defense by 3. "Well, you're certainly not going to be very powerful here..."

"Oh, great! Now this thing's defense is useless!" Lord Crump complained. "Well, it doesn't matter at this point. I've got a little present just for you, Chopper. Here it comes, suckers! Magnus Drill Attack!"

Magnus 2.0 flew up with the help of its jetpack and began to dive down at the seven. It was like the attack came out of nowhere and left most of the group a little dazed for a moment.

"Buh huh! How'd you like that, punks?" Lord Crump cackled as Magnus 2.0 landed in front of them. "That's what happens when you make an awesome robot!"

"We get it already!" Chopper groaned. "You're proud of your machine! Stop shoving it in our faces, please!"

"Yeah, he seems to be pretty overconfident..." Heartsy trailed. "It's actually kind of funny."

Chopper shrugged and approached the robot so he could land a jump attack. After taking 10 HP out of the robot, Chopper landed on the ground and allowed Bombette to charge at Magnus 2.0 with her Bomb.

"Buh huh huh! Time to unleash some of the sweet special features on this bad boy!" Lord Crump grinned. "Oh, man, this is gonna be awesome... This is going to MAKE you beg for mercy! I can tell you that!"

"Please..." Chopper rolled his eyes. "Can you think of something original for once?"

Magnus 2.0 detached its fists, which now began to hover in front of the robot. Chopper clenched his fists and jumped on Lord Crump's precious robot to deal 6 damage, while Vivian destroyed the fists with her Fiery Jinx. It even left Magnus 2.0 with a burn too.

"I wonder how that robot's burning..." the Star Warrior wondered as new fists appeared on Magnus 2.0. "Robots don't usually catch on fire. But it was still helpful!"

"What's awesome is that this robots more than halfway down!" Scrub smirked. "He's only got 32 HP left!"

"Buh huh huh...uh, crud," Lord Crump grumbled, noticing the damage Magnus 2.0 took. "You guys should be little puddles of nothing by now... Oh, well. I've still got some sweet tricks up my sleeve! When I'm done with you, I'm gonna use you as weapons!"

"Wait, what on earth are you talking about?" Heartsy gawked.

A demented smile appeared under Lord Crump's mask as he pressed a button on his control panel. Magnus von Grapple 2.0 had a little funnel down below its legs before its jetpack lifted the robot off the ground. To everyone's surprise, Magnus 2.0 was flying above the audience and sucking them into the large funnel!

"Poyo?! (What the heck?!)" Kirby gaped, along with everyone else.

After taking in enough people from the audience, Magnus 2.0 flew back to the group, let the funnel retract back into itself, and allowed its chest to open to reveal a large hole resembling a machine gun. A green cursor was aiming directly at Chopper.

"Uh oh..." Chopper gulped.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! _**EAT THIS, LOSERS!**_" Lord Crump pressed the button on his controller, and soon members of the audience were being fired from Magnus 2.0's chest at Chopper.

"WHOA!" Chopper cried, getting in a defensive stance. He managed to bring his arms up to guard the oncoming projectiles, but something seemed off. He wasn't taking any damage... "...Wha?"

"Yeah! I was just thinking the same thing! How'd you not get hurt by that?!"

"I guess it was because of the Power Lift..." the Star Warrior shrugged, feeling the power of the Gold Star wearing off. "Well at least that helped!"

Chopper decided to put his new ice powers to use and hurled a single ice ball at Magnus 2.0's feet. This made chunks of ice freeze the robot's feet and allow Kirby to strike its body with his Cartwheel, leaving the robot at 24 HP.

"Hmmm… This isn't looking too good for me… I think it's back-up plan time! Time to show you my super awesome auto-repair I got in this thing!" Lord Crump pressed a green button, creating a green light that surrounded Magnus 2.0. When the light was gone, it recovered 20 HP.

"What? You gotta be kidding me!" Scrub gaped. "Man, this guy is cheap!"

"It's called 'back-up plan' for a reason."

Chopper gave Lord Crump a frown before approaching the robot and bashing its feet with his hammer. Heartsy decided she wanted to join in and bashed Magnus 2.0's frozen feet with her Hearty Hammer. Seeing the hammer made Lord Crump burst in laughter.

"BUH HUH HUH! What king of hammer is that?!" Lord Crump cackled. "It's even got hearts on it! Only some sissy would carry a hammer like that!"

At this point, Heartsy was starting to fume. "I swear if anyone makes fun of my hammer or my name, I'm gonna..."

"Let's just take this calmly..." Vivian suggested. "It's not going to help us..."

Heartsy decided to calm down, while Lord Crump was yawning. Having enough of hearing them, he pressed another button on his machine that made Magnus 2.0 bend forward and fire a piece of its chest at the group. They were all able to guard it just in time, but it still did some nasty damage.

"Yeesh! For a second I thought that thing was going to cut my hair off!" Heartsy gaped.

"Me fuse is much more important, for yer information!" Bombette cut in before running up to Magnus 2.0 and leaving an explosion behind. Chopper decided to put his Ninja ability on and rushed up to Magnus 2.0 to quickly strike it with his kunai knife. What was great about this ability was that it could pierce through defense.

"Aw, dang it! Well, get a load of this, then!" Magnus 2.0 approached Chopper and jabbed at him with its dagger-like hands before backing away. Chopper was left wincing, but he shook the pain off and tossed three shurikens at the robot to deal 6 damage and leave it with 30 HP.

"How about I make a move?" Scrub suggested, bending forward at Magnus 2.0. Nobody objected his decision, so he fluttered up to Magnus 2.0 and performed a Ground Pound. Unfortunately, since each attack could only do 1 damage, his attack didn't leave a scratch.

"Wait... That's it? Just some pathetic butt stomp? What a shrimp!" Lord Crump scoffed, angering Scrub a bit. "Here! Lemme reward you!"

Before Scrub could return to the group, Magnus 2.0 raised its foot and stepped on the Yoshi, flattening him in the process. Everyone gasped before approaching the flattened Scrub. They managed to pull him away just in time.

"Are you OK, Scrub?" Chopper cried.

"Contadre... Why are you worrying about me?" Scrub wheezed, getting himself up. "I'm fine! For some reason I can't hit this guy..."

"We'll try something that'll help you hurt him. But in the meantime..." Chopper pulled a kunai out and left a large scratch on Magnus 2.0's chest with a single slash. "That's for hurting Scrub!"

"H-Hey! Don't mess with my robot!" Lord Crump cried. "You know how much that'll take to fix up?!"

"Well don't plan on doing that, 'cause we're taking you down!" Heartsy declared, using her Hearty Throw to throw her hammer at Magnus 2.0 and pierce through its defense. Lord Crump was certainly not pleased.

Magnus 2.0 raised its arms and flew upward before diving down at Chopper and his friends. They managed to Superguard the attack just in time to avoid taking any damage. Shadower chose to strike Magnus 2.0 with a Shadow Punch, and then Chopper struck the robot's feet with his kunai.

"Hurrff... Haaaack..." Lord Crump wheezed, noticing the severe damage Magnus 2.0 was taking. "No... How... What? My sweet powered-up robot is on the ropes again! This isn't right! This thing is meant to be stronger than the other! It's supposed to exceed the original Magnus von Grapple 2.0! …This isn't over yet!"

"But why did you name this robot the same thing?" Vivian questioned.

"I don't need answered for you..." Lord Crump hissed, attempting to recover 20 more HP. Sadly, the button didn't appear to work to his disappointment, so he went with option B.

Magnus 2.0 aimed its right arm at Chopper, which transformed into a machine gun. Ten audience members were being fired out from there, and Chopper failed to guard every single one, making him take 20 damage in the process.

"Ugh... That wasn't good..." Chopper mumbled, now exhausted. His Ninja ability was knocked away too, leaving him with no Copy Ability.

"We've got one more shot at this," Scrub declared, clenching his right fist. "I'll try to help finish this!"

Seeing Scrub flutter up to Magnus 2.0 made Lord Crump snicker again, but with the robot's defense at 0, Scrub's Ground Pound was actually effective and dealt 6 damage, leaving Magnus von Grapple 2.0 at 2 HP. Now Lord Crump was worried, and he was left sweating.

"Time to end this," Chopper wheezed, using the strength he had to leap in the air and jump on Magnus 2.0's cockpit, making sparks come out of the robot in the process.

"_**BLAAARGH!**_"

Chopper smiled as he received 31 Star Points from the fight, but before they could celebrate, everyone noticed Magnus von Grapple 2.0 trembling uncontrollably as a bright light began to emit from its body and cause massive explosions.

"GROOOOOOOOODUUUUUUUS!"

One last explosion emitted the room and left everyone blind for a moment. Lord Crump himself was sent flying out of the base and even the moon to be left flying in the depths of space. Everyone was left shocked to see the chubby X-Naut no longer in their sights.

"Yar... Lord Crump..." Bombette trailed. "What happened to 'im?"

"I'm not so sure..." Chopper trailed, noticing a hole left in the ceiling. "Magnus doesn't appear to be here, and I'm guessing Lord Crump created that hole... But where did the Crystal Star go?"

To everyone's shock, the Crystal Star began to slowly float onto the ground in front of them.

"Chopper!" Vivian cried, making Chopper turn to her and nod. With a smile, he approached the seventh Crystal Star and let it circle around him until it was above him.

"Finally! The seventh Crystal Star!" Chopper cheered, holding the star above him.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 8! And Chopper can now use the special move Supernova!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_It appears that the seventh Crystal Star was in the X-Naut hideout on the moon... But once Chopper came in and wrecked everything up there, Peach had been taken away... Where is Peach now? But the most important question is where Grodus is… Maybe he holds the key to the next Crystal Star… Chopper has gotten all seven of the original Crystal Stars… Where will they lead him next?_

* * *

**So, yeah... I decided to throw in a couple of new things to this fight. It's kind of like what I did with the Crystal King in the first Paper Chopper so it didn't feel exactly the same (like a few other bosses we've encountered, I suppose). **

**With Lord Crump defeated, perhaps we will find out where our heroes will go next.**


	49. Chapter 7 Interlude

With the sun blazing over Sand Town, Kammy was beginning to sweat and started using her wand to cool her down. Bowser, on the other hands, was moving just fine and was not even sweating once. He had been in lava before. No hot temperatures were going to get in Bowser's way!

"Well, looks like we're finally here, Haggy!" Bowser exclaimed with a grin. "And here I thought there wasn't a place like this around Rogueport! Too bad Chopper never made it here, 'cause now that Crystal Star's mine!"

"Yes, yes, that's very true, Your Sweatiness," Kammy agreed. "That boy will surely be surprised to find us with the next Crystal Star! I just can't wait to see the look on his face! My old mind will be filled with laughter!"

"Quiet, Kammy. I don't want to be hearing any of that nonsense. We find the Crystal Star, nab it, and then get outta here before Chopper gets here!"

"Of course, Your Putridness! Let us look around!" Kammy suggested. Bowser decided to carry on and walk over to a fountain up ahead. There, Goldbob, his wife, and little Bub was talking to some of the other kids. Bowser decided to listen to the two at this moment.

"Oh! Look! My heart trembles!" Goldbob gasped, gazing at the fountain in awe. "The fountain… It is so elegant! While it is not as fine-looking as the one in Poshley Heights, it sure does stand out among the other things here."

"So very observant, as usual, my dear Goldbob," Sylvia, Goldbob's wife agreed. "The artist surely put a lot of effort into this."

"Yes, dearest. One cannot measure its worth by coins. That is what makes art, art. And yet…the filthy rich always seek to define art with their ill-gotten coins…"

"Yes, they seek to but it…yet how can one appraise what the eye cannot perceive?"

"…Whoa. I don't have a CLUE what you're talking about! You people scare me. Seriously." Bowser walked away from them and he saw a bunch of children talking about some stuff. It was apparently three Toad girls.

"Ah, Lord Bowser! Let us listen to them!" suggested Kammy.

Agreeing with the witch, Bowser approached the three Toad girls and listened to their gossiping.

"And then I saw her kiss him! I heard her telling him she was the cutest boy she ever met!"

"Ooh! Now that's interesting! I also heard this boy was also someone she once knew when she was two. Apparently she ended up falling in love with him!"

"Well I guess she's happy then. I mean, after being made fun of because of her name and her pink appearance, I guess she does deserve something. Though I feel soooo jealous of her, since I don't have a boyfriend of my own!"

"You people are weird," Bowser declared. "I have no idea what you're talking about, nor do I care!"

One of the Toad girls turned around and looked up at Bowser, appearing unfazed by his appearance. "And who are you supposed to be? Are you butting in to our conversation?!"

"Wait, what the heck? You don't fear me?!"

"You're just some freak in a Halloween costume! Halloween's not even here yet!"

"I'm not in a Halloween costume! I'm… Bowser! Businessman of Legend! Gwa ha ha ha ha ha ha! FEAR MY ACCOUNTING!"

"Oh, yeah? Well where's your suitcase? I don't see any!" one Toad stuck her tongue out at Bowser, making him annoyed.

Kammy decided to approach them. "Hmmmm... Surely these girls are just rotten brats who have no respect for others!"

"Hey, keep out of our conversation, ugly hag thing! You have no part in this!"

"Ugly? Hag thing?!" Kammy started to steam before trying to jump at the girls. However, her back ended up stopping her. "Urk! Oh, my poor back... I'm too old for something like this... If I were much younger, I'd show you what happens when you mess with Kammy Koopa, like back in the old days when I was beautiful (even though I still am)!"

Bower crossed his arms and closed his eyes while thinking, _"Man, this is so entertaining for some reason!"_

Kammy finally calmed down and turned to Bowser. "Your Viciousness, shall we finally proceed onward?"_  
_

Bowser's thoughts paused as he looked down at Kammy. "...Oh! Right! Let's go find that Crystal Star!"

With that, both Bowser and Kammy began to make their way through Sand Town. A few people took notice of Bowser and scurried away, while he began to cackle at them and call them cowards. They soon came across a pink building.

"Your Grumpiness! Look at that pink apartment! Perhaps we could look in there?" Kammy suggested.

"Pbbbbbbth! Look at that! Pink?" Bowser began to laugh. "That looks so out of place, and it also makes me think of Peach! I bet she's there!"

The two hurried up to Our Apartments and entered the lobby. The clerk at the desk quickly hid under the desk, while Mayor Harry was speaking to a Doogan wearing glasses.

"So you wish to excuse Miss Heartsy from her classes?" the Doogan asked.

"Of course, Mr. Dawg," Harry nodded. "You see, she has gone out in search of these Crystal Stars with a boy named Chopper."

"Did you say Chopper?" Bowser cut in while approaching the two. Mr. Dawg gulped and quickly ran away, while Harry turned and gaped at the large Koopa.

"What the… Wh-Who are you?! …Wait! You must be…a visitor! Are you not?"

"What are you saying? A _VISITOR?!_ Gwa har har har! Yeah right! I'm…" Bowser paused for a moment. "I'm the great Koopa Koot! I'm taking the Crystal Star here! Mess with me and I'll bore you to death!"

"Bore me to death? With what? Old man stories? I'm sorry, sir, but if you're going to give me bogus stories, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Oh no! We're not going anywhere until we get that Crystal Star! You tell us RIGHT NOW!"

"Yes! You mentioned something about a Crystal Star!" Kammy spat, joining into the conversation. "You obviously know where it is! Give us everything you know!"

"That? Err… I know someone named Chopper mentioned something about that, along with a girl named Heartsy. I suppose those two have gotten the star."

"Wh-WHAAAAAAAAAT?!" Bowser exclaimed, now left slack-jawed.

"I'm afraid so... I apologize for these bad news..."

"You have GOT to be kidding me! Why is it always that I come to the right place, I'm always LATE?! GWARGH! I HATE that boy!"

Bowser began to stomp the ground angrily like a child, which made Harry gawk before slowly walking away.

"We always seem to be beaten to the star most of the time…" Kammy pondered. "Perhaps those Crystal Stars are easy for Chopper to acquire?"

Her thoughts were interrupted when a Paratroopa broke through the window and landed in front of Bowser.

"Lord Bowser! I bring news!" the Paratroopa announced

"News? This better be good!" Bowser growled. "Can't you see I'm having a little moment here?!"

"Oh, my apologies, Your Childishness, but this is very important, and I'm sure you'd be willing to listen! Apparently, the eighth Crystal Star, the Queen's Star, is located in the Thousand-Year Door!"

"What? Say that isn't so!" Bowser gaped, now getting the Paratroopa's attention. "There's a Crystal Star in the Thousand-Year Door?! Well, we're heading over there right now! We're gonna RUIN Chopper and take that thing!"

Bowser began to run off, flattening Kammy in the process. When he tore through a wall in the building, the old Magikoopa slowly got herself up and got in her broomstick.

"Your Evilness! Wait for me!" she cried, flying through the hole after him.

* * *

**Castle Dedede-**

King Dedede drove back to their castle, looking all beaten up from their fight against Chopper. Unfortunately for them, they lost the fight, and all they could do now is sit and do nothing. The king took out a few Max Tomatoes and starting to gobble them down, hoping this would make him feel better. But sadly, it was hardly doing anything.

"That was TERRIBLE!" King Dedede yelled, scratching the arms of his throne. "We got our butts handed to us, and it's all your fault, Escargon! You're fighting is AWFUL!"

Escargon started to sweat. "But… Your Majesty… I was only trying to help! I wanted to make sure you weren't TOO hurt. I know you've gotten hurt many times, but I'm here for you, you know. That was just one loss. Surely we can do better next time."

"Yeah… That's true. We can do better than that. That was a pretty bad fight for us…" King Dedede mumbled. "Stupid Chopper… If only _I _had those Crystal Stars… I would be RICH! Everyone would be willing to give me their gold, and I will be the richest king in the universe! Though I must be careful of Fumu… She might cause a problem with this plan… But Chopper must go first. He's a bigger threat."

"But I don't believe that brat has even did anything to stop us, Your Majesty."

"True, but she may eventually interfere," the king dropped another Max Tomato into his mouth and swallowed it whole. He then banged the throne's arm with his fist. "There's GOTTA be something I can do to get those Crystal Stars and take down Chopper! Nightmare Co. was a big failure, and I've even lost a lot of money afterward!"

_"So who is the one who called us?"_

They both turned their attention to the TV screen that appeared in front of them and saw a black dragon-like lizard with some red on him, wings, and even black and red armor. The monster was hunched back, but its tail was pretty sharp. It was covered in fire, and the background looked very red and almost hellish.

"Wh-What are you?" Escargon gaped, shocked to see such a monster.

_"What am I? I am known as a Tartara. We are a race that lives…well, where we live is none of your business. But anyway, I've received a call that apparently came from here, is that correct?"  
_

The fear in King Dedede soon stopped as a grin formed on his face. "Yeah! I did that! I am King Dedede, and you may address me as 'Your Majesty!'"

_"Oh… You." _the Tartara said with a blank look._ "We heard about you before. Nightmare Corporations, correct? That place is long gone, you know. I'd say that corporation is NOTHING compared to us! We can supply you with whatever you need for a price. And making your payment to us is very important, because if you don't, there may be some terrible consequences..."  
_

"These guys really mean it, Your Majesty," Escargon noted, seeing the intimidating look in the Tartara's eyes. "You better listen to them. …Hold on, maybe you can ask them about Chopper! They must know something about him…"

"I guess I should," King Dedede turned his head back to the Tartara. "So get me a monster to clobber that Chopper for me!"

_"Why of course,"_ the Hellspawn nodded. _"That's what we do best at T.C."_

"Well it should come with a money-back guarantee," Escargon mentioned.

"Yeah, I was just wondering..." the king realized. "How much will this cost? This better not be too expensive…"

_"Well we'll give you a demon beast for free the first time of their choice."_

"Wait... Free?!" Escargon gaped.

_"Correct. You see, we try to be fair with our customers. Rather than letting them pay for the first time for a monster, we give the first one for free so they could decide whether they want to work with us or not without having to waste their money." _

"Sounds cool," the king smirked. "But I don't know what monster to pick..."

_"Hmmmm... Then we could always recommend something to you." _the Tartara assured._ "Now, you wish to destroy Chopper, yes?"_

"Huh? How do YOU know about Chopper?"

_"That's none of your business, Your Majesty. You see, we know where he's going now. He's looking for the Queen's Star. It is the eighth Crystal Star, and it has been left in the Thousand-Year Door for quite a while. …We can bring back a demon that requires some…bait."_

"Bait?"

_"You see, she has been left as just a dark mist… We need her back to accomplish our goals. Even he wants her back. We can resurrect it, but it requires…some magic. I believe we have some bait going there anyway, so that should be perfect… Your Majesty, Chopper won't stand a chance against her."_

"So it's a she? Interesting…" King Dede trailed, leaning back on his throne and grinning. "If you're saying she can take Chopper, then go for it! It's free, so I can just sit here and do absolutely nothing! I love this idea!"

"But… For some reason I don't trust them so much…" Escargon spoke up. "It feels like they're planning something… Are you sure you can trust them, Your Majesty?"

"Relax, Escargon. If Chopper got seven Crystal Stars, he must be going after the eighth in there. It's going to be just fine!"

The king let out a cackle, but little did he know that Meta Knight and his two servants were listening through the cracked door.

"…So Chopper has gotten the seven Crystal Stars," Meta Knight realized. "He should realize he's putting everyone in great risk. Those Tartaras are back too… This is not good…"

"Sir Meta Knight… You seem to know about what will happen? Have you…known about these consequences?" Sword Knight wondered.

"Sigh… These words were passed down by my ancestors… 'Dost not open the Thousand-Year Door with the seven Crystal Stars. Thou will bringeth the demon to life and causeth great risk to thy people.' It would mean to not open the door with the stars, or the demon will be resurrected and will cause great havoc."

"…But you said this demon needs a pure-hearted maiden to bring her soul back to life," Blade Knight mentioned. "Chopper does not have a vessel with him. An neither does the alien that has a princess that's…"

Upon hearing that, Meta Knight's eyes widened. "…We don't have time. We must go to the Thousand-Year Door before it's too late. If we don't do anything now, Chopper will be in trouble!"

The masked warrior went through the hallway, but surprisingly he was running, which was not common for someone like him. Even his two servants were shocked to see him running.

"Whoa... Sir Meta Knight's actually running!" Sword Knight gaped.

"Now's not the time for these comments," Blade Knight said, grabbing his partner's arm. "We need to follow Sir Meta Knight right away!"

Agreeing, Sword Knight followed his companion through the hallway to find Meta Knight.

* * *

**X-Naut Fortress, Sublevel 3-**

With Lord Crump and his robot defeated, Chopper and his friends managed to get out of the factory-like room and back in the room with the three terminals. Thankfully, their way back was not as difficult as before.

"Well, we finally did it! We got seven Crystal Stars! We are on a ROLL today!" Chopper cheered. "…Now let's try to get outta here. I remember seeing a teleporter on one of the sublevels. I say we check there."

They noticed when they went into the hallway, the door all the way to the left had a red lamp above it, meaning it was unfortunately locked. They even went to Sublevel 2 to check the teleporter, but sadly, the other doors in the hallway had red lamps.

"Oh, great... Well this is just what we need." Shadower sighed. "Every door's locked!"

"Poyo, (But I think there's one area we haven't gone into,)" Kirby noted, walking over to the elevator they walked out of. "Poyo. (There's still Sublevel 4.)"

They all agreed to go into the elevator and were taken down to sublevel 3. They ended up in a hallway with a door to the right and one to the left. The only thing they found to the left was a small, yet uncomfortable bedroom. The bed appeared to be hard and made out of the same material the gray floor was.

"Yeesh... This is definitely not a place I'd like to sleep in." Heartsy commented. "I'm guessing this is where Princess Peach was being held."

"If only we got to her in time..." Bombette trailed. "But now's not the time fer thinkin' about these things! I suggest we try the other door, mateys."

The seven approached the right door in the hallway and found themselves in a dark room. They could see a computer in front of them, but nothing appeared to be on at the moment.

"Cool computer room," Scrub commented. "A lot cooler than what we've seen before."

The room began to light up, and the computer turned on, leaving people surprised. "Yar? This thing turned on by itself!"

**"Gr... Greetings..."** the computer greeted, despite in a bad condition.

"Ummmm... Hi." Chopper said quietly. "What are you?"

**"You... You...are Chopper...are...you not?"**

"Yeah, that's it," the boy nodded as he and his friends appeared on TEC's main screen. "But who are you? And how do you know me?"

**"It...is pleasant to meet you... I...am the main computer of this fortress... I am TEC. Princess Peach told me a bit about you. She was also able to send you emails thanks to me." **

"So that explains how Peach was emailing..." Heartsy trailed.

**"I must tell you all something very important... That is why...I brought you to this place... Princess P...Peach..."**

TEC was struggling to say what he wanted, and everyone could tell.

"Are you all right, TEC?" Vivian asked.

**"I...am so s...sorry," **TEC apologized.** "Most of my data was er...erased...and my main power unit was shut...down because of Grodus. Now running on backup power with...only cached memory...trying to stay...operational. C... Chopper... You know that Peach is not here, do you not?" **

"Yes, we were told by Lord Crump," Chopper answered.

**"Please save...Peach... Please...please... Princess Peach...is...with Grodus in the...Palace of Shadow... Find here...and stop Grodus...before he..."  
**

TEC's backup was starting to fail, as his sight on the screen was beginning to fade. **"But...backup...power...failing... Chopper... Use...the teleporter room...to get back to...Rogueport. Teleporter room is...on...sublevel...2...of the fortress... I will release...the room lock."**

"Peach is in the Palace of Shadow… Mmmmmm… I don't feel good about this…" Vivian trailed worriedly.

"The Palace of Shadow? Do you know what that is, Vivian?" Chopper asked, turning to his friend.

"The Palace of Shadow is behind he Thousand-Year Door. You know, the big red door with the seven stars? Grodus took her there. That place has been sealed ever since the demon was killed…but now Grodus is going there. But… Why?"

**"Please hurry..." **pleaded TEC.** "There is barely enough...power left...to activate the teleporter... ...I will...cease all AI functions...to send power to...the teleporter...for you."**

"Wait, what will happen to you?" Heartsy asked.

**"When the power is all gone... I will... Cease to exist...as an artificial consciousness. But...if it will...save Peach...I would...gladly do this. Because until I met Peach...five months ago...I knew nothing of...love... Do not worry...about me... I am just a computer... Just...a...machine... Nothing...important... Chopper... You must save Peach... I ask you... Please... And tell her... Thank you…for…me…"**

"OK, TEC… If you say so…" Chopper trailed. "But, I wouldn't say you're nothing important if you've been helping Peach..."

**"So... Hurry to the teleporter...room...now... Chopper... Save...her..." **

With TEC turning off, the room became red, indicating that the fortress did not have much time left.

"Well, you heard the computer!" Scrub exclaimed. "Let's get outta here and save Peach…for him and for the world!"

In agreement with Scrub, they hurried out of TEC's room and went up to sublevel 2. Chopper did not even have to show them where the teleporter room was, because there was only one door with a green lamp above it. Upon going into the room they discovered the teleporter. Chopper punched the red button and turned the teleporter on.

"Well, I guess it's time to say good-bye to the X-Naut Fortress..." Chopper trailed. "TEC, if you can hear us, we'd like to say thank you for the help."

As they stepped into the teleporter, they were transported out of the fortress. The power in the teleporter was soon shut down, leaving nothing else remaining inside the fortress, with the exception of one.

**"Peach… Good-bye…"**

With a bright white flash emitting from the fortress, the whole place was left destroyed.

* * *

**Rogueport Sewers-**

When the heroes were transported out of the fortress, they found themselves in a dark room that looked a lot similar to the teleporter room in the fortress. Only this one was a lot smaller.

Everyone took this time to relax for a moment now that they were safe from harm's way. At least, for now.

"Poyo… (Well we made it… But did you hear something out there?)" Kirby asked.

"Hmmmmm... That's a good question..." Chopper pondered. "I may have heard something."

Opening the green door near them, they noticed they were back in Rogueport Sewers. But they didn't expect to see some people roaming around here, as well as a bar and even a strange-looking person in blue named Dazzle who would trade Badges for Star Pieces.

"Whoa... Cool area." Scrub smiled. "I'm surprised we haven't been here before."

"Well, if it isn't Chopper! Over here, son!"

"Hmmmm?" Chopper looked ahead and saw Professor Frankly waiting for them. He looked surprised to see the old Goomba while approaching him. "Hey… How did you know we were coming here? And your voice… It sounds…kinda different."

"Er… I have a cold, so that's why my voice sounds so different." Frankly explained. "Anyway, you brought the Crystal Star back from the moon, didn't you?"

"Yeah, we got it. It was in the X-Naut Fortress - just up on the moon."

"What? Talk into my good ear! The X-Naut fortress was on the moon? Ah, yes... So, Princess Peach was there, too, I assume?"

"She WAS there, but the X-Naut leader took her straight into the Thousand-Year Door," Heartsy explained.

"Hmmm… Oh, yes! Just a bit ago, I smelled some rank air and went to the Thousand-Year Door..." Frankly realized. "I saw a suspicious fellow in a cape go through the door...with Princess Peach!"

"Are you sure about this, Professor? Could that person really be Grodus?" Shadower wondered. "…But how was he able to get in there when that place has been sealed away for so long?"

"Believe me, I know, but I'm quite certain it was him! I saw the whole thing with my own eyes! I have a very bad feeling about this! VERY bad! Princess Peach is in danger! Time is short! We must go to the Thousand-Year Door and rescue the princess and find the Crystal Star! I'll run ahead and meet you there! You find the next location of the Crystal Star and come back. Don't dawdle! You must move fast!"

Professor Frankly began to head to the Thousand-Year Door, while Chopper and Kirby summoned their Warp Stars. With that, they left the atmosphere and began to head to Pop Star.

"I can't believe we failed to save Peach in the fortress," Chopper frowned. "And now she's in serious danger. Why do these X-Nauts want her in the first place?"

"I don't know, but it certainly doesn't sound good," Heartsy said.

Worry began to fill Vivian's mind as they saw Pop Star just up ahead.

* * *

**Pop Star, the Fountain of Dreams-**

When the Warp Stars were near the fountain, both Chopper and Kirby performed a flip in the air as they jumped off and landed on their two feet. The others had more of a difficult time, but they were able to pull themselves together as they landed. Fumu, Bun and the Mayor happened to be there as well.

"Hey, Sis! Chopper's back!" Bun shouted.

"You've been gone for quite a while," Fumu noticed. "How was it?"

"Well, we ended up on the moon," Heartsy explained to her friend. "Though... We've failed to find Princess Peach. We know where she is, but she's not safe either."

"Yes, and that's why we don't have time to be sitting here," Chopper stated.

"Chopper... This is not like you." the Mayor noticed. "What's with the sudden change?"

"There's something important going on, and goofing around is probably not going to help me. I do have the Crystal Star, if that's anything important."

"Hmmm... Well, if it's important, then go right ahead and do your duty."

Chopper nodded and jumped on the pedestal. With the stars in place, Chopper got a glimpse of the next Crystal Star's location. He was actually surprised by the results.

"Holy… Guys, take a look at this!" Chopper showed the map to everyone, who gasped at the purple Crystal Star being located in the Thousand-Year Door.

"A purple Crystal Star? That looks like the Queen's Star." Vivian said worriedly. "That's one of the stars made by that demon, I think… It must be the Queen's Star because it could belong to… No… That can't be right…"

"What's wrong, Vivian?" Heartsy asked.

"…I'd rather not explain. You'll see when we go look for it. We need to go back to the Thousand-Year Door. It may look beautiful on the outside…but inside…it's a big nightmare…"

"I felt something evil in there. I don't think we're going to like what we see… But we have no choice! We MUST go!" Chopper got his Warp Star and began to go off with Vivian, Bombette, and Heartsy. Kirby summoned his Warp Star and he went off with Scrub and Shadower.

All the Mayor, Fumu and Bun could do was watch as they flew out of Pop Star's atmosphere.

"I am hopeful that everything turns out fine," the Mayor muttered.

* * *

**Ruins of the Thousand-Year Door-**

After landing in Rogueport, the seven had finally reached the Thousand-Year Door's ruins. Seeing the large door again began to make Chopper and Vivian shiver. It certainly did look beautiful, but according to Vivian, looks could be deceiving.

"I never thought I'd actually be going into this door..." Chopper trailed.

"Ah! I see you've made it!" Frankly noticed, waiting by the pedestal. "So… Where is the next Crystal Star?"

"The Queen's Star? You wouldn't believe it. It's…in the Thousand-Year Door. Yeah, no joke. It's in there."

"Interesting… So the eighth Crystal Star is located in the Thousand-Year Door. Odd… Well, to open this, you must bring out the seven Crystal Stars. With them, you will be able to open the door after months of it being sealed. Go right ahead, get on the pedestal."

"If you say so…" Chopper jumped onto the pedestal, where he saw a glowing blue star underneath him.

"Now, everyone! Bring the Crystal Stars out!" Frankly shouted.

The blue light surrounded the pedestal as magic surrounded Chopper and his friends. Vivian held up the Diamond Star, since she was the first one to travel with Chopper, and it contained Earth Tremor. Scrub held up the Gold Star for fighting with Chopper in the Glitz Pit, and that contained Power Lift. Kirby held up the Emerald Star for helping the Punies stop the X-Nauts, and it contained Clock Out. Shadower held up the Ruby Star because of helping Chopper defeat Tipral, which contained Art Attack. Bombette held up the Sapphire Star because she liked it the most and because it was first star she got a glimpse of, which held Sweet Feast. Heartsy held up the Garnet Star because, while she liked the Ruby Star more, the Garnet Star was a little more important considering that she helped Chopper get it, and it had Showstopper. And last but not least, Chopper held up the Crystal Star for stopping Lord Crump and risking his LIFE to fire himself to the moon with his friends. That star contained Supernova.

They all disappeared and reappeared around the pedestal. The first one being to the north, and the last one being to the Diamond Star's left. This caused the area around them to shake.

"Eep! Look! The door!" Vivian cried.

Everyone looked up at the Thousand-Year Door's stars, which began to change to the colors of the Crystal Stars. The door flashed a bright red twice, and soon the cracks on the door were destroyed completely. Everyone couldn't help but gaze in awe at the spectacle.

"Whoa… This…is amazing…" Chopper gaped.

A dark mist appeared around the door as it began to open. A dark swirling portal was seen through the door while opening, which soon faded away when the door fully opened.

"Whoa, you were right, Vivian. It looks pretty on the outside, but it looks a little scary on the inside." Heartsy realized.

"At long last... It has been five months, and now the entrance to the Palace of Shadow has been opened!" Frankly stated. "Before Princess Peach falls victim to that fiend... Before he takes the Queen's Star... You must rescue the princess and get that Crystal Star before anything bad happens to this world!"

"All right! We'll take on that fiend!" Chopper declared. "Are you guys ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready for this challenge," Vivian answered.

"This palace doesn't stand a chance against us!" Scrub declared.

"Poyo, (I'm not going to let myself get scared,)" Kirby stated.

"We're here to support you if you're in trouble," Shadower assured.

"Matey, do I look like I'm ready?!" Bombette exclaimed.

"I'm ready whenever you are, Choppy!" Heartsy smiled.

"All right..." Chopper slowly turned to the door and approached it. "Let's finish this mess!"

As the seven heroes entered through the door, it closed behind them, leaving Frankly to quietly grin and snicker with them finally gone.

"Heh heh heh… Perfect!"


	50. Enter the Palace of Shadow

**CHAPTER 8**

**-The Thousand-Year Door-**

As soon as the seven entered the door, it close tightly behind them, nearly startling everyone in the process. However, they were soon surprised with how out-of-place this place was compared to Rogueport Sewers. The most common color they saw around them was red, especially on the carpet. The walls were black and had small, yellow stars depicted on them. Windows were depicted on the walls too, but they didn't appear to be real. There were also red pillars around them holding up some platforms above, but they didn't appear to be reachable. A chandelier was also hanging from the ceiling as well.

To them, it felt very unsettling. Especially the eerie wind coming through this place.

"I guess not much has changed here..." Vivian trailed.

"It's admittedly creepy-looking... But at least I have someone here to stay close to in case of anything going out of hand." Heartsy said, grabbing a hold of Chopper. "You know, you can always come to me if you're afraid too."

"Eeep! Now I know what might be scarier than this place!" Chopper cried, getting out of the girl's grasps before taking a deep breath. "All right… I can do this. It's just a palace underground. I'm not scared of this place… I just hope there's no evil voice around here…"

He listened carefully for a voice, but to his surprise, there was none.

"Pfffffft! We don't need to be scared! It's just a palace that looks cool! There's NOTHING to be afraid of! Watch! I'll even lead the way through here!" Scrub declared, approaching the small red door up ahead. "Just stay behind me and you guys will be just fine!"

Before he could open the door, he felt someone grab his shoulder.

"Don't!" Vivian cried, pulling the Yoshi away.

"Hey! What gives?!"

"It's too dangerous for you to lead the way. You're only a newborn! I know this place more than anyone else, so maybe I should help lead the way... Chopper, you can also lead too if you want..."

Chopper let out a sigh and approached the door ahead. It had red and black stripes, which he didn't find too fitting.

"Poyo… (Let's be careful here... This place feels pretty dark... Darker than any other place we've been through...)" Kirby noted.

"Yeah, it certainly does feel like that..." Chopper agreed while kicking the door open to find a small staircase moving down with a yellow railing. There were lanterns as well, but they did very little to light up the entire area, which was filled with blackness. There were at least two beside each other as they carefully walked down. Down below was some water too.

There were some gray Swoopers called Swoopulas flying around. One tried to go after them, but Chopper was able to swat one away with his hammer.

"Oi there, Chopper! Allow me to take care of 'em!" Bombette suggested, her fuse lightning up as she approached the enemies. Her Bob-omb Blast was very effective against them and managed to wipe all the Swoopulas out. Of course, she ended up wasting 9 FP in the process.

"I don't know if that was entirely necessary..." Chopper sweat dropped. "But at least they're gone, right?"

When Vivian approached the door at the bottom of the staircase, she was left with surprise. "Huh? This door wasn't locked before... How did it suddenly become locked? Unless someone..."

"Might've been Grodus," Shadower answered. "He probably expected us to come here, so he's just trying to stop us."

Heartsy tried smashing the lock with her hammer, but it did no good. "And it's pretty tough too! You got any suggestions, Choppy?"

"I'm not the one who comes up with the ideas, though," Chopper noted. "That's what my buddy does! Oh, if only he were here..."

Shadower paused for a moment and noticed something near the door. To the south, there were two small steps and a somewhat transparent floor. Looking below, there was a spring and also a chest on a platform.

"Ha HA!" Shadower smirked. "I think I know where the key is! Chopper, come over here."

Chopper obeyed and walked onto the transparent floor. Shadower's eyes flashed, and soon they were both transparent and phases through the floor and onto a platform below. Chopper noticed the chest and quickly opened it to find a Palace Key, and soon they were back at the door with the help of the spring.

"That wasn't so hard," Chopper smiled, the spell from Shadower now fading away. "Let's move on then!"

He approached the door and unlocked it to enter the next room. They were met with a yellow ? block that contained a Shooting Star, but upon grabbing it, Chopper felt himself get hit in the head by a bone. Turning his head, he saw a Koopa made of bones in red boots called Dry Bones. And because he got hit, Heartsy was not happy about this and bashed the Dry Bones with her hammer.

"Don't even TRY to do that to him again, you hear?!" Heartsy exclaimed.

"Hold on, I've got a better idea," Chopper equipped his Fire ability and destroyed the Dry Bones with his Fire Breath. The two Swoopulas roaming around were inhaled by Kirby and spat back at each other before Shadower destroyed them with his Shadow Smite.

"I'm guessing we'll be facing familiar enemies but as different colors..." assumed Shadower.

After taking care of the enemies, they decided to move onward and past a few torches on the gray, bricked wall. They were eventually led down to a staircase to a lower section of the room. They also happened to hear the sounds of something being shot, which happened to be coming from below.

"Poyo... (That doesn't sound good...)" Kirby trailed.

They turned to the left where the path turned and ran into some more Dry Bones. Chopper charged into them as a fireball and accidentally tumbled down the stairs ahead onto the bottom floor. Thankfully, his face wasn't too injured thanks to the carpet.

"Are you all right, Choppy?" Heartsy asked, running down the stairs and taking a look at his face. "Geez... You don't look too good! I think I have a suggestion!"

"Whoa no no no no!" Chopper cried, pushing her away from him. "I wouldn't recommend that! My head's on fire, and I don't want you getting burned. ...Actually, that sounds very helpful in keeping me away from your kisses!"

Heartsy blinked for a moment before the others came rushing down the stairs. They once again, heard another shot, but it was much louder. Scrub turned his attention to the right and saw some golden Bullet Bills coming their way.

"Incoming!" Scrub cried, making everyone turn their attention to the Bombshed Bills being fired at them. They decided to approach the B. Bill Blasters cautiously, using both Vivian and Shadower to dodged the incoming Bomshed Bills. When they did reach the Bombshed Bills, they discovered that they had a Defense of 4.

"Whoa… This isn't good… I think I might have to use a different ability." Chopper changed to Ninja Chopper and attacked the B. Bill Blaster with his kunai knife, which brought the one up front down to 4 HP. Vivian's Fiery Jinx damaged both while destroying the one in front.

The B. Bill Blaster remaining fired another Bombshed Bill, so Chopper was forced to attack the B. Bill Blaster to finish it, and Kirby finished off the Bombshed Bill with his Cartwheel., clearing the way and allowing them to enter the next room.

Through the door was a room similar to the one at the beginning, only this one was wider.

"Yeesh... I'm starting to get exhausted already!" Chopper sighed.

"Then maybe I can help you," Heartsy smiled.

"...Actually, I think I'm feeling better already!" the Star Warrior realized, leaving Heartsy a bit irritated before he moved on and almost got his foot stabbed by spikes that rose from the ground. "Whoa! That was too close!"

He staggered back, only to feel himself get caught by Heartsy. "It's OK, I've got you, Choppy."

"Thanks... I...guess?" Chopper got himself together and walked past the spikes in his way. He also hit a red ? block containing an All or Nothing Badge before running into more spikes.

"Huh… Never knew there were so many death traps in this room. The spikes could kill us easily!" Scrub noticed. "Of course, we're not gonna let that happen now, are we?"

After clearing the Swoopulas in the room, the seven carefully walked through the room while avoiding any spikes that appeared in front of them. When they finally reached the door, they quickly got out and found a bridge in another dark area with water below. Chopper hit the Save Block nearby before walking on ahead.

"I'd be careful of those Firebars, guys," Vivian warned.

"Of course," Chopper nodded, jumping over the spinning Firebar ahead. There were two more he leaped over until he reached the rounder section of the bridge. A long Firebard was spinning around there, and there was another familiar enemy, especially to Bombette.

"Arr! Look at that! Another Ember, matey!" Bombette noticed, looking at the green Ember known as a Phantom Ember. "So these are roamin' this palace too..."

"I should put my Water ability on for this," Chopper switched to his Water ability and took out the Phantom Ember with ease before removing said ability. Afterward, he walked down a small staircase and discovered the door up ahead. The only problem? Firebars were coming in their direction rather than spinning, and at the height they were, they didn't look like they could be jumped over

But there was always a Plan B! Chopper quickly turned sideways and transformed into a tube (his friends were in the tube with him) and began to roll under and jump over a few Firebars until he reached the door ahead. Transforming back into himself, he kicked the door open and went into a much larger room with at least three chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

"It's very empty in here..." Heartsy trailed. "I know it may sound nice, but sometimes when a room is empty, things may not be nice in a place like this."

"Yo, Contadre! Look over there!" Scrub shouted, pointing over at the door ahead. "See something there?"

Chopper walked to the end of the room and noticed a locked door being guarded by navy blue Dry Bones - or rather, Dark Bones. The red eyes of this thing disturbed a few of them. But they did notice something it held too.

"Hey! A key!" Chopper gaped, attempting to reach for it. But as soon as his hand was close to the key, the Dark Bones began to shake.

"Glurgggghh… Bluuuurgh… None shall pass by…" the Dark Bones moaned. "Let those who would disturb her revival shall fall into the depths of endless darkness…"

"Her? What is it..."

The Dark Bones quickly rose from the ground and scurried away, filling the entire room with Dry Bones in the process.

"POYO! (WHAT THE…!)" Kirby gaped, being pushed around by all the Dry Bones.

"May the intruder never find the key to this door…"

Learning his lesson from Toy Kingdom, Chopper began to whack at the Dry Bones in his way. But even then, more were coming.

"Heartsy! I think I might need your help clearing these guys!" Chopper cried as he continuously knocked away Dry Bones.

"I'm trying as hard as I can, but they just keep coming!" Heartsy shouted back, doing the same thing as Chopper but not as well. Obviously she wasn't going to get anywhere like this, and Chopper had to do something to motivate her.

"Well... Ummm... I guess if you help me clear these guys out, you can..._gulp_...hold..._my hand..._"

A glimmer appeared in Heartsy's eyes as she began to plow the Dry Bones to reach Chopper. "I will DEFINITELY do that! Especially for someone like you, Choppy!"

Chopper's face turned red as he slowly stepped away from her, but that hardly did much when he was sent flying in the air while she spun her hammer like crazy, plowing through more Dry Bones and eventually hitting the Dark Bones for 4 damage.

"You got a First Strike!" Chopper cried, giving her a thumbs up and making her blush. When he finally landed on the ground, they discovered the Dark Bones had 20 HP, an Attack of 6 and a Defense of 4. "Hmmmmm... This may be a chance to try out Supernova!"

Getting the Crystal Star out, white, web-like material was made near the enemies to trap them and explode to deal 15 damage to the Dry Bones and the Dark Bones. Vivian finished the enemies off with her Fiery Jinx to gain 33 Star Points and a level up. Chopper smiled as he upgraded his FP to 45.

All of the dead Koopas fled from the room and the Dark Bones dropped a Palace Key for them. Chopper picked the key up and unlocked the door to a room that looked pretty identical to the previous room with the stairs. Only this time, there were Bombshed Bills being fired.

"Aw, come on!" Scrub whined. "You've gotta be kidding me! Haven't we already been in a similar room like this?! Whoever made this palace sure is lazy with the design!"

"Poyo, (Yeah, this place is so similar that it has another block,)" Kirby said, pointing to the yellow ? block near them.

"I've got it!" Chopper smiled, hitting the block to find an Ultra Shroom. "Ooh! This might come in handy!"

"Oh, Choppy... Didn't you forget something?" Heartsy mentioned, holding her hand out, making Chopper gasp.

"Uh oh..."

"You said yourself that you'd hold my hand."

"But... But..."

"Just do it," Shadower sighed.

Chopper gulped and grabbed a hold of Heartsy's hand. It almost felt like his hand was burning from touching her hand, or maybe because his hand felt so uncomfortable in another girl's hand. Heartsy was satisfied and rewarded him with a kiss on the cheek.

"Ewww! That's not what I wanted!"

"Well it's not my fault you're so cute," Heartsy smirked, dragging Chopper across the room while whacking Bombshed Bills away as if they were nothing. Everyone else blinked for a moment before exchanging glances.

"Wait... How did she..." Shadower stammered.

"Yar... Perhaps her love of that matey is motivatin' her to smash those Bombshed Bills."

"Man, I'd LOVE to be able to do something like that!" Scrub exclaimed. "C'mon! Let's go show those B. Bill Blasters who's boss!"

The group followed, except for Vivian, who let out a sigh before following. Apparently the B. Bill Blasters were destroyed already, and now Chopper was being dragged down the stairs and onto the lower floor.

"Heartsy! Please!" Chopper cried.

"Poyo! (Don't let go of his hand, Heartsy!)" Kirby cried, running down the stairs and watching the other Bombshed Bills and the blaster get plowed down easily.

"If you want me to let go, then you have to kiss me on the lips," Heartsy smiled. "And that's the only option."

"Dude! That's even worse!" Chopper gaped, now at the bottom floor. "Why must I be blackmailed like this?"

"Well I think it's fair," the pink girl stated, reaching the door ahead after destroying the next blaster. "So... Are you willing to?"

"Ummmmmm..."

Before he could answer, Vivian had risen from the shadows and floated over to the door. "Ummmm... Heartsy? I think there's something more important we have to be doing..."

Heartsy looked over at Vivian and then the door. After pondering, she finally released Chopper's hand. "OK... I guess there's more important things... Though, getting a kiss from Chopper would have been so nice..."

Chopper sighed in relief as he approached the door, making Vivian smile. "OK, let's just move on."

After the others caught up, they headed through the door into a round room with a Phantom Ember and Dry Bones. The Phantom Ember was taken care of with Chopper's ice balls, and the Dry Bones were handled by Bombette. There also happened to be two yellow and a red ? block. The first yellow block contained a coin, while the other contained a Jammin' Jelly.

"Poyo! (Hooray for more useful items!)" Kirby cheered.

When Chopper hit the red block, a badge called P-Up, D-Down P came out. He decided to put it away, choosing not to use it before entering the door. To their surprise, they were met with at least three other doors. There was one above them, one just up ahead and another up the staircase.

"Hmmmmm... Well this is interesting..." Chopper decided to take the staircase up to the upper right door, while his friends followed him. But upon entering the door, they found themselves falling into the previous room. "Huh? Weren't we already here?"

"Arrr... This be very strange..." Bombette trailed.

"Didn't you guys happen to notice a torch in that room?" Vivian asked.

"Hmmmmm... Let's go see." Chopper returned to the room ahead and noticed to the door to the right, there was a torch lit up. "Ahh... So what you're saying is we have to go through the door with a torch, right?"

"Yes."

"I understand now! It's like Bowser's Castle! ...Only this one is easier!"

They headed into the door ahead to go into another familiar room. This time, the torch was lit up on the upper right, and so they headed through there into the third room. The torch happened to be lit up on the upper left, which confused some of them, but they decided to go through anyway. The other three rooms went from lower right, left and then upper right until they reached the final one, which had a torch lit up on the lower right door.

"Yeesh... Talk about repetitive!" Shadower sighed. "Kinda ridiculous, don't you think?"

"I'll say!" Scrub agreed. "This better be the last door!"

As Chopper opened the door, Scrub's words were indeed correct, and through the door was something unbelievable.

"Wow..."

* * *

**Dang this is a short chapter. I think I'm going to upload another chapter for the length of this. It's probably best if I did that anyway...and not to mention Chapter 8 is so awesome. I think the next chapter might be more enjoyable for you guys if you know what's coming up. Also, I changed the torch puzzle a bit so it wasn't the exact same thing. :P  
**


	51. Resurrection of the Dragon

Through the door was anything they would not have expected to see in this place. No longer was there red all over the ground and walls, but now the ground was gray and made out of stone, and there was a small bridge going over a small river. To the south, there was a dark blue statue with three stars on it. To the north, there was also a tower.

"Man, we get out of one strange room just to find another…" Chopper trailed. "Yeesh, this place sure is big. It's like some big underground city! Vivian, do you have any ideas on what this place might be?

"Well… All I know is that this is the garden area." Vivian explained before pointing up at the tower. "You see that big tower in the middle of this place? That's Riddle Tower. It's got some strange puzzles in there. But, I don't necessarily remember what's in there. There has to be something around here… Mmmmmm…"

"What about that door up ahead?" Scrub asked, pointing to the door up ahead. "It looks like it leads to somewhere. Let's go check over there!"

"Whoa, wait a moment," Shadower stepped in, pulling Scrub away before he could move on. "Are you being serious? We're not splitting up! And it's not safe for you to be going on when there are two Chain Chomps here!"

"Yeah, I just noticed them a moment ago," Chopper realized. "Those things should've been mentioned so we would've been aware of them!"

Chopper was about to continue onward with his unnecessary speech, but Kirby tugged on his arm and pointed at a blue pipe up ahead. Chopper stopped and noticed it too. There was a statue of a Chain Chomp on there, which gave Heartsy the idea of smashing it. She slowly approached the statue and brought her Hearty Hammer down on it. Sadly, it had no effect.

"Well, smashing it with a hammer is out of the picture," Heartsy sighed, putting her hammer away. "Hey, Choppy, maybe your hammer might do the trick! Can't Ultra Hammers smash stuff like this?"

"Hmmmm... Well, I might as well give it a try!" Chopper smiled, despite being a tad annoyed with the nickname she continuously gave him. He jumped over Heartsy and landed in front of the pipe. Readying his hammer, Chopper used his Ultra Hammer ability and spun his body, along with his hammer. Unfortunately, that didn't appear to do the trick.

"I don't think that's going to work..." Vivian trailed. "From what I can remember, that might be destroyed by an explosion."

Bombette's face suddenly perked up while she approached Chopper. "Ah! This sounds like somethin' I'm capable of! Chopper! Matey! Throw me at that statue and I'll let 'er rip!"

"Hmmm… Let me check what's down here…" Chopper jumped into the pipe, and he found himself in the background with a blue ! switch. Rather than jumping or hitting it with his hammer, he chucked an ice ball and let it hit the switch. The statue itself began to fall apart and reveal a surfing panel.

Chopper went back into the pipe and gestured everyone to follow him. Across the bridge, a Chain Chomp tried to lunge at them. Scrub took action by eating it and then spitting it out, and followed up was Shadower's Shadow Smite, which helped bring the enemy down. Despite using FP, Chopper was able to find a Heart Block across the next to recover all his HP and FP - at the cost of 10 coins, of course.

The other Chain Chomp across the bridge tried lunging at them too, but they kept a safe distance while Chopper threw an ice ball at the enemy. Surprisingly, it only did 1 damage, but they soon discovered it had a Defense of 5. Heartsy quickly finished it off with her Hearty Throw, which was more than enough to defeat the Chain Chomp.

"Man, if we have enemies with this much defense again, I don't know what I'm going to do!" Scrub complained.

"That's why we have attacks to help pierce through their defense," Shadower mentioned. "Anyway, I'm guessing we have to go into that tower. But I think that statue is in the way..."

"Chopper, matey! Another Chain Chomp statue!" Bombette noted, taking notice of the statue on top of another blue pipe. Chopper threw her into the statue's mouth and blew it up, allowing him to go into the pipe.

"I wonder what happens when I hit the next switch…" Chopper tossed an ice ball at the blue ! switch to make the statue blocking the tower go away, revealing another surfing panel. Afterward, he returned to the others.

"Poyo... (So we managed to find a way to that tower...)" Kirby trailed as he slowly approached the door ahead. "Poyo? (But what about this door?)"

"I suppose we should check out, Kirby."

"Normally I'd rather stay here because it's not as creepy as the other rooms," Heartsy said before looking at Chopper with a smile. "But I probably wouldn't feel as comfortable if you weren't here, Choppy..."

"You're saying you're scared, aren't you?" Scrub asked.

"No! I just think it's better here than the other rooms! With those Chain Chomps gone, I don't think there's anything to worry about!"

"Well, I think we're all afraid of being here..." Vivian trailed. "And I'd probably be careful with that door ahead, Chopper... There might be something ahead..."

"Well I guess that's because of the Heart Block here," Chopper said while hitting the Heart Block. "But even if there was something ahead, I think we can take it! We've taken on worse enemies before, especially me!"

They headed through the red door ahead, and to their disappointment, they were in a small hallway with the red carpet and walls. Already was the group feeling creeped out once again. But regardless, they continued on without complaining. Well, they would've if an enemy didn't get in their way.

"What in the... What the heck is THAT thing?!" Shadower gawked. "I don't know if I've seen anything like this!"

Through the hallway they discovered a floating, purple vaguely bean-shaped creatures with four three fingered floating hands around it. The eyes on the creature were also rather crazy-looking, considering that they were moving in opposite directions. It was discovered to be a Dark Wizzerd.

"A rather unsettling creature, I'd say," Bombette mentioned. "But nothin' too dangerous!"

The pink Bob-omb slowly approached the Dark Wizzerd and blew up, only to notice it hardly did anything. "Shiver me timbers! Me explosion did absolutely nothin'!"

The Dark Wizzerd let out a cackle and fired a laser at her, sending her tumbling back to the group. She was left a little dazed, which made everyone get in a fighting position and turn back to the Dark Wizzerd. It fired a couple more lasers, but Chopper and his friends were quick to dodge them. An ice ball helped deal 4 damage, while Heartsy's Hearty Throw finished off the creature.

"It's great that my Hearty Throw doesn't take up too much FP," Heartsy smiled, looking at her hammer proudly. "It might be helpful around these enemies."

"Yeah, I guess so," Chopper replied, unsure of what else to say. Regardless, they continued through the hallway and reached the door up ahead. They were disappointed to find another identical hallway. Only this time, there was a Chain Chomp that tried lunging at them in the middle of the hallway. It didn't take too long to defeat it, thankfully.

With that out of the way, they walked into another identical hallway through the door and found a single Dry Bones throwing a piece of its bone at them. Chopper's fireball and Vivian's Shade Fist helped do away with it and lead them into another hallway with two Phantom Embers.

"How many hallways are we going to run into?!" Scrub exclaimed. "They're all so similar!"

"Poyo? (Maybe this might be the last?)" Kirby hoped.

Regardless of that, they got rid of the two Phantom Embers in their way and made their way to the end of the hallway. There, they all found a Save Block hovering above their heads.

"Hey! That door must lead to the end! I think the Crystal Star is through this room, Choppy!" Heartsy exclaimed. "And to think this place would be much longer!"

"Well, that is great and all... But I don't know... A chapter like this wouldn't be so short..." Chopper trailed. "But this Save Block does seem to indicate something."

He hit the Save Block before approaching the door. "But let's try to be on our toes!"

Once they stepped foot into the room, they noticed it looked much similar to the room before the torch maze. By that, the room was shaped like a hexagon - only this room was much, much bigger. Not only that, but it was dark. Very dark.

"This place gives me the creeps..." Scrub chirped. "It's difficult to see, too!"

"Who are you?!"

Everyone soon realized they were not the only ones in this room. In fact, they saw a large, black dragon with a lavender belly and the lowers section of his head with small black and yellow wings, large, flat teeth and yellow claws. The dragon let out an enormous roar that was enough to move the seven heroes back because of the sound waves.

"Poyo?! (What IS that thing?!)" Kirby cried.

"It...looks like an enormous dragon!" Heartsy gaped. "I don't know if I've ever seen something this big before!"

"I have just been reborn and I find people disturbing me?!" the dragon roared. "It's been a long time since I've have visitors…or should I say meals! How did you get into this sacred place?!"

"Whoa… You are some dragon… I've never seen a dragon for a long time!" Chopper gaped. "Hold on… Did you say you were just reborn?"

"Yes. I was just reborn…but I was told somebody would be coming by the name of Chopper," he looked down at Chopper with one of his red eyes. "I suppose you are that boy."

"Ummm… My name is Steve. I'm just a normal person who has no idea where he is right now. There is no Chopper here…"

All the dragon could do was laugh, while the rest of Chopper's friends face palmed.

_"Some idea that was!"_ Shadower thought.

"Very funny, little boy! I swear, that had to be the dumbest excuse I've ever heard..." the dragon finished laughing. "As for me, I am the mighty dragon known as Gloomtail! I guard the ancient treasure that has been here for aeons!"

This instantly caught the young Shadow Siren's attention. "Wait… You guard an ancient treasure? Chopper! Gloomtail MUST have the Queen's Star! That's what we've been looking for! …But the answer is… Where is Peach? Did he…eat her?"

"If that's true, then we're going to be dissecting this freak!" Scrub exclaimed.

"No one stepped into this place, so therefore, no. The only people who showed up are only you seven that will make some tasty meals!" Gloomtail cackled, making the room echo. "The Queen's Star, however, is not here, nor will I tell you its whereabouts! Once I'm done with you, I will gnaw on your bones!"

"Ummmm... OK..." Chopper said with uncertainty. _"How am I supposed to take on a giant dragon?! Am I crazy?!"_

"GWAAAAH HA HA HA HA! Now I'll finally have some fresh meat! Allow me to take my time… And toy with you awhile!" Gloomtail squinted down at Chopper and his friends with a devilish grin. "So... Who wants to be the first one on my menu?"

The only response he received were seven fighters getting ready for battle.

"So what if you're a big dragon? I've taken on worse!" Chopper shouted, though Gloomtail could tell he lacked confidence by the sound of his voice. "And nobody's going to be eating another during this fight!"

**Tattle: **_Omigosh! Gloomtail was revived? But… How is that possible? That's just… Not right at all! Well, Max HP is 80, Attack is 8, and Defense is 2. He's still the same as before, so that's not a bad thing. His breath can poison you, and it reeks! Great… When is HP gets low, he'll boost his attack up and unleash his strongest move. You should use Vivian to avoid that!_

"Go ahead, mortals. Make your move!" Gloomtail taunted. "I'd like to see what scrawny little attacks you can pull off!"

Chopper drew his hammer and added in a little bit of his ice powers to it, leaving it surrounded in an icy white glow. Gripping his hammer tightly. Chopper approached Gloomtail's paw and brought his Ultra Hammer down, delivering an Ice Smash that dealt 4 damage. Gloomtail quickly shut his eyes and let out a screech of pain.

"Gwargh! So, it looks like a scrawny thing like yourself can deliver pain after all..." Gloomtail grunted while Chopper landed safely back to his partners.

"Let's see what I can pull off," Shadower decided, firing a shadowy wave in the shape of a fist at Gloomtail. This only dealt 4 damage, but at the same time, it managed to bring his defense to 0. "

Gloomtail decided to show mercy and unleashed his poisonous breath. The seven quickly brought their guard up and managed to guard the attack, only taking 7 damage, which prevented them from being poisoned. Gloomtail was left disappointed by this, but this was just the beginning of the fight.

"All right! Spring Jump time!" Chopper cried as he began to fold up and sprung into the air. He landed on top of Gloomtail's nose and performed a Spin Jump, which helped deal 12 damage. Bombette followed with an explosion to take 6 away from the dragon.

Hissing, Gloomtail got a bit closer to the group and chose to bring his paw down on Chopper to flatten him. He backed away afterward, while Chopper was able to stand up.

"Hmmmmm... You know, I'm wondering if ice will do anything... That Ice Smash did manage to do something..." Chopper trailed.

"Poyo? (Did it look like it did a lot of harm?)" Kirby asked.

"Hmmmmm... I don't think so. Well, why don't I try an ice attack, while you hit him with your Stone ability?"

Kirby gave him a nod of approval, allowing Chopper to hurl an ice ball at Gloomtail. The pink puffball followed up by floating above Gloomtail's nose and smashing it by transforming into a stone. Gloomtail was finally able to get back up when Kirby turned back to normal and backed away from him.

"GWAAAAH HA HA HA HA! You are some tough meat, my little tasty morsels! But how will you fare against THIS!" Gloomtail jumped in the air and quickly landed, creating a large earthquake that dealt 10 damage to everyone. However, Vivian and Shadower appeared to be unaffected by this.

"Oh… I guess being able to float does have its advantages..." Vivian trailed before looking back at the knocked down Chopper. "Are you OK, Chopper?"

"I'm OK, Vivian…" Chopper assured, allowing the Shadow Siren to help him up. "Don't worry about me... Now, maybe it's time I tested out my ninja skills!"

Equipping his Ninja ability, Chopper ran up to Gloomtail and struck him with his kunai knife. Gloomtail yelped in pain, while Heartsy approached the monster and bashed his paw with her Hearty Hammer. Since his defense was back to 2, her hammer only dealt 4 damage.

"You'll pay for that!" Gloomtail roared, attacking Chopper with a poisonous bite. Thankfully, he was prepared for it and guarded it to only take 7 damage and avoid being poisoned. To retaliate, he threw one of his kunais at Gloomtail to deal 6 damage. Vivian raised her finger to strike Gloomtail with her Fiery Jinx and leave him with 18 HP.

"Gwuhhh… You are not the easy prey you appear to be…" Gloomtail grunted.

"That's right!" Chopper declared.

"If you whelps bested me, I would never be able to show my face to anyone in the world. Not even my queen…"

"Your queen?" Scrub gawked. "What the heck's this guy talking about?"

"Perhaps now is the time for me to show you all the true extent of my power..." Gloomtail finished his last words with a grin while raising his attack by 8. Everyone was left gaping because of this.

"He can do 16 damage if he hurts us!" Chopper cried. "This isn't good!"

"Why not just have Vivian pull us into the shadows?" Heartsy suggested. "That worked before, right?"

"Yeah... Back when we fought Gemerl! OK, I'll make my move first, and then you pull us into the shadows, Vivian!"

"OK, Chopper," Vivian nodded, allowing Chopper to dash over to Gloomtail and hit him with his kunai knife. Upon retreating, Vivian grabbed him and pulled him into the shadows. Everyone else was forced into the shadows as well before Gloomtail could take notice.

"_**MEGABREATH!**_" Gloomtail exclaimed, unleashing his yellow breath. He cackled as he finished the attack. "Gwah ha! Do you understand my true power now?"

"Oh, yes… We do… We understand it." Gloomtail paused when he saw everyone come out of the shadow, looking unscathed from the attack. Chopper was even smirking. "…But it didn't even hit us!"

"GRRRRRRRR! I'll make you suffer!" the large dragon raised his paw and flattened Chopper, causing him to lose his ability. Vivian looked a little worried to see him flattened, so she took action by appearing in front of Gloomtail and striking him with her Shade Fist to leave him with a burn. When Chopper finally got up, he bashed Gloomtail's paw with his hammer. This left him with about 1 HP.

"You may have brought me down to this point, but I will never fall!" Gloomtail roared, raising his Attack by 8 again. "And I will prove it!"

"Ummmmm... I'm not so sure about that." Chopper said, snickering in the process. In fact, everyone was snickering too.

"And why is that?" the dragon questioned.

The seven let the burn status answer that when it had struck him. Gloomtail hardly took notice of the status ailment that had dealt 1 damage to him ever since Vivian hurt him. With his HP finally at 0, his eyes began to spin in a dazed state.

"No… No… Is it true? Can I…expire? I've just been reborn… Urrghh…" Gloomtail fell over on his back, causing the room to shake a bit. Thankfully, Chopper received 26 Star Points from that fight and leveled up. He chose to adjust his BP to 30.

"Phew! That was a close call… We barely made it out of that fight…" Chopper panted. "To think Gloomtail would be defeated by a simple status ailment!"

"Yar! That was extraordinarily funny!" Bombette laughed. "This dragon was merely a pushover, though!"

"We did avoid being poisoned too," Shadower mentioned.

Before they could continue talking, they heard a gurgle coming from Gloomtail. They noticed the dragon cough up a chest that happened to be stuck in his belly.

"Hmmmm? What's this?" Chopper wondered as he approached it. Opening the chest, he found a Star Key. "What the..."

"A key in the shape of a star... Cool!" Scrub smiled.

"Poyo? (What do we do with it, though?)" Kirby asked.

"I think we need to go to that tower," Vivian answered. "I remember something that's related to this Star Key in there... Though I wonder why that key was stuck in his body like before..."

"What do you mean?" Shadower asked.

"Ummmm... It's nothing important."

"So I guess this means we're going back to the garden?" Heartsy smiled. "Well that will be nice!"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Chopper declared. "...I really don't want to be in here with this dragon."

Chopper quickly exited the room, along with everyone else and began to make their way back to the courtyard area. They all hoped they would never have to run into this kind of room or dragon again.

* * *

**Defeated by a status ailment. What a humiliating defeat for Gloomtail! :P**


	52. Solving the Seven Riddles

"I guess we need to get to Riddle Tower now," Chopper said, now returning to the palace's courtyard with his friends. "Good thing there are no enemies in the way, huh?"

"Yeah, that's a good thing, since we had to deal with that enormous dragon!" agreed Scrub before he looked up at the tower. "So I'm guessing that's where we need to go, huh?"

"Yes," Vivian nodded as she followed Chopper to the surfing panel. "Chopper, I'd be wary of this place. You never know what might appear there..."

"Don't worry, Vivian!" Chopper assured. "I think we can handle this!"

Donning his Water ability, Chopper jumped on the water and created a tidal wave that allowed him to surf over the water. Everyone else was joined in with him, and they ended up landing in front of Riddle Tower's entrance, which had a red door and a pillar on each side. Chopper quickly removed his ability afterward.

"So this is the entrance to Riddle Tower, huh? The door's pretty big, I'll admit." Heartsy commented, despite shivering slightly. "Though, I can't deny that it's rather creepy..."

Vivian slowly opened the red door and allowed everyone else in before trailing inside. Their worries about the tower's interior slowly faded away as soon as they got a glimpse of the place. The floors were made up of dark blue tiles with a few yellow stars, light blue pillars were near the walls of the octagon-shaped room. The walls were dark blue as well, and in the center was a spiral staircase.

"Wow... This room is actually very nice!" Chopper gaped.

"So perhaps things that look scary on the outside can look nice on the inside," Bombette deduced. "This be an interestin' discovery, isn't it, matey?"

"Poyo, (Well, I think the only thing we can do here is check the place out,)" Kirby suggested. "Poyo! (This place might actually be interesting!)"

There were at least four doors on this floor, with one southwest, southeast, northeast and northwest. Unsure of which place to choose, the seven decided to go to the door southwest. The room was much smaller inside, being shaped like a rectangle. There were two red ! blocks and a green plaque on the wall.

"Looks like there's something written on that plaque," Scrub noticed. "Let's check it out, Contadre!"

Chopper shrugged and walked over to the green plaque. Surprisingly, the writing was in English and was understandable to everyone.

_Beyond, beyond, beyond... **Complete All Seven... **Before, before..._

"What the... What the heck does this mean?" Chopper gawked. "And what do those blocks have to do with this reading?"

"I think we have to decipher it," Heartsy deduced, checking the writing. "...OK, I don't know it either."

"If my memory serves me right, it means we have to complete the other tasks in here before going here," Vivian recalled.

"Sounds pretty simple," Chopper smiled. "Let's check somewhere else, I suppose."

They left that room and decided to go to the room northeast, which led them into another similar-looking room. The only difference was that there were no red ! blocks in sight. However, there was a green plaque on the wall just like the other room, so Chopper decided to check it out.

_All __you see isn't all there be..._ _**Stones Have Power of Stars...**_ _Touch it to pass through it..._

"What the..." Chopper trailed, unsure of how to figure this out. "What is this thing talking about?"

"Hmmmmmm..." Shadower slowly closed his eyes and began to ponder over the words, but he suddenly sensed something else. "Strange... I'm sensing something in this room. It's...coming from the wall?"

Shadower floated over to the wall and placed his hand on it. "I think we can go through this wall if I turn you all transparent. Let me give it a try."

Using his magic, he transformed everyone transparent, and they made their way through the wall. A blue ! block was revealed through that secret room.

"Hit it, Contadre!" Scrub shouted.

Chopper gave him a nod and struck the block with his fist, causing a chest to materialize through dark smoke in the center of the other room. A strange, creepy voice also echoed through as well.

"Ugh… The horrible memories are returning to me." Vivian shuddered. "I never liked hearing the sounds of those chests materializing... It just brings back bad memories."

"Don't worry, Vivian. We're all here for you." Chopper assured, making Vivian feel a bit relieved. "I'm even here for you, but you seem to be creeped out by something more than this tower. Do you know?"

"Well… Umm…" the Shadow Siren looked down with uncertainty.

"I'd say it's best not to worry about that. We've got something more important here.

Chopper retrieved the Palace Key from the previous room and exited through the door into the main area. Kirby suggested they go to the northwest door, so they agreed and entered that door to find a set of four blocks. The block on top of the small pedestal was a Metal Block, but the one on the floor was a Rainbow Block. The other set further from them was in the opposite order, except there was a blue ! block above the Rainbow Block to the left.

"Hey! It's the Rainbow Blocks! Boy, I sure missed them!" Chopper recalled, thinking about those blocks from two years ago. "Though, I don't think I can destroy them..."

Before doing anything, Chopper decided to read the plaque first.

_Four stones, twin stones... **Master of Shadow and Dark...** Two are one, one is two..._

"These plaques be gettin' more confusin' by the minute!" Bombette shouted, unable to take the confusion of these puzzles. "It makes me want to explode!"

"No no, Bombette! Let's not do that!" Chopper cried. "Honestly, I don't know what to do here, but my only bet is to smash this Metal Block here."

Taking his hammer out, Chopper smashed the Metal Block to his left. Heartsy attempted to smash the Rainbow Blocks, but her hammer was not strong enough to break through it.

"If only my hammer could do much more..." Heartsy sighed, putting her hammer away. "So what's next, since we can't do much here?"

"Hmmmmm... I think I might know where to go. Follow me!" Vivian suggested, flying out of the room.

The heroes found themselves following Vivian up to the second floor and to the door northwest, just like the door on the first floor. The room had the same set of blocks, except they were the complete opposite of the one below. However, a block on the left where a Rainbow Block should have been was missing.

The plaque's riddle made things even more confusing as well.

_Four stones, twin stones..._ _**Can Live Again by the Stone...**_ _Two are one, one is two..._

"Poyo! (So confusing!)" Kirby cried.

"Hmmmm... Well, I think I have an idea." Chopper smashed the Metal Block to his right on the ground, and he also jumped onto the pedestal to the left to smash the other Metal Block. "This room and the one below must be linked! I bet something below will be gone when we go back!"

Indeed he was correct. When they had gone back to the previous room below, there was only one block remaining, and it was a Metal Block on the pedestal closest to them. Chopper smashed that first and then hit the blue ! block on the left pedestal, making a chest materialize through black smoke.

"Eeeuugh... You weren't kidding when you said that strange echoing voice is creepy, Vivian!" Scrub shuddered.

Chopper jumped off the pedestal and kicked the chest open, revealing a Palace Key inside. He decided to leave the room and head back up to the second floor to hit the other blue ! block. This led to them getting another Palace Key, giving them three keys so far. With that out of the way, they left the room.

"I say, this was an annoyin' puzzle to solve, eh, mateys?" Bombette asked, becoming exhausted.

"More like exhausting..." Heartsy sighed. "How many times do we have to climb up more stairs?"

"Not for a while, at least," Chopper assured, turning to the southwest door. "Let's go check in there."

They proceeded into the door and found a Dull Bones, Cave Bones, Dry Bones and Dark Bones lying on the floor. This quickly caught everyone off guard and into fighting stances.

"Great… There are Dull Bones, Cave Bones, Dry Bones AND Dark Bones!" Chopper gaped. "Man, why are these here of all places?!"

"Poyo, (Well let's see what the plaque says first,)" Kirby suggested, pointing at the green plaque.

Chopper quickly headed to the plaque with Vivian while avoiding the enemies that tried to chase after them, and once again, they read the plaque.

_Let fall the weakest… **And That the Skies Lie…** Then build to the strongest…_

"Weird... It's like the middle section of this riddle feels so out of place..." Chopper trailed. "Anyone have any ideas on how to decipher this?"

"I think we have to fight these enemies from weakest to strongest," Vivian deduced. "I'm guessing we'll be in here for a while..."

And so they had begun fighting off the enemies, starting with the Dull Bones. Vivian's Shade Fist was all it took to defeat it, while Bombette's Bomb and a fireball from Chopper took down the Cave Bones. The Dry Bones, on the other hand, was a little harder to take down, but Kirby struck it with his Cartwheel and Chopper delivered a Fire Smash to take it down.

Then came the Dark Bones. Having 20 HP meant it was going to take a while to beat it, so Chopper decided to use his Power Bounce to deal 10 damage, while Heartsy left it with only 4 HP thanks to her Hearty Throw. Chopper managed to guard a bone it threw at him and finally finished it with a fireball. To his delight, Chopper gained a level and upgraded his HP to 50 as well.

"All right! I'm so glad to have leveled up from that fight!" Chopper cheered.

Because they fought them in the correct order, a blue ! block to their left materialized from purple smoke. Hitting it made another chest appear, allowing them to gain another Palace Key.

"Awesome! That's four keys already!" Scrub cheered. "We're on a roll!"

"Poyo! (Now let's go downstairs to see if there's something!)" Kirby suggested, walking out of the room. Everyone else followed him down the spiral staircase and to the southeast door on the first floor. Inside, they found nothing but another green plaque.

Of course, they all gathered around and read the riddle.

_The unseen may yet be felt..._ _**So That We, the Great Ones...**_ _Be it here? Be it there?_

"I'm guessing there's something hidden here..." Chopper deduced. "I mean, it says 'unseen', so what else would it be for?"

While Kirby pondered, he felt something rather out of place in the center of the room. Tapping it with his foot, he felt as if there was something that was supposed to be there. Raising an eyebrow, he opened his mouth and inhaled a piece of paper that was blocking the object, which happened to be a chest.

"Poyo! (Found it!)" Kirby shouted, swallowing the paper and pointing at the chest.

"Good job, Kirby!" Heartsy smiled. "How'd you find out?"

"Poyo. (Something felt out of place here.)"

"Huh... I should've guess that. But man! We're going through this place like Donkey Kong! Let's check the room above."

Chopper left the room and proceeded to go up the stairs with his friends. They went into the door southeast where the previous door was below and into another empty room.

_The shy one hides his shape..._ _**But the Stars Bring Balance.**_ _The shy one hides his face..._

"Hmmmmm... Hide..." Shadower pondered. "I'm guessing we must hide in order to discover the key..."

"Arr! A very simple puzzle!" Bombette remarked.

"I guess that means I have to take part in this," Vivian stated, grabbing Chopper and pulling him into the shadows. A blue ! block was revealed to be slightly to the right.

"I'll get it!" Heartsy decided, jumping under the blue ! block to reveal the next chest. When Vivian emerged from the ground with Chopper, the chest was already open.

"Who's got the key?" Chopper asked.

"Here, Choppy! I got this key just for you!" Heartsy tossed the key over to Chopper, who managed to catch it. He thanked her before leaving the room and went up to the door northeast. After all, it was one of the last rooms they had not explored yet.

The room was empty just like the other one, so the heroes read the plaque once again.

_Straight on, straight onward… **We Know the Stars Spurn Us…** Destroy all in your path…_

"Ah! Now this I understand!" Bombette deduced. "Destroy all in yer path simply means we must blow up the wall to our right! Chopper, matey! Throw me at that wall an' I'll let 'er rip!"

"OK!" Chopper picked up Bombette and threw her to the wall, making it explode reveal another room with a chest. Chopper grabbed the key inside and put it away with the others. "All right! That's seven keys! I think we're just about done here, right?

"Wait, hold on, Contadre... We're missing one more key." Scrub informed. "That first room we went into! We didn't know what it was, but I think it said something about 'completing all seven'... I'm guessing we had to do those other seven puzzles first, right?"

"We should go back there, Chopper," Shadower suggested. "We might figure something out."

Chopper shrugged and decided to go back downstairs to the southwest room. However, reading the plaque, they didn't find anything new.

"There's nothing new here!" Chopper cried. "It just says, 'beyond, beyond, beyond' and 'before, before'. I don't understand this!"

"Wait..." Heartsy approached the plaque and took a look at it herself. "Choppy, wasn't this taught to you when you went to school?"

"I don't know... I've actually never been to a school."

"Oh... I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings..." the reddish hot pink-haired girl trailed solemnly.

"It's nothing you should worry about, honestly. I guess I was just made to be more of a hero."

"Wait... If you never went to a school, then how can you even speak and know a few things?" Shadower asked.

"I guess I've learned from my adventures, I suppose... But anyway, enough about that. Does anyone have any ideas on this?"

"Well, from what I know, beyond is further more to the left than what before is," Heartsy explained. "Since it said beyond three times, you should hit the red ! block thrice. The second block here must be hit twice, since 'before' was said two times."

"Thrice?"

"That's a shorter term for 'three times', Choppy."

"Ohhhhhhh..." Chopper turned his attention to the left block and hit it three times, and then he hit the second block twice. This made both blocks disappear, and it also triggered a chest to be materialized from the black smoke for probably the final time.

_"Well at least this is the last key..."_ Vivian thought.

Chopper grabbed the last Palace Key before returning back to the main room. Considering that there was nothing around here, they went up to the second floor and up to the third floor. There, they saw a contraption of a globe with many rings surrounding it and including a star and a moon. In front of them was a pedestal with a hole in the shape of a star.

"Chopper, check that out! The pedestal is shaped like a star!" Shadower informed. "Try putting the Star Key we got from Gloomtail in there!"

Pulling the Star Key out, Chopper placed it in the hole, causing eight pedestals with keyholes to materialize around the contraption. Seeing the amount of keys Chopper had to use made him sweat drop.

"OK, let's all put at least one key in to make things easier. I'll just put in two, I suppose." Chopper declared, giving each of his friends a key so they could place a key in at least one keyhole. When Chopper inserted a key in its place, the pedestal spun and stopped in the opposite direction.

Once all the keys were in their keyholes, bright green stars in the shape of a ring surrounded the planetary figure appeared, and the contraption slowly started to rotate.

"Harumph! So it's movin'!" Bombette commented. "Very interestin'..."

"It is pretty nice, too," Heartsy smiled, though her smile was stopped when they felt a tremor.

"Huh? What's that?" Chopper asked.

It turns out the first hallway leading to Gloomtail's lair was starting to break away and form into a staircase, possibly leading somewhere deeper into the Palace of Shadow.

"That was a little intense… We better check what all of that was…" Vivian suggested.

With everyone in agreement, they exited Riddle Tower.

* * *

**Courtyard-**

"I was thinking that shaking was coming from where we fought Gloomtail..." Chopper pondered, hitting the Save Block, since he had no reason to hit the Heart Block. "So, shall we get going?"

"I don't think so! You're just where we want you!"

"Huh...?"

Before Chopper could get closer to the door leading to Gloomtail, two shadows emerged from the floor, revealing to be both Beldam and Marilyn.

"Oh, no... It's this hag again..." Chopper grumbled.

"Hag?! Oh, I'll make sure to put you in your place, but first off, we have a little surprise for you!" Beldam grinned as she gestured another figure to walk over to them. The seven heroes were left agape.

"Huh? What's Professor Frankly doing here?" Heartsy gawked. "Did he betray us?"

"Chopper, I cannot express my thanks to you for what you did! You've finally opened the Thousand-Year Door for us! Yes, that was nice of you to do! Thanks to you do-gooder predictability, my plan is progressing very smoothly… Oh, yes. Everything is going as planned…"

"S-Sis? H-How dare you! And what do you mean by us opening the door for you?" Vivian asked until she soon realized and gasped by putting her hands over her mouth. "N-No… Beldam… Are… Are you really trying to…?"

"Mwee hee hee hee hee! Ah, Vivian… You are always so predictable…_and not to mention ugly!_" Beldam insulted. "I see you don't understand, yes? Ah, what a foolish girl…"

Chopper clenched his fists as he glared at Beldam. "Enough! You aren't going to do a THING to her!"

Vivian couldn't help but smile and blush. _"Oh, that's so sweet of him. Though it would be really nice to..."  
_

"...Oh, yes, and should I mention that old man you always received assistance from? The 'Professor Frankly' you were with when you opened the Thousand-Year Door… Was none other than this little freak-in-a-sheet!"

Purple smoke soon surrounded Frankly, revealing him to be none other then Doopliss. "Um, yeah, my name is Doopliss, but…"

"Mwee hee hee hee hee! The real Frankly is sleeping off a nasty bump on the head in a closet somewhere! Poor thing! And once we get rid of you here, our plan will be nearly complete! Ready for the end, my dears? You and that traitor Vivian sure have a date with eternity!"

"Guh-huh!" Marilyn grunted.

"That's right, Small Slick! Eternity!" Doopliss cackled until Beldam turned to him.

"Shut up, freak!" she silenced.

"Oh, OK… Right… sorry about that, Beldam…"

Vivian floated over to her sister with her fists clenched in flames. "I'm with Chopper all the way! Unlike you, he's nice, funny, and he doesn't treat me like you do! _…And he's a bit cute, too, I suppose._ Today, Sis…I'm going to punish YOU, you hear me? I'm going to finish what we should have done back at Toy Kingdom!"

"Yeah! We can finally settle this once and for all!" Chopper declared. "...Wait, what was that you said, Vivian?"

"Come, my sort-of-lovelies! Marilyn! Freak-sheet!" Beldam called.

"Guhhhhh!"

"I said, my name's DOOPLISS!"

"All right, then... Come on!" Chopper taunted, getting in a fighting stance along with his friends. "And don't think I haven't learned anything new either!"

"All right, my kind-of-lovelies! This time, we take out Chopper and his goon squad for good!" Beldam declared. "So…if I catch you slacking, you'll be in for INCREDIBLE punishment come tomorrow!"

"GUHHHHH!" Marilyn exclaimed.

"OK! OK! OK! OK!" Doopliss chanted.

**Tattle: **_That's Beldam. She's the leader of the Shadow Sirens. Max HP is 40, Attack is 5, and Defense is 0. She'll use her magic on you like before, such as her ice. Be careful when she uses that! I gotta say… Beldam sure has something planned. But, what IS she planning? That's the question..._

**Tattle: **_That's Marilyn. You probably know that she's the strongest, right? Max HP is 50, Attack is 7, and Defense is 0. Be careful when she boosts her attack. THAT can be deadly. Also, she can boost her attack again to deal SO much damage! I would strongly advise having Vivian help you on this one. Besides, she wants to get back at Beldam._

**Tattle: **_That's Doopliss. He's a weird Duplighost that can shapeshift into anything! I think he even changed into you once! Max HP is 50, Attack is 6, and Defense is 0. Even though he can transform into you or your partners…he doesn't have much in him. I wonder why he decided to go back to Beldam when he gets treated harshly by her…_

"OK… Considering that Marilyn is the strongest one of the group, it's probably smart if we take her out first." Chopper suggested.

"Sounds like a plan!" Scrub smirked. "I never got a chance to take on these shadow freaks, and now I am STOKED!"

Chopper made the first move and jumped on Marilyn to deal 6 damage.

"I guess I should attack all three of them," Vivian raised her finger and let it sparkle before Beldam, Marilyn and Doopliss were soon set aflame. The latter began to run all over the area while screaming.

"Ow ow ow ow ow! Hot hot hot hot hot! It BUUUUURNS!" Doopliss quickly jumped into the river and came back out. "Ahhhhh... That's much better. Now, let's get back to business, Small Slick!"

Doopliss flew up into the air and charged at Chopper, hitting him headfirst and leaving him dazed for a moment. He let out a little chuckle before scurrying back to his comrades. Marilyn sunk into the shadows and emerged in front of Heartsy. The small girl tried to defend herself, but the large Shadow Siren's strength was too much for her when she clasped her hands on her before returning to Beldam and Doopliss.

"OW! That was painful!" Heartsy cried.

"Well then, my dear… You haven't seen THIS yet!" Beldam gave the group a grin as she let her ice magic loose. Thankfully, the group managed to guard the attack and only take 4 damage. They were also prevented from becoming frozen.

Of course, Vivian's burn effect managed to take 1 out of the three, which included Doopliss.

"Hey! Didn't I go into the water a moment ago? That should've washed that off!" Doopliss exclaimed.

"Just shut up and fight, freak-sheet!" Beldam growled.

Chopper decided that they would need powerful attacks in order to bring Marilyn down, so he decided to attack the large Shadow Siren with his Spin Jump in order to deal 9 damage.

"OK, Bombette! I want you to use your Bob-omb Blast and deal as much damage to them as possible!" Chopper commanded.

"Arrr! I'm on it, matey!" Bombette's fuse lit up as she approached the Shadow Sirens. Her powerful explosion was strong enough to deal 8 damage and leave Marilyn with 20 HP.

"Gah! Curse you, Chopper!" Beldam sneered, clenching her icy fists. "This is so very annoying! Blast it!"

Using his shape-shifting powers, Doopliss decided to transform into Vivian and make an attack on Chopper. Surprisingly, the attack didn't leave him with a burn either, which was nice.

"Huh... So it's the Three Shadow Sirens..." Scrub trailed. "Weird..."

Using her powerful lightning magic, Marilyn struck lightning on everyone and took 7 out of them, while Beldam emerged in front of Vivian and struck her with an icy punch.

"That's what you get for betraying me, worm!" Beldam mumbled as she returned to her allies, getting hurt by the burn effect in the process. This ended up wearing out as well.

After Chopper jumped on Marilyn, Scrub fluttered over to her and landed a Ground Pound to deal 6 damage and leave her with 7 HP.

Doopliss attacked Bombette with a simple smack, while Marilyn decided to raise her Attack power by 7. Beldam grinned as she used her magic to make Marilyn bigger and increase her Attack by 2.

"Mweee hee hee hee! That should be enough to deal enough damage to these fools!" Beldam cackled.

"Oh, I don't think so!" Chopper growled, leaving the large Shadow Siren with 1 HP after a jump attack. "OK, Vivian! Go right ahead!"

Vivian sunk into the shadows and emerged in front of Marilyn, who appeared to be getting exhausted from the fight. "I'm sorry, Marilyn... Don't take this too personal."

With a flaming punch, Marilyn let out one last "GUH!" before she collapsed, leaving only Beldam and Doopliss to fight against the heroes.

"Hey! You! Freak-sheet!" Beldam shouted, getting Doopliss's attention. "Pull it together, will you? Don't make me punish you!"

"S-S-S-Sorry, Beldam… I'll try harder…" Doopliss sunk into the shadows and attacked Vivian this time, though when he reemerged, he wasn't too happy with this body. "This body feels a little too girly. I gotta switch outta something better!"

Vivian crossed her arms and glared at Doopliss as he transformed into Chopper instead. He took a good look at himself before smirking.

"MUCH better!"

"Shut it, will you?" Beldam growled before firing a beam of ice magic straight at Shadower, who easily guarded the attack.

"OK… If we can finish Beldam off, then this fight should be easy." Chopper deduced before landing a Fire Jump on Beldam. Heartsy threw her hammer at the hag afterward to leave her with at least 12 HP.

"Heh! With this body, I can do all sorts of things! Check this out, Slick!" Doopliss ran up to Chopper and tossed an ice ball at the Star Warrior. While it managed to deal 6 damage, it didn't freeze him, to his relief. Beldam, on the other hand, managed to freeze Kirby and Bombette.

"If I can freeze the rest of you, then this fight should be easy pickings!" Beldam grinned. "Oh, and believe me, Vivian... I've got something special in store for you!"

"I'm not going to let that happen!" Vivian exclaimed. "After all you've done, I've had it up with you!"

Chopper jumped over Doopliss and stomped on Beldam's head to leave her with 6 HP. "I'll leave the rest to you, Vivian."

"Thank you, Chopper," the young Shadow Siren sank into the shadows and emerged in front of Beldam. "You know, Sis... There was one thing I remembered what our mother told us - one of the reasons why she may have preferred me over you."

"And what is that, you plug ugly sister of mine?!" Beldam sneered.

Vivian tried to hold back from sniffling and continued. "I use fire magic, while you use ice. And when it comes down to it, fire is much stronger than ice!"

With her fist surrounded in fire, she delivered one last fire punch to her sister, who was quickly left struggling to get up at this point.

"ACK! Mwee hee hee hee hee… I'll leave the rest to you…" Beldam moaned before she was soon KO'd, making Doopliss sweat.

"Crud… I'm all that's left…" Doopliss gulped before attempting to hit Chopper with his hammer, who only guarded the attack.  
Considering that he wanted to put this to a close, Chopper used his Spring Jump on Doopliss to deal 12 damage, while Shadower delivered a Shadow Punch to the Duplighost to lower his defense - though he didn't have any defense.

"Arrgh... I ain't done yet, Slick!" Doopliss grunted, firing an ice ball at Scrub, who, while not frozen, began to shiver.

With Kirby and Bombette no longer frozen, Kirby chose to make his move by hitting the Duplighost with his Cartwheel, and then Chopper finally finished him off with his hammer. Doopliss let out a moan before collapsing and transforming back into himself.

"Ohh… NOOOOO!"

With their defeat, Chopper received 51 Star Points.

"Arrrrrrgh…" Beldam moaned, still having some energy to speak. "At this rate… She will never… Ooooof…"

"Guhhhhhhhhh…"

"Hnuuuurrggh…"

"Let's just leave these cads, matey…" Bombette suggested. "There's nothin' else we can do."

"I guess you're right," Chopper sighed, hitting the Heart Block and Save Block before going to the door. "Well, let's see what awaits us here."

Everyone else followed him through the door ahead, with the exception of Vivian. She was about to follow, but she turned back to her unconscious sisters and Doopliss with a frown.

"I'm sorry, sis…" Vivian trailed before following her friends.


	53. Deeper Into the Shadows

"Whoa... So I guess this was the right way to go..." Chopper gaped.

Going through the door leading to Gloomtail's lair, no longer was the hallway straight, but now it contained a staircase leading deeper into the Palace of Shadows. Though some were disappointed they couldn't go back to Gloomtail's room, they thought it was for the best if that dragon was still alive.

"So, I'm guessing that X-Naut leader is somewhere down here," Scrub deduced.

"Yes, and that means the enemies will only get tougher from here," Shadower replied. "So, shall we make our way through this palace?"

"Absolutely," Chopper nodded, leading the way by moving down to the bottom of the staircase. They were met with a Dark Wizzerd that attempted to attack them, but Scrub managed to eat it and then spit it out, while Chopper delivered an ice ball to defeat it.

"Mateys! Take a look at these walls!" Bombette suggested, eyeing the walls containing green depictions that reminded her of the planetary figure. "A very strange decorative..."

With the enemy out of the way, Chopper decided to hit the yellow ? block that was too high for him to regularly reach by using his Spring Jump. Inside the block wad a Thunder Rage, which he happily took.

Unfortunately, another Dark Wizzerd intervened and tried attacking. Thankfully, they were prepared for the attack and took it down with ease thanks to Shadower's Shadow Punch and Chopper's jumping abilities. The heroes proceeded onward and ran into a slip of paper covering a section of the wall.

"Poyo! (Leave this to me!)" Kirby declared, inhaling the paper and revealing a secret passageway leading up to a staircase in the wall. That eventually led them to a doorway on a ledge across a gap. Heartsy suggested to help, but the gap was not big enough, so Chopper got on Scrub, and he fluttered over to the ledge.

"Oh, yeah, baby! I'm finally doing something! Awesome." Scrub cheered while landing near the doorway. Everyone else with the exception of Bombette and Heartsy also crossed the gap.

"Hmmmm... Well this appears to be a problem..." Bombette trailed.

"Yeah, I wish I could get over there," Heartsy sighed. "I guess Scrub will have to help."

Hearing that, Scrub quickly crossed the gap in order to provide assistance to the two female partners. The others could obviously tell he was motivated to help. It was because he hadn't done much in this place, or maybe he just wanted to get a little reward from a girl.

Entering the doorway led them into a room with a green tiled floor and a small staircase to their left. Vivian noticed something was missing, however.

"Strange... Wasn't there supposed to be a red ! switch here?" Vivian questioned.

"What do you mean?" Chopper asked.

"...Oh, nothing. Though I wonder how we're supposed to get across that gap... It's probably too far for Scrub to carry some of us across."

"Don't worry! I've got that all covered!" Heartsy assured, getting her hammer out. Chopper gulped when Heartsy gestured him to go up the small stairs, and he didn't have much of a choice. After climbing the staircase, Chopper stood near the edge of the floor and looked at the ledge across the gap. "Don't worry, Choppy! You can trust me with this, right?"

"Ummmm... Yeah, I guess so. Just do it." Chopper gulped.

"OK... _**FORE!**_"

Everyone near Heartsy quickly got out of the way as she swung her hammer like a golf club behind Chopper, which sent him flying across the gap and to the other side. He ended up landing face-first, leaving a large, red mark on his face.

"Uh oh... Are you OK?" Heartsy asked after Vivian helped her across. "I hope I didn't hurt you..."

"N-No... I'm fine." Chopper assured, despite not feeling all right. "I can progress just fine."

After everyone else got across, Chopper and his friends moved down the staircase ahead of them and found another yellow ? block. Inside was a Repel Cape, which they chose to hold on for now. Afterward, Chopper headed through the doorway to the south.

The seven heroes were led into a room with a red carpet once again, but they were at a higher point than before. To their right were two shiny large black blocks with the closet having a yellow frame and the other having a green one. However, the green one was blocking their way.

"I call climbing this staircase!" Scrub blurted, pointing to the staircase to their left. Everyone else had no other choice and followed the Yoshi up to a door, leading them to a previous room they had been in before. Only this time, they were near a small staircase leading to small blocks. One was yellow and the other was green, and both of them had a triangle.

"Hey, don't these blocks look a bit similar to the one we saw in that other room?" Chopper recalled. "I think that green one was in our way..."

"Then hit it we shall!" Bombette declared, punting the green block with her foot, which made it appear dull. Going back to the other room, the large block further to them was gone, and now a gap was created between them and a small staircase.

Just before Chopper could say anything, Heartsy managed to get him across with her hammer. The rest chose to use Scrub to get across, the latter helping Chopper up when he crashed into the staircase.

"Heartsy, warn me next time you do that..." Chopper moaned.

"Sorry about that..." Heartsy apologized, kissing Chopper on the cheek. "I hope that makes up for what I did..."

Chopper quickly put his hands over her mouth as if he felt like he was going to hurl.

"Yeah, he's all right," Shadower assured. "Anyway, moving on."

Up the staircase was a pit below leading to two large blocks, but unlike the other two, these two had a purple and red frame. There was also a ledge slightly below that appeared to be too far to reach as well. They all simply dropped down to the two blocks and found a small, dull purple block similar to the other ones.

Chopper was about to hit the small block until Vivian got in the way. "Chopper, don't do that! I'd recommend hitting it with something that gives you enough time to get on that block."

"Like...an explosion?" Chopper pondered while a light bulb suddenly appeared over Bombette's head.

"Arr! Leave this to me, matey!" Bombette exclaimed. "Throw me at the switch an' I'll give ye enough time to get on that block!"

Chopper shrugged and threw the Bob-omb near the switch, while the rest got on the purple block. Her explosion turned the small block on, and soon the block, along with the heroes, were ascending. Bombette was thankful enough to land beside them after her explosion.

"OK, jump!" Chopper cried, leaping off the block and landing on the ledge across from them as soon as they were high enough. One thing to note was that the ceiling was very low, making jumping very difficult. There was also a large Ice Block blocking the way.

"Looks like we need fire, right?" Scrub asked.

"Nope!" Chopper began to fire ice balls rapidly at the Ice Block with his help of his Ultra Gloves, which destroyed the block and created a gap between them and a small staircase going down to a door. Obviously Scrub volunteered to help, so Chopper got on him and let him flutter across to the door. Everyone soon followed them into the next room.

Seeing the yellow poles on the ceiling made Chopper smile when he realized he was going to be using his Spring Jump. However, looking down, his smile soon faded.

"There's a huge spike pit below us..." Chopper gulped. "Now this doesn't feel as exciting..."

Nevertheless, Chopper aligned himself with the yellow line on the carpet and folded himself up before launching upward to grab the pole. However, just before he could move, he felt someone jump up and grab a hold of his feet.

"Huh?!" Looking down, he saw Heartsy climbing closer up to him to get a better hold of him, as if he was being hugged by her. "Heartsy! Wh-What're you doing?!"

"Trying to get across, of course," Heartsy answered in a sweet tone. "I'm not capable of getting across this spike pit, you know."

"Let Vivian or Shadower help you across!" the Star Warrior began to sweat, not paying attention to the pole he was actually moving across.

"Well it's too late for that. You're already crossing the pit. Besides..." the girl's eyes glittered as she looked at her love interest. "I like it this way more!"

Chopper let out a sigh, knowing he wouldn't win the argument and continued his way across the pit. Just when he crossed and landed on safe ground, there was another pole he had to Spring Jump up to, and the same procedure had occurred.

The others had it much easier than him. With both Vivian and Shadower, people such as Scrub and Bombette had a much easier time getting through the obstacles by simply going into the shadows with them and emerging where the next pole had ended. Kirby easily floated across and landed by a doorway to their north.

As soon as Chopper had reached the end of the pole, Heartsy decided to drop down and catch Chopper once he dropped down. The way the girl held him, however, made a few of the others snicker.

"Chopper... You know, I don't think you really should be being held like that if you're supposed to be the bride!" Shadower laughed, along with Scrub and Kirby. Bombette was also rolling on the floor laughing.

"What do you guys mean?" Chopper asked with confusion. "What's a bride?"

The laughing soon stopped, and everyone was face palming at this point.

"Poyo, (Well, we might as well check that doorway,)" Kirby suggested.

"Yeah, we really should," Chopper agreed. "I'm seriously getting worried about Princess Peach."

Entering the doorway, they were back in a room with green tiles. The upper walls also appeared to have gears in them too, which surprised some of the people.

"Wow... Who ever thought there'd be some technology in this place?" Chopper gaped. "Considering that the place is a thousand years old... Yeah!"

"Poyo? (What's that over there?)" Kirby asked, pointing to the Phantom Ember ahead. "Poyo... (Uh oh... Another one of those...)"

They decided to take care of the Phantom Ember by having both Chopper and Kirby inhale it and spit it to the wall. Afterward, they noticed a small ledge slightly above them containing a red ! switch. Above that ledge was a gap between two other ledges.

Kirby decided to float up to the switch and give it a good kick, making a platform come out of the wall. This made the heroes hurry up the stairs that were right by the doorway they had gone through, but they were too late.

"Poyo... (I don't think we're fast enough...)" Kirby trailed.

"Well, the switch is below us..." Chopper noticed while looking down.

"Then ye'll need me help!" Bombette declared. "Do yer thing, matey!"

Picking up the Bob-omb, Chopper threw her below on the red ! switch. As soon as the explosion triggered, the platform appeared on the gap and allowed them to cross the other side - with Bombette landing near them coincidentally. Sadly, a Chain Chomp was waiting for them and quickly lunged as soon as the heroes were close.

"Yaah!" Heartsy managed to whack the Chain Chomp with her hammer, but it only did 1 point of damage. "Yeesh! These things have way too much defense!"

Smirking, Scrub took the Chain Chomp in his mouth and spat it out to finish it off. "See? That's all I needed to do to take care of it! Aren't I awesome or what?"

"Ummm... Well, there's this diagram here." Vivian said, unsure of what else to say to Scrub. Everyone else looked at what Vivian was pointing at and saw seven stars. The first, third, fourth and sixth star appeared to be bright, while the second, fifth and seventh were dull. "I'm guessing we need to memorize this..."

"Sounds easy!" Chopper smiled. "I'd say remember the bright ones by thinking 1, 3, 4 and 6. I think that'll help us."

They climbed up the stairs to their left to find a locked door, as well as a Save Block and Heart Block. Chopper hit the Heart Block to recover their stats before turning to the right where a large unmoving wheel containing four platforms were. Jumping down onto the bottom platform, they found a key across a gap.

"I could just use my hammer to get you across, but I don't think you'd like that," Heartsy noted.

"Yeah, that wouldn't be a good idea," Chopper agreed, though Kirby ended up catching the key in his mouth after inhaling. He spat the key over to Chopper, who managed to catch it and hold it up.

"Well, we have the key! ...Though I don't think Kirby should've eaten it."

"Poyo! (Well I didn't swallow it!)" Kirby assured. "Poyo! (Time to put that key where it belongs!)"

They jumped off the platform and landed where the star diagram was and proceeded back up the stairs to the lock. Chopper quickly put the key in its keyhole and unlocked the door, allowing them to progress.

The next room contained another staircase for them to go up, as well as a yellow ? block that contained a Life Shroom after Chopper struck it with his Spring Jump. Afterward, the seven heroes made their way up the stairs.

"Man, what is it with all of these stairs lately?" Scrub complained. "Is this palace a big fan of stairs?!"

"It almost sounds like it," Heartsy answered. "But I guess this is giving us quite a workout, huh?"

Reaching the top of the staircase, they found, once again, another staircase. The group groaned, but Chopper noticed that the ceiling had lowered in that specific section. This instantly gave him the idea to roll up in a tube with his friends and go up the small steps. This led them to an area with seven red ! blocks with a dull star above each, and there was also a Dark Wizzerd lingering around.

As the partners handled the Dark Wizzerd, Shadower reminded Chopper of the proper order to hit the blocks in, leading him to hit the first, third, fourth and sixth block. This caused all seven stars to brighten and make the room tremor.

"Wh-What's going on?" Heartsy asked, now finished with the Dark Wizzerd along with the others. When the shaking had stopped, everyone stood silent for a moment.

"I wonder what happened..." wondered Bombette. "Sounds like it's comin' from the other room!"

"Then let's go back there," suggested Vivian.

"Oh, I wouldn't be going so soon!"

Hearing that voice left everyone alarmed when they saw Mysterious rise from the shadows near the staircase.

"Bro!" Shadower gasped.

"Well well well, if it isn't my nemesis Chopper and that traitorous Shadower!" Mysterious said, giving the latter a glare. "It's such a pleasure to see you again!"

"It's you..." Chopper trailed, clenching his fists at Mysterious. "Choosing to come here alone, huh?"

Mysterious gave a smirk as Purple rose from the shadows, and to Mysterious's other side, Tipral appeared via teleportation, leaving Chopper alarmed.

"Tipral!" the Star Warrior nearly exclaimed. "...Wait, since when do you work with them?"

"Mysterious gave me an offer," Tipral explained, giving Chopper a glare. "I'm not one to work with others, but I was told it was for the better, considering that their younger brother left."

"Who told you?" Vivian asked.

"Hmph... Well it's not really any of your concern. Maybe you'll figure out if you actually live!"

Mysterious looked at both Chopper and Tipral for a quick moment. "Huh… So I see the resemblance! Anyway, after seeing you defeat those wimpy Shadow Sirens, we thought it would be nice to pay you a little visit. Purple, shadow-freak, and I will take care of you no problem! Right, boys?"

Tipral turned his head to Mysterious with an angry look. "I have a name, you know."

"I see a lot of irony in this..." Shadower trailed. "And seeing Tipral actually work with you is also strange."

"This freak is very important to our plans, and we wouldn't have gotten farther without him," Mysterious noted. "Anyway, before we get our battle started… I must say… You did a great job opening the door for us! Thank you so much for that!"

"If you were smart, you would've kept that door closed," Tipral informed. "Now you got us to finish our plan. I could even _tell _you where the Queen's Star and Princess Peach is and it wouldn't make a difference."

"No! We're not going to tell them anything, shadow-freak! Telling them where the Crystal Star is would be a BAD thing! …Or it could be a good thing! Yesss… I think we can tell you where it is, Chopper."

Seeing the grin on the leader's face unsettled Chopper a little. "I don't like where this is going..."

"Forget it, Mysterious! We don't need your help getting the Crystal Star! You're just luring us into a trap, aren't you? Sorry, bro, but we're not going to let you do something for US…" Shadower clenched his fist. "Listen… I've had enough of you and your games. It's time we put and end to this once and for all!"

"So you refuse my offer? Ah, I find that amusing!" Mysterious smirked. "You really think you can stand up to your own brother, Shadower? Very well! If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get! Let's get 'em, boys!"

Tipral clenched his fists that were surrounded in a light purple glow as he glared at Chopper. "You better be ready for this, Chopper."

**Tattle: **_That's Mysterious. You know him, and you hate him! Max HP is 40, Attack is 5, and Defense is 0. This guy can use water and a little bit of fire on you. So I suggest you watch out when he does that Tidal Wave attack. Eh… I say take him out second like before. That's my suggestion._

**Tattle: **_That's Purple, and he packs a punch, if you know what I'm saying… Max HP is 50, Attack is 7, and Defense is 0. He's got the strongest attack power, and he can boost his Attack twice like Marilyn! His Earthquake will do A LOT of he boosts his attack, but it seems like Vivian and Shadower won't be affected by it… How strange… But he's the one to take out first!_

**Tattle: **_That's Tipral. He's said to be a test for the Ultimate Life Form…and he was considered a failure due to his power. Max HP is 50, Attack is 6, and Defense is 0. He'll use his star powers to attack you and also some shadow balls, but he doesn't seem to deal a lot of damage… Hold it! If you take the others out first, he WILL go harder on you. But, he's the last one to worry about, even if he can shape-shift. _

"OK, so I'm guessing we should use the same strategy as before and take out the strongest one first - that being Purple, of course," Chopper suggested. "I'm sure it'll make the fight easier."

Chopper ran up to Purple and jumped on his head twice while performing a stylish move. This made the audience cheer more as he returned to his friends.

Shadower twirled his finger before aiming it at his opponents, causing them to get struck by his Shadow Smite. This also lowered their defense by three, despite them now having defense. Nevertheless, it only made Tipral hurl a shadow ball in Chopper's face.

"Oof!" Chopper grunted, getting knocked back slightly. Tipral crossed his arms as the boy got up, while Mysterious did not look pleased.

"Tipral! Focus on Shadower first, you twit!" the leader exclaimed. "I have a grudge against him, and he deserves to be destroy first…"

"Just because I'm on your side at the moment doesn't mean I'm going to listen to you completely," Tipral replied coldly. "Chopper's my target here, not your brother."

"Grrrrr... Fine! Purple! Get Shadower!"

Purple obeyed his brother and approached Shadower after going into the shadows. Raising his powerful arms, he brought them down on Shadower and left him knocked on the floor for a slight moment. When he returned, his brother looked pleased.

"Excellent…" Mysterious raised his arms and summoned a small wave that came down on Chopper and his friends to deal 5 damage. After shaking the water off, Chopper took action and decided to use one of his Crystal Stars on them. To make it more interesting, he used the Ruby Star.

"So you're using my star, huh? Well, let's see what you can do with it!" Tipral scoffed, while Chopper began to create a circle around his targets. Unfortunately, he was only able to circle them three times and deal only 9 damage to them.

"Crud... That was bad." Chopper frowned.

"You're not even good enough to use that star! Next time, leave the experts to use such an object!"

Chopper clenched his fists at Tipral and gave him a glare, but Vivian quickly grabbed his hands.

"Chopper, don't let him get to you..." Vivian cooed. "There's always next time..."

The boy looked back at Tipral and then at Vivian. "All right... For now, let's just finish things with them."

Bombette decided to make the next move by using her Bob-omb Blast to take 8 out of the group. Afterward, Tipral snapped his finger and tried hitting Chopper with his Star Magic, but the Star Warrior successfully guarded it and took 5 damage.

"Lucky..." Tipral murmured.

Purple made his next move by punching the ground with all his might. This caused the ground to shake violently and make things fall from the sky and hit them, causing the heroes to lose 7 HP in the process. Afterward, Mysterious created a water fist that he fired at Shadower.

"Just so you know, when I'm done with my brother, you're next, Chopper!" Mysterious hissed.

"There's not going to be a next here!" Chopper declared, jumping over Tipral in order to hit Purple. Scrub fluttered over to the purple Shadow Brother afterward and struck him with a Ground Pound, leaving him with 9 HP.

"He's almost down, Contadre!" Scrub cheered.

Chopper smiled, but he didn't notice Tipral appear in front of him and deliver a Star Punch to his face, while Purple chose to raise his Attack by 7. Mysterious created another wave that the group managed to Superguard and take no damage.

"Gah! You were lucky that time!" sneered Mysterious, while Chopper jumped on Purple and was soon finished off by Shadower's Shadow Punch. All Purple could do was let out a grunt as he fell.

"So what now, brother?" Shadower asked as he returned to his friends. "Our brother is down at the moment, and there are only two of you left."

"Oh, don't worry... Things will be all right!" the Shadow Brother leader assured before glaring at Tipral. "I want you to hit Shadower, understand?"

Tipral let out a grunt before looking away from the group as he hurled a Star Spear in their direction. It ended up hitting Shadower and making him lose 6 HP.

"Good. Now I don't have to give you much of a punishment if we lose." Mysterious appeared in front of Shadower and gave him a watery punch.

As soon as Mysterious retreated, Chopper stomped on his head to deal 6 damage, while Heartsy used her Hammerang ability to throw her hammer like a boomerang at the two. Her hammer soon returned, and she easily caught it, leaving Mysterious with 15 HP.

"Grrrgh! You annoying pest!"

Chopper managed to guard Tipral's Star Kick with ease, while Mysterious decided to fire a watery fist at Heartsy, leaving her drenched in the process. "What now, little girl? You going to complain about your wet hair?"

Heartsy gave him a look of annoyance while Chopper decided to attack both Mysterious and Tipral with his Ultra Glove attack. He started shooting ice balls rapidly at the two, which ended up dealing 6 damage to both, while Vivian gave the Shadow Brother a scorching punch.

"2 HP already?! Grrrr... Well, let's see how you like it when I do THIS!" Mysterious raised his arms and raised his defense by 2. Tipral fired another Star Spear and easily struck Chopper.

Chopper chose to get back at Tipral by striking him with his hammer. Shadower, on the other hand, decided to get up close to his brother.

"This is for the bad treatment you gave me, brother," Shadower stated, getting a shadowy fist ready.

"Would you really strike your brother down like this?!" Mysterious hissed, now exhausted. "You never know what it could do..."

"Who said anything about destroying you?" the younger Shadow Brother threw his fist and let his Shadow Punch strike Mysterious, who began to gasp as he was nearly unconscious.

"Urrgh... Heh heh heh... Not bad, Shadower... I never thought you'd manage to fight me like this. But the battle is not over yet. Finish them, Tipral..."

Mysterious soon collapsed afterward, leaving Tipral the only one standing.

"So it all comes down to this," Chopper stated, giving his enemy a glare. "It's just you and us now, Tipral."

"Very well. I'm not afraid to kill you all myself." Tipral stated, clenching one of his fists. "And I'm not going to hold back! ...Though, there is something I can tell you before settling this."

Chopper was left a bit off guard as he gave Tipral a suspicious look. "...What do you mean?"

"You remember that computer you may have ran into back in the X-Naut Fortress, right? You know, TEC-XX?"

"Yeah... He was in bad shape... But how do you know him?"

"I assumed you probably met him before leaving."

"Yeah, we did," Heartsy nodded. "How he became like that, we have no idea."

"I can give you a little hint: someone helped in deleting him."

"Well how are we supposed to..." Chopper paused for a moment before gaping. "No way... That was you?!"

"That's correct!" Tipral declared, giving them a glare. "I also managed to spill the beans to Grodus about him providing help for that princess! I think it was for the better anyway. He could have had her spill the plans to you."

"I can't believe you would do something like that..." the Star Warrior clenched his fists and glared back at Tipral. "We're going to make sure you get what you deserve!"

"We'll see about that!" Tipral quickly teleported in front of Chopper and delivered a Star Punch to his face once again. However, the Star Warrior was prepared for it and managed to guard just in time, forcing Tipral back.

"Not fast enough," Chopper smirked, managing to strike him with a fireball. Kirby used his Cartwheel on Tipral afterward to leave him with 3 HP. "Face it, Tipral. It's over!"

"Don't think just yet, Chopper... Not without going all out on you with my Star Blast!" Tipral hissed, clenching his fists to surround himself in a light purple glow. His Attack power was raised by 6 as well.

"Poyo... (I'm hoping I wasn't the one to cause that...)" Kirby trailed.

"Probably not," Chopper assured. "Anyway, he just wasted a turn doing than, and now I shall make the finishing blow!"

Chopper did a flip in the air and delivered a stomp on Tipral's head. Soon the glow around him faded, and he was starting to feel dazed before he collapsed.

"Hnurgh… How could this be...?" Tipral grunted before he passed out, allowing Chopper to receive his 48 star Points in the process.

With the three opponents now unconscious, the seven heroes were unsure of what to do.

"Well, we might as well leave them be," Scrub suggested. "Not much we can do here, right, Contadre?"

"I guess so..." Chopper trailed.

"While I do feel a little bad for hurting my brother, I believe it was for the better," Shadower stated. "Let's go, guys."

* * *

**Previous room-**

Going back to the previous room, they had discovered that the unmoving wheel they had saw before was now moving counterclockwise.

"Ahhhh... So this is what the effect was from hittin' those switches!" Bombette commented, jumping on the platform that was closest to them. "Mateys, let us forge onward!"

The rest joined her and waited for the platform to move to the right to reach a downward staircase leading to a door. There was a piece of paper that appeared to be capable of being peeled off, so Kirby ate it to reveal a large Flame Block. Another interesting thing was that a large Metal Block was standing above it.

"Poyo? (Two blocks stacked together?)" Kirby gawked. "Poyo... (Strange...)"

"Nothing my Ultra Gloves can't handle," Chopper smirked, shooting fireballs rapidly at the Flame Block and destroying it. Afterward, Chopper twisted his body and spun his Ultra Hammer at the Metal Block that landed on the floor to destroy it. Revealed under the block was a wooden X.

"Yeesh, how much stuff is supposed to be in your way?" Heartsy gawked.

"Beats me," Chopper shrugged before hitting the wooden X with his Spin Jump. He ended up falling through the hole and landing on a spring below. His partners jumped down and took notice of the yellow ? block on the floor. Hitting it with his hammer, Chopper only got a coin.

"Yarr... This block lacks treasure..." Bombette commented.

"Well we have plenty of coins, so it's no big deal," Chopper assured as he walked down to the doorway to their south. "Moving on..."

Heading through the doorway led to a room with a red carpet and a small, narrow walkway leading to a door. Below them was another spike pit.

"Well this is something new..." Shadower trailed. "But we need to be verrrry cautious here."

The group carefully walked across the narrow path. It changed directions mostly by moving north or south, but it was nothing huge. They managed to get across and over to the door, where they all sighed in relief.

"Poyo... (That was very nerve-wracking...)" Kirby sighed.

"Come on, guys! Let's not take a break now!" Chopper cried. "We must continue on!"

"Fine..." Heartsy groaned. "But if you want us to keep going, it's going to have to cost you a kiss!"

Chopper's eyes widened as he quickly backed away. Heartsy's annoyed look changed to a smile as she giggled.

"Oh, I'm just kidding! You're so gullible sometimes that it makes it cute!"

"...Moving on," Chopper decided, his face a little red. The door had led them into a much larger room, where they were at a higher point. They could see at the far end of the room was a locked door, and in the middle was a platform with a doorway. Near them, on the other hand, was a paper airplane panel. "Ooh! It's one of these! I haven't seen these in a while!"

Standing on the panel, Chopper jumped up and transformed into a paper airplane. When his friends jumped it, he glided down to the platform where the doorway was and transformed back to normal in order to go through the doorway.

"Another one of these green tiled rooms?" Scrub gawked as they entered the next room. There was a short staircase near them, but on the other hand, there was a red ! block over to their left guarded by a Chain Chomp. Heartsy easily took care of it with her Hearty Throw before they walked over to the switch.

"Hmmmmm... Judgin' by this switch, ye might need me help again!" Bombette deduced.

"Bombette, your explosion can't reach that..." Chopper trailed.

"Oh, right..."

"You can use my help, Contadre!" Scrub declared. "I'll get you there as fast as I can!"

"Hmmmmm... That's not a bad idea. Though, I really should be fast enough to reach it..."

Chopper struck the block with his fist and instantly sped over to the platform that now appeared. He managed to cross over and get the Palace Key from inside the chest.

"Awwwww... I really wanted to help." Scrub sulked.

"It's OK, Scrub..." Vivian assured. "I'm pretty sure he might need your help another time..."

"You might have a point. I did help him before, after all!"

When Chopper returned to the group, they all left the room and returned to the previous one. They decided to land on the ground to their right, but Chopper had accidentally stumbled upon a Life Shroom and Shooting Star before landing on the ground. Nevertheless, he took them and helped his friends against the Phantom Ember that attacked them.

There were more Phantom Embers in their way, but everyone decided it was pointless to fight them and chose to use the spring all the way to their left to get back to the paper airplane panel. Chopper turned into an airplane again, but rather than gliding to the platform, he landed at the locked door on the ledge.

"All right... Here we go..." Inserting the key into the lock, Chopper opened the door and slowly began to enter.

The room had led them into a very large chamber with five chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and pillars connected to the floor and ceiling. It was a very fancy room, that's for sure.

"Wow... This room is just... Wow." Chopper commented, unsure of what else to say. "Sure, the entrance to this place was nice and all, but this area is just..."

"Awesome?" Scrub finished.

"Yeah..."

"This definitely feels like the end... I remember..." Vivian trailed, feeling the air grow heavy. "We're close..."

"To the Crystal Star? Or close to Princess Peach?" Heartsy wondered.

"Both..."

"Aye! This be great news!" Bombette cheered. "So, Chopper, matey! Ye must be ready fer what's comin' up, right?"

"Of course," Chopper nodded, progressing through the large room while taking a good look at it. When they had reached the door, they found a Save Block and Heart Block. After hitting both, he approached the door and grabbed a hold of the knob.

"I guess this is it, huh?" Shadower wondered. "If this is truly the end and all..."

"Yeah... You guys ready?"

"Uh huh..." Vivian nodded.

"I'm ready for anything, Contadre!" Scrub assured.

"Poyo! (You can count me in!)" Kirby smiled.

"Yup, I'm good."

"Do I not look ready, matey?!"

"I'm ready for anything, Choppy!"

"All right..." Chopper trailed, slowly opening the door. "Then let's do this!"

Opening the door, he and his friends entered, awaiting what would be ahead.

* * *

**I can assure you that the next chapter will be pretty interesting. ;)**


	54. Grodus and Bowser: Battle After Another

Upon entering the next chamber, they were staring at a rather large staircase. Just like the previous room, it was very large, and chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling as well. The air and the silence had grown heavier through the room as well.

"Ugh… This room creeps me out, man." Scrub grimaced. "It's just…wrong. What IS this chamber?"

"I don't know... But I'm sensing that we're not alone here..." Shadower deduced.

"Then the only way to find out is going up these stairs," Chopper declared, climbing up the steep staircase. Vivian followed him, a feeling of worrying growing deep inside her.

_"Sometimes I feel like Chopper's falling into a trap…" _Vivian thought._ "I wish I could warn him about the dangers ahead…" _

When they finally climbed up the staircase, they were met with a cackle that echoed the room.

"Gaaack ack ack ack ack!"

Up ahead by a red throne was Grodus, who was looking eager to see Chopper and his friends. "So, we finally meet at long last, Chopper. I've been looking forward to this, I must admit."

"OK, so you're Grodus…" Chopper trailed, getting in a fighting stance.

"Yes… That is correct! I am the supreme leader of the secret society of X-Nauts! I am Grodus! Though, I do believe I'm getting ahead of myself. I really must express my thanks to you first…" Grodus trailed, making a few steps away from the throne he stood by. "And do you know why? You have brought me the seven original Crystal Stars that I need for my plan!"

"Oh, no..." Vivian trailed. "So that last Crystal Star on the moon... So we played into their hands..."

"Poyo? (Wait… What? You…let us get that last Crystal Star on the moon?)" Kirby gawked.

"Gaaaack ack ack ack ack! You've just realized that now, do you?" Grodus bellowed. "Yes, instead of taking the few Crystal Stars you fools had bumbled into… I thought maybe it would be far easier to let you find those seven Crystal Stars and open the Thousand-Year Door and do all the work for me! Now that you've brought them here, I can take YOUR Crystal Stars and the Queen's Star! That was a VERY nice thing of you to do for me. Oh, yes… Very nice."

"So you just basically let us get all of the stars for you. Is that it?" Chopper asked.

"Of course! And all I had to do was entrust the seventh Crystal Star to my least competent underling! I don't suppose Crump had any idea of my entire plan, though! Gaaack ack ack ack ack! So, whether he beat you or lost to you… All the Crystal Stars would be together and mine either way! Pure genius!"

"I'll admit, that was not too bad of a plan..." Heartsy trailed.

Grodus looked over at Vivian and Shadower with a glare. "Now, I thought the Shadow Sirens and Shadow Brothers would do a little more to slow your progress… But it appears that they are so useless that even this small task was beyond them… You two should have realized this by now."

"Grodus, there was definitely a reason why my sister came back to you..." Vivian trailed. "You just fail to realize their intention to informing you about those stars..."

"Well, I don't really need them anymore," Grodus stated. "The only thing I need is Princess Peach to help me gather the rest of the Crystal Stars. Then the universe shall be mine! You will all have the honor of being sent to oblivion!"

"Not if we stop you first!" Chopper declared, getting ready to attack.

"Be careful, Chopper…" Vivian warned.

"…You need Peach to conquer the universe?" Scrub gawked. "But I don't think she has anything that could help you…"

"Oh, she does…" Grodus replied, giving them a demented look. "Too bad you won't be able to witness it! Once you fools are gone, no one will stand in my way! Not even Gemerl will be stronger than me! I, Grodus, Ruler of the X-Nauts, shall rule the universe!"

"Oh no you don't! We're gonna take you down! Let's go, guys!" Chopper declared, approaching Grodus for battle. Everyone else followed him and prepared to attack.

"Now, come!" Grodus shouted, raising his scepter and creating small, green Xs called Grodus Xs to create a green barrier and send the heroes flying back.

"What in the... So he chose to shield himself..." Bombette trailed, getting up. "That scurvy..."

"This should do nicely. You can't even harm me with this on! Gaaack ack ack ack! You will all know my power!" Grodus cackled.

**Tattle: **_That's Grodus, the leader of the X-Nauts. Now you finally have the chance of taking him down! Max HP is 60, Attack is 7, and Defense is 1. He'll try to attack both of you with his lightning, and he might also try to stop time too! But I think those Grodus Xs are the main problem, being able to protect Grodus. He's bound to heal some of his HP too, so be careful. Man, he sure looks tougher than before, I'll admit._

"OK, so we need to attack all four Grodus Xs if we are to hurt Grodus…" Chopper began to think for a moment, and then he snapped his finger. "Ah-HA! Heartsy! Use your Hammerang on them! Once they're gone, I'll make my attack! If he regenerates any, we'll see what's next."

"I can definitely do that!" Heartsy smiled, getting her hammer ready. She threw it and destroyed the Grodus Xs at an instant, though it did no damage to Grodus. The barrier, on the other hand, was now shattered.

Now that Grodus was completely vulnerable, Chopper got his hammer ready and bashed the villain to deal 5 damage. Afterward, Grodus began to concentrate on a magic attack, and once his scepter began to glow yellow,he aimed it at Chopper and his friends and made lightning strike them and deal 7 damage.

"I don't play it easy like Lord Crump, you know. I will use everything I have against you!" Grodus roared, summoning two more Grodus Xs to raise his defense. "This should do nicely!"

"Well, I think I might be able to make an attack," Vivian stated, raising her finger. "I'll be able to pierce through Grodus's defense as well.

"Ooh! I like that idea you thought of! Go ahead, Vivian!" Chopper said with a smile. Vivian blushed and used her Fiery Jinx to strike Grodus and the Grodus Xs, allowing Chopper to attack next. He decided to hit Grodus with a

"So, you have the mettle to push me this far… But no more!" Grodus shouted, raising his scepter and casting a spell to stop time. Everyone managed to guard the attack with ease, disappointing Grodus. "Great... So that didn't work. No matter..."

Two more Grodus Xs appeared and raised his defense, but they were easily destroyed when Bombette ran in without any plans and attacked with a Bob-omb Blast. Sadly, because of the extra defense Grodus was given, it only did 5 damage.

"Yaarr! How could he managed to stand up to that?!" Bombette exclaimed. "Me explosions should've dealt more damage!"

"And you never knew about that? That was a very foolish attack you pulled off then!" Grodus scoffed, angering Bombette more.

"Ohhhh... I'll make sure ye don't get away with this!"

"Calm down, Bombette," Heartsy suggested. "If we act like this, we'll never win this fight! We gotta think before we make a move!"

"Uuurghh... Fine, perhaps that was stupid of me..."

Approving of this, Chopper decided to go up to Grodus and strike him with a Spin Jump, taking 6 HP out of him in the process.

"Hmmmmmm... I must admit, you people are bringing me down this fast..." Grodus pondered. "Perhaps I need to spice things up a bit!"

Raising his scepter, Grodus used his magic to recover 25 HP, leaving everyone appalled.

"Poyo! (Oh, come on!)" Kirby cried.

"That's hardly fair!" Chopper complained. "Now he almost has full health!"

"You see, I came prepared for this," Grodus grinned. "When I know I'm almost down, I use whatever I can to prevent myself from losing!"

Grimacing at the leader, Shadower attacked him with his Shadow Smite to deal 3 damage and destroy his Grodus Xs. This gave Chopper an opportunity to jump on him now that Grodus had no defense. He dealt 6 damage and brought him to 42 HP.

Grodus smirked and turned his attention to Shadower. Using his scepter, he fired an ice beam at the Shadow Brother to leave him frozen solid. Afterward, two more Grodus Xs joined him.

"That should be at least helpful," mumbled Grodus.

Vivian took action once again and used her Fiery Jinx to strike the leader and leave him with another burn. Chopper pitched in and attacked with his Spin Jump. But of course, Grodus had to target him and create a blue wave of fire that left him scorched.

"Whoa... That looked painful." Scrub cringed. "You all right, Contadre?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Chopper assured, looking back at Grodus and his Grodus Xs. "It's time I did a little something..."

He struck Grodus with his Ultra Glove ability and began to fire multiple ice balls at him and the Grodus Xs. Not only did he freeze them, but he destroyed them too while dealing only 3 damage to his opponent now that his defense was back to normal.. Kirby attacked him afterward with a Cartwheel.

"Argh! You will not stop me!" Grodus roared, striking everyone with lightning, soon following up with two more Grodus Xs. Shadower, thankfully, was thawed out, though he had taken at least 3 damage.

Heartsy made her move and threw her hammer at the three enemies, and once Chopper bashed the baddie with his hammer, Grodus was down to 9 HP.

"Don't think that will stop me!" Grodus declared, recovering 25 more HP.

"This guy doesn't learn to give up," Shadower mumbled, lowering his defense with another Shadow Smite. Chopper attacked with his Spring Jump afterward to deal 12 damage.

"19 HP already! This is great!" Chopper smiled. "Prepare to witness defeat, Grodus!"

"Oh, I don't think so..." Grodus hissed, firing an ice beam in Chopper's direction. While it did hit him, it didn't manage to freeze him, to his luck. "Grrrrr... You were lucky..."

After Vivian's Fiery Jinx did away with the two Grodus Xs, Chopper shot a fireball at Grodus and brought him down to 7 HP. His right goggle was left cracked in the process.

"Guh… Fools! You will not stop me!" Grodus raised his scepter, attempting to heal himself, but all he found were sparks. "What?! My healing magic isn't working?!"

"Well, looks like something nice is coming to us!" Chopper smiled.

"Urgh... Well, I can always do THIS!" Grodus summoned lightning and managed to strike everyone and deal 7 damage. However, that was not enough for Heartsy to use her Hammerang and destroy his Grodus Xs and leave him to 3 HP.

Chopper ran up to Grodus and jumped on him, delivering the final blow. This left his glass cranium on his head and the glass orb on his scepter cracked.

"Unhh… No…" Grodus moaned, now on his knees as Chopper received 37 Star Points, as well as a level up. Because of that, he was able to upgrade his HP to 55.

"Yeah! We totally kicked his butt!" Scrub cheered. "Not even the X-Naut leader is a match for us!"

"I'm glad that's over with," Heartsy smiled.

But before they could continue celebrating, they heard some wheezes coming from Grodus and turned their attention back to him.

"Uuuuuuunhh… _Hackptth_! You…_cough_…are more than you seem… You are…quite tougher than you look…" Grodus moaned, slowly getting himself up. "But this is not finished. I saw even this…possibility."

"Huh?" Chopper gave Grodus a look of uncertainty. "What are you planning?"

"Watch THIS!" Grodus's wand began to glow green, and by the throne, Peach was revealed to be hidden under a hidden slip of paper. She happened to be surrounded in a green, circular barrier.

"…Huh? It's this place again..." Peach moaned, slowly getting up. She took notice of Chopper and gasped. "Chopper? Is that really you?"

Chopper let out a gasp before glaring at Grodus. "Were you hiding her under there this whole time?!"

"Gaaack ack ack ack ack! Isn't that a surprise, seeing your friend was here the whole time?" Grodus smirked. He noticed Chopper and his friends approach him, but he raised his scepter. "I wouldn't try going over to her! Move one step, and she will breathe no more!"

"You wouldn't!" Vivian cried.

"That's just cruel!" Heartsy yelled.

"Now try THIS!" Grodus summoned lightning to strike Chopper and his friends, causing them to spin around and collapse. Black smoke was now steaming from them.

"Stop this right now!" Peach cried.

Chopper and his friends managed to get up, now left a bit wounded from the attack.

"Hm? I was pretty sure that that attack would've finished you all. Gaaack ack ack ack ack! Then I shall do it, AGAIN!" Grodus cast another lightning spell and managed to throw the heroes onto the floor again.

"Please! Don't do this!" Peach shouted.

"So, what'll it be, Chopper? Your life, or hers?"

"Unnghhh..." Chopper moaned, slowly getting up. _"I'm not so sure what to do at this point... Do I let Grodus take her life or ours?"_

"Contadre, I hope you're thinking over this!" Scrub wheezed. "I mean, I don't think we'll make it if we don't attack him..."

Chopper thought about it for a moment while letting out a cough of smoke. "Honestly, if I attack, I'm going to feel pretty guilty if Grodus ends up... No, I really don't want to think about it!"

"Oh, stop your blabbering!" Grodus snapped. "I think I already made my decision! This is it, Chopper! Meet your end!"

Chopper gulped, noticing Grodus raise his scepter and prepare to attack him. But just before he could cast a spell, a tremor interrupted him. Looking up, he noticed some sand coming down from the ceiling.

"Wha-WHAT?!"

"_**GWAAAAAAAR!**_"

The ceiling broke on top of Grodus, and pieces began to fall on top of him. Not only that, but a large Koopa King fell on top of him as well, leaving him flattened. Bowser's landing, however, wasn't a nice feeling, as he ended up landing on his stomach. The ceiling pieces somehow disappeared after a few seconds.

"_Ooooooooooooooooooooooog…_ _That was very painful…_" Bowser moaned.

"Bowser?" Peach gaped, which managed to catch the others' attention.

"Wait, Bowser's here?!" Chopper gasped. "How'd he suddenly get here?!"

"Bowser? You met him before, Choppy?" Heartsy asked out of curiosity.

"Yeah... I ran into him two years ago..."

"Hey! This is the same guy we ran into in the Glitz Pit!" Scrub realized. "And now he's suddenly back here?"

"Urrrgh… That was a surprise…" Bowser groaned. "I didn't think I'd fall this time… I don't know…but did I suddenly gain more weight? I'm sure the meat I've been eating was supposed to help me, not get me fatter..."

"Your Chunkiness! Are you OK?" Kammy asked, flying into the room through the ceiling thanks to her broomstick.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Bowser assured, getting up as Kammy was beside him, but he stopped when he saw Chopper facing him. "GWAAAAAAAAAAARF! Why is CHOPPER in here?! ...Oh, wait, he's going after that star. Well, it's MINE, you got that?!"

"Wait... You came here to get the Crystal Star?" Chopper gawked. "How the heck did you find out about them?"

Before Bowser could answer, Kammy looked behind her and saw Peach. "Look, Lord Bowser! Princess Peach is here as well!"

"All right, I don't know what the heck is going on here, but I'm gonna put an end to it RIGHT NOW!" Bowser declared. "Chopper! First I'm gonna pound you. Then, I take the princess! And then, the Crystal Star!"

"Man, how many enemies do you have, Choppy?" Heartsy guffawed. "I think this is unbelievable that we have to fight two MORE enemies!"

_"Thank goodness for that level up..."_ Chopper thought, getting into a fighting stance.

"Gwar har har har har har!" Bowser cackled. "What's an eighth chapter without a Bowser appearance, huh? A cruddy one, that's what! Now, hold still while I destroy you and take my Peach and the Crystal Star!"

"Chopper! You sniveling bug! This is it for you! Mweh heh heh heh heh!" Kammy cackled. "It's time I got back at you for what you did to me two years ago!"

**Tattle: **_It looks like Bowser wants to have a rematch with you after defeating him in the Gltiz Pit. I'm sure you got this battle anyways! Max HP is 70, Attack is 7, and Defense is 2. Watch out for his poisonous bite and his stomp. ALSO… Watch out for his fire and punches, because those can burn you. His shell attacks can hurt you and your partners, and he'll raise his attack up for his Dark Breath. Be careful with Bowser now, Chopper. He really means it!_

**Tattle: **_That's Kammy Koopa, one of Bowser's henchmen. She's really old for someone that's hanging with Bowser. Max HP is 50, Attack is 5, and Defense is 0. She'll usually attack you with magic, and also heal Bowser. If I were you, I would take her out first and THEN focus on Bowser._

"Then take her out first we shall," Chopper declared. "Come on, guys! Let's finish this!"

Chopper charged straight for Kammy and delivered a jump that dealt 6 damage and also knocked her off her broomstick. The old hag let out a screech as Chopper jumped away from her.

"You little brat!" Kammy snarled. "Do you not have respect for the elderly?!"

"I'll show you some respect, you crusty old hag!" Scrub smirked, fluttering over to her and delivering a Ground Pound to her head. "How's that for respect, huh?"

"I swear, he's trying to act like you," Shadower whispered, making Chopper sigh.

"Well, it's not so surprising..."

Bowser interrupted the conversation by stomping over to them and breathing fire. They all tried to guard the attack, but it was too much for them and ended up losing 7 HP in the process. Not to mention they were caught with a burn as well.

"Poyo! (We've been burned!)" Kirby cried.

"Gwar har har har har har! I sure do feel good today!" Bowser cheered as he raised his arms. "I am FEELING IT!"

"Lord Bowser! Lord Bowser! Rah! Rah! Rah! Get 'em!" Kammy cheered before she raised her wand and fired magic at Chopper, who managed to Superguard it and not take any damage. "Urrghh... It missed..."

Since he could only jump on her, Chopper struck her with his Spin Jump to deal 9 damage, while Kirby went in for a Cartwheel. This managed to send the poor old Magikoopa flying into the wall.

"Oof… Hack! How painful… I almost lost my Special Dirigible Deluxe Brown Bag Kammy Lunch for a second… I'm glad it's still here…but it may not be good now…" Kammy moaned, making her way back to Bowser.

"What took you so long, Gramma? I was waiting for you so I can squish Chopper! Speaking of that…" Bowser jumped in the air and managed to flatten Chopper. Because of that, Chopper was unable to use his Elemental Hand ability for two turns. "Gwa ha ha ha! How does that feel, Chopper?"

"Not good, thanks..." Chopper mumbled, disappointed that he couldn't use his Elemental Hand ability.

Kammy grinned as she raised her wand and raised Bowser's defense by 2 for two turns, making the heroes sweat drop. She also left the stage for a brief moment to retrieve her broomstick. Regardless, Chopper attacked her with an Ice Stomp and knocked her off her broomstick. Not to mention the attack gave her a very chilly feeling.

"Brrrr! Lord Bowser! That stomp Chopper has is very cold!" shivered Kammy.

"Like I even care, Haggy..." Bowser mumbled before noticing Bombette approaching them with a lit fuse. "Well now... What do we have here? You remind me of that pink Bob-omb two years ago when-"

Bombette's Bob-omb Blast was able to deal 4 damage ti him and bring Kammy down to 9 HP. When she returned to her comrades, she gave a very determined look.

"Now this lad's only down to 9 HP!" Bombette exclaimed. "Chopper, matey! We are very close to finishin' her off!"

Now steaming with anger, Bowser stomped over to Chopper and was about to deliver a punch, but instead, he tripped and fell over him and Bombette, flattening them in the process. Thankfully, no status ailments got to them.

As for Kammy, she cast another spell and managed to shrink the pink Bob-omb, lowering her Attack power by 2. On a more positive note, Chopper could use his Elemental Hand abilities once again.

"That'll teach you for trying to blow up on me!" Kammy growled. "Now your friend can't help you for a while, little Chopper!"

"That's not going to stop me from finishing you," Chopper smirked, leaping over Bowser and hitting Kammy with a Spin Jump. This managed to leave her collapsed on the floor.

"Urrgh... Forgive me, Lord Bowser! I have nothing left…" Kammy moaned before passing out. Now all that remained was Bowser.

Since his Defense was 4 at this point, Heartsy chose to attack him with her Hearty Throw to pierce his defense and deal 6 damage. Bowser retaliated by getting in his shell and throwing himself at Chopper and his friends to deal 7 more damage. However, by going down the staircase behind them, he ended up tumbling. Getting out of his shell, he noticed he was on his back.

"No… NO! NOOOOO! I can't get up!" Bowser cried, trying to shake his body. "Stupid spiky shell! Let me up for once!"

After struggling for a moment, he managed to get up and make a huge leap over the stairs and back to the heroes. "There. Much better! Now, let's get back to business!"

With his Defense back to 2, Chopper got his hammer ready and bashed his head with his hammer. Shadower pitched in by lowering his defense with a Shadow Punch.

"Urghh... You know, I think I have an idea!" Bowser cracked his knuckles and delivered a flaming punch to Chopper, causing him to get sent flying back toward the throne. Peach ended up letting out a gasp when she saw Chopper lying on the floor.

"Don't give up, Chopper!" Peach cried.

Chopper managed to get himself up and gave Peach a nod before returning to his friends. He decided to make things interesting by hitting Bowser's stomach with an Ice Smash. While it didn't knock him over, he ended up holding his chest in pain. Seeing Heartsy was eager to attack, he gave her a nod to make a move.

"Thanks, Choppy! I really should give you a thank-you kiss, but we're in the middle of a fight. So…" Heartsy ran up to Bowser and managed to strike his head with her Hearty Hammer. A big bump was left on Bowser's head, and he was also left a little dazed. It also left him with 40 HP.

"Oooog… I never knew girls could really hit that hard…" Bowser moaned. "What are you supposed to be, really?"

"Who? Me? Well, I'm Heartsy! I'm Chopper's girlfriend!" Heartsy declared, giving Chopper a hug. He, of course, objected, but they were soon engulfed by Bowser's fire breath.

"You honestly think I CARE?!"

Chopper was able to get out of the girl's grasps and attacked Bowser with an ice ball. Because his Defense was back to 2, it only did 4 damage. Bombette, now back to normal size, lit her fuse and did 4 more damage to the Koopa King.

"Chopper, I'm not so sure that these hits are doing much against Bowser..." Vivian trailed, noticing Bowser was standing just fine. "We should try to hit him harder..."

"No need!" Scrub shouted, noticing Bowser let out a moan of pain. "I think we're getting to him.

"OOOF!" Bowser cringed, feeling the pain from Bombette's Bomb attack. "So, Chopper… You still have some fight in you! Not bad!"

"Of course! I am a lot stronger than I was at the age of eight!" Chopper smirked.

"Well, try this on for size!" Bowser got in his shell again and ran over all seven before making a sharp turn to prevent himself from falling down the stairs. He ended up spinning around after getting out of his shell, making him perform a stylish move. This made all of the enemies in the crowd go nuts and leave the heroes gaping.

"Seriously?! How did he do that?!"

Regardless of that, Chopper launched himself in the air with his Spring Jump and stomped on Bowser's head to take 8 out of him. Vivian sank into the shadows and emerged in front of Bowser to deliver her Shade Fist, leaving him at 20 HP. Not to mention it left him with a nasty burn.

"Yo ho ho ho ho ho! So we're finally gettin' ye down now, Bowser! Ye better prepare yerself!"

"Oh, SHUT UP!" Bowser roared, which was able to wake the unconscious Grodus still lying on the floor.

"Huh…? What's going on?" Grodus took notice of the battle going on between Chopper and Bowser. Chopper ended up getting knocked down the stairs by Bowser's punch. "Yes… Go right ahead, Chopper… Focus on fighting while I take Peach to the queen herself!"

Grodus managed to get himself up and approach Peach, who gasped upon seeing the X-Naut leader.

"Gr-Grodus..." Peach trailed.

"Well now, Princess Peach… I've got something _very _special for you past this throne! Gaaack ack ack ack ack!"

* * *

**Back to the fight-**

"Ouch… That REALLY did hurt…" Chopper brushed himself and quickly went up the stairs. "All right, Bowser! It's on now!"

He had changed to his Wing ability and charged straight into Bowser's stomach, making him gasp and hold his stomach in pain. Once Kirby's Cartwheel hit him, the Koopa King was starting to become enraged.

"_**THAT'S IT! NOW I'M MAD!**_" Bowser opened his mouth and breathed a large, wave of fire that was able to  
scorch everyone and deal 9 damage to them all. They were all left covering in soot, while Bowser grinned satisfyingly. "Ahhhhh... Now that's just what I needed! How are you feeling now, Chopper?"

"I'm not finished yet..." Chopper mumbled, using his Shuttle Loop to hit Bowser and deal 6 damage. This ended up bringing him down to 4 HP. "So... Who wants to deliver the final blow?"

"I'll do it!" Bombette declared, running up to Bowser and delivering a deadly explosion that was more than enough to defeat him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! NOOOO! How could this happen?!" Bowser roared before he collapsed. With the 34 Star Points they received, it was all over.

"Finally! We took them down! Took us long enough!" Chopper sighed. "Now we can end this chapter at long last!"

Looking past Bowser, they noticed two figures missing. "Huh? Guys…? Did you see Peach, by any chance? …And what happened to Grodus?"

"I don't know... I was paying more attention to Bowser." Heartsy answered, a nervous look now appearing on her face.

"I think we were all paying more attention to him..." Vivian trailed. "Where do you think they are?"

"_**EEEEYAAAIIII!**_"

Everyone was left startled when they saw the throne up ahead toppled over and also a familiar figure walking through a doorway behind it.

"Oh, no! That's not a good sign!" Vivian cried. "Chopper! We can't let him get to the chamber up ahead!"

"Chamber? There's a chamber?"

"Yes! No time to talk! We need to go now!" With that, they walked through the doorway and found a gray tunnel with a few lit candles, as well as a chest containing an Ultra Shroom and a Heart Block. Chopper hit the Heart Block to fully recover their stats and made his way down the long staircase below. A Save Block was just at the bottom, along with a red door.

Once Chopper saved their game, the seven approached the door.

"Oh, boy... I have a bad feeling about this..." Chopper shivered. "But we can't turn back now! Peach is in trouble, and if we don't stop Grodus, something bad is bound to happen! ...And hopefully we can find the Crystal Star located here. So... Are you guys ready?"

"I'm with you, Chopper," Vivian nodded.

"You bet I am, Contadre!" Scrub replied while fist pumping.

"Poyo! (We're ready for this!)" Kirby declared.

"Yes, I am," Shadower answered.

"Arrr! What else? I be ready fer this one!" Bombette assured.

"I'm definitely ready, Choppy! No matter how creepy it is, we're not turning back!" Heartsy exclaimed.

Chopper smiled at his friends, and then he turned back to the door with a serious look. "…Then let's go!"

Opening the door, the heroes rushed through, hoping they weren't too late to stop Grodus.

* * *

**Sure, this chapter was pretty cool and all... But I think the boss chapter is even better! It's also one of the longest boss chapters, and for a good reason!  
**


	55. Shadow Queen: Fight for the Queen's Star

Chopper and his friends had entered the next room, and the first thing they were greeted with was Peach screaming, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

The room, while not as large as the room where Grodus, Bowser and Kammy were fought, was big on its own. A long, red rug led up to where Grodus and Peach were and ended at a blue coffin. The tiles on the floor were also a similar color to the coffin, but what surprised the heroes the most were the amount of candles lit in the room.

"Stop right there, Grodus!" Chopper shouted, pointing at the X-Naut leader. "You will NOT be causing any havoc today! Your plan ends here!"

"I'm afraid my plans will not be ending here!" Grodus cackled. "You're already too late, Chopper!"

"Oh, jeepers..." Scrub gulped. "Then what do you plan on doing then?"

"Gaack ack ack! You see this coffin here? Inside is the soul of an ancient demon, the wielder of destruction… The demon's remaining soul will possess Peach…and bring life to the most powerful witch in millennia! And to make things even better, the Queen's Star is in here as well! It's over for you, Chopper!"

"What? You're going to…have Peach get possessed?" Chopper gasped. "But… Why? Why would you want her to be possessed? She's done nothing wrong!"

"And that makes my plans much easier when one cannot do much against me! That's why Princess Peach is the perfect vessel for this queen!"

"But there's a big mistake here..." Vivian trailed. "You know that this plan won't work! You tried this before, and that only led you to becoming a head!"

"Gaack ack ack! You thought I wouldn't be prepared for that?" Grodus smirked. "My newer body TEC constructed me has been modified to resist such powers from a demon! Therefore, I will not be stopped, and she WILL obey me!"

"C-Chopper… I'm so s-sorry…" Peach moaned, slowly looking up at the heroes. "I'm sorry that I got you involved in this… This is clearly all my fault…"

"Don't blame yourself, Peach..." Chopper trailed. "I don't think this was something we were all expecting..."

"Gaaaack ack ack ack ack! With the power of the demon, I will truly rule this world and all others!" Grodus exclaimed. "The time has come at last! The world will be mine! A little boy such as you will not stand a chance! The time has now come! Arise now, my Shadow Queen, and destroy all that's around!"

Grodus turned to the coffin and used his scepter's magic on it, causing bright flashes to emit from the room. Soon all the candles were put out and replaced with black flames, and the room began to get much dimmer. The coffin emitted a flash, and its lid began to slide off on its own, making a green glow emit from inside.

All Chopper and his friends could do was gape as a large, black tornado came from the coffin.

"Poyo! (This is unbelievable!)" Kirby gasped.

However, rather than a soul of a demon rising from the coffin, a strange, black mist came out instead. Soon the black tornado disappeared, and the heroes stared at the mist in disappointment, with the exception of Vivian.

"…That's your demon? It's just a black mist!" Chopper guffawed. "All this time we were worrying about something like THAT?! And I don't see any Queen's Star either!"

"Yarr... Well this be a bit of a disappointment..." Bombette trailed. "Me mateys an' I were expectin' somethin'...scarier."

However, Grodus remained silent and looked up at the black mist.

* * *

**Glitz Pit-**

"Get ready to… _**BRAAAWL!**_" Jolene shouted as the gong echoed in the arena. Rawk Hawk and a green Yoshi named Gonzales Jr. were about to go head-on with each other, with both of them charging at each other.

"All right!" Gonzales Jr. cheered. "I can't believe I'm about to face off against the champ! Aw, yeah!"

However, before the two fighters could land a single blow on each other, the room began to darken. Looking above, the fighters, Jolene and the audience noticed the sky was starting to darken.

"Wh-What? What's going on here?! The sky's preventing me from RAAAAAWKING!" Rawk Hawk guffawed as the audience left the pit to check outside. Both he and Gonzales Jr. decided to go outside and check too.

"What? That's not cool! The sky's turned dark!" Gonzales Jr. gaped until he paused for a moment. "Hold on… Don't tell me the Shadow Queen's back again…"

* * *

**Shadow Queen's Chamber-**

_**"****At last! I have arisen!" **_the dark mist cackled._** "Now, who is the one that has called me back?" **_

"So it's able to talk..." Heartsy trailed. "That voice sounds very unsettling..."

"Yeah, and I don't think I've ever heard this queen's voice before," Shadower added.

"It is I, my Shadow Queen," Grodus answered, making the dark mist look down at him. "I've even gotten the vessel for you so you may return to what you once were!"

_**"****The vessel? You mean this helpless girl below me?" **_the dark mist looked down at Peach with an approving look._** "Yesss… Now this kind of vessel is something I can take… I'm glad to be possessing something...familiar. Now, then…"**_

The dark mist began to float down to the defenseless princess, causing the heroes to take action and run toward her. However, Grodus was able to use whatever energy he had left to hold them back with a barrier, causing them to get knocked back.

"Oh, no! Peach!" Chopper cried, seeing the dark mist enter Peach's body and causing a bright flash, blinding everyone in the room.

* * *

**?-**

Gemerl exploring a world where a sunset once stood until the darkness came, but soon the ground began to shake around him. He nearly lost his balance, but he was able to hold himself together and progress onward.

"This shaking... Is there an earthquake? And why is the sky suddenly dark? This is something that should be done by ME!"

Soon the shaking stopped, and Gemerl was able to remain calm. "Hmmmmm... Now that was very interesting. That shaking was not very long... I wonder what might've caused it."

The Gizoid pondered for a moment before his eyes flashed purple. "Hold on… I think I know now… The great cataclysm has arisen. So those legends were true... However, it should be me who is controlling this power! I swear I'll eradicate whoever brought that demon back to life! ...Actually, that might not be a good idea at this moment. I must find the Crystal Star that's in **Sunset Hill**."

Gemerl lifted off the ground with the help of his jetpack and blasted off through the grassy, beach-like area.

* * *

**Somewhere else in the Palace of Shadow-**

The real Professor Frankly had made his way into the Palace of Shadow and was near the door leading to the torch puzzle. However, he soon stopped when he felt the shaking stop.

"Oh, no... Has the dark power finally awaken after five months?" Frankly gasped. "This can't be! This is unthinkable!"

* * *

**Shadow Queen's Chamber-**

After one final flash, everyone could finally see the horror that had awakened from the black mist. Instead of the beautiful, innocent Princess Peach, she had transformed into Shadow Peach. Rather than a pink dress, hers was black, and her blonde hair was hidden behind a pointy cape with a white trim. The blue jewel on her dress was now red, and her earrings had become red too. The jewels on her crown were also a bright red. Along with that, her skin had become cold and pale.

"P-Peach... Is that really you...?" Chopper gasped as he saw the horror that was Shadow Peach.

_**"****Muh huh huh huh… Finally… I have returned!" **_Shadow Peach cackled._** "Unfortunately, my soul isn't yet fully accustomed to this vessel after being nothing but a dark wisp for five months. But I'm sure I'll be able to get accustomed to this. But, for now, you may all bow down to me."**_

"Gaaack ack ack ack ack! Now that you have arisen, you may destroy those impudent fools and help me gather the rest of the Crystal Stars!" Grodus declared.

Shadow Peach gave Grodus a cold glare._** "****Who**** are you that would command me? I am the Shadow Queen! If anyone's going to be listening to me, it would be you! Why would I honestly help a lower-class villain get those Crystal Stars?"**_

"Uh oh... This doesn't sound good." Chopper gulped.

"Huh? What? LOWER-CLASS?! I resurrected you and THIS is how you repay me? So be it! I might as well send you back to your little coffin right now." Grodus hissed, gripping his scepter as he saw Shadow Peach's eyes turn red. _"There's no way I'm going to let this witch obliterate me! I don't have much energy left, but I believe I can use one more spell!"_

As soon as Shadow Peach's eyes flashed, Grodus managed to use his spell in time to instantly disappear from the room once the queen's spell nearly hit him.

"Oh… Oh my gosh… Grodus was obliterated entirely by Peach…er, Shadow Peach!" Chopper gaped. "And she didn't even have to move!"

"Poyo... (Not good...)" Kirby trailed.

_**"****Muh huh huh huh… He should learn his proper place. NOBODY can command me…" **_declared Shadow Peach._** "Hmmmmm... It doesn't seem like my powers are fully restored, but I think in time, they shall. I never knew how great it would feel to do that!"  
**_

"My queen!"

The Shadow Sirens, Doopliss, the Shadow Brothers and Tipral made their appearance in the room, with the Shadow Sirens and Brothers looking very pleased.

"You have returned to us at long last, Your Majesty!" Mysterious grinned, bowing down to Shadow Peach, just like his brother and the two sirens. Doopliss and Tipral, however, did not.

_**"****Ah, Beldam and Mysterious… It's been a while since we saw each other, has it not?" **_Shadow Peach pondered._** "Ages have passed for you, Mysterious. So you are the ones responsible for calling me back, yesss?" **_

"Yes, we were responsible for that," Tipral nodded, speaking coldly. "We got that fool to open the coffin, and we also managed to convince him to bring that girl here too. We also managed to get the Thousand-Year Door open with a little help. Are you happy now?"

"I can assure you that the queen is very pleased," Beldam noted.

**"**_**Ah, yesss, Tipral… You and the others know your duties well. I am proud of you. In fact, it's very nice to finally set my eyes on you."  
**_

"Huh? What do you mean by being proud of me?" Tipral asked, giving the queen a glare. "Tell me this instant!"

"You never knew? How else would you have been created in that space station a thousand years ago?"

Tipral continued to glare at the queen until he thought about it and paused. "No... It can't be... But how could you be...?"

_**"I guess the scientists never gave you the news," **_Shadow Peach grinned._** "Or maybe you killed them, did you not? Yesss... That would have been something I would've done. But you were indeed created from my DNA, along with your father's. But I believe you went missing, yesss?"  
**_

"What happened during my life is none of your business. It's something I'd rather not discuss..._Mother,_" Tipral spat, being a bit cold from that last word.

"No way... This queen is Tipral's mother..." Chopper gasped.

Shadow Peach turned her attention to Chopper and his friends. _**"…And who are these beings that stand before me?" **_

"Oh, they are of no use!" Beldam assured. "However, we can let you dispose of them if you wish!"

_**"…Hold on a second. I recognize that face from somewhere." **_Shadow Peach said, taking a look at Chopper.

"Huh? What do you mean? How would you KNOW me?!" Chopper asked.

_**"****Yesss… I DO recognize that face! You look just like that blonde boy that tried to fight against me near the Thousand-Year Door. Though, you only have two antennas compared to the boy's blonde hair.  
**_

"Look, shadow lady, you might be mistaking me for someone else! We're... We're here to stop you!"

Chopper and his friends got in a fighting stance, though Shadow Peach could easily see the fear in their faces.

_**"****You fools really believe you can face me? Just look at the fear in your eyes! You probably never met someone as evil as me! However, I do believe you people might be of some use. If you all become my faithful servants, I promise not to harm you."  
**_

"Chopper, you really wouldn't say yes to her, would you?" Vivian asked with a worried expression.

"Poyo! (Refuse this witch, Chopper!)" Kirby cried.

"Why would I ever want to join someone as evil as yourself?" Chopper asked, glaring at Shadow Peach. "You possessed my friend, who I came to help! I also came here for the Queen's Star!"

_**"****Queen's Star, you say? You wouldn't be talking about this, would you?" **_Shadow Peach raised her arms and held up a purple Crystal Star, causing the group to gasp. _**"I must admit, this has helped me stay as a black mist. If it weren't for this, my soul may have truly perished."**_

"Arr, I say! She has the Crystal Star!" Bombette gaped as Shadow Peach let it absorb back into herself.

_**"****But, I WAS considering helping you find those Crystal Stars you so dearly need if you joined me. But, seeing as you refused my offer, I think you wretched fools shall learn the error of your ways!"  
**_

Her eyes turned red, and with a single flash, lightning began to come down on the heroes...

...Only to have it blocked.

"What the..." Chopper noticed he was unharmed by Shadow Peach's spell, but he ended up gaping when he saw who was now behind him. "Meta Knight?!"

"Wait... What in the world?!" Scrub gaped. "What's this guy doing here?!"

Sword and Blade Knight landed on the ground as well to join him.

_**"****Hmmm? What's this now? Are my eyes deceiving me or am I seeing someone that reminds me of that one warrior who tried to destroy me." **_Shadow Peach looked down at Meta Knight's Sword._** "Yesss… That sword seems to be the one that reminds me of him…"**_

"My sword was passed down to me by many of my ancestors," Meta Knight explained. "And I plan to stop you with it!"

"Meta Knight? What are you doing here? In fact, HOW did you get here?" Chopper asked.

"You didn't listen to my warnings, Chopper. This is many of the results that can happen because of the Crystal Stars. And how I got here is the least of your concerns. Right now we have to get rid of this demon before she can cause more havoc!"

"We'll take it from here, guys," Blade assured. "We have everything planned for this battle!"

"Wait... So we're not going to be fighting this witch?" Heartsy groaned. "Well that's disappointing... Though, Maybe it's best we let them handle this..."

"You guys find someplace safe. This could be a little dangerous…" Sword Knight suggested as he got his sword ready and glared at Shadow Peach. "You're going down, witch!"

Sword made the first move and charged at Shadow Peach. However, each time he swung, she was able to easily dodge the attacks and struck him with dark lightning. While it wasn't as deadly as the one she tried obliterating Grodus with, it was enough to send him flying back to the heroes and leave him injured.

"Sword!" Blade turned to Shadow Peach and gripped his sword tightly. "Now it's personal!"

He lunged at the witched, hoping to at least stab her. The attack was easily dodged, allowing Shadow Peach to strike him with lightning and send him flying back. However, Blade was far from finished.

"I'm not going down so easily!" Blade jumped out of the way of another lightning attack and fired a Sword Beam. Shadow Peach deflected it back at him, sending him flying to the wall. Meta Knight jumped in and was ready to strike Shadow Peach, but she saw it coming and moved back.

"Meta Knight! Don't try to hurt her! She's possessing a princess!" Vivian called out.

"She won't be harmed when she's back to normal. I can assure you that." Meta Knight said as he flew up and brought his sword down. Shadow Peach stepped out of the way and summoned a purple demon hand.

"Huh?" Meta Knight turned around and he got smacked away by the hand, making his sword get stuck on the floor. He eventually became unconscious when he hit the floor, just like Sword and Blade Knight had become.

_**"****Muh huh huh huh huh… They do not stand against me…" **_Shadow Peach grinned, now turning to the heroes._** "Now that they're out of the way, I can focus my attention on you seven!"  
**_

"All right, bring it on, witch!" Chopper declared, now approaching the queen.

_**"You honestly believe a little child such as yourself can take me? You are very foolish to oppose me. Yesss...and that foolishness...will have to be punished..."**_

**Tattle: **_Omigosh, I can't believe Peach just got possessed! That's AWFUL! Now she has become Shadow Queen. The demon that destroyed this town 1,000 years ago and tried to destroy this world five months ago. Max HP is 150, Attack is 8, and Defense is 0. She'll unleash big lightning attacks. She'll also use magic to raise Attack and Defense, or to absorb HP... She might even try to drag you all into darkness... But, just the thought of attacking Peach... I really feel sorry for you guys, but I feel like it's the only way to win. You guys can do your best, I know that!_

"150 HP?! This isn't good..." Chopper gulped before giving a determined look. "But we have to fight her, no matter what!"

"Listen, Chopper, I will follow you to the end, I swear it!" Vivian assured. "I feel bad that we are fighting Peach, but we have to stop the queen! And when she does, you and I can… Well, anyway, let's take the fight to her!"

"Poyo! (Then let's get started!)" Kirby suggested.

"All right, then! I think I know how to start this!" Chopper opened his hand to summon an ice ball and ran toward Shadow Peach to toss it at her. She ended up cringing as she took 6 damage.

_**"****Gah! Foolish boy! You shouldn't have done that…" **_Shadow Peach hissed.

Vivian sunk into the shadows and appeared in front of Shadow Peach, giving her a good fiery punch, which left her with a nasty burn. However, this certainly did not make her happy. Shadow Peach raised her arms and dark lightning struck Vivian.

_**"****For defying your queen, I shall destroy you as well, Vivian! Joining him? For shame!" **_Shadow Peach scoffed. _**"I expected better from you, considering that you would have been the next Shadow Queen!"**_

"Me? The next queen?" Vivian gaped. "Well... It's too late for that now! I've already chosen my own path, and that's with Chopper!"

_**"You brat! When I rule this world again, I'll send you to the deepest depths of the Pit of 100 Trials!"**_

Chopper suggested using powerful attacks to take her down, so he launched himself up high with his Spring Jump and delivered a powerful stomp on Shadow Peach to deal 12 damage. Scrub couldn't help but smirk.

"Awesome job, Contadre! Now it's my turn!" Scrub fluttered over to Shadow Peach and made her cringe with his Ground Pound. She grit her teeth and glared at Chopper. Raising her arms, Shadow Peach managed to boost her Attack and Defense by 3. She was also struck by Vivian's burn before wearing off, leaving her at 130 HP.

"Why do I get a feeling that she reminds me of Maquano somewhat with that ability? Ehhh... I don't think that's important. We still gotta focus on taking her down!" Chopper managed to take 5 out of Shadow Peach with the help of his Power Smash. Kirby floated above Shadow Peach and he came down on her as a stone to deal 5 more damage.

"You... I think I have an idea for you!" Shadow Peach snickered as a transparent spirit surrounded her and summoned a couple of purple hands called Dead Hands. They grabbed a hold of Kirby and dragged him into the shadows, causing a lot of harm to him and dealing 18 damage. Once he emerged, everyone noticed how beaten he was.

"Are you OK, Kirby?" Heartsy asked.

"Poyo... (I've...been through worse...)" Kirby wheezed. "Poyo. (But I'm not done yet.)"

"Well, now we know the dangers of this witch," Chopper realized. "We better be fast."

Shadower decided to make the first move and delivered a Shadow Punch to the queen. While it only dealt 3 damage, it was able to lower her defense to 0, giving Chopper a chance to deal 6 damage to her with his Jump attack.

Shadow Peach hissed as her eyes flashed red and zapped Chopper with more dark lightning. However, this dealt 11 damage. **_"Muh huh huh huh... So how does that feel, little boy?!"_**

Chopper responded by launching himself into the air again and striking Shadow Peach with a Spring Jump. The Shadow Sirens and Brothers couldn't help but cringe at the painful attack.

"My queen! We must help you!" Beldam suggested.

"It's the only way that you'll win!" Mysterious called as well, getting ready to approach Chopper. However, Shadow Peach raised her arm as a gesture to stop.

_**"****No… You will not help." **_Shadow Peach stated coldly._** "I would like to personally handle these seven myself…"**_

"Then bring it!" Bombette exclaimed, running straight at Shadow Peach and leaving off an explosion. Using her magic to eliminate any ash left on her, an idea suddenly sparked in her mind.

_**"****Hmmm… Maybe if I possess one of your friends into helping me…" **_Shadow Peach grinned, looking at Chopper's friends. She eventually turned her attention to Heartsy. _**"Yesss... I think you might be of good use! I already have a good idea in store for you!"**_

"Wait, WHAT?! Not a chance!" Heartsy hissed, gripping her hammer. "I will NEVER help someone like you, especially since you possessed someone!"

Shadow Peach simply ignored her as her transparent spirit appeared again, and rather than attacking, a large, purple hand appeared before Heartsy and managed to grab her. She tried fighting the hand, but it was hardly enough to stop the hand. Soon, dark smoke surrounded her, and once it was clear, her appearance, just like Shadow Peach, was much different.

_**"What's wrong? Are you all surprised?"**_ Shadow Heartsy grinned, leaving the others frightened. Rather than her reddish hot pink hair, it had changed black, along with her dress and boots. Her reddish pink skin had changed to a cold, pale pink. Two, black devilish horns were sticking out from her hair as well.

"What have you done to Heartsy?!" Chopper cried, looking down at the girl now approaching him.

"I didn't know the queen could managed to possess others..." Vivian trailed.

_**"**_**_What's the matter, Choppy? You look so frightened." _**Shadow Heartsy smiled devilishly.**_ "You know, I've got a little idea of what to do with you! It just requires your friends to get out of the way!"  
_**

"Stop it, Heartsy! Look, I know that you're possessed and all, but don't listen to the Shadow Queen! She's evil!" Chopper cried.

Taking out her black Hearty Hammer, Shadow Heartsy threw it like a boomerang at each of Chopper's party members, knowing them down in the process. Shadow Peach couldn't help but be pleased.

_**"Hee hee... I'm not finished yet!" **_Shadow Heartsy gave Chopper a little wink. _**"You know, Choppy... You may be cute, but I think you could look a lot better. Maybe I can help you!"  
**_

Unsure of how respond, Chopper soon found Shadow Heartsy's lips on his cheeks. However, rather than being usually harmless (except when it comes to Chopper), his face soon began to feel much paler, and he also felt a bit sickened.

"Wh-What did you do?!" Chopper wheezed, wiping the kiss.

_**"Don't you like it? It's a special kiss that will drain the life out of you! I saved it just for you!"**_

_**"Grrrrr... This isn't what I was hoping for! I'm done with you!" **_Shadow Peach hissed, releasing Heartsy from her possession and turning her back to normal. _**"I was hoping for something a little better than a little poison... Well, it should help me wipe these fools out!"**_

With Heartsy left dazed, she finally regained her conscience and noticed Chopper was poisoned. "What the... What happened to you?"

"You...poisoned me," Chopper coughed. "That queen possessed you and made you poison me with a kiss..."

"What?!" Heartsy gaped. "That's AWFUL! I didn't want my affection to harm you in any way! She is going to pay all right..."

Thankfully, since Shadow Peach's attack and defense boost were gone, Heartsy was able to land a blow to her head thanks to her Hearty Hammer. Chopper slowly made her way to her and attacked her with a fireball, leaving her burned in the process.

Smirking, Shadow Peach let her lightning spell hit Chopper, while he ended up taking damage from the poison. However, that didn't stop him from hitting her with his hammer, and once Vivian used her Shade Fist on the witch, she was down to 68 HP.

"Wow... We're..._cough_...more than halfway done with her!" Chopper smiled weakly.

"I'm really sorry for that poison..." Heartsy trailed worriedly. "Just hang in there, Choppy..."

_**"****Urgh… You ungrateful little..." **_Shadow Peach cringed, noticing her strength getting weaker. However, an idea soon struck her mind once again._** "Hmmm… I will admit, you all are putting up a great fight. You foolish beings are not as weak as I predicted, so maybe you are less useless than you appear. Perhaps it's because I'm not too accustomed to this body... Yesss... It just feels too unfamiliar to me. Let me assume my true form and show you real power…"**_

"_Wheeze_… What is she doing?" Chopper asked.

Shadow Peach soon lifted off the ground as she was surrounded in a dark tornado. A purple shadowy demon wearing a large, golden crown with red violet jewels embedded in them and long, lavender curly hair had appeared before them. With the small little stars on her hair and body, it almost looked like they were staring in space. Two disembodied hands had appeared too with black smoke underneath them. Her body appeared to move in the way of a small twister, and inside was Shadow Peach, along with the Queen's Star absorbed in her body.

"There's the Crystal Star right there!" Vivian shouted.

_**"****Ah, yes… This feels much better." **_the Shadow Queen grinned._** "I'm much more used to this body than that girl's. You see, in this form, your attacks are like those of a child to me… You are lucky that you've managed to bring me this far, but now you will perish with the honor of having seen true terror and power! Muh huh huh huh huh huh!"**_

"That's..._cough_... That's what the Shadow Queen looks like?!" Chopper gasped. "Oh my gosh... That really DOES look more like..._wheeze_...a queen..."

"She also looks kind of like Vivian too, Contadre!" Scrub added.

"Yeah... Well, as creepy as she may look, there's no way I'm going..._cough_...to let that stop me!" Despite the poison harming him, Chopper charged straight at the Shadow Queen and attempted to land a stomp on her. But to his surprise, she hardly flinched. "Wh-What? That didn't do anything!"

"You serious?" Scrub fluttered up to the queen next and tried hitting her with a Ground Pound. "No way! Our attacks are doing nothing!"

_**"****Muh huh huh huh huh huh! Is that your idea of an attack? Foolish…" **_the Shadow Queen cackled, using her two hands to absorb 8 HP from both Chopper and Scrub. She also added in some lightning that hit Chopper.

"Oh, boy… With Chopper being poisoned, and us unable to attack her… This is NOT good…" Shadower trailed.

Chopper tried bashing the queen with his hammer, but not even that left the Shadow Queen scathed. Heartsy tried the same thing, and the same thing had happened.

"Seriously? Being invulnerable is hardly fair!" Heartsy frowned.

_**"****Muh huh huh huh huh… Now, taste my power!" **_Opening her mouth, the Shadow Queen exhaled a small amount of her toxic breath that left most of the group dizzy.

"Poyo... (Now we're getting out butts kicked...)" Kirby moaned, attempting to hit her with a Cartwheel, only to miss. Chopper even tried freezing her, but it was all fruitless.

"I don't understand..." Chopper wheezed. "We were this far, and now we can't do a thing to her!"

_**"****Hmmm… What a troublesome little pest you are. I didn't expect you to still be standing after being poisoned. I will admit, you are a lot tougher than that blonde boy that reminds me of you… Muh huh huh huh huh…"**_

The Shadow Queen's hands disappeared and were replaced with an army of Dead Hands that had dragged Kirby into the shadows. However, rather than attacking them, the hands went into the shadows and reappeared in the audience. The heroes watched in horror as they heard the audience screams before they were dragged into the shadows. The Dead Hands had appeared back by the Shadow Queen, except now she had fully recovered.

"What the…! WHAT was that?!" Chopper gaped.

"That was terrible!" Heartsy cried.

_**"****Yesss… I have recovered from any slight damage you may have caused earlier… And now…I will punish you for your resistance…"**_

"Uh, Chopper, what'll we do? We could be done for…" Vivian trailed, looking up at the Shadow Queen that now towered over them.

"Unghh... We can try to hang in there..." Chopper wheezed.

_**"Look at you all**** suffering. You can't even put up a fight! I guess you are just like the other fools that had tried to oppose me..." **_the Shadow Queen trailed._** "However, I will let you live you all live if you choose to now serve me. If so, perhaps I will forgive you for this..." **_

"Not a chance..." Chopper coughed. "You possessed a friend of mine, and I cannot forgive you for something like that! I'd rather die than join you!"

"Yeah!" Scrub stepped in. "I'm with Contadre on this!"

_**"****Then… I shall make you suffer! All of you will suffer! I'll start with you, little boy!" **_the Shadow Queen grabbed Chopper and began to squeeze the life out of him. No matter how hard Chopper tried to fight, he could not with the poison. _**"Yesss... Fight all you want! In the end, your death will only become more painful!"**_

Sword and Blade Knight slowly got up from their conscience and saw the Shadow Queen squeezing the life out of Chopper.

"Oh, no... This isn't good..." Sword gulped. "That witch's squeezing the life out of him! Blade, we've gotta do something, and FAST! 'Cause Chopper might die!"

"Even if we tried helping, our efforts wouldn't do much," Blade stated. "She's unstoppable in her true form, and not even our swords can do a thing. ...Wait, perhaps Sir Meta Knight can help!"

They turned to the unconscious Meta Knight. Knowing what they had to do, they tried to shake their master in order to get him up. Meanwhile, Chopper's friends watched in horror as Chopper was getting paler and paler by the minute.

"No… Please don't do this!" Vivian cried.

_**"****Muh huh huh huh huh! I'm sorry, Vivian, but I believe this is for the better. By letting him live, he could possibly alter some of my plans. Besides, why do you care for him so much? Do you possibly love this boy?"**_

"Well, um… Uh…" Vivian shyly stepped back, unsure of how to answer that. _"If only I could help Chopper..."_

"You can't kill Contadre, you evil witch!" Scrub cried, now attempting to punch the Shadow Queen with all his might. She used her free hand to flick him away, but that did not stop him from attacking. "If it weren't for Contadre, I wouldn't be here! I pretty much owe my LIFE to him!"

Heartsy eventually joined in and began to bash at the queen with her hammer. "And Chopper and I had been friends ever since we were two! He was one of the first friends I had, and he was the first one I ever loved! What you're doing is unacceptable!"

_**"Fools... You cannot save your precious friend! Once I'm done with him, you're all next!"**_ the Shadow Queen hissed.

"Meta Knight! C'mon! You need to get up!" Sword cried, shaking Meta Knight a little more violently. He looked back at how Chopper was suffering and then at Beldam, who was cackling.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! With Chopper gone, we shall get…" Beldam paused when she realized something. "My queen! Stop! We can't _kill_ him! As much as you want him dead, we can't actually kill him."

_**"****Beldam, stay quiet for the moment," **_the Shadow Queen ordered. _**"This fool cannot get in the way of out plans! And for that, he must die!"**_

Not only were Scrub and Heartsy bashing away at the queen, but the rest of Chopper's friends eventually joined in. They were eventually driven back by a small, dark wave the queen summoned.

_**"You fools never learn... It's all over for you!"**_

_"Oh, man... This is bad. Real bad..."_ Sword thought, turning his attention back to Meta Knight. "C'mon, sir! You're not a heavy sleeper!"

"Wake up, dang it!" Blade cried.

"Unnh…" Meta Knight's dull yellow eyes became bright as he slowly got up. "Sword? Blade?"

"Sir Meta Knight! You're OK!" Sword cheered. "But, no time for group hugs at the moment. We're in some SERIOUS trouble here!"

"Sword, I'll handle this. You always screw us up most of the time." Blade noted before turning to his master. "Sir, Chopper is in trouble, and we don't know WHAT to do…"

Meta Knight looked at the cackling queen, and then he saw Chopper in the darkness of her hand. "…This isn't good. Clearly nothing can work on her. However… I think I might know the key to break her invincibility."

He rushed over to the queen and looked up at Chopper. "Chopper! You must bring out the seven Crystal Stars! It is the only thing that can counter her power!"

Hearing what Meta Knight had said, Chopper closed his eyes and tried to summon the Crystal Stars. Soon a bright light emitted from Chopper, causing pain in the Shadow Queen's hands.

_**"****What… What is this? AGGH!" **_the Shadow Queen screamed as the darkness around Chopper was destroyed, freeing him in the process. Now a bright light with the colors of the Crystal Stars had surrounded him.

"You… You will NOT cause havoc or kill my friends!" Chopper said as he floated down. The Shadow Queen hissed and tried to grab him again, but Chopper managed to kick it away and land a jump on the queen. While it didn't physically harm her, a bright light soon enveloped her.

_**"****Urghh... What... What did you do to me?!" **_the Shadow Queen roared. Soon, flashing lights started to emit from her, and with one last flash, the Shadow Queen felt as if a barrier from within her had been completely shattered.

_"Chopper…" _

"Yar? That voice! Could that be Princess Peach?" Bombette gawked, looking up at Shadow Peach. Everyone else looked up as well and saw a spirit of Peach from within her possessed body.

_"Chopper… I…"_

_**"****Wh-What? You wretched little girl! You disobey me?!"**_

_"Chopper… Take… Take the last of my power…" _Peach made Shadow Peach raise her arms and completely revitalize Chopper and his friends. Not only that, but their status ailments, particularly the poison status, was gone.

"I... I feel so much better!" Chopper gasped, his skin now back to a pale green. "I don't believe it..."

"It's so good to see that you're fine…" Vivian smiled.

_**"****You brat! Obey me, girl!"**_

_"Farewell…Chopper… I…believe…in you…" _Peach's trailed as her voice faded, along with her spirit.

"NO! PEACH!" Chopper cried.

"Chopper, before you fight..." Meta Knight approached Chopper while holding out his sword. "I once heard that this weapon was used to fight against the Shadow Queen a thousand years ago. If the legends are true, then this sword might help you defeat her. I would fight, but I'm not exactly in the best shape for that, so I trust my sword upon you."

Chopper looked down at Galaxia and took it with a smile. "Thanks, Meta Knight. I'll make sure I return this in one piece."

Dropping the sword in his mouth, he had regained his green floppy hat, except now he was carrying Meta Knight's sword in his hand rather than a normal one.

_**"****GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Very cunning, Princess!" **_the Shadow Queen roared._** "But you foolish mortals will not undo me! Know me as your queen!" **_

With that, Chopper and his friends charged straight at the queen.

"Chopper! This is our moment! We're almost there!" Vivian cried.

_**"****Enough prattle! This ends now!"**_

**Tattle: **_Eeek! Now THAT is a demon right there! Boy, she looks mad! Max HP is 150, Attack is 8, and Defense is 1. Since you can now hurt her, you should give her everything you got! She can attack three times if her hands are out, so you REALLY want to be careful. Try to attack her with moves that can attack all enemies. If she raises her attack, use Vivian to hide in the shadows. This is it, Chopper! It's either you get the Queen's Star or it's all over!_

"Hmmmmm... Well, I think I have an idea of how to start things!" Chopper smirked, pulling out a Shooting Star. "Let's see if this actually works!"

Throwing the item into the air, shooting stars began to rain down from above on the Shadow Queen. She ended up taking 6 damage, leading to her hands getting destroyed as well.

"Poyo... (Well we have her and her hands to worry about... This might be annoying...)" Kirby trailed.

Vivian made her next move and went into the shadows. Once she emerged in front of the Shadow Queen, she delivered a flaming punch that left her gaping.

_**"****Wh-What… H-How is it that you can hurt me?!" **_The Shadow Queen gasped.

"Ah-HA! Now we're even! Prepare to suffer, queen! Chopper smirked.

**"**_**Fooooooooools!" **_

The Shadow Queen summoned Dead Hands to assist her, while her eyes flashed, making Chopper get struck by lightning. Surprisingly, Chopper was able to guard it with ease, only taking 7 damage. The Dead Hands pulled Bombette into the shadows and attacked her three times. After guarding the attacks, she only took 9 instead of 12 and was brought back up from the shadows soon afterward.

"Arr! I say, it be dark down there!" Bombette wheezed.

"Yeesh... Those hands have 8 HP. I'm not so sure if I can take them out with one attack... But I can try lowering her defense!" Shadower aimed his finger at the Shadow Queen and the Dead Hands and let them get struck with his Shadow Smite. This left the Dead Hands at 2 HP, while the Shadow Queen had taken 5 damage and had her defense lowered.

Chopper made a dash at the Shadow Queen and used his Galaxia Drill to spin his body and sword like a drill at both the queen and the Dead Hands, destroying them instantly. "Dead Hands…and they die. Weird…"

_**"****Grrrrr! Unthinkable! Very well… Then I shall try something else…" **_the Shadow Queen's hands reappeared and she raised her Attack by 8, leaving the heroes gaping.

"Crud! I was hoping she wouldn't do that!" Chopper gulped. All he could do at the moment was attack her hands and also her. So, he swung his sword and fired a Sword Beam at the Shadow Queen and her hands, which dealt 8 damage to her and destroyed her hands.

Knowing what she had to do, Vivian pulled Chopper and his friends into the shadows thanks to her Veil ability, while the Shadow Queen began to unleash her powerful Dark Wave attack. It ended up missing, to the heroes' relief, but once they reemerged, the Shadow Queen summoned her hands and let them smack both Chopper and Scrub, while she herself zapped Heartsy.

However, before anyone could do anything, a bingo wheel appeared before them with at least two Shine Sprites. The last wheel was spinning, but once Chopper threw a star, it became a Shine Sprite.

**BINGO!**

Chopper and his friends felt completely revitalized, and an entire audience had come in as well.

"Wow... I don't think this story ever had a Bingo game! ...But enough with this story. This is all real!" Chopper ran up to the Shadow Queen and swung at her. Since her defense was back to 1, it only did 5 damage. Vivian used her Fiery Jinx and destroyed the hands and left the Shadow Queen with a burn.

_**"****Hmm… Maybe I need to go to…drastic measures…" **_the Shadow Queen summoned her hands and let them absorb 8 HP from both Chopper and Kirby, making the Shadow Queen recover 16 HP.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" Chopper gaped. Regardless, he attacked her with his Spring Jump to deal 10 damage, and then Heartsy used her Hammerang to take out the hands and hurt the Shadow Queen.

The Shadow Queen summoned her Dead Hands, but rather than making them drag one in the shadows, they charged straight at Chopper like a stampede. The Shadow Queen exhaled dark breath, but they all managed to guard it.

"Hey, Contadre! I wanna try out that move!" Scrub suggested.

"What move?" Chopper gawked.

"Y'know! The Stampede!"

"Oh! Well, it might not hurt that witch, but it might do a lot to those Dead Hands!"

"Good!" Scrub turned his attention to the Shadow Queen and made a sharp whistle. Soon an army of Yoshis ran into the battlefield and trampled the Dead Hands, leaving them at 2 HP, while the Shadow Queen took none. However, Chopper's Sword Beam managed to destroy the Dead Hands and take 7 out of her, bringing her down to 100 HP.

_**"I still have plenty of more where that came from!" **_the Shadow Queen hissed, summoning more Dead Hands. She made them drag Vivian in the shadows and deal 12 damage to her, followed by zapping her.

"Ugh... There must be an easy way to take out those Dead Hands..." Vivian sighed, trying to readjust her hat.

An idea popped in Chopper's mind, and he brought the Ruby Star out. He started to draw circles around the Shadow Queen and her Dead Hands. Compared to before, he seemed to have a much easier time doing this and managed to draw at least six circles. This destroyed the Dead Hands and did 16 damage to her.

"So he improved... Not bad..." Tipral commented from the sidelines.

After the Shadow Queen summoned her hands, she exhaled breath that made the group allergic to any status ailments, as well as dealing 5 damage to them.

Once Shadower destroyed the hands and lowered her defense with his Shadow Smite, Chopper attacked the Shadow Queen with his Spin Jump, leaving her at 70 HP. "All right! We're doing pretty well against this boss!"

"Fools... This is far from over..." the Shadow Queen hissed, summoning her hands to smack Shadower and Bombette, while she zapped Chopper, who ended up guarding. In the meantime, Chopper ate a Jelly Ultra to recover 50 HP and FP, while Bombette attacked with her Bob-omb Blast to destroy her hands and deal 8 damage.

When the Shadow Queen summoned her Dead Hands to charge at Bombette, she quickly guarded each attack and only lost 9 HP. "Yo ho ho! Is that all ye can do, ye evil witch?! Yer not goin' to win by doin' that all the time!"

Chopper smiled at Bombette's comment and destroyed the Dead Hands with another Sword Beam, while Kirby transformed into a Stone and dealt 8 damage to the Shadow Queen.

_**"****Muh huh huh… You do not know what you have done…" **_The Shadow Queen cackled, raising her Attack and Defense by 3 in the process. She also summoned her hands too.

"Well this is nice..." Heartsy sighed, readying her hammer. "I'll take care of this!"

She threw her hammer like a boomerang at the hands and the queen and, while it only dealt 3 damage to her, it managed to take out the hands. Chopper swung Galaxia at her afterward, bringing her down to 40 HP.

"What now, Shadow Queen? You were pretty freaky at first, but now we're reducing you down to nothing!"

_**"Don't think it's over yet, fools!"**_ the Shadow Queen cackled, raising her Attack by 8. _**"When you're struck by this attack, you won't even be standing!"**_

Chopper gave a look of disappointment, but he didn't let that get in his way. He attacked her with a Sword Beam to destroy the hands, while Vivian brought everyone into the shadows to avoid her powerful Shadow Wave, which appeared much larger than her Dark Wave.

Despite reemerging unharmed by it, the Shadow Queen summoned her hands and managed to absorb 8 HP from both Vivian and Shadower.

"That's it..." Shadower twirled his finger and struck the queen with his Shadow Smite, while Chopper attacked with his Spring Jump to deal 12 damage. Even then, the queen was able to zap Chopper and deal 11 damage to him.

"With her defense down, attacking should be a little easier," Chopper assured, now striking her with his Galaxia Drill and destroying her hands. Scrub fluttered over to her afterward and managed to throw in a Ground Pound to reduce her to 35 HP.

"Ha! Take that, witch!" Scrub grinned.

_**"****Uuurghh… No… It… It cannot be… How…" **_the Shadow Queen wheezed before trying to poison them with her breath. Thankfully, the group managed to guard it just in time, while the Shadow Queen's hands reappeared, ready to attack. Her attack and defense boost wore off as well.

After Chopper managed to slash at the queen, Bombette took out the hands and brought the Shadow Queen to 21 HP thanks to her Bob-omb Blast. That rewarded her with being zapped by the queen, along with Dead Hands that trampled Chopper.

"OK... 21 HP... We're almost there." Chopper wheezed, attacking the Shadow Queen and her Dead Hands with another Galaxia Drill. Vivian, meanwhile, reduced her down to 10 HP with her Fiery Jinx, along with destroying the Dead Hands.

_**"****Urgh… You… You will not stop me!" **_the Shadow Queen grunted, summoning her hands and raising her Attack by 8. _**"You won't be leaving this place alive, you fools!"**_

"That won't happen!" Vivian declared, raising a finger. "It's already over for you!"

Before the Shadow Queen could react, she was scorched by Vivian's Fiery Jinx, leaving her at a dangerously low 3 HP.

"Thanks, Vivian!" Chopper smiled before turning to the queen with a glare. "All right! It's time to finish this! And maybe I can finish this in a traditional way! I've used this move against Bowser and Maquano two years ago, and now you get the chance to witness it!"

Raising Galaxia, Chopper smirked as it began to glow green. He jumped in the air and moved the sword back while it began to sparkle with energy.

"_**Galaxia Sword Beam!**_"

With a single swing, a green Sword Beam was fired out from Galaxia and managed to strike the Shadow Queen dead on.

_**"AAAAAIIYEEEEEEEEEEE!"**_

Black smoke began to emerge from the Shadow Queen as she began to feel completely weakened by the attack. Chopper even gained 50 Star Points, leading him to level up afterward. But before the heroes could cheer, they heard moaning coming from the Shadow Queen.

_**"****Impossible! Un…thinkable!" **_the Shadow Queen gasped._** "How could I… I cannot be beaten by lesser beings such as these… And I had just been reborn into this world… I cannot… I must not… No…"**_

"Sounds like you were being a bit overconfident," Chopper smirked. "But in the end, the heroes tend to triumph! Goodbye for now, Shadow Queen. I'm sure your kind are waiting to see you back where you belong!"

With a large, white flash, Shadow Peach was enveloped by black smoke, while the Shadow Queen raised her arms and let out one final scream.

_**"****AAAAAIIYEEEEEEEEEEE!" **_

"No! My queen!" Beldam and Mysterious cried.

"Guhhhhh!"

After two more flashes, the Shadow Queen exploded, while the black smoke surrounding Shadow Peach began to slowly descend onto the floor until the black smoke disappeared, revealing Peach to be lying on the floor unconscious. The black flames on the candles also disappeared and were replaced with red flames.

"Much better..." Shadower sighed.

"NOOOO! Let's get out of here, Marilyn!" Beldam cried, sinking into the shadows afterward.

"Guh-huh!" Marilyn agreed, following her.

"Hey! HEY! Hey, wait!" Doopliss exclaimed, fleeing from the chamber.

"Great… Now we lost our queen! We're out of here!" Mysterious grumbled, escaping through the shadows with Purple, leaving only Tipral.

"Hmph… So, Chopper… You killed my mother. I can't say I'm surprised…" Tipral pulled out a crystal ball and let any dark smoke remaining in the room go into it.

"Is that…" Chopper started.

Before Chopper could finish, Tipral put the crystal ball away and teleported out of the room. "Well, I guess that finally closes that chapter!"

"Ahem…"

Chopper turned around and saw Meta Knight approaching him with his cape wrapped around himself. Remembering what he had said, Chopper returned the sword to Meta Knight, making his floppy hat and the glow surrounding him disappear.

"Good. Now that the Shadow Queen is gone once again, things should be a little peaceful." Meta Knight stated. "However, just because the queen is destroyed does not mean evil itself is gone. There are still many dangers out there, and I hope you are prepared for them. Remember what I had told you before, Chopper..."

With that, he and his two servants exited the chamber.

"Well, all's well that ends well, right?" Chopper wondered. "...Never mind that. Though it makes me wonder about that queen being Tipral's mother... If that's true, then does that mean the queen was...?"

Vivian slowly gave him a nod, leaving him a bit saddened. "Oh... Well, I'm sorry about destroying your mother, Vivian... I kind of hope you're not hurt by that."

"It's OK, Chopper. She was evil, and she tried to hurt you and everyone else." Vivian went down to his size and hugged him. "But you and everyone else is OK, so things are fine now. Thank you, Chopper…"

"Oh... Well, I guess you're happy?"

She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, which caused Chopper to gasp and nearly fall backwards. His face now red with embarrassment, he tried to cover it, only to remember something.

"Wait! What about Peach?" Chopper turned his attention to the unconscious princess and walked over to her. "Hey... She doesn't appear to have any serious injuries! Great!"

"Ugghhh… Ahhh…" Peach slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head.

"Are you all right, Peach?"

"Yeah... I think I'm fine... So… It's all over, then…"

"Well, I guess for you it's over, but for me, not yet." Chopper replied. "I mean, my friends and I do need to collect those twenty Crystal Stars..."

"Listen, Chopper, I'm sorry that I got you into this. I put you in so much danger…"

"Hey, no need to apologize! This is almost like a job for me, and it's nothing I truly hate!"

"Yeah, honestly, this stuff is pretty fun," Scrub agreed. "I mean, we just beat a freakin' shadow demon holding the Crystal Star! ...Come to think of it, where did that thing go?"

When Peach got up, she felt something in her inventory, so she pulled it out to reveal the Queen's Star. "Oh my! This star is so beautiful! This is the Crystal Star you need, right?"

"Yeah! That's the one!" Chopper nodded. "I guess it wasn't destroyed along with the Shadow Queen..."

"Ah-hah! THERE you are, Chopper! I can't believe I went through all of this trouble to find you!"

Turning around, the heroes saw Professor Frankly walk into the chamber.

"Professor Frankly? What are you doing here?" Vivian asked.

"Well I came here to warn you about the Shadow Queen's revival, but seeing as she's gone, I guess I don't need to!" Frankly answered. "I see she even left the Crystal Star behind, too!"

"I guess it was too powerful to get destroyed," Peach guessed. "Chopper, I really should thank you for saving me... I kind of hope Mario isn't worried sick about me... In the meantime, you should take this Crystal Star. I believe you've truly earned it!"

"…OK! I guess I shall!" Chopper, smiled, taking the Queen's Star from her. The Crystal Star gave one bright flash before circling around Chopper. With it high above him, he held the star up.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power has increased to 9, and Chopper can learn the special move Dead Rampage!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_The destruction of the great cataclysm had restored peace back to Rogueport…for now. With Peach safe, their adventure was coming to an end…or not, for there are twelve more Crystal Stars to find. With Grodus out of the picture, will Chopper have a much easier time finding the remaining Crystal Stars? Was there possibly something eviller than the Shadow Queen out there as well? Perhaps these evils will rise again and try to stop Chopper on his journey for the twenty Crystal Stars.  
_

* * *

**I'm not gonna lie. This was probably one of my favorite chapters thus far. I mean, the Shadow Queen was probably my favorite boss in the game and my second favorite boss in the Paper Mario series, so this chapter was going to be epic. 'Twas very intense, I'd say.**

**I know in the game the people from each area would cheer for Mario against the Shadow Queen, but I chose not to put it here for a good reason. I'm not going to go into much detail about that either.**

**With that, you could say the first arc of this story is pretty much finished, much like Chapter 8 in Paper Chopper. But just like in that story, our adventure is far from over!**


	56. Chapter 8 Interlude

"Whooooooooa!" Lord Crump cried, still flying in the middle of space. "I can't believe I got myself into this mess! That Crystal Star was supposed to help me beat Chopper, not send me flying into space! I guess those Crystal Stars are a lot lamer than I thought! I swear I'll-"

Just before Lord Crump could continue, he felt the gravity of a purple moon pull him into its atmosphere. He let out another cry before landing on the moon headfirst.

"Ooog… Thank goodness it's over. I thought I was going to hurl from spinning for that long…" Lord Crump slowly pulled himself up and looked at the black spacey sky. "Where the heck am I? I've been flying through space for days, and now this where I am? MAN, I'm probably too far from the base! Hopefully Grodus is fine without me helping him. ...Perhaps I can set up a new base here and rule this moon! ...But first, I gotta check this place out first."

Lord Crump began to explore the purple moon, but the only thing he found were mostly rocks. It was a pretty barren wasteland, but the only thing that got his attention were the planets in the sky.

"Whoa… Those planets look cool. I wonder what that one over there is." Lord Crump wondered, pointing at a specific planet. It appeared to have seven continents with different landscapes in each area. "You know, come to think of it... I wonder where Chopper lives. I mean, messing with his home planet would be an excellent idea! Buh huh huh huh huh!"

As he cackled stupidly, a shooting star flew past him, interrupting his moment. "Buh-huh? A shooting star? Don't those things allow you to wish for something? ...Hey, I think I know what I can wish for! I'd wish for someone to be on here so I'm not here alone!"

At that moment, a spark appeared over the X-Naut commander, and soon he found himself on his stomach once the figure landed on top of him.

"Hmmmmm? What's this?" the figure looked around his surroundings, only to be disappointed. "What?! This isn't what I had in mind! Gah, I guess that teleportation spell is just as flawed as I thought! No matter... I'll just have to find a way out of here..."

"Whuh?" Lord Crump moaned, looking up at the figure on his back. "Gr-Grodus?"

Grodus looked down at Lord Crump in surprise before stepping off him. "Lord Crump? What are YOU doing here?"

"What am _I_ doing here?!" he growled, standing up and glaring at his leader. "I was flying in space for days, dang it! It's all because of that Chopper! Man, I'm going to give him a bigger Crump-a-bomb when I manage to get my hands on him!"

"I can say the same thing here, Lord Crump. I believed my plans of resurrecting the Shadow Queen would work, but I guess it didn't turn out to be that way. My guess is that Chopper was already obliterated by that witch or vice versa. However, I blame Beldam for this because it was SHE who told me this plan would work! ...Well, at least I had another plan in case that didn't work. Now we just need to contact the base so we can get off this moon."

Grodus rolled down his right sleeve to reveal a communicator on his arm. "X-Nauts! This is your leader Grodus speaking! I request a pickup from this purple moon right away! ...X-Nauts? Are you there?!"

"Uhhhh... That doesn't sound good..." Lord Crump trailed.

"Great. Just great." Grodus sighed, turning off his communicator. "It appears there's no one remaining in the fortress. I'm guessing Chopper or TEC had to do something with it. I knew I should've destroyed his memory disk when I had the chance! ...But that'll be for later. I'm sure there are some X-Nauts remaining, and with them, we'll be able to crush Chopper and resume the plan we intended to follow!"

"Yeah, we're going to get Chopper no matter what! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh huh!" Lord Crump cackled.

"I just said that, you idiot," the X-Naut leader snapped, silencing Lord Crump's laughter. "We need to get things back in order for us. Since we're already on a different moon, we should create our new base here to keep us from being too predictable against the enemy. We also must contact all remaining X-Nauts and recruit new units that are much stronger!"

"Oh, I like the sound of that! Yeah, and I'll get to work on Magnus von Grapple 3.0! It's bound to be my most powerful weapon ever!"

"…We're not going to make another one, Lord Crump. Your others were terrible, and making a third one will be a waste of time. Just help me get things started, and perhaps I can forgive you for your failures earlier against Chopper."

"Oh... All right, so what do you need."

"Well first off, I need you to get out of my sight and go contact some remaining X-Nauts."

"...Roger, Grodus! And with that, pow! I'm gone!" Lord Crump exclaimed, getting out of Grodus's sight. With him gone, the X-Naut leader look at the shining orb on his scepter to get a clear image of Chopper. He noticed him battered up, which pleased him, but when he saw the Queen's Star in his hand, his expression was a mix between shock and anger.

"Grrr! Unthinkable! Chopper destroyed the Shadow Queen and took the Crystal Star! That brat's a lot stronger than I thought!" Grodus began to calm down, a confident look now returning. "Well, that's just fine. With the Shadow Queen out of the way, my plans can easily resume. The Shadow Queen is merely a peanut compared to what I'm after! So, Chopper... Enjoy your little victory, because the X-Nauts will soon rise again and exterminate you!"

* * *

**?-**

"So, it looks like the darkness in the sky is finally gone," Gemerl said, flying over the orange water at top speed. "That's the least of my concern at the moment. I have much more important things at hand, and that is to get the next Crystal Star: the Sun Star! I'm guessing Chopper was responsible for getting rid of that darkness. Well, congratulations, but I'm already one step ahead of you now!"

As he continued to fly over the water, he heard his communicator going off. He took it out and answered, "What is it, Phi?"

_"Well, sir… We found something interesting!" _the Elite Phi exclaimed._ "Our radars are picking something up on an island! We're sure that it's the Sun Star that we need to complete our goals! …But that's the only Crystal Star we know about." _

"So, you're saying the only ones we know about are the Garnet and Sun Star? Very well. We're closer to the Sun Star right now, and if you see any towns, destroy them! But make sure the Sun Star isn't there first before destroying it!"

In response to that, Gemerl saw an explosion in the distance. "I seriously hope those Phis listened to me, because I'll remove any intelligence in their mind left!"

Gemerl increased his flight speed, now going into hyper dash mode. Up in the distance, his eyes caught a red chicken riding on a flying motorcycle.

"Who the heck is that?"

"Harharharharhar! Yeah, Grubba. I know what to do!" the red chicken smirked. "Ya want me to find that Contadre kid, izzat it? That's jus' fine! I'll find 'im an' I'll get 'im fer ya! All right, boss? Good!"

"…Who is Contadre?" Gemerl tilted his head in confusion as the red hawk made his exit. Regardless, Gemerl made his way onto the beach up ahead and slowed down in order to land. "Now then... It's time to search for the Sun Star!"

* * *

**Rogueport Harbor, South-**

"Bye, Princess Peach! I hope things turn out to be all right for you back at the Mushroom Kingdom!" Chopper shouted, waving goodbye to the princess and Toadsworth. As the boat got even further, the rest of Chopper's friends began waving goodbye.

"Well, it's a good thing she's safe from harm now," Shadower sighed.

"Well done, Chopper!" Frankly congratulated, turning his head to the Star Warrior. "Not only have you managed to rescue Princess Peach, but also you defeated the Shadow Queen! I'm very proud of you, Chopper. For a small child, you are doing well with your task!"

"Thanks, professor!" Chopper smiled. "I feel so good that I want to go and eat something yummy!"

"Poyo! (I'm with you on that!)" Kirby cheered. "Poyo. (Maybe we can have a little eating contest between us.)"

"Ooh! I like the sound of that, Kirby! You're on!"

"Hey! Did Princess Peach just leave?"

Chopper and Kirby stopped for a moment when they noticed Luigi running down to the harbor with his other partners. When they had finally arrive, Luigi took a moment to catch his breath.

"Luigi? I don't think we've seen you for a couple of interludes..." Chopper trailed.

"Thanks..." Luigi sighed. "But where did the princess go? Did she leave already?"

Everyone gave the green plumber a nod, disappointing him.

"Aww… I was hoping I would be able to say goodbye to her. It feels like I'm always late to the party... Well, I don't think she knows that Mario hasn't been around for WEEKS! I'm not kidding! I haven't found him ANYWHERE!"

"You mean Mario is missing?" Vivian gasped.

"And he was missing for weeks?" Chopper gasped. "I seriously hope this isn't Staris's doing like before... He's supposed to be a good guy!"

"I say what-what? Who is this Mario that ye speak of, Chopper?" Bombette asked, tilting her head. "I'm rather…curious."

Luigi noticed Bombette and smiled. "Hey, Bombette's with you? That's really cool! Hey, Bombette! It's my bro's bro, Luigi!"

"Yar? I be sorry, but I don't know ye. In fact, I don't really remember what happened…" Everyone except for Chopper and his friends gasped.

"Whoa… She doesn't remember anything?" Jerry gaped. "That's just messed up. Don't tell me she's got bombnesia, does she?"

"Well, apparently she does. No idea how she got it, but we thought it would be best to bring her with us and possibly, well, help her with her problem." Chopper explained, holding the Queen's Star. "Now that we got the Queen's Star, we just need twelve more! We're getting there!"

"Yes, we're getting there faster than we thought we would," Vivian smiled. "I think this time getting those Crystal Stars will be a breeze without Grodus in the way. As for Gemerl… He could still be out there."

"Now that we're here, how about I tell you a story of one of my adventures," Luigi suggested. "It's kind of a long story, but I'll shorten it for you, Chopper!"

"Oh, here we go again..." Blooey groaned, rolling his eyes.

"I know how this might end," Jerry remarked. "I hope he doesn't mention that horrifying moment..."

"Oh, great... More stories." Torque sighed.

"I, for one, am looking forward to the grass moment," Hayzee smiled.

"This story may have us standing here for a while," Screamy stated.

"Now… _Ahem!_" Luigi started, clearing his throat. "So I decided to go back to the Waffle Kingdom and…we saw…Éclair and the king…they…it was fun and…beautiful castle…"

* * *

**Fifteen minutes later-**

Chopper and his friends were already asleep. Professor Frankly ended up leaving, and even Luigi's partners fell asleep as well. Luigi, however, had not been paying too much attention to them.

"…And then we met somebody named Flyer that came with us through our journey in the Waffle Kingdom. He was an awesome friend. I mean, he is really intelligent, a little cowardly, but kind of confusing. Yeah, he helped and then returned home, which was a shame. And that's just about it! So, how was it?"

Everyone instantly woke up and explained how amazing it was, while Luigi appeared to be pleased.

"Well, listen… We gotta get going." Chopper mentioned. "I need to find where the next Crystal Star is. Sitting here is not the best idea…"

"Oh, all right. Well, good luck on your quest, and let's hope my bro's found!" Luigi said as Chopper and Kirby whistled and summoned their Warp Stars.

"See ya, Luigi!" Chopper cried, waving goodbye to the green plumber. Soon, the heroes were out of Rogueport and on their way to Pop Star.

* * *

**Fountain of Dreams-**

When the Warp Stars landed, the heroes leaped off them and landed safely beside the fountain. Some of them decided to smell the fresh air they had been missing ever since they stepped foot in the Palace of Shadow.

"Ahhhhh... It feels so good to be back here!" Chopper cheered, stretching.

"Hold on, Choppy... Don't we have something to do first?" Heartsy asked, looking back at the fountain.

"Oh... I was hoping to at least relax for a moment, but OK..." he approached the fountain and jumped on the pedestal.

"OK, go ahead and do your thing, Contadre!" Scrub shouted.

Nodding, Chopper raised the Queen's Star and watch it materialize from his hands. A glowing light blue circle appeared around the fountain as eight Crystal Stars appeared. As usual, the energy from the stars began to go into the map now hovering over Chopper's head, revealing the next location of the Crystal Star.

However, little did they know that Meta Knight was watching the whole thing behind one of the trees.

_"The Shadow Queen may be gone for now, but he's still putting people in danger as he gets more of them," _Meta Knight thought._ "She was nothing compared to what he might unleash next…"_

Chopper looked at the map, and he saw a couple of hills to the west of Rogueport, a sunset, and a golden temple. A yellowish gold Crystal Star was revealed to be there.

"Interesting… So the Crystal Star is somewhere else now? This should be interesting…" Chopper smiled. "Let's go see Professor Frankly about this!"

* * *

**Outside of Professor Frankly's house-  
**

_"All right, old man! Tell us where the legendary treasure is right now!"_

Upon hearing that voice, Chopper stepped away from the door from hearing the gnarly voice. Everyone else was left startled as well.

"Poyo! (Whoa! What kind of voice is THAT?)" Kirby gasped.

"Doesn't sound like it's a nice one," Shadower noted. "He might be in some serious danger."

Chopper decided to take a peek through the door and was left shocked to see who the voice belonged to. There were two, black and red hunched back dragon lizards with red eyes, wings, and black and red armor covering their shoulders, chest and legs.

"What's wrong, Choppy?" Heartsy asked, noticing the shocked look on his face.

"T-Tartaras!" Chopper gasped. "But... What are THEY doing here? I thought they were all gone two years ago after that whole Star Haven incident!"

"I told you, weird lizard dragon things! I have the legendary treasure, but it's not something you want!" Frankly exclaimed.

"Ha! You're just trying to tell us that so you will make us uninterested!" the first Tartara spat, aiming its blaster at the professor.

"Well, I'm telling you it's a Dried Shroom! Even look!" Professor Frankly took out a chest and a Dried Shroom was revealed to be in there. The second Tartara grabbed it, sniffed it, and then stuffed it in his mouth before spitting the Dried Shroom out.

"Augh! Disgusting!" the second Tartara gagged, aiming its blaster at Frankly's forehead. "Don't lie to us now, old man! If you don't give us the treasure, then we'll blast you right here!"

Chopper gasped, realizing he had to take action. Stepping back, he kicked the door open and glared at the two Tartaras. "You will NOT harm him!"

"So! You ARE here!" the first Tartara hissed. "We were expecting you to show up!"

"Hold on a second… Why are we wasting our time with this guy?" the second Tartara asked. "This legendary treasure really isn't anything important! We've got better things to do, especially with what we've got now!"

"Hmmmmmm... I suppose you're right. Let's get out of here!"

The two Tartaras bolted out of the house, pushing Chopper and his friends out of the way and pressing a button on their wrist pad to get beamed into their ships. Before any of Chopper's friends could attack, they were out of Rogueport in two seconds.

"Whoa! Those guys were freaky!" Scrub gaped. "And I thought the Shadow Queen was freaky..."

"Phew… That was a close call." Frankly sighed as the heroes came into his house. "I'm glad you all came..."

"Are you hurt?" Heartsy asked.

"No, I'm just fine. Luckily, those freaks didn't even hurt me! Now, with that out of the way, I suppose you came here for the next Crystal Star, correct?"

"Uh huh," Chopper nodded, giving him the Magical Map. "Do you know anything about this place?"

"Hmmmm… I'm going to need to think for a moment. Let's see…" Frankly began to study the map and pondered for a brief moment until he figured it all out. "Ah-HA! It's at Sunset Hill! There's a little grassy field that will take you to Sunset Hill to the west of the Rogueport's western harbor. I can assure you that getting this Crystal Star will be easy. It's just in the **Sun Temple**."

"The Sun Temple? What kind of place is that?" Shadower asked. "It's a temple of the sun or something?"

"You would be correct. The Sun Temple is where the Sun Star is being held in. Don't worry, there's nothing evil in there. It's just a nice temple, so you shouldn't have to worry. That's all I can tell you, however."

"OK, thanks for the help!" Chopper smiled, waving goodbye to the professor and leaving the house. However, before he could make a single step, he noticed someone lying on the floor in front of the house. He was left in utter shock.

"MARIO?!"

"Mario?" Vivian gasped, looking down at the plumber in red.

Mario slowly opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings. _"Huh? I'm…in Rogueport? But why here?"_

"Mario! I can't believe you're here!" Chopper cried, grabbing Mario's attention, who was surprised to see him as well "What are you doing in Rogueport when Peach left here already?"

Mario: What happened to the princess?

"Don't worry, Mario. She's safe now. She's already heading back home. What we all wanna know is where you were."

Standing up, Mario was able to explain all the details. He mentioned something about the Hellspawns taking him and trying to use him as profit, but nobody would accept him. Because they had no reason to use him, Mario said they decided to drop him here instead.

"Yar... That sounds pretty bad." Bombette trailed.

Mario took a look at Bombette and gave her a wave, but Chopper had explained to him that she had bombnesia. Despite being confused, he quickly realized what it was.

"Well, since Peach is safe, we were going to go out and find the rest of the Crystal Stars. You know, the ones you were searching for?" Chopper mentioned, grabbing Mario's attention once again. "Do you want to help us find the rest?"

Mario was left pondering for a moment, but he eventually agreed, leaving Chopper delighted.

"Wow! I can't believe it! THE Mario is actually going to be coming with us!" Chopper cheered. "I always wished to go on an adventure with him someday!"

**Mario has joined your party! Press X to have Mario hammer Chopper into the ground! You can move around while you're underground too and past some obstacles! If you get into a barrel as Chopper, press X to have Mario get on top of the barrel. You can press X to have Mario use his hammer while on top of the barrel or press Y to let him get off. Press Y to have Chopper get on Mario and use the Spin Attack to move up to places you can't normally reach higher up. This also works underwater as well! While in battle, Mario can jump on his enemies… Or use his hammer to attack ground enemies!**

"Someone sure sounds excited," Scrub whispered.

"Let me introduce you to my friends!" Chopper suggested, pointing to each of his friends to introduce them. Some of his friends, like Vivian and Heartsy were flattered, while Scrub was feeling excited. Though, some couldn't think but find this a bit unnecessary. "With Mario on our side, we'll be unstoppable! Now we can head on over to the harbor!"

Before going, they went to Merlon's house to upgrade Mario to Ultra Rank, now having 45 HP, and now able to use his Hammer Spin and Super Jump. After that, they walked over to the harbor and saw the sun shining down at them by the grassy field to the west.

Mario: So where are we going?

"Where are we going? Why… We're going to Sunset Hill!" Chopper smiled. "That's where the ninth Crystal Star is! Hopefully your abilities can help us!

"Wahoo!" Mario jumped cheerfully, following Chopper and his comrades through the grassy field. While they only had twelve more stars to find, Chopper felt like this was almost like the beginning.

* * *

**Mario in the party? Yes! Luigi's long story? Yes! A sunset-esque type of area? Heck yes!  
**


	57. Where the Sun Sets

**CHAPTER 9**

**-Sunny Days and Explosions-**

As the now eight heroes traveled through the tall grass to their destination, they had taken notice of the sky. The beautiful blue of the sky had began to slowly change into a pinkish orange, and the sun itself was lower than usual. Eventually they were led out of the tall grass and onto an open, green and dark green checkered grass field. Out in the distance was the ocean, now looking more orange than before. A couple of islands were far from where they stood, but nothing big.

Mario couldn't help but gaze at the environment around him. He had never expected such an area like this to be near Rogueport. Perhaps those five months of being out have made Rogueport change drastically.

"Whoa… This is Sunset Hill? Awesome place! Aside from Glitzville, this place ROCKS!" Scrub cheered. "I mean, check out the view, guys! That's gotta be one of the best I've seen!"

Everyone stopped to take a look at the view. The sound of the waves coming from the ocean and the silence in the air made everyone smile and take in the fresh air.

"Poyo... (This feels so nice...)" Kirby sighed.

"If only I lived in a place like this..." Heartsy sighed sweetly, looking over at Chopper with her hands clasped. "Don't you find this place romantic?"

Chopper opened his eyes and noticed Heartsy leaning in his direction. "Well... I don't know... The place is nice and all... But... Hey, is that a loop up ahead!"

Looking up ahead past a few bushes, a loop stood in their way. "Wow! I can't believe we've found a loop after all this time! And hey, there's some nice flowers here as well!"

"This place does look pretty..." Vivian smiled. "So, what do you suggest we do?"

"Wait, hold on a second..." Shadower cut in, looking at the loop ahead. "How do we even get past a loop? We should try to formulate some kind of plan first if we're going to get through this place."

"If only my best friend were here, he'd be able to formulate a plan... He's usually good at that stuff..." Chopper trailed, looking at the loop. "Well, personally, I don't have a problem with this stuff. The only thing that worries me if there are any walls that we bump into. Then we need to figure something out."

"I say we blow it up!" Bombette exclaimed. "You can solve many things by blowin' them up, matey!"

"Well, the loop is a little far from us, so right now we should focus on the enemies around here," Heartsy suggested, getting her hammer out. "I think that's more important.

Mario nodded in agreement and decided to forge onward. The Goombas and Koopa Troopas lurking around the area didn't look any different, except that the Goombas were now a yellowish orange and wore sunglasses, and the Koopas had yellowish orange shells and orange skin. Both of them were referred to as Sun Goombas and Sun Koopas. They were much stronger than the normal versions, but nothing huge. Chopper chucked a fireball at one Sun Goomba, while Mario put his jumping skills to use and finished it off with a jump.

"Arr! I say, that be one fine jump, matey!" Bombette commented. "Perhaps yer mustache has somethin' to do with that! I certainly won't deny that it looks good on ye!"

Mario: Many people tend to say that, especially the females...

"Well… I guess it's great that you're with us, Mario." Vivian smiled, moving beside Mario. "Ummmm... I'm guessing things were great with Princess Peach after you went home, right?"

Mario: Mmmmmm-hmmmmm!

"That's great. I'm sure you and her are having a good time..."

Mario gave her a nod before following Chopper ahead. She let out a sigh, thinking about her previous adventure with Mario five months ago and remembering that to be one of the greatest things in her life. However, despite that, she couldn't help but feel saddened when he and Peach left. While everyone else in Rogueport believed it was because Mario was no longer there, they didn't know it was for another reason...

She looked up at Chopper this time and remembered the times he helped her as well. Her happy thoughts of him were paused when Vivian saw Heartsy walk beside Chopper.

_"Maybe there's still some hope..."_ Vivian thought before following her friends. Scrub had already finished off a Sun Koopa with his Ground Pound and began to cheer.

"All right! That was too easy!" Scrub gloated.

Chopper ran past a few trees around him, but he decided to go back to them and whack at them. Nothing came out of them except for one tree containing a Tropical Fruit. Picking it up, he discovered it could recover 15 HP.

"Yum! I'll take this!" Chopper smiled, licking his lips as he put the item away. Kirby tried snatching it from him, but he was able to keep it away from the pink puffball despite his complaints. They searched a few bushes near the trees and only discovered a few coins. One bush revealed a yellowish orange Fuzzy called a Sun Fuzzy.

"Meeeeeeeeork!" the Sun Fuzzy chirped.

"Hey, this looks like that one Fuzzy I encountered two years ago!" the Star Warrior recalled. "Yeesh... Many things keep coming back since then. Oh well... This might be fun!"

It only took a single jump from both Chopper and Mario to finish the creature off and let it drop a few hearts and flowers to restore some HP and FP. Afterward, they had made their way near the loop.

"Poyo, (That loop is going to be a big problem,)" Kirby noted. "Poyo! (We can't run through a loop! We would have to move very fast in order to do that! And I bet there's some tasty food past that loop as well!)"

"Well… I'll find a way. Just hold on a second." Chopper decided to run through the loop and to the other side. He pondered for a moment before going back to the others. "Well... This might not be the best plan in the world, but I'd have to take you guys across one by one. So who should I take across first?"

"Poyo! (Me! Me!)" the pink puffball cried, hopping over to him. "Poyo! (Take me across! I want some food, please! Please please please!)"

Chopper gawked for a moment before grabbing his arm and speeding through the loop. Though Kirby was excited, he didn't see any food lying ahead as of yet. While he pouted, Chopper returned to the others and took them across one by one, with the exception of both Vivian and Shadower, who simply went into the shadows to get across.

"Well, that took some time, but ye managed to get us all across!" Bombette exclaimed. "Good job, matey!"

"Yeah, I guess so..." Chopper sighed, searching a couple of bushes to only find coins. There was a bridge up ahead with a river underneath leading into the sea. When Heartsy got a nice view of the river and sea, she smiled and leaned over to Chopper again.

"You know, now that I think about it... This would definitely be a great place for a date or wedding, wouldn't you agree, Choppy?"

"Eep! No way!" Chopper cried, running away from her across the bridge, while Heartsy let out a sigh.

"Well, I should've seen that coming..."

Mario: I take it you really like him, right?

Heartsy turned to Mario and nodded. "Of course! I've known him since we were two, and I've even loved him ever since then too. You wouldn't believe how happy I was to see him all alive. ...Oh, and did I mention we're of the same kind?"

Mario blinked for a moment and looked at the girl and then Chopper, trying to see if there was any difference. He shrugged before following the party across the bridge and over to some rubble blocking the way. A Sun Koopa had gotten in the way, but Chopper and Kirby both dealt with it.

Noticing the rubble, Bombette's fuse began to light up. "Well, this be interestin'! The first obstacle in our way, an' it requires me help to do so! Sorry, mustached man, but it appears you don't get yer first shot in helpin'!"

"OK, here we go!" Chopper picked up Bombette and threw her at the rubble and destroyed it. Another river happened to be running there, which were filled with yellowish orange Cheep Cheeps wearing sunglasses. Thankfully, there were some rocks that the heroes could hop across to get to the other side.

"Let's try to be aware of those Sun Cheep Cheeps..." Vivian suggested, while Chopper jumped onto one of the rocks. Mario followed afterward, and then both Kirby and Heartsy, the latter trying to catch up to Chopper more than the others.

"Don't you like my little idea from before, Choppy?" Heartsy asked, now getting closer to Chopper. "I really think it would be a nice wedding here once we're old enough to get married and all... Maybe there can be some baseball games in there as well, and I bet once we kiss during our wedding, it'll be probably the most romantic one ever! ...Probably better than those dumb romance movies, of course."

"This... This is all happening too fast! I'm not ready for something like this!" Chopper cried, stopping and covering his eyes. "Why is it that people want to marry me and stuff? If it were food, sure, but I want to go around adventuring and fighting bad guys. Plus... The idea of marrying someone kind of freaks me out, even Bow tried to do that with me a year ago!"

Heartsy's eyes widened as if glass shattered in her mind, and soon a heartbroken expression appeared on her face. "Wait... Someone...already asked you to marry them?"

"I'm not exactly sure... But I know a friend of mine two years ago found my house a year ago and decided to show up with her butler. From what I remember, she always used to pinch my cheeks a lot, which made me feel very uncomfortable! But if you really want to know, I guess I can tell you..."

* * *

**One year ago-**

A year had past since Chopper went to the Mushroom Kingdom, and now he was back home sitting on a lawn chair and eating a huge tower of food that was at his side. To him, it felt like paradise.

"Ahhhhh… It feels so nice to be home! Staris is good, Bowser is beaten, and Maquano is trapped in that Light Orb for eternity! I feel safe now!" Chopper smiled, closing his eyes and starting to drift into sleep. However, after a few minutes, a voice was calling for him.

"Why, hello there, Chopper! It's so good to see you!"

Opening his eyes, he saw Bow floating in front of him, making him yelp and fall off his lawn chair. The tower of food had fallen over and made a huge pile on the floor as well. Upon getting up, Chopper had noticed Bootler was there as well.

"Bow and that butler guy? What are you doing here?" Chopper asked.

"Good day to you, Master Chopper. How are things lately for you?" Bootler asked politely.

"Ummm… I'm doing good I guess. I visited Dream Land a couple of months ago, and I'm just eating food and stuff... Sadly, I don't think there's much to do since there's no evil out there... Say, what are you two doing here, and how come you're so polite to me, Bootler?"

"That last sentence isn't anything important. What is important, however, is seeing your cute face." Bow smiled, pinching his cheek and making him feel uncomfortable yet again.

"Ow! Cut that out! That really hurts, Bow!" Chopper cried, rubbing his cheek. "What's so important about you seeing my face anyway? Do I have a booger on it?"

Bow slightly chuckled while fanning herself. "...No, Chopper. I actually came here for a different reason. You see, while Bootler was objecting my idea for days, I thought that maybe I would like to have a little husband of my own. Many Boos had pleaded me to be with them, I was actually interested in someone who looked a bit similar to a Boo with more of a green appearance. Then I remembered you, Chopper..."

"A husband? Gee, that sure sounds like something delicious!" Chopper smiled, picking up a fruit on the ground and eating it whole.

"My lady... Is this really a good idea?" Bootler whispered.

"Hush now, Bootler. This is my decision, and this is what I want." Bow stated, silencing Bootler. "So, Chopper... I was wondering if you were interested in...well...you know."

"Interesting in what?" Chopper asked, noticing the green Boo blushed. "Hey, why is your face a bit red? Did someone hit your face?"

"No no, Chopper. Would you be interested in living in the mansion with me as my adorable little husband? If so, you might be referred to as 'Lord Chopper'."

"Lord Chopper? Can't I just be regular Chopper?"

"Well, if you want, you certainly can. I know you, being a nice, sweet, and cute boy, I think I could consider you as a husband. I know you'd have to wait a lot longer to get married, but for us, it doesn't matter how old we must be to get married. What do you think, cutie? Are you interested?"

"Well… Uhh…" Chopper trailed, hardly understanding what she was talking about. Bow giggled for a moment before hugging Chopper.

"I see you're a little shy to tell me, which there's nothing wrong with. I'll let you think about it, my future husband." Bow kissed Chopper on the cheek and giggled as she floated away with Bootler. She turned her head and gave him a wink.

Chopper, meanwhile, was wiping the kiss off his cheek in disgust.

* * *

**Present day-**

"Yeah… The only thing I could get from her mouth was the whole marriage thing..." Chopper trailed, looking up at the sky. Mario was left gaping, while both Vivian and Heartsy were a little saddened.

Mario: That's...interesting.

"Does that mean…we can't get married?" Heartsy asked, her eyes starting to water. _"I guess you can't get everything in the world..."_

"Honestly, I don't know," Chopper sweat dropped. "I don't think I even want to marry her anyway. I mean, the thought of being with someone is kinda scary... Plus, she always pinches my cheeks a lot, and they always leave my face a little bruised because of how much they hurt!"

"Wait, so you're not getting married? …Hold on! Does this mean you were going out with another girl two years ago?" Heartsy asked, her sad face turning to a glare.

"I don't think so..." the boy replied, though Heartsy did not believe him.

"Really? Oh, well that's a relief..." Vivian trailed.

"Ummmmm... Guys?" Scrub asked, cutting into the conversation. "Can we just throw this all aside for a moment and just move on?"

"Yeah, I definitely would. This is an adventure story, not drama!"

Before anyone could get a move on, they heard an explosion coming from up ahead. Mario noticed a town that was no longer standing.

Mario: That doesn't look like a pretty sight!

"Looks like we should get moving," Shadower suggested.

The heroes decided to agree and hopped off the rocks to reach the other side of the grassy plains. Chopper bashed a few trees around with his hammer to find some items, but up ahead were two robots that were flying and approaching the heroes.

_"Robots? How come there are robots here?" _Mario thought.

Getting a closer look, it was revealed to be two yellowish orange and orange Phis with red eyes

"Whew! That was awesome! We sure took that city down! We ROCK!" the first Sun Phi cheered, landing on the grass and facing away from the heroes.

"Do you think the Crystal Star is here?" the second one asked. "We've been searching everywhere, but we found NOTHING! Boy… I sure wish that we could find a way to get that Crystal Star."

"Hey, it's those guys from that base..." Heartsy trailed, getting her hammer out. "But they look a lot different... What're they doing here?"

Turning around, the two Sun Phis gasped when they spotted Chopper. "Whoa! Ch-Chopper's here? Holy… Hey, man. You know what this means? We can get that map! Boy, is Master Gemerl going to be pleased!"

Mario: Who are these guys?!

"Just some enemies we ran into before..." Chopper trailed, getting in a fighting stance. The rest of Chopper's friends got in the same stance as well.

"So, what are robots like you doing here?" Shadower asked.

"Haven't you learned from before?" Heartsy asked.

"Who? Us?" one Sun Phi gawked, pointing to itself. "What? You thought we were going to give up? No way! We're still looking for those Crystal Stars either we have a base or not! We're not going to give up looking for them, and we're certainly not going to give up on stopping YOU, Chopper! How many stars do you got on you?"

"I only got eight, but how do you know that the Sun Star is here?"

"CHOPPER!"

"Oh, sorry…" Chopper sweat dropped. Regardless, he ran up the first Sun Phi and struck it with his Ultra Hammer attack. Mario bashed the baddie with his hammer as well and took care of it, leaving only one remaining.

"Crud! Well, that's it!" the Sun Phi aimed its gun at Chopper and began to fire rapidly. Chopper jumped in fear and began to run from the bullets. Mario, meanwhile, jumped in the air and landed a stomp on the Sun Phi's head.

"Oof!" the Sun Phi was losing its balance, but it fired a laser at Mario, which knocked him down. Chopper finished the Sun Phi off with a Fire Stomp, making it explode as well. With that, Chopper had earned some Star Points.

"Phew… That was a close one. Guys, we NEED to get over to that town. Who knows what could be there?" Chopper hurried on ahead, only to bump into a wall blocking the way. "Uh oh… There's a wall in the way! Guys… Do you have any idea on what to do?"

Chopper looked up and he saw a small tunnel that they could walk into if they could jump high enough. Mario approached the wall and noticed the small tunnel as well

After pondering for a couple of seconds, Mario snapped his finger and told Chopper to get on his shoulders. He shrugged and listened to the plumber to do said job. Mario then told Chopper to spread his arms out, while he did the same thing. The plumber lifted off the ground while spinning, and the two were sent flying up to the tunnel. Landing by the ledge, the Star Warrior felt proud.

"WHOA! That was awesome!" Chopper cheered. "What is that supposed to be? A Spin Attack? That can be really useful in battle! You and me, working together to fight!"

The thought began to appear in his mind, while Mario smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.

Vivian helped Bombette and Heartsy up to the tunnel, and Shadower helped Scrub up to the tunnel. As for Kirby, he took in some air and began to float up to the tunnel. For both Vivian and Shadower, it took them very little effort to make their way into the tunnel.

"That was a lot easier than I thought," Shadower commented.

When everyone decided to take a little break, Chopper looked over at Heartsy. "Are you mad at me?"

"Please... Just don't talk to me right now..." Heartsy replied, a bit of anger and sadness in her voice while she turned away from him.

"Oh… You really got her mad." Scrub said.

"Well I always seem to get in a lot of trouble," Chopper sighed before he felt Mario put his hand on his shoulder and give him an assuring look. "Oh, thanks, Mario. Well, we better get going, I guess."

Exploring the cave, they noticed the walls were a brownish color and did not make the place feel dark. Up ahead were some Motobugs with orange backs called Sun Motobugs. Chopper recalled seeing them back in the Music Kingdom, but his thoughts were interrupted when he saw Heartsy smash one with her hammer.

"Good job Heartsy!" Chopper complimented, though she ignored him and moved onward, making him sigh again.

"Don't worry about it too much, Chopper," Vivian assured.

"I know, but it still haunts my mind..."

Mario: Maybe you'll feel better when we get the Crystal Star!

"Yeah, I guess you have a point, Mario. Let's get going!" Chopper declared, running up ahead. However, he came to a halt when he noticed a jump down below leading into some orange water. It didn't appear to be too deep, thankfully, and no one found themselves scared.

"Hey, we didn't see water in a long time!" Scrub realized. "Last time we encountered water, it was when we were around those three islands going to Unagi's Cave!"

"Yeah, you're right, Scrub. Maybe this might be a little interesting! ...Just as long as no one's afraid of getting wet."

Looking back at the group, he noticed no one give any objections, making him give an approving smile. "Good! Well, we better go down there!"

"Poyo! (Ooh! I'll go first!)" Kirby cried. "Poyo! (I bet there's going to be a lot of delicious food past this water, and I'll be able to eat it all up!)"

"Is food all that you think of?" Heartsy gawked.

"Poyo! (Yup! I love food!)"

Kirby made the first move and leaped into the water. Goggles and a snorkel suddenly appeared on his face once he sank to the bottom of the water. He looked up to his comrades and cheerfully waved.

"Wait... What? How the heck did Kirby suddenly get those goggles and a snorkel?!" Shadower gawked before looking at Chopper, who seemed the least surprised. "Are you even surprised by this, Chopper?"

"Not really," Chopper replied. "I mean, this story itself makes very little sense, so why should we question this?"

"Well, I think it would be cool if I could get goggles and snorkel on me every time I go into the water! But for now, I'm going next, so... Cannonball!" Scrub leaped into the air and fell into the water, making a very small splash as he sank to the bottom.

Everyone else soon followed and found themselves sinking to the bottom. Surprisingly, they felt grass on the bottom as well.

"Wow... This is very nice!" Chopper gasped. "I mean, this water is pretty clear! I can see everything around here, guys! Isn't it neat?"

"Poyo! (You bet it is!)" Kirby cheered. "Poyo! (Let's get some food!)"

Chopper couldn't help but agree and decided to swim on ahead. There was some seaweed that they could search, only to find some coins. There were also Sun Cheep Cheeps swimming around, as well as orange Bloopers wearing sunglasses called Sun Bloopers. Spotting them, Vivian raised her finger to use her Fiery Jinx, but it didn't appear to work.

"Oh... I guess my fire-based attacks won't be working here..." Vivian trailed.

"Really? That's strange, because I can use fireballs in here." Chopper said, chucking a fireball at the Sun Cheep Cheep to finish it off. Mario swam up to the Sun Blooper and used his Hammer Spin to take it out. With them out of the way, they decided to swim on ahead.

"Hey, Heartsy... Are you going to be silent this whole time?" Scrub asked, looking at the girl.

"No. I'm fine with talking to you guys, just not Chopper." Heartsy replied.

"Well... You're a girl, right? How come you're not so worried about getting your hair or your clothes wet anyway? Doesn't that bug you?"

"Not really..." she replied, stretching her arms. "When you're living with a wise old man who helps train you, you're expected to get at least dirty. I'm just used to it."

"Oh... Cool!"

As the heroes continued to swim, they spotted another wall blocking their way, as well as a spring facing them. Scrub approached the spring, but he was only sent flying back. Thankfully, Shadower managed to grab him just in time.

"That be a close one, matey!" Bombette commented. "Now how're we supposed to get up here?"

"Chopper, I can see a tunnel up there just like the one we saw before," Vivian mentioned, pointing up to the tunnel. "Maybe you and Mario can get up there?"

"Sounds pretty simple! Let's do it Mario!" Chopper smiled, getting on Mario's shoulders. Because they were in the water, their spinning launched them higher off the ground than usual, but they managed to get onto the tunnel's ledge to safety.

Mario: That certainly wasn't hard!

"Yeah, that was very simple. Boy, if Flyer was here, though, I wonder how he'd feel if he saw me working with someone else..."

The others managed to make their way up to the tunnel in the same procedure as last time. Chopper looked at Heartsy for a brief moment before she looked away from him. Kirby couldn't help but feel bad and looked over at the others.

"Poyo, (Maybe someone needs to talk to Heartsy,)" Kirby suggested. "Poyo. (She refuses to speak to Chopper, and I suppose my only suggestion is to have someone else talk to her. …Maybe a girl, since girls can easily talk to each other. Maybe Bombette or Vivian can do it!)"

"What the heck's he talking about?" Scrub asked before Chopper decided to translate for him.

"It's a good suggestion, but I don't think it will work," Shadower stated. "I mean, I can kinda understand why Heartsy isn't so happy, but I'm sure she'll get over it soon enough."

"You sure, Shadower?" Chopper wondered.

"I'm sure. Though, it might take a bit longer for a girl than a guy... At least, that's what I know."

"Oh, then maybe things will be all-" Chopper was cut off when he noticed a current slowly beginning to pull him away from his friends. "Uh oh... This doesn't look good!"

He tried reaching his friends, but the current was too strong, and it was now dragging him away. Mario grabbed a hold of Chopper's foot to pull him back, but he too was being dragged into the current as well. Everyone, including Heartsy, was surprised before they found themselves being pulled into the current.

"No! I don't want it to end like this!" Scrub cried.

As they were being carried by the current, they had noticed the movement slowly going upward. Everyone opened their eyes and noticed a light just above them.

* * *

**Top of the island-**

Outside, a rock blocking the current had shot out, and now the heroes were being thrown off the island and over to another one up ahead. Looking down below, they had taken notice of the bridge leading to the next island. Well, this was a lot faster, so nobody seemed to mind.

"Whoa... This is...weird." Chopper gaped.

Mario: It's a nice view from above, though!

Their thoughts were interrupted when they found themselves falling into the next island at an orange pool called the Distant Pool. There was a Hammer Bro. with an orange helmet and shell, as well as a Koopatrol with yellow eyes and orange armor.

"So, I have this cool idea of a game," the sun Hammer Bro. started. "It's called 'Paper Hammer Bros.: The Clown's Feet.' Pretty cool, huh? It's basically about a Hammer Bro. that has to rescue his friend names Gamma. The main character is called Ramma, and he's off to defeat the clown called Clownface that wants to take over the world of Hammer Bros. Cool, huh?"

"Dude… That is an awful…AWFUL idea…" the Sun Koopatrol brutally replied. Who would want to buy a game like THAT?! Seriously! You don't make a game like that! That game would have THE worst sales ever. The idea just doesn't work well!"

"Well of course it will! You know, you can't just judge a game based on the name or the idea. The gameplay is what matters the most! And I can assure you, the game will be so good that I'll become rich! I'm sure I'll have many Hammer Bros. cheering me on, and the ladies will love me! I can just imagine it now!"

"Dude... You do realize that making a game won't make you incredibly famous. Ladies won't be all over you for something like that..."

"Well I don't care what you think!" the Sun Hammer Bro. shouted. "I'm doing this, and I know it'll succeed! I'm going to make a demo of this game one day and show it off to the public! Then we'll see who's having the last laugh!"

"You wish…" the Sun Koopatrol rolled his eyes before they heard eight splashes coming from the water. "What was that?"

"Oh, nothing really. Probably the fishes."

"But there are no fishes in the-"

"Anyway, I think the idea of this game is AWESOME!" the Sun Hammer Bro. exclaimed. "I'm sure you're just jealous that I can think of something better! Ain't that it? I bet you hate it because it's about Hammer Bros. and not Koopas."

Seeing the smug look on his "friend", he approached him and smacked his face. "Listen! I hardly believe you have what it takes to make a game! We're already in a freakin' story, and that's all we get! So, please... Let's just stop talking about this stupid game, OK?"

"Well... Well..." Before the Sun Hammer Bro. could continue, they noticed a figure get out of the pool. A certain pink girl with a hammer, that is. "Hey, who the heck is that strange girl? She's not supposed to be here!"

When Heartsy was about to take a couple of steps, the two enemies stepped in her way and gave her a glare. "Who do you think you are, coming into our pool? Don't you realize this is our turf?"

"Look, could you just leave me alone? I'm not in the mood for this..." Heartsy sighed.

"Sorry, girly, but you have no right to be left alone when you're in our place," the Sun Koopatrol stated. "It'd be wise for you to leave now."

"Yeah! Go back to your mommy and daddy!" the Sun Hammer Bro. taunted. "Or maybe you're running away from them? Or maybe theirs lives had already passed!"

The last sentence hitting her hard, Heartsy took her hammer out and raised it over the two enemies. "Don't you EVER talk about my parents like that!"

"Oh, crud..."

Using all the force she had, she managed to knock the two enemies out cold. With that, Heartsy let out a sigh and looked back at the pool. Some of her friends were apparently getting out of the pool as well.

"I might as well relax..." she sighed, sitting down and thinking about what she had said before. Perhaps she felt that she couldn't keep this up any longer.

* * *

**Gee, I sure broke the fourth wall a lot in this chapter, didn't I?**


	58. Race Against the Moe

"…pper… Chopper!"

Chopper's eyes opened and he saw Vivian was trying to wake him up. Mario was standing over him as well and helped pull him back up. Before asking anything, Chopper decided to catch his breath for a moment.

"So we landed in a pool, huh? Well sure were lucky..." Chopper panted, shaking off any water still on him.

"Yeah... Good thing we didn't hit solid ground..." Vivian trailed.

"So... What happened after we fell anyway? Any of you know?"

With that, Mario began to start his long explanation of the events beforehand. He explained to him about how mostly everyone became unconscious from the fall and that he, along with Heartsy, had to get a few, including Chopper, out of the pool.

"I think you were the last one to wake up..." Vivian noted.

"Oh, is that so? Well, I guess we can tell the others that everything's all good now."

Mario nodded in agreement and headed back to the others that were sitting down and relaxing. However, when Chopper looked back at the Distant Pool, he couldn't help but be amazed by its size.

"Wow! Take a look at this pool!" Chopper gasped. "This is probably one of the biggest pools I've seen! I don't know why, but I think I might want to relax here for a moment..."

Smiling, the pale green boy stretched his arms and sat down by the pool. Vivian couldn't help but do the same thing and sat next to him.

"Ummmm... Chopper?" Vivian asked, grabbing Chopper's attention.

"Huh? What is it?"

"I'd just like to say that I'm really sorry for all the trouble you had to go through to get these Crystal Stars… Especially with the Shadow Queen. I had a feeling both Beldam and Mysterious were plotting to bring her back..."

"What about Tipral?" Chopper mentioned. "I think he had a big part in it. He's your, well, 'brother', and he was trying to get both of us killed. I don't think that hag mentioned anything about destroying you. I don't know what's with him, but I was a little shocked to hear your mother was the Shadow Queen. Hold on… If your mother is a queen, wouldn't that make you…?"

"…A princess? Hmmm… Well, I never thought of that. She would have probably chosen me to be queen next, so maybe, but I'm not entirely sure. Then again, this was never really mentioned many centuries ago. Maybe that could be why my sister always treated me so badly?"

"Well, I don't think you should listen to that hag of a sister! From what I've heard from her, she's always been calling you names and always tells you that you're ugly and stuff. Personally, I think you're none of that. All of those things she called you describe that mean old hag much more. For you, you're a nice and, well, pretty girl I guess..."

Hearing those words, Vivian felt touched, as if her heart was giving her a strange feeling. "Chopper... That's so sweet of you."

Chopper gave her a nod before looking back at the pool. He could see the reflection of both him and her in there too. Vivian, meanwhile, leaned toward Chopper and thanked him with a kiss on the cheek, causing Chopper to become startled.

"What the... Did someone poke me?" Chopper asked, now standing up. He looked around, only to find no one else around. However, he soon realized what had happened, making his face turn red. "Oh, geez... Not again..."

"You know, Chopper, I think it's really nice to be here with you by this pool," Vivian said as Chopper sat back down, wiping the kiss off his cheek. "Do you mind if I lay my head on your lap?"

"Uhhhh... I think I would mind a lot..."

"Oh... OK... Chopper, since we're both here alone, could I tell you something?"

"Well, if it's really important, then maybe," Chopper shrugged, looking back at the pool. "This pool is suddenly making me think of orange juice, though. Boy, would I love some of that!"

"Ummmmm... All right. You see, Chopper... Traveling with you on this adventure, I think I've grown to..." Vivian was soon cut off when an explosion could be heard from the distance, alarming Chopper and his friends.

"What the heck was that just now?!" Chopper cried, noticing his friends run over to them. Scrub made it to Chopper first and pulled him up, while Vivian got up herself.

"What the heck were you two doing here?" Scrub asked.

"Talking, I guess?"

"...I think it was more than that," the Yoshi smirked, elbowing Chopper, who was completely oblivious to what he was talking about. "So, you've got an idea of where that came from, Contadre?"

"No, not one bit."

"I suggest we check on ahead!" Bombette suggested, eyeing the bridge past the pool. Heartsy had already made her way over to the bridge, so they followed her there. Some of them took notice of the unconscious Sun Hammer Bro. and Koopatrol lying on their backs by some rocks.

"So, how has Heartsy been, guys?" Chopper asked.

"Well, I think she's not as mad as before," Shadower explained. "However, I'm not sure if she still wants to talk to you, 'cause of the, well, y'know."

"Oh... OK."

The heroes made their way over to the bridge where Heartsy was waiting before progressing. Since none of Chopper's partners were going over to her to speak, Kirby decided that he would be the one, knowing that Heartsy could understand him. He skipped over to the girl and walked beside her.

"Poyo… (Listen, Heartsy… I don't think you can be mad all day, because that's not going to solve anything. I think he really does feel bad that you're upset, but I don't think he really agreed to that marriage thing. Besides, didn't you say you'd help people out?)"

Heartsy turned over to Kirby and sighed. "Yeah, that's true... Honestly, I don't really want to stay mad at Chopper. He was my first friend after all, and I don't really believe he's truly interested in that one girl if he acts the way I do around him. Besides, looking at him, I think he's too cute to get a little mad at."

"Poyo! (Just like me!)"

"...Yeah, maybe. I think it's all right for Chopper to speak to me."

Hearing the conversation, Shadower looked over at Chopper and whispered, "I think you can speak to her now."

Smiling, Chopper ran up to Heartsy's side. Mario decided to stay behind them just in case if anything bad happened.

"Hi, Heartsy. So... How do you feel now?"

"I think I'm feeling all right, Choppy. I'll admit, when there's another girl going after someone I like, I tend to not be happy. I guess I just become jealous... And frankly, I don't want to stay mad at you because you're not a terrible person. I mean, you did save the world when you were four, right?"

"Yes," Chopper nodded.

"Doing something at such a young age sounds extreme, but it also proves that you really do care about the lives of others and planets. I remembered when I stood up for you against those bullies when we were two. And because of you, I felt I was able to stand up to those bullies in Sand Town. It's like when you're around I feel so motivated... I guess it's because my love for you makes my heart feel sweeter than ever."

"So... Does this mean you forgive me?"

"Yeah," Heartsy smiled, hearts appearing over her head as she looked at the boy of her dreams. "And I never found a way to thank you..."

Before Chopper could do anything, Heartsy managed to grab a hold of him and kiss him on the cheek. He let out cries and struggled to break lose, but she eventually let go of him, leaving the boy shaking in fear.

"That's not what I wanted in return! _Gross!_" Chopper gagged.

"Arr! So she fergives him! Great news!" Bombette exclaimed. "Now things may be just fine fer us!"

"Hey... I remember that voice!"

The heroes paused when they heard a voice up ahead break the conversation. Chopper looked up ahead and gasped when he saw a certain green Yoshi friend wearing sunglasses, a black jacket and a fake toupee. He was the first the approach his friend, while the others followed him.

"Yosho? Is that really you?" Chopper gasped.

"Huh? Chopper?" Yosho gaped, looking down at his friend. "Whoa! It really is you! What are ya doin' in a place like this?!"

"I'm on another adventure! I've even got some friends here!"

Yosho looked over at Chopper's friends and gaped at the females. "Whoa... Look at all the chicks ya got with ya, kid! They sure are cute! Who the heck are they?"

"Well, they're... Wait, hang on a sec... I thought you had a girlfriend?"

"Technically I do, but..." Yosho trailed, looking off at the sunset. "Ya see, I've been gawkin' at many chicks while I was out with Yoshina. She caught me a couple of times, an' boy, was she mad. After enough times, she told me she wouldn't see me again until I stop flirtin' with the other ladies. ...But seriously, man! I can't help it! It's in my blood! It's been in my family's blood too!"

"Well, sometimes things have to change," Chopper noted. "I mean, I didn't want to end up living on my own after what happened to Mondrao, but I had to get used to it, and now here I am! I think you should just learn to get used to not...well, you know."

"Wow, I never thought you'd say something like that," Shadower said.

"That's what happens when you're around a certain best friend of mine, I guess..."

Looking back up at Yosho, Chopper noticed he was paying more attention to the girls than him. "So, kid... Who're those chicks ya got with ya? That ghost one looks pretty cute, that Bob-omb...well, she looks hot-headed, an' I don't know what to say about that other one."

"Well, I'm ten years old, if that's anything important," Heartsy replied with an annoyed expression, making Yosho step back.

"Whoa, now! Too big of an age gap there!" Yosho cried.

"That's all right, because I already have a boyfriend," she looked back at Chopper with a smile, who quickly shook his head at Yosho.

"...Kid, what's with you an' chicks lately? Ya had Bow around ya back then, an' now this chick? Man, yer one to get in some trouble."

"Just... Just stop talking about that, Yosho." Chopper replied annoyingly.

"What happened to your girlfriend?" Scrub asked.

Yosho looked down at the white Yoshi kid and grin. "Dude! I never knew ya got another Yoshi friend with ya! Well, even then, I'll always be better. Anyway, what happened to Yoshina? Well, she's still back home, but she kicked me out until I could stop flirtin' with the ladies. So... That's why I'm over here, see?"

"What-what?! She kicked ye out of the house?!" Bombette exclaimed. "I say, that is VERY cruel of a girl to do! Arr! I would definitely give 'er a taste of 'er own medicine, matey! Ye don't deserve to be left out like this! Why don't ye show me this girl of yers an' maybe I'll give 'er what she deserves!"

"No, hurtin' a lady wouldn't be wise," Yosho stated. "It's nothin' but trouble. Besides, I'm a gentleman, and as a gentleman, I shouldn't be hurtin' any chicks. But enough about that. Kid, ya said yer on some kind of adventure, right? Well, what're ya lookin' fer?"

"We're searching for the twenty Crystal Stars," Chopper answered. "Right now, we're looking for the ninth star that's located somewhere around here. We also heard an explosion, and we were wondering where it was coming from. You got any ideas?"

"Oh, an explosion? Yer gonna want to look ahead, an' ya'll see something. I'm tellin' ya! It is BIG there! Some robot came in an' blew the town up! I don't know if there are any survivors!"

"No survivors?" Vivian gasped. "That's terrible!"

"Yeah, I'll say!" Yosho agreed. "I even checked the placed out. I don't think I ever wanna go near that area again... But if yer all goin' there, then ya might as well be careful."

"All right, thanks, Yosho!" Chopper smiled, waving goodbye to his Yoshi friend while making his away across the bridge with his friends. Yosho waved goodbye as well, and once they were off the bridge, he let out a sigh.

"Well… I guess I better move on. Can't stay here all day!" Yosho smiled, making his way over to the Distant Pool.

The heroes entered another grassy area, but they noticed one path had a couple of ledges they could jump to in order to reach the pathway on a slightly higher elevation, while there was one to the lower right that was at a normal elevation. A yellowish orange Waddle Doo wearing sunglasses was walking around, along with a Sun Goomba, Sun Koopatrol and Sun Phi.

"Yeesh... Everything here always seems to have 'sun' in their name..." Chopper trailed. "Oh well. Maybe I can get the Beam ability!"

Chopper walked up to the Sun Waddle Doo and inhaled it to gain the Beam ability, which he used to fight the Sun Koopatrol charging at him. Mario got his hammer out and finished off the Sun Koopatrol before getting headbonked by the Sun Goomba. Bombette easily finished the Sun Goomba with her Bomb attack. For the Sun Phi, Heartsy damaged it with her Hearty Throw, while Chopper fired another charged beam shot at the robot to finish it.

"I think that lower path is covered by a couple of bushes," Scrub noticed, clearing the bushes out of the way. "Let's check it out!"

They headed past the bushes and found themselves in a small, round area with a single tree in the center. A red X happened to appear on it as well, so Chopper decided to whack it with his hammer. Unfortunately, nothing happened.

"Let's see if I can do something," Vivian decided, lighting Chopper's behind on fire slightly to make him crash into the tree and knocking the Star Warrior onto the floor.

Mario: I'm not sure if that will work...

Bombette suggested she blow the tree up, so after Chopper got up, she threw her at the tree and exploded. Sadly, not even that worked. However, when Mario suggested that Chopper should get on his shoulder, their spin managed to lift the tree off the ground and spin into the air like a propeller. It soon landed in the ocean in the background.

"Oh, wow... That was...interesting." Chopper commented, unsure of what else to say. "So... What did that do?"

Looking down at where the tree once stood, a brown mole enemy known as a Monty Mole popped out of the ground. Like most enemies, it wore sunglasses as well.

"So, were you the ones who lifted that tree off the ground?" the Monty Mole asked. "If so, CONGRATULATIONS! Excellent work in performing such a task! For that, you must be rewarded!"

Going back in the hole, the Monty Mole tossed an Ultra Shroom out of the hole, which landed in Chopper's hands.

"Well... This was interesting, I suppose." Chopper said, blinking for a moment. "OK, then! I guess we should check the other way then!"

Leaving the area, they made their way up the small steps leading to the next pathway on the upper right. This eventually led them to a broken bridge, leaving the heroes disappointed.

"Wait... Wasn't that bridge supposed to lead us into that town?" Shadower gawked. "How disappointing..."

Mario noticed near them was a paper airplane panel. He pointed it to the others, who were left surprised by it. Chopper was especially excited and used it to transform into a paper airplane. Once everyone hitched a ride on it, Chopper started to glide down to a ledge right by the pathway across the bridge. Landing, he transformed back into himself.

However, the floor they stood on felt transparent when Shadower looked down at it. He made everyone transparent, and they found themselves phasing through the floor and onto a grassy platform below. There was a small gap between them and another platform to their left.

"Hey, Contadre! What do you say I help you get across there?" Scrub suggested.

"Good idea," Chopper smiled, getting on Scrub and letting him flutter over to the next platform. There was another gap ahead leading to a grassy platform with a badge called a Hammer Flip. However, it was too far for Scrub to flutter across, so he helped Heartsy across so she could help Chopper.

"Hold still, Choppy!" Heartsy exclaimed, swinging her hammer like a baseball bat and sending Chopper flying across the gap and to the badge. He picked it up and jumped onto the platform ahead to launch himself back to the paper airplane panel thanks to a yellow spring. Strangely, he ended up hitting the paper airplane from underneath and made it flip around. The rest of his friends had to get across so they could reach Chopper too before he transformed into a paper airplane and glided over the water.

Once they had taken care of things in this area, they saw a sign near the next pathway leading into the town. Entering the town, they were horrified from the sight.

"Whoa… Look at this city! It's in ruins!" Scrub gaped, noticing the houses were crumbled, and only the vending machines were left standing.

"Poyo! (But at least the vending machines are still standing!)" Kirby smiled, running up to the vending machine and pressing the buttons. "...Poyo. (...Oh, you need money for this.)"

Exploring the small town, the heroes noticed no one was left in the town. They saw some small rubble Bombette blew up, but nothing came out from them.

"Really… Why would those Phis do something like this?" Chopper gaped. "What is Gemerl trying to achieve from this?"

"Obviously he's desperate in finding that Crystal Star," Heartsy deduced. "He's being serious this time."

Before they could say anything else, they heard the sound of a motorcycle revving. The heroes looked around their surroundings, but they found no sign of the sound.

"Up here, you idiots!"

Everyone looked up and spotted a hawk-like being with a Mohawk and wore black, ripped pants and red boots. His feathered body was a lighter red, while his tail feathers, beak and hair were royal red. He also wore black, spiked wristbands, along with a spiked collar. The hawk-like being was also on a silver motorcycle that was floating in midair too.

"What the... Is that Rawk Hawk?" Chopper gawked. "But I don't remember him being red and...weird."

"Yar har har har har har har!" the hawk cackled. "Well, well, well… If it ain't the Great Contadre! The one who defeated my bro, Rawk Hawk, and also put my boss in prison!"

"Wait a second... WHAT?! Did you just say you're Rawk Hawk's BROTHER?! And you also work for GRUBBA?!"

"I told you already, punk! Rawk Hawk is my bro, an' I know Grubba's my boss! Yeah, he told me to look for ya an' bring you back to him. He really wants to get back at ya for messin' with him back in the Glitz Pit!"

"You mean that scumbag? Why would someone related to Rawk Hawk be helping Grubba?" Scrub asked, growling at the hawk. "But if you're not Rawk Hawk, then who are you?"

"'Cause Mr. Grubba said he'd pay me a lot of money if I found the Great Contadre and brought him here! That man's rich, you know!" he replied with a smirk. "...Oh, yeah! Of course I have to introduce myself! The name's Moe Hawk, an' many people know me for bein' one of the best racers out there! Also, speaking of Grubba, I believe he wanted to see you!"

"See us? We're not letting him see us, thank you very much." Chopper replied with a glare.

"Oh, no... You'll see." Moe Hawk pulled out a small little hologram with Grubba on it. He was in prison, but without his hat.

_"Well, great hoppin' kangaroos! If it ain't the Great Contadre!" _Grubba exclaimed._ "Yer one pesky little boy fer sniffin' 'round my business, you know. You an' yer friends are gonna get what ya'll deserve for puttin' me in this here jail cell! Once Moe Hawk here brings you to me, I can finally settle the score with you!"  
_

"Yes, he's pretty mad because of ya, Contadre!" Moe Hawk grinned, turning off his hologram. "An' he promised me a bunch of riches for bringin' you to him!"

"If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get," Chopper stated, getting in a fighting stance. His friends stepped in as well and got in a fighting stance too. "Face it, it's eight against one! It's unlikely that you'll win, Moe Hawk."

"Hold on a second... I'm not one to fight my opponents!" Moe Hawk growled, making everyone lower their guard. "You see, I was thinkin' that we do this in a more...interestin' fashion. See, I heard you're the fastest thing alive, are you not?"

"Yeah... I mean, at least that's what I think."

"See? I KNEW IT! Well, listen here, Contadre! This Hovercycle I got here can go faster than anything in the world! It hardly takes long for me to get to Glitzville from here! So, I was thinkin' that you an' me would have a little race..."

"A race? Are you being serious? I'd probably beat you with ease!" Chopper exclaimed.

"Well, you see, there's no runnin' in this race, or it ain't fair. We're usin' transportation only, got that?"

"OK, fine, I'll race you if it gets you away from me. ...Now, what do I have?" Chopper pondered for a moment until a light bulb appeared on his head. Whistling, he summoned the Warp Star and got on it. "There! This'll do! It may not be as fast as I am, but it sure can travel quickly!"

"Harharhar... Excellent! Now this is what I want!" Moe Hawk smirked.

"Chopper… I don't like this at all. He doesn't sound trustworthy..." Vivian trailed.

Mario: I'm sure Chopper can mop the floor with him!"

"All right! You accepted my little challenge!" Moe Hawk grinned. "All right, here's the deal, Contadre: We race three laps around this big island an' whoever makes it back here after three laps, wins! Yer gonna get MOOOOOOOOE'D when I'm done with ya!"

"'Moe'd'?" Scrub gawked. "Yeesh, that makes 'RAAAAAAAAWK' sound a lot cooler..."

"Ye should come up with somethin' better, ye red chicken," Bombette scoffed, angering Moe Hawk until he decided to calm down.

"You people don't know who yer standin' up to. I'm MOE Hawk, for Pete's sake! Ya'll got guts, and I can tell. But yer all stayin' out of the race that Contadre an' I are havin'. Now, here are the rules - wait! There are no rules! You can do just as much as ya want! Harharharharharharharharhar!"

"No rules? That doesn't sound good..." Vivian trailed.

"No worries, ghost girl! I'll make sure yer friend gets back here...when I'm at the finish line!"

"Shut up already. You're becoming really annoying now…" Chopper sighed, lying on his Warp Star.

"Oh, yeah. We gotta get this started! You know the drill, right? First one back here after three laps wins." Moe Hawk and Chopper's vehicles stood beside one another as the two prepared to race. "All right, get ready... Get set... _**GO!**_"

With that, both Chopper and Moe Hawk blasted off, creating a wind that made Chopper's friends cover their faces.

"All right, Contadre! You go show this chicken who's boss!" Scrub cheered.

Moe Hawk was traveling out of the town and began to go over the water. To give an idea of where the race was, he set up the entire course with red arrows to show where to go. So far, he was in the lead, and he was planning on keeping it that way.

_"THIS is yer idea, Moe Hawk? Yer goin' to race him?!" _Grubba guffawed._ "What kind of idea is this? I don't pay you to race! I paid you to bring him to me! Do that, or yer fired!"  
_

"Hey, I said there ain't no rules! I can do whatever I can to prevent him fr Just calm down an' let me win the race! I'll take care of yer problem soon!" Moe Hawk flew out to the seas, with Chopper following him behind.

"He may have that Hovercycle on him, but I still got this Warp Star! This will get me to catch up to him in no time!" Chopper smirked, flying right beside Moe Hawk. He gave him a smirk before taking off, making Moe Hawk's jaw drop.

"What in the world?! How the heck was he able to catch up?!"

Chopper smiled as he made his way down to the destroyed town, where he saw his friends cheering for him. He gave them a wave before clearing his first lap, causing Moe Hawk to become infuriated.

"GRRRRRRRRR! All right, if yer gonna try an' beat me, then I'm playin' dirty!" Moe Hawk hissed, taking out a Bill Blaster. "Sorry, punk, but there ain't no rules in this game, so get ready to lose!"

"Oh, geez!" Chopper gulped, flying away from the town. Moe Hawk grinned, and even Grubba was grinning through the hologram.

_"Hyuck hyuck hyuck hyuck! Now this is what I'm talkin' about! Yeah, you go ahead an' use that thing!" _Grubba cackled until he noticed Moe Hawk looking at the Bill Blaster in disappointment._ "…Moe Hawk?" _

"Oh, crud... This thing doesn't even have ammo. Why did I forget to bring in some ammunition? Great... I gotta choose a different weapon!" Moe Hawk checked through his inventory and found a metal club. "Ah! Now this'll do!"

_"Hot-diggity-DANG! That's one tough club you got there, Moe! You'll be a whackin' him now! Don't fail yer boss now, son! Yer job is dependin' on that race!"_

Moe Hawk smirked as he caught up to Chopper and smacked his head with the club. It left him dazed, allowing the red chicken to go on ahead. However, Chopper was able to catch up to him rather quickly and gave Moe Hawk a glare.

"Ow! Hey! Why are you attacking me?!" Chopper asked. "You're not being fair!"

"Hey, like I said, there ain't no rules in this race! So stop complainin' an' lemme win the race! If not, then yer gonna get MOOOOOOOOOE'D big time!"

As Moe Hawk traveled out to sea, Chopper couldn't help but face palm. "Geez... That starts to sound dumber and dumber by the minute!"

He soon following the chicken out to sea, and the rest of Chopper's friends could only continue to watch the two catch up to each other.

"Arr! Don't give up now, matey! Ye can do this!" Bombette cheered.

"Don't let a red chicken beat you, man! You're meant to be awesome, and that's how it'll be!" Scrub cheered. "Give 'em a taste of his own medicine! Go on, Contadre! Don't let him hurt you!"

"Scrub… He'll just get in more trouble…" Vivian trailed. "I would avoid doing that. I don't want him getting hurt even more…"

"Poyo! (Show him who's boss, Chopper!)" Kirby cried.

Unfortunately, Moe Hawk happened to return to town first and clear the second lap, leaving Chopper's partners disappointed. "Harharhar! Once I clear this last lap, I'll be the winner, an' then I'm takin' Contadre to Grubba so he can deal with him!"

"No way! He'll beat you!" Scrub exclaimed.

"We'll see!" he took off once again, with Chopper coming into town next and completing his second lap.

"Come on, Choppy! You can do it!" Heartsy exclaimed. "Don't let him beat you!"

"All right, better activate the turbo boost!" Chopper let his turbo boost go to use, and he managed to catch up to Moe Hawk over by the water. However, he was not pleased to see him, and he tried whacking him with the club, but Chopper easily dodged them.

"MAN… Yer a fast one! Even on a Warp Star yer fast!" Moe Hawk guffawed. "I guess we should just finish this right now! I'll knock ya down into the water!"

"We'll see about that!" Chopper frowned, using his Ultra Hammer to block Moe Hawk's club. While holding his club off, Chopper kicked Moe Hawk in the face. This pushed him back slightly, but it wasn't enough to stop him. Putting his club away, he took out a spiked mace instead.

"Harharhar! This'll do nicely!" Moe Hawk smirked, swinging his weapon at Chopper.

"Whoa!" Chopper ducked under the attack and threw a fireball at Moe Hawk's Hovercycle. This caused the vehicle to overheat, and Moe Hawk's behind was starting to feel hot.

"YOWCH! My biscuit's are burnin'!" Moe Hawk cried. "An' my Hovercycle! It's overheated!"

"Here, let me help you with that," Chopper raised his hammer like a gold club and allowed it to become surrounded in an icy glow. He swung it at Moe Hawk's Hovercycle, causing it to cool off, but at the same time, lose control. Moe Hawk tried to regain control, but it only began to plummet into the water.

"NO!" Moe Hawk cried, falling off his Hovercycle and landing near the town, while his vehicle fell in the water. Chopper, meanwhile, reached town and crossed his final lap. He jumped off his Warp Star and landed with a single flip.

"Good job, Chopper! You managed to win!" Shadower congratulated, giving a hi-five to Chopper.

"Well, it really wasn't hard..." Chopper trailed. "But did I win anything?"

"Errr... I don't know..." Bombette trailed, making Chopper disappointed.

"Well who cares about that? What's more important is that you showed that guy who's boss!" Scrub grinned. "Not even a guy related to Rawk Hawk could beat you!"

Just as they were about to celebrate, they heard footsteps behind them. Turning around, the heroes spotted Moe Hawk walking toward them with his broken Hovercycle.

"You… Look what ya did to my awesome vehicle!" Moe Hawk hissed, showing his broken vehicle and giving Chopper a death stare. "I spent A LOT on this awesome bike, an' ya destroy it with yer hammer! You were the one that was supposed to get MOOOOOOOOOE'D!"

"Well... You said no rules, right?" Chopper shrugged. "And personally, I think you should...MOE the lawn!"

All of Chopper's friends, including Mario, reacted with a face palm.

_"What in the hey?!" _Grubba gaped, noticing Moe Hawk's trashed vehicle._ "Don't tell me you lost, son! GAH! I was hopin' you'd be giving him a whoopin' afterward to make it easier fer me, but it looks like you blew it! I don't believe what I'm seein'!" _

"Look, can you just go already? I would really like to get out of here..." Chopper trailed.

Grubba turned his attention to Chopper and glared at him._ "Listen, Contadre! I'm ready fer another fight once I get out of this here prison cell. Remember that!" _

"You? Defeat me? Yeah right! With my Ultra Shoes, Hammer, Glove, and even my friends like Mario, we could mop the floor with you!"

_"What? You've got the Great Gonzales with you? I see… I remember I still have a grudge against him... Well, remember this, boys! I'll be outta here in no time an' you'll be the ones goin' down!"_

Mario couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. _"Ha ha ha! There's no possible way that Grubba could defeat us! Not like that, of course!"_

"You better keep that mouth of yers shut before I close it myself!" Moe Hawk growled, silencing the plumber, though he didn't appear to show fear. "Listen! All of ya! I'll be back one day, an' when I come back an' find ya'll, we'll have a rematch! You better be ready fer it, Contadre! 'Cause I just might have some powerful stuff on this bad boy when it's fixed! …An' you, Gonzales… I'm keeping an eye on ya! Just remember that Uncle Moe Hawk is goin' to teach you a lesson!"

With that, Moe Hawk turned away from them and took off. Afterward, everyone sighed in relief.

"Phew... That guy was starting to get pretty annoying!" Heartsy commented.

"His jokes stunk," Scrub stated.

"Well, we don't have to worry about him for a while," Chopper smiled cheerfully. "I say we just get outta this town before something bad happens!"

As if he had jinxed it, they all heard the sound of a detonator beeping nearby.

"Uh…oh…"

Before anyone could react, they were all sent flying by an explosion.

* * *

**What? You actually thought I forgot all about Grubba? I was remembering him the WHOLE time!  
**

**Also, I originally had planned to call Moe Hawk "Jawk Hawk" when I first wrote this story four years ago. However, this one forum suggested the name "Moe Hawk" instead, and after pondering, I decided to go with that, since it sounds like Mohawk. Besides, "MOE'D" sounds a lot funnier than "JAAAAAWKED". :P**


	59. How to Take Over a Walker

Because of the large explosion, everyone found themselves being sent flying off the island and to another one off in the distance. Unlike the other island, however, this one was at a higher elevation. Chopper was the first to land on the small, grassy plains of the island face-first. Everyone else landed in the same fashion as him.

"Ooooog... What in the world was that?" Chopper moaned, slowly getting up. He noticed a couple of bushes around him, along with a grassy incline just up ahead. Waiting for him near the next pathway was a Save Block and Heart Block. "Oh... Well this is interesting. At least we landed somewhere with those two things."

Mario was the next to get up. He looked behind him and noticed the elevation they were at compared to the other islands. This wasn't anything special to him. After all, he had traveled through places much higher than this.

"I'm guessing those Phis had something to do with that bomb," Shadower grumbled, standing up third. "Yeesh... We're lucky to have survived that!"

"Yeah... Lucky..." Chopper sighed, walking up the incline to hit the Heart Block. "25 coins? Wow... The prices on these Heart Blocks really are rising! Why can't they just be free like they were before?"

Mario: I'm not so sure...

After the rest of the group managed to get up, the heroes decided to push onward into the next area. They ended up stumbling upon a short wall that looked like they could get over if they had enough height. Chopper got on Mario's shoulders and used their spin ability to reach the ledge. A Sun Phi was waiting for them beside a tree, so they focused on taking care of it first. Once that was over with, the rest of Chopper's friends managed to make their way up to the ledge as well.

"Hey, Chopper..." Shadower trailed, making his way over to him. "There's one thing I think I should mention that might be pretty important."

"What is it?" Chopper asked, looking a bit curious.

"I apologize for not telling you this before, but there's more to me than just turning you invisible. My eyes can detect hidden things such as blocks, and they also help me see in the dark with ease. I know I should've said this before, but I thought it would be best to bring it up now, since I see a hidden block nearby."

Chopper's antennas sprung up with curiosity as Shadower pointed to the hidden block near the tree. Smiling, he walked under the block and gave it a good punch to reveal a single coin, making him sweat drop. But regardless of that, they ended up stumbling upon a large gap between them and a pathway up ahead.

"Another gap? Well, I don't think I can get you across that one, Contadre..." Scrub trailed, noticing the distance.

"I don't think I can help either," Heartsy frowned.

"Guys, don't you see something a little strange with this grassy floor?" Vivian asked, noticing a darker spot nearby. "That might be a clue..."

An idea suddenly struck the Shadow Brother's mind as he gestured Chopper to stand on the dark spot. Shrugging, the Star Warrior listened and stepped on it, allowing Shadower to turn him and Chopper invisible and make them phase through the floor into a small underground room. A large Metal Block was discovered to be in the room thanks to Shadower's ability, so Chopper smashed it with his Ultra Hammer technique to reveal a blue ! switch. Giving it a good kick, a bridge was revealed to be created to connect to the next area.

With the yellow spring leading back outside, the two bounced off it and landed back by their companions.

Mario: What was down there?

"A hidden Metal Block and a blue ! switch, of course," Chopper answered. "But let's not get into too much detail over that. We've gotta get going!"

Agreeing, his friends followed him to the next area. It was much flatter and didn't contain any gaps or chasms for them to cross, to their relief. There were many trees around that were asking Chopper to whack them. However, there was one thing they were not happy to see in front of them.

"Yuk yuk yuk yuk! Well, if it ain't you, Slick! How've you been?"

"Doopliss?!" Shadower gaped.

"Yeah, thanks for knowing my NAME! Not even Beldam would call me by my name!" Doopliss complained annoyingly before turning his attention back to Chopper. "But enough about that. It's been a while, eh, Slick?"

"A while? The last time we saw you was in the Palace of Shadow." Chopper recalled. "I wouldn't consider that to be 'a while'..."

"Yeah, sure," the Duplighost noticed a familiar red plumber standing by Chopper. "Well, if it ain't the other Slick I saw a couple of months ago! How ya been? Good? Well, things are about to get bad for you two!"

"Halt!" Doopliss turned around and he saw a Sun Phi standing behind him in a battle position. "You are standing in the way between me and those eight targets that must be exterminated! Leave now, or you shall join them!"

The Sun Phi prepared to charge a shot from its weapon, but Doopliss managed to make his move first and rammed into the robot, leaving it gravely injured and unconscious. Grinning, Doopliss put his shape-shifting skills to use and transformed into a Sun Phi.

"Oh, no... This isn't good..." Vivian trailed, watching Doopliss turn to them.

"Yuk yuk yuk! Now look at me! I've changed into an awesome robot! Now I'll take care of you people once and for all in this form!"

Doopliss prepared to charge at them, but the sound of a large machine landing and a voice caught him off guard.

"Sun Phi, sir! The **Phi Walker **is ready to take off at this minute!" an Elite Phi exclaimed as Doopliss slowly turned around to face it. The Elite Phi noticed Chopper and his friends as well. "…Hey! You found Chopper and those other people we don't care about! How 'bout we test it on them?"

"Whoa… What in the world is THAT thing?" Doopliss gaped before trying to badly imitate the Sun Phi's voice. "Er… I mean, yeah! Let's test it on 'em! Good idea, robot person!"

Everyone saw a giant golden machine with four legs, a turret on the top, and a cockpit standing in front of them. It was also armed with missiles and even machine guns. It was the perfect machine for any meatbag-exterminating job!

"That… That thing's big!" Shadower gaped, watching Doopliss fly into the cockpit and take control of it - though he was left confused with the button layout.

"Let's see for a minute… What buttons are for what?" Doopliss pressed an orange button, and it fired a huge blue laser at an island, destroying it in the process. "Whoa... That's awesome."

"That's not good..." Heartsy trailed, her eyes widened while staring at the destroyed island.

"Poyo... (No kidding...)" Kirby agreed, having the same expression as her.

Mario, however, chose not to back down and got his hammer ready. Seeing the motivation in him, the rest of the group got in their fighting stances as well.

"Mario's right, guys! We shouldn't have to back down to something like this! I mean, we beat the Shadow Queen for crying out loud!" Chopper exclaimed. "If we can do that, then this thing should be no problem whatsoever!"

"Ye are goin' to get what's comin', matey!" Bombette exclaimed, lighting up her fuse.

"Oh, boy! Have I been waiting for the time to flatten you out, Slick!" Doopliss cackled. "Prepare yourselves, for it'll be your last!"

An Elite Phi hovered down to the turret and took control of it. "All right, Chopper! Time for some pain!"

**Tattle: **_That's a Phi Walker. This thing is BIG! It even looks heavily armored too! Max HP is 80, Attack is 8, and Defense is 2. That turret can be a big problem too. It's got 30 HP and an Attack of 6. It fires multiple shots at you that can take out a lot from you! I would highly recommend taking out that turret first before focusing on the whole machine itself. It's a weird vehicle, simply put. I don't know what to say about it…_

"Hmmm… What to start with? Hmmm…" Chopper pondered, looking at both the cockpit and the turret. "If we attack the cockpit, then it would be much quicker to take this thing out, but that turret seems dangerous too..."

"Let me try to lower the Phi Walker's defense and hit the turret too," Shadower suggested, twirling his hand and striking the Phi Walker and the turret with his Shadow Smite, lowering the machine's defense and dealing 6 damage to the turret.

"OK! Let's get started!" Chopper began to start by using his Ultra Ice Hand attack and began to fire multiple ice balls at the Phi Walker and the turret, dealing 8 damage to both. The Phi Walker decided to flatten Shadower and deal 8 damage to him. Meanwhile, the Elite Phi manning the turret began to shiver in the process.

"Oh, geez... This is seriously cold..." the Elite Phi shivered before firing rapidly at Chopper. He guarded all six shots, only taking 6 damage rather than 12. Afterward, he became Tornado Chopper and began to spin his body rapidly at both the Phi Walker and the turret. Now the turret was down to 10 HP.

"Wow... I'm surprised the turret is actually starting to smoke." Chopper gawked, seeing the smoke coming out of the turret.

Mario made his move next and performed a jump on the Phi Walker's cockpit. Doopliss, despite not getting hurt from it, couldn't help but cringe after Mario bounced off the machine and landed back by the heroes.

"Grrrrr! Fine! Take this!" Doopliss punched a green button, making the Phi Walker raise one of its legs and bring it down on Mario. The plumber put his guard up and only took 7 damage, while the turret fired a blast at Bombette and dealt 6 damage.

"Ha ha HA! That was great!" the Elite Phi exclaimed as the Phi Walker's defense returned to 2.

Vivian raised her finger and scorched both the Phi Walker and the turret with her Fiery Jinx, leaving the turret at 6 HP and the Phi Walker with a burn.

"This should finish it!" Chopper smiled, firing a large amount of ice balls at the walker and the turret. Both the turret and the Elite Phi blew up in the process.

"Hold on… Wha? You…destroyed the turret?" Doopliss gaped. "No way! This isn't right! No no no no! …No way! I'm not going to go out like that!"

"Doopliss... We can always stop here." Vivian noted. "We don't have to continue this."

"Yeah, I agree," Chopper nodded. "We can just end this here."

"No way, Slick! It's far from over! Take this!" Doopliss made the Phi Walker fire a small red laser at Scrub, knocking him back. Chopper was about to run over to him, but he appeared to get up all right.

"It's all right, Contadre, I'm fine," Scrub assured.

"OK... Anyway, let's see how this thing likes a Power Bounce!" Chopper jumped onto the Phi Walker and started his Power Bounce. He managed to jump on it ten times

Mario rushed over to the Phi Walker next and attacked with a Super Jump. He left a trail of sparkles behind as he leaped in the air and struck the walker. This only angered Doopliss more as he tried to shoot a laser at them, only for them to dodge it thanks to their Superguard. On the plus side for Doopliss, the machine's burn effect had faded away.

"What?! No fair!" Doopliss whined as Chopper spun in a tornado and struck the walker, while Heartsy reduced the Phi Walker's HP down to 28 with her Hearty Throw. This, however, did not stop him from flattening the girl with the Phi Walker's large foot.

After Chopper attacked it with another tornado, Kirby floated above the Phi Walker's cockpit and turned into a stone in an attempt to crush it. This left some of the cockpit's glass cracked.

"Great… I knew this wouldn't work! Gotta try something else…" Doopliss looked over at a green button and pressed it, making a green laser hit Chopper and remove his Tornado ability.

"Crud... This isn't good..." Chopper grumbled. "But I don't think it's all over just yet!"

He ran up to the Phi Walker and bashed it with his hammer. Mario had done the same thing and brought the Phi Walker down to 10 HP. At this point, some static and smoke began to emit from the machine, leaving Doopliss worried.

However, he still chose not to give up and let the Phi Walker shoot a missile at Mario, but that did little in stopping him. Once Chopper attacked with another Power Bounce, the Phi Walker was reduced to 4 HP.

"HEY! No fair, Slick!" Doopliss cried.

"Sorry, but you chose not to end this earlier, so you should've seen this coming," Chopper stated. "OK, Mario! Go for it!"

Mario gave him a nod and ran up to the Phi Walker. Leaving a trail of sparkles behind, he leaped in the air and delivered the final blow to the Phi Walker. The smoke and sparks became even greater, leaving Doopliss worried.

"Uh oh…"

With one bright flash, the Phi Walker exploded, sending Doopliss flying in the air. Chopper, meanwhile, was rewarded with 34 Star Points, along with a level up. After upgrading his BP to 33, the heroes noticed Doopliss land in front of them face-first. Along with that, he transformed back into himself.

"_Hnnurgh… That certainly wasn't a good idea…_" Doopliss mumbled before jumping back up. Seeing the heroes still in their fighting stances, he stepped back. "OK, OK… I give up. There's no need to attack me again! I got beaten, big deal! That doesn't mean I'm truly finished! For now, sure, but I'm certainly going to be back!"

"Hold on… Are you and my sisters still evil after the Shadow Queen's death?" Vivian asked.

"You bet we are! Yuk yuk yuk! There's more to our plan than you think - which I'm not even going to tell you about! No, that's not a good idea! But listen here, Slick! I'm going to play rough on you next time! Remember that!"

Doopliss ran past them and jumped off the island and into the water. Unfortunately, that was a bad move on his part, as a shark fin rose up from the water and began to chase after him, forcing him to swim for his life. As Kirby watched, he couldn't help but remember something from the past.

"Poyo! (Phew! At least that wasn't ME who was getting chased!)" Kirby sighed. "Poyo! (I mean, back in Orange Ocean, I got chased by a shark! …Come to think of it, this place _does _remind me of Orange Ocean a little…)"

"Yeah, it does have that Orange Ocean feeling, doesn't it? It's strange… Oh well, all we can do is see what's up ahead! Better not be more of those Phis…" Chopper approached one of the trees and gave it a good whack, causing a Tropical Fruit to drop down. He smiled as he picked it up, but that wasn't the only thing that came out.

"Holy… These guys again?" Chopper gaped, staring at the orange Sun Buzz Bomber. "What are THEY doing here?"

"We haven't seen them in a while..." Vivian realized.

"Yeesh... So many recolored enemies. This is so lazy!" Chopper complained, jumping on the Sun Buzz Bomber to destroy it. He was about to say something else until he found a Waddle Dee holding a red and white-striped parasol. Pondering for a moment, he walked over to the Waddle Dee and inhaled it, giving him the same type of parasol as the Waddle Dee after swallowing it.

"Wait... So, what happened to you?" Shadower asked. "You got an ability where your physical appearance isn't anything different."

"Yeah, I always found that strange... But I do like this parasol! Anyway, let's move on."

They didn't find much around the area except for a waterfall nearby that was flowing down to a lower section of the island. The background was a little different too, having a big waterfall coming down from an island behind the ocean.

"That is one nice sunset there!" Scrub smiled, staring at the sunset in the background. "And that waterfall makes me really thirsty! I think I'm going to have a little drink!"

He walked over to the waterfall, closed his eyes and stuck his tongue out. What he didn't realize, however, was that he was standing by the edge of the floor with a slippery incline down below.

"Wait! Scrub! Hold it!" Chopper shouted, noticing the edge. Scrub opened his eyes, and he accidentally fell down the waterfall and began to slide down the incline. He tried up climb up, but it was too slippery for him.

"Contadre! I can't get up!" Scrub cried.

"Uh oh… Not good! I gotta go after him! I don't want to look like a bad parent!" Chopper leaped off the ledge and used his parasol to slowly float down. Unfortunately, he was doing this while the waterfall was pouring down on him, making the parasol practically useless.

"Oh, crud..." Chopper gulped, falling down onto the slippery incline and sliding down after Scrub. He was actually used to this, considering that he had encountered slippery slides like this in the past.

"Wow! This IS fun!" Scrub cheered, enjoying the ride as he fell off the incline and landed on another slippery incline moving at a downward left. Chopper landed on the same one and tried his best to catch up to him.

"I say we give 'em a hand! We can't do anything else now, can we? I'm goin' to go help 'em!" Bombette declared, jumping off the ledge and sliding down the slippery incline.

"What the heck is she DOING?!" Shadower guffawed. "She can't save someone when she has no arms!"

"Let's just hope she's all right," Heartsy said, though she happened to see the Bob-omb tumbling down instead. "I would go down there to help them, but I think it would be a bit too late for that..."

The slippery incline eventually led to the water, and in that water was a giant Blooper that was much bigger than Bloopink. When Scrub noticed this Blooper, his eyes widened in shock.

"Bloobloobloop! (Hey! What's going on?)" the Blooper asked, looking up and seeing the Yoshi. "...Bloobloobloop! (…Hold the phone! It's some Yoshi, some weird pale green kid and a Bob-omb! Who do they think they are, disturbing me? All I want is peace and quiet, jeez!)"

"Crud! No! No! No! No no no no no no no no no no no no no no!" Scrub shouted, trying his best to flutter. Unfortunately, as a baby, his fluttering was not so good. Chopper ended up falling on top of him, pushing him closer to the Blooper, but it was Bombette that pushed them even further. The three expected the worse to come and closed their eyes.

Surprisingly, however, they did not feel a splash. Opening their eyes, they noticed the Blooper managed to catch the three.

"By Gravy's locker! This sea squid is huge!" Bombette gaped.

"Well, I guess it's game over for us..." Scrub gulped. "Sorry to disappoint you, Contadre..."

"Don't worry, Scrub, it's fine," Chopper assured, noticing the Blooper staring at them.

"Bloobloobloop! (Who do you think you people are, trying to disturb my rest?)" the Blooper asked while glaring at them.

"Ummm… What is the Blooper saying?" Scrub asked, only to receive shrugs from Chopper and Bombette.

"Bloobloobloop! (It's not easy being the God of Bloopers, you know… OK, maybe sleeping all day isn't such a hard thing. But still! You don't just wake someone in the middle of their sleep!)"

"Listen! I know we can't understand a thing you're saying, but we didn't MEAN to wake you up!" Chopper apologized. "It's just all a big mistake, Mr. Blooper! I can assure you that Scrub just wanted a drink, and he accidentally fell and began to slip down here."

The Blooper took a look at Chopper for a moment, causing it to look surprised. _"Hmmm… Hold on a second… This boy… Why do I recognize him from somewhere? He reminds me of that lime green blonde kid with a green hat that came here... How old was he? Thirteen? Yeah, that was it. He looks like him…except for those eyes and the top part of his head… and his feet too." _

"Listen to me, little boy!" the Blooper exclaimed in a godly voice. "You remind me of some other boy. Have you ever heard of Nazuchi?"

"HOLY… Contadre! This Blooper's talking to us! It's…REALLY weird!" Scrub gaped.

"Nazuchi? I don't understand what you mean... My name is Chopper." Chopper replied.

"Hmmmm... Is that so? Well, you do look like him, except you have two antennas, while he had blonde hair. Perhaps you're a descendant of him? Hmmm… The Gods were talking about the descendant of the Chosen One…but he has not yet showed up. Now that I get a better look at you… You _could _be 'the one'…"

"What? Ye say that Chopper's the Chosen One?" Bombette gawked. "The Chosen One of what, I may ask?"

"Why… The one who will save the universe from the evil darkness, that's what! The Sun Star you're seeking is a little far on another island. I can help you get to a cave where you can easily get to said island."

The Blooper brought the three of them by a tree on a grassy plain on a lower elevation leading to a cave. "Follow this cave, and you will find the next island."

"Could you do us a favor and help our other friends at the top of that waterfall get over here?"

"What's that? You have friends with you too? I suppose I should bring them here as well! Hang on just a second…" The Blooper raised his tentacles up and flailed them around, causing the rest of Chopper's friends to be transported over to them. When they saw the giant Blooper, their eyes widened in shock, but Chopper assured them that it wasn't evil.

"Follow the route in the cave and you should be there in no time!" the Blooper informed. "…Just watch out for any enemies in there. Lotsa monsters in there. Lotsa monsters… I'd be careful for them monsters. And now… Farewell!"

The Blooper returned to its slumber and began to snore loudly, annoying a few of the heroes in the process. However, the snoring was interrupted when they heard a couple of voices coming from the cave up ahead. It sounded very snarky and greedy.

"Wah ha ha ha ha ha! I'm the best! …And I got all of this money!"

Mario: That voice sounds very familiar...

"You know who's saying that?" Heartsy asked, receiving a nod from Mario afterward.

"What ever it is, we might as well check it out," Chopper suggested, slowly walking into the cave. The first thing they discovered was a small room with a bunch of treasure, including golden coins and treasure chests. The annoying laughter appeared to be coming from in the chests and coins, leaving the heroes alarmed.

"Who could these people be?" Vivian wondered.

A fat man in yellow and in purple overalls popped out from the coins, and a skinny, purple man in black overalls came out of the chest. They were laughing hysterically and tossed some coins in the air.

"What the… Who the heck ARE these guys?" Shadower gawked. "Mario? Do you know them?"

Mario face palmed at the two plumbers before giving them an explanation on who they were.

"They're Wario and Waluigi?" Vivian asked. "But why are they in a place like this and not the Mushroom Kingdom?"

Mario: I wish I knew...

"Wah? What is my rival Mario doing here?" Wario turned around and saw Mario face palming. "Oh, so you came here to take all my riches, huh? Well sorry, plumber! Wario here is number one! The treasure's all mine, so take a hike!"

"And go back to your cowardly brother!" Waluigi taunted. "Then again, why don't you gimme a picture of him looking scared so I can laugh at it all day?"

"Wow... I don't know what to say..." Chopper trailed.

"He's got some friends here as well!" Wario exclaimed. "Come to take the money from me too? Well, here's an answer for your troubles!"

"Ummm… What is he doing?" Heartsy asked, her eyes widened at Wario's constipated look. Many others were alarmed except for Chopper, who was unaware of what was going on.

"Why are you guys so shocked?" Chopper asked innocently.

_"Uh oh… This isn't good…I think Wario's getting ready for his…waft." _Mario thought while gulping. He told everyone to run ahead, and they did just that. Wario let out his explosive gas, creating a large cloud of...smelly gas that filled up the small section of the cave.

"Wah ha ha ha ha! How'd you like that, Mario?" Wario cackled, only to notice they were gone. "...Hey, where'd they go?!"

Waluigi ended up smelling the scent of Wario's gas, causing him to heave and pinch his nose. "Awwwwww! You just ruined all of the cash!"

Wario smirked as he began to lay on his pile of cash while smelling the disgusting air. "Ooh! Now THAT is a nice smell! Mmmmmm-hmmmmmm!"

* * *

**Next part of the cave-**

Chopper found a way down that led to a flowing river. A couple of rocks happened to be floating in the water as well. To make things easier for him, Chopper used his parasol to slowly land on one of the rocks.

"Good thing I have this," Chopper smiled. "So, I'm guessing this cave leads to the next island..."

"Poyo. (I think so. I kinda wish I had that parasol though..." Kirby trailed, jumping and taking in some air to float down softly. Looking down at the water, they noticed how fast the current was moving. They knew it was better for them not to go in.

Crossing the rock platforms, they noticed a couple of red, robotic fish called Choppers jump out of the water. Chopper easily took care of one of the Choppers with a single whack from his hammer.

"Honestly… There's nothing around this cave. What gives?" Chopper sighed disappointingly. "I was hoping there would be some kind of maze!"

Before he could ramble on, though, he and his friends noticed a light at the end of the cave.

"Whoa… What's through there? It looks like…it's something beautiful!" Scrub gaped. "Dude, we NEED to go check that out!"

"Good idea, Scrub. We should do that!" Chopper took a step back, and he charged toward the waterfall at the end of the tunnel and jumped out. Mario was next to jump and soon everyone else followed him.

If that Blooper was correct, they were not too far from the ninth Crystal Star now.


	60. Gemerl: The Rematch

"Hmmm… Now where could that Crystal Star be?" Gemerl wondered, searching the seas around him for a temple. "I've been looking everywhere around here for that thing! I don't see a Sun Temple around here! Gah! I had a feeling this would be much more challenging than I thought... I guess in the meantime, I'll give those Phis a call. They should have that Phi Walker all ready to crush Chopper and his friends!"

He took out his communicator and began to contact the Phi responsible for controlling the Phi Walker. To his surprise, however, the Sun Phi was covered in soot.

_"Ugh… My head hurts… What just happened?" _the Sun Phi moaned as it slowly got up.

"Sun Phi! Where is the Phi Walker I told you to use against Chopper?" Gemerl asked.

_"Master Gemerl? I... I don't remember what happened. The Phi Walker WAS here, but I don't see it around here anymore..."_

"What? You don't know what happened? How is that possible?! Answer me now, sun Phi!"

_"Look! I'm sorry, Master Gemerl! I didn't mean to anger you! All I remember was finding Chopper and his friends, along with some person wearing a sheet over his head. Then suddenly, that thing knocked me out. I think those things are called Duplighosts..."  
_

"So a Duplighost knocked you out? I see... I'm guessing he was responsible for the Phi Walker's destruction."

_"He was? That's not good..."_ the Sun Phi trailed.

"Don't worry, the Phi Walker may be destroyed, but I still have some more tricks up my sleeves," Gemerl assured. "Have you found any whereabouts of the Crystal Star?"

_"The Crystal Star? Well, I DID discover something powerful coming from an island called Sun Forest. It's a beautiful place, and I think you might like how it looks! There's a temple somewhere past a beach if you search carefully. Just be careful, because there are some Piranha Plants and killer robotic fish in the waters."_

"Is that so? Excellent! That MUST be where the Crystal Star is!" Gemerl smirked. "In the meantime, take a break. I'll go find that Crystal Star myself! I don't think I'm too far from the island now..."

_"Yes, sir!"_ With that, Gemerl turned off his communicator and flew full speed toward the island ahead.

* * *

**Sun Forest-**

As soon as Chopper jumped out of the waterfall, he found himself landing in a large, orange pond. Resurfacing, he discovered many trees towering over them with orange, yellow, blue and pink leaves as if to match the sky during a sunset.

"Wow… Look at this place! The colors and all… So beautiful…" Chopper smiled before noticing a shadow over him. Looking up, he saw Mario falling on top of him. He let out a shriek before sinking back into the water thanks to Mario's weight.

Noticing the bubbles rise from the water, Mario looked down and noticed he was right on top of Chopper, so he got off of him and got onto the orange grass. To make up for falling on Chopper, he helped him out of the lake.

"Whew... Thanks for that, Mario." Chopper thanked, shaking any water still remaining on him.

"Woo-hoooo!" Scrub cheered, jumping out of the waterfall and performing a cannonball into the water. He got out of the water just in time for everyone else to jump in and get out afterward. They all couldn't help but gaze at the forest's beauty as well.

"Whoa… Look at this place! It's so gorgeous!" Heartsy commented, seeing a rainbow over the forest. Unfortunately, where the sun was shining in this place made it a little too bright, forcing everyone except for Vivian to cover their eyes.

Mario: Mama mia! It's so bright!

"Yeah, no kidding! We need something to let us go through here easily!" Shadower informed. "'Cause we're certainly not going anywhere when we can't see!"

"Hey, people! You need sunglasses? I got some here for ya!"

The heroes looked to their left side and saw a Toad wearing a gray jacket with red polka dots on his cap and sunglasses. He had a stand that contained sunglasses. Rather curious, the eight approached the Toad.

"Who are you? In fact, why are you even here?" Heartsy questioned.

"Well, the answer is simple!" the Toad began. "I know some tourists like to come here to see the beauty of this island! Well, I'm definitely the tour guide…but I give sunglasses to people to let them roam around here a lot better. Ya'll need sunglasses, is that it?"

"Arr! Yeah, that's it." Bombette nodded. "It's be too bright out 'ere an' it ain't easy lookin' around 'ere! We would love to have sunglasses!"

"All right, then here you go!" the Toad grinned, taking out some sunglasses. "There's many different kind! We've got some shaped like stars, hearts, spades, and even-"

"It doesn't really matter, honestly..." Chopper sighed. "We're in a bit of a hurry here..."

The Toad decided to give them normal sunglasses instead. Once everyone got theirs, they put them on, allowing them to see things more clearly around the forest.

"Poyo! (Much better!)" Kirby cheered.

"Great syrup bombs! These be incredible!" Bombette gaped. "Why, this could help pirates all over the sea when it comes to sunny days!"

"One thing for sure is that these sunglasses make me look cool!" Scrub grinned, placing his hands on his hips while trying to look cool. "You think it's awesome, right, Contadre?"

"Yeah!" Chopper nodded, putting his on. "They're always nice to wear during a bright day!"

"Now that you guys got yourselves acquainted with your sunglasses, I'm going to take you all through this forest, and those sunglasses are definitely needed to go through here," the Toad informed. "My name's Russ T., and I hope you enjoy this tour!"

"We'll make sure, we will," Vivian assured.

Russ T. got out a sword and asked everyone to follow him, which they listened and followed him through the forest. He gripped his sword and cut through some of the tall grass in the way. "All right, now this will require me to cut through the grass, so bear with me folks!"

"Here, lemme help you!" Chopper equipped his Cutter ability and used it to slice through some of the vines that blocked their way as they continued walking.

"Oh! Why thank you, boy! I didn't know you could even do that! Thank you very much for that! Now we can forge onward easily! Come!"

The heroes followed Russ T. through the pathway ahead, which led to some ruins, along with a couple of dull balloons that were floating around.

"Poyo, (I'd like to float on those balloons,)" Kirby smiled.

"This is the Sunset Ruins," Russ T. informed. "This used to be where people would worship the Sun God. But after darkness filled the sky and shook the earth, the place was destroyed and left to be like this. It's a shame, to tell you the truth. The balloons are still there because, well… They just are."

Chopper exchanged looks with both Kirby and Mario, who gave them a simple shrug. The rest of his friends were unsure of what to say as well.

Mario: Do you know anything about the Sun God?

"What's that, sir? Do I know anything about the Sun God?" Russ T. pondered. "Well, I'm not exactly sure, unfortunately. HOWEVER… I did hear that a boy traveled through this place in search of something to save a princess. He was with a strange puffy person like that pink friend you have that loved to eat, a brown hedgehog, a woman in gray armor that looked…more futuristic than anyone else, two blacksmith and a knight. I say, I heard one of them had a nice mustache like you! Say… Who are you anyway?"

Mario gave him a blank stare, but eventually gave him his answer. "HOLY… I never knew the famous Mario was here! Can I get your autograph? Pleeeeease?"

Mario shrugged and grabbed the piece of paper to sign his name, which got the Toad excited. He quickly put the note away afterward and told everyone to follow him into the place. They ended up going past the ruins and over to a pathway leading to a beach dead ahead.

"Now this is where thing's are going to get interesting!" Russ T. smiled. "You see, up ahead there's a beach, but there is a lot more to this beach than you think!"

"Really?" Chopper gawked, now at the Toad's full attention.

"You betcha! You see, at the beach, there is a temple you'll find. There are many rumors of some star being located there. It's also been a place of legend, especially to the Sun God. It was built after him ever since the old place became, well, you know... Many people like to call it the Sun-"

Before he could finish, he was suddenly struck by a missile that sent him flying out of the forest. Everyone gasped as they watched him get sent flying back to the pond they had fallen into.

"Thank you very much for the information, Toad, but I don't think I need you to ramble on any longer!" Looking up, the heroes saw Gemerl slowly descend with his arms crossed.

"Gemerl!" Chopper changed his ability to his Sword and pointed the blade at him. Seeing the sword, Gemerl simply laughed at him.

"Gah ha ha ha ha! You seriously think a sword's going to defeat the Gizoid? Think again! I thought you were smarter than that, Chopper? Then again, I wouldn't call you the brightest bulb on the planet!"

Everyone got in their fighting stances and glared at the robot.

"Hmmmm… I see your whole team hasn't changed much ever since last time I saw you! Then again, I think I do notice someone new here..." Gemerl brought his attention to Mario. "So you're the famous Mario around these parts, are you not? I've heard a couple of things about you. All of these tales I hear about someone named Mario, and I only discover him to be a fat plumber with a measly mustache! Here's some advice: get rid of the 'stache, 'cause it ain't cool."

Mario: Who are you, and who gave you the right to insult my 'stache?

"Allow me to introduce myself then! Being a villain is not complete unless you have a good introduction. I am Gemerl, Gemerl the Gizoid. I'm the leader of the E-121 Phis that you've been seeing around here. But why did I come here? My reason is because Mobius had a fat scientist who only cared about kidnapping animals and putting them into his machines. I, for one, did not care about that. I have much better ways of world dominating compared to that fat scientist!"

"…Which is why you came here for the Crystal Stars, is that it?" Vivian asked.

"Precisely! But I knew I couldn't do this on my own, so I needed an army. Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik had some robots of myself left over, so I thought, why not make clones of them? And that's what I did!"

"All right, we get it now. Let's just put an end to this, OK?" Chopper suggested. "There's no point in bickering when we should be focusing on kicking each other's butts!"

"Ah, yes… Of course. We should be doing that right away! However, not here. This place appears to be too crowded for us to battle. How about we meet at Sunset Beach? It has much more room for us to battle, and it might be the last sight you ever see! Whoever wins can get their hands on that sun gem in the Sun Temple! …But first…"

Gemerl snapped his fingers and four Sun Phis came down, blocking their way. Satisfied, he flew out of the forest, leaving them to fight the four Sun Phis. Annoyed with this, Chopper began to attack the Sun Phis with his Ultra Ice Hand, while Mario attacked with his Hammer Spin.

After guarding their lasers, Chopper and his friends quickly did away with the Sun Phis and picked up the 16 Star Points they dropped.

"Great... I was hoping we wouldn't have to run into that robot." Heartsy sighed. "He sure was a pain to fight back in his base!"

"Well the good news is that he's really the only threat we have to worry about, aside from the Shadow Sirens and Brothers..." Shadower noted.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean it's still going to be easy…" Vivian pointed out.

"True... But a challenge is sometimes good once in a while. In the meantime, let's go!" Chopper suggested, running toward the forest's end ahead. Waiting at the exit was a Save Block and a Heart Block. After hitting both, the heroes moved onward for their rematch against the Gizoid.

* * *

**Sunset Beach-**

Upon arriving to Sunset Beach, the party could see that the sun was not as bright as it was in the forest, allowing them to remove their sunglasses. The second thing they took notice of was the sound of the waves. It sounded very peaceful, and with the sounds of seagulls flying around the sea, it made the setting feel even nicer.

However, the only thing that was ruining the scene was Gemerl waiting for them.

"So… You finally came here." Gemerl said with no shock or surprise in his voice. "I had a feeling those Sun Phis would get beaten by you guys. Then again, they were there to slow you down."

"Well they hardly did much to slow you down, considering that you didn't make any steps to the Crystal Star," Chopper mentioned. "But enough of that. Let's settle this!"

"After you," Gemerl replied, signalling them to attack. They approached the Gizoid and got in their fighting stances to face him. However, Gemerl crossed his arms without fear. "Don't think that this is going to be like last time, heroes. I may have lost to you before, but I've learned from my mistakes and will finish you for good!"

Gemerl threw a yellow shield down and let it surround him. "Go ahead, try anything you want! You know you won't be able to hurt me with this shield up. I can tell you that."

**Tattle: **_Gemerl is back again? Uh oh… That's not good! It even looks like he even improved in power! Max HP is 100, Attack is 9, and Defense is 2. He's got some new moves up his sleeves. He'll try to use his jetpack to tackle you…but it says he might try to trick you when he's about to tackle you. I would be very careful, 'cause he sounds like he's not holding anything back!  
_

"OK… First we need to get rid of that shield." Chopper noted. "If we have someone who can attack something multiple times, it might just be able to break the shield. I'd say Scrub should handle that!"

"Aw, FINALLY! Now I get to do something! Don't worry, Contadre! I got this!" Scrub fluttered over to Gemerl and began to perform his Ground Pound. While it didn't deal any damage to Gemerl, it managed to shatter his shield after three Ground Pounds. The rest he dealt on Gemerl, but they hardly hurt him.

"My shield! You'll regret that, pest!" Gemerl growled before getting struck by a sword swing from Chopper. To fight back, Gemerl flew up and began to curl up in a ball. He flew down at Chopper in an attempt to strike him. Sadly, his attack was guarded, which pushed Gemerl back onto the sand.

Just before Gemerl could make another move, Chopper took his hammer out and bashed him to take 4 out of him. Afterward, Mario attacked next and performed a Super Jump to make Gemerl cringe and take 6 damage in the process.

"Take this!" Gemerl clenched his fists fired missiles from his back up into the air. Seven missiles happened to be fired out, and they were flying down in Mario's direction. Because of how fast they moved, he didn't have time to guard them and took 2 damage each from the seven missiles. "Ah, yes... Now that's what I like to see more of in a fight!"

Mario: Mama mia! That was painful!

"Whoa, let's hope he's all right..." Scrub trailed.

"He's taken worse, so he should be fine," Chopper assured.

"I was thinking of hitting him with a Shadow Attack, but with that kind of defense, that would be rather difficult..." Shadower trailed, pondering for a moment. Eventually he decided to attack Gemerl with a regular Shadow Punch, lowering his defense down to 0.

Chopper thanked Shadower and decided to use a heavy-hitting move, so he charged up a Sword Beam from his sword and fired it directly at Gemerl to deal 8 damage. It also managed to send him flying back into the forest, which pleased Chopper.

"Hey, that was pretty neat!" Chopper smiled, pleased with his attack. Unfortunately, he didn't notice a laser fire from the forest and knock him back by the water. This ended up knocking his Sword ability away as well, leaving him annoyed when he stood up.

"I think he's mad now…" Vivian trailed, watching Gemerl fly out of the forest with a couple of trees knocked over behind him.

"I'm going to make you suffer!" Gemerl hissed, landing back into the battle.

"Not until we beat you," Chopper retorted, switching to his Wing ability and ramming into him. This time, however, Gemerl was not knocked back by the attack. In fact, he managed to hold his own, despite taking 6 damage from the hit.

With his defense at 0 still, Scrub decided he would attack next and fluttered above Gemerl. He took 6 out of him with his signature Ground Pound and quickly scurried over to his friends, leaving the Gizoid at 62 HP.

"Not bad… You have somewhat improved ever since our last battle. But…let's see how you deal with this!" Gemerl's eyes flashed, and he began to teleport all over the area. Everyone gaped as they tried to follow his movements, but this hardly helped them when Chopper was suddenly charged into by Gemerl, taking 11 out of him in the process.

"Oof! Now THAT hurt!" Chopper grumbled, rubbing his head. "I think it's time we used one of the Crystal Stars to deal with him now that his defense is back at 2!"

"Are you sure?" Vivian asked.

"Mmmmm-hmmmm! Let's test out the Queen's Star on him!" Chopper took out the Queen's Star and began to put its power to use. Suddenly, a couple of demonic hands resembling the Dead Hands from the Shadow Queen rose from the ground. Everyone gasped at first, but they noticed they were actually grabbing a hold of Gemerl and attacking him.

"Arrgh! What in the world is this?!" Gemerl exclaimed, cringing from the energy he was losing from the Dead Hands. He lost 17 HP to them in the end, while the energy the Dead Hands stole suddenly went back to Chopper and his friends, allowing them to recover 17 HP.

"Whoa... That's...awesome!" Scrub gaped. "We should do that attack more often!"

"Well, it kinda cost a lot of Star Power to use it..." Chopper trailed. "Plus, those Dead Hands... I really don't like those..."

"Yeah, I hear ya," Heartsy agreed, readying her hammer. "However, let's not focus on that. I think I want to give this robot a taste of his own medicine!"

She charged toward Gemerl and delivered 4 damage to him thanks to her Hearty Hammer. With him down to 41 HP, he knew things could get rough for him, so he pressed the blue button on his head to raise his Attack power by 9.

"Let's see how you like my Laser Cannon!" Gemerl cackled.

"Oh... This...doesn't look good..." Chopper trailed. "I guess I'll hit him with a Shuttle Loop, and then Vivian can hide us in the shadows."

"That sounds like a nice plan," Vivian agreed.

Smiling, Chopper flew toward Gemerl and attacked him with his Shuttle Loop. After returning, Vivian grabbed him and everyone else and brought them into the shadows to hide thanks to her Veil ability.

"All right, here it comes!" Activating his laser cannon, he fired a large, blue laser in their direction. He seemed satisfied at first, but when he noticed no one was there, he was left in shock. "What?!"

They eventually rose from the shadows, appearing unharmed by his attack. This only upset Gemerl even more, making him charge at all eight and taking 9 out of each of them, knocking Chopper's ability away as well. Afterward, he flew back to the spot he was standing before.

"This time, I'm playing dirty!" Gemerl growled.

Chopper, annoyed with Gemerl's cheap attack, decided to use his D-Down Hand attack and fired an ice ball that managed to deal 6 damage to him. Afterward, Vivian attacked him with her Shade Fist to reduce him to 25 HP and leave him with a burn.

Gemerl teleported in front of Chopper, but he disappeared and appeared above him instead. Just as he was about to attack him, he appeared behind Vivian instead and charged into her.

"That'll teach you to help avoid my Laser Cannon!" Gemerl shouted, only to be knocked away by Chopper's hammer so he was away from the group. Bombette charged at him next and blew up in front of him to reduce him to 16 HP.

"Ye might as well give up when yer goin' to lose!" Bombette suggested.

"Not even close..." Gemerl muttered, throwing down a yellow shield to protect him. The burn effect faded away after taking one more damage as well. The shield, on the other hand, didn't last very long, as Scrub was able to strike it with a Ground Pound to shatter it. Afterward, Chopper equipped his Parasol ability and smacked him with the weapon.

Gemerl proceeded to charge toward the heroes, but just as he was about to hit Chopper, he quickly teleported and appeared behind Scrub. The Yoshi turned around and saw him charging directly at him. Chopper gasped at first, but he was relieved that he guarded the attack.

"Not bad, Yoshi..." Gemerl muttered.

Chopper dashed toward Gemerl with his parasol in front of him. Many stars came out from the parasol as he attacked Gemerl with his Parasol Drill, dealing 6 damage to him. Kirby attacked him with his Cartwheel afterward and reduced him to 2 HP.

"Poyo! (He's finished!)" Kirby cheered.

"Grrrr! Recovery Mode activate!" Gemerl raised his arms up and recovered 30 HP. This nearly left everyone agape.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Heartsy guffawed. "You can't just do that!"

"I did say I was going to play dirty..."

Annoyed by this outcome, Chopper proceeded to attack Gemerl with his Power Bounce and reduced him to 24 HP. Afterward, Mario brought him to 20 with a single hammer strike.

Annoyed by this outcome, Gemerl began to fire his machine guns at the heroes. To their luck, they managed to Superguard the attack. Since this annoyed Gemerl even more, he decided to hover over the air.

"Yeesh... This might be a lot more annoying than I thought." Chopper sighed.

"I think I have an idea, Choppy," Heartsy said, giving him a wink before throwing her hammer up at Gemerl. This managed to leave him off guard, giving Chopper an opportunity to strike with a normal jump. Though it only did 2 damage, it managed to send Gemerl plummeting to the floor.

"Let's see... How about another Laser Cannon for you heroes?" Gemerl suggested, pressing the blue button on his head to raise his Attack by 9 again.

However, the heroes did not appear to be that scared by the attack thanks to the low amount of HP Gemerl had. "Well, he won't be able to heal next turn, so we can easily finish him off now! Let's go Mario!"

Nodding, Mario jumped in the air and performed a Super Jump on Gemerl, reducing him to 6 HP. To finish off the fight, Chopper readied his parasol and dashed at Gemerl once again, delivering the final blow with his Parasol Drill. Sparks began to emit from Gemerl as he fell to the ground, awarding Chopper with 43 Star Points and a level up. smiling, he upgraded his HP to 60.

"Yeah! We did it!" Scrub cheered. "We showed him who's boss!"

"Yar! I say, I do feel proud for this victory!"

However, just before they could celebrate, Gemerl slowly got up, though he appeared to be struggling. "I don't understand... I looked back at my mistakes, yet I still get beaten by a bunch of heroes?!"

"Maybe because we learned a couple of new things," Chopper replied, removing his Parasol ability.

"Hmmmm... That could be... For now, it looks like I can't do much in this state. You can take your precious Crystal Star for all I care. However, that doesn't mean it's over between us. I will return when I truly believe I'm ready to finish you once and for all, and then I will take all the Crystal Stars you possess!"

With that, Gemerl flew off toward the sunset.

"Hmmmm... What he just said..." Shadower pondered. "Should we be all that worried?"

"Probably not," Chopper assured. "Anyway, looks like we can close this chapter!"

"We still haven't gotten the Crystal Star yet," Vivian mentioned. "Aren't we supposed to go to the Sun Temple?"

"Arr! That be true!" agreed Bombette. "I'm sure it's not too far from 'ere!"

They decided to search for the Sun Temple around the beach, but to their surprise, it happened to be dead ahead. A Save Block was waiting for them as well, so once they approached the place, Chopper hit it. Afterward, they took a look at the temple itself. It was a yellowish gold, just like what the map had shown. There was also a sun emblem on the front of the temple as well.

"It's such a nice-looking temple," Heartsy said, amazed by the building. "Well, at least from the outside. I bet its interior must look very nice!"

"Poyo! (Let's find out!)" Kirby cheered.

They proceeded onward into the temple, and inside, there were stain-glassed windows with a sun emblem on them. It was also a yellowish gold inside as well, and it contained a couple of pillars that held the ceiling. There was also a picture of a sun being that almost looked godly. He was wearing a large, yellow robe with a sun symbol on it as well.

"This must be the Sun God..." Chopper deduced. "Though, I don't think I understand the text here..."

Looking back at the end of the room, the heroes could see a shining light come down. They were left with curiosity and decided to approach it.

_"I've been waiting for you…" _

"What the... Who said that?" Chopper gawked, only to look up and see the spirit of an orange Sun descend upon them.

_"Hello there, I am the Sun's spirit. I've been waiting to give the Sun Star to The Chosen One. You seem to be the one. I can feel the power in you…"_

"Chosen One? What do you mean?"

_"Long ago, about a thousand years, there was a tale of the Chosen One. ...Or rather, six Chosen Ones, at least. One was a blonde boy carrying a sword, another was a puffy kid with a paintbrush, the third was a brown hedgehog carrying a dark katana, the fourth was a lady in a futuristic suit of armor who carrying a strange cannon on her arm, and two blacksmith, with one carrying a hammer and another a staff. These people traveled all around the world and were the ones destined to take on the great force that took over these lands..."  
_

"Poyo! (Sounds interesting, especially the puffy one!)" Kirby smiled.

_"The boy's home used to be where Rogueport once stood, but it was soon taken over by the evil Shadow Queen__. Many have believed that she originated from an island to the southwest, but she was also married to a king that was defeated by these Chosen Ones, while she was defeated by four heroes."_

"Really? Well that's really cool." Chopper commented.

_"However, even after death, their spirits still refuse to leave this world and search for vessels they can take over to restore their powers. To do this, they must find the correct vessel, such as a pure-hearted maiden... Or it could be someone who is brave and heroic..."_

"Brave and heroic?"

Mario: That sounds very dangerous...

_"Yes, but these spirits never usually succeed in their task, so there is not much to worry about. For now, though, there is one thing that is more important at task. You must be given the Crystal Star to help restore the universe and protect it from darkness!"_

The Sun's spirit took out a pale orange Crystal Star, and it dropped it down by Chopper. _"Go ahead, take it!"_

"OK, thank you," Chopper thanked, approaching the Crystal Star. It soon began to circle around him until it hovered over his head. Smiling, he raised his arms once again and held the star up.

**You got a Crystal Star! Chopper has learned the special move Sunny Day!**

**END OF CHAPTER!**

_After defeating the evil Gemerl once again, Chopper has acquired the Sun Star from the Sun Temple! Chopper was also informed of the Chosen Ones by both a Blooper and a sun's spirit. Was he, in fact, really a chosen one? The tale the sun's spirit spoke to them about interested them, yet it left them with a hint of worry. Was this tale just a myth, or had it actually happened? These thoughts began to linger in Chopper's mind...  
_

* * *

**Well, that puts an end to Chapter 9! To be honest, it's not really one of my favorite chapters, but it's definitely not my least favorite chapter either. The only things that really stood out to me was Moe Hawk, Doopliss taking over the Phi Walker and this chapter, of course.  
**

**It's not the best start for the second act of this story, but I kinda like it. Just wait until what we see in Chapter 10, though! :P**


	61. Chapter 9 Interlude

Grodus looked pleased as many X-Naut ships landed on the purple moon and joined some other X-Nauts working on the New X-Naut Fortress. Of course, he requested them to make the fortress bigger and stronger without the use of a machine like TEC-XX. Lord Crump, meanwhile, was elsewhere on the moon.

"Ah, excellent, X-Nauts. You are doing a fine job." Grodus complimented, seeing the work they were pulling off on the fortress. It appeared grayish, just like their other fortress, but it contained technology much more advanced than their previous one. "Chopper will not have any clue of our new fortress, and there's no way he will ever breach this place even if he does find this place out! The New X-Naut Fortress will be _flawless_!"

Just as he was about to cackle, he felt someone bump into him from behind. Turning around, he noticed a normal X-Naut give him an apologetic look. "Whoops! Sorry dude…er, sir! You uh, remember me, right? Johnson?"

"Oh, you… I remember you now. You're that X-Naut that managed to escape from the fortress before Chopper showed up, aren't you?"

"Why, that's me!" Johnson nodded. "Believe it not, I was able to find some good information while I was, well… Making my escape. It's kind of interesting…"

"What is it? Speak about it now!"

"Oh, let me think about it… Oh! I remember it now! I was doing a little research before Chopper invaded our fortress, and I found a location to another Crystal Star! No joke! I REALLY did!"

"Is that so? This is some interesting news..." Grodus pondered. "Speak now about this location! This is very important information, you know."

"Yes, sir," Johnson nodded. "You remember that one place called Fahr Outpost?"

"Yes, I think so... It's pretty far from the other areas around Rogueport, if I could recall. It's about northwest from Rogueport."

"Yeah, well... Beyond Fahr Outpost is this place called Snowy Mountain. I heard many interesting tales about that place, especially brave Bob-ombs who go out to fight off the cold."

"I see..." Grodus began to ponder for a moment. "Well, if we're to find out more about this star, then spying on Chopper is our only idea. Of course, we cannot let any of the troops be spotted by him, or else he and his friends will be on the alert of us. My suggestion is that the troops wear snowmen disguises to fit in with the snowy atmosphere. Most snowmen are not so suspicious to people, especially to a measly child."

"Hey, I like that idea!" Johnson agreed. "...Oh, yeah! The Crystal Star is apparently called the Winter Star. There's also some kind of temple where the Gods test your skills to prove if you're The Chosen One or something like that. I did a little research on this, and one thing said, 'Ye who art The Chosen One may enter thy temple to prove if thou art indeed The Chosen One. If thou dost succeed, thou wilt taketh the power to find the Winter Star.' Yeah, it says that. There's also the Winter God that holds the Crystal Star too."

"Winter God? This sounds interesting..."

"Yeah, I know! Funny thing, though... Something certainly is wrong with him. He's all...evil and stuff."

"Great... That's just what I needed." Grodus groaned. "I probably might need Lord Crump for something like this. His foolishness might get us somewhere. ...Come to think of it, where is he anyway?"

"Uh… I think I might know where he is at the moment." Johnson answered, leading Grodus behind the fortress. There, they heard the sound of laughter.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh huh! Now THIS is a masterpiece!" Lord Crump declared. "Yup! Magnus von Grapple 3.0 is ready for action!"

He raised his fists in the air and looked at his masterpiece. It was only a small cardboard box with hoses for arms and legs, and paint smeared on the box with a three on it.

"Oh... This looks like a piece of junk! I don't even have the right material to create another awesome robot! This stink!" Lord Crump angrily kicked the box, causing it to flatten on the floor.

"Lord Crump! What on earth are you doing?!"

Lord Crump jumped in surprised and turned to see Grodus glaring at him.

"Oh, uh, hey Grodus," Lord Crump said with a small wave. "I was just making Magnus von Grapple 3.0, that's all."

"Is that all you care about?" Grodus growled. "We have more important business to attend to than another one of your failed creations. I need you to go out with a couple of X-Nauts disguised as snowmen to go spy on Chopper. I believe you'd be quite useful for this plan."

"Oh, really? Nice! Don't worry, Grodus! I sure won't fail you!" Lord Crump assured, walking away to get ready. Grodus, meanwhile, slowly shook his head and followed.

_"I sure hope he doesn't screw up with this plan,"_ Grodus thought.

* * *

**Palace of Shadow, throne room-**

"Urgh… That was awful…" Bowser groaned, slowly standing up. He noticed he was still in the throne room where he battled Chopper and his friends. The only difference, however, was that the throne was knocked over. He looked beside him and noticed the unconscious Kammy Koopa. "Hey, Haggy! Get up already!"

"Blehh…" Kammy groaned as she got up as well and back onto her broomstick. She, too, scanned the whole room. "Your Chunkiness… Where is Princess Peach and Chopper?"

"Gwar! Don't tell me they're out of the castle! And if Peach was saved… _**NO!**_" Bowser angrily began to stomp his foot on the ground, causing the whole room to shake.

"Lord Bowser! Stop, please!" the Magikoopa begged, shaking from Bowser's stomping. "You must settle down and control your anger! This place could come down on us any minute!"

Bowser finally stopped stomping and grumbled at Kammy. "Gwargh... Fine. It'll only be more trouble for us anyway."

"To answer your question earlier, my guess is that Princess Peach has already been saved, while Chopper and his friends have left his place already."

"Urgh... Great. Now the princess is already saved! She has no right to be saved when I'm supposed to be the one kidnapping her!"

"So does this mean you plan on kidnapping her right now?"

"You bet I am! C'mon, Haggy! Let's get to her before someone else chooses to kidnap her again!" Bowser was about to leave, but Kammy quickly flew in front of him. "Hey! Move it, Kammy!"

"But Your Rudeness, what about the Crystal Stars? There are still plenty of them out there!"

"...Oh, you're right! I completely forgot about that! But I say we go kidnap the princess first before taking the stars for myself!"

"But with all the Crystal Stars in your hand, you can have anything you desire, Lord Bowser! Why, you could probably prevent Princess Peach from ever being rescued from your clutches with that power. Maybe we'd be able to defeat Mario as well!"

"Hmmmmmm... Yeah, I think you may be onto something, Haggy!" Bowser agreed. "With all the Crystal Stars, I could defeat anyone and get whatever I want! I think we'll hold off on Princess Peach for now. Our priority for now are those Crystal Stars. ...Speaking of Mario, I wonder what he's up to. I haven't run into him for a while."

"Mario? Hmmmm... Let me see..." Kammy twirled her wand and saw an image of Mario beside Chopper with the Sun Star. This, unfortunately, angered Bowser even more.

"GWWWAAAAAARGH! Mario's with that puffball?!" Bowser roared. "And they even got a Crystal Star?! That's it! We're going out to find a Crystal Star IMMEDIATELY! And if we run into that plumber and antenna freak, I'm gonna pummel 'em!"

With one last stomp, Bowser began to make his way out of the palace.

"But... Your Grouchiness..." Kammy trailed, turning to the hole in the ceiling. "Wouldn't it be easier to go through that hole?"

Unfortunately, her call was ignored when the door closed behind Bowser. Sighing, she followed Bowser out of the Palace of Shadow through the long way.

* * *

**Castle Dedede-**

King Dedede entered his room with a bowl of Max Tomatoes, chips and a couple of other unhealthy foods and sat down on his throne. Escargon followed him with a heavier bowl of food and appeared much more exhausted than the king. When he finally set the bowl down by King Dedede, the throne moved backward and activated a screen that appeared from the ceiling.

"Oh... This is such shell-breaking work." Escargon mumbled, picking up the bowl and carrying it to King Dedede. He grabbed the bowl rudely and began to shove some food into his mouth. _"I sure wish he'd give me much more respect..."_

When the screen turned on, King Dedede was met with a Tartara Soldier. "So now… How did that demon or whatever she is do against clobberin' Chopper?"

_"Well, unfortunately… She was destroyed by Chopper." _the Tartara answered honestly._ "We were surprised about this outcome too, but it appears he was about to triumph over the cataclysm. We've also overheard him collecting the ninth Crystal Star, the Sun Star."  
_

"WHAT?! Escargon! We need to think fast now! We gotta destroy Chopper with whatever's strong enough!" King Dedede exclaimed, pounding his fist onto Escargon's head, mistaking it for the arm of his throne.

Escargon was annoyed at first, but he rubbed his head and remained calm. "Now now, Your Majesty… Let's just take this a little slow. We can simply get a new Demon Beast. One that WON'T fail!"

"Right…" the king nodded and turned to the Tartara. "Now, Tartara! Got any other Demon Beasts that will fight against Chopper and clobber him?"

_"Well, let's see… We got a few of them, actually! We have this one obese boy that's incredibly old and uses a Spider Mech to move around. Though, expect to hear him cough and wheeze often. He is, after all, very old. He'll take care of Chopper for you if you want."_

A picture of the obese and old Porky was shown on the screen. King Dedede didn't appear to be pleased. "Nah... That's not going to work. He's too fat! ...And old!"

"You should go look at yourself in the mirror for once," Escargon muttered.

"What was that, Escargon?" the king asked, giving him a suspicious look.

The escargot gave him a sheepish look. "Oh, nothing, Your Majesty! I just thought you'd really like to look at yourself in a mirror!"

_"What about… A Snowman?" _the Tartara suggested, showing an image of a demonic snowman with fangs.

"A snowman? Seriously? Is that the best you can come up with?!" King Dedede growled. "I thought you guys had better monsters than that?!"

_"Hmmmmmm... Well, we certainly do have some disturbing monsters. We can always bring in an alien to do the job. Though, he'd only be useful when the Devil's Machine is off..."  
_

The next image King Dedede was given made his jaw drop, along with Escargon's. On the screen was something they were unsure what it was. To them, it looked like a red, distorted, screaming face.

"_Urgh… I...f...e...e...l...g...o...o...d..." _the alien moaned.

"WHOA! Too freaky!" Escargon cried, covering his eyes until the image of the monster was gone. King Dedede, however, was not pleased.

"OK, I see a couple of problems with that monster," King Dedede started, holding his fingers up for each number. "One, that thing looks too freaky. Two, Chopper and Kirby would easily recognize it as some evil monster. Three, it has an annoying speech, and four, it's freaky! I need something that doesn't look too evil and capable of fooling those heroes based on its appearance. I think that would be successful!"

"Excellent idea, Your Majesty!" Escargon agreed. "I knew you would think of that! You ARE the greatest!"

_"Hmmmmmm... I do believe I understand what you mean, Your Majesty." _the Tartara stated._ "Perhaps THIS will be appropriate to exterminate Chopper."_

The two were given an image that not only surprised them, but pleased them as well. A large, scheming grin was plastered on King Dedede's face.

"Now THAT'S perfect! Heh heh heh…"

Little did they notice Fumu peek through the door in surprise at what she saw.

"This isn't good..." she trailed. "I think I have to warn the Mayor and Chopper about this right now!"

She silently closed the door and began to head out of the castle.

* * *

**Sunset Beach-**

Everyone exited the Sun Temple, satisfied with their accomplishment. Chopper carried the Sun Star, which slightly floated in his hands. Everyone gazed at it in awe as the sun shined down on it.

"Man, I'm glad we managed to get through that." Chopper smiled. "I'll admit, this area was pretty cool, wouldn't you guys agree?"

Mario: Oh, yes!

"The Crystal Star definitely looks pretty when the sun is shining down on it," Vivian commented.

"Maybe we can come back here when we have free time!" Scrub suggested. "If it's always like this, then I'm more than happy to be here!"

"Sailin' here by ship doesn't sound like a bad idea!" Bombette exclaimed. "But, enough of that! Mateys, we have some treasure huntin' to do, right?"

"Right you are, Bombette," Chopper agreed, whistling for his Warp Star. "It's time we made our exit off this place and return to Pop Star!"

"Poyo! (Yay! We're going back!)" Kirby cheered, whistling as well to summon his Warp Star. The two Warp Stars eventually came and scooped up the two. The rest of the group, with the exception of Mario, hitched a ride with either one of them.

Mario: Wait... What do I do?

"Poyo! (You join either one of us on the Warp Star!)" Kirby answered.

Mario: ?

"Oh, right... Mario can't understand Kirby." Shadower realized.

"Just get on one of the Warp Stars," Heartsy suggested. "It's the only way to get to Pop Star."

Mario pondered for a moment, wondering who he should join on the Warp Star. Kirby, getting impatient, pulled him onto his Warp Star.

"Yeah, good idea, Kirby!" Scrub grinned. "Let him join with all the men! He doesn't need to be around any girls!"

"Scrub, you realize that you and Kirby aren't necessarily 'men', right?" Shadower noted. "And the other Warp Star doesn't just have girls. Chopper's on there."

"...Oh. Right. I almost forgot about Contadre!"

"Poyo! (Hold on tight!)" Kirby called out as he and Chopper's Warp Star took off into space. Mario's eyes widened in shock at the speed of the Warp Star. He was also worried about falling off as well.

Mario: Mama mia!

"You'll get used to it," Chopper assured, his Warp Star flying besides Kirby's. "I mean, the first time I used this, it was kinda difficult, but I easily got used to it!"

"I'm only worried about fallin'," Bombette stated. "I lack arms, unlike ye all. I'm lucky Vivian's helpin' a pirate like meself."

Chopper would've pointed out that she wasn't really a pirate, but he saw Pop Star dead ahead.

Mario: Is that Pop Star?

"Poyo! (Only the finest!)" Kirby cheered as they got closer to its atmosphere.

* * *

**Pop Star, Hatty Town-**

When they landed by the Mayor's house, they happened to notice Fumu talking with the Mayor. Mario, however, was relieved to be on the ground, but he couldn't help but gawk at the Cappies and even both the Mayor and Fumu.

Mario: This place sure looks strange...

"Poyo, (That's because Pop Star is a lot different,)" Kirby replied.

"So you're telling me that King Dedede was talking to another corporation the other day?" the Mayor asked.

"I saw it with my own eyes!" Fumu answered. "I didn't manage to get a glance at the screen, but I do know that the voice doesn't sound pretty. Dedede's definitely planning something for sure!"

"What's going on here?" Chopper asked, approaching the two.

"Ah, Chopper! You've returned!" the Mayor said with a pleasing tone.

"We were just discussing about King Dedede and a new company he found," Fumu explained. "We don't know what it is, but the voice I heard from the screen didn't sound anything nice."

"What did it sound like?" Heartsy asked.

"Monstrous. Something not even Nightmare Corp. sounded like."

"Hmmmmm? What's Nightmare Corp.?"

"It was a corporation that sold Demon Beasts of King Dedede to stop Kirby. They were run by Nightmare, who was defeated by Kirby. Ever since then, we haven't heard anything from them, which is probably for the better."

"Well that's pretty cool! I'm sure I could've been there to whoop them with a good ol' hammer smack!"

"I don't mean to interrupt, but we also got this," Chopper announced, taking out the Sun Star.

"Ohhhhh… So beautiful…" the Mayor gazed at it for a moment before quickly shaking his look off. "Sorry about that… Chopper, I would advise you to go find the next Crystal Star at this moment."

"I'll try to see if I can get more information from this new company," Fumu declared. "The sound of a new corporation assisting Dedede in destroying you guys is not a good thing."

"All right, that sounds good," Chopper agreed, hopping on his Warp Star. "We'll just go to the Fountain of Dreams in a quicker fashion."

"You're not going to run there?" Scrub gawked.

"Why should I when I would have to basically wait for you guys? Let's just get going, OK?"

They all said their goodbyes to the Mayor and Fumu and got on the two Warp Stars to head to the Fountain of Dreams. While traveling, Mario began to look around at the beautiful grasslands in awe, and he was even more surprised when the sky changed space-like upon getting closer to the Fountain of Dreams.

Mario: This is amazing!

"Yeah, I agree," Shadower concurred. "It's amazing how one specific area can look like this."

When they had reached the fountain, the heroes got off the Warp Stars and stepped onto the shallow water in the fountain. Mario gazed at his own reflection and couldn't help but gape.

Mario: Wow...

"Poyo! (I'm glad someone likes my world!)" Kirby smiled.

"OK, Chopper, you do know what to do, right?" Vivian asked.

"Yup!" Chopper nodded, jumping onto the pedestal and holding up the Sun Star. Mario watched as the star disappeared and appeared with the other stars on the bright fountain. Bright magic began to surge into the Magical Map afterward, causing it to glow white while floating above Chopper.

Mario: This is just like the pedestal right by the Thousand-Year Door...

"Yeah, it's surprising how this fountain is almost like that..." Vivian agreed. "I was even surprised at first."

"Whoa… Guys, look at this!" Chopper showed everyone snowy mountains further away from Fahr Outpost on the map, along with a temple. A snow white Crystal Star was located there.

"Whoa... Check that out!" Scrub gasped. "We gotta see Professor Frankly about this! He'll probably see what we can do!"

Mario: Professor Frankly? Oh, I met you guys in front of his house!

"Uh huh! Let's go there right away!" Chopper suggested, summoning his Warp Star.

* * *

**Frankly's house-  
**

"Hrmmmm… Ah-HA! Now I see it! The next Crystal Star is in Snowy Mountains!" Frankly deduced. "It is a sacred place up on the cold mountains. The Winter Star must be located there!"

"Snowy Mountains?" Before anyone could question who that voice was, they heard the door open. Goombella came walking in.

"Ah, Goombella! It's great to see you again! I was just talking to these people about the next Crystal Star's location!"

"I was just doing some research on that place!" Goombella gaped. "You guys are, like, going there?"

Mario: Oh, yes!

"Wait... Mario, is that you? Wow! I'm surprised to see you here again! How's it been for you?"

Mario: Pretty fine, actually!

"Can we just get back on topic first?" Chopper suggested. "I mean, we DO need to know how to get there."

"It sounds pretty tough to get there," Heartsy commented.

"Oh, right," Goombella walked over to Frankly to face the heroes. "Believe it or not, it's a lot easier to get there than you think. You guys went to Fahr Outpost, right?"

Everyone gave her a nod.

"There's actually a secret pipe that the Bob-ombs are hiding there! They consider that area to be 'forbidden' by Bob-ombs. I'm sure if you convince the mayor to let you through, you'll get there. Then again, that mayor is a bit of a geezer, and we all know how difficult it is to convince them about some stuff."

"Well, we're heroes! After what we've done, I don't think it'll be hard!" Chopper assured. "Thanks for the help, Goombella!"

"Well I'm glad to help once and a while," Goombella replied.

"Yes. You folks will need to head to Fahr Outpost and speak to the mayor." Frankly restated. "Hopefully he'll listen to you guys..."

"Let's hope so... And hopefully I don't become a frozen Star Warrior out there!" Chopper shuddered. "Anyway... To Fahr Outpost!"

* * *

**Fahr Outpost-**

Nothing much had changed since they last came to Fahr Outpost. The only thing that bothered the heroes, however, was the temperature.

"Ugh... I hate this cold weather!" Scrub complained. "Now I'm missing Sunset Hill already!"

"Well, we gotta do what we gotta do. Hopefully this won't be too long." Chopper hoped, walking up to the mayor. "Hey there!"

"Da... It's you again. Do you have any business with us?" the Mayor asked.

"Yeah... We were wondering if we could go to Snowy Mountain."

"Snowy Mountain? ...No such thing is there."

"Well, my map says so," Chopper stated, showing the map to him. "See? You have to let us there! You can help us get there, right?"

"Cannon has overheated ever since you blast off toward moon," the Mayor explained. "There's no way to make it function again. You wait about three months until it work…"

"Arr! Listen here!" Bombette shouted, walking up to the Mayor. "We know about this place an' about the pipe located here! Ye can't keep it a secret from us!"

"Shush! Don't you know of the rule of not to mention secrets to non-Bob-ombs?! We have reasons for keeping secrets!"

"But we did save ye from the darkness from that evil witch! An' there is somethin' we need to collect in Snowy Mountain. Do ye want the world to end?"

"...No, the world ending is not something we want," the Mayor sighed. "Well, since you save us all from darkness, we might as well repay you for your heroic act. Da, I shall."

The Mayor went over to the cannon statue in the center of the area and pressed a hidden white button. This caused the statue to fall back like an open box and reveal a white pipe.

"You go in there, and you not mention this to anybody outside Fahr Outpost."

"You've got it!" Chopper nodded, thanking him before leaping into the pipe, with his partners soon following. The Mayor watched as all of them were no longer in his sight.

"Heroes, you be careful," the Mayor stated.

* * *

**I know some people may not like the idea of having a snow world for Chapter 10 since there is Fahr Outpost, but most of the time you're not in Fahr Outpost in Chapter 7. In fact, you're going around looking for General White and are up on the moon in the X-Naut Fortress. So, I thought, why not put an entirely winter-themed chapter in this story? And that's what I did!**

**It's actually funny how we go to a summer-themed chapter and suddenly to a winter one. :P**


	62. Let's Go to Snowy Mountain!

**CHAPTER 10**

**-A Freezing Winter Experience-**

Chopper jumped out of the pipe to find a huge, vast land of snow around him. Snowflakes began to fall from the sky and landed on Chopper's hand, which proceeded to melt. Everyone came out of the pipe as well and were astounded with the landscape.

"Wow... It feels like a whole different area here..." Vivian gaped.

"But it's still freaking cold here!" Scrub mentioned, who was shivering. In fact, mostly everyone was shivering. "Contadre, why didn't we go get some winter gear to prepare ourselves for this?"

"I don't know. I've gone through snowy areas without anything to help me before. I'm pretty fine." Chopper stated, not looking too fazed by the winter. "It's cold, but I've gotten used to it."

"And ye didn't even think that we'd be cold?" Bombette gawked. "Then again, I'm a tough Bob-omb, an' I shouldn't be askin' fer yer help."

"Yes... Well..." Chopper trailed, unsure of what to say. "I guess the only thing we can do for now is proceed onward. So, let's get going."

The rest of the group agreed and decided to move on. However, before they could take a couple of steps, they noticed the area around them was foggy. Not only that, but the wind was blowing in their faces, forcing them to cover them up. People like Vivian, Shadower and Mario were even holding on to their hats.

Mario: It's way too windy!

"Yeah... But, I think I have a solution to this." Shadower's eyes flashed for a brief moment, and the fog suddenly disappeared, revealing a blue, starry sky above them. "There we go! All better!"

"Do you have an ability to clear the fog away or something?" Heartsy gawked.

"Well... The fog is still there, but not where we stand. Us shadow beings do have a lot of interesting abilities to use in harsh climates."

"Oh, cool!" Chopper smiled, interested in what Shadower said. He noticed nearby was a light blue river, which caught his attention. "Hey, guys! I see a river over here! It seems to end by the pipe, though."

Getting a closer look, he discovered a tunnel to be down there. "There's a tunnel down there! Maybe I should go check it out."

He leaped into the water, but in a couple of seconds he rocketed out while crying in pain. Chopper ended up landing right by the group face-first. Mario was immediately reminded of the Nibbles that would always chase him out of the water in the same fashion.

"Poyo? (Are you OK?)" Kirby asked, helping Chopper up.

"Brrrr! That's WAY too cold!" Chopper exclaimed, now shivering. "Does anyone have a blanket?"

"Chopper... We never got any blankets." Heartsy informed.

"What? Oh, dang it! ...Wait, I have a solution!"

Chopper's hands was suddenly surrounded in a fiery glow. He kept his hands near him and felt relieved. "Ahhh... This is much better! Good thing I've got this fire to keep me company! You should do the same thing, Vivian."

Vivian agreed and created small flames in her hands. Everyone stood near the flames and felt a warm sensation overcome them.

"Ahhhhhhh... I'm certainly warm!" Scrub grinned. "I think I can handle this if we get going!"

"I might as well lead the way, with my ability to see through the fog and all," Shadower decided. "Just try to stay close, because if that fog comes back, I won't be able to know or hear you with the heavy wind, OK?"

Everyone agreed and began to follow Shadower through the snowfield while staying close to Vivian's fire. The only ones who chose not to stay close to the fire were Chopper, Kirby, and Mario, who were used to traveling through snowy areas. Bombette also chose not to stay near the fire because she refused to let it stop her, and also it could make her explode.

To Chopper's dismay, there didn't appear to be many trees around, but the one tree they did come across resembled a Christmas tree. It was covered in a bit of snow and had a star on top, along with some lights and decorations. Chopper took a look at it for a brief moment before following Shadower.

Right near the pathway to the next area, Chopper hit the Save Block before proceeding onward to a field with enemies lurking around. There were Shy Guys wearing gas masks and Santa Claus hats called Snifits, and Hammer Bros. with light blue shells, boots and helmets called Ice Bros. There was at least two Frost Piranhas around as well.

Mario: Ice Bros.?

The Ice Bro. spat an ice ball directly at Mario. He was able to dodge it with ease and land a jump on its head. Chopper tossed a fireball at the Ice Bro. to defeat it with ease. Just as he was about to hit the Frost Piranhas, though, a Snifit shot a small cannonball projectile that interrupted his attack. Mario responded by striking it with his hammer.

"Poyo! (Hey! Don't leave me out of the fun!)" Kirby cried, inhaling the Snifit and spitting it at a Frost Piranha. The Frost Piranha tried to take a bite of Vivian, but she guarded the attack and landed a Shade Fist to do away with it. Chopper jumped on the Snifit afterward to defeat it, while Mario defeated the Ice Bro. with his Jump attack.

"Yeesh! Those were a lot of enemies!" Scrub gaped. "But we sure showed them!"

As they proceeded through the field, they noticed one section of the area was covered in ice. Shadower had warned them not to slip, so they decided to be careful. However, there was one thing that caught Chopper by surprise upon looking down at the ice. There appeared to be a yellow ? block above him with a badge above it. He smiled and used his Spring Jump to launch up to the block to gain a coin, along with a ice type hammer badge that landed on the ice. Picking it up, it was revealed to be the Fire Drive badge.

Mario: Oh! I remember something like that!

"Really? What does it do?" Chopper questioned, picking up the item.

Mario: It hurts all ground enemies and burns them!

"Seriously? That's cool!"

"Not to interrupt your conversation, but we still have to go," Shadower informed.

The two stopped talking and followed Shadower past the slippery ice and up ahead. They had reached the end of the area and proceeded to the pathway up ahead. They were met with a hill and a snowball coming down the hill. They were barely able to get away from it.

"Whoa... What the heck was that?!" Scrub gaped.

"Looks like someone's trying to stop us," Heartsy informed. "Just look up the hill!"

Up near the top of the hill was a blue penguin enemy with white eyebrows, a large, yellow beak and yellow feet. Kirby easily recognized the enemy as a Pengi, while the rest were unsure of what it was. Regardless, they decided to climb up the hill and reach the Pengi, but it saw them coming and dug up a large snowball that it rolled down the hill. Unfortunately, the eight heroes were caught in this snowball and were sent back to the previous area onto a snow mound by the ice.

"Arrr... That be one heck of a ride..." Bombette moaned, dazed from the impact. When she finally gained control of her sight, her fuse lit up. "I say we give that penguin a taste of its own medicine, mateys!"

"Yeah! I'm ready to take that thing down!" Heartsy agreed, taking out her hammer.

"As long as we avoid that snowball, we can take care of that enemy," Shadower assured. "Thankfully, that area does not have fog, so I don't have to lead the way!"

Once everyone had finally prepared themselves, they dashed toward the next area and went up the hill. Chopper, obviously being the fastest, was able to get ahead faster than the others and reach the Pengi near the top. He struck the enemy with his Fire Smash and left it with a nasty burn. Scrub finished it off with his Ground Pound afterward.

"Wait... Why didn't I inhale that creature?" Chopper gawked. "Maybe I could've gotten an ability from it!"

"Oh... I guess I shouldn't have finished it off, Contadre." Scrub gulped.

"It's all right. There might be plenty of more anyway." With that, Chopper continued up the hill until he reached the top, where a giant snowball was in the way. "Crud... This isn't good."

"What is it?" Vivian asked.

"A giant snowball's in the way. I don't know if fire will help, since it could take a while to melt..."

"Then we shall blow it up!" Bombette declared. "Chopper, matey! Just throw me at the snowball an' I'll take care of it!"

Chopper shrugged and threw Bombette at the snowball. She blew it up, revealing the snowball to be an ice enemy with yellow eyes and spikes all over it called an Icy Needle. Compared to the other enemies, though, it was much more threatening. It had a Max HP of 20 and an Attack of 9.

"Shiver me timbers! This thing be dangerous! Chopper, matey, I suggest we-"

"You don't need to tell me the obvious, Bombette," Chopper pointed out, conjuring a fireball in his hands. "I've fought before. I don't need to be told the obvious."

"Yar... Right."

Chopper threw the fireball toward the Icy Needle and managed to deal 6 damage to it, along with leaving it with a burn. Vivian was about to attack it with her Shade Fist, but she remembered that it would probably make her take damage instead. Scrub, however, made a sharp whistle and summoned a Yoshi stampede to come in and attack the Icy Needle, taking another 6 out of it.

"Not bad, Scrub!" Chopper smiled. "Though, you didn't necessarily have to waste 6 FP to do something like that..."

"Well it was useful," Scrub pointed out.

"...I guess so."

The Icy Needle began to roll toward them, but thankfully Chopper Superguarded its attack and made it take 1 damage, along with taking damage from the burn. Chopper easily finished off the Icy Needle with one last fireball that rewarded them with 12 Star Points.

"Well I guess that was interesting..." Shadower trailed. "Let's move on, I suppose."

The right reached the top of the hill and found a pathway up ahead. There was a hidden X mark on the snow too, which gave Chopper a suspicious look upon looking at it.

"What's with this small X on the ground?" Chopper asked.

Mario took a look at it for a moment before he realized what it was. He stood behind Chopper and brought his hammer down, forcing him underground.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?" Heartsy gaped.

Mario: Just dig out from where that X is.

Before anyone could say something, Chopper managed to dig out of the ground with a simple jump. Revealed under the X, however, was a coin. Nothing special, but now he knew there were some secrets around some areas now thanks to Mario.

Moving on, they noticed a narrow walkway with a couple of Pengis in the background throwing large snowballs. They appeared to be doing it rather quickly, so going across normally was not the best idea in the world.

"Poyo? (I wonder how these Pengis are able to do stuff like this?)" Kirby wondered. "Poyo. (Normally they don't throw large snowballs.)"

"I've never seen these things before, so I can't say too much about them," Chopper stated. "So, who has any bright ideas?"

"Well, I think I have one," Heartsy declared, leaning closer to him with a flirty look. This, unfortunately, made Chopper gulp. "I heard hugging can keep us warm!"

Chopper instantly bolted across the walkway as fast as he could and reached the other side.

"How do you always succeed with that?" Shadower wondered.

"Well, it's an ability I have, apparently," Heartsy shrugged.

On the other side, Chopper discovered a large Ice Block nearby, so with his Ultra Gloves, he began to repeatedly fire ice balls at the block until it was destroyed. This revealed a pipe leading into the background. Chopper took this opportunity to wipe out the Pengis in the background before going back into the pipe.

"OK, guys! It's all right to come!" Chopper called out.

Once they all crossed the other side, they headed into the next area. There wasn't much around except for an icy section by the northern wall with a cavern covered in ice. Just before they could move, however, snowmen made of two balls with a blue pale on its head, along with blue ball hands and a bell tied around its "neck" called a Chilly rose from the snow.

"Poyo! (Uh oh! Chillies! If they attack us, we're frozen!)" Kirby warned.

"These guys? I've seen them before back on my planet, surprisingly!" Chopper recalled, walking up to one of the Chillies. They ended up raising their arms and creating a freezing aura around their bodies. They had 16 HP, an Attack of 8 and a Defense of 0. Regardless of that, Chopper ended up inhaling the nearest one.

Mario tilted his head when he saw Chopper change to a tinted light blue color with purple gloves and shoes. On his head was a crown with a circular visor that has a blue gem embedded in it, and also ice crystals on top of the crown. One thing for sure was that he looked pretty cool.

"Poyo! (The Ice ability!)" Kirby cheered. "Poyo! (I don't think those Chillies can freeze you now!)"

One of the Chillies stopped using their attack and threw a snowball at Chopper. He easily guarded it and fought back with a fireball. Vivian's Fiery Jinx helped do away with all the Chillies.

"Seeing Contadre using a fireball while with an Ice ability sure is weird," Scrub commented.

"Wow, I can't believe we mopped the floor with them," Chopper said in a surprised tone. "I was hoping they'd put up more of a fight..."

"Hey, Choppy, look at that," Heartsy noted, pointing at the trees. The rest took a look and were surprised to see that they were made of ice.

"The trees are made of ice? How strange..." Vivian trailed, getting a closer look. To her surprise, there was a blue gem frozen in the tree. She extended her height in order to grab the frozen gem and melted the ice encapsulating it. "Hmmmmm... Maybe this could be useful?"

"Hey, what is that?" Chopper asked, looking at the gem in her hands.

"I found it in a tree. Maybe it might be helpful..."

"Maybe..." Chopper turned to the ice cave being blocked by ice. To his surprise, there was also a barrel and a red button beside the cave. A large icicle was blocking the way too. "I guess if we were to move that barrel, going right up to the button wouldn't be easy. I guess Mario will have to help here."

Mario: I can certainly help!

Mario walked over to Chopper and brought his hammer down on him, forcing him underground. Getting used to this, he slowly made his way under the barrel and dug his way out so he was in the barrel. Unfortunately, he was having difficulty moving because he couldn't see.

"Uhhhh... Can anyone guide me over to the button or something?" Chopper asked.

"I have a better idea," Shadower poked a hole through the barrel so Chopper could see. "Is that better?"

"Quite!" he replied. Unfortunately, he had bumped into the icicle and fell on his side, along with the barrel. "It's not so easy when the ground is snow!"

Mario face palmed and pushed the barrel over to the red button. After standing it straight up, he jumped onto the barrel and then smashed the button with his Ultra Hammer, smashing the ice in the process. Afterward, Chopper managed to break through the barrel and free himself.

"Phew! That sure was something!" Chopper sighed. "Let's check this place out!"

Just as they were about to, though, they noticed the door would not open. "Yar! So it looks like we need treasure!"

"Hmmmmm..." Vivian looked at the gem she held and then at the door. There appeared to be something missing. "Maybe this might work?"

"Aye? Is that treasure?" Bombette gaped, watching Vivian put the gem in the empty space on the door. "Hmmmm... If only I had found that..."

With the gem in place, the door began to open. Everyone went inside the cavern only to find a small table and a frozen Pengi. It seemed to resemble a shop, but there didn't appear to be anything in stock.

"Aw, man! Looks like this place is closed!" Scrub pouted. "They could've been selling badges or items here!"

"I guess we're all alone in here..."

"Not quite, Chopper..."

Everyone paused for a minute and looked above them. There, they saw a king that had two yellow eyes, wore a blue robe and a crystal crown with a red gem embedded on it. A lot of Chopper's friends were surprised to see the lack of this being's face or even a body.

"Wait a second... I remember you from somewhere..." Chopper trailed. "It was back two years ago, was it not?"

"Yes, we faced each other two years ago, Chopper," the mysterious person replied, slowly descending onto the table. "Does the name 'Crystal King' ring a bell?"

Mario: Yeah! I remember you!

"Crystal King? ...Oh, that's right! You had the last Star Spirit!" Chopper quickly got in a fighting stance. "But the last time I saw you, you were turned into dust!"

"Whoa, so you met this guy before?" Scrub gaped before getting in a fighting stance. "Well, this guy must be some serious business then!"

"Well, let's just say I had a little help in that compartment," the Crystal King grinned under his invisible face. "But now that I'm back, I can finally put an end to you! After all, I had a feeling you would show up here. You and Mario would make excellent ice sculptures!"

"Hold on a minute… Ah-HA!" Chopper jumped in the air and managed to deliver an icy kick to the Crystal King to send him flying to the wall. Before he could get up, however, Chopper landed right on his robe. "You have the Crystal Star, don't you? Well, looks like you're about to hand it over to us!"

The Crystal King responded by firing an ice pulse that knocked him and his friends to the wall before he lifted himself off the ground. "Crystal Star? I don't have such a thing! In fact, I don't know what a Crystal Star is! ...But, now that you mention it, it does sound like something interesting..."

"Dang it..." Chopper groaned.

"If it can create a winter wonderland for this world, then getting one doesn't sound like a bad idea! King Bowser doesn't have anything for me, so I'm perfectly free to do what I please for the moment!"

**"Even** if you get the star, I highly doubt you'd be able to use it," Shadower stated. "You have no idea how its power works."

"I don't need to hear from you," the Crystal King fired an ice beam towards Shadower, but Chopper jumped in the way and threw an ice ball to stop the ice beam from striking. The Crystal King was about to attack him, but he stopped. "No, forget it. At this rate, I don't know if I would be a match for you all. My revival was, after all, a bit recent. I'll come back to fight you when I've improved. You might have the star during that time, but I can always take it from you when we meet again!"

With that, the Crystal King disappeared from their sights.

"Great... Looks like he got away." Chopper sighed.

"Poyo? (Should we be worried?)" Kirby asked.

"Probably not. We probably won't see him for a while anyway." Chopper shrugged, making his exit out of the shop. Everyone followed, but they heard the sound of cackling coming from a higher point of the mountains.

* * *

**Somewhere else on Snowy Mountain-**

"I…HAVE…SHIVERS!" Fawful shouted, trudging through the snowy wasteland with his large grin plastered on his face. Where he was, a blizzard was growing much heavier, and Fawful was certainly shivering. "Why must Fawful walk like a flapping fish stuck in mashed potatoes? All Fawful wants is to be rolling in the dough of sloppy pizza in the heavy winds of fury!"

Fawful noticed something nearby. Picking it up, it was discovered to be a small, dark crystal. While he had no idea what it was, it left him with excitement upon feeling some of its power from inside.

"The power of the crystal is intense enough for Fawful to use for his plans! The mustard of doom will soon be coming toward the Green Antenna like a field full of potato salad! ...But Fawful must save this. Its usefulness will be of servicing for Fawful."

He slowly put the dark crystal away into his cloak and began to carry on while shouting, "_**I have excitement!**_"

* * *

**Back by the heroes-**

"Geez... Who's that person being loud?" Heartsy gawked. "...In fact, who would even be here anyway?"

"You know, I'm not so sure..." Chopper trailed. "That's one heck of a mystery... But for now, let's just move on rather than worry about that loudmouth."

They carried on ahead to the next area, where they found another hill. However, there did not appear to be any enemies in the way, which pleased the heroes. Not only did the wind calm down, but there were less snowflakes, which descended at a much slower pace.

Making their way at the top of the hill, they could see a large aurora up in the sky. Most of them couldn't help but gaze at the beauty.

"Dude, what is that up in the sky?" Scrub asked. "'Cause it sure is pretty!"

"It's called an aurora, Scrub," Heartsy explained. "They tend to be in northern places, which probably explains why this place is north of Fahr Outpost."

"Hmmmmm... Perhaps...there's treasure there?" Bombette wondered.

Mario: Not likely...

While the partners were gazing up at the aurora, Chopper couldn't help but stare at the icy door that was blocking their way. Auroras were something he had seen in the past before, and he was not so surprised to see them here. Eventually his friends noticed him staring at the door.

"Hey, Contadre! What're you staring at?" Scrub asked.

"Guys, look at this," Chopper noted, pointing to the icy door in their way. "This door's frozen, and I don't see it leading anywhere..."

"Well, I know I can take care of the door," Vivian assured, approaching it and placing her hand on it. It began to heat up and melt the ice off the door. Before she could step away, though, the door opened, and another Vivian popped out.

"Huh? What the heck?!" Chopper gaped.

Mario: Two Vivians?!

"The real question is, where did that Vivian come from?" Shadower wondered.

"Wait... Huh?" Vivian frowned at the other Vivian. "Why is there another me?"

"Hey! You! Kid! I'm the real Vivian, you got that?" the other Vivian declared, making everyone else look at her in confusion. "I mean, you do recognize me, right?"

"Yar..." Bombette grunted as she gawked.

"What are you talking about? Where did you even come from?" Vivian asked in a sad tone before turning to Chopper. "Chopper… You should know who's the real one…"

"That...is very obvious," Chopper approached the fake Vivian and bashed her with his hammer. "I mean, that was pretty...out of character to act like that, faker."

"OWIE! That really hurt! You meanie-head!" the fake Vivian cried, suddenly disappearing in a puff of purple, pixelated smoke.

"What was THAT all about?" Heartsy gawked.

"Poyo? (Could that have been Doopliss or Tipral?)" Kirby wondered.

"No, that couldn't be..." Chopper replied, shaking his head. "That voice sounded too high-pitched for it to be either one of them..."

"Well, whatever it was, that thing's gone for now," Vivian said, turning to Chopper. "Thanks for not hitting me, Chopper."

"Ummmmm... You're welcome?" he replied, unsure of what else to say. "Anyway, let's see where this door takes us."

Chopper opened the door and was surprised to see some pieces of ice floating on a lake through the door. "Hey! This takes us to the lake! Awesome!"

Everyone else was happy to hear the news and followed him through the door. They were now standing on a large chunk of ice and began to jump toward other ice chunks. Chopper was instantly reminded of the lake back on Shiver Road in the Mushroom Kingdom.

While they crossed the lake, three snowmen, with one of them being much larger, approached the top of the hill and stared down at the lake.

"So, Chopper thinks he can get that Crystal Star all on his own, huh? Well, we'll see what happens when we chase them down and take their star! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh hu-"

"Lord Crump, I don't see how this plan is going to work..." one of the snowmen replied, removing his disguise to reveal himself as Johnson. "In fact, why did you bring me here? Grodus ordered me to research some more locations of the Crystal Star."

"Well... 'Cause...you obviously know more about the Crystal Star than me." Lord Crump answered, removing his disguise. You'd know EXACTLY where they are!"

"Then...why are we following them?"

"It's because they have the map, and the map leads them to the star! Haven't you been paying attention this whole story?"

"Lord Crump... There was no point in me being here then if you were just going to follow Chopper. Someone else could've taken my place."

"Ummmm... Dudes?" an Elite X-Naut removed his disguise. "Aren't we supposed to, y'know, go after them?"

"Yeah, of course! We just have to use this door to follow them!" Lord Crump declared. "Follow me!"

The three entered through the door and found themselves on a piece of ice. However, to their surprise, it was starting to crack.

"Oh, crud... We better move!"

With that, they began to hurry across the lake and after the heroes, who had just made it to the other side. Unfortunately, they had no idea they were being watched off on a higher mountain.

"So they're heading to the Temple of the Gods… The sacred place of the mountains…" Tipral trailed, glaring down at the heroes with his arms crossed. He also noticed Lord Crump and his comrades hurrying across the lake as well. "Those X-Nauts are still at it again? I don't see them making good progress."

Tipral let a snowflake fall into his right hand before crushing it. "The Shadow Queen may be destroyed, but that doesn't mean our plan is finished. There's still much more to be done… When the time comes, Chopper and his friends will fall and beg for mercy!"

He teleported out of the mountains, leaving the crushed snowflake to fall onto the ground.


	63. Completing the Five Tests

After making their way across the lake, the heroes found it to be smooth sailing from here. They ended up finding a pipe nearby leading up to a paper airplane panel, as the ledge up ahead was too high for them to reach. Chopper entered the pipe first and transformed into a paper airplane once his friends were with him and began to glide over to the ledge. He transformed back to normal and noticed some ice around them.

"Wait... My Ice ability helps me ice skate across the ice!" Chopper realized. "I shouldn't be too worried!"

"Lucky..." Scrub mumbled, who had some issues moving across the ice. Thankfully, Heartsy had given him a hand to prevent him from slipping.

The only enemy they had run into was a Pengi and a Chilly, but they were surprisingly frozen by Chopper's Ice Breath. He kicked them away and did away with them.

Mario: Ice enemies becoming frozen? Weird...

When they reached the next pathway, they were surprised to see what stood before them. It was a dark blue temple with two pillars coming down by the entrance. The small little roof over the entrance was covered in snow, and on the upper roof was some ice. But most importantly, it had some strange, yellow stars plastered on.

"Wow... Look at the size of this temple!" Chopper gasped, getting closer to the building. "It may not be the nicest temple, but I like it!"

Mario couldn't help but gaze at the place too, but his thoughts were interrupted when he felt himself shivering like never before.

"Aw, m-man..." Scrub mumbled, who was shivering as well. "It's even C-COLDER right by this temple?! Wh-What's g-going on?!"

"L-Let me s-see something f-for a m-moment…" Shadower floated over to the temple and felt the cold air getting more intense. What also surprised him were some clean blankets by the entrance, along with a letter. Shadower picked up the letter and began to read it.

_Dear Travelers,_

_If you are in need of a blanket, you may use these to keep yourselves warm. There's no catch or anything. They're just blankets! We know you had a long way to go through this place. Unfortunately, we don't have enough blankets for everyone…so some of you need to share._

_-The Gods-_

"Seven blankets?" Shadower looked over at the seven blankets in disappointment. "But there are only eight of us... I'm guessing we're going to have to share."

"Well I ain't sharing!" Scrub declared, grabbing his blanket and wrapping it around himself. "Ahhhh... That feels so much better..."

"Oh! I think I have a perfect idea!" Heartsy noted, a light bulb appearing over her head. She zipped over to the blanket to grab one and zipped over to Chopper. She wrapped him and herself close to each other, which Chopper did not feel comfortable with. "There! Problem solved! I think this will be good for us, wouldn't you agree, Choppy?"

"Eep! No!" Chopper cried, getting the blanket off him and stepping away from her. "I'm not sharing a blanket with you! I'm fine with sharing a blanket, but not when I can get the cooties from someone!"

Heartsy frowned for a moment and gave him an annoyed look, but Vivian quickly stepped in. "It's OK, guys. You can all have a blanket."

"Yar?" Bombette gawked, turning to Vivian. "Are ye sure, lass? I mean, ye got nothin' but gloves an' a hat!"

"It's fine. I do have my fire powers to keep me warm, so I can just do that. I also don't want someone to be forced to share something useful with someone..."

"Poyo... (That's actually pretty generous of you...)" Kirby trailed solemnly. He had taken his blanket, while everyone else got theirs. Now everyone but Vivian had a blanket. They kept asking if she was sure, but she constantly objected to having a blanket.

"OK... I guess we should knock?" Chopper suggested, walking up to the door. He had removed his Ice ability, seeing it as something getting in the way of the blanket before knocking on the door. After waiting for a moment, they were unfortunate to not get a response.

"Ummmm... Is someone there?" Shadower gawked.

"Who goes there?!" Everyone was startled when they heard a god-like voice coming from the door. A light blue spirit with white eyes and a vague appearance phased through the door. The heroes, however, were a bit disappointed in the spirit's appearance.

"Who are you supposed to be? We don't allow random people to come into the Temple of the Gods!" the spirit roared. He suddenly realized what he said and face palmed. "Dang it! I just HAD to say it! I should've kept my big mouth shut..."

"Whoa, settle down there! We didn't know there was something here!" Scrub shouted. "Can you just tell us what's going on?"

"Hey! Listen, uh…" the spirit paused for a minute, trying to figure out his name. "Y'know, I'll call you Dr. Bite. Listen, Dr. Bite! This sacred place is none of your business! Same goes to you other people! Even if you're a real doctor, we don't need any medical use here!"

"Doctor? I ain't no doctor!"

"Uh… Let's not get into any argument right now." Chopper cut in. "Listen, spirit thingy… We're looking for the Crystal Star located on Snowy Mountain. The map shows some sort of temple, so is the Crystal Star?"

"What? The Crystal Stars? You're looking for them? Could this mean you're really…" the spirit paused for a moment to think. "No, I won't jump to conclusions so soon! If you ARE The Chosen One, you would have the Magical Map with you. Do you have such a thing?"

"Do I?" Chopper smirked, pulling out the map. "Why, I have it right here!"

The spirit looked down and took a look at the map. He saw it all; the location of the Winter Star and the other areas revealed on the map. He was certainly astounded, that's for sure.

"I don't believe it… This IS the Magical Map!" the spirit cheered. "Oh, glorious day! We've finally found the hero that will come and save us all! Just a glorious day…and it's also beautiful out! Oh, so nice!"

"What do you mean? Is this map such a big deal to you guys?" Heartsy asked, putting her hands on her hips. "'Cause it really sounds like it."

"Why, of course it is! Only the Hero of the Stars could possibly have the map!" the spirit explained before looking at Chopper in confusion. "…But why are you at a young age? We expected you to be a full grown man! In fact, that man in the red with that glorious mustache makes a finer hero than you!"

Mario couldn't help but gape and point at himself. The spirit stared down at him for a brief moment. "Now that you mention it, I do sense a little something from him. Nothing big, but I feel like he does have some heroism in him."

Mario: I did save the world a couple of times...

"Save the world? Ha ha... I said you LOOK like a hero. I didn't say you ARE one. You just might be some ordinary fat plumber nobody cares about! ...Though the mustache does look cool."

Mario gave him an annoyed look before the spirit looked at Kirby. "I sense a little in you two, but look at you! A pink blob! So laughable! ...Then again, I did hear the tale of some blob thing saving the world before."

"Poyo, (Well that's not very nice,)" Kirby mumbled.

The spirit turned back to Chopper. "Anyway, since you are the holder of the map, only you are allowed to enter. Your appearance is probably even more laughable than the others, but there is more to heroes than just appearance."

"Wait... We're not allowed in?" Vivian gasped. The spirit turned to her with a surprised expression. He too was surprised with Shadower as well.

"Whoa... It's one of them! Back away from us, foul shadow monsters! You are not wanted here! Your evil is not welcome in these parts!"

"But they're not evil!" Chopper objected. "They've been helping me this whole time! And why can't I bring my friends with me? I'd rather have them by my side this whole way! There's no way I want to leave them be-"

"Zip it already, hero. There's no time to chat! The decision is final!" the spirit grabbed Chopper and pulled him into the temple, leaving his partners mortified as the blanket he held slowly fell in front of the door.

"He... He just grabbed Contadre and pulled him in..." Scrub gaped. "Dude... We can't leave him in there alone!"

"I agree!" Heartsy concurred, taking her hammer out. "It's wrong to kidnap my Chopper like that! Come on, guys! We're going to go in there!"

She tried opening the door, but it didn't appear to open, so she began to bash her hammer against the door. Scrub began to lay some eggs and threw them at the door to help her bust the door open. Bombette was about to join, but Mario shook her head and approached them instead, pulling them away and telling them it was pointless.

"But dude... It's not right to leave him in there!" Scrub cried. "We don't go anywhere without him!"

Mario: We can't do much, unfortunately...

Heartsy slowly lowered her head and sat down with the blanket wrapped around her. Scrub did the same thing as well and let out a sigh. Some tears began to come out from his eyes, but he quickly shut them in attempt to fight them off.

_"No, Scrub! You can't cry like this! You're too cool to cry!"_ he thought.

Heartsy was even feeling the same way as Scrub, but instead she put her hands over her face to hide it instead. Kirby sat down as well with Mario with a sad expression and began to wonder what was going on inside the temple.

However, the ones that were more upset than them were both Vivian and Shadower. Vivian slowly felt tears come down her face, while Shadower shut his eyes in depression. Bombette, understanding what they were upset about, took the blanket in front of the door and put it around Vivian for comfort.

While she appeared to be the least upset of the group, deep inside she did feel truly sorry. _"Me matey was just taken like that... He an' the other mateys were probably the only friends I had so far... I just hope he comes back safely..."_

* * *

**Inside the Temple of the Gods-**

"Can you please stop?" Chopper asked, still being dragged through the temple. "I don't like the fact that I have to be in here without my friends. I miss them already..."

As he was being dragged, Chopper saw that the interior was much similar to the exterior. It was dark blue and contained many stars. There were also some statues of Gods that were too vague in appearance. What did catch him off guard, though, were the glowing stairs ahead in the hallway.

Before he could be dragged any further, the spirit released his hand and turned to him. "I understand how you feel, wielder of the Magical Map. If anyone were allowed in here, I would certainly bring them in. However, rules are rules, and they must be obeyed. Besides... Those blankets should keep them warm!"

"Well... But..."

"Anyway, as the holder of the Magical Map, it is suggested that you may be indeed the hero. We can tell you something very important for you to know, but if you wish to have this information, you must prove yourself as the hero."

"Look, I think I have much more important things to do," Chopper stated. "Like getting the Crystal Star."

"By completing these tests, we can help you get to the Crystal Star," the spirit mentioned, grabbing Chopper's attention. "If you wish to hear more, I suggest you meet me at the top of that staircase."

The spirit flew up to the top of the staircase to wait. Chopper shrugged and walked up the staircase, amazed by its translucent design. "I don't know if I've seen stuff like this in a while..."

When he had reached the top of the staircase, he noticed the room around him was round and a bit large. While Chopper looked at the room, he approached the spirit. He noticed six jars were in a circle. There was also a symbol of a jar on the ground. The spirit began to chuckle and for no reason patted Chopper right on the head, making him gawk.

"Ah, such a quick child you are! Maybe it could be you…" the spirit pondered. "Well I'm not going to believe you just YET… Believing you now wouldn't be the brightest idea now, would it? Ahem... Now, I will tell you why you're here if you can find me three times in these jars."

"Hey, wait a minute! Why do you want me to do this?" Chopper questioned.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The spirit disappeared into one of the jars. They began to move around, so Chopper had to keep his eyes on the jar he knew the spirit was in. He waited fifteen seconds before choosing.

"Hmmm…" Chopper threw an ice ball at the one to his left. The spirit came out and was a little impressed. He went into another jar and started to move the jars. Chopper easily followed his pattern and gave the top one a small kick.

"Man, you are good…" the spirit went into another jar, but this time the jars moved faster. Chopper still followed his pattern, but it was pretty difficult to follow unlike the other times. In fact, this made him dazed.

"What's the matter? Too dizzy?" the spirit laughed. "I guess your eyes are too slow to follow me!"

Hearing where the voice was louder, Chopper walked down to the lower jar and shattered it with his hammer, revealing the spirit to be inside. "There we go! This wasn't much of a challenge, to be honest..."

"Well, this is just the first test. They get MUCH harder… Trust me, you'll find the next couple a lot more challenging. Now, Chopper… The reason why I wanted you to come alone is because you just might be one of the heroes…"

"Heroes? I'm a hero? What do you mean?" Chopper gawked. "It's almost like what that Blooper said to me. ...Wait, and what do you mean there may be more?"

The spirit sighed and turned away from him. "Yes… There are more. We haven't discovered the descendents of the others yet, but we've been trying to search for them for a while… We even tried to remember who their ancestors were throughout the years. Sadly… We've failed to find five of the six. Their ancestors were once heroes, and they were deemed to be heroes too. Which ancestor am I talking about for you? Your ancestor Nazuchi."

"Huh? Nazuchi? I don't know who a Nazuchi is."

"Nazuchi was a thirteen year old boy who was trained under an elite knight from Tagel called Lighten. Things were all right, until the king banished your ancestor for believing he had kidnapped his daughter, Princess Lilia."

"I don't get this… Why would a king think my ancestor kidnapped a princess? Why would he accuse HIM?"

"Well, it's a long, but interesting story. You see… Nazuchi fell in love with the princess when he first saw her. She seemed to like him back too, which, you know, is something that tends to happen back a thousand years ago. They were lucky they weren't victims of the whole cataclysm. It WAS a good thing they weren't there. But… Things didn't end up all right."

"Really… That's interesting… But, my ancestor fell in love with a princess?" Chopper covered his mouth in disgust. "Eeeuughh! That's pretty...bleh!"

"Well that may be in your point of view, but they both loved each other. Heck, even some people thought they were great together!"

"OK... But honestly, I really don't care about something like that. I don't find this anything important..."

"Well, whatever. You passed the test, so you can move on. Just don't try anything funny, OK? It gets much tougher and serious. Trust me, you won't regret it if you pay attention, OK?"

"Ummm… OK." Chopper skipped past the spirit and made his way up the stairs. "Well, at least it's not cold in here. But I feel bad for my friends… They're stuck outside without me. I really wish I could be with them..."

Chopper reached the top of the staircase and found an orange spirit waiting for him. Just like the blue one, it appeared to be very vague. There appeared to be a symbol of a fist on the ground too.

"Welcome, hero…" the orange spirit said. "Hmmmmm... Your face... I was expecting more of a manly appearance."

"The other one kinda told me that..." Chopper sweat dropped.

"Well, regardless of that, you've made it at last. I suppose you finished the first test, didn't you? That one was probably too easy for you. THIS one will be challenging. This is the Test of Battle! Let's see how well you can do against FOUR Chillies!"

The spirit then summoned four Chillies to appear in front of him with snowballs ready. "You may have had help from your friends to defeat enemies, but let's see if you are capable of taking care of yourself."

"Chillies? Well... I think I can do this!" Chopper put on his Fire ability and charged into all four Chillies as a fireball, dealing 8 damage and leaving them with a serious burn. They threw snowballs at him in retaliation, but he managed to guard each of them and take 28 damage instead.

"I lost 28 HP already? That's not good... But I think I can finish this up." Chopper transformed into another fireball and managed to defeat the Chillies in his way. They ended up rewarding him with some Star Points as well. Afterward, he removed his Fire ability. "Victory!"

"That seemed easy for you… Not bad." the orange spirit congratulated. "I might as well inform you about your ancestor. Did you know that he and one of the four heroes had a bit of a rivalry?"

"Who are the four heroes?" Chopper asked, not paying too much attention to the story.

"You...don't know anything about the four heroes? Most people know about them, you know!"

"But I'm from Clara - a planet in the Starland Galaxy."

"Oh... I see... Well, anyway, I guess you can move on, but I can assure you that the third test might excite you, but it is indeed no easy task."

"Exciting? Well, maybe it might be enjoyable!" Chopper smiled, making his way up the staircase.

When he had reached the third floor, he noticed a vague, pink spirit ahead, along with a symbol of a heart on the ground. The heart did not seem to excite Chopper, though.

_"Oh, no... This might be something like the 'Test of Love' or something... I bet it'll be a pointless test that has no effect on the plot or anything!"_ Chopper thought, approaching the pink spirit.

"Hello there! You must be the hero that everyone's been talking about!" the pink spirit exclaimed, its voice sounding like a female's. "…But you seem too young to be a hero. I expected you to be…a lot taller and more handsome. But, I guess not. Though, I guess I could say you're a bit cute."

"I was told this test might be pretty exciting, so what is it?" Chopper asked, not appearing to be too excited.

"Well, this test _may _be a little difficult for you. This is called the Test of Friendship and Trust." This managed to put a smile on Chopper's face. "You look pretty excited! This actually has something to do with your friends, you know."

"Oh, wow! I like this one already!" Chopper cheered.

Before he could say anything else, he saw five figures appear in the room. There, he saw Scrub, Kirby, Bombette, Heartsy and Mario. From the looks on their faces, they didn't appear to be happy. However, they paused when they looked at their surroundings.

"Wait... What the heck?" Scrub gawked, looking around the room. "We're not...outside?"

"Poyo? (Where are we then?)" Kirby wondered.

"Yar... I be confused..."

Heartsy was the first to notice Chopper. Her sad look quickly changed to one of happiness. "Guys! Look over there!"

Mario: Hey, it's Chopper!

"Guys!" Chopper cheered, only to be quickly grabbed by Scrub and Heartsy in a hug.

"Contadre, man! You don't know how much we've missed you!" Scrub cried.

"We missed you VERY much," Heartsy mentioned, giving Chopper kisses on his cheek, which seemed to only scare him.

"Gross! Stop it!" Chopper cried. "I haven't even been gone for that long!"

Realizing this, the two released him and gave embarrassed looks.

"We must've been too carried away..." Heartsy blushed. "Sorry..."

"Yeah, what she said," Scrub added.

"Well... It's nice to see you guys too." Chopper replied, wiping his cheek. However, he noticed two people were missing. "Hey... Where's Vivian and Shadower?"

"They are shadow beings, and therefore are not welcome here," the pink spirit mentioned. "Those monsters aren't allowed in such a sacred place."

"Monsters?! They're no monsters!"

"Not according to the gods... Anyway, back on topic, you are all here for the Test of Friendship and Trust. You, as friends, must work together and trust each other. If there's one thing that's important to friends, it's that you must trust each other."

"That sounds simple," Heartsy stated. "Just tell us what we need to do."

Kirby smiled, eager to hear the test. However, when he looked to his left, he noticed something that caught him off guard. Turning to that direction, he noticed another Kirby smiling at him.

"Poyo? (There's another me?)" Kirby muttered. Just as he was about to approach the other Kirby, it ended up giving him a large grin, making him back away. "Poyo! (Guys! Look over there!)"

They all turned and gasped at the other Kirby standing before them. However, unlike before, he didn't have a large grin on his face. Just the innocent, cute look of Kirby himself.

"What the heck? Two Kirbys?" Scrub gaped.

"Hmmmmm? I don't think this is exactly how I planned this..." the pink spirit muttered. "But maybe we'll go with this..."

"Poyo! (Hey, guys! Don't do anything! That one with you is fake!)" the other Kirby cried out. "Poyo! (I'm the real Kirby!)"

"Poyo! (What?! No you're not!)" the first Kirby exclaimed. "Poyo! (I was with them this whole time! Stop trying to copy me!)"

"Poyo! (Well I'm much cuter, and therefore am the real one!)"

Soon the two began to charge at each other and began to slap each other. The others couldn't help but watch the whole thing in confusion.

"Yar... It be a poyo fest..." Bombette commented.

Mario: This is very strange...

"I bet this is the same person that we ran into by that lake!" Heartsy deduced.

"Yeah, I agree," she turned to her right and noticed another Heartsy standing right next to her. She gaped and alarmed the others. Kirby stopped fighting and noticed he was fighting no one before turning to the two Heartsys.

"Geez... Now there are TWO Heartsys?!" Scrub gaped.

"This has gotten really out of hand!" Chopper exclaimed.

"So, what're you guys all waiting for? Go hit the fake Heartsy!" one of the Heartsys mentioned.

"Fake? But YOU'RE the fake one here!" the other exclaimed. "Choppy, you would know who the real one is, right?"

"Forget her, Choppikins! Just hit her and maybe we might be done with this little test!"

"'Choppikins? Ummmmm... I think I know who the fake one is." Chopper got his hammer ready and hit the Heartsy who had just called him "Choppikins".

"Ouchies! That hurt! Chopper! Why could you hurt a cute girl like myself? …Owie!" the second Heartsy collapsed onto the ground and didn't move.

"I had a feeling that calling you 'Choppy' would make you know I was the real one," Heartsy smiled.

"Poyo? (Was this the whole test?)" Kirby wondered.

"Well, I guess it was kinda related, right?" Chopper wondered, turning to the pink spirit.

"Uhhhh... I guess so... I suppose I can let you through." the spirit shrugged.

However, just before they could progress, the fake Heartsy slowly got up and grinned at the heroes.

_**"****Very clever, you meanie-head! You just HAD to do that! Looks like it's time to reveal my true self! Mimimimimimi!" **_

Everyone gawked as the fake Heartsy disappeared in a puff of purple, pixilated smoke and reappeared as a green girl with a square-shaped head, pixilated pigtails, stick arms and legs and a winter-like dress.

"Huh? Who are you?" Chopper gawked.

_**"****Who am I? I'm just a little someone who has something against you, that's all! I'm the great shape-shifter, Mimi! And now, you've forced me to take such drastic measures!"  
**_

"Drastic measures? What the heck are you talking about?" Scrub asked, only to gulp when Mimi gave them all a glare.

_**"****Oh, I'll show you what I mean by 'drastic measures'! TRUE MIMI COME FORTH!" **_

The room around them began to shake for a brief moment, and once it stopped, Mimi took this opportunity to snap her own neck to her right, causing her eyes to widen.

"What is she DOING?!" Chopper gaped, seeing her head spin around until it was upside down. Everyone was left shocked when six spider legs had come out through her head and lifted her off the ground. Now her square-shaped head was now a bit crooked.

"This... This is not what I was expecting! If you'll excuse me... I think I'm going to go over there!" the pink spirit quickly hid by the corner of the room, while everyone else, though disgusted, got in a fighting stance.

_**"****MIIMII! So, are you people scared now? Well good! That's exactly how I want it! Now hold still while I destroy you all!"**_

**Tattle: **_EEEEEEEEEEK! Oh! I'm so sorry for screaming! I'm just afraid of spiders like that! That's Mimi, and she scares me so much! Max HP is 80, Attack is 8, and Defense is 0. Wait… It says she attacks by using "Rubees"? What on earth is that? Well, it doesn't really matter. Just… GET THAT THING OUT OF HERE!_

"Geez... I don't mind spiders too much, but something like this is disgusting!" Heartsy grimaced.

"Well... As gross as she looks, we have to defeat her." Chopper jumped up and stomped on Mimi to take 6 out of her. Scrub, despite not eager to fight this thing, puffed his cheeks and fluttered above Mimi so he could strike her with a Ground Pound.

_**"****OW! I'm going to make you pay for that! Take this!" **_Mimi tossed a red Rubee at Scrub and managed to deal 8 damage to him.

"Youch! Those things are pretty painful!" Scrub cringed.

"Well, I say I should use something that'll deal some serious damage to her. I don't know if my hammer will work, so this will have to do!" Chopper quickly sprung up in the air and hit Mimi with his Spring Jump, dealing 12 damage and making a spider leg snap off her.

_**"****EEEEK! No! Not my spider leg!" **_Mimi cried.

"So… If we get rid of her spider legs, we win this?" Chopper pondered. "I'm guessing we have to keep attacking."

"I'm on it," Heartsy declared, bringing her hammer out and throwing it directly at Mimi. She ended up retreating up to the ceiling and began to fire Rubees down at them all. Thankfully, they managed to guard the attacks in time. Unfortunately, she didn't even bother coming down.

"Yar... She be stuck up on that ceilin' like Ravy Groans." Bombette commented. "I say we shake her down from there!"

"I think I have an idea," Chopper raised his hammer and jumped in the air in order to strike the ground, causing the room to shake and bring Mimi flying back down. It did 6 damage to her, along with snapping off another one of her spider legs, bringing her down to 50 HP.

Mario decided to make his move next and delivered a Super Jump to Mimi, dealing 8 damage. Unfortunately, that only angered the spider girl some more, making her fire a Rubee directly at him. Mario ducked and managed to guard the attack with ease.

"This is a good chance to use my Ice ability!" Chopper smiled, becoming Ice Chopper and ice skating over to Mimi. He clenched his fists and created an icy aura around him that damaged Mimi with his Ice Storm. This ended up snapping a spider leg off her too. Kirby reduced her down to 28 HP after using his Cartwheel.

_**"****This isn't finished!" **_Mimi summoned a bunch of Rubees from the ground, striking all six heroes in the process. Even then, that hardly stopped Chopper from attacking her with his Ice Breath. Bombette was about to attack, but she noticed Mimi was not on the ground.

"Oh... Me explosion's will not be very 'elpful here." Bombette sighed.

"Well you're lucky you're used more. I hardly get an opportunity!" Scrub mentioned before fluttering over to Mimi and delivering another Ground Pound, causing another spider leg to snap off and leave her with two.

Mimi was slowly getting exhausted, but she still had something planned. An orange, burning Rubee fired down at Heartsy.

_**"****Mimimimimimi! You better run away or else that Rubee will burn you!" **_Mimi cackled.

"Heartsy! Get away from it!" Chopper cried.

Heartsy brought her hammer in front of her and guarded the hit, taking only 7 damage in the process. Chopper sighed in relief and decided to attack her with his Spring Jump to bring her down to 4 HP. A spider leg snapped off too, leaving her with one left. Heartsy smiled and threw her hammer at Mimi, causing the last spider leg to snap and make her fall onto the floor.

_**"EEEEEEEK!"**_

From that, Chopper was awarded with 28 Star Points.

_**"****Mimimimimimiurrrrrrggh… No… How did I lose?" **_Mimi cried as she exploded, to the heroes' surprise. However, rather than actually destroying her, it only turned her back to her girl form. She appeared to be badly injured from the explosion, though.

_**"****You dummies… This isn't over yet..." **_Mimi growled._** "I will have my vengeance! Remember that!" **_

"Well, you got your butt kicked rather easily, so I doubt you'll have any vengeance!" Scrub scoffed.

Mimi ignored the Yoshi and lifted off the ground in order to teleport. Her teleportation, however, was rather strange. She ended up teleporting through a strange, boxed outline that turned over to make her disappear.

"Well that was pretty weird..." Chopper trailed. "That was one of the strangest girls I've ever seen!"

"Poyo? (And why was she after us?)" Kirby wondered.

"Yar... I suppose we will have to wonder about this some other time." Bombette stated. "Fer now, we shall move onward!"

"Well... I wouldn't say that." the pink spirit stepped in. "I guess I can say you all passed the test for something like that. I mean, you DID trust each other, and you worked together, which is a part of friendship. However, this is where your friends must go back outside."

"Wait... What?!" Chopper gaped. "No! Come on!"

"Sorry, but those are the rule," With a snap of her finger, everyone but Chopper and herself were remaining in the room. This only upset Chopper even more. "Rest assured, hero. You will be able to see them again. You just need to progress up these stairs and complete the tests."

Chopper sighed, removed his Ice ability, and made his way up the staircase, not caring if the pink spirit had something to tell him about this Nazuchi person. When he had reached the next floor, he saw a symbol of a ghost on the ground, along with a red spirit waiting for him.

"Ah, so you finally arrive… Excellent." the red spirit declared. "Wait… Excellent? What is excellent? That word… It means something great. No, this test wouldn't be excellent. This…is the Test of Fear. There is nothing excellent about fear. All it is is…fear."

"Umm… I don't understand you." Chopper muttered.

"Oh, never mind. All you gotta do is face your fears. And don't lie to me. I _know_ what your fears are… Let's see how you handle them…"

The spirit quickly disappeared from his sights, causing the room to suddenly turn red.

"Uhh… What's going on?" Chopper turned around and saw two Hellspawns in front of him. ...Or were they? They almost looked like rippled water, strangely. Regardless, they roared loudly and charged at him. Chopper gasped and quickly jumped out of the way, but to his surprise, they ended up disappearing through the wall.

"What the… Illusions!" Chopper turned back around and noticed illusions of disembodied hands stuck to the floor. They tried to grab his feet, causing him to shake. "Oh, no... Not these things! I hate these thing!"

He quickly began to shake them off and backed away as fast as possible. When he turned around, however, he saw an illusion of a demon in front of him wearing a crown. It looked very similar to the Shadow Queen. It grabbed him, causing him to gape.

"No… I can't let myself get scared…" Chopper closed his eyes tight and shot a fireball at the Shadow Queen illusion. He felt himself become free and landed on the ground with the illusion gone. Unfortunately, the worst wasn't over just yet.

Turning around, he saw a rippled figure of someone familiar. He gaped for a moment, but he had no time to back away, as the figure grabbed him and lifted him near his helmet to give him a threatening glare. Chopper tried to free himself, but his grip was too tight.

The only thing he could hear from the figure was evil laughter. After that, Chopper found himself landing on the ground once again.

"Wait... Is that it?" Chopper gawked, seeing the room around him turn back to normal.

"Not bad, hero," the spirit applauded. "Though I think you could've done a bit better, it was pretty decent, and a decent is enough to let you pass. But be warned: this final test is not very easy!"

The next set of stairs was just ahead, so Chopper made his way up them. However, rather than lead up to the next floor, he was led outside into the freezing cold. Chopper had to put on his Ice ability in order to prevent himself from shivering.

Up ahead, Chopper saw a huge icy maze and a white spirit that was waiting for him.

"Welcome… So, you managed to make it this far… Congratulations…" the white spirit slowly applauded for him. "You are one step closer to the end of this temple. You see that dome at the top? That's where you must go. It shall provide you the power needed to resist freezing cold waters."

"Freezing cold waters? Why would I... Wait a moment." Chopper pondered for a brief moment. "Hey, I remember a tunnel back where I first started in this place! Are you telling me...?"

"Correct. That tunnel is the direction you need to go if you are to find the Winter Star in Snowy Mountain. Perhaps it will help you stop him."

"Him? Who is this 'him'?"

"We will discuss that some other time. For now, you must complete your final test. Succeed, and you will be able to gain that power. Fail... And... Well, you'll find out yourself."

"All right, then. I'm prepared for this!" Chopper declared, clenching his fists at the icy maze. "I'll conquer this maze like no tomorrow!"

What could've been about five minutes lasted for about thirty minutes. The maze was big, and Chopper found himself in a couple of dead ends along the way. Regardless of that, though, he had reached the end of the maze and was now making his way to the dome ahead.

"Geez... I didn't think that would be THAT difficult..." Chopper groaned. "But, at least I managed to do it... It was pretty boring, I'll admit. But, good thing I can finally get to that Winter Star!"

"I don't think so."

Before Chopper could progress any further, Tipral landed in front of him, causing him to jump in surprise.

"Tipral? What… What are you doing here?! Were you following me?!" Chopper asked, getting into his fighting stance.

"I saw you coming here, so I decided to see what this whole place was all about," Tipral answered. "And surprise surprise, you're here as well."

"So you WERE following me!"

"Most likely," the dark being answered, glaring at Chopper's stance. "If I were you, I wouldn't try to fight all alone."

"And why is that?"

"Let's face it. There's no way you can defeat me on your own. I'm a lot stronger than you, and all you could probably do is land a few decent hits. You were lucky to defeat me before thanks to your pathetic friends."

"Hey, my friends are NOT pathetic!" Chopper shouted.

Tipral ignored him and crossed his arms. "If you really believe all of us have given up so soon, then you are much dumber than I thought."

"Well blame Doopliss for telling me that."

"I see... So, do you want to know what happened to the Shadow Queen after you destroyed her? Well, take a good look for yourself." Tipral pulled out a crystal ball containing a purple mist, leaving Chopper to gasp.

"Wait… Is that purple mist really…?"

"Yes, it is the Shadow Queen. I'm actually surprised that she of all people was my mother. But, unfortunately, you had to come in and destroy her. Now she has been reduced to this - not that I'm saddened by her lost, since I've endured worse things in my horrible life."

"Horrible life? Well at least your planet wasn't destroyed by some evil knight!"

"You mean Maquano? I think I've heard of him before." Tipral recalled.

"Really? From who?" Chopper gawked.

"None of that is important for you to know. I believe what's more important is that we need those twenty Crystal Stars to complete our goal. Grodus was only there just to give us some backup. His assistance is no longer needed."

"But didn't Grodus get zapped?"

"Yeah, just because he tried to control that queen. I don't know where Lord Crump or the rest of the X-Nauts are at the moment, but none of that is too important. You have bigger issues to deal with, Chopper. "

"...Wait, so you didn't come here to fight me?" Chopper wondered.

"I don't have the time for that now. But, I think I'll have some time later to fight you and your friends. For now, I have some business to attend to." With that, Tipral teleported out of the area with his Star abilities.

"Argh... He thinks he can beat me without my friend's help? I bet he just said that to scare me! Well I'm not falling for that!" Chopper grumbled. "Anyway, I have to go get that power so we can finally get to the Winter Star!"

Smiling, Chopper began to ice skate toward the dome ahead.


	64. Through the Snowy Wonderland

"I finally made it… So this is the dome, isn't it?" Chopper sighed as he made it up the stairs and into the dome. He found the room to be small, but a little round by the ceiling. There were a couple of stain-glassed windows with some of the gods on there and also a pedestal in the middle of the room near some small stairs. Around the pedestal was ice.

"Cool…" Chopper walked up the stairs and saw nothing on the pedestal. "Hey! What gives? There's nothing on the pedestal? I've been ripped off!"

_"No, you haven't been ripped off," _Chopper paused and listened to the voice echoing through the room._ "You can hear my voice, can you not? I am that white spirit that told you to go through the maze. I must congratulate you for doing such a task, even if you struggled a bit. Perhaps you are indeed the Hero of the Stars."  
_

"What's this whole 'Hero of the Stars' thing? I have no idea what you mean by that!"

_"Ahem! Listen and listen well, for I will only tell you once. We once had a connection with the seven Crystal Stars when they were created by the Shadow Queen. We watched them carefully and checked their locations. …But things got way out of hand when we discovered thirteen others. It was a huge mess!"_

"Really? A huge mess? Well, I guess I could expect that from you guys… How long did you know about the Crystal Stars anyway? A thousand years? Two hundred years? Five hundred?"

_"Don't interrupt my tale!" _the spirit shouted, silencing Chopper._ "We discovered a bunch of other Crystal Stars and where they were, but we haven't got a clue on where all of them are. The only one we managed to find…is the Winter Star. Perhaps more know where the others are, but we know where the Winter Star is being held."_

"Really? Can you tell me where it is?" Chopper asked.

"_That's where I was getting to. You see… The Crystal Star is being held by the Winter God named Wintrino. Unfortunately, a dark crystal had fallen right by his temple and possessed him with dark powers." _

"Dark crystal? It just fell from the sky?"

_"Precisely," _the spirit answered._ "We heard that at least two of them fell from the sky. One was capable of possessing you with dark powers upon touching it, while the other could only be absorbed through other measures. That crystal, however, has much more dark power than the one Wintrino had found. In fact, he is what's causing these terrible blizzards these days."_

"Really? I never knew that..." Chopper trailed.

_"Seeing as you completed the five tests, you have my trust. I will give you what you need to get through that lake. Stand on the pedestal, please…"_

"Umm… OK," Chopper jumped on the pedestal. At that moment, ice energy had appeared from above him and surged into his body.

"_I have given you your reward! Now when you have the Ice ability on, you will no longer freeze from the cold water! And now, you must go. No, really, you have to. I'll show you the way out."_

The white spirit appeared from the ceiling and grabbed Chopper, who could do nothing to stop the spirit.

* * *

**Temple entrance-  
**

Outside, Chopper's partners were sitting on the cold snow. While they weren't as depressed as before, they were certainly unhappy to not be with their friend. Vivian and Shadower were still unhappy as usual, and the rest were there to comfort them.

"Geez... Being called a monster is the last thing I wanted to hear from someone." Shadower sighed. "I thought I'd be done from getting disrespect after leaving my brothers."

"You shouldn't worry about those spirit things," Scrub assured. "They probably aren't the smartest people out there. They probably don't know you guys that much!"

"I hope that's the case..." Vivian trailed, unsure of what else to say.

Before they could any any more, they heard the sound of mumbling nearby. Up ahead, they saw three snowmen, with one being much larger than the others. An idea suddenly struck Scrub as he ran over to the larger snowman.

"Hey, maybe while we wait, we can play with these snowmen!" Scrub suggested.

"Arr! Snowmen? What do they be?" Bombette asked.

"They're made from the snow to make, well, snowmen," Heartsy answered. "Though, I don't think I saw those snowmen there before."

"I don't think I did..." Vivian mumbled.

"See? I told you this wouldn't work!" one of the smaller snowmen mumbled.

"Huh? Whoa! They speak!" Scrub knocked on one of the snowmen, causing it to mumble and mess with the disguise. Soon, the X-Nauts were exposed, leaving the heroes to gape.

"Uhhhhh... You punks saw nothing!" Lord Crump declared, running away. The two other X-Nauts sweat dropped before running away as well.

Mario: X-Nauts?

"What're they doing here?" Scrub gawked.

"But didn't we send Lord Crump flying in space?" Heartsy recalled. "This just isn't right..."

As they made their way back to the entrance, they saw Chopper get thrown out of the temple. He slowly got up and noticed his friends gaping at him.

"Oh... Uh... Hey, guys!" Chopper slowly waved. His friends were happy to see him back, but they didn't give him a hug, seeing that his Ice ability would only make them cold.

"Hey, Contadre! You're back!" Scrub cheered. "So, how was the rest of that temple? Cool?"

"Well, you could say it was pretty cool," Chopper smiled, receiving face palms from everyone. "What? It was cold there. Anyway, I don't think that's what's important. I got a power to easily go through that icy river without freezing. I...also ran into Tipral."

Mario: Tipral?

"He said something to me about 'our plans not being over and me looking angry blah blah blah'," Chopper explained, even if he made up the last part. "But let's not worry about him at the moment! I think we've got more important things to worry about!"

"Poyo, (Like Lord Crump and his X-Nauts,)" Kirby noted.

"Yeah! ...Wait, what?"

"We saw Lord Crump and two X-Nauts disguised as snowmen," Heartsy informed. "They just seemed to run away, though..."

"Oh... That's...not good. Well, if that's all they did, then I wouldn't worry TOO much about them! We should just try to find a way to get back to that river!"

"Looks like we have to backtrack," Shadower sighed, slowly getting up. "That'll be fun. It's like Twilight Town all over again."

"Well, I don't think so. Look." Vivian pointed to a light blue pipe that was at the side of the temple. "I think it just appeared when you came here, Chopper."

"Really?" Chopper turned to the pipe and smiled. "Hey! Maybe this might take us to that river!"

Mario: Let's hope...

"And we can even keep these blankets, too! Awesome!" Scrub cheered.

"No you can't," the light blue spirit said, his head popping out through the door. With one swift of his hand, he took their blankets and put them back in the little basket. "Those are for people waiting outside the temple only. Thank you."

The group groaned and started to shiver. However, that did not stop them from jumping into the light blue pipe to leaving this area.

* * *

**On a higher peak of Snowy Mountain-  
**

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! Finally! We've discovered where the tenth Crystal Star is!" Beldam cackled, unfazed by the cold environment. "Marilyn! Freak-sheet! We must be ready to strike when we Chopper and his friends show up!"

"G-G-Guhh…" Marilyn grunted while she shivered.

"Beldam, m-m-m-my name's D-D-DOOPLISS! Ju-Just get it right! Sheesh!" Doopliss stammered, shivering as well. Sadly, his white sheet was not helping him in the cold. "Why are we w-w-waiting out h-here anyway? It's too c-c-c-cold!"

"Silence! We must wait here if we are to take the map from Chopper! Just because the Shadow Queen was defeated doesn't mean our plans are finished! …But it is cold out here… You got a point." Beldam said, looking down at the snowy landscape. "For now, we will wait! I don't care if it takes twenty-four hours to find Chopper, but we will wait until we find him and get that map! …And then I will take Vivian back and severely punish her for betraying us!"

"Do we REALLY need to sit out here in the cold? I feel like I'm going to get frostbite!" Doopliss complained.

"Yes! We must wait out here, you freak! If we're constantly moving, it will only be more difficult to find them! I think the best way to surprise him is by going into the shadows. Come, Marilyn! Let us wait to ambush Chopper and that foolish traitor Vivian!"

"Guh-huh!" Marilyn agreed and sank into the shadows with her ugly sister. All that was left was Doopliss, who shivered and looked around.

"What do I do?" Doopliss began to think for a moment until an idea struck him. He snickered and transformed into a Chilly. _"They'll never see this coming! A harmless little snowman is something they'll LEAST expect! Man, I am so good at this!" _

* * *

**Icy River-  
**

When they had jumped out of the pipe, they noticed they were back at the icy river. Many of them were relieved, knowing that they didn't have to backtrack back here.

"OK, so we're finally back here..." Chopper trailed, eyeing the icy river. "Hmmmmm... Let me just test this out first."

He jumped into the river first and seemed to sink to the bottom all right. Chopper swam back up to the surface and gave them all a thumbs up.

Mario: How does it feel?

"Well... It's kind of tough to say, but it doesn't feel so cold. Just as long as I have my Ice ability on, this water shouldn't be too bad for me."

"If that's the case, then I'm going next!" Scrub declared, getting ready to jump in. Mario, however, pulled him away from the river. "Hey! What gives?"

"It may be fine for Chopper, but I don't think it will be for us..." Vivian trailed. "We'd probably freeze."

Chopper pondered for a brief moment until he felt a light bulb appear on his head. He jumped out of the water and waved his hand over the group, creating icy sparkles that surrounded them. Everyone gawked at the sparkles and then at him.

"What is this?" Shadower asked.

"It prevents you from freezing in this water," Chopper answered. "At least, I think that's what it does. See for yourself!"

"Ye _think_?" Bombette questioned, giving him a suspicious look.

Mario, being the brave plumber he was, decided to go into the water first and made a big leap in. To their surprise, Mario appeared to be just fine when he emerged from the water, giving them a thumbs up as an indication. The rest of the group smiled and jumped into the water to join the two afterward.

"All right! To that tunnel!" Chopper declared, swimming down to the hole on the bottom left. They were led into a small, underwater cave with many crystals on the walls. Some crystal Bloopers called Blooper Sparkles were in the water as well.

"Yar! Treasure!" Bombette shouted.

"For an underwater tunnel, it sure is nice," Heartsy commented.

When they got close to the Blooper Sparkle, they noticed them charge into them. Thankfully, Chopper's ice balls froze them and did away with them, allowing the group to progress into the next area. It only led into a small little room, but there was a tunnel straight ahead, while down below was another tunnel to the lower left. That led them to a chest containing an Ultra Shroom.

The other tunnel, however, led them to a room where they saw a mound of snow on the surface. The ceiling was shaped like a dome, and crystals were everywhere around them.

When they had gotten out of the water, there was a ladder leading up to a hole in the ceiling. "So... This must be the way out."

Chopper was the first to climb up the ladder and up into the hole. He was able to see the starry sky above him, along with a couple of snowflakes. when he had gotten off the ladder, the rest joined him and felt a sense of calmness. Mario felt the snow land on his nose, as well as his mustache. Vivian and Heartsy could feel the wet snow on their hair as well.

Heartsy decided to stick her tongue out and get a taste of the snowflake, which quickly melted on her tongue upon landing. "There's nothing better than eating a snowflake during the winter!"

Shadower and Bombette were about to do the same thing, but after realizing they lacked mouths, they ended up groaning.

"Oh, man! Now this is what I like when it comes to winter!" Scrub grinned. "It's not foggy out, and that weird light thing up in the sky is still there!"

"Aurora, Scrub," Heartsy corrected.

"Right. Say... Does anyone have any food that's hot enough?"

"Well, I have this," Chopper answered, taking out the Chili Dog he was given. "Although, it might need to be warmed up."

Placing his hand near the food, he began to warm up the Chili Dog. Scrub smiled and stuck his tongue out to grab it, but the Chili Dog had already moved out of Chopper's hand and into Kirby's mouth. He swallowed it proudly before giving a cheerful smile.

"Poyo! (Delicious!)" Kirby exclaimed.

"Thanks..." Scrub groaned.

They decided to make their way through the snowy field and noticed more trees around than before. There were even some large mounds of snow around that looked like they could be blown up. A Sniffit spotted them and began to shoot projectiles at them, but Mario jumped on its head, while Chopper froze it with his Ice Breath before sending it flying away with a kick.

"First I freeze 'em, then I'll kick 'em along! Brrrr!" Chopper said, freezing a Frost Piranha that tried to take a bite of him. He kicked the frozen enemy straight into a tree, causing it to shake and drop a Elemental Hand badge called Freezer, which freezes an enemy, but gives them an immunity to attacks.

"Chopper, matey, why don't ye let me blow some of these snowballs up?" Bombette suggested.

"All right," Chopper agreed, throwing Bombette at one of the snowballs. She blew it up to reveal an item called a Snow Bunny. He retrieved it, but he noticed he couldn't carry any more items. "Should I throw this away or keep it?"

"I think a Snow Bunny can help you recover 30 HP, but it will freeze you," Vivian informed.

Chopper gasped and he tossed the Snow Bunny onto the snow. They walked over to the next area to find the floor to be entirely made of ice. A couple of Waddle Dees with earmuffs, hats, and ice skates were skating around the ice in circles. Mario was most of all surprised.

Mario: What the..."

"Woo-hoo!" the Waddle Dees cheered as they spun around on the ice. Four snowmen were there as well, and they were paying more attention to Chopper than the Waddle Dees.

"Dude… Look! It's Chopper!" the snowman said, pointing at Chopper. They quickly hopped over to Chopper and got in their kung-fu stances.

"More snowmen? Well..." Chopper conjured up a fireball and hurled it straight at the snowmen. Vivian's Fiery Jinx only made it worse for them.

"Hot! Hot! Hot! It BUUURNS!" the snowmen began to rub their butts on the ice…until the disguises disappeared and four X-Nauts were revealed under them.

"Huh? X-Nauts?" Chopper gawked.

"Just like before..." Scrub gaped. "But there's more?!"

"You… You saw nothing! Let's beat it!" the X-Nauts quickly ran away, causing the Waddle Dees to slip and fall over on the ice, along with making Chopper and his friends spin around after they ran past them.

"Yeesh! What was that all about?" Heartsy wondered. "Why were there more X-Nauts?"

The Waddle Dees, on the other hand, were just as angry as they were.

"Hey! What jerks!"

"They took my earmuffs!"

"Get back here, you jerks!"

"I could've gotten injured!"

Their conversation, however, changed when they spotted Chopper and Kirby.

"Hey! Isn't that Chopper King Dedede hates so much?"

"Yeah… He is! We better get him!"

"And Kirby's here too!"

"We'll get him too!"

The Waddle Dees rushed toward Chopper, but he froze them all with his Ice Breath. With a simple kick, they were sent flying toward the Ice Block dead ahead, causing them to shatter. Chopper ice skated over to the block and used his Ultra Glove ability to fire multiple ice balls to destroy it.

"Let's go!" he rushed onward to find the ice gone and trees with Christmas decorations on them. Past the trees was a hill going down.

"You know, seeing more of these trees, I'd be interested in talking about what we would want for Christmas," Scrub mentioned. "I know for sure I would want boxing gloves help me take down fighters in the Glitz Pit! You'd get me those, right, Contadre?"

"I don't know..." Chopper trailed. "We'll see..."

"Poyo! (I know I would want lots and lots of food!)" Kirby explained. "Poyo... (And also for Pop Star to be in peace...)"

"I think I would like for my brother to be much nicer," Shadower stated.

"Treasure an' a good boat is all I want to get me hands on!" Bombette declared.

"I think I already have my present in front of me," Heartsy smiled, eyeing Chopper. "But, I think I'd like for our planet to be back, if that's anything nice..."

Mario: I'd probably want Bowser not to kidnap Peach for a change.

"What about you, Vivian?" Chopper asked, turning to her. "What would you want for Christmas?"

"Well..." Vivian trailed, unsure of what to say. "I guess I would like the world to be in peace..."

"That's why we're on this quest, so I'm sure that will happen," he assured. "Food is something I'd definitely want, but I'd also want people not to take everything so seriously that shouldn't be taken seriously. I always like it when I don't have to take things so seriously."

"But this quest is something to be taken seriously..."

"I know. I didn't say everything." Chopper noted. "Well, on that note, I guess we should continue on."

They made their way down the hill and noticed another hill going down, but this time it was to the left. Rather than take the time to do that, they decided to jump down to the bottom of the snowy area. A Save Block was nearby, along with a pathway going to the left, right and south. The Save Block was to the right, indicating something to be there. Chopper decided to take the left way instead.

There, they found a small, snowy passageway with icy statues floating in a cold pond blowing icy gusts. Chopper realized that he couldn't reach the other side in one go, and having Heartsy force him to run wouldn't work. In the end, it was Vivian who helped into into the shadows to avoid the cold breath of the statues until he got to the other side. The only thing there was a Heart Block, but he hit it anyway.

Getting back to the others was much easier. There was a small passageway that he could only get through by becoming a tube. He did so and managed to return to the others with full HP and FP. They returned to the previous area and went to the passageway south.

They found a large, cold pond near some floating ice. The one closest to them, however, looked like it had a piece of paper folded. Kirby smiled and started to inhale the piece of paper in the way, revealing the ice to move up and down on the water.

"Poyo! (I haven't done that in a while!)" Kirby cheered.

Chopper jumped on the ice and noticed it was rather slippery. Regardless, he managed to maintain control of his movement and saw another floating piece of ice spinning up ahead. Jumping over there, however, would only lead him into the water. Chopper got on Scrub and let him carry him over to the other side with ease. There was another that required his assistance, and by helping him across, he was led to a chest on the last floating ice pieces containing a Life Shroom.

Of course, his inventory was full, so he decided to toss his Super Shroom away before leaving the area with the others.

"Well, that was something interesting, wasn't it?" Chopper asked his teammates, who agreed with him. "Now to see what's up ahead!"

Chopper hit the Save Block in front of him before progressing to the next area. There, they could see a large body of water in the background with some ice floating in there. It did not look like the lake they had crossed, but it definitely looked much bigger.

"Wow... I really like the view here." Chopper smiled.

Mario: It sure is nice!

Up ahead was an Ice Block standing in the way, along with a harmless Chilly that appeared to be minding its own business. Chopper was about to approach the block until it was stopped by a voice.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee h-h-hee… Finally! You managed to arrive, Chopper!"

Beldam and Marilyn rose from the shadows, the latter shivering. The Chilly turned into Doopliss and he jumped over to them. Everyone was left in surprise and got in a fighting stance.

"Sis? What are you doing here?" Vivian asked, her fists surrounded in fire energy.

"What are _we _doing here, you ask? Why… We're just here to say hello to a very good friend named Chopper!" Beldam answered before glaring at her sister. "…And I still have a score to settle with you, Vivian!"

"Haven't you learned from before? We beat you back in the Palace of Shadow, and now the queen is finally gone. What's the point in fighting us?"

"Hey, Slick!" Doopliss shouted, gaining their attention. "I told you guys I would come back to beat ya, and now I'm finally gonna do it! Yuk yuk yuk!"

Beldam turned to Doopliss with a look of anger. "I'm not finished yet, freak!"

"Oh... Yeah..."

"Anyway..." Beldam slowly turned back to the group. "Just because my queen is destroyed does not mean it's the end of us! Our plan is still going, and it has much more to it than you think."

"My guess it involves you taking us down, right, hag?" Chopper asked. "Because I highly doubt that'll work! We've already gotten more help from us anyway!"

Beldam noticed Chopper pointing to the plumber in red with a smirk. "Well well well! If it isn't Mario! The one with the magnificent mustache! It's been a while since we've seen you… I see you decided to team up with Chopper, right?"

Mario: That's right!

"Well, I'm not too surprised. But seeing you here with Chopper does seem quite dangerous. Then again, we have gotten a little stronger ourselves!"

"If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get!" Chopper declared. "Bring it on!"

"Let's go, my sort-of-lovelies! Marilyn! Freak-sheet! Let us take care of these fools who stand before us!"

"Guh!" Marilyn grunted.

"Doopliss, right? You mean 'Doopliss'? 'Cause that's my name!"

**Tattle: **_Ugh, Beldam again! She's just really getting on my nerves! Max HP is 60, Attack is 6, and Defense is 0. Like before, she can use her magic against you. If you got the Ice ability on you, however…she can't freeze you. You can freeze HER…but I highly doubt you could. She's still a threat with her magic abilities. I wonder why she still wants that map… What is she planning?_

**Tattle: **_That's Marilyn. Y'know, the heaviest of the sisters? Max HP is 70, Attack is 8, and Defense is 0. Watch out when she boosts her attack or when she punches you with electricity! It HURTS! Those punches can even paralyze you if you're not careful! I'd be careful if I were you…_

**Tattle: **_That's Doopliss. You know him, right? Who can forget Doopliss? Max HP is 70, Attack is 7, and Defense is 0. He's not a big threat, so just save him for last if you want. All he does is shape-shift and that's it. No big deal, right? I just don't understand why he stays with Beldam. Does he even ENJOY getting punished?_

"Well, we'll see if you've improves," Chopper declared, choosing to target Marilyn. He leaped in the air and stomped on Marilyn, taking 6 away from her. "Just like before, let's focus on Marilyn. I'm worried she might have a huge attack to take us down with..."

Mario nodded and performed a Super Jump on Marilyn to deal 8 damage. Afterward, Doopliss made the first strike on the enemy side by floating up and coming down on Chopper like a missile. Marilyn appeared in front of Mario and clapped her hands on him, only for him to guard it. Beldam used her own blizzard spell to attack, but they all guarded it instead.

"This is nothing different," Scrub stated. "You freaks are just using the same attacks!"

"This might be the perfect opportunity to try out the Sun Star!" Chopper declared, pulling out the Crystal Star. The Sun Star began to float into the sky in the same manner as the sun and made the stage bright. Chopper was given flaming stars to throw at the star, which he did. After enough times, the Crystal Star created a sun that was enough to damage the Shadow Sirens and Doopliss. They would take 7 damage for the next three turns now that there was a sun in the air.

"So... That be the power of Sunny Day..." Bombette trailed. "Interestin'... Anyway, it's time I got some use fer once!"

Bombette's fuse lit up, and she began to approach the three enemies. Her Bob-omb Blast managed to take 8 out of all three of them.

"Not bad... But I will assure you that we have some brand new moves to show to you." Beldam grinned.

Doopliss, meanwhile, transformed into Chopper and used his hammer to strike Chopper and deal 7 damage to him.

"Ouch… Now that did hurt…" Chopper grunted

Marilyn used her magic to unleash her lightning on them all, dealing 8 damage. Thankfully, it didn't manage to paralyze them, which was something her magic could do now.

"Mmmwee hee hee hee! Now, take this!" Beldam fired an ice beam directly at Chopper. While he did take 7 damage, it didn't freeze him in the end thanks to his Ice ability.

"That was it? That was your special move? That did nothing!" Chopper scoffed.

Meanwhile, Beldam, Marilyn and Doopliss had taken 7 damage thanks to Sunny Day. Chopper attacked Marilyn with his Spring Jump, while Vivian's Fiery Jinx managed to add more to the burn the three had on them.

Doopliss leaped in the air and decided to stomp on Scrub this time. He saw the attack coming, though, and easily guarded the copy's attack. When he came back to his comrades, Marilyn raised her attack by 8, while Beldam used her Blizzard, which failed to hit them all thanks to their Superguarding.

"Crud… Marilyn just raised her Attack up… We better be careful..." Chopper warned. "I guess we better end this quick."

Chopper leaped in the air and stomped on Marilyn, while Kirby became a fireball and charged straight into Doopliss, Marilyn and Beldam. Now Marilyn was reduced to 8 HP.

After Chopper Superguarded Doopliss's hammer, everyone gulped when they saw Marilyn prepare for her attack. To their surprise, though, she only raised her Attack further. They were worried at first, but they realized her low HP did not matter in the end now that it was at 2 from Sunny Day.

Beldam's ice beam, however, ended up freezing Vivian. "Now that the traitor is frozen, you don't have to rely on her anymore!"

"Argh... You're going to pay for that!" Chopper shouted. He decided to use another one of his Crystal Stars this time, with it being Power Lift. He hadn't used it too much, but this was a perfect opportunity to use it against them. In the end, he ended up raising their Attack by 2 and Defense by 3.

Heartsy readied her hammer and threw it like a boomerang at all three of them, dealing 8 damage to them all and bringing Marilyn's HP to 0.

"G-G-GUUUH!" Marilyn grunted loudly as she collapsed.

"Hey, freak-sheet!" Beldam called out. "How about you turn into someone else! I'm getting sick of you transforming into someone I hate! Do that, or you're getting punished!"

"OK OK!" Doopliss shouted, transforming into Bombette. He used this opportunity to run up to Chopper and explode in front of him. When he had landed by Beldam, he felt a sort of injury overcome him. "Urgh... Exploding can be painful."

"That's 'cause yer not used to it!" Bombette laughed.

Beldam growled at the Bob-omb and fired an ice beam at her. However, since Vivian was already frozen, it didn't freeze her. Thankfully, however, Sunny Day managed to bring Beldam to 7 HP, but on the other hand, the ability ended, and the sun disappeared from the stage.

"Hmmmm... Well, that's definitely an interesting move to use in the future." Chopper stated. "In the meantime, though, let's finish them off."

Chopper made the first move by attacking Beldam with a Jump, which managed to bring her down in the same manner as Marilyn.

"Urgh… Mmmwee hee hee hee… I'll just leave the rest to you…" Beldam collapsed on the ground, leaving Doopliss as the last one standing.

"Crud… It's just me… Well I can still win this!" Doopliss declared.

"When you're down to 11 HP? Probably not." Chopper stated.

"I've got this one!" Scrub decided, fluttering above Doopliss and using his Ground Pound to reduce him to 3 HP.

Doopliss, annoyed with the transformation he had, transformed back into himself and attacked Chopper with a Head Missile. Though it was successful, he ended up losing when Chopper had struck him with his Ice Breath.

"Not again!" Doopliss moaned upon collapsing.

Chopper received 52 Star Points, along with a level up. He ended up upgrading his FP to 60 before looking down at the unconscious Shadow Sirens and Doopliss.

Now that everyone was no longer frozen or badly injured from the fight, the heroes couldn't help but look down at their enemies.

"Well, they put up a decent fight in the end, but they just got their butts kicked. ...Again." Chopper stated.

"I guess we should get going then..." Vivian trailed.

"It's probably for the better," Shadower replied, making his way ahead. Everyone else soon followed except for Vivian, who looked back at her unconscious sister. She stared down at her for a brief moment before following her friends up ahead.

Doopliss slowly opened his eyes and noticed the heroes moving on ahead. "Hey... Shouldn't we go after them?"

"Urgh... No, freak-sheet." Beldam moaned. "Let them get it. It's only a matter of time until they go right where we want them..."

* * *

**Considering that there were a few Crystal Stars that weren't used during battle, I decided to put some of them to good use. Sunny Day originally did damage right on the go, but I thought it'd be more original to make it damage each turn instead. **


	65. Wintrino: The Coolest God

"Well, we certainly took care of them," Chopper said, making his way into the next area. Thankfully, no ice happened to be in the way, but there was one section of the area that appeared to be a bit large. There were also a few forts that were surprisingly built, but there didn't appear to be anything else guarding it. "Though, I kinda admit that I feel bad for leaving them out cold in the, well...cold."

"You feel bad for our enemies? Why would you say that?" Scrub asked, surprised by Chopper's opinion. "Don't they want us KO'ed or something? C'mon, Contadre! You can't be TOO nice around people! It just makes you a bigger target!"

Mario: It's certainly not a bad thing, though.

"Whatever," the Yoshi shrugged it off before shivering. "Aw, man! Did it just get colder, or is it just me?"

"I'm certain it's just you," Shadower answered. "Though, it does feel a little colder for me too."

"Poyo, (Not for me,)" Kirby mentioned, despite the others not understanding him.

Vivian decided to light up another flame in her hand that made nearly everyone huddle over. They all felt a sense of warmness from the flame...until it was put out by a snowball.

"Yar? What was that?" Bombette gawked.

"Over here!" the group noticed over by the forts some enemies in light blue hoods and clothing with snow clubs. They were soon identified as Icimos with the ability to create icy waves from their clubs and throw snowballs. "This is our turf, you hear? You're not welcome here!"

"Not welcome? How?" Chopper asked.

"You're in Icimo territory now! Leave now or you're gonna get it!" More Icimos appeared behind the forts and had snowballs ready. Many others began to shout out at them.

"Beat it, punks!"

"This is Icimo only territory!"

"Leave or suffer!"

"Ummmmmm... No." Chopper replied. "We have to find something located here, and none of you are going to-"

He was interrupted when a snowball had managed to hit him in the face. Sadly, this was counted as a First Strike for the enemy, making him take full damage. Chopper shook off the snow and got in a fighting stance, ready to take these guys on. He started by attacking them with his Ultra Glove, making him shoot multiple fireballs directly at them and leaving them with a burn. Vivian's Fiery Jinx did a good job at damaging them too, but they were not down yet.

"I guess taking them down might be a lot longer than we thought," Vivian deduced, noticing their HP was about at 20 leaving them with only 8 now and soon to be 6 due to the double burn. Two Icimos slammed their clubs to the ground to create an icy shockwave, while the other two threw snowballs. They were easily guarded, and soon the Icimos were defeated when Scrub used his Stampede to take them out.

"Retreat!" the Icimos cried as the fled from the heroes.

"Phew... Well it's good that they're out of the way." Heartsy sighed. "Though, I don't think that's the end of them..."

Mario: There's probably still more ahead.

"Poyo, (Then we should be cautious,)" Kirby suggested.

They hurried into the next area and found a couple of igloos around with lights coming from the windows. Near the igloos were a couple of Icimos sitting by a small little campfire with frozen marshmallows. Unfortunately, it didn't look like the fire was actually doing a very good job due to the lack of wood. However, as soon as they spotted the group, they instantly got their clubs ready and charged toward them.

"Uh oh... This doesn't look good..." Chopper quickly got in a fighting stance with two fireballs ready in his hands. The rest of his partners had their powers/weapons ready as well.

"Leave our place! This is our turf!" one Icimo shouted. "Leave or face the consequences!"

"Well we need to go forward!"

"We claimed this area, so beat it, outsiders! This place is only for us!"

"Hold it right there, Icimos... Don't attack them."

The Icimos stopped for a moment and stepped out of the way. An Icimo wearing a dark blue jacket and hood with a mustache hanging down approached them with a wooden staff. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Icilder. I'm the elder of these Icimos. I've been running this area for seventy years, actually."

"Seventy years? This guy really is a geezer!" Scrub snorted, only to be silenced by Chopper.

Mario decided to approach Icilder first and began to explain what was going on and even asked him if they could progress.

"Hmmmmm? So you wish to venture onward?"

Mario replied with a nod.

"I see..." Icilder slowly turned away. "This place technically IS our turf and all... However, you said you were looking for some Crystal Star, and hearing about the world ending is certainly nothing good. Perhaps we can have a little deal..."

"A deal?" Chopper gawked.

"Yes. You see, we Icimos are big experts in the game of snowball fights. Since there are eight of you, I'll pit you against our best eight competitors. Take them all down with snowballs, and we'll let you pass."

"All right. Sounds easy."

"Well, there are some rules... There's a two minute time limit, so you gotta beat them in under two minutes! Other than that, that's really all there is."

"This should be easy!" Scrub smirked.

Eight Icimos approached the heroes on the opposite side, while Icilder began to draw a line between them. "You must stay on your side of the field for this game, OK? Step across, and the opposing team instantly wins."

Both sides got some snowballs ready and prepared to throw them. Right when Icilder raised his arm to begin, the Icimos immediately threw their snowballs. Thankfully, everyone avoided it just in time before they threw their snowballs. The Icimos took out their clubs and blocked them. One, however, failed to block and ended up getting hit.

"Yeah! Take that!" Scrub taunted. "Now we're outnumbering the-"

Just before he could finish, a snowball hit him straight in the nose, causing him to fall over on his back and shiver. The rest of the group sighed before getting more snowballs and throwing them at the Icimos. One snowball ended up hitting Bombette, making her fall over on the snow.

"Ha! This should be easy!" one Icimo laughed, throwing one toward Heartsy. She was about to dodge until she whipped out her hammer and swung it at the snowball, sending it back at the Icimo and successfully hitting him. Mario did the same thing with his hammer, and he got the same results as her, bringing the Icimos down to five.

"Ready to give up?" Chopper asked.

"Fat chance!" another Icimo retorted, throwing a snowball in his direction. Chopper ended up freezing it and kicking it straight at the Icimo, but it managed to get out of the way in time. Right as he did that, a snowball knocked him onto the floor. Chopper turned around and saw that it was Kirby who did that.

"Poyo! (Come on! We can do this!)" Kirby cheered, inhaling a snowball and spitting it at another Icimo, bringing them down to three.

Unfortunately, the remaining three Icimos had managed to strike Shadower, Heartsy and Kirby, causing them to get out and leaving only Chopper, Vivian and Mario left.

"All right! I think it's time we put this to an end!" one Icimo declared, picking up a larger snowball. "This should take all three of you out!"

The three Icimos helped each other with the large snowball, and once it was done, they hurled it toward the three. Thankfully, since Vivian had fire, her flames instantly melted the snowball, leaving the three Icimos agape. This also left them on the ground by three snowballs.

"All right, that's it! Game over!" Icilder cried, making his way onto the line. "It looks like these people here win."

The eight heroes smiled as they made their usual victory poses.

"I must say, that was an excellent match. We will let you move onward, and I think you deserve a little respect from us for your snowball-fighting skills."

"Yeah... I guess we can let you come back here anytime." an Icimo decided. "You can also come back here for another snowball fight! Bring more people, 'cause it makes things more interesting that way!"

"We'll try to remember that," Chopper nodded. "Thanks for letting us through, though!"

"It is our pleasure," Icilder nodded. "Though I must warn you... It is said that there is something powerful beyond this town. Even we Icimos are a little too scared to go check it out."

"You kidding me? We took on a demon queen back at the Thousand-Year Door!" Scrub proclaimed. "Contadre's not going to fear whatever's so powerful!"

"Very well... Good luck on your little adventure, young ones."

With that, Icilder stepped aside, allowing the heroes to progress onward. They all said their little goodbyes before moving on and came across an area with a snowy hill going downward nearby, but there was also another pathway up ahead.

They chose to check out what lied ahead, but all they found was a small Christmas tree with a little note attached.

"Huh? What in the world?" Chopper gawked, approaching the note. The paper appeared to be black, and the writing on it was purple. "What's this doing here?"

"What does it say?" Vivian asked.

"Let's see..." he tried to get a better look at what was being said before he began to recite it.

_**Roses are red, violets are blue.**_

_**But you are not a rose, nor are you a violet.**_

_**But what I see in front of me is a small child,**_

_**Willing to be the one that I want to violently strange,**_

_**With my own two hands.**_

_**So don't blink before your own eyes,**_

_**Because I'm coming for you.**_

"It's...a poem?" Chopper gawked. "Strange..."

Just as he was about to put the note back on, a fist had appeared and struck him in the face, sending him flying past his friends and onto the snow. Most of them gasped, but they quickly turned around to see who did that.

"Tipral? What are you doing here?" Vivian gasped.

Mario: He looks just like Chopper!

Tipral ignored the plumber and glared at Chopper ahead. "I've finished with my business, and I remember saying that I would come back for you, Chopper. So... Here I am."

Chopper slowly got up and saw Tipral getting ready for another punch. "Oh, yeah... I remember that. You want to fight us against because we kicked your butt back in the Palace of Shadow, right?"

"Those shadow freaks were holding me back. I'm much better off fighting you on my own." Tipral charged at Chopper and prepared to punch him again, but the Star Warrior managed to jump over him and land back by his friends.

"Maybe... But even when we took out the other two first in battle, we still managed to beat you on your own!" Chopper smirked. "With Mario now with us, I think your chances of winning are slim!"

"You mean that fat plumber over there?" Tipral wondered, looking over at Mario. "Oh, please. Just because you have some fat man in red helping you doesn't mean you're guaranteed to win. I was created to make people beg for mercy, and that's what I'll make you all do before I finally crush your life!"

Everyone else got in their fighting stances and prepared for the worst. Tipral, on the other hand, appeared unfazed and simply crossed his arms.

"All right, I think we can finally get back to business," Tipral declared, getting in a fighting stance. "I'll make you suffer for destroying my queen, Chopper!"

**Tattle: **_He's back once again. I think Tipral's pretty angry with what you did to the Shadow Queen… Max HP is 90, Attack is 9, and Defense is 0. I would recommend avoiding attacks such as his Star Blast and his ability to freeze time. Those are definitely lethal! Because he's just as fast as you, Chopper, I'd be ready for any attack he tries to pull. Just try to make sure you don't lose, OK, Chopper?  
_

Chopper made the first move and ran toward Tipral with a leap in the air. He successfully stomped on him and jumped up again for another stomp, dealing 6 damage to the faker and leaving him slightly wincing in pain. However, he easily shook it off and got back in a fighting position. Mario made his move next and brought his Ultra Hammer down on Tipral to deal 6 more damage.

"You know, now that I think about it, I was once told about someone in a red cap with a mustache that had defeated the Shadow Queen five months ago..." Tipral recalled. "That description probably matches you."

Mario: Who told you this?

Tipral responded by landing a Star Punch on the plumber, sending him flying onto the snow. Mario shivered for a brief moment before quickly getting up and returning to the battle. Tipral was almost impressed with how he managed to get up so easily, but he didn't find it that amazing.

"Hey, Tipral... How about we make things a little cool here?" Chopper suggested, getting mostly face palms from his friends in return. Tipral, too, found it dumb, but he wasn't expecting Chopper to breathe ice breath on him. Before he could do anything else, Kirby floated above him and turned into a stone, flattening him in the process.

Tipral managed to push Kirby off him and jumped in the air. Looking down at Chopper, he dove straight at him and landed a kick, knocking him back and making him lose his Ice ability.

"That should take care of one problem," Tipral stated.

"Not really, especially when I have this!" Chopper smirked, opening one of his hands to reveal an ice ball. Tipral growled and clenched his fists before getting hit by the ice ball. "OK... Who's going next?"

Heartsy smiled and decided to approach Tipral next. Raising her hammer, she brought it down on Tipral and reduced him to 52 HP.

"All right... I guess I have to show you all one of my newer moves!" Tipral pushed Heartsy out of the way and fired multiple Star Spears above the battlefield. They began to spin around for a brief moment before going up into the sky. Suddenly, they began to rain down like shooting stars and struck the heroes. Thankfully, they were able to guard the attacks and take 10 damage. But even then, that was quite a lot.

Chopper brought his hammer down on Tipral, and then Bombette came in and struck him with her Bomb afterward. This made Tipral use his ability to freeze time for about a turn, but unfortunately for him, they managed to guard the attack.

"Argh... That's just great." Tipral grumbled.

"40 HP already? Well, I never thought we'd bring you down this far, Tipral!" Chopper scoffed. "You said you were much stronger, right?"

"I never said that," Tipral retorted. "But I will certainly use some of my stronger attacks on you!"

Hearing that made Chopper gulp for a moment. He decided to attack him with his Spin Jump, taking 9 out of him, while Scrub fluttered above Tipral and struck him with his Ground Pound six times.

"All right! I think it's time I used my Star Blast on you guys!" Tipral roared, clenching his fists and raising his Attack by 9. "Let's see how you all deal with this attack!"

"Uh oh... This isn't good." Chopper gulped.

"I can always use Veil to hide you guys," Vivian noted. "I'm just hoping it works."

"I guess so," Chopper shrugged, running up to Tipral and bringing his hammer down on him. "All right, Vivian! Try to hide us in the shadows!"

Vivian nodded and floated behind Chopper. However, like all abilities, she had to get the Action Commands correct, and sadly, she had failed to do so, making her ability fail.

"Huh? It didn't work?"

"I guess the Action Command failed... Sorry, Chopper..."

"You should be sorry, because now I'm going to finish this!" Tipral roared, swinging his arms back and creating a light purple explosion that managed to send them all flying in the air. When they had landed, they had taken 18 damage.

"Ouch... That was painful..." Scrub winced.

"So this is what Tipral's attack feels like..." Shadower trailed, who slowly got up.

"Hmph... So you all managed to survive that." Tipral noticed. "I guess you guys are much tougher than I thought."

"Yeah, we are..." Chopper trailed, crouching down and launching himself upward. Tipral looked up out of curiosity, but what he wasn't expecting was Chopper to stomp on him with his Spring Jump. Afterward, Shadower attacked him with his Shadow Punch, leaving him with 7 HP.

"I will not fall like this!" Tipral shouted, firing a Star Spear in Chopper's directly. He managed to guard the attack and then finish the dark being off with his Spin Jump.

"Unghhh..." Tipral collapsed onto the ground, and Chopper received 34 Star Points from the battle.

Everyone looked down and noticed Tipral was unconscious at the moment. Kirby took a stick nearby on the ground and poked him with it, only receiving a couple of groans from him. Before the pink puffball could poke him again, Mario pulled him away and shook his head.

"I guess we should just leave him here..." Shadower suggested.

"Yeah, before he gets up!" Bombette added. "He could be angrier than before, ye know..."

"Good idea," Chopper nodded, fleeing from the area and returning to the previous one with the large, snowy hill. There didn't appear to be anywhere else to go, but then they decided to get a closer look at what was down below. Unfortunately, the fog wasn't helping.

"I think I can get a better look," Shadower mentioned, trying to squint to see what was at the bottom. There was apparently a white temple down there that was not as big as the previous temple they entered, but it was certainly not small. "I think the temple's down there."

Mario: Well that's great!

Before doing anything else, though, they noticed two other figures nearby. They appeared to be a species known as a Pianta with a leaf springing from their head and a leafy skirt. These yellow Piantas, however, were wearing business suits and sunglasses. They appeared to be sitting on lawn chairs as well.

"What are they doing?" Heartsy gawked.

Mario: I feel like I recognize those two..."

"Hey, Vinny! Isn't dis a good place ta go lie down an' relax?" the first Pianta named Tony asked his friend, who appeared to be shivering.

"Uh… You sure dis is da right place were supposed ta be at?" Vinny asked, looking at a map that had a red arrow pointing at Pudgy Island. "This doesn't look like da vacation spot we were supposed ta go ta."

Tony took a look at the map and nearly guffawed. "Vinny, da map's upside down! Can't ya read?"

Vinny turned it right side up and saw the red arrow pointing to the right island. "Wait a sec... Dis ain't the place we're at! Da place dat's on here looks more...beach-like! Dis place is cold!"

"Vinny you dope!" Tony yelled. "And now we remember why we never let you hold da map..."

"I can't believe we went ta da wrong place! Dis is just…madness! Now how are we gonna get back to da island fer our vacation? Dis…is just great…" Vinny groaned.

"Well, it stinks dat we looked at da map wrong. I mean, da New Boss even said not ta look at the map upside down!"

* * *

**Flashback, two days ago-**

A light blue Pianta wearing a white suit and sunglasses named Frankie handed them a map leading to Pudgy Island.

"OK, you guys can go take a vacation. You can't stay here with me all da time, y'know." Frankie explained. "You guys go take a vacation on Pudgy Island. Don't look at da map in da wrong way, or else you might not be happy where you are..."

"Thanks, New Boss!" Vinny thanked, taking the map from Frankie and taking a look at the location. However, he seemed uncertain, so he turned the map upside down. "Let's go, Tony!"

"Say, New Boss... You think you can trust Vinny with dat?" Tony asked.

"Oh, it'll be fine. Since when has Vinny ever screwed up?"

* * *

**End of flashback-**

"Oh, uh... Well, I was uncertain!" Vinny objected.

"Look, dat's not what matters now. We need ta find a way off dis place an' get back home!" Tony scanned the area and noticed some snowboards. "Say... What about dose things? Maybe we can use dose to find a way out of here!"

Vinny approached the snowboards and noticed they were too small. In fact, there was only one large snowboard fit for their size. "Errr... I dunno, Tony... Dese things are a bit too small fer us ta use. Dis one looks like it's the only one big enough fer us."

"Den we'll just have to share," Tony stated, getting on the snowboard with Vinny. There was very little room for them, and the two even began to argue over how much space they had. This eventually led to their downfall on the snowy hill, as they began to move downward and crash into a couple of trees along the way.

"Oof!"

"Ow!"

"Ooh! My nose!"

"Yer nose? What about my sprout?"

"But my nose is very important ta me!"

"YEOUCH!"

Chopper and his friends gawked as the two Piantas continued to crash into a couple of trees along the way. However, some of them ended up wincing when the two crashed into a tree in a painful manner.

"Oooh... That had to hurt." Chopper cringed.

"Having your head through a tree certainly doesn't sound nice," Shadower commented.

"Well, we should try to get down there somehow," Vivian suggested, noticing the snowboards, skis and even a tube. "What about those?"

"Ooh! A snowboard!" Chopper cheered, grabbing a green snowboard and using it to go down the hill. Mario decided to grab the skis, and Kirby took the tube before going downward. Scrub and Heartsy decided to grab some snowboards as well, with one being white and the other being reddish pink.

"Wait for me, Contadre!" Scrub called out, going down the hill with his snowboard. Heartsy soon followed afterward, leaving Vivian, Shadower and Bombette.

"Shouldn't we have just brought them over to the temple through the shadows?" Shadower pondered.

"It looks like it's too late for that..." Vivian trailed.

Bombette, meanwhile, was staring down at the hill for a brief moment. Unfortunately, she ended up losing her balance and was now tumbling down the hill and eventually becoming a large snowball. The remaining two decided it would be best to go into the shadows.

"Hey, plant people!" Chopper cried out as he passed the Vinny and Tony stuck in the tree. "This is how you snowboard!"

"Hey... Who was dat?" Vinny asked.

"He looked pretty weird..." Tony trailed. "Maybe we should warn da New Boss about dis kid!"

All of the sudden, four more were passing by, along with a snowball.

"...Dere's even more of 'em!" Vinny gaped.

"I can't help but recognize dat guy in the red..."

When Chopper reached the bottom of the hill, he jumped off his snowboard and ran to the front of the temple. Looking up at it, he couldn't help but feel an evil presence behind that door. One that felt pretty dark.

The rest of his friends had shown up to the temple's entrance (Bombette ended up crashing into a tree, freeing her from the snowball), but they too had froze in place of the evil presence they could feel beyond the large door.

"I don't like this place one bit," Bombette commented.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Chopper..." Vivian advised.

"Well, um... We do need to go inside and get the Crystal Star, so we don't have much of a choice whether we wanna go inside or not." Chopper stated. "We should just stick together."

After hitting the Heart Block and Save Block, Chopper and his friends took a deep breath and pushed the large large door open into the temple.

* * *

**Snowy Temple-**

When they walked inside, they found the interior to be massive, even if there was only one room inside. Looking down below, they noticed the floor was made of ice, and there were a couple of statues on the walls that were frozen. There was one statue up ahead that resembled a tornado with tornadoish arms and eyes. On its arms were pots with blue flames.

"This place is huge!" Heartsy gaped, her voice echoing through the room.

Taking out the Magical Map, Chopper noticed it was glowing. "Whoa... I think we're right where we want to be!"

"Who are you people?!"

Everyone paused for a moment and noticed a cold, swirling wind appear in the room. It ended up becoming faster until it formed into a large, icy tornado figure that was dark purple and had orange eyes. Just going near this figure, it would be twenty degrees colder!

"That's...Wintrino?" Scrub gawked. "But he's some tornado figure! He doesn't look like anything cold..."

"Who are you people, and why are you intruding upon my temple?" the figure roared. "You are not wanted here, so I suggest you all leave immediately, or suffer my icy wrath!"

"So..." Chopper trailed, stepping a little closer to the icy tornado figure. "Are you, by any chance, Wintrino?"

"That is my given name," Wintrino nodded. "I am the Winter God that rules these snowy lands! If you've come here to end my blizzard, I'm afraid you are most unwise!"

"We came here looking for a gem called the Crystal Star."

"Crystal Star? You mean this?" Wintrino held up a snow white Crystal Star.

"Yeah... That's it." Chopper nodded.

Wintrino looked at the star for a moment and then back at Chopper. Holding his hand in front of the boy, he fired an icy orb toward him. Chopper gasped and got out of the way just in time.

"Foolish mortal! Why would I give up something so beautiful and powerful for me to conjure up blizzards?!"

"But... You're supposed to be a good guy, right? Why would you-" Chopper paused for a moment, remembering what one of the spirits told him. _"Oh, right! Wintrino's being possessed! This really isn't him!"_

Chopper turned to his seven friends. "Guys, this isn't actually Wintrino. He's being possessed by some dark power."

"Poyo? (Really?)" Kirby gawked.

"Yeah! We need to take him on and try to at least eliminate this dark power from him! I'm guessing giving him some good whacks might actually work..."

"Wait, you want us to take him on?! Are you out of your mind?!" Heartsy gaped. "How can we take on someone like him?"

"I fought against the God of the Stars before and won..." Chopper trailed, slowly turning back to Wintrino in a fighting stance. "Gods aren't necessarily invincible... It's possible to beat them."

"I agree with Chopper. I think we can do this." Vivian stated. "I mean, if we at least deal some damage to him, he might finally come back to his senses..."

Everyone eventually agreed and got in a fighting stance as well. Wintrino just stared at them and began to laugh.

"Brrrrah ha ha ha ha! You mortals obviously think you can take on an immortal? How laughable!" Wintrino mocked. "Everyone knows that you cannot win against a god!"

"Well if I can take one of, then we can surely take YOU on!" Chopper declared, conjuring up a fireball.

"You people are shrimps compared to my size! There's no way you'll win! However, I will not back down. If it's a fight you want, then I will give you a fight! Perhaps you will all regret your decision of leaving when I turn you into frozen popsicles."

Mario: Not a chance!

"I see... You are all very brave...yet very foolish."

**Tattle: **_That's Wintrino, the God of Winter season. Wow… He looks so dark and evil at this point! It's actually a bit creepy... Max HP is 110, Attack is 10, and Defense is 1. He'll try to freeze you with his ice attacks, and he might even summon icicles to fall down on you. Use anyone that can hit multiple enemies and also hit things on the ceiling. Your Quake Hammer might work pretty well. Though, I have to wonder how someone like Wintrino was so easily possessed. I mean, gods don't get possessed so easily, y'know?  
_

"All right... He's an ice god, right? Well, I wonder how he'll like fire!" Chopper smirked, throwing the fireball at Wintrino. He cringed from the heat, but it was something he easily shook off. Vivian made her move next and left a scorching punch on Wintrino thanks to her Shade Fist, causing him to get burned.

"Fire... Ugh, fire has always been a pain for me to endure, but a small amount of flames will not save you." Wintrino declared, creating an ice orb in his hands. He fired it directly at Chopper, who guarded it just in time to prevent himself from becoming a frozen Star Warrior. "Hmmmm... Impressive. But it will not be enough to save you!"

Wintrino cringed once again as he was damaged by Vivian's burn. Chopper took this opportunity to jump in the air and attack him with a Fire Stomp. Afterward, Kirby attacked with his Cartwheel and brought him down to 89 HP.

Raising his arms, Wintrino summoned icicles to hang from the ceiling, followed by his eyes flashing. Mario suddenly found himself frozen from an icy lightning strike.

"Mario!" Chopper cried.

"As usual, people such as yourself are weak to my ice attacks," Wintrino scoffed.

"Well, we know what you can't stand!" Chopper equipped his Fire ability and began to breathe fire on Wintrino. Afterward, Vivian raised her finger and used her Fiery Jinx to melt the icicles and deal more fire damage to Wintrino.

Snapping his finger, a large blizzard had come into the room and managed to strike the group. Thankfully, they did not freeze, but Chopper ended up losing his Fire ability because of that.

"Ugh... That was intense." Chopper gawked, blinking for a brief moment before getting back in a fighting position. "But we're not backing down just yet!"

Once Wintrino got hurt from being burned, Chopper decided to attack him with a Power Bounce. He managed to hit him about seven times, dealing 8 damage. Heartsy used her Hearty Throw on Wintrino next, leaving him with 62 HP.

"It seems as though I underestimated you all..." Wintrino trailed. "But neither have I unveiled my true strength!"

He closed his eyes, and soon a dark, icy aura surrounded him. "I cannot give you any mercy now. You will all witness my true power!"

Wintrino opened his eyes and clenched his fists, causing him to raise his Attack power by 10. While that happened, he took damage from getting burned, and Mario had become unfrozen, taking 1 damage in the process.

Mario: What happened?

"Poyo, (That god just raised his Attack,)" Kirby said in a worried voice. "Poyo? (How can we stop that?)"

"By hiding, of course," Chopper replied, leaping in the air and attacking Wintrino with a Fire Stomp. "OK, Vivian! You can hide us in the shadows now!"

Vivian nodded and successfully pulled them all into the shadows. With them safe, Wintrino unleashed his full power and fired a large, dark ice pulse around the whole room. Thankfully, they managed to avoid the attack and emerged from the shadows. However, that didn't stop Wintrino from spinning and charging straight into all the heroes. To his luck, the burn wore off.

"We're over halfway done with this guy," Chopper noticed. "I think we've got this!"

"I know of a way to quicken this process," Shadower suggested as he hit Wintrino with a Shadow Punch. "Use a Spring Jump, all right?"

Chopper nodded and launched himself into the air. Wintrino looked up for a moment, but was not expecting him to fall on him and deal 12 damage. To retaliate, he created a large hammer made of ice and brought it down on him.

"That looked painful," Bombette winced.

"Ungh... Yeah, it is..." Chopper moaned. "Geez... I could go down pretty soon! I think I seriously need to heal up!"

"I think you can hold on for a moment," Scrub assured. "Right now, I'm going to give him a little something!"

Scrub fluttered above Wintrino and attacked with his Ground Pound, while Chopper reduced him to 23 HP with his Spin Jump. When Wintrino tried to attack him with his fist, he found himself low on HP.

"Oh, man... This doesn't look too good." Chopper groaned. Though he was close to 0 HP, there was no way he was going to go down to soon. He took out the Sapphire Star and began to hurl stars at depictions of himself, his partners, and some flowers that were floating down to recover some HP and FP. He was luckily able to recover 35 HP, while some of his partners recovered around 20. Chopper even received 18 FP as well. "OK, I think this should be enough to last this fight."

Bombette ran up to Wintrino and exploded, bringing him down to 18 HP. Wintrino himself was started to feel exhausted as well.

"You mortals are very strong... Much stronger than I expected..." Wintrino panted. "But I will never give you the star. It is rightfully mine."

Wintrino created a sword made of ice and swung it at all eight heroes. Thankfully, they took less damage by guarding it, but they ended up taking 11 damage in the end, which was no laughing matter.

Chopper clenched his fists and tossed a fireball toward Wintrino, and to get back at him for freezing him, Mario whipped out his hammer and brought it down on the winter god.

Wintrino found himself limping, now having 8 HP left. But even as a god, he couldn't back down so soon. Standing up straight, he snapped his finger and created another blizzard. The heroes guarded it, taking 9 damage in the process instead.

"All right, this is it!" Chopper smirked, landing a jump on Wintrino. When he had jumped back to his friends, Kirby attacked him with his Cartwheel and ended the fight.

Before Wintrino could say anything, his eyes widened in pain as a bright light had enveloped him and caused an explosion, awarding Chopper and his friends 43 Star Points. Chopper even leveled up and chose to upgrade his BP to 36.

With Wintrino finally defeated, he collapsed onto the ground, the dark power in him slowly fading away. His dark purple appearance had finally changed back to snow white.

"So... We finally did it." Chopper sighed.

"You think he'll be all right?" Scrub asked.

"He doesn't appear to be possessed, though, so I think we did it."

The snow white Crystal Star ended up dropping from Wintrino and landed right in front of the heroes.

"The Crystal Star!" Heartsy gasped.

"Ye know what to do with that, matey!" Bombette recalled.

Chopper gave her a nod and walked over to the star. Upon touching it, it began to circle around Chopper and float above him. He then happily held it above him as usual.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 11 and Chopper can learn the special move Blizzard!**

**END OF CHAPTER!**

_The evil within the Winter God Wintrino has been defeated by Chopper and his friends, and peace will now be restored to Snowy Mountain! With ten Crystal Stars in hand, Chopper is halfway done with his adventure! However, even with ten stars, the heroes soon found themselves wondering about a few things. Were the X-Nauts finally gone? And what is Tipral planning? Chopper had a feeling the rest of his adventure would not be as easy as he thought.  
_

"Mmmmmrgh…"

Everyone paused for a moment when they heard the winter god moan. Turning around, they saw Wintrino slowly get up. Though the dark power was gone, they all stood guard, preparing for any attack.

"Whoa... What the heck just happened?" Wintrino slowly looked around and noticed eight heroes looking up at him. "Say, did you guys do that?"

"Do what?" Chopper gawked.

"You know! That dark power that somehow got into me!"

"Oh... Yeah."

Then, suddenly the unexpected. "Oh, MAN! I can't believe you dudes managed to do that! You wouldn't believe how annoying it was to be possessed like that!"

Everyone else: ?

"What? You never saw someone who likes to be so awesome? It's not like I have to take my job seriously, you know."

"But... Wait... What?" Chopper gawked.

Mario: Mama mia...

"So, I take it you wanted that Crystal Star, right?" Wintrino asked. Chopper was about to answer, but he already beat him to it. "Just go ahead and take it, my man. I don't even like guarding that dang thing. It ain't fun, ya hear me?"

"Wow... He's...just giving it to us like that?" Vivian asked with uncertainty.

"You wouldn't BELIEVE how annoying it is to guard that dang thing! I don't even know why those other gods thought it was a good idea for me to hold it. They always call me 'irresponsible', 'irritating', and one who can't keep his mouth shut. Let me tell you! I remember this one time a couple of centuries ago when I was speaking to Heus about my role as a god, and many others were mad... And you wouldn't BELIEVE how much I loved eating chilly dogs!"

* * *

**Several hours later-**

"...And then you guys saved me," Wintrino finished, turning back to the heroes, who were currently sleeping. "Hold on... Is it nap time?"

Hearing that, everyone instantly woke up. "Oh... You guys are awake. Took you long enough."

Mario, being the most awake of the eight, asked him about getting possessed.

"You wanna know how I got possessed? Well... Errr... I guess it has to do with me not having that strong of a godly brain. You see, when a god has a stronger brain, the more likely they won't be controlled. Personally, I don't even care about that. I'm fine the way I am!"

"OK... Thanks for all of that." Chopper mumbled. "Well, we need to get out of here. Do you know any shortcut out of here?"

"No, but I do have a technique that I can do!" Wintrino's orange eyes flashed, and soon a large snowflake appeared and scooped the eight off the ground. "That'll take you back to Fahr Outpost, all right? Just make sure you don't leave a dent on that thing, 'cause I polish that thing constantly!"

"Got it!" Chopper nodded as the large snowflake flew out of the temple by crashing through the wall. Wintrino appeared to be proud as he turned away and began to go into a deep sleep. That is, until he realized something.

"I...don't think I should've made a hole through this temple."


	66. Chapter 10 Interlude

Grodus was pleased with the results of the New X-Naut Fortress. After a hard day of work, the X-Nauts had finally completed the fortress. It appeared much more technical than the previous fortress, sporting a barrier that protected the place from harm and a couple of transporters to help X-Nauts get to another place in the fortress with ease. Some of the walls were completely made of glass to give a nice view of space, especially for Grodus's throne room, which happened to be located on the top.

The X-Naut leader stared at his own throne room, getting a glimpse of the whole thing. His throne was a mixture of purple, black and yellow, and there was an armrest to rest his arms. It even came with a massage button! The X-Naut emblem was painted largely on the floor so Grodus could get a good view of it. It was a symbol he created, and he would always keep it that way.

"At long last… Our fortress is finally complete! I've been waiting a long time for this, and now my wish has been granted!" Grodus exclaimed proudly, testing the glass with an ice beam. To his delight, the magic attack immediately disappeared upon touching the glass. "I must say, my X-Nauts... You have certainly outdone yourself. Much more than a certain commander..."

"Well, we wanted to make sure this place was all good!" an X-Naut wearing a construction helmet and carried a hammer called an X-Naut Constructionist explained. "The barrier was put in place just to make sure no meteors or asteroid would cause damage to it, and if this moon were to ever explode, the barrier would protect it from harm."

"We also made sure to wipe this place's location off the maps, just to make sure no one would find it," another one added.

"Interesting... That is definitely a smart plan. But, there's one problem with that." Grodus informed.

"Really? What is it?"

"That Magical Map Chopper carries can find locations whether they are wiped off the map or not. That isn't going to prevent Chopper from coming here if we have a Crystal Star in our hands!"

"Well, that barrier we put over the fortress should prevent him from going in," one of the X-Naut Constructionists explained. "And the transporters were designed for X-Nauts only. They would only reject non-X-Nauts."

"I see... Perhaps this is not a bad thing when we get our hands on another Crystal Star. For now, you are dismissed."

"Yes, sir!" both X-Nauts exclaimed, crossing their arms in the form of an X before leaving the room. A couple of more X-Nauts, including Lord Crump and Johnson, entered the room as well, though their clothing appeared to be a bit soggy.

"So, you return, Lord Crump?" Grodus noticed Johnson was with him. "And what were _you_ doing with him? I thought I told you to go research more on those Crystal Stars?"

"Look, sir..." Johnson sighed. "Don't blame me, but Lord Crump made me come with him, as much as I didn't want to."

"We needed all the help we could get," Lord Crump proclaimed. He looked around the room and smirked under his outfit. "Wow, Grodus! This place looks pretty cool! Cool enough for someone like me! Buh huh huh..."

"Perhaps if you stepped your game up, then maybe you would get a room like this," Grodus said coldly. "You've failed me once again, Lord Crump. Must I always depend on you to find Chopper and get the Crystal Star?"

"Well, we ran into a...problem."

"A problem? Tell me this...problem."

"They spotted us when our disguises were not working," Lord Crump explained. "That little shrimp was the one that spotted us."

"I see... Then again, considering your record, I'm not too surprised, Lord Crump."

"My record?"

"Yes. So far, you've only did two things useful, while the rest were mediocre failures. I was actually considering finding a replacement for you."

Lord Crump's eyes widened in shock. "Wh-What?! A replacement?! No way, Grodus! Not in a million years!"

"Then you can start by doing a better job."

"That I can do!"

"Then leave."

Lord Crump nodded and left the room, leaving the other X-Nauts and Johnson in the same room as Grodus.

"So, dude, I mean sir..." one X-Naut trailed.

"You may leave as well," Grodus ordered. "Except for you, Johnson."

"Yes, sir!" the other X-Nauts replied, giving him their X salute and leaving. With that, Grodus got off his throne and approached Johnson.

"So, you want me to research more on these locations, right?" Johnson asked.

"Precisely," Grodus nodded. "Since we've failed to get the Winter Star, I suggest you go research more on the Crystal Stars. Maybe if you succeed, I might consider giving you Lord Crump's job. ...Then again, you don't seem like commander material."

"Oh... All right." Johnson said, a bit disappointed with what he said.

"Of course, I think I might have some other assist in the job. That's why I have my X-Naut Scouts ready for the job."

As if on cue, two X-Nauts in orange and red called X-Naut Scouts entered the room with their arms crossed in the shape of an X. They usually did this even when standing still near their leader. "You called us, Sir Grodus?"

"I've sent some of you to scout around Rogueport for any hints of a Crystal Star. Have you come back with any information?"

"No, sir," one scout replied with a shake of a head. However, he soon remembered something. "…Hold on a moment. There IS something we heard about. Something about this strange forest that's actually very difficult to reach."

"Really? This sounds interesting..."

"An old man wearing a blue cloak happened to be mentioning this, and he seemed eager for Chopper to come visit him."

"Yet you did not interrogate this old man?" Grodus asked, not appearing pleased.

Both X-Naut Scouts began to sweat. "Ummmmm... No?"

"You fools!" Grodus roared, causing them to shrink at their spots. "If you were smart enough, you would have gathered information from this old man! And here I thought you X-Naut Scouts were supposed to be reliable!"

"S-Sorry, dude, I mean sir! We just weren't sure!"

"Great... Just great. Now we're already too late. I'm sure this old man is already telling Chopper these news. We've most likely lost our chances in getting a Crystal Star!"

"Well... We did find this near another door." one X-Naut Scout informed, handing Grodus a letter. The X-Naut leader carefully read the letter, hoping it would at least give them some information.

_Dear Chopper,_

_Guess what? I'm back! I bet you weren't expecting me to make my return, did you? I even said to you that I would be back for revenge, even if it would take two years, and now I'm here! Don't think those Toads hit my head too hard with those drumsticks. I'm much better now and I'm hoping to beat you soon. See you soon, Chopper, because it'll surely be your LAST!_

"This doesn't look like anything interesting. Get rid of it." Grodus stated, throwing the crumpled paper over to the X-Naut Scout. He decided to throw it away before being dismissed. "You go back to researching, Johnson."

"That I can do," Johnson nodded, giving his leader a salute before leaving the room. Now only Grodus was left in the room.

"Even when my minions can create some great fortresses, some of them are rather unreliable..." Grodus sighed as he sat back on his throne to relax. "But when the time comes, you will be in for a treat, Chopper and Co.!"

* * *

**Sunset Hill-**

"Gwaa ha ha ha! Bowser's back, baby!" Bowser cackled as he flew over the ocean of Sunset Hill on his Koopa Clown Car. Kammy was following behind on her broomstick, but she was much slower.

"Your Evilness... Please wait up!" cried Kammy, only to stop when Bowser landed on Sunset Beach. "Oh good! Thank you very much!"

"Oh, please... I wasn't doing that to wait for you, Haggy! I only did that 'cause I can see some kind of temple up ahead!"

Kammy landed near Bowser and got a glimpse of the temple as well. "Lord Bowser! That is no ordinary temple. That is said to be the legendary Sun Temple!"

"Sun Temple? What the heck are you talking about?"

"The Sun Temple is said to be the home of a great sun sage many centuries ago! I've also heard that something called the Sun Star rests in there as well!"

Suddenly the gears in Bowser's head were starting to turn. "You mean there's a Crystal Star in there?"

"Well... It appears so, because obviously the Sun Star is-"

"_**GWAAAARGH!**_" Bowser roared, making the air around them shake slightly. "Why didn't you tell me this before?! We could've gotten here much faster if you had just TOLD me!"

"I suppose I just forgot then..." Kammy lied. "My brain is old, after all. Sometimes it tends to forget a few things..."

"Urgh... Whatever. It won't matter too much when Bowser here gets his hands on the Crystal Star!"

Bowser began to make his way toward the Sun Temple, and when he had reached the entrance, he noticed he could not fit through. This, of course, made him angrier and caused him to stomp the ground.

"Stupid door!"

Surprisingly, the door ended up falling over, and other parts around the door began to crumble in the process. Bowser noticed this and stopped stomping. "Well now! I guess anger can get you somewhere for a change!"

"Lord Bowser! Wait for me!" Kammy cried as she followed the Koopa into the temple. They had their moment to gaze upon its interior, and Kammy seemed to find it interesting. "I never thought I'd find such an interesting interior to this place..."

"It's nothing special," Bowser huffed, crossing his arms smugly. "My castle looks cooler than this."

_"What's this? People have showed up?"_

The two looked up and saw a spirit of a sun slowly descend from the ceiling. _"Hmmmmm... You two do not look like the good type... However, I cannot do much to stop you."_

"Yeah, that's right!" Bowser grinned. "You can't do a thing against the great Bowser!"

_"Bowser? That doesn't sound very interesting... In fact, it sounds bland for a villain."_

Bowser gawked at the sun spirit, but he quickly gave it a glare. "Look, I don't have time to be around a smug little sun thingy. Just hand over the Crystal Star! It's rightfully mine!"

_"The Sun Star?"_ the sun spirit pondered. _"Well, I'm afraid you're too late. It's already gone."_

"_**WHA-WHAAAAAAAAAT?!**_" Bowser gaped.

_"Yes. I had it much earlier, but I gave it to the Chosen One for him to claim."_

"Ch-Chosen One?! Are you kidding me? First Chopper, and now some Chosen One?! Argh! Why are there so many people after the Crystal Stars?!"

"Oh, dear... This is not good..." Kammy trailed.

"This is YOUR fault, Kammy!" Bowser roared, turning to the old Magikoopa. "If we had gotten here sooner, we'd have claimed our very first Crystal Star!"

"Your Bashfulness! Please don't yell near me! You know how much it hurts my ears!"

"Oh, I'll give you a little something..."

Bowser began to breathe fire at Kammy, who had barely avoided the flames. Not wanting to get scorched, she began to fly away from him.

"GET BACK HERE, HAGGY!"

When she had flown outside, Bowser got on his Koopa Clown Car and began to chase her. The sun spirit slowly shook its head.

_"Well... I guess there are more fools than I expected in this world..."_

* * *

**?-**

"I can't believe I lost to that boy again," Gemerl growled as he slowly flew across a barren, dirt field around a station called Riverside Station. The sky appeared to resemble a sunset, only there was a bit of purple added to the reddish orange color. "I WILL find a way to defeat him and his friends. I don't care how long it takes. That day will finally come when I put an end to him!"

He stopped his rambling when he spotted a repair shop up ahead called "Evil Repairs". It was a shop made in the middle of nowhere so it was away from any suspicion. Many machines, such as Motobugs and Buzz Bombers are usually made and repaired there.

Gemerl showed up at the front entrance and found a Waddle Dee wearing goggles and a Koopa carrying a wrench working on a few Badniks. When they spotted him, they greeted him a friendly, but fearful manner.

"G-Gemerl! Y-You're back!" the Waddle Dee stammered.

"Wh-What brings you back here? D-damaged again?"

Gemerl looked down on the table of the damaged robots and used whatever power he could still use to destroy them with a missile. The two engineers cried out and took cover. When they stood up, they saw Gemerl standing on the table.

"I request that you repair my damages immediately," demanded Gemerl, who lied on the table for the engineers to get to work. They reluctantly did so and started their repairs.

"So, what happened this time, Gemmy? Got yourself beaten by that kid again?" the Waddle Dee asked.

"First of all, my name is Gemerl. Second, yes, it was that boy who did it..."

"I suppose you want us to find a way to make you stronger..." the Koopa trailed nervously.

"No. Just repair my damages so I can use all my abilities," Gemerl stated. "I will find my own way of defeating that boy..."

"All right... If that's what you wish." the two got back to their repairs, knowing that if they didn't this robot would toast them for sure. Gemerl, meanwhile, began to relax and think about his last two failures in defeating him. He tried to think of what he could do to stop him. There just had to be some sort of weakness to this boy! There just had to!

_"I'll do whatever it takes to defeat him and get those Crystal Stars,"_ Gemerl thought. _"Only then will I have what I need to become the robot overlord and rule the universe!"_

"Say, did you hear about that demon that ended up coming back from the Thousand-Year Door?" the Waddle Dee asked.

"Yeah, I think so," the Koopa nodded. "I heard a pale green kid, a purple shadow being, a Yoshi, some pink puffball, a black shadow being, a pink Bob-omb and some pink girl with a hammer managed to defeat that demon. Though it stinks something so evil lost, it sounds pretty cool how they beat her."

Hearing the two discuss these "heroes" began to get on his nerves. Hearing about them even more made him clench his fists in anger and shout out, "Shut up and get back to work!"

The two immediately became silent as they began to continue their repairs.

* * *

**Fahr Outpost-**

The eight jumped off the snowflake as it had landed right by the statue of the cannon in Fahr Outpost. It ended up disappearing from their sights, surprisingly. This, of course, also made a scene.

"Whoa... I didn't see that coming." Chopper gawked.

"Poyo! (That sure was something!)" Kirby smiled.

"Ah, I see you return," the Mayor said, making his way over to the group. "Most of us thought you wouldn't make it."

"Ye Bob-ombs sure don't 'ave much confidence in us..." Bombette trailed.

"Da. That is correct. ...By the way, a blue spiky thing came here earlier. He mention something about looking for antenna kid. Perhaps he's looking for you?"

"'Blue spiky thing'?" Chopper pondered for a moment until he had finally realized who that was. "Wait... Nah, it couldn't be! I don't think he was looking for me!"

"Who are you talking about?" Vivian asked.

"Well... He was someone I met back in the Music Kingdom... But I think we should get to something more important at the moment. You know, like getting out of the cold?"

"Yeah, I hate how stupid cold it is out here!" Scrub exclaimed, who was now shivering.

"Poyo! (Then back to Dream Land we go!)" Kirby cheered, summoning his Warp Star. Chopper had done the same and got on his Warp Star. After their friends joined them, they took off into the sky.

While they left, the Mayor began to ponder for a moment. "...Wait, if they carry flying star, then why they use cannon to reach moon?"

* * *

**Fountain of Dreams-**

When they had landed at the Fountain of Dreams, they didn't see anyone else roaming around. They decided to take their time and relax now that they were no longer in the cold.

"Phew! Finally! I'm glad to be somewhere warmer for a change!" Heartsy sighed. "I thought we'd freeze to death there!"

"Well what's done is done," Chopper smiled, jumping onto the pedestal and taking out the Winter Star. "We have ten Crystal Stars now, and that means ten more are left! We're halfway done with this quest!"

"And then we can finally relax!" Scrub grinned. "I was thinking we'd go celebrate with a mountain of food."

"Yeah! I like that!" he replied while the Crystal Star disappeared in his hands. The circular light surrounded the fountain, and ten Crystal Stars now appeared. Once the location to the next Crystal Star was revealed, Chopper got a closer look at the map's location. There appeared to be a dark green forest in between Boggly Woods and Petal Meadows. A forest green Crystal Star appeared to be there.

"Hey, there's another forest in Chapter 11 just like in the first story? Weird..." Chopper trailed.

Mario: What are you talking about?

"Uhhhhh... Just a little something. Let's just go to Professor Frankly."

* * *

**Professor Frankly's house-  
**

"Hrrrmmmm..." Frankly had finally closed his book and turned to the heroes. "Well, it looks like the next location of the Crystal Star is in the **Illusion Forest**. That place is quite a rare sight, and it's not common for people to see it. Hence the term 'illusion'."

"OK... So how are we supposed to get into this forest?" Chopper asked.

"Hrrmmmm... Sadly, neither Goombella nor I have any clue on where you can find this place around Rogueport and its sewers, but perhaps you might need a little magic to get there."

"Magic? So we just need someone to go 'hocus pocus' on us and teleport us to this forest?" Shadower deduced.

"I'm afraid that's your only clue at the moment," Frankly answered.

"All right... Well, thanks for the help anyway." Chopper thanked, leaving his house with his friends. Once the door was closed, he let out a sigh. "Great... So we don't have any clue on how to get to this forest..."

"Perhaps we can just find it the old-fashioned way?" suggested Bombette.

"I don't think that's going to work..." Vivian noted.

"Well, it be a little suggestion!"

"Bro? Is that really you?"

The sound of that familiar voice made Mario jump in surprise when he saw Luigi and his partners standing by the house. The two approached each other and gave each other a brotherly hug.

"Oh, bro! You don't know how much I missed you!" Luigi cried.

"Wow, he's hugging his brother out in public," Blooey muttered.

When the two brothers had finally finished their hug, Mario began to explain what happened to him. Each time he finished an explanation, Luigi was nodding to him.

"Wow, bro! You certainly went through a lot! Much more than I did at the Waffle Kingdom! Wanna hear about it? It's kind of a long story…"

Mario looked back at his friends, who gave him a shrug before turning back to Luigi. Letting out a sigh mentally, he nodded to his younger brother.

"OK, then this is what happened. Like I said, it's long. Now…" Luigi took a deep breath and began to explain his story in the Waffle Kingdom. Most, if not all of them ended up falling asleep except for Luigi's partners. Some of them had been shaking their heads behind him when he explained a certain part of the story, and some even face palmed.

"…And that's how I did it!" Luigi finished off. "Let me tell you! It was one heck of an adventure!"

Chopper had slowly woken up, appearing a bit tired than usual. However, he was soon startled when he heard his Mailbox SP going off. "What the heck?! Who could be calling me now?"

Mario: Oh, yeah! I remember giving you one of those!

"Uh huh! It has certainly been helpful!"

He pulled his device out and began to read the message.

_If you wish to go to Illusion Forest, come to Merlon's House._

"Merlon's house? Huh... Well, at least this gives us a little idea!"

"Wait, really?" Scrub gawked. "Finally! I was hoping we wouldn't have to walk around here for hours!"

"You guys are going already?" Luigi asked, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Well... We don't have much of a choice, Luigi. But we'll surely come see you when we get the chance." Chopper assured as he walked over to Merlon's house with his friends. Upon entering, they noticed Merlon was eager to see them.

"Ah. I had a feeling you would show up." Merlon said.

"So you have something to tell us about the Illusion Forest?" Vivian asked.

"I'm a wizard, yes? I have magical powers that can not only upgrade your partners, but also take you to places. I'm the only one who can cast the spell to take someone to Illusion Forest. I heard you need to find the Forest Star there, right?"

"Yeah! We need that all right!" Chopper nodded.

"Then… I suppose I shall cast my spell and transport you all there." Merlon decided, conjuring up a little spell in his hands.

"Well, seeing as you felt we would come here, I'm guessing you sent us that message."

Merlon paused for a moment and looked up at them. "Message? I only foresaw your arrival..."

"Then... You...didn't send me that email?"

_"Of course he didn't! What wizard carries around a technological device?!"_

"Wait, what?! Who is that?" Chopper gasped, hearing a voice echo through the room. "Though for some reason, it almost sounds familiar..."

"Familiar?" Heartsy gawked.

_"Allow me to do the honors of taking you where you want! That way, we can finally settle our conflict once and for all!"_

Before anyone could do anything, blue energy orbs surrounded the eight heroes and transported them out of Merlon's house.

"Wh-What? What just happened?!" Merlon exclaimed, shaking in surprise.

_"It's a little something that I managed to learn after my absence, and it works even better! Good thing I tested it out on that blue spiky freak! Anyway, I'm back and badder than ever! And that's how it's going to stay! So long, old wizard!"_

"No! Tell me who you are this instant!" demanded Merlon, but unfortunately, he received no response. "Oh, dear... This is not good..."

* * *

**And with this interlude finally over, this story is officially halfway done. ...OK, it's not halfway complete in terms of the amount of parts to a chapter, but there are only ten chapters of this story remaining.**

**Now Chapter 11 is certainly going to be a bit unique, and it's something that'll most likely be enjoyable for me to do!  
**


	67. Snooping As Usual I See

**CHAPTER 11**

**-Machinery in the Forest-**

"Ooooooooog…" Chopper moaned, slowly opening his eyes and seeing his surroundings. He appeared to be in some kind of forest with many bushes surrounding him in this small, open area. When he got himself up, he noticed something was missing. "Uhhhh... Guys? Are you around here?"

He tried calling more times, but he didn't get any response. Nobody was even around him either. "Oh, no... This isn't good... All of my friends have been separated."

_"Chopper! Are you still there?"_

Chopper instantly yelped at the sound of the voice before looking around him. "Who... Who said that?"

_"It's me, Merlon,"_ Merlon answered. _"I am talking with you through magic. It seems as though you are all right. Are you in the Illusion Forest?"_

"Yeah, I am... But there's one small problem..." Chopper started. "My friends... They're not here!"

_"Hmmmmmm... This is most certainly a problem. I'm not sure whether this mysterious voice chose to separate you and your friends or did this on accident. But I know for certain that they are still within the forest's vicinity. I'd highly recommend you start searching for them."_

"I guess that doesn't sound like a bad idea... But what if I run into any enemies? I don't think I'd be able to handle them as well as with my friends. They're pretty reliable, you know!"

_"If that is the case, then I would most recommend that you avoid any battles in the area. Just focus on finding all of your friends then getting a hold of a Crystal Star. Perhaps this mysterious villain is the one holding it..."_

"I guess so," Chopper shrugged. "Anyway, I think I'm going to go search for them."

_"Excellent idea, Chopper! I wish you the best of luck!"_

With that, Merlon's voice could no longer be heard. But that didn't mean Chopper was completely alone...

"_Cough! Cough!_ …Ah, darn it! Grounder! You're on my feathers! Get off!"

Chopper's antennas sprung up upon hearing the chicken-like voice coming from one of the bushes. Not only that, but said bushes were rustling as well. He whipped out his hammer just in case.

"Well excuse me! I didn't see your beak! I was looking for…well, that's not something you need to know!" This one sounded a little dumber, but he couldn't decipher what that could possibly be.

Soon both voices were starting to punch each other. Chopper could see a light blue feathered fist appear out of the bush and a drill acting like some sort of hand.

"Quit it!" both voices cried.

One thing that caught Chopper's attention was a beak that was now sticking out of the bush. He decided to walk over to the bush and get a better look.

"It's just a beak… Nothing too special... Maybe I should hit it…" Chopper struck the beak with his hammer, resulting in a chicken-like scream coming out of the bush.

"YEOUCH! MY BEAK! It hurts so much! We gotta get out of here!"

The two figures suddenly jumped out of the bush and began to comically run in a Scooby Doo fashion. All Chopper could do was tilt his head at the figures in confusion.

"Who...were those guys?" Chopper decided to open the bush to reveal a pathway behind it. He happened to spot some chicken footprints and tracks that looked like some conveyer belt was on. Unfortunately, there weren't more of them around. "Oh... I guess I lost them."

That was when he felt the wind around him suddenly speed up as a Motobug nearly flew past him. He was confused at first, considering that it was going at a rather fast pace, but he noticed some Shy Guys run past him as well.

"What the heck is going on? Are they throwing a party?" Chopper wondered before striking the Save Block nearby. When he head entered the next area, he came across a couple of trees and bushes. The Motobug was in the same area, but by getting a small glimpse of Chopper, it turned its attention to him.

"Hey! I think I recognize you..." the Motobug trailed, getting a closer look at him. "Yeah! You're that buffoon who trashed my best friend, Motobuggy back at the Music Kingdom!"

"Uhhhh... I don't know anyone called Motobuggy..."

"Well I'm going to make you pay for what you did!" the Motobug charged at him, but Chopper jumped up and landed on the Motobug. Now that he had control of it, he decided to hitch a ride and follow the other Motobugs and Shy Guys through the bushes that they were walking to.

As he left the area, he went past a couple of Shy Guys, causing them to trip and fall over and ended up passing by a couple of trees. However, in the same area, he heard someone shouting out.

"Man... I can't believe I just had to get myself captured." he complained. "Then again, I think I was unconscious at the time..."

This voice caught his attention, making him jump off the Motobug and let it crash into a tree, causing it to explode. He could hear the voice somewhere nearby. Chopper noticed some bushes near the tree and opened them to find someone tied to a tree. He seemed to struggle with the ropes, and not even running was helping.

"Yeesh... Tails would be shaking his head if he saw me tied up like this!"

_"Hey... It's him!"_ Chopper thought. _"Didn't that mayor tell me he was looking for me? But what's he doing here?"_

Chopper decided to approach the blue hedgehog tied to the tree, who ended up seeing him as well. "Hey... I remember you! Didn't we meet before?"

"Yeah, we did," Chopper nodded.

"I was actually looking for you! Glad I finally found you!" Sonic grinned, though his expression soon changed to one of uncertainty. "Uhhh... Say... Think you can get me down?"

Chopper nodded and conjured up a fireball in his hand. Tossing it near the rope, it ended up getting cut, freeing the hedgehog. Sonic landed and did a little break-dance.

"Yeah! Now I'm back in action!" Sonic cheered. "Thanks for the help!"

"Don't mention it," Chopper smiled back.

When Sonic finally stood back up, he looked behind Chopper. "Say... Didn't you say you had a friend or two with you before?"

"Yeah... But the thing is... I don't know where they are."

"Really? How'd that happen?"

"I was about to head here, but someone ended up taking my friends and I here instead. He said something about settling some conflict or something... How about you?"

"Well, I was actually trying to find you because I found out something about a Crystal Star..." Sonic explained. "Apparently it was said to be in a place called the Illusion Forest, so I tried finding you. I actually spoke to some old professor guy, and he told me to find you at some snowy outpost or something... Though, I wasn't able to find you..."

"I think we were somewhere else during that time..." Chopper recalled. "But you don't have to worry about finding the Illusion Forest, because we're already here!"

"Really? Well that's awesome! Glad we're in the right place! Though, I think there are some bad news... You saw all those Badniks roaming around here?"

"Badniks?"

"They're those robots like those bees and ladybugs. Well, I found out they were being made here. I guess my foe, Dr. Eggman, is up to no good again!"

"Dr. Eggman? ...Oh, yeah! He's an enemy of yours, right?"

"Yeah. We've been duking it out since the old days. His name's actually Dr. Robotnik, but I like callin' him Eggman, 'cause I think it fits him more! He was actually the one responsible for bringing me to this world."

"Oh, really? That's interesting... Did he zap you or something?"

"Nah. I was actually comin' to trash his evil plans again, but while we were fighting, I ended up damaging one of his machines. That caused his entire base and those within it to transport into this world. Though, surprisingly, I was not taken here, unlike Eggman..."

"Huh... Then where did you hear about the Crystal Stars?" Chopper wondered.

"You're not going to believe this, but while I was running across these green meadows, I heard some voice in my head telling me to go find these things called Crystal Stars. It mentioned that if I didn't help you find all twenty, my home would end up getting destroyed, along with the entire universe. Of course, I couldn't back down from something like that, so that's why I tried to find you."

"So... That means you're here to help me then?"

Sonic gave him a grin and a thumbs up. "Yup! I think I can give you a little hand! It's probably not a good idea for you to go through this forest on your own."

"Well, I've handled worse..." Chopper shrugged. "But one things for certain is that I need my friends back!"

"All right! Then let's do this, er... What was your name again?"

"Chopper."

"OK, let's do this, Chopper!"

**Sonic has joined your party! Press X to have Sonic go into a ball and shoot towards things with his Spin Dash! You can use this to retrieve items or hit switches! If you hold X, you can hold him one place after he dashes! After holding him in place, release X and he'll fire past Chopper! Chopper can even move around while being held in place! Press Y to have Chopper and Sonic move faster than they ever could! This is useful to get through places quickly and avoid enemies that move fast. While in battle, Sonic can attack all enemies on the ground with his Spin Dash… Or use the Homing Attack to shoot himself towards an enemy up in the air!**

"All righty! Now that we got that out of the way, what do you say we go find that star and your friends?" Sonic suggested, only to see Chopper looking at a map. "Say... What's that ya got?"

"It's the map that helps me locate the Crystal Stars. See?" Chopper showed him the map, allowing him to get a full glimpse of the world he was in.

"Whoa… This map is really old! Looks like it's showing a star here! I guess we'll just have to search for it!" Sonic began to stretch his legs and arms. "So... Think you can keep up?"

"You'll see," Chopper smirked.

Unfortunately, they didn't know that a red robotic monkey was listening to their conversation in a bush. He had managed to get a glimpse of the map Chopper showed Sonic, and a grin had formed on his face.

"Wow! I don't believe what I just heard! That sounds like a world-conquering tool that Dr. Robotnik could use!" the little red robot monkey with a siren on his head and a silver body and tail named Coconuts muttered. "Once I tell him about this, he'll give me a promotion! That means no more cleaning the gutters!"

"All right, then! Let's go!" Sonic was about to take off, but he stopped for a minute. "Say... Do you know where to do through this place?"

Chopper found himself falling over on the dark green grass, while Sonic sheepishly shrugged.

"Oh... I guess you don't..."

"Don't worry about it..." Chopper groaned, slowly getting back up. "We'll just have to figure this place out ourselves."

They left the small area and returned to the previous one. With Chopper's increased speed, going through the forest felt a lot faster than usual, so they progressed onward into the next area to find some purple, electric water around the area. There were thankfully some tree stumps sticking out of the water for them to jump on.

"That water looks dangerous..." Chopper commented.

"Yeah... I ain't getting close to that!" Sonic proclaimed.

"Well, look on the bright side! We can jump over this!"

Chopper demonstrated by jumping onto the stump. Over by the distance was another stump with a blue ! switch. There was at least one more stump to the south leading to some solid ground that had a red ? block floating over it. Chopper decided to go there first and hit the block to receive a Dizzy Jump. He put it away and walked back onto the stump Sonic was on.

"Hey, Chopper, I think I have an idea on how to hit that switch over there," Sonic informed.

"Really? Tell me!" Chopper smiled.

"I'll just get in a ball, and you kick me over there. I'll be able to hit it and bring us over to the other side."

Chopper nodded and waited for Sonic to get in a ball. He then kicked the hedgehog toward the blue ! switch. Thankfully, he was able to go over the electric water and hit the switch, causing a stump to the north of them to rise from the water. They jumped onto that stump and onto the grass ahead to find a red ! switch this time. Chopper gave it a kick, causing the stump to their right to come out of the water.

"Huh... That was easy." Chopper jumped in the air and prepared to land on the stump, but it ended up sinking into the water. Now he was stuck in midair and was trying to make his way back onto the grass. Unfortunately, that was not so. He received a painful shock that managed to send him skyrocketing back by Sonic. "Ow... That was shocking..."

"You know, after you kick me, I can always hold myself in place before hitting something," Sonic noted. "Just kick me in the opposite direction of that switch and I'll stay there until you're ready."

Chopper obeyed and kicked him in the opposite direction of the red ! switch. Afterward, Sonic threw himself at the switch, making the stump rise up again. Chopper quickly jumped across and landed on another stump, while Sonic managed to catch up to him. They jumped onto some grass ahead and proceeded over to the next area with a couple of bushes around.

"OK... This isn't too bad!" Chopper smiled, taking a couple of steps through the area, only to have a blue, red and yellow enemy jump out of the blue one called a Chill had yellow eyes, large ears, a buck tooth, white gloves and tan shoes. The red one called a Fever had small ears and horns, yellow eyes, a hole resembling a nose, a tail, two teeth, an orange tongue sticking out and white gloves and tan shoes. The yellow Weird had large horns, including ones on its arms, orange eyes, white gloves and tan shoes. Its mouth wasn't wide open like the other two, though.

"Whoa... Those are some weird baddies." Sonic commented, seeing the Fever stick its tongue out at them. "But, it doesn't look like anything difficult for me!"

Curling up in a ball, Sonic attacked the three enemies with his Spin Dash, dealing 6 damage to all of them. Chopper helped do away with them with his Ultra Hammer. Surprisingly, they did not have that much HP.

They passed by a couple of other Viruses that had emerged from the bushes and headed to the pathway up ahead, only to notice a gate blocking their way. It also had a lock on it too.

"OK... Looks like we're not going this way..." Chopper sighed.

"Well, then we oughta go look around this area," Sonic said, trying to be a bit positive. "There should be something around here!"

"I guess you're right. Let's try that out." Chopper started to explore the area for anything important, starting with the bushes. Some coins and a Super Shroom came out of a couple, but the rest of them contained some Viruses eager to attack. The two defeated them and noticed some bushes close together down south in the middle of the area. Moving those aside, they found another passageway. "Hey, you were right, Sonic!"

"Yeah. Let's see what's through here."

They headed down to the next area and found a pool of electric water to the right and a gate to the lower left. A large Metal Block appeared to be in the way, and behind it was a red ! block. Chopper knew what to do and performed his Ultra Hammer ability on the block, destroying it and allowing them to go through the gate. Once the block was hit, a stump emerged from the water.

"Huh... Well that's not so hard..." However, once they approached the stump, it had already went back into the water. "Crud... I think we need to go a little faster..."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Sonic smiled. "C'mon! Let's go hit that block again!"

Chopper went back and hit the block again, and this time, the two sped up and reached the stump just as it came out of the water. Hopping onto it and onto the grass ahead, Chopper grabbed the Gate Key. Thankfully, another red ! block was near them as well, allowing them to get back to the other side and leave the area.

Once they returned to the locked gate, Chopper unlocked it and headed through the next area with Sonic, unaware of the dangers lurking ahead.

* * *

**Outside the forest-**

A half, spherical-shaped base with a mustache, nose and goggles was in the outer part of the fortress, with the interior being mostly light with a blue, metallic floor and yellow walls. A tall, chubby man with sunglasses, a long, light brown mustache, pink nose, a red jacket, white gloves and black pants and shoes was sitting on his navy blue chair. Beside it was a lever, and near him was a trapdoor that one of his assistants, Coconuts, was conveniently standing on as he explained to him the news.

"…And as soon as I saw that Magical Map, I HAD to let you know about it, Dr. Robotnik!" Coconuts finished.

"Oh? You say that it can help me find these gems called the Crystal Stars AND help me rule the world? Now THIS sounds interesting… Oh ho ho ho ho!" Eggman chuckled. "If I had my hands on those I could get rid of Sonic and his pesky friends!"

"I'm glad you're interested, Dr. Robotnik! So, does this mean I get that promotion?"

"Prrrrrrromotion?! What for?!" he exclaimed, lowering Coconuts's hopes. "If you were smart, you would've snatched that map for me!"

"B-But… B-But…" Coconuts stammered before Eggman handed him a mop and a bucket full of water.

"I'm demoting you to 'Scrub Monkey Fourth-Class'! Now go mop up the dungeon for me for future use!" Eggman demanded, pulling the lever to open the trapdoor.

Coconuts soon found himself plummeting into the trapdoor, screaming, "Uuuwwahhhh!"

"So Sonic has something called a map, eh? Well I should certainly get to stealing that thing! Yes… Perhaps I can…" Before Eggman could finish his sentence, a tall chicken robot called a Clucker named Scratch and a green Burrowbot sporting drills and a drill nose came tumbling out of the door to his room. "Snooping as usual, I see…"

"Not me! I didn't hear anything about that Magical Map and the Crystal Stars!" Scratch lied.

"Uh… Me neither! Especially I didn't hear the part about the Forest Star!" Grounder lied as well, resulting in Eggman face palming.

"Ugh… You dingbots…" Eggman groaned. "You honestly think I would BELIEVE your words? Listen, I'm trying to formulate a plan right now, and I think it'll require you two to give me a hand."

"And a brilliant plan it is, Your Sneakiness!" Grounder proclaimed, kneeling down as he approached Eggman.

"It's a work of genius!" Scratch exclaimed, doing the same thing.

"You idiots! I haven't thought of one yet!" Eggman growled. "And what are you doing on the ground?! Get yourselves up this instant!"

Scratch and Grounder exchanged glances before standing up.

"Oh… Right. …But WHEN you think of it…" Grounder trailed.

"I know it'll be marvelous!" Scratch assured.

"Yes… That's true…" Eggman pondered. "But to get that map from Sonic… Ah-HA! Now I see it! I finally figured out what to do! NOW you may lick my boots!"

Eggman extended his leg so it was near the two dumbots, making them stick their tongues out in disgust.

"I hate his boots…" Grounder gagged.

_"Sometimes I regret making these dumbots..."_ Eggman thought, looking down at the two bootlickers. _"They haven't even succeeded in a single plan! ...But, then again, stealing a map is pretty simple for these two..."_

* * *

**Back in the forest-**

Sonic had just finished attacking a Buzz Bomber that was just about to hit Chopper and landed stylishly on the ground. Unfortunately, he didn't noticed an orange monkey Badnik called an Ai-Ai throwing coconut bombs below.

"Heads up, Sonic!" Chopper cried, firing a fireball directly at the Ai-Ai to take it out. Past the tree, however, were a line of Motobugs charging directly at them. "Uh oh..."

"I've got this!" Sonic assured, getting in a ball and destroying all of them with a Spin Dash. As soon as he hit the last one, he jumped and gave a thumbs up as a sign of victory. "Too easy! Piece of cake!"

"Mmmmmm... I'd like cake." Chopper smiled.

Sonic was unsure how to reply to that, so he changed the topic. "Say... Are we close to that Crystal Star?"

"Let's see..." Chopper took out the Magical Map and noticed it was not glowing. "No... I don't think we're close."

"Well that's disappointing... On the other hand, the fun's not over yet!"

"I guess so..." the Star Warrior decided to slow down and looked around his surroundings. It was very difficult to see the sun's rays coming down on them, and the trees and leaves looked as green as ever. However, he couldn't help but feel a little unsafe in this situation. It almost reminded him of being in the forest alone...

Sonic happened to notice his uncertain look. "You all right, Chopper?"

"Err... Yeah..." Chopper nodded. "Though, being the forest like this doesn't make me too comfortable."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, all of my friends are missing, and walking around the woods on my own is definitely not something I enjoy, especially when there are enemies lurking around. It just makes me feel like something might suddenly attack us at any point, and I don't like surprise attacks that much."

"Well... We can't always have everything our way. Heck, I didn't choose to come to this world. You can blame ol' Eggman for that! But I'm sure your friends are just fine if they are able to take care of themselves!"

"Yeah... Maybe so..." But in truth, Chopper wasn't entirely sure if all of his friends could handle themselves alone, particularly a certain white Yoshi. "But I don't want to have to find my friends possibly... Well, you know."

"Whoa, Chopper! Let's not think of that! I don't think THAT would ever happen to your friends!"

"I'm probably just exaggerating," Chopper shrugged. "But, I think I feel much safer with you around."

"Ah, that's much better," Sonic grinned. "I'm glad to be helping you, Chopper."

As they continued to the area up ahead, they were unaware of two, glowing eyes watching them behind some bushes.

Chopper and Sonic came across a gate with some bars blocking the way. Unfortunately, the switch to unlock it was up on a platform above it, and nearby was a red lift and a red ! switch. Giving it a whack, Chopper noticed the lift slowly ascended. He hit it again and it quickly dropped back to the floor.

"I think we oughta do what we did last time! A good ol' Spin Dash!" Sonic grinned, getting in a ball. Chopper kicked him away from the red ! switch and then jumped onto the lift.

"Let it rip!" Chopper shouted.

Sonic shot himself toward the red switch and the lift began to ascend. Chopper got on the platform above and hit the blue ! switch, causing the bars on the gate to disappeared.

"And… BAM! We just got the door opened up! Great work, Chopper!" Sonic complimented, getting out of his ball form. Chopper jumped down and gave him a hi-five. With that, they progressed onward to the next area.

"Huh? I'm seeing some…Shy Guys?" Chopper gawked, seeing two Shy Guys right by an old, wooden house. However, what caught their attention was someone who was tied up to a log near a house. "Mario?!"

"Mario?" Sonic asked in confusion before trying to get a better look at the plumber.

"Oh, good! I'm glad Mario's safe and sound!" Chopper sighed, taking out his hammer and putting on an angry look. "But there's no way I'm going to let those Shy Guys keep him like that! That's wrong!"

He let out a battle cry and charged straight at the enemies. The two Shy Guys heard him and turned around to see him coming their way.

"Hey! Who's this freak that's trying to stop us from capturing Mario for King Bowser?" the first Shy Guy asked.

"Isn't he that Chopper kid Bowser hates?" the other wondered.

"Hey! He IS! Dude, we need to get him!"

The two Shy Guys charged at Chopper, but Sonic quickly took action and knocked one away with a Spin Dash, dealing 6 damage. Chopper stomped on the same Shy Guy as well, leaving it with low HP. They soon discovered that they had 17 HP, an Attack of 9 and a Defense of 0. The Shy Guys attacked with their normal jump, only to get angered when Chopper Superguarded their attacks.

"All right, I think I've got an idea…" Chopper trailed, using his Ultra Gloves to defeat the first Shy Guy and freeze the other, while Sonic brought it down to a low amount of HP with his Spin Dash.

"OK, one more hit should do it!" Sonic exclaimed. Chopper nodded and brought his hammer down on the Shy Guy, defeating it and rewarding him with 6 Star Points.

With them out of the way, Chopper walked up to the tied plumber and burned the ropes off him, setting him free. Mario landed and raised his fist with joy.

Mario: Wahoo!

"Mario! Man, I'm glad to see you!" Chopper smiled.

Mario: Where are the others?

"Ummmmm... I don't know where they went... All I remember was being sent here in Merlon's house, but not by Merlon..." he recalled. "Say, what happened to you? You're not one to usually get tied up."

Mario began to explain that when he woke up, he found himself near the old house and ended up getting caught by the Shy Guys.

"So you just got caught by them, that's it? But I thought you were Super Mario? You know... Super?"

The plumber could only shrug at his response. Meanwhile, Sonic was trying to get a look at Mario for a brief moment. His eyes widened in surprise when he finally figured out who this man was.

"Wait a sec... I remember you!" Sonic realized, approaching the plumber. Mario got a brief look at him as well and instantly recognized him as well.

"Huh? What's up with you guys?" Chopper asked, only to realize the answer was too obvious. "Wait... You two are rivals, right?"

"Well, we both competed in this little game, and both he and I were in the championship," Sonic explained. "However, he just happened to cheat, and 'cause of that, I ended up losing. Sure, I'm usually a good sport, but cheating in a competition? Not cool at all!"

Mario: I recall you doing the same thing...

"Wait... It was over a little game?" Chopper gawked. "What game?"

"Arm wrestling."

Mario: Arm wrestling.

"Wait... Arm wrestling?" Chopper blinked. "All this time your rivalry had to do with an arm wrestling competition? That's...one of the dumbest reasons to not talk to each other. Can't you just, well, forget about it and move on?"

"Hey, now! I don't finish my little game until it's finally settled! What do you say you and I go into that house and finally settle the match?" Sonic suggested.

Mario: All right, then!

"Just prepare to lose," the hedgehog smirked, going into the house with Mario. It was very dirty and broken, so it was certainly not a good place to live. The two found two chairs, a table and some headphones connected to a jukebox. Chopper followed them in and was appalled. The jukebox appeared to be playing music at this point, and the two started their game.

"Uhhhh... Guys?" Chopper asked, trying to get their attention. Unfortunately, with the headphones on, they didn't seem to hear him. He tried jumping on the table, but they only seemed to ignore him. Not even moving them appeared to do a thing. They were practically glued to their seats! "OK, fine! I'll go search for the Crystal Star myself if that's how it's going to be!"

Chopper walked out of the house and was about to move on, but he saw another gate up ahead with a barrel and a button near the gate that was too high for him to reach.

"Oh, come on! I guess I DO need their help! I wish there was a way to end their little conflict… But I don't see anywhere else to go! All I see is nothing but trees and bushes! This is just great…"

Out of frustration, Chopper kicked a rock on the grass and it hit a wooden sign nearby. He looked up out of curiosity and walked over to the sign which had an arrow pointing to the upper left of the arrow. Chopper moved the bushes out of the way to discover a new pathway.

"Interesting… So there's another pathway here. Surely I can find something to get their attention if I take this way. I just hope they're not there for too long…"

Chopper headed on through the hidden pathway, unaware of the glowing blue eyes behind a tree nearby.

"Go ahead, Chopper… Find something to help your quest." a robotic voice muttered. "But you will never escape this forest unless you defeat me! But that is very unlikely now, since I have gotten stronger! You and your friends will be trapped here for all eternity!"

* * *

**I'm sorry, but I couldn't help naming the chapter this. It had to be done...  
**

**Also, for those of you wondering about the whole rivalry between Mario and Sonic... This story takes place around the time before Mario and Sonic were really allies. I thought of a little way to make them become allies here... But you'll just have to find out what happens on your own!**

**Expect a familiar face to make his appearance next chapter as well. :P**


	68. The Forest's Exterior

After about three minutes of traveling through the trail, Chopper hadn't come across anything. The trail looked exactly the same as he continued to run. "Man... It's been a while, and I still haven't found anything here. Maybe nothing's even around here to begin with?"

Two more minutes had passed, and the trail appeared to look the same. "Great... Five minutes have passed, and I still find nothing. I guess while I'm here I can think of a way to get Mario and Sonic to stop... Maybe something louder than what's on their headphones? Maybe the Mike ability would work! My singing is so bad that windows can't even bear to break because of it! Only problem is, I don't have a microphone, nor do I see one..."

Before he could ponder any further, he heard the sound of a motor above him. He looked up and noticed a flying motorcycle flying in his direction. Chopper yelped and got out of the way just in time. It was a vehicle he found familiar, along with the person - or chicken that was riding it.

"I finally found ya, Contadre!" Moe Hawk exclaimed. "Ya thought I would be beaten so easily, did ya? Well not today!"

"Oh, great… You again…" Chopper groaned. "What do you want? Came here while I was all alone?"

"I just came here fer a rematch! You humiliated me back in Sunset Hill, and it took me a while to track you down. Good thing I've got a tracker so I can hunt ya down easily!"

"A tracker?" Chopper looked around himself for any tracker. "I don't see one..."

"That's 'cause I have a little gadget that tracks ya. Grubba just gave me it and put in the location so findin' ya would be easy! I guess that's what makes things easier fer me when I'm findin' a retired fighter!"

"Oh... Well that's just great. Now I'm being stalked..." the Star Warrior groaned. "Look, I don't have time to deal with you. I need to find a way to stop my friends from arm wrestling."

"Well I know ya won't back out of this race!" Moe Hawk grinned, pulling out an item. "'Cause I think you'll be needin' this!"

Chopper got a glimpse of the item in Moe Hawk's hand and gasped. "Hey... A microphone! I can use that to get Mario and Sonic's attention!"

"Yeah, that's right, punk. An' I'll only give it to ya if ya beat me in a race. 'Course, I ain't gonna lose this time 'cause I'm number one!"

"Sounds ironic, considering that I beat you before..." Chopper replied, making Moe Hawk enraged.

"Oh, yeah?! Well we'll see who's laughin' when I win this race!" the red chicken yelled, getting his Hovercycle ready. "I've got some new devices installed to this bad boy to make sure I one hundred and twenty percent win this race!"

"I don't know if that'll help you..." Chopper trailed, summoning his Warp Star to get on. "Though, this trail doesn't have that much to it for a race..."

"If that's the case, then it'll only be one lap, so this might be a lot shorter than last time, Contadre. So... You better be prepared!"

"I'm as prepared as ever, you big chicken. Get ready to be moe'd!"

"Hey! That's my line! ...Oh, forget it. Ready… Set… **GO!**" Moe Hawk instantly took off, leaving a large amount of smoke behind for Chopper to cough up.

"Hey! No fair! You can't do something like that!" Chopper cried.

"THERE AIN'T NO RULES HERE, SUCKER!"

Chopper sighed and took off on his Warp Star after Moe Hawk. "Dang it, Moe…"

He managed to catch up to Moe Hawk, who was left shocked. "What the... How'd you catch up so easily?! My Hovercycle is too fast for your little toy!"

"Well... The Warp Star does travel through space, so it is kinda fast..." Chopper trailed. "But it's not as fast as-"

Moe Hawk cut him off by bumping into him from the side, causing Chopper to spiral around. He smirked as he saw him bump into a couple of rocks.

"Ow ow ow!" Chopper cried, trying to steer his way out of this mess. He tried to make sure he was away from any trees, but Moe Hawk continued to bump into him each time. "Stop doing that! You're not playing fair!"

"Hey, didn't I tell ya before, Contadre? There ain't no rules to these races! And that means I can do THIS to you!" Moe Hawk pulled out a bat with a poorly drawn picture of Chopper's head getting knocked out. "See this? Yeah. This was meant for ya. An' you're going to get MOE'D by it!"

"Oh, crud..." Chopper gulped, ducking as Moe Hawk swung the bat. Next time he swung, Chopper managed to bring his hammer out and hold the attack, successfully pushing it away from him.

"Not too bad, Contadre! But too bad this'll be it for ya! 'Cause I'm goin' to win this race! Har har har har har ha-"

_**CRASH!**_

Moe Hawk had ended up crashing into a tree in a comical matter, resulting in his Hovercycle getting damage and nearly destroyed. Chopper looked back in surprise, but he noticed a tree coming his way. Thankfully, he had more time to react and swerved out of the way in time. Since Moe Hawk's vehicle was destroyed, he had assumed he won the race and flew back to him.

"So... Did I win?" Chopper asked.

"ARRRGHHH! My Hovercycle! Broken once again! Annoyin' little tree!" Moe Hawk stood up, and out of anger, he kicked the tree, resulting in him hopping around in one foot while he held his other foot. "YEOW!"

After the pain had subsided, he glared at Chopper. "You were lucky, Contadre! If that tree wasn't in my way, I swear I'd be winnin' this race for sure!"

"So I did win, right?"

Moe Hawk growled and threw the microphone in his face, causing him to fall back with a slight bruise on his face. Feeling somewhat satisfied, Moe Hawk picked up the remains of his Hovercycle and left while grumbling.

"Someone has anger issues..." Chopper muttered, slowly getting back up with the microphone in his hands. A smile had appeared on his face now. "Great! Now I just have to go back to that house and make those two stop! ...Well, if it works, that is."

* * *

**Old house-  
**

When Chopper had returned to the house, he noticed both Mario and Sonic were still in the same position as before, but they didn't appear to be getting anywhere. Their arms were barely moving, for crying out loud!

"I think I know what I must do..." Chopper mumbled, eating the microphone to gain red headphones and a wireless microphone. "All right... Let's hope this works..."

He took a deep breath and screamed into the microphone, causing sound waves that caused the air around him to shake. The jukebox both Mario and Sonic used ended up breaking, causing the two to stop arm wrestling and fall back in shock. Their headphones ended up being damaged in the process.

"Geez... What the heck was that?" Sonic gawked, rubbing his ears in pain. When he stood up, he saw Chopper with the microphone. "Was that you? That was a bit uncalled for..."

"Yes, that was me," Chopper nodded.

Mario: We were a little busy here...

"I know, but there's something more important we have to do! Our friends are still out there and need our help! Not to mention we need to find the Crystal Star!"Sonic turned to Mario. "You know, now that I think about it, the arm wrestling contest was not that special..."Mario: The prize was nothing important too..."Wait... So this whole thing was pointless?" Chopper gawked."Ehhhh... I guess." Sonic shrugged sheepishly, making Chopper fall over. He turned to Mario with a smirk. "Say... Maybe we work better as a team! We're both pretty good on our own, but we'd be practically unstoppable together!"

Mario: I was just thinking the same thing!

"So... You in?" he asked, extending his hand to Mario. In response, Mario grabbed his hand and smirked.

Mario: Oh, yes!

"Hooray! You finally did it!" Chopper cheered. "Now we can get back to finding our friends!"

"Oh, yeah! I'm actually interested in meeting them..." Sonic realized.

They left the house and headed back outside to the gate with the barrel nearby. Chopper gestured Mario to hit him with his hammer, the latter obeying and performing the action. Chopper found himself underground and slowly moving underneath the barrel. Sonic couldn't help but slightly wince.

"That hammer must've hurt," Sonic commented.

Mario: He's perfectly fine with it.

"Really? Well, whatever floats his boat!"

When Chopper got into the barrel, he walked over to the small pillar where a red button was. Mario jumped on top of the barrel and hit the button with his hammer, making the gate open.

"All right! Now we can continue onward!" Chopper cheered, breaking out of the barrel, forgetting that Mario was still on it. This caused him to get sent flying off and fall onto the ground. Sonic helped him up before he told Chopper to pay more attention. "Whoops... I didn't mean to do that..."

They moved on and entered the next area. They found another pool of electric water, along with some stumps sticking out. In the center of the pool was some solid ground with something apparently sticking out. Two Shy Guys were also lurking around nearby. Sonic attacked them with his Spin Dash, while Chopper and Mario both jumped on them, defeating them.

Leaping over the stump in the water, they landed on the grassy section with something sticking out. Chopper got a closer look at it until he finally realized what it was. Mario knew it as well and used his hammer to bring Chopper underground, allowing him to dig the red ! switch out. Now Sonic just needed to play his part...

Chopper kicked Sonic in the opposite direction of the switch, and he kept himself in place as the other two walked over to where they assumed the stump going to the other side would emerge. Surprisingly, the stump had emerged in front of them when Sonic hit the switch. Wasting no time, Chopper and Mario leaped to the other side and found a pathway dead ahead to the right and another south.

"Hmmmmm... Which way should we go?" Chopper pondered.

Mario: Let's check south!

"I'm fine with that," Sonic agreed.

"OK, then!" Chopper headed down south and found a loop down south and another electric pond. This time, there were lily pads instead of stumps. Right by the water was a sign as well. Before going there, however, Chopper ran through the loop and found a bush revealing a purple bomb with a depiction of a skull on it called a Poisonous Bomb. He put that away and headed over to the sign near the water.

_Watch your step, as lily pads are quite light! However, one who is fast enough can jump off before it sinks!_

"That seems obvious..." Chopper commented. "We just need to be fast!"

"Now we're talkin'!" Sonic smiled.

Chopper started to gain some speed and leaped from lily pad to lily pad. When he had finally reached the other side, he found a Shine Sprite and a red ? block containing a Double Hand Badge, allowing Chopper to throw a fireball and ice ball at a single enemy. Afterward, he returned to the other side and headed back to the previous area.

"Now to see what's through here..." Chopper declared, running toward the pathway to their right. They found a medium-sized area with two trees close to each other, along with a Shy Guy standing on top of a drill in between the two trees.

When the Shy Guy spotted the three, it jumped up in shock until it realized the drill it stood on. "Geez... This isn't good! Then again, this large drill prevents you from going any further! Try all you want, but you will never get passed me!"

"Oh, boy... What ever shall we do?" the ten-year-old asked sarcastically, jumped on Mario's shoulders once they were near the large drill. Their spin attack resulted in the drill spinning as well, and, as most drills, it started to go into the ground.

"Oh, crud..." the Shy Guy gulped, plunging underground with the drill.

"Huh... Well I guess that's one way to take care of those guys..." Sonic trailed. "Anyway, let's move on!"

Chopper whacked the trees, only to find nothing fall out of them. Nevertheless, they continued their way through the area, defeating some Viruses that tried to charge at them. Unfortunately, there didn't appear to be anywhere else to go when they reached the end of the path.

"Nothing? Well that's nice..." Chopper sighed.

Mario: We can always search the area!

"...Why didn't I think of that?!" Chopper face palmed, remembering what happened last time.

So they started to search around for any secret passage. To their luck, the secret passage behind the bushes was a lot closer than they thought. Chopper moved the bushes out of the way to reveal another pathway going north. They entered a round area with an electric pond in the center, along with three passages just up ahead and a Save Block. A couple of trees were near the passages as well.

"I'm guessing the right way is to the north," Sonic assumed, eyeing the north passage between two trees.

Mario: We could always go left...

Chopper checked to see what was to the left. Sadly, it didn't look like they could do anything, as there was an electric floor leading to a chest. The electric seemed to turn on and off at a very brief moment, and even going fast would probably not be enough. Because of that, Chopper checked to see what was to the right. To their disappointment, they found nothing special except for a block that seemed to blend in to the dark green grass. Obviously Mario and Sonic could not do something to get rid of that.

"Well, north it is, I guess," Chopper declared, taking the north route with his friends.

* * *

**Eggman's secret base-  
**

"Hmmmm… Now let me think for a moment… I don't think so!" Eggman declared, looking down at the begging Scratch and Grounder, who were at his knees.

"Oh, come on, Dr. Robotnik! We'll do anything!" Scratch pleaded, kissing the scientist's boots. "We'll wash your car!"

"I don't carry a car, dingbot! An Egg Mobile is what I tend to use! And that doesn't need to be washed when it has the ability to do so!"

"We want to catch that hedgehog! We want to catch that hedgehog!" Grounder begged. "Pretty pretty please with uh…drills on it?"

"Stop it now, dumbots! Go get me my coffee right now. I'm feeling a little tired." Eggman ordered. The two robots saluted and went off to get him his coffee. While they were busy, Eggman, began to scheme. "Hmmmmmm... Perhaps I should send them out? After all, they're probably not going to shut up about this until they get what they want... On the other hand, they'll just fail at capturing that blue rodent. However... Getting the map is much easier for even a dumbot. Perhaps I should think a little deeper later."

"We got the coffee!" Scratch and Grounder came running over to Eggman, both of them carrying the same mug in their hands. Unfortunately, both of them began to scramble around as they got closer to Eggman.

"Stop! Don't move!" Eggman demanded. Unfortunately, they tripped and the coffee got all over him. "_**GAAAH! HOT! HOT! HOT! YOU IDIOTS! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!**_"

"Whoops! Let me get you a towel!" Scratch suggested.

"No! Let _me _get you a towel!" Grounder exclaimed.

"No way! I'll get your towel, Dr. Robotnik!"

"You're out of your mind! Dr. Robotnik loves me more than you do birdbrain!"

"Yeah, well he made me first, and therefore, I'm his favorite, you bucket of bolts"

"Well I have more accessories! He likes me best! I deserve to get the towel for him!"

The two continued to argue and they even ended up fighting. Scratch kicked Grounder, while he used his drill to poke Scratch's butt. All of them began to make Eggman's face red as a chili pepper.

"_**SILENCE!**_" Eggman yelled, causing the two to stop fighting and turned to him. "I'll go get a towel myself!"

"But..."

"No buts, you two! Get out of here immediately!"

"Wait..." Grounder paused until a smile formed on his face. "You mean we get to stop that hedgehog!"

"Yes! I don't care what you do! Just get out of my sight!" Eggman exclaimed. "And if you DO go after that pesky hedgehog, I expect a map and star in my hands!"

"Right away!" Scratch saluted. "I'll take down that hedgehog, and I'll get you that map for you! Ba HA ha HAAAA!"

"You mean 'we'!" Grounder corrected. "'WE'!"

* * *

**Back in the forest-**

"Man, there's a lot of interesting stuff around here, I'll admit!" Sonic commented, entering an area with his friends containing at least two paths to take. There was an arrow pointing to the left out of the forest, and the right way led somewhere deeper in the forest. They seemed more interested in the left way, however.

"Hey... It says the left trail leads to a field of flowers!" Chopper gasped. "Wow... That's cool!"

"Gee... I know a certain pink hedgehog who'd probably drag me in that direction..." Sonic mumbled. "But that's not important. I'd say the Crystal Star is located to the right, so we oughta go that way."

Mario: That's true!

"All right, I guess we'll take the right way then," Chopper declared, turning to the right ahead. However, before they could progress any further, they heard a moan nearby. It sounded like a girl's moan, and one that felt all too familiar to Chopper. "Hey... You guys hear that moan?"

Sonic tried to listen carefully. "...Yeah! I hear it! Someone else is around here!"

Near the right pathway was a gate in between some bushes. Compared to the other secret paths, this one was a little more obvious, and the gate was open as well. It ended up leading them into a small, square-shaped area with tall grass surrounding them. Chopper's eyes widened in shock when he saw the person moaning in pain.

"Vivian!" Chopper cried, immediately rushing over to her. Near her was a reddish purple flower with a devilish look on its face. Vivian, however, wasn't looking any good, as she was kneeling on the ground in pain (if that's even possible for a Shadow Siren) and was letting out coughs. Her purple face and pink hair were paler than usual. "Vivian! Are you all right?!"

Vivian managed to get a glimpse of Chopper and weakly smiled. A small portion of her eyes could be seen, but they looked duller than usual. Seeing her like this almost broke Chopper.

"Oh, Chopper… You're here... I'm so glad…" Vivian wheezed. "Sorry that I sound like this... I took a sniff from the flower here, and…I'm not feeling too well now..."

"Vivian, please don't talk! That's just going to hurt you!" Chopper cried, trying to keep her from falling over. "Just hang tight!"

Mario and Sonic had walked over to Chopper and were shocked to see Vivian weak.

Mario: Vivian!

"So... This is one of your friends, Chopper?" Sonic asked, receiving a nod from him. "Whoa! She's not looking too good! What happened to her?!"

"I think she sniffed the flower right here and became sick," Chopper answered, pointing down at the flower close to Vivian. Sonic walked over to the flower and got a closer look without getting too close.

"Hey... I think I've seen this flower before! Yeah! I think there's one like this in my world! Basically, if anyone ends up taking a big whiff from it, it'll poison you severely. It's very deadly, which is why I always stay away from them."

"That's horrible!" Chopper gasped, looking back at the weak Vivian and then back at the hedgehog. "Is there a way to cure her?"

"Well... I do believe there is something that can cure deadly heat poison," Sonic recalled. "There's a flower called the Ruby Flower, a flower that's able to cure heat poison. Considering that it comes from my world, I'm betting that it's also here as well. My guess? It's somewhere to the left where that flower field is. We should go take her there before she... Well, I'd rather not say it out loud."

"But... I don't want THAT to happen to her!" Chopper cried. "She's my friend, and I don't want to lose a friend that doesn't deserve to go like this after what she's gone through!"

"Thanks, Chopper..." Hearing this made Vivian smile at Chopper, though she didn't seem to have much strength to do that, making her cough instead.

Mario: Well, then we better go find this flower now!

"Yeah..." Chopper slowly put Vivian down and made sure she was away from the flower. "I'm sorry, Vivian, but I have to leave you for now... But I promise you that I'm not going to let THAT happen to you. I'll do whatever it takes to get that Ruby Flower."

Though Vivian was weak, she felt enough energy for her to get up for a brief moment and hug Chopper, despite him feeling a bit uncomfortable over it.

"I'll be waiting for you..." Vivian said weakly, letting go of Chopper and falling back on the floor.

Though he was still a bit nervous from the hug, Chopper gave her a nod and ran out of the area with his two friends and in the direction of the flower field.

"Don't worry, Chopper. We'll find that Ruby Flower for her." Sonic assured. "I certainly don't want a friend of yours to go so soon..."

"Thanks, Sonic," Chopper replied, feeling better now that people were supporting him.

As the three continued their way through the left trail, they didn't notice Scratch and Grounder hiding behind some trees, snickering as they watched them approach a pile of leaves dead ahead.

"Bah HA ha HAA! Now we're going to get that hedgehog for good!" Scratch grinned. "Setting that hole on the ground was a perfect idea! Those leaves will keep them from even noticing!"

"So what's that plan? Do we jump them or something? Do we get to attack them with drills?" Grounder asked. Scratch looked at his comrade annoyingly and smacked him across the face, making his head comically spin around.

"Quiet, bucket of bolts! You don't wanna get their attention! We already made our plan, remember? We're going to jump them once they fall into our trap! That's the obvious reason, of course!"

"Oh… I never knew that." Grounder sweat dropped.

They noticed Chopper, Mario and Sonic coming closer to the pile of leaves. Chopper was holding the map, and it was right open for them to snatch.

"...Wait, forget that plan! Let's just snatch the map!" Scratch suggested.

"Really? What abou-"

"Just do it!"

As the three got closer, Scratch and Grounder jumped out of the trees and attempted to snatch the map from Chopper. What they didn't notice, however, was that they were standing on top of a pile of leaves. Looking down, the two dumbots gulped and fell through the leaves and into a pit below.

"Was that Scratch and Grounder? What the heck were they doing here?" Sonic gawked.

"Who's Scratch and Grounder?" Chopper asked.

"They're two robots that help Eggman out, but they never succeed in catching me! Though... If these two dumbots know where we are, then Eggman must know as well! I say we be careful, you two!"

Mario gave him a nod, but before he could say anything they heard the sound of snoring. They noticed up ahead, a familiar pink puffball was sleeping by a bush with a couple of apples.

"Kirby! And apples!" Chopper cheered, his sad mood changing to happy at the moment he saw the apples. He ran straight to the apples and began to inhale a few of them, making Sonic gawk.

"Whoa... I didn't know he could do _that_."

Mario: Well at least we found another friend!

"Oh... That's another friend of yours? Maybe we should go wake him up," Sonic suggested, nudging the pink puffball and slowly making him wake up. Kirby stood up and looked at his surroundings in confusion.

"Poyo? (Huh? Where am I?)" Kirby questioned before he caught a glimpse of the three, making him smile. "Poyo! (…Hey! Mario! Chopper! …Who the heck is that?)"

Sonic looked confused. "Uh… You got any idea on what he's saying?"

Mario replied with a shake of his head, while Chopper gave him a nod.

"It's great to see you back, Kirby," Chopper smiled, dropping one last apple in his mouth. "Do you know where anyone else is?"

"Poyo... (No...)" Kirby replied, slowly shaking his head sadly. "Poyo. (I had just woken up. Last thing I remember is being in Merlon's house.)"

"What's he saying?" Sonic whispered to Chopper.

"Oh... Well that stinks..." Chopper sighed. "But, what do you say we try looking for them? I know where Vivian is, but...she's not looking too good. That's why we're looking for a flower up ahead."

"Poyo! (Count me in!)" Kirby cheered, jumping up and walking over to him. When he got a glimpse of Sonic, however, he gawked. "Poyo? (Chopper, who's that blue guy with you?)"

"Was he talking about me?" Sonic wondered.

"He just wants to know who you area," Chopper explained.

"Oh... No problem!" Sonic smirked and gave a thumbs up. "I'm Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"Poyo, (He sure doesn't look like he comes from this world,)" Kirby whispered.

"Kirby... Both of us don't come from this world either." Chopper whispered back.

"Poyo... (Oh, yeah...)"

Mario: Don't we have something to be doing?

Chopper came to his realizations, making his antennas spring up. "Oh, no! We've spent too much time trying to talk! We need to go to that flower field immediately!"

He wasted no time and grabbed Kirby. Sonic grabbed Mario's arm and then they were blasting off toward the forest's exit.

It hadn't taken them too long to get to the forest's exit. The first glimpse they got was a beautiful, hilly landscape filled more many types of flowers. A sign was nearby, telling them they were in a place called Flower Hills, which was a very fitting name for the many hills around. The sound of the birds chirping made them feel in peace.

"Wow... This is a whole new level of beauty." Sonic commented. "Everyone and their pet would wanna come here!"

"I agree with Sonic. Seeing these flowers makes me feel at peace. It kind of reminds me of when my parents..." Chopper paused at that point, suddenly being reminded of something in the past. He looked off at a hill in the distance, and upon blinking, he noticed two figures in sight. One had a body shaped like a thick oval and was wearing gold and green armor, along with a bright red cape. His skin color was lime-green.

The other figure had an oval-shaped body like her husband, but was shorter. Her skin color and ponytail matched Chopper's pale green She was also wearing light blue light armor and brown, leather gloves. On her back was a bow and arrow. She stared at her husband with a smile, who was holding a flower to her.

"Mommy? Daddy?" Chopper gawked. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. It certainly didn't look like it. They were right there!

"Poyo? (Huh? Did you say something, Chopper?)" Kirby asked.

Chopper took a couple of steps near the hill and noticed the spirit of his father kneeling down. At this point, he finally remembered the connection between his parents and the field of flowers. In fact, seeing his parents' spirits made his head hung low. Chopper found himself remembering that horrible event six years ago and nearly made his eyes water up.

However, what caught his attention was when the spirit of his father turned to face him and said, _"Hey, son... You remember something about these flower fields? This was where your mom and I finally got engaged. Wanna see more of this place?"_

Chopper couldn't take it any more and bolted toward the hill. However, when he had reached the top of the hill, he noticed his parents were no longer there. He looked in all directions to see if they were there, but alas, there was no sign of them. Wiping any water still in his eyes, he sighed, "I guess that was just all in my mind..."

"Hey, Chopper, what was up back there?" Sonic asked, he, Kirby and Mario approaching him up on the hill.

"I... I don't know." Chopper replied. "For a second, I thought I just saw my parents..."

"Your parents? What do you mean by-" the hedgehog stopped himself, suddenly realizing what might've happened. "Ooh... Don't tell me THAT happened to them..."

"Yeah... It happened."

"Dude... That must be pretty terrible with no parents! I mean, having no one to take care of you? Especially for a kid!"

"It's all right, Sonic. You don't have to be sorry." Chopper assured, giving him a smile.

"Really? You're not upset?"

"Well, I learned to move on from those events after my first adventure and ended up becoming a hero. That's why I can control my powers a lot easily than before! Besides... I'm sure my parents would've wanted me to move on from those events."

Mario: That's understandable.

"Anyway... Let's search this flower field for a Ruby Flower. You should know what it is, right, Sonic?"

"Yeah, I'll let you know if there's a Ruby Flower," Sonic nodded.

With that, the four began to search around Flower Field for any flowers. They mostly found red, yellow and blue flowers, and when they brought them to Sonic, he shook his head at each of them. It felt like it would take days to search this entire field considering how vast it was.

Through their travels, they came across a tree up on a hill near the forest. Curiosity had overcome the heroes as they walked up the hill. Upon getting closer, they noticed some Buzz Bombers were circling the tree, looking up at a Bob-omb that was hurt and stuck on the tree.

"Hey... I recognize that Bob-omb!" Chopper gaped, now getting a better view of the tree. "Oh, no! Bombette!"

"Poyo? (Bombette?)" Kirby gasped, running up to the tree with Chopper. Mario and Sonic got to the tree as well, catching the Buzz Bomber's attention and turning to them. Sonic took action by destroying one of them with his Homing Attack. Mario took care of the other with his jump.

"Yarr? Those bees! They be gone!" Bombette gasped, noticing the Buzz Bombers were gone. She looked down below and noticed the four looking up at her. "M-Mateys... Ye came..."

"It's all right, Bombette! You can come down now!" Chopper called out.

"Matey... I don't think I can... Those bees did a good number on me, an' I don't have the strength to get down. Do ye think ye can 'elp me down from here?"

Chopper obeyed and whacked the tree, causing Bombette to fall and crash onto the floor. When she stood up, she began to pant heavily with the little energy left in here.

"Thank ye, Chopper..." Bombette wheezed. "Listen, I don't know if I'm goin' to make it... Urgh... HAAACK! Urrffff..."

"What? No! You ARE going to make it!" Chopper cried. "I don't want another friend of mine to go so soon!"

"I just wanted to thank ye fer takin' me on this adventure... When I first met ye, ye were a different person. But now... I see ye've actually grown stronger. I could tell after we faced off the Shadow Queen..." Bombette let out a couple of coughs, worrying some of the heroes. "We managed to collect half of the Crystal Stars so far, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to see the day when we get the final one..."

"Don't think about that, please! We have Mushrooms! Ultra Shrooms! We can use those to heal you!"

"No, 'tis all right, matey... I think now is the perfect time fer me to make me exit... Give me regards to everyone else... Fare...well..."

Bombette's became silent, and her eyes slowly closed. She didn't appear to be moving. The four heroes slowly hung their heads low in respect for the pink Bob-omb.

"She's...gone..." Chopper trailed. "And we were never able to get her memory back either... I feel so bad..."

Their respect was soon interrupted by a soft moan. Looking up, they heard it coming from Bombette. Chopper gawked for a moment and poked the pink Bob-omb out of curiosity.

Mario: What are you doing?

"C'mon, man! Have some respect!" Sonic gaped.

"...Snuuuuurgh... Pshooooooo... Snorrrrgggghhhhhhhh..." Bombette snored.

Everyone raised an eyebrow in confusion while Sonic said, "Wait... She's just asleep."

"Poyo! (I was almost getting choked up!)" Kirby gaped. "Poyo! (Someone should give her a good whack!)"

"I'll do it," Chopper volunteered, hitting Bombette in the head.

"YEOW! Hey! Who's the jerk who hit me with a hammer?!" Bombette exclaimed, making everyone step back. "I swear I'm going to explode when I find out who did that!"

"...Huh? You don't seem like yourself, Bombette."

"Was it YOU?!" Bombette ran up to Chopper with her fuse lit up. "Who do you think you are, trying to hit me like that?! I swear, you're in a WORLD of pain right about now!"

"W-Wait! I don't understand! You were being all 'Yar, I'll make ye walk the plank!' or something like that! You're not one to be so...angry."

Unfortunately, this only made the Bob-omb angrier. The anger in her face obviously showed the complete fear the guys were in at this point. However, Mario was brave enough to stand in, making Bombette's braid fuse turn back to normal.

"Mario? Is that you?!" Bombette gawked.

Mario: Yes!

"...Why didn't you speak earlier?!" This ended up driving Mario back a bit, but he still held his guard and tried to explain everything to her. It took a bit of explaining to do, but after five minutes, they got the whole thing explained.

"OK... So what you're telling me is that I ended up getting something called bombnesia on an island?"

Mario: Uh huh!

"And this boy named Chopper helped me regain my memory?"

"I guess so," Chopper shrugged.

"OK, I think I'm starting to get it," Bombette stated. "Now that I think about it, I kinda remember traveling around with someone looking like him and some other friends he had with him. I also kinda remember talking like a pirate. Ugggghh... Sounding like a pirate... I don't like the sound of that. Well, now I know better than to not stand under trees with coconuts, 'cause that'll cause bombnesia."

"So... Are you cool with us?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. You do have Mario with you, who I've known for quite a while, and if this Chopper kid was helping me out while I had bombnesia, then I should be thankful. I don't know what would happen to me without his help!"

"Well... I do help people, I guess." Chopper shrugged.

"I guess I should probably give you something in return," Bombette pondered. "...Oh! Maybe I can help you find the rest of those Crystal Stars you're still looking for!

"Well we greatly appreciate that," Sonic grinned. "Right now, though, we're searching for a Ruby Flower for one of Chopper's friends. You should probably give us a hand."

"A hand? I could, if I HAD hands."

"...Whoops. Didn't mean to get you so defensive."

"You know what's funny? Two years ago, I went on an adventure with your ex-boyfriend, Bruce, and now I'm on an adventure with you." Chopper realized.

"Let me guess: he wouldn't shut up about me, right?" Bombette predicted.

"Not really... He was a bit attracted to some ghost."

"Oh... Well then I have no problem with that!

Mario: Let's get back to what's more important.

Agreeing, the five explored Flower Hill in search of the Ruby Flower. Chopper, however, decided to pick up a few flowers he thought were pretty nice such as purple and red ones and also some red and pink. Sonic took a glimpse of what Chopper was doing and ran up to him.

"What're you doing? None of those are the Ruby Flower..." Sonic noted.

"Well, I'm just getting some flowers just to make Vivian feel a little better after we find that Ruby Flower..." Chopper explained. "I heard girls feel better when they get flowers."

"Oh... Right. But why do you have so many? Does Vivian really need that much?"

"They're not just for Vivian. I'm going to give some to Heartsy, as dangerous as that may be. I don't want to leave her out either. That's just unfair, right?"

"Uhhhh... Sure..." Sonic trailed, unsure of what else to say regarding the topic. "...Wait, who's Heartsy?"

"She's a girl of the same species as me and someone I knew when I was first two and is a friend of mine! ...Though, I really don't like it when she's always hugging and kissing me. That stuff is, gross! Sometimes I'm even a bit scared of her when she's talking about love..."

"Reminds me of someone I know of..."

"You know someone similar? That must stink!" Chopper picked up a couple of other flowers and looked over at Bombette. "Hey, Bombette! You want these?"

"Errr... I think I'm fine." Bombette replied, appearing uninterested. "I think I'm just going check further ahead."

"I'm sure the Ruby Flower is located somewhere further, so we oughta search there," Sonic suggested, taking off and nearly making Bombette fall over.

"Hey!"

"Wait for me, Sonic!" Chopper called out, putting the flowers away and following Sonic. This time, Bombette ended up falling onto the flowers. When she stood up, she saw Kirby and Mario follow.

"Ugh... If this is something I have to deal with, then I think I'm probably better off with that pirate accent." Bombette said in an aggravated voice, following the heroes further into Flower Hills with her stubby orange feet.

* * *

**Well, we managed to get three people to join back with the group, and we already know where one is. Not only that, but Bombette has also regained her memory! Sorry to disappoint those who preferred the pirate accent over her normal personality. I didn't want to let her bombnesia last too long so she herself could at least shine in the story. Besides... There will definitely be some funny moments with her explosive personality! :P**

**Next chapter, expect the heroes to find more of their friends, along with more idiocy from Scratch and Grounder!**


	69. Back Together! Well, Sort Of

"C'mon, Grounder! You need to help me get us up!"

Back at the hole Scratch and Grounder fell in, they were trying to climb out of the hole. Sadly, they were not doing a very good job at it.

"Well you need to stop putting your tail feathers in my face! You make me want to poke you with my drill!" Grounder exclaimed, attempting to lift Scratch up, though he wasn't doing much of a good job at it.

"This is not easy at all!" the Clucker growled, only to feel the hole's edge. "WAIT! I think I'm getting there! Wait… YES!"

He managed to pull himself out and helped Grounder afterward.

"Well we sure got out of the one!" Grounder grinned stupidly.

"Yep! We sure did! Now it's time for us to get that hedgehog and that map! I think that round kid's holding it. That should be easy as...er...well, whatever! Let's get 'em, Drill-face!"

"Yeah, sure! Just don't get your tail feathers on my drill!" Grounder grumbled, following his comrade in the opposite direction of where the heroes were.

* * *

**Flower Hills-**

Petals began to fly in the air as Chopper ran past a couple of flowers. Some landed on Bombette's braid fuse, causing her to shake them off, and one managed to land on Mario's nose, tickling it and making him sneeze.

"You know, I wonder what the petals on these flowers are for," Chopper wondered, stopping to pick up a petal. Sonic had stopped as well and let a petal fall in his hand.

"Well, you gotta admit that they do make them pretty colorful," Sonic said, looking at the blue petal in his hand.

Kirby let out a sigh, now feeling a little exhausted. "Poyo? (How far have we traveled? It almost feels like it's been a while...)"

When they had reached a flatter area of the field, Chopper answered, "Well, maybe the Ruby Flower is somewhere around here... You think so, Sonic?"

"Well, I was thinking the Ruby Flower would be located in Flower Hills, but I'm not a hundred percent sure where it is," Sonic shrugged. "Why not ask that weird dinosaur guy in the middle of those four giant eggs. …Giant eggs?"

Everyone gawked when they noticed four eggs surrounding a white Yoshi up on a hill nearby. Chopper immediately recognized the Yoshi and gasped.

"Scrub! Is that you?!" Chopper called out.

"Scrub?" Bombette gawked. "...Oh, right! That Yoshi!"

Scrub looked down the hill and saw the five. A smile had appeared on his face. "Contadre! Boy, am I glad to see you! I thought I would be stuck around these eggs forever!"

"Why didn't you just move?" Chopper wondered.

"Well... It's just... These eggs were wobbling when I walked near them." Scrub explained. "They didn't seem to do that when I was in the middle of them..."

"Don't worry, Scrub! I'll get you outta there!" Chopper assured, running up the hill.

"Contadre! Don't! They'll-"

Suddenly, the eggs began to crack, and out came four giant Koopas. They had their egg shells on their head and body. These Giant Baby Koopas reminded Chopper of a particular Koopa baby that constantly went after him back in the Mushroom Kingdom. And now there were four of these, but at a much bigger size!"

"Great... More Jr. Troopas!" Chopper groaned, seeing the Giant Baby Koopas run over to them instead of Scrub. "I don't like doing stuff like this, but we have to beat them."

Before Chopper could attack, Mario grabbed a hold of him and pulled him back, telling him that they were too powerful to take on. After all, they had a Defense of 6 - something he could not even break through with his normal attacks.

"What? Oh, great... Well this won't turn out to be good."

Just before the Giant Baby Koopas could make an attack, one got swallowed up by a small Yoshi and spat at another one, taking them both out. The heroes gawked for a moment, but they realized it was Scrub's doing when he finished off the last two.

"Take that, you babies!" Scrub taunted, causing the four Giant Baby Koopas to flee at an instant. "Yeah! You better run! You're not match for the awesome Scrub!"

"Wow... This is one tough dude." Sonic remarked, watching Scrub approach them.

Scrub looked up at Sonic in confusion and then back at Chopper. "Hey, Contadre... Who's this weirdo?"

"Weirdo?" the hedgehog gawked, but he refrained from shouting back. "Actually, my name's Sonic the Hedgehog. But, personally, you seem more like a weirdo to me."

"Is this a new friend of yours, Contadre?"

"Yeah, he is," Chopper nodded.

"Contadre? But isn't your name Chopper?" Sonic asked, now confused.

"Chopper's my real name, but someone named Grubba called me 'the Great Contadre'. Thankfully, he's old news, but since we found Scrub in the Glitz Pit, he likes to call me by my fighting name."

"Yup. That's right." Scrub nodded. "So... What're you all doing here?"

"Looking for something called a Ruby Flower," Bombette answered.

"Oh... What fo- Wait, since when did Bombette sound like that?" the Yoshi gawked, only for Mario to give him a brief explanation. "...Oh! So she got her memory back! Cool!

"We're actually getting the Ruby Flower to cure Vivian," Chopper answered in a sad tone. "She's not feeling good, and if we don't find the Ruby Flower in time, she might..."

"Whoa! That's not good! Let's not stand here any longer! Vivian's in serious trouble, so we gotta go find that flower!"

The group had agreed and decided to progress even further through Flower Hills. Thankfully, they hadn't run into any more enemies, making them lower their guard and also making searching for the Ruby Flower much easier. However, each time they went to Sonic, he shook his head every time he got a glimpse of the flowers. At that point, people were starting to lose hope.

However, once they reached the end of the field, they had caught a glimpse of more trees dead ahead, along with a single flower that was on a small hill where a tree was. It looked similar to a flower bursting in flames. The six walked over to it with curiosity and got a much better look at it. Compared to the other flowers, it was a lot bigger and prettier.

"This is it!" Sonic smiled. "That's the Ruby Flower!"

Chopper cheered and ran over to the flower. Though the thought of plucking a flower was not something he liked to do, it was the only way to help Vivian. He got it out and held it above him.

"Well, now we just have to go back," Bombette said.

"Yeah, so we better not waste any time," Chopper suggested. "I don't want to be too late..."

* * *

**Back in the forest-  
**

Thankfully, it hadn't taken them too long to return to the forest. With the Ruby Flower in his hand, Chopper began to run as fast as he could back to where Vivian was, not caring if he was leaving his friends behind.

"Poyo... (Well that was a bit unexpected...)" Kirby trailed.

Everyone gawked at Kirby, unsure of what to say.

"Uhhhhhh... In English?" Bombette requested.

"I'd just follow Chopper if I were you guys," suggested Sonic. "We gotta make sure things go right!"

Mario: Yeah!

They hurried after Chopper, hoping to catch up to him in time.

It hadn't taken long for Chopper to get back to Vivian. However, he looked more worried when she saw her looking much worse than before, now being much paler than usual. _"Oh, no... She looks worse than before! This is so horri- No! I have what is needed to cure her! I can do this!"_

Vivian heard the sound of footsteps nearby and weakly looked up. Seeing Chopper back again made her feel much better. "Chopper... You're...cough...back..."

"Yeah..." Chopper replied, taking out the Ruby Flower and placing it in front of her. "You need to smell this, and hopefully you'll get better."

Taking the Ruby Flower, she held it near her face and began to smell the sweet scent of the flower. Chopper felt nervous, unsure if the flower would even help her. However, he tried to remain confident and watched closely.

After Vivian had taken one sniff from it, she sighed calmly and began to smell more of it. "This flower smells so nice... It feels like it's making me feel better..."

The worried look on Chopper's face turned to one of surprise as she saw Vivian's pale skin and hair turn back to their natural color. She even had the energy to slowly get back up while smelling more of the flower. Chopper had even caught a glimpse of her eyes, which had returned to their natural beauty as well. However, remembering what they could do, he tried to avoid staring into them.

"Thank you, Chopper..." Vivian trailed, holding the flower near her.

"Vivian! You're all right!" Chopper cheered, jumping in excitement. "Thank you, great being that watches us all that Vivian's all right!"

The others had gotten back on time to see Vivian all better. However, they chose not to approach them yet, as Bombette told them she wanted to watch what would happen.

"Wait... Why would you wanna watch what happens?" Sonic asked.

"Because I wanna see if what I think will happen will actually happen," Bombette explained. "Girls are curious, isn't it obvious?"

"No kidding..."

Chopper had just remembered something and taken out some flowers. "Here, Vivian. I also wanted to give you these."

"You gave me these?" Vivian gasped, taking the purple and red flowers from Chopper. "That's...so sweet of you."

"Well, I wanted to make you feel better, so I got you those!" Chopper explained happily. "It's just a reminder that I'll always be your friend! ...So, you do feel better, right?"

"Y-Yes... I do..." Vivian replied, her cheeks turning red. "Ummmm... Is it OK if I give you something in return?"

"You don't have to. I'm fine with you being here to help!"

"N-No... I insist!" Vivian objected. "I think it's the right thing to do..."

Before Chopper could respond, Vivian went down to Chopper's size and kissed him on the cheek. His eyes widened, his mouth was agape, and he could hardly move. This was enough to make him fall back. Vivian, meanwhile, inched away from him, blushing shyly.

"I'm sorry, but that was just adorable," Bombette squealed.

Chopper had managed to get up and wiped the kiss off his cheek while Vivian wasn't looking. _"Geez! I do something nice, and this is what happens? Gross! Maybe I should stop being like that! ...Then again, I don't want to upset a nice girl..."_

"Hmmm hmmm hmmm! All right, Chopper, I think I'm ready to go now." Vivian giggled, glad to have given him what she wanted.

"O-OK..." Chopper nodded, his face a bit red. The two left the small area and returned to the others, though they had decided to keep quiet about what they had witnessed.

"Wait... Not everyone's here..." Vivian noticed.

"Oh, yeah... I forgot to mention... When we were taken into this forest, we all kinda got separated." Chopper explained.

"Thankfully we managed to get some back," Sonic explained.

"Are you another one of Chopper's friends?" Vivian asked.

"Well, we met back at the Music Kingdom, but yeah, I guess so. Don't worry, I'm here to help you and the others." the hedgehog assured her with a thumbs up. "I think you'll be fine with having another person with ya, right?"

"Yeah, I think so... My name's Vivian."

"And I'm Sonic the Hedgehog! ...Or just Sonic."

"Well, now that we got that out of the way... Why don't we go see what was up ahead?" Chopper suggested. "I'm sure the Crystal Star is somewhere deeper in the woods."

They had agreed to do so and decided to move on ahead. However, Mario reminded him of those two other areas they couldn't explore. Curious about them, they headed back to the area with the three paths and took the left one with the electric floor. Thankfully, Vivian's ability to pull Chopper into the shadows came to go use and led him to a chest containing a Life Shroom. The pathway to the right required Kirby, so he inhaled the paper off the large Metal Block, while Chopper used his Ultra Hammer ability to destroy it, revealing a De-Electrify Badge, which would allow Chopper to become immune to paralysis.

With that out of the way, they returned to the pathway leading deeper into the forest and found a Fire Block standing in their way. Seeing it, however, did not make Chopper happy.

"Oh, no... Not this block." Chopper gulped. "I hate them..."

"What's so bad about it?" Sonic asked.

"You'll see..."

Vivian frowned as she inched behind Chopper and lit his behind on fire. It wasn't something she enjoyed to do, but it was the only way to get across. Chopper found himself dashing straight into the Fire Block, and soon he found himself crashing into it, causing it to break. Thankfully, the flames had worn off, allowing him to stand up and rub his behind.

"I don't understand how I manage to take that..." Chopper mumbled.

His friends had finally approached him to see if he was all right. He assured them that things were all right and pressed on to an area with a couple of rocks around the area. They appeared to have cracks in them.

"Hey! I think I can blow these up!" Bombette exclaimed, running up to Chopper. "You know what to do, right?"

"Of course," Chopper nodded, picking up Bombette and throwing her at one of the rocks. She exploded, revealing some coins to be underneath. Meanwhile, Vivian was a bit surprised with how Bombette spoke. _"Didn't she usually speak in pirate?"_

She asked Mario why she was acting like this, who explained to her that her memory returned.

"Oh... That's why..."

After destroying all the rocks in the area, they had come across a Volt Shroom, a Mushroom and a pathway dead ahead. They were surprised with the lack of enemies, though.

The next area, however, was where the enemies started to appear. The first thing they got a glimpse of was a gray, caterpillar-like enemy with black polka-dots, two volts on its head and a mouth resembling that of a Sniffit. After a better analysis, it was discovered to be a Volty Wiggler, and it was coming out of an electric pond.

Mario: That's a new enemy...

"I don't think jumping on it is a good idea..." Chopper trailed. "Those volts on its head sure look dangerous..."

"Then maybe we should try moves like these!" Sonic smirked, getting into a ball and throwing himself at the Volty Wiggler. Chopper shrugged and brought his hammer down on it next. After guarding its attack, the two managed to finish it off in the next turn.

"Phew... Well that solves that. Now let's try to cross that electric pond."

"Electric pond? That doesn't sound good..." Scrub gulped.

"Ehhh... I've been through worse." Sonic shrugged. "But this probably won't be much to get in our way."

"Uh huh," Chopper nodded, walking over to the grass's edge to see a stump. Unfortunately, it was too far to jump over, but that didn't stop Chopper from trying to think of an idea. "C'mon, Scrub! we can conquer this!"

Chopper got on Scrub, and with his help, they were able to flutter across the gap and onto the stump. Thankfully, there was bridge leading to one stump north, but there was one dead ahead leading to another stump southward. Going that way only led to a Shine Sprite and a Shy Guy, which easily got beaten by the two.

After helping everyone else across, they jumped on the norther stump and used Scrub to get to the other side to the next area, which, too, contained an electric pond.

"What's with all the electric water around here?" Bombette asked. "I expected cleaner waters..."

"Strange... There's nothing around here..." Chopper noticed. "And all I see is a large, flower fan above us..."

A light bulb had appeared over Mario's head as he suggested Chopper to get on his shoulders. Not knowing what he was talking about, he shrugged and got on his shoulders. The two were spinning in the air, and when the fan started spinning, the two were taken to the other side and landed safely on the dark green grass.

"Well that solves one problem, but how are we supposed to get over here?" Bombette asked.

"I think I might have an idea..." Vivian trailed, grabbing Bombette and pulling her into the shadows. She was shocked when she found herself by Chopper and Mario, while the Shadow Siren had went back to the other side to help the rest.

"Whoa... I didn't think that was possible."

"Well, a lot of things are possible in this story," Chopper remarked, waiting for the others to come to the other side. They moved on to the next area and found another pond, but this time there was a pipe leading up to a paper airplane panel above. There also appeared to be a bridge leading up to a dead end. The ledge above it was too high, even for Chopper and Mario to reach.

They looked for a pipe to use to get up to the paper airplane panel, but to their disappointment, they found none. That is, until they looked down below.

"Hey... I see a switch!" Scrub noticed. "But how do we get down there?"

"I might have an idea," Chopper smiled, turning sideways and going through the cracks on the bridge. He landed right on top of the switch, creating a pipe right by the others. Afterward, he used the small stumps to jump over to some ledges leading back up to the others. "Ah! There we go!"

The pipe led them up to the paper airplane panel, and Chopper used his ability to turn into a paper airplane. Sonic found himself gawking over the transformation.

"Whoa... You never told me you could transform!" Sonic gaped.

"Well it does look strange, but who cares about that?" Bombette commented.

"Hop in, guys!" Chopper exclaimed.

Everyone listened and jumped into the paper airplane, allowing Chopper to slowly glide his way over to the ledge dead ahead. When he transformed back to normal, they pressed on to a pathway with a tree in the way and a Save Block. Just to be on the safe size, Chopper hit the block.

When they took a couple of steps, they noticed some spiders with red eyes around the trees. In fact, there were some spiders up ahead trying to attack something.

"Ugh... These spiders are huge..." Bombette shuddered.

"I've never seen such big spiders..." Vivian trailed.

"Take that!"

Mostly everyone was brought to the voice's attention when a spider was seen flying by and knocked onto the ground. It soon disintegrated into smoke. They looked up and were surprised, but at the same time, happy to see a certain friend of theirs.

"Yo, Contadre... Isn't that Shadower?!" Scrub gaped. "No way... He's here!"

Hearing the sound of the voice, Shadower went into the shadows and emerged in front of the heroes. "Guys! Boy am I glad to see you!"

"Same here, Shadower," Chopper smiled. "We're glad you're here too!"

"I thought I was going to be in some serious trouble here... But thankfully you guys came here to help! ...If there are still more, that is."

A spider came charging at them, but was easily defeated by Chopper's hammer. "Well that handles that!"

Shadower had gotten a look at the group and was relieved. "Oh... Good! Everyone else is here. What a relief!"

"Uhhhhhh... Heartsy's still missing, though. I just hope she's all right, too..."

"Wait... But I counted eight! ...Hold on, there's a new face here."

"Yup!" Sonic grinned. "The name's Sonic! Say... You look a little familiar to one of Chopper's friends..."

"Well, that's because I'm a shadow being like Vivian," Shadower explained. "You see, shadow beings are cap-"

Unfortunately, his conversation was short-lived when another voice had interrupted them.

"_**GRAAGH! **_Can somebody explain why my spiders are getting flattened?! Give me answers now!"

Not hearing any response, the voice groaned and came down from one of the trees. Everyone gawked as they saw a big, gray spider with a crown on his head and fangs. It had a depiction of red spider legs on its abdomen.

"Uh oh... I didn't know there was a king!" Shadower gaped.

"Silence, fool!" the Spider King roared. "You dare attack my minions?!"

"Hey! They were attacking-"

"I don't want your insolent words! I shall make you pay for this!" the Spider King landed in front of the group and let out a roar.

"Ugh… I can't STAND large spiders!" Bombette cringed. "...But if fighting it is the only option, guess that means it's the only way to beat it."

"I shall avenge my spider minions by taking your lives! Once I poison you, there's no turning back, insects!"

"…We're not insects, arachnid," Chopper pointed out.

"Then you are maggots!"

**Tattle: **_Uh… Th-That's the Spider King… What? Didn't I say I'm afraid of spiders? This one is HUGE when looking at their size! Max HP is 80, Attack is 9, and Defense is 0. It'll try to poison you with its poisonous fangs, so I would suggest something that helps you from being poisoned…if you have one, that is. I still don't feel safe being here. I'll just…be somewhere safe!_

Chopper became Sword Chopper and slashed the Spider King with his sword, causing him to wince and step back briefly.

"This should be easy! We'll wrap this up in no time!" Sonic curled up into a ball and shot himself toward the Spider King, dealing 6 damage.

"Well now… You seem to be some tough maggots by bringing me down this far. I may have fangs that can poison you, but I don't think you've ever seen THIS from a spider!" the Spider King opened its mouth and spat poison toward Chopper. He brought his sword up and tried to block it, only taking a brief amount of damage.

"Phew... That was too close..." Chopper slashed at the Spider King, and then Scrub fluttered above him and delivered six but smashes to bring him down to 56 HP. "Wow... We almost dealt 30 damage to this ugly thing!"

"UGLY?!" the Spider King roared.

"Well... Look at yourself!" Scrub taunted. "You've got six eyes, and you're loud.

The Spider King had enough from Scrub and began to charge at him. Opening his mouth, he bit down on Scrub, who proceeded to guard the attack, though he had cringed from the damage he still took. Chopper made his move next and used his Spinning Sword to spin like a drill and strike the Spider King.

"Poyo! (I've got this!)" Kirby cheered, floating above the Spider King and turning into a stone, causing him to get flattened and take 8 damage.

Kirby ran back to everyone else as the Spider King pushed stood back up. His eight green eyes glared at all of them. "Grrrr! I've taken 40 damage and I've hardly done much to you?! So be it!"

The Spider King fired a web ball at Chopper, knocking his Sword ability away. The Spider King chuckled quietly. But he was unfortunate enough to get whacked by a Fire Smash from Chopper's hammer, leaving him with a burn. Bombette walked over to the Spider King and exploded afterward, knocking him back toward a tree. When the king landed, he decided to target Shadower and spat poison at him successfully.

"Heh heh... Excellent..."

"Crud! I've become poisoned!" Shadower wheezed. They knew they had to finish this quick, so Chopper attacked with a Spring Jump to deal 12 damage and then to top it off, Shadower attacked with a Shadow Punch, bringing the Spider King to 9 HP.

"Urk… GAH! I won't lose so soon!" the Spider King winced, rushing over to Chopper and shooting a web at him, making him get stuck to the ground with the web, preventing him from moving. He approached the boy with a demented smile. "I shall finish you off first! Now that you can't move, you're defenseless!"

"Well, that's not stopping me from doing this!" Chopper retorted, shooting a fireball at him. To finish it off, Sonic curled up in a ball and rammed into the Spider King.

"Urgh... No... Not...so...soon..." the Spider King fell, rewarding Chopper with 23 Star Points. With that, the king exploded.

"Well, I guess that takes care of that..." Vivian stated, freeing Chopper from the webs with her fire magic.

"Thank you," Chopper smiled, causing Vivian to blush. "

"Phew... Well, at least that takes care of that." Shadower sighed, now healed from the poison. "So... I'm guessing you guys haven't found the Crystal Star, right?"

"No... I wish, but then again, I think it's better to find our friends than get the star."

"Yeah, good point. So... I'm guessing we just have to find Heartsy and then get the Crystal Star?"

"Yeah. Hopefully she's somewhere nearby... Let's find out, OK?"

Everyone nodded in agreement and took the path to an area with a river filled with electric water, along with a blue ! switch on the other side of the river. Proclaiming this to be hardly a challenge, Chopper kicked Sonic over the gap and let him hit the switch, creating a bridge for them to cross.

When Sonic returned to the others, they crossed the bridge to a nice area with a couple of trees and apples that were surprisingly square-shaped.

"These remind me of those apples I saw back in the Mushroom Kingdom," Chopper smiled, getting a glimpse of many different-colored fruits. "These fruits might be tasty, though!"

He grabbed a black apple from one of the trees and shoved it into his mouth. After getting a taste of it, his eyes bugged out and he spat it out.

"Gross!"

"Poyo? (Is it bad?)" Kirby asked.

"Yeah! I don't know HOW something like this could taste bad! And I usually like anything when it comes to food!"

"Hey! I heard something coming from this tree area!"

"Let's go take a look!"

Chopper's eyes widened, realizing he had caught the attention of two dumbots.

"Oh, geez... Scratch and Grounder are coming." Sonic realized. "Everyone hide!"

"But you said these two were hardly a threat?" Chopper recalled.

"Well, they might tell Eggman of our whereabouts, and then we'd be in a heat of trouble, especially if we want to find the Crystal Star immediately."

Before Chopper could object, Sonic grabbed him and threw him up into a tree. He suggested that everyone else do the same thing, and they chose not to object and hid in the trees as they had to do was wait and remain quiet.

* * *

**Not as long as the other two chapters, but whatever. I was planning on putting another battle here, but I just didn't feel like. THAT battle will be in the next chapter, so keep your eyes peeled! ...If you want to, that is.  
**


	70. Dumbots Galore!

"This is great... I'm stuck here by this tree, and no matter where I searched in this place, I hadn't gotten anywhere." Heartsy let out a sigh as she sat down beside a tree and held her hammer on her lap. She had taken a stick and carved some tally marks on the branch. "It's been about forty-five minutes, and I still hadn't found anything... I just hope the others are safe..."

She looked down at her hammer and had remembered the time when it was first given to her, and how she ended up changing it into this. She had also remembered the time when Chopper and his friends had returned it to her and considered her friends. Heartsy closed her eyes and smiled as she clutched her hammer.

_"I'm really glad I got to meet these people, especially Chopper... He was the first true friend I ever had. Not to mention he's just so adorable..."_

She was interrupted by the sound of rustling coming from the bushes. Heartsy immediately opened her eyes and stood up with her hammer ready, ready to deliver a blow to whoever was watching her.

"Hey! You can come out! There's no point in hiding!" Heartsy exclaimed.

Indeed a figure had come out, but not who she was expecting. The shape of the figure... The antennas... And even those stubby arms and feet! Heartsy gasped for a moment, followed by her swooning.

"Oh, Choppy... I can't believe you've found me!" Hearts appeared over her head as she began to rush toward the figure. "And there's no way you're going to escape my lo-"

She came to a sudden halt when she noticed blue, glowing eyes and what appeared to be a pointing jetpack on its back. Though she couldn't get a full glimpse of the figure, something wasn't right.

"Wait a second... This is fishy." Heartsy's swooning had stopped and she was now holding her hammer near her again. "There's no way you're Chopper! You don't even look like that Tipral guy, since he doesn't have blue eyes. Who are you?"

"I'm glad you asked," the robotic voice replied, walking out of the tree's shadows to reveal himself as a green robot with silver, robotic hands and green feet. He also had a blue jetpack and the blue eyes Heartsy saw. "My name's **Metal Chopper**!"

"Metal Chopper?" the girl gawked for a moment before looking at him with an unimpressed stare. "That's it? Wow... That's got to be pretty unoriginal. I thought you'd be something like 'Robot Chopper' or 'Mechanical Chopper'."

Metal Chopper glared at Heartsy and clenched a fist. "So... Wanna know how you and your friends got to this place? Well... That was my doing?"

"What? How?!"

"Well, it's pretty simple... Thanks to a certain green star, I was granted the power to teleport anyone to any place at my own free will! I don't have the star with me at the moment, but I can assure you that I know where it is."

"Oh, really?" Heartsy readied her hammer. "Well, thank you for doing that! Now I get to pummel your robotic butt down into the dirt with my hammer! I'll even make it worse if you try to hurt my Choppy! Got that?!"

Metal Chopper stared at the hammer and then burst out in laughter. "Oh, please! THAT will stop me?! Ha ha ha ha! You're such a funny girl! ...Actually, I think I have a good use for you. Surely Chopper will come for me when he finds out one of his friends will be taken hostage!"

"Not when I'm ready to stop you!" Heartsy exclaimed, whacking Metal Chopper in the head with her hammer and making his face land on the dirt. She proudly put her hands on her hips and smirked. "Well... So how does it feel to be in the dirt? Or are you getting ready to play dirty?"

"Oh, believe me..." Metal Chopper groaned, getting up and healing off the dent on his head. "I think it'll be you in the dirt once I'm done with Chopper!"

His hands had transformed into a laser gun and a missile launcher, causing Heartsy to shrink in her spot.

"Oh, crud..."

"Take this!" Metal Chopper fired a barrage of missiles at the girl, who scrambled around to avoid them, much like the laser shots. However, she did managed to throw her hammer at Metal Chopper and interrupt his attack. "All right... Taking you like this won't be easy... I think I know my solution."

He swiftly flew behind Heartsy, and, using his elbow, managed to knock her out cold. Metal Chopper grinned in satisfaction as he picked the girl up.

"That was a lot easier than I thought... I thought she'd be a bit hard-headed. Oh well... Time to get to business!"

With that, he flew off elsewhere in the Illusion Forest.

* * *

**By the trees with fruit-**

"I thought I heard people here. Did they suddenly disappear?" Grounder asked as soon as they made it to the tree. Scratch smacked him across the face, and as usual, his head spun around.

"You idiot! Use your noggin! They didn't leave! They're probably hiding somewhere around here!" Scratch answered, only to feel his stomach growling. He poked it twice before looking back at Grounder. "Is it food time already? Well… What do we eat?"

"Uhhhh... Do we even eat?"

"Of course! I'm going to go get one of those apples!" Scratch declared, walking up to a tree Chopper was hiding in. Gulping, he took a black apple off the tree and handed it to Scratch. "Thank you."

Chopper sighed in relief as Scratch walked away from the tree and took a taste from the apple, only for his eyes to widen in disgust before spitting out the fruit. "_**BLAH! **_What the heck is THIS garbage?! It tastes worst than Dr. Robotnik's boots!"

"Really? Let me taste it!" Grounder suggested, snatching the apple from Scratch and taking a bite from it. He spat it out in disgust at Scratch, who glared at him.

"Hey! Watch where you spit your food, big nose!" Scratch yelled.

"Well _sorry_, featherhead!"

"Screwdriver!"

"Chicken-brain!"

"Tin brain!"

Their insults were interrupted by a sneeze, making the two stop arguing and look around.

"Hey... Did you hear that?" Scratch asked.

"Uhhhhh... I think so." Grounder answered.

"It was probably nothing, you walking treadmill."

Unfortunately for the heroes, they were not safe for any longer when the tree branches they stood on snapped, causing them all to fall and hit the ground. The two dumbots heard the sounds of the thuds and turned to them. Seeing a certain blue hedgehog made them both grin.

"Bah HA ha HAAAA! It's about time we got to you, Sonic! Now hand over that star and map!" Scratch demanded.

"Yeah! Give it to us or else we'll drill your faces upside down!" Grounder added. "…Then we'll put you in a soft drink and drink ya! …Or maybe we'll just get a table and put food there, which we'll eat!"

"What the heck are they saying?" Chopper whispered.

"They sound pretty dumb to me," Scrub muttered.

Sonic stepped up and smirked at the two dumbots. "Well... We'd like to hand you that map, but we're a little busy at the moment. Maybe if you come back another time, we'll give it to you!"

"Oh, all right! That sounds like- Hey, wait a minute!" Scratch paused, glaring at the hedgehog. "No way! Dr. Robotnik wants that map, and I'm gonna get it for him so he'll reward me!"

"Yeah!" Grounder agreed, only to pause and look up at Scratch angrily. "Wait, did you just say 'me'?"

"Yes, 'me', you sawed-off pencil sharpener! I'm going to get the glory for beating Sonic AND claiming that map!"

"Izzat so? And how do you plan to do that, hen-house breath?"

"Like this!" Scratch answered, extending his neck and attempting to peck at Sonic. Unfortunately, he missed his target and ended up pecking at the grass instead. Pulling his neck, he got his beak out and decided to charge at Sonic, but as usual, he missed and fell. "Stop running, you hedgehog!"

"Make me!" Sonic taunted.

This time, Grounder charged at him and held his drill hands in front of him. Scratch chased after him as well, not knowing that Sonic was actually in between both of them. When the two got close, Sonic jumped in the air and watched them crash into each other.

"Hey, watch it, dummy!" Scratch growled, pushing Grounder off him. "I had him!"

"I had him first!"

"Hey, guys! I'm over here!" Sonic exclaimed, standing by the others with his tongue sticking out.

"That hedgehog's goin' to experience a whole new level of drilling pain!" Grounder growled, charging straight at Sonic. However, he felt someone pull him back. "Hey! I almost had him, Scratch!"

"You idiot! Don't you see it now? He's trying to mess with us! Plus, that antenna freak has that map, so why bother with him!"

Grounder looked over at Chopper and noticed the map. "Hey... You're right, Scratch! Let's get him!"

"Uh oh..." Chopper got in a fighting stance and prepared for battle as the two charged directly at him and his friends.

"Ba HA ha HAAAA! Get ready to experience some beak pain!" Scratch laughed.

"Yeah! My drills will show you what I'm made of! Huh huh huh huh!" Grounder laughed as well.

**Tattle: **_That's Scratch. He's one of Dr. Eggman's henchmen of the…"Super Special_ _Sonic Search & Smash Squad." What a weird squad… Max HP is 90, Attack is 8, and Defense is 0. He usually attacks with his own beak and sometimes likes to fire egg bombs at you. It's not really anything bad, but they can surely deal some damage to you. It says he's the smarter of the two, but even then he's done some really idiotic things.  
_

**Tattle: **_That's Grounder. He's the younger of the two henchmen…but it seems like he has more gadgets. Max HP is 80, Attack is 9, and Defense is 0. Watch out for his drills, because they can definitely cause some damage to you! I think I would recommend taking him out first because he's truly the stronger of the two. Say… I wonder how it feels to have a drill for a nose anyway? …No! I don't want to actually HAVE one! I was just a little curious!_

"So they're a little close when it comes to HP… Interesting. Let's see… What should I do? Hmmm…" Chopper pondered until an idea struck him. "Oh! I haven't tested my Blizzard ability on anything yet. Maybe now is the time I tried that out?"

"Blizzard? What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

"Just watch!" Chopper took out the Winter Star, which created a icy aura that floated above Chopper's hand. The only way to make it bigger and stronger was to make sure the word "OK" was where the red was in the middle.

"What is that supposed to be?" Scratch wondered.

"I don't know, but it sure looks pretty!" Grounder commented.

When the icy aura had finally grown big enough, it began to create a blizzard around Scratch and Grounder, leaving them frozen for three turns.

"Well that did something! Now to strike 'em with a Bob-omb Blast!" Bombette smirked, lighting up her fuse and charging straight into them. She blew up and delivered 8 damage to the dumbots.

"Huh... With them being frozen, we have a free attack!" Sonic smirked, getting in a ball and striking both Scratch and Grounder to deal 6 damage. Chopper followed up with his Ultra Glove and dealt 8 damage to them both.

"Wow... That Blizzard attack was a lot more useful than I thought." Chopper realized as Vivian struck the two with her Fiery Jinx. Unfortunately, this ended up thawing them out and freeing them from their icy prison.

"Oh... Sorry about that..." Vivian apologized.

"Well, they were going to break out next turn, so that's not stopping us," Chopper explained, attacking Grounder with a Jump.

"Ugh... Why do I feel so cold?" Scratch wondered while shivering.

"I feel the same way..." Grounder mentioned before looking back up at the heroes. "Hey! Aren't we supposed to get them?"

"Yeah! So why don't you go first?" the Clucker kicked Grounder from behind with all his might, sending him flying toward Chopper and Sonic. Grounder grinned and began to spin his drill arms around as he struck the two and dealt 9 damage. "Bah HA ha HAAAA! How do you like that?!"

"Yeah! Huh huh huh huuuh!"

"That was a bit painful..." Sonic winced. "Gee, these two are a lot tougher than I thought..."

"That's 'cause we've been training!" Scratch explained. "And now I'm going to take you down!"

Scratch ran toward Chopper, but he did not notice Grounder in front of him, causing him to trip. The two ended up tumbling toward Chopper and sent him flying into one of the trees.

"Oof!" Chopper grunted, feeling dazed from the blast.

"Nice going, you idiot! You made me fall over!" Scratch yelled as he stood up and glared at Grounder.

"Well you should've warned me first, chicken wing!" Grounder retorted while crossing his arms. He got smacked across the face by Scratch again, causing his head to spin around, but then he retaliated by smacking the chicken across the face, making his head spin too.

"Poyo? (Are they just going to fight?)" Kirby asked.

"Looks like it! Go ahead and attack, Kirby." Chopper suggested.

"Poyo! (Yay!)" the pink puffball ran toward Scratch and Grounder and sent them flying into a tree by charging at them with his Fireball attack. The impact was heavy, and Scratch's head got stuck in the tree.

"Ack! My beautiful head!" Scratch screeched. "Help me outta here, Pinocchio!"

"Oh, fine, liver spots!" Grounder pouted, attempting to pull Scratch out of the tree. What he wasn't expecting, however, was Chopper attacking him with a Spring Jump.

When Grounder freed the robot chicken, Scratch pecked Sonic in the head, who guarded the attack, only to get hit by Grounder's drill arm.

"Oof! Man, these guys are playing hard now!" Sonic grunted, quickly jumping back up and attacking them with a Spin Dash. Afterward, Chopper decided to put his Ruby Star to use and began to draw circles around the two dumbots. They both looked at the circle in confusion, only to feel pain when the circle was complete.

"Yeow! How's this thing hurtin' us?!" Grounder gaped.

After five circles, Scratch and Grounder had taken 15 damage as a result, leaving Grounder with 13 HP and Scratch with 33.

"Oh, man... I'm not feelin' so good..."

"Then make yourself useful!" Scratch yelled, kicking him in the air. This time, Grounder began to fire drill projectiles at Chopper. He managed to guard all twelve of them and took no damage as a result, leaving Grounder gaping before landing. Scratch decided to lay a robot egg and throw it at Sonic, only for him to guard it.

"I didn't know you could lay eggs," Grounder realized.

"Well Dr. Robotnik let me have this ability! At least _I_ got something good!"

"But... I thought females only laid eggs... Does that make you...?"

"No! Not a chance! Does the sound of my voice SOUND female to you?!"

"Errrr... No?"

"Exactly!"

While they were busy arguing, Chopper used his Ultra Glove attack and fired multiple ice balls at the dumbots. Bombette then finished off Grounder with her Bob-omb Blast.

"Ooooog… I don't feel so good…" Grounder moaned as he toppled over onto the ground. Scratch looked down at him in shock, only to smirk afterward.

"Bah HA ha HAAAA! Guess who's goin' to get the credit now, oil-driller!" Scratch gloated. "Now to make Dr. Robotnik proud!"

"Well, with 17 HP left, you're hardly a challenge," Chopper taunted.

"What?! Well... Take this!" Scratch laid another egg and threw it at Chopper like a bomb. It exploded in his face, leaving him covered in some soot. In retaliation, Chopper brought his hammer down on the chicken, and then Mario followed up with his jump

"Take THAT, chicken!" Chopper shouted. Mario shrugged and he brought his hammer down on Scratch.

"Man, these guys a total jokes!" Scrub exclaimed. "It must be because they STINK!"

"HEY!" Scratch growled at Scrub and extended his neck in order to peck at him. However, the scrappy Yoshi saw it coming and Superguarded the attack, dealing 1 damage to Scratch and leaving him with 4 HP.

"Might as well finish it," Chopper shrugged, leaping in the air and delivering the final stomp on the chicken.

"Bah HA ha-urrghh…" Scratch moaned, collapsing by Grounder. They ended up dropping 43 Star Points that Chopper claimed, gaining him a level and allowing his HP to be upgraded to 65.

"Huh huh huh huuuuuurrghhhhh..." Grounder moaned in a dazed state.

"Oooog… Cocka-doodle…bluuuuurg…" Scratch moaned as well in the same state.

"Huff… Huff… Well that was interesting..." Chopper panted. "Those guys were idiots, but the fight was kinda fun, right?"

"Yeah... I always liked a challenge from them." Sonic agreed. "I think this is the first time I ever received one."

"So... Shall we forge onward?" Shadower asked.

"Of course!" Chopper nodded, making a couple of steps forward. Unfortunately, that was short-lived when he saw a missile firing his way. He gasped, but Sonic took action and pulled him out of the way in time before it exploded. "Whoa... What the heck was that?!"

"Looks like someone's still wants a piece of us," Sonic answered.

"Yes, that's right," Metal Chopper replied, slowly descending in front of the eight. Chopper instantly recognized the robot's face and got in a fighting stance.

"Metal Chopper!"

"Metal Chopper? He...looks just like you!" Vivian gaped.

"Weird..." Bombette trailed.

"Yeah... It's...kind of a long story."

"A long story it indeed was!" Metal Chopper agreed. "I must say, Chopper... I thank you for getting rid of that demon knight Maquano! Now that he's out of the way, it is much easier to destroy you!"

"Fight you? Look, we're a little busy..." Chopper trailed.

"Oh, I know you won't back out of this fight when I show you what I've got!" Metal Chopper showed the figure he was holding. She appeared to be unconscious, making everyone gasp.

"Heartsy!" the Star Warrior's hands started to glow red. "What did you do to her?!"

"Nothing much... Just knocked her out because she wouldn't follow my directions. I also carry a green star that you are supposedly looking for! Seeing that you need this girl and that star, I don't think you can refuse a battle against me!"

"Well this piece of scrap metal doesn't look like he's holdin' any star," Scrub noted. "So what makes you think we should listen to you?"

"Oh, I have it, but not with me. You'll certainly see it when you guys find me. If you refuse my offer, I might just exterminate your friend!"

"Well you're not going to be hurting any innocent people today, metalhead," Sonic retorted. "You're nothing like the rest of the robots I've faced before! I'd say you're easy pickings."

Metal Chopper gave him an irritated look. "Seriously, those insults are old. Come up with something better," he said before turning to Chopper. "So... Do we have a deal?"

"I...guess there's not much of a choice." Chopper sighed. "But I want you to make sure Heartsy AND the star is safe! Got that?"

"Oh, sure! In fact, I'll give her back when you finally show up! She's only useful for luring you. The star, on the other hand... I have better plans with that!" Metal Chopper began to ascend from the ground while staring down at the heroes. "You better be ready, Chopper! No chickening out, because if you don't find me, I will find you!"

Before they knew it, he was gone, and Chopper had finally realized something.

"He was the one who sent us here!" Chopper exclaimed.

"What? You sure?" Shadower asked.

"Yeah! His voice sounded pretty familiar. That was obviously him. He probably sent us here so he could fight us!"

"And now he's trying to lure us to him with it and a girl," Sonic added. "Man... What's his problem?"

"We've went back ever since my first adventure, actually," Chopper smiled, a sense of nostalgia in his mind. "I don't think he's ever succeeded in beating me."

"Really? That's just like with me and Eggy! Speaking of Eggy, maybe those two dumbots might be able to tell us some stuff." the blue hedgehog whirled around to the two dumbots, only to see them missing. "Wait... They're gone?"

Mario: Uh oh...

"Ehhhh... It ain't the end of the world. They didn't get what they want anyway, so we can let them go back to their base!"

"Right now, we have something more important to worry about. Let's go guys!" Chopper proclaimed, dashing off toward the pathway ahead. Sonic followed behind, leaving the rest of the group coughing from the smoke.

"Yeesh! We better make sure we catch up to them!" Bombette coughed, following the two ahead, with the others following her as well.

* * *

**Eggman's base-**

"Nincombots! Metal morons! Idiots! Robots! Robotic rejects! Seditious slabs of salubrious circuitry!" Eggman exclaimed, walking back and forth in front of the beaten Scratch and Grounder. The two's heads were hung low in disappointment. "You… You… You nincombots!"

"Uh… Excuse me, Your Viciousness, you already said that." Scratch noted, only for Eggman to shove his face in his.

"Then allow me to repeat myself, YET AGAIN… _**YOU ARE NINCOMBOTS****!**_"

Scratch's beak was curved up and so was Grounder's drill thanks to Eggman's incredible lungs. When he was finished, he sat back on his throne while the dumbots fixed their beak and drill.

"Great… Now those two dumbots are completely useless…" Eggman mumbled. "My whole plan is falling apart! If I didn't have to use animals for my Badniks, then I could probably make them stronger and fiercer than these two! But what to do?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Pick me, Dr. Robotnik! I'll get that map from that kid and I'll give it to you! I swear!" Coconuts cried out, stopping his mopping to get Eggman's attention. Unfortunately, it wasn't the attention he was expecting.

"Coconuts… What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be mopping up the dungeon?"

"But… I want to capture that hedgehog and get that promotion I've been dying to get!" Coconuts ran up to the doctor, only for his foot to push him away. "Oh, please Dr. Robotnik! Let me capture him! You KNOW I want that promotion! PLEASE, sir!"

Seeing Coconuts standing under the trapdoor, Eggman pulled the lever, making Coconuts fall through again. "No… Not this time." Eggman stood up, a light bulb now appearing over his head. "Perhaps now is the time I tested out my new invention! The **Egg Trooper**! I've been saving it just for that rodent! With it, I'll finally be rid of him once and for all, and I'll be able to snatch that map! I'll have to give myself a prrrrrrrromotion! And speaking of that…"

Eggman took out a gold medal and placed it on his chest, promoting himself.

* * *

**Deeper in the Illusion Forest-**

Entering the next area, they were met with a couple of trees that were standing in their way. They were confused for a moment, realizing that there was no way to proceed.

"Aw... We're being blocked already? This stinks!" Scrub pouted. "And we were actually getting somewhere..."

"Poyo! (That metal freak probably did this!)" Kirby deduced.

"Uhhhh... I don't know..." Chopper trailed, walking up to the tree. "Metal Chopper would probably want us to find him. He wants to fight me... There's no way he'd put this here."

When Chopper had put his hand on the tree to the left, he noticed his hand phased through it. He gawked and pulled his hand away for a brief moment before putting his hand back on the tree. To his surprise, he couldn't even feel the tree. "What the... This tree's fake!"

"Wait, really?" Shadower gawked. However, he blinked for a moment and noticed something strange. "It's...an illusion."

"Well that makes sense, considering that this place is called 'Illusion Forest'," Bombette noted.

"I was just about to mention that," Sonic said as the group walked through the fake tree. There were a couple of rocks around that didn't even look real either, which surprised them as they phased through them. Unfortunately, they weren't expecting a Motobug to come charging their way. Thankfully, Sonic took care of it.

They walked to the next area and found a pit down below with electric water. What a surprise... However, there did not appear to be any platforms to support them. It was all empty.

Well, not to a certain shadow being.

"There's something here. I can see it." Shadower informed. "There are platforms here for us to jump. Just shoot a fireball or something and you'll get a glimpse of it."

Chopper obeyed and shot a fireball at the pit. He spotted a brief flash of a platform. It appeared to be a yellowish color. "I see it!"

"Maybe you could just shoot more fire to reveal the platforms..." Vivian suggested.

"Of course," Chopper nodded, shooting fireballs at the pit. Everyone stayed behind and followed him, with Shadower guiding them as well. It didn't take them too long to get to the next pathway, which left everyone sighing in relief.

"OK, that was way too dangerous," Scrub commented. "But... It was also pretty cool."

"Well, that's the experience of danger," Sonic smirked.

They entered the next area and came across three different pathways to go. In the center was a small tree with a crooked branch. It didn't appear to look that old.

Mario: I wonder what this tree is doing here?

"Poyo... (Too bad there's no food on it...)" Kirby sighed.

"Is that all you think about, Kirby?" Chopper asked in an irritated voice.

"Poyo. (But you think of food a lot too.)"

"...Good point."

"Hey, guys... Look at this branch." Bombette announced, her fuse pointing at the branch. It appeared to be pointing over at the northern pathway. "You think this solves our little problem?"

"Well I guess that makes sense," Sonic pondered. "These puzzles are pretty obvious..."

"We should just follow the branch then," Vivian suggested.

"Then that we shall do!" Chopper declared, taking the northern way. Everyone followed him to another similar area, only this time they walked out of the southern pathway. They saw the tree again, only this time it looked a bit bigger. Everyone was intrigued by this, but there was no time for looking at the tree. They saw the branch pointing over to the left, so they took that path into another area with a bigger trees. Some leaves appeared to be on it now.

Mario: It grows each time we take the right way!

"Cool!" Scrub exclaimed, astonished by this. "I wish I could grow like that!"

The branch had been pointing left again, so they took that pathway. The fourth area had a branch pointing down, and in the fifth, a branch was pointing back up where they cane from. The final area had a fully grown tree with pink and white leaves. A fruit was hanging from a branch and fell down in front of them. When Chopper got a taste of it, he had fully recovered his HP, FP and SP.

"Wow! That was good!"

After finishing the delicious apple, the heroes took the right pathway into a small area with a Save Block. Nearby was a small tree that appeared to be metallic rather than normal. This surprised the eight, not seeing a tree like that in the area. Not only that, but some music could be heard echoing through that forest.

"Is that music playing?" Chopper wondered. "It sure is loud..."

"But it sounds pretty cool," Sonic smirked, hearing the sound of the rock music. "But I don't think it sounds right in a peaceful forest like this."

"I bet Metal Chopper's playing it. Only one way to find out..." Chopper ran on ahead to a short pathway leading to a metallic base, while there was a path nearby leading elsewhere. Getting a glimpse of the pathway, there appeared to be a shining light coming from it. "That way leads out of the forest... Weird..."

"Well, well, well! If it isn't my good friend Sonic the Hedgehog!" Looking up, everyone caught a glimpse of Eggman slowly descending to the heroes on his Egg Mobile.

"Is that a talking egg?" Chopper gawked.

"Yeah, he's a talking egg all right," Sonic grinned. "I like to call him Eggman!"

Obviously Eggman was not amused. "Grrrrr! See, this is why I hate you, Sonic! That annoying attitude of yours really gets on my nerves! ...However, I will not let that get in my way. Ahem!" Eggman cleared his throat and said, "You see, Sonic… Since those two dumbots failed to defeat you and claim that map, it appears I have to take care of this myself."

"Oh, really? Why don't you kindly?"

"Gladly," Eggman grinned as he pressed a button on a remote in his hand. A large, orange robot with some red armor plating and two blasters appeared before them. He flew into the robot and gained control of it, causing the cockpit to glow. "Nyah ha ha ha ha ha! Now you're in for something, Sonic! First I'll destroy you and then that map will be all MINE!"

"Does he not know that you don't carry that map?" Bombette whispered.

"He probably doesn't," Chopper snickered, not realizing that everyone could hear him. "He doesn't even know that I have the map!"

"Is that so?" Eggman smirked, the Egg Trooper aiming a blaster down at Chopper. "Well then... You will hand it over immediately!"

"Not a chance! You don't scare me!"

"I thought you'd say that! How about I force it out of you then! You will get to experience the true power of the Egg Troo-"

"Yeah yeah yeah! Let's just get on with the fight already!" Chopper groaned. "You're probably the sixtieth person who says that kind of line!"

"Very well, then... Egg Trooper! Go!"

**Tattle: **_That's Dr. Eggman…or Dr. Robotnik. Either one is fine to use. Although… He finds the name Eggman to be more of an insult than a real name. Max HP is 110, Attack is 10, and Defense is 1. This robot will attack with its blasters and missiles and that's it. This thing is kinda…meh. Nothing really special about it. To be honest, Eggman DOES remind me of an egg for some reason. It's actually pretty funny how he gets annoyed with it!  
_

"We need to lower this robot's defense if we're going to deal some heavy damage against it," Shadower informed. "Let me lower the Egg Trooper's defense and then you guys just chip it down until its defense comes back up."

"Sounds like a good idea! Go for it, Shadower!" Sonic smirked. Shadower gave him a nod and delivered a Shadow Punch to the Egg Trooper, dealing 5 damage and reducing its defense to 0. Eggman noticed this and was not pleased.

With that, Chopper ran up to the Egg Trooper and jumped on the cockpit, angering Eggman even more.

"Grrrrr! Get a load of THIS!" Eggman pressed a button and the Egg Trooper fired a laser at Sonic to deal 10 damage. Thankfully, he managed to stand up to the attack just fine and shook off the hit.

"You honestly think a simple laser's gonna hurt me? Ha! You're too overconfident, Eggman!" Sonic smirked as he jumped in a ball and used his Homing Attack on Eggman, knocking the robot back.

"Ow! You little…" Eggman grumbled before he got hit by Chopper's Spin Jump. The Egg Trooper grabbed Chopper and threw him back at Sonic. Afterward, the Egg Trooper created a pole that contained a green button on each end. A green barrier was created around the robot.

"Ha HA ha! See if you can make it through here, Sonic!" Eggman cackled. "You better act quickly or you'll be blasted!"

"Oh, Eggman… Sometimes you just pull off some of the stupidest things! It just makes this more enjoyable!" Sonic grinned, attacking both buttons with a Homing Attack, shattering the barrier. He managed to pull off a Stylish while breaking the shield and even attacked Eggman's cockpit while at it. "So much for an I.Q. of 300!"

Eggman's face was now starting to redden. It only got worse when Chopper became Bomb Chopper and tossed a bomb at the Egg Trooper, making Eggman see a couple of explosions coming from outside the robot.

Mario: Some invention he's got!

"GRRRR! I'm not done yet!" Eggman growled, pressing another button and making a laser beam that fired at everyone. It was pretty deadly, dealing 12 damage to all of them. "Oh ho ho ho! How did you like that?!"

Though Chopper was slightly panting, he was not giving up. He took out the Queen's Star and held it up above him. "OK, Queen's Star! Do your thing!"

"What is that? So those are the Crystal Stars? Interesting... I can use those to-" Eggman was cut off when he saw some purple, demonic hands rise from the ground and grab a hold of the robot. He tried pressing buttons to fight off them, but it didn't appear to be doing anything. The Egg Trooper ended up losing 17 HP in the end, and Chopper gained that amount.

"Whoa... What was that?" Sonic gawked.

"Rampage," Chopper answered. "It's useful, but it's kinda creepy..."

"Argh... You may have done some serious damage to my robot, but the fight is far from over! Take this!" Pressing another button, Eggman made the Egg Trooper shoot two lasers. They fired directly at Chopper and Sonic, but they both guarded it and took 9 damage instead.

"Wow, Eggy! You're actually putting up more of a fight! Took you long enough!" Sonic taunted. "I thought this fight would be boring the whole way through!"

"And THIS is how I'm going to make it interesting!" Chopper smirked, pulling out a Big Bomb and throwing it at Eggman. He gaped before the Egg Trooper was caught in the explosion and had lost 7 HP. Meanwhile, Sonic shot himself at the Egg Trooper and brought it down to 45 HP.

"That's it! Time for the machine guns!" Eggman growled, allowing the Egg Trooper to fire repeated shots at the heroes. They all guarded each shot and took a minimal of 5 damage. "Drat! ...Oh well. It's not my most useful attack."

Chopper ran up to Eggman once again and dropped a bomb right by the Egg Trooper's feet. It had suffered some serious damage from the explosion, and adding Bombette's Bomb to it brought the Egg Trooper to 35 HP.

"Very well! If you insist, I shall make this more frustrating for you all! Go, missiles!" Eggman pressed an orange button and summoned four missiles. Two of them fired at Sonic and deal 14 damage.

"Oof! Not bad, Eggman..." Sonic panted.

"Excellent! Just keep at it like that so I can finish you! My other missiles can do the rest..."

"Art Attack!" Chopper cried.

"Art Attack?" Eggman gawked before noticing a circle being drawn around him and his missiles. They took 3 damage each time, and after six circles, Eggman's mech had taken 18 damage. "Argh! You little! I'll get you for destroying my missiles!"

While Eggman was getting angry, Kirby floated above the Egg Trooper and dropped onto it as a stone, doing 7 damage and bringing him down to 10 HP.

"Gah! Low HP already?!" Eggman gaped. "This is not over yet!"

"Oh, I think so," Sonic smirked, guarding a laser blast Eggman fired. "Go ahead and make your move, Chopper! I'll finish this Egghead afterward!"

"You've got it!" Chopper smirked, taking out a bomb and hurling it at the Egg Trooper's cockpit. Once it was down to 5 HP, Sonic ran up to the robot, leaped in the air, and struck it with a Homing Attack to create sparks that came out from the Egg Trooper. He performed a Stylish move while at it.

"No… _**NO! **_I can't lose…" Eggman yelled.

Unfortunately for him, his robot exploded, resulting in Chopper getting 37 Star Points. The result of the explosion had caused him to crash onto the floor, covered in soot. Sonic decided to walk up to him and add more insult to injury.

"Looks like we just scrambled the egg!" Sonic smirked.

"Hey! I was going to say that!" Chopper guffawed.

"Urgh… You'll regret this, Sonic..." Eggman groaned, facing the floor. "You may have won, but I'll still be back. This isn't the end…"

Before he could say anything else, he fell unconscious, which was a first for Sonic. Chopper, however, was curious and poked Eggman with a stick, receiving a groan.

"Whoa now, Chop! Let's not do that." Sonic suggested, taking the stick from him. "I think Eggman's learned his lesson for now. We've got a bigger problem on our hand!"

"Yeah, I guess so," Chopper agreed. "C'mon! Let's go stop Metal Chopper, get that Crystal Star and get Heartsy back!"

With that, they took off, leaving the unconscious Eggman behind. Little did they know that he was slowly getting up and leaving the forest in his Egg Mobile, however.

"Oh, I'll get them next time..." Eggman muttered. "I'll build something even greater and crush Sonic and his friends! They will finally bow down to-"

_**CRASH!**_

The last thing Eggman saw before becoming unconscious was a tree in his way.

* * *

**That Scratch and Grounder battle was certainly an entertaining one to write! :D  
**


	71. Metal Chopper: Back for Revenge!

The heroes made their stop when they got much closer to the metallic base. It didn't appear to be big at all. In fact, it looked more like a large dome. There was also a sign nearby labeled, "Keep out! Top secret!" Chopper laughed at it before turning back to his friends.

"If this is where Metal Chopper is, then putting this sign here was a real dumb idea!" Chopper laughed.

"The music's definitely louder over here," Sonic noticed. "That piece of scrap metal is here for sure!"

"How do you know it's really him?" Bombette asked.

"All robots like rock music. They are metalheads, after all."

"Wow! That DOES make sense!" Chopper realized. "I'm going to remember that when we meet him! In fact, let's hurry up and find him so I can tell that to him!"

Vivian approached the door and tried to open it, but it didn't budge. "We can't open this. It's probably sealed or something..."

"Sounds like there's a switch nearby," Sonic deduced.

Mario: I see two!

Mario pointed over at a red ! switch behind a bush, and nearby was another switch by a tree. Obviously Sonic could not go through the bush to hit it, so Chopper decided he would be there. He first kicked Sonic away from the other red ! switch and let him stay in place as he walked behind the bush, according to what Mario explained. Once Sonic threw himself at the switch, Chopper hit it with his hammer, making the door flip open like cardboard.

"Ah, there we go!" Shadower smiled. Let's see what's inside!"

Once they stepped foot into the machine building, they saw a mostly bronze interior with a metallic floor and a ladder going down to a circular path. In the center was a dark pit, and thankfully there were handrails to prevent them from falling.

"Well looks like we should climb down, huh?" Chopper climbed down the ladder and noticed some flashes coming from another level below. Another ladder over to the north went down there.

"This would be a lot easier if I had arms," Bombette groaned.

"I'll help you," Vivian decided, who grabbed Bombette and slowly descending to the others.

"Oh... Thanks, Vivian!"

The rest of the group climbed down the ladder and found themselves in a dark, circular room. Looking around, Sonic asked, "You guys see anything? I'm not seeing a thing here!"

Mario: ...I think I saw a flash!

Indeed they did. Floating around the room was a firefly Badnik called a Flasher. It had a small, red head, two eyes and two antennas. The upper part of its body was black, while its underside had a bulb.

"Ah! A Flasher!" Sonic realized. "No wonder there were some flashes down here! Well, might as well take care of it."

With a single Spin Jump, the Badnik was gone. They found another Flasher by another ladder to their left. Chopper ran over to the ladder first before defeating the enemy with a fireball. After that, he began to climb up the ladder to the top of the room.

"You know, I wish I got a new ability here..." Chopper trailed. "I usually get one each chapter, but here? Not even one!"

"Poyo, (Well that stinks,)" Kirby mused.

As soon as everyone reached the top of the ladder, they stood before the doorway leading outside. There was a Save Block and Heart Block in front of them as well. Chopper hit both before they proceeded out of the base and back in the forest. There was a tree at the end of the square-shaped area surrounded by many bushes and trees. One thing for sure was that this was a dead end.

However, what caught Chopper's attention was Metal Chopper jamming to the song they had been hearing on a boombox. He was even dancing to it as well!

"Oh, yeah! Now this is some catchy music!" Metal Chopper exclaimed.

For some reason, Chopper couldn't help but snicker. "Oh, man... This has got to be the funniest thing I've seen from him!"

"Get a camera! We've gotta film this!" Scrub whispered.

"I wish..."

They looked over by the tree and noticed Heartsy lying by it, still unconscious. Chopper sighed in relief, seeing that she was all right. As much as he wanted to watch Metal Chopper look like a fool, he had a mission to fulfill. Approaching the boombox, he pressed the "off" button and turned it off. His robot counterpart noticed this and turned around.

"Hey! I was listening to that!" Metal Chopper exclaimed, only to realize the heroes were here. "...Wait, were you watching me dance?"

"Uhhhhh... No?" Chopper lied.

"Is that so? Well then... I'm glad you finally made it, Chopper! Now we can finally-"

"First off, give Heartsy back, OK?"

Metal Chopper groaned angrily as he picked up the unconscious girl. However, rather than dropping her in front of him, he threw her at him instead, resulting in him getting knocked back.

Mario: Yikes!

"Now THAT felt good," Metal Chopper grinned.

Chopper slowly got Heartsy off him and stood up. Seeing her unconscious still, he gently shook her to get her up. "Wake up, Heartsy! Please?"

To his relief, Heartsy let out a small moan and opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry at first, but after rubbing her eyes, she caught a glimpse of Chopper.

"Is that you, Choppy?" Heartsy asked.

"'Choppy'?" Sonic gawked, only to smirk at Chopper. "Dude, I didn't know that was a nickname for you!"

"It's not..." Chopper groaned before turning back to Heartsy. "Uhhhh... Yeah, it's me. Don't worry, you're safe."

Heartsy slowly got up and smiled at her love interest. "Well, I'm glad you're here. There was some robot freak that looked just like you before I became unconscious."

"He's right over there," Shadower noted, pointing to Metal Chopper. She looked back at him and gave him a glare.

"Oh, I'm going to get you for knocking me out!" she growled. She prepared to charge, but Chopper tapped her on the shoulder, catching her attention once again. "What is it?"

"I didn't want to forget about these," Chopper smiled, pulling out some red and pink flowers. "Here! Take 'em!"

"You got these for me?" Heartsy gasped, taking them from him and giving him a shocked look. She then looked at him dreamily. "Oh, Choppy... You're so sweet!"

Before Chopper could say anything, Heartsy grabbed him in a hug and kissed his cheek. "See? I knew you and I were in love!"

"Yuck! Gross!" Chopper cried. "I just gave you those because I thought it would make you happy!"

Metal Chopper gawked for a moment, noticing that they were all ignoring him. "Uhhhhh... I'm still here, you know!"

Eventually he had to fire a missile their way to gain their attention. Heartsy finally let go of Chopper and got her hammer out, and the rest got in fighting stances.

"Finally, I've got your attention! So, Chopper... You wanna see that Crystal Star?"

"Why don't you show it to us?" Chopper suggested, clenching his fists.

Metal Chopper pulled out a dark green Forest Star and held it up. "At first, I was a bit unsure of what these things were, but after getting a glimpse of its power, I just knew I had to keep it! It can do much more than you think, though. Just watch THIS!"

The Forest Star shot a huge green pulse, causing everything around them turned to machinery. The trees, the grass, the bushes and the flowers were slowly changing from a luscious dark green to a robotic, dull gray. Metal Chopper's evil laughter began to echo through the forest, while the heroes could only look in horror at the forest's transformation.

"I don't believe it..." Sonic gaped. "This is insane!"

"Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Now do you see this Crystal Star's power?!" Metal Chopper cackled. "I've been waiting for this moment to happen, and now that it has, I can finally become the overlord of this forest, and soon the world! It'll be too late for you to stop me!"

"Well, there's a big problem with that..." Chopper trailed. "You're only holding one Crystal Star! There's much more than that, you know!"

"Oh, really? If you have some, then you'll gladly give them to me!"

"You just had to open your mouth, Chopper..." Shadower sighed.

"You want them? Then just take them from us!" Chopper taunted.

"Then I will take them from you when I'm done with all of you!" Metal Chopper roared. "Prepare for my destruction!"

"You should be prepared to see what we're capable of!" Heartsy exclaimed, pointing her hammer at him.

**Tattle: **_That's Metal Chopper. He's basically a robotic version of you. Max HP is 130, Attack is 11, and Defense is 2. Most of his attacks are lasers and his laser sword that he'll take out. It says that he has a huge laser that he'll fire if you get him down to an amount of HP! Now THAT'S scary! I don't know about you, but Metal Chopper creeps me out a little for some reason. It's just… Those eyes and what he did just gives me the creeps. How LONG has he wanted revenge against you anyways? Such an odd robot…_

Chopper clenched his fist and charged at Metal Chopper. However, realizing something, he put himself at a halt. _"Wait a second… Metal Chopper's defense is pretty high. With a defense like that, it may not be easy for me to deal as much damage to him! Man… I need to use an ability… Wait! I'll just be Ninja Chopper! That should work!"_

Metal Chopper noticed Chopper turn purple and gain a red helmet. He was confused, but he soon realized what it was when Chopper swung a kunai knife at him, dealing 6 damage.

"Urgh! Stupid kunai knife…" Metal Chopper grunted. Sonic smirked and shot himself toward Metal Chopper to knock him back toward the tree behind him. The hedgehog couldn't help but make a stylish pose upon getting out of his ball form.

"Fools… You may have dealt 10 damage to me, but we're just getting started! Now it's MY turn!" Metal Chopper aimed at Chopper and fired a blue laser at him, knocking him back toward Sonic.

"I got this!" Scrub declared, using his long tongue to get Chopper on the ground softly. Unfortunately, that did not prevent Chopper from losing less than 11 HP.

"Ugh... Thanks, Scrub." Chopper sighed, standing back up. "OK, you got tougher, but so have I! We're going to mop the floor with you in he end!"

"We'll see about that!" Metal Chopper exclaimed. "You meatbags are going to be history!"

Chopper disappeared reappeared above Metal Chopper. Before the robot could act, Chopper dove at him with a kick. Shadower followed up with his Shadow Punch, lowering his defense to 0.

"GAH!" Metal Chopper quickly shook his head and flew up. "So, you want to see how hard I can play? Well, then I'll show you!"

"What's he planning?" Heartsy gawked, noticing Metal Chopper fly over to the audience, pick them up, and form them all into one big ball.

"This should do nicely…" Metal Chopper threw the ball of the audience at the heroes and let them roll over them, dealing 13 damage to them all. He let out a small chuckle as the audience got piled up before running back to their seats. "So, how does it feel to get hit by your own fans? Pretty fantastic, don't you think?"

"Take this, tin can!" Sonic jumped up to Metal Chopper to use a Homing Attack, but he managed to avoid it and fired a missile down at the blue hedgehog. Mario was thankful to be there and pulled him out of the way in time.

"You know, Chopper... That Power Star I once had two years ago is like a kid's toy compared to this Crystal Star." Metal Chopper remarked. "Giving me an ability to teleport people into this forest was not something the Power Star could do. You catch what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I am. But I'm sure you're still as pathetic as before." Chopper leaped in the air and knocked Metal Chopper to the ground with his jump. Now that he was vulnerable, Heartsy charged at him with her hammer raised over her head.

"Time for payback!" Heartsy cried, bringing her hammer down on him and dealing 6 damage. "That's for knocking me out!"

"Urgh... All right, let's see how your hammer deals with this!" Metal Chopper's right hand had transformed into a blue laser sword. He swung at Heartsy, but she was able to put her hammer in front of her and guarded the attack. He was about to attack her again until Chopper managed to pull her back. Afterward, he had an idea to attack his enemy once his defense returned.

"I haven't used this move yet. I think now is the time to do it!" Chopper grabbed Metal Chopper and jumped in the air. He made it so Metal Chopper's head was facing the floor before plummetting at a fast pace. Metal Chopper hit the floor headfirst, and a small crack was created on the ground, leaving him dizzy. Scrub walked over to him next and used his Gulp to deal 6 damage, bringing him down to 86 HP.

Metal Chopper quickly shook his head and hovered up in the air once again. He summoned a mine on the floor that would sense any movement near or above it. "Now let's see you try to get through this! Jumping won't save you here, Chopper!"

"Crud…" Chopper sighed, until an idea struck him. "...Wait! Vivian, you should use your Fiery Jinx to destroy the mine AND hurt Metal Chopper! Maybe that'll work!"

"I'll give it a try," Vivian raised her finger, and Metal Chopper got scorched by her fire magic. The mine had also exploded as well, allowing Chopper to leap in the air and attack Metal Chopper with another diving kick. Metal Chopper had gotten tired of this and fired a blue laser at Chopper, knocking him back at his friends and knocking his ability away.

"Ow... That stunk..."

Mario had decided he was up and decided to bring his hammer down on him. Following up was Chopper's Spring Jump, though that had only done 8 damage. However, it did manage to bring him down to 59 HP, including the burn left by Vivian.

"Hmph! Not bad… Not bad at all… You've gotten a little stronger than before, I'll admit…" Metal Chopper mused. He aimed his gun and fired rapid, yellow shots at them like a machine gun. They were lucky enough to guard the attack, so they didn't take as much damage.

"Poyo... (That was pretty painful...)" Kirby cringed. "Poyo! (But I'm definitely not out!)"

Kirby performed his Cartwheel and sent Metal Chopper flying toward the tree. Before he could do anything else, Chopper ran up to him and whack him straight into the tree. Now his head was stuck in the tree!

"Arggh..." Metal Chopper sliced the tree off with his laser sword and flew back to the heroes. He clenched his fists and felt a major boost in terms of attack. "Now you asked for it!"

"Eep! That's not good!" Bombette gulped. "If he manages to hit us, we might be done for!"

"I think we know what to do," Chopper stated, leaping in the air and attacking Metal Chopper with another Spring Jump. Just as he returned, Vivian grabbed him and everyone else and his in the shadows. They were barely able to avoid a giant, blue laser that had fired straight into the base and left a large hole in it. Metal Chopper seemed satisfied, but when the group emerged from the ground unharmed, his gawked.

"I…missed?!"

"Ha ha! That was all for nothing!"

"Well this certainly won't!" Metal Chopper's hand had changed to his flamethrower, and he flew up to Chopper and scorched him, along with leaving him with a nasty burn, which had thankfully warn off on him after taking 1 more damage this turn. He decided to ascend in the air to avoid any ground hits.

"He may be airborne, but I'm not letting that stop me!" Bombette declared. "Chopper, you can throw me at him, right?"

"...Oh, yeah! That Bomb Throw ability we never really used yet..." Chopper realized.

"Well... Now's the time to use it!"

Chopper shrugged and picked the pink Bob-omb up. Her fuse was now lit up and running, and once he threw her up at Metal Chopper, she exploded, causing him to fall to the ground once again. Afterward, Chopper used a D-Down Hand attack and threw an ice ball that had dealt 6 damage. Metal Chopper attacked by using his beam sword, but it was easily guarded when Chopper had witnessed him using it on Heartsy before.

"You're going to have to give up eventually," Chopper remarked. "You only have 43 HP left, you know..."

"Not a chance," Metal Chopper retorted. "You're not looking too good either, Chopper... Are you ready to give up as well?"

"Nope!" the Star Warrior happily pulled out a Jelly Ultra and ate it to recover 50 HP and FP. "I'm fine now!"

Metal Chopper clenched his fists in anger, which left him distracted when Sonic came in and struck him in the face with a Spin Dash. Growling, he fired a missile at Sonic and sent him flying back to his team.

"Well, that wasn't something I was expecting..." Sonic grunted.

"We'll wrap this fight up soon. I promise." Chopper assured, running up to Metal Chopper and attacking him with a Power Bounce. After twelve jumps, he jumped off and let Heartsy use her Hearty Throw to deal 6 damage to his robot counterpart. In retaliation, he flew back to the audience, got them in a ball again, and sent them rolling back at the heroes.

"This again..." Shadower trailed.

Mario: Mama mia...

Everyone put their guard up and managed to guard the attack, taking 12 damage in the process. When they were up for the attack, Shadower lowered Metal Chopper's defense with a Shadow Punch, and then Chopper went all out with a Spring Jump, reducing him to 5 HP.

"Urgh... This isn't the end..." Metal Chopper grunted, preparing another giant laser. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, as Chopper had leaped in the air and prepared to stomp on him with a Fire Stomp.

"Take this!" Chopper cried, landing the final blow and causing Metal Chopper's circuits to go crazy.

"_**AAAAAAARRGHHHH!**_"

Chopper gave a thumbs up as he landed on the ground, receiving 31 Star Points and a level up. He had chosen to upgrade his FP to 65.

"How… How on earth did I lose this? I had this whole forest to myself and I lose…" Metal Chopper groaned, barely standing up.

"Well, maybe it's 'cause you were a little too overconfident," Sonic answered with a waggling finger.

"Grrrrrr! Fine, I admit defeat." Metal Chopper admitted. "You managed to best me Chopper, and this time with the Crystal Star in my hand! But hear me, heroes! I am going to return, and I will finally-"

"Become stronger and attempt to defeat me, only to fail once again," Chopper finished. "Is that good?"

Metal Chopper was about to reply, but he stopped and decided to fly away. Everyone was surprised to see him leave the Forest Star behind. Without it under his control, the forest began to turn back to normal. A sense of peace had finally returned to the nine as they let out a sigh.

"Finally... At long last, we have the Crystal Star!" Chopper smiled, approaching the dark green star. "And now the forest is finally back to normal!"

"That's great," Vivian commented.

"So, are you all right from before, Heartsy?"

"Yeah," Heartsy nodded. "I hadn't done that much while you guys were out there. I tried looking for you guys, but I ended up getting lost by that tree."

"The good news is that we're all back together. I think that's what matters." Sonic said with a grin.

"Yeah... I'm definitely looking forward to you helping us, Sonic!" Chopper exclaimed.

"Don't mention it!" Sonic gave him a thumbs up. "I'm always here to help!"

"Well, not much else to do other than collect this," Chopper walked over to the Forest Star and held it up as it circled around him.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power has increased to 12! And Chopper and use the special move Super Power Lift!**

**END OF CHAPTER!**

_With Metal Chopper out of the picture, Chopper was able to collect the eleventh Crystal Star in the Illusion Forest. But could it be possible that he may return and get revenge on Chopper again? Or will the tides turn on him as usual? As Chopper held up the Forest Star, he began to wonder about Grodus, Lord Crump and Gemerl. They were still out there and they could possibly make a move. He felt like they had a much bigger scheme planned out than before…_

"OK... Now that we got that out of the way..." Heartsy started. "How do we get out of here?"

Before anyone could answer, a dark green pipe had emerged from the ground nearby. Apparently Scrub has spotted a bush nearby containing a blue ! switch revealing a pipe.

"Oh... I guess that answers that."

"You guys didn't see it there?" Scrub gawked. "C'mon! It was so obvious!"

"Well, it doesn't matter at this point. Let's just see where it takes us!" Chopper jumped into the pipe, hoping to discover where it led to. Everyone else but Heartsy had jumped in afterward. She looked up at the sky and then at the trees surrounding her.

"I think I'm going to miss this place… I haven't gotten to travel too much of this place, but I hope one day I come back here." Heartsy climbed onto the pipe, but before leaving, she took one last look at the place. Letting out a sigh, she entered the pipe.


	72. Chapter 11 Interlude

"…And that's what happened," an X-Naut finished explaining to Grodus.

"So… You're saying you've found out where the Crystal Star was…yet you were too late?" Grodus asked. "And I suppose it was Chopper who got that Crystal Star, am I correct? We always appear to be beaten to the punch, and that is unacceptable!"

"HOWEVER…" the X-Naut started, grabbing Grodus's attention again. "The good news is that we found another Crystal Star. It's called the Ghost Star and it's somewhere by Twilight Town. I think it's in…some kind of mansion located in **Boo Town**. I hear from many people that it's one of the scariest mansions out there run by one, evil ghost king."

"Boo Town? A mansion? Interesting… I'm guessing that place is full of Boos. They're no threat to us, but it might not be wise to send only one there. Tell Lord Crump that he must go there at once with some X-Nauts! We will not be late this time for the Crystal Star…"

"Oh, we'll make sure we get it… There's nothing in the town except for some Boo that many think of as a princess, and she probably doesn't have much to say. We can probably just get rid of the Boos if you want. ...Oh, yeah! An old man lives in that town too. Should we get some answers from him?"

"An old man?" Grodus started to ponder. "Hmmmmm... Well, if he has any knowledge of the mansion, then you must gather as much information from him, even if it means interrogation."

"You've got it, sir!"

"I'm here…" Lord Crump entered the room, appearing very exhausted. "Geez... You could've given me a teleporter rather than making me use an elevator... But did you say you wanted me, Grodus?"

"Yes, I want you to go to Boo Town and search for the Crystal Star located in a mansion," Grodus ordered. "We won't let Chopper get it this time. If you see him anywhere, try to ambush him. I'd recommend finding a dark area to make your move, as he won't be expecting it."

Lord Crump was picking at his "ear" with his finger. "What? What'd you say? You want me to go find Chopper and give him cookies? What kind of idea is that?"

"Idiot! I never said that! I said to go ambush Chopper! …Then again, you could disguise yourself and make an attack on him…"

"What about the Shadow Sirens and Brothers? They're still out there, and I have no idea what to do if I see them!"

"Get rid of them if you can! They're no longer on our side. Besides, they used me to resurrect the Shadow Queen! This time, however, once my plans are fulfilled, it will be I who will be using them! Gaaack ack ack ack! ...But we'll deal with them later. As of now, we must focus on Chopper and the Crystal Stars. So go now, Lord Crump!"

"Roger, uh… Grodus! Is it OK if I heard someone heading over there too? One of the X-Nauts told me they were spying down on the planet with cameras. I heard someone named **Dusty** going to that mansion."

"Dusty? Lord Crump, we're not focusing on other people at the moment!" Grodus exclaimed. "Chopper is our number one target along with the Crystal Stars! Someone named Dusty is probably not a big threat! Go now and bring a couple of X-Naut Scouts with you!"

"Oh, fine…" Lord Crump sulked while leaving the room. The other X-Naut was ordered to leave as well, so he make his exit after saluting.

"Chopper… You may have gotten eleven Crystal Stars so far, but I'll soon be one step ahead of you when I finally get my hands on those Crystal Stars!" Grodus grinned. "They will give me the unlimited power I need to put an end to you!"

* * *

**Snowy Mountain, Temple of the Gods-**

"G-G-Gwa ha ha ha ha!" Bowser cackled as he flew down to Snowy Mountain with the thanks of his Koopa Clown Car. Unfortunately, he had been shivering during his time here, and two icicles had been sticking out of his nostrils. When they made it to the temple's front entrance, Bowser got off while his teeth were chattering. "Brrrr! Are you sure this is where one of the Crystal Stars are, Kammy? I mean, in a place cold like this?"

"W-Well of course it i-is, Your Ch-Chilliness!" Kammy replied while her small teeth chattered. "Th-This is the c-coldest place around R-Rogueport! Wh-What were y-you e-expecting?"

"Urgh… I d-don't like it h-here. I need to heat things up a bit!" Bowser opened his mouth to breathe fire, but all that came out was ice cold breath instead. "Wh-What the… Since wh-when do I h-have ice b-breath?!"

"Oh, d-dear… Th-This isn't g-good…"

"Great! Th-That's just g-great! Now p-people are g-going to th-think of me as the o-one who g-gives children s-snow c-cones!" Bowser complained. "N-Not this time! Now let's break in there and get our Crystal Star!" Bowser got in his shell and shot himself toward the door, breaking through it and making his way up the stairs and to the first spirit.

"What in the… Who are you?" the spirit asked. "And how did you get in here?"

Bowser got out of his shell form and stormed over to the spirit with a glare. "Who DO you think I am?! I'm King Bowser, that's what! Give me the Crystal Star this INSTANT! Maybe then I won't destroy your temple that I just broke into!"

"Oh, you mean the Winter Star?"

"Winter Star? If it's the Crystal Star, then yeah! Gimme it right now!"

"Errrr... I'm afraid you're too late for that..." the spirit trailed. "You see… The Hero of the Stars has claimed it already.

"Wh-WHAAAAAAAAT?!" Bowser exclaimed, his jaw dropping to the ground. "Come on! Now someone called the Hero of the STARS has it now! Great! That's just great! Now I have to chase after Chopper, some chosen one that I don't care about, and now someone called the Hero of the Losers!"

When Kammy had made her way up to Bowser, she noticed the damage he had made thanks to his shell. "Oh, dear… Look at this, Your Messiness! This floor is badly damaged for my poor old feet! I can't even stand to look at it!"

"We're leaving, Haggy. There's no point in being here when we were beaten to the punch by someone ELSE! Let's just get out of here…" Bowser stormed out of the temple. Unfortunately, he found himself tumbling down the stairs.

"Oh, dear... I'm coming, Your Klutziness!" Kammy cried, flying down the stairs.

The spirit, meanwhile, couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, yeah… Those stairs are too small for his feet. Heh heh heh…"

* * *

**Castle Dedede-**

King Dedede continued to sit on his throne lazily, eating Max Tomatoes some Waddle Dee had been holding over their heads. When he noticed the bowl of food was empty, he demanded that they bring him more. As usual, his minions obeyed and were off. Escargon happened to come in as the Waddle Dee marched out with a bag of groceries.

"I'm back with the food, Your Majesty!" Escargon announced. "So what was going on while I was out?"

"Ehh… The usual." King Dedede shrugged. "Been eating a lot of food."

"Makes me wonder if those tomatoes will make that belly any smaller..."

"What was that?!" the king growled, his face somewhat steaming.

"Errr... Nothing, Your Majesty!" Escargon gulped, waving his hands in front of him to dismiss it. Seeing King Dedede getting ready to reach for his hammer was one of the things that scared him the most. "So... Have you spoken to Tartara Corporations lately?"

"Hmmmmm... Now that you mention it, I think I oughta give 'em a call! I gotta know about how that Demon Beat is doing!" King Dedede turned his throne around with a press of a button, causing his monitor to come out from the ceiling and turn on to the corporation's channel.

_"Why good day to you, Your Majesty," _the Tartara greeted._ "How are you doing today?"_

King Dedede let out a chuckle as Escargon walked beside him. "Why, I'm doing fine! So how is my Demon Beast doing? Did she get the job done?"

_"Uhhhh... Well, there's been a slight problem with our job... She...apparently escaped."  
_

"Escaped? How?!" Escargon gasped.

_"Apparently she has the ability to teleport. We had sent her who to eliminate, but she quickly escaped before we could put the tag on her. Basically, she's off on her own now."_

"What?! That's unacceptable!" King Dedede yelled, swinging his arms down, with one unintentionally hitting Escargon in the head. "Go find her right now so I can put her under MY control!"

"_That...might not be easy," _the Tartara sweat dropped._ "We do not have the technology to teleport just yet. Trying to capture her would be too difficult. Besides, you still haven't paid for that demon beast. Do you want to be caught in a debt?"  
_

"Wait... You didn't pay them?" Escargon gawked, shaking off the injury.

"Errrrr... No, not yet." King Dedede answered nervously. He looked back up at the monitor and pointed at it. "I can assure you that I will pay for that Demon Beast! Just give me some time to prepare, OK?"

_"Very well,"_ the Tartara replied. _"But do not take forever. We Tartaras are not very patient. We will always get what we want in the end. Got that?"_

"Yeah... All right."

While they were speaking, Fumu was walking through the hallway, and she just so happened to hear in on what the two were talking about.

"Is Dedede with those fiery monster things again?" Fumu wondered, looking through the doorway carefully to avoid being seen. She noticed King Dedede and Escargon speaking to the Tartara once again. "I wonder what Dedede is plotting… If these guys are like Nightmare Corp., then there might be some serious issues in Dream Land. I need to warn everyone about this!"

Unfortunately, she didn't see some Waddle Dee carrying some food approaching behind her. "Hey, what are you doing, Fumu?"

"Huh?" Fumu turned around, but she found herself being grabbed by the arms by two Waddle Dee that had open hands. The two remaining Waddle Dee burst through the door, causing King Dedede to quickly hide the computer monitor.

"Hey! Next time, knock, minions!" King Dedede barked.

"So sorry, Your Majesty, but we found someone spying on you!" a Waddle Dee explained, showing Fumu to him.

"Huh? You again? What is she doing here?"

"I know what you're planning, Dedede!" Fumu shouted. "There's no use hiding!"

"Oh, really?" King Dedede pondered for a brief moment. "Minions... Put my food back in my bowl and leave her here. I'll handle this myself."

"As you wish," the Waddle Dee obeyed, putting the food in his bowl and exiting his throne room. This time, the door was kept shut.

Now that Fumu was free, she pointed at the two with a glare. "All right, Dedede! I already know what you're planning! There's no use in keeping it a secret, especially when I go and expose this to everyone!"

She was about to make her leave, but Escargon quickly got in the way of the door. "Oh no... You're not going anywhere, you brat! Not when you know our secret!" Escargon looked over at King Dedede. "Your Majesty, shall I suggest the death penalty?"

"Hmmmmmm... Maybe that's not a bad idea!" King Dedede grinned evilly, looking at Fumu. "The thought of getting rid of you once and for all was always on my mind! You and Kirby had always been ruinin' my plans! Putting and end to one of you might just help me!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Fumu gasped.

_"Hold on, Your Majesty... Who is this girl interfering with our business?"_ the Tartara asked.

"She's just someone who's been getting in the way of my plans in the past," King Dedede replied, picking up Fumu by her ponytail and showing her to the Hellspawn. "Don't worry, we'll eliminate her."

"Tell me who you are and what you're planning," Fumu demanded, trying to show some bravery over the Tartara, though it didn't seem to be working.

_"Who we are is none of your concern. We are simply a corporation doing business with His Majesty. Of course, are business is rather evil. We could say our leader was the most evil in the universe. Such a shame he is no longer around these parts... Anyway, I'm afraid we cannot let you go just yet. Having someone tell everyone about us is a big no-no."  
_

"So you want us to get rid of her then?" Escargon asked.

"Actually I have a much better idea," King Dedede declared, going into his closet and taking out a metal collar. "Yeah, this'll do nicely!"

King Dedede placed it around Fumu's neck and then took a chip from the collar to insert it in his ear. Escargon took one as well and did the same thing, despite the lack of ears.

"With this, we'll be able to listen to you from anywhere," King Dedede grinned, taking out a small, red button. "You mention anything about these guys to the others, and I'll just press this button here to give you a nasty shock."

"A shock? Well that doesn't sound so bad..." Fumu trailed.

"Well, the thing is, His Majesty can make the shock strong enough to put an end to you before you could even spill the beans!" Escargon grinned. "Face it, you're not going to beat us!"

"This is insane! You can't just do something like this!"

"Of course I can! I'm king!" King Dedede laughed. "Guards! Escort her out of here!"

"Yes, sir!" Two Waddle Dee came in and picked her up. Despite her objections of letting her go, the Waddle Dee ignored her and threw her out of the throne room.

"Not bad, Your Majesty!" Escargon complimented. "Though, usually you're not this harsh to that brat..."

"Well, when you gotta protect a secret, sometimes you gotta be harsh about it," King Dedede shrugged. "Besides... For the first time, I feel like we beat her unlike the last few times!"

"Hmmmm... I guess you're right."

_"Will that collar be very effective?"_ the Tartara asked.

"Oh, of course!" King Dedede assured. "We'll listen to what she has to say, and when she decides to tell everyone, BAM! We shock the life out of her!"

_"I see... Well for now, I must get going. Call us anytime you need a request."_ And with that, the TV had turned off. King Dedede had gotten back on his throne and continued to eat his food, while Escargon was forced to watch as usual.

* * *

**Dark forest-**

Tipral was walking through a creepy forest full of ravens with white eyes and jack-o-lanterns. He, however, did not appear to be affected by any of the scenery, though.

"I don't know why I'm in this forest, but Mysterious told me to come here. I remember him mentioning something about Chopper most likely coming here..." Tipral trailed, clenching his fist and remembering his battle against him in Snowy Mountain. "I swear, I'm going to get back at him for what he did to me back there! I'm going to blast him and his pathetic frie-"

_**"****Tipral…"**_

"Huh? Who just said that?" Tipral asked, his fists surrounded in Star energy. "Show yourself!"

_**"****Relax, Tipral… No need to use violence, only when your enemies are near."  
**_

"I don't even know who you are, and I don't care what you say. You're not going to tell me what to do!"

_**"****Stop now, Tipral! Don't you recognize the voice of your father?!"  
**_

"My father? That's hardly possible." Tipral said, picking up a jack-olation to crush it. However, he paused for a brief moment, putting the pieces together. "Wait a minute... If you're telling me you're my 'father', then that means you're..."

_**"****That's right, my son. I'm the Shadow King! Your father! I can see that you despise Chopper so much, is that so?"**_

"Of course I despise him. Why would you think that I wouldn't?"

_**"I can assure you that ****I despise that boy just as much as you do. You see, I had high hopes when I heard that your mother would be coming back, but then as soon as Chopper came in, he destroyed her shadow form! Tipral, you still have that crystal ball, do you not?"**_

Tipral took out the crystal ball with the purple mist. "So this is what remains of her..."

_**"****Yes. That would be correct, my son. With that crystal ball, we could bring your mother back…but we would need another host. A host that doesn't have a heart. And I think I happen to know the exact person for the Shadow Queen to control her body!"  
**_

"She? Are you talking about that princess?"

_**"No. I was actually deciding on one of Chopper's friends. That would be so much better..."**_

"Let me guess: that Bob-omb? That girl carrying the hammer?"

_**"No, not those two. They wouldn't be good enough. As much as I don't want to do this, the best host for your mother to take control of is dear Vivian..."**_

Tipral tossed the crystal ball up he caught it. "Vivian? You mean that ghost girl that with Chopper? Hmph... That seems like a more likely choice. Let me guess: you want me to go find her and possess her, right?"

_**"Yes, but not at the moment. I will tell you when the time comes..."**_

"Oh, really?" Tipral put away the crystal ball and glared at the sky with crossed arms. "Give me a good reason why I should help you. I never cared about my so-called 'mother', and I'm not too affected by her demise. I'm not one to serve people."

_**"Oh, but it is what he would want you to do... It was he who had found you and brought you back where you truly belong. In fact, it was his idea for you to join the Shadow Brothers when their youngest brother joined Chopper."**_

"Just because he helped me out doesn't mean I'm going to listen to him."

_**"Tipral, my son, by possessing Vivian, you will be given anything you desire. Tell me, what is one thing you want the most in your life?"**_

"What do I want?" Tipral pondered for a moment, trying to remember the one thing he cared about. "That's none of your concern."

"You do want the world to finally come to an end, yes? Then you should heed my words and do the job when the time comes."

Tipral let out an annoyed sigh. "Fine. But I'm not doing this to help you. I'm doing this just for myself."

_**"****Excellent! You've made a wise choice, my son! Keep that crystal ball with you, and I will tell you when you will do the job. But you must NOT tell anyone of this conversation, not even the Shadow Sirens and Shadow Brothers."  
**_

"Fine. But consider yourself lucky that I'm actually listening to you. Next time, don't consider that a possibility."

Tipral decided to move on through the woods, leaving the Shadow King's cackle to echo through the sky until his voice began to fade away. Up ahead, Tipral had gotten a glimpse of both Mysterious and Purple.

* * *

**Merlon's house-**

A dark green pipe had appeared from a house that appeared to be on an upper floor. It was pretty small, but the nine could see many stars on the ceiling and walls.

"Well this place looks pretty cool! I wonder where the door is…" Chopper checked for a door but all he could see was a wooden X on the ground and a pole on the ceiling. He decided to use a Spin Jump and break through the wooden X. To his surprise, he landed right in front of a table, and across it was a certain blue shaman.

"Chopper... You return?" Merlon gaped, though it had become bigger when the rest landed beside him. "Everyone has returned? But how is this possible? You were teleported out of this room a while ago!"

"We were, but we managed to find our way out of there. And look what we got!" Chopper held up the Forest Star, making Merlon stare at it in awe.

"The Forest Star… It looks so magnificent! The color of this thing definitely matches the forest's color. I can assure that you will take good care of it."

"We'll definitely take care of it," Sonic assured with a thumbs up. "We're heroes! That's what we do!"

"Ah, I see you have a new friend! Would you care to upgrade him, Chopper?"

"Upgrade? What do you mean?"

"Go right ahead!" Chopper nodded, leaving Sonic confused. Regardless, Merlon had used his magic to make Sonic Ultra-Rank. He now had 45 HP and learned Sonic Speed, which can allow him to grant Chopper an extra turn to attack. The Ultra move he learned was Whirlwind, which allowed him to attack all enemies with a blue tornado.

"Sweet! Some new moves!" Sonic smirked. "I know this'll be fun to use!"

"Now you may go! And good luck on the rest of your quest."

"Thanks," Chopper replied, exiting the shaman's house. They noticed Luigi nearby, who was soaking wet. Chopper was about to talk to him, but Mario told him it probably wasn't a good idea. After all, he wasn't in the best mood.

"I guess we can just go to the Fountain of Dreams!" Chopper decided, summoning his Warp Star. Kirby had done the same thing and got on his Warp Star. Sonic was left confused when everyone but him got on.

"Whoa... What are those things?" Sonic gawked.

"They're Warp Stars," Chopper answered. "They'll take us to our destination!"

"Our destination is on another planet?"

"Yup! Hop on, Sonic! ...And make sure you hold on tight."

Sonic shrugged and decided to join Chopper on his Warp Star. With that, they took off into space. It hadn't been long until the planet was like a small speck.

"Whoa... This thing's fast." Sonic gaped. "Though, I don't think it can match my speed!"

"Is that all you talk about?" Bombette asked. "Because you don't need to rub it in on everyone else."

"Oh, sorry 'bout that. Sometimes I get a little carried away..."

* * *

**Hatty Town-**

"…So why do you have that electric collar on you, Sis?" Bun asked, who was walking beside Fumu in Hatty Town.

"Ummm… I, uh… This is actually a gift, from uh… The Mayor!" Fumu lied, knowing that King Dedede was listening in on her. "He thought this collar would be nice on me."

"Really? Because it makes you look like a dog!"

Fumu was getting a bit annoyed with her brother. It bothered her so much that she just wanted to tell her the truth. However, before she could, King Dedede's voice echoed through the collar and into her ears."

_"Remember, Fumu... Tell anyone about those monsters, and you'll be shocked to death!" _the sounds of both King Dedede and Escargon laughing only made things worse for her. She tried pulling the collar off, but it didn't appear to do much._  
_

"Hey, why're you pulling on your collar? Is it getting too tight?" Bun asked.

"Y-Yeah... Just had to loosen it up a bit." Fumu sighed, looking up at the sky. She noticed Chopper and his friends fly by toward the Fountain of Dreams. _"Perhaps if I get the chance, I should probably tell Chopper about this collar. But... If I tell him about those monsters, Dedede will shock me!"_

* * *

**Fountain of Dreams-**

"Whoa... Get a load of this place!" Sonic gaped, jumping off the Warp Star and taking a look at the fountain. "Dude, I didn't know this was your home!"

"It's not my home..." Chopper trailed. "It's Kirby's..."

"Poyo! (Yup!)" Kirby nodded.

"So... How do we find the next Crystal Star anyway?" Sonic asked. "Do to just do something with the map or something?"

"Just watch," Chopper leaped onto the fountain's pedestal and held up the Forest Star. Sonic stared in awe at the whole fountain glowing and the eleven Crystal Stars surrounding him. When the map started glowing white, the next Crystal Star was revealed.

"Interesting… So the next Crystal Star is a pale red color? That's kinda cool!" Chopper commented, getting a glimpse of a dark mansion appear on the map by a dark forest. The twelfth Crystal Star, the Ghost Star, was located there.

Vivian and Sonic jumped on the pedestal and got a good look at the map as well.

"Whoa... There wasn't a location like that on the map." Sonic gaped. "Well, this thing really IS magic!"

"That place is right next to Twilight Town..." Vivian noticed. "I don't know if I know too much about it... We should go see Profressor Frankly about this."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Chopper smiled, jumping back on his Warp Star. "Let's go guys!"

Everyone followed and soon took off afterward, not knowing that Meta Knight had gotten a glimpse of them taking off while standing on a tree branch.

"His power feels much stronger than before... Perhaps it is time..."

* * *

**Frankly's house-**

"Whoa… Ermm… I don't know what to say about this…" Frankly trailed after studying the map.

"You don't know?" Heartsy gawked.

"No, wait! I think I remember now! Yes, this is the Crystal Star that's supposedly located in Boo Town."

"Boo Town? You mean the place is filled with Boos?" Shadower asked.

"Yes,it is filled with Boos. It used to be barren until a couple of Boos had moved there six months ago," Frankly explained. "I believe it is run by a beautiful female Boo with two bows on her head. A rather...well, unique Boo if I may say so."

"Whoa, that sounds cool!" Scrub grinned. "Though... Boos are kinda freaky..."

"I'll say," Chopper agreed. "Though, the description of that female Boo sounds kinda familiar... Reminds me of someone else."

"Someone else?" Heartsy asked.

"If I'm correct, there is a pipe that can take you to Boo Town," Frankly informed. "It's somewhere near the pipe leading to Twilight Town."

"Last time we went there, we saw nothing around!" Scrub exclaimed. "You really expect us to find something there?!"

"Well, you guys haven't let anything stop you. Perhaps you will find your way to Boo Town."

"He is right," Chopper agreed. "Let's go check out ourselves."

* * *

**Rogueport Sewers, by the pipe leading to Twilight Town-  
**

When they had entered the small room with the rusty brown pipe, everything appeared to be the same as usual. They began to scan the room for anything suspicious, but they hardly found much.

"Huh... There's not much here..." Shadower trailed. "Professor Frankly had said that the pipe was near this one... Where exactly would it be, though?"

"Poyo! (Guys! I found something!)" Kirby called out.

The rest walked over to the upper left corner, where Kirby pointed to a small folded slip of paper. Obviously that was suspicious, so he inhaled it to reveal a hole.

"Hey... There's a switch in that hole!" Sonic noticed. "Maybe if I hit it with a Spin Dash, I can probably reveal something!"

"I know what to do!" Chopper smiled, kicking Sonic while in a ball to send him flying toward the blue ! switch. This caused a green door much like the other door nearby to appear. Sonic had gotten out of the hole and quickly shook himself.

"Well that sure was something! Looks like a door has appeared! Let's check it out, guys!"

The nine entered the door into another similar room, only this time they found a pale red pipe sitting in the middle.

"I think this is it!" Shadower exclaimed. "This must lead to Boo Town!"

"Yay! Now we can get the next Crystal Star!" Chopper cheered. "Let's go!"

Agreeing, everyone leaped into the pipe into Boo Town.

* * *

**Interesting stuff this chapter... It does kinda fit in the dark category in this story. Y'know, kind of like Halloween does! Which reminds me... Happy Halloween!**

**Too bad Chapter 12 won't be up today because it would be PERFECT for me around this time. I just...never even started it yer. D:**

**Well, anyway. That's all. Chapter 12 will definitely be an interesting one. Though, it does kinda borrow from a certain game that I like...  
**


	73. The Kidnapping

**CHAPTER 12**

**-Ghost Busting-**

Everyone jumped out of the pipe and saw a dark blue ground, a couple of trees and also some houses around the area. The trees did not appear to have leaves on them, and looking up at the sky, they saw it was nighttime.

"OK, now THIS is pretty creepy…" Chopper trailed.

"I kind of like it here..." Vivian mentioned. "I guess it makes sense when I'm used to a place like Twilight Town..."

"Huh... Interesting... Personally, this place looks a bit creepy, but it ain't going to stop me from moving!" Sonic grinned. "I've encountered plenty of ghosts in the past!"

"It reminds me of Ghost Yard, except this place is darker," Chopper recalled. "That place was kinda boring... Nightmare Road, however... Now that was a different story."

"Hopefully no one comes here to steal your name and body," Shadower joked.

"Name and body? Who would do something like that?" Heartsy wondered.

"Someone like that faker," Scrub answered. "I doubt that'll happen here anyway."

"Hey! Chopper! Is that really you?"

Everyone stopped talking when a Boo had flown over to them. Everyone got in their fighting stances, but when Chopper got a better look at it, he dropped his guard.

"Oh… You're not one of those Boos, are you?"

"Evil? We Boos are not evil! We just loooooove to scare people!" the Boo answered. "But we don't work for Bowser!"

"Oh... Well that's a relief..." Vivian trailed.

"I was the one who played a little game with you back at the Boo Mansion. You...ended up taking the Super Shoes from me. Oh, boo hoo... The humiliation from that..."

"Really? You're...that Boo?" Chopper gawked. "Gee... I don't remember you that much. I was too busy saving the world during that time, and I don't easily remember everything from two years ago..."

"Well, at least you know them," Bombette mentioned. "Hopefully these Boos won't scare the living daylights out of us! You don't wanna know how much I might explode..."

"I know a certain someone who would be very excited to see yoooou..." the Boo trailed. "She really does miss yooou..."

"She? What do you mean by 'she'?" Heartsy asked, stepping up to the Boo to give it a glare.

"Sorry, little girl, but I can't tell yoooou. It's none of your business." the Boo replied, flying back to Chopper. "Our lady doesn't know you're here, but she would loooove to see yoooou, Chopper… She's over by that red and green house in front of us."

"Your lady? ...Wait, I think I might have an idea who it may be! C'mon, guys! Let's go over to that house!" Chopper smiled, running over to the house. The thought of seeing one of his friends a while ago was certainly exciting. Even the others were interested in seeing this lady. One of them was even curious...

* * *

"Bootler, do you think we'll ever get that mansion that we had rightfully taken back from that evil king?" a beautiful green Boo with two bows was looking at the mirror, staring at her beauty. Her butler, Bootler, was a tan Boo with a white toupee and a monocle. He also carried a towel with him like a usual butler. The floor was made of mostly wood, with a pink carpet and a nice drawer, couch and table to be near. The walls were red, and there was also another door going into Bow's personal room.

"Hmm… Perhaps we might, my lady. If only our old mansion wasn't destroyed, we wouldn't have to worry about this situation." Bootler slowly began to shake his head. "Oh, those poor portraits of my great great grandfather are still lying in that rubble…"

"I'm sure those portraits have survived. They're nearly indestructible, for crying out loud! As for that mansion, I think we'll eventually take it back from that tyrant! Of course, with my leadership." Bow looked at herself in the mirror, placed one of her stubby hands on her head and sighed. "You know, Bootler, I always wished I had long hair. Usually one of the most beautiful things for a girl is their hair. Just imagine how pretty I would look with a full head of hair.

"Why, you look beautiful without it, my lady!" her butler assured. "You don't need hair to be beautiful! All of the Boos believe you already look beautiful!"

"True... But then again, it would look better." Bow took out her fan and began to fan herself. However, she was interrupted by some knocking on the door. "Bootler, can you get that for me?"

"Of course, Lady Bow," Bootler nodded, making his way over to the door and opening it. His eyes widened in shock at the boy standing in front of the doorway. "Oh, my... Is it really you?"

"Hey! It's Bootler!" Chopper gasped.

"Bootler? His name sounds like Boo and butler put together!" Scrub snorted. "What a stupid name!"

Bootler, however, was not listening to the Yoshi and turned back to the house and yelled, "My lady! Look who's here!"

Chopper and his friends had entered the room, noticing how nice it looked. They also noticed Bow looking at herself in the mirror.

"This better be important, Bootler…" Bow, groaned turning around to the visitors. Seeing Chopper made her gasp. "Chopper… Is that really you?! I don't believe it! You're actually here!"

"Hi, Bow!" Chopper greeted in a friendly tone before getting caught in a hug. "Ack! Stop, please!"

"Whoa... Now that was unexpected..." Sonic trailed.

Mario: I never knew Bow had an interest in Chopper...

"Well, it had developed when she was traveling with Chopper, Master Mario," Bootler explained. "I suppose you are doing well, correct?"

Mario: Oh, yes!

"Chopper, you don't know how much I've missed you," Bow explained, letting go of Chopper. "It almost feels like it's been forever since I've felt your cute and soft face."

She gave Chopper a quick kiss on the cheek, causing his eyes to widen in disgust and make him fall over. A lot of Chopper's friends were surprised by this type of affection. Heartsy, in particular, gasped in shock.

_"So this is that Bow Choppy was talking about!"_ Heartsy thought, her hands now balled up in fists as she felt like she was ready to blow a fuse. A couple of people even noticed too, making them step away from her.

"I wonder, Chopper... Did you come here to accept my proposal, or is this something else more important?" Bow asked.

"Well, we're on this adventure to find the Crystal Stars, and we were just wondering if you knew anything abou-"

"Um, hi there, Bow," Heartsy greeted politely, stepping in Chopper's way to face her. "My name is Heartsy, and I was wondering if I could speak to you privately?"

"Privately? What for?" Bow wondered.

"I just wanted to speak to you about something... I'd rather not talk about this in front of the others."

"...All right, then," Bow flew over to her private room with Heartsy, who closed the door shut behind them.

"Huh... What do you think that was all about?" Chopper asked, turning to his friends.

"Poyo... (Something tells me this isn't going to be good...)" Kirby trailed.

"What? No way! There's no way that could happen! I'm sure they're both talking about being friends!"

_"If only..."_ Vivian thought. _"At least I'm not in there..."_

* * *

Heartsy and Bow were in a pink room with a mirror shaped like a heart and a green bed that seemed a bit unfitting for this room. There was even a picture frame shaped like a heart with Chopper and herself on it. Heartsy gave the picture one quick glare before turning to Bow.

"So you're one of Chopper's friends, I suppose? What do you want to talk to me about?" Bow asked. "Please make it quick, all right?"

"Well, I couldn't help but notice you're interested in my boyfriend, Choppy, is that so?" Heartsy asked with a frown as she sat on a chair.

"Boyfriend?" the green ghost couldn't help but laugh. "That's funny! Where did THAT come from?"

"You see, I met him back on my birth planet. We were best friends, and I ended up taking a liking to him."

"OK... What are you trying to tell me?"

"Just come a little closer and I'll tell you," Heartsy suggested.

Bow obeyed and approached the girl. She stood up from her chair and the unexpected came.

"Don't you **_DARE_** mess with me!"

Bow had dropped her fan and gawked at the sudden anger in the girl's voice. "...What?"

"You heard me!" Heartsy shouted, pointing at her while she held her hammer in her left hand. "You stay away from my Choppy, or my hammer's going to be doing the talking for you! And you don't wanna know the last person who had tried to mess with me!"

Before Bow could reply, Heartsy had put her hammer away and walked out the room with a smile on her face. She could only look at her in confusion before following her out.

_"That...was unexpected..."_ she thought.

* * *

"So, was the conversation good?" Chopper asked as he saw Heartsy walk back to him. "You must've been getting along in there, were you?"

"...Of course, Choppy!" Heartsy lied with an innocent smile. "You don't have to worry about a thing."

"I don't know about that..." Scrub whispered to Shadower.

"She probably blew a fuse in there," Shadower whispered back.

"OK... I guess now that that's out of the way... I guess I should explain to you about the other mansion..." Bow sighed. "Unfortunately it was destroyed."

Chopper and Mario were both in shock.

"Destroyed?! But how?!" Chopper gasped.

"It was all because of him…" Bootler sighed. "We were forced to move here because he had destroyed our mansion for not listening to him. We tried moving to a mansion here, but he had taken it for himself as well. He's using some kind of pale red star to help him control the mansion. That mansion… It size surpasses even ours!"

Mario: Who is using that star?"

"His name is King Boo," Bow answered. "When he managed to acquire that star, he transformed it into a crown for his own use. He uses it to threaten my kind and even kidnap them!"

"Whoa... That's bad." Sonic said. "Have you tried doing anything?"

"I want to do something to stop him, but seeing his new power also makes the mission dangerous."

"My lady! You don't plan on going after this king, do you?!" Bootler gasped. "No, it is too dangerous for you!"

"So what am I supposed to do?" Bow snapped at her butler. "I haven't done much to fight off King Boo! But with Chopper and his friends, I feel the opportunity has finally risen! I feel with him, his friends and I together, we can defeat King Boo once and for all!"

"Yeah! We can do it!" Chopper assured with a smirk. "Don't worry, Bow! We'll beat this king! Besides, if the map's right, he must have the Crystal Star!"

"Thank you, Chopper... I very much appreciate it." Bow thanked, giving him a smile. "I knew you would be up to it!"

"Mwahahaha! I don't think so!"

Appearing above the group was a Boo larger in size compared to a normal Boo, but not as large as an Atomic Boo. He wore a golden crown with what appeared to be a pale red, diamond-shaped gem on top of the crown. It was dark around his purplish pink eyes, and he also had a bluish purple tongue hanging out of his mouth.

"King Boo!" Bow and Bootler shouted in unison.

Mario: King Boo?

"Well, if it isn't my good friend Lady Bow and that red pest with the mustache!" King Boo cackled, leaving everyone with shocked looks. "What's wrong? You thought you were going to go into my mansion and steal what's mine? Well, I'm here to tell you that I foresaw your plan this whole time!"

"Oh, dear..." Bootler trailed.

"So, you have the Crystal Star, right?" Chopper asked.

"Crystal Star! If you mean by what I had found before turning it into my new crown, then yes!" King Boo cackled. "I guess you're that Chopper I've heard from Bow, is that right?"

"Yeah, that's right! I'm Chopper of Planet Clara, and you're going to give us that Crystal Star!"

"Uh… I don't think that's going to work, Contadre..." Scrub trailed. "We tried that on other baddies, and it did nothing."

"So, Bow..." King Boo started, giving Bow an evil grin. "You wanna know what happened to all of your precious Boos?"

Bow had her fan ready to smack him, but a bolt of energy fired from his crown and sent her flying to the wall.

"My lady!" Bootler cried.

Bow, however, was easily able to get herself back up and charge, but King Boo had fired more energy at her. This time, it trapped her inside of a red energy orb.

"Bow!" Chopper gasped.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Heartsy gaped, getting her hammer out. As much as she didn't want to help someone like her, it was for the better.

"So, Bow... About those Boos I took into my mansion..." King Boo started. "They are sharing the same fate I once shared thanks to that plumber's brother and that scientist! I'm sure you'll be happy to join them!"

"You wish," Bow retorted.

King Boo turned to the others. "Sorry to intervene on your plans, but they all end here! That is, if you think you have what it takes to take me on!"

"All right then!" Chopper charged at King Boo and was about to attack, but he had fired energy from his crown and knocked Chopper back. King Boo cackled one last time before disappearing with Bow.

"No! No! My lady!" Bootler cried. "She can't be gone! This… This is terrible!"

"That guy just knocked Contadre straight onto the floor!" Scrub gaped.

"That crown must be pretty powerful..." Bombette trailed.

"There must be SOME way to stop him," Heartsy pondered.

Suddenly, something had surged in Bootler's mind and turned to the heroes. "Master Chopper and Co… I believe I know how you can stop King Boo... There's a man around here by the name of Professor Elvin Gadd. He'll help you fend off the ghosts in King Boo's Mansion. You must go to the house that's **shaped like a head **that's located not too far."

"All right. That sounds good." Chopper nodded. "Don't worry, Bootler! We'll stop King Boo and also get Bow back!"

"Thank you all... You wouldn't know the trouble I would be in if she went missing forever..."

"We can assure you that we'll get the job done," Sonic said with a thumbs up. "We're the good guys, after all!"

With that, they left the house and walked back outside. Surprisingly, they noticed that the Boos roaming around the town had not heard what was going on inside the house. In fact, things were quite normal. Chopper was about to ask whether they should tell them, but they were unfortunately beaten to the punch.

"Fellow Boos! We must all be ready to help save our lady from the evil King Boo!" Bootler announced, phasing through the house and catching everyone's attention. Of course, many Boos were left in shock.

"Lady Bow's been kidnapped?!"

"That's impossible!"

"Boo hoo!"

"But rest assured... Masters Chopper, Mario and their friends will go to the mansion and put a stop to him!"

"We should probably move on to avoid attention," Shadower suggested, inching away toward the next part of town ahead. Everyone agreed and followed him to where they found a small statue of Lady Bow in the center. There was also a shop and an inn they could go to, but they didn't need to go there at the moment. What they did see, however, was a house shaped like a head with glasses acting like windows and a small, white tuft of hair acting as a roof.

"Poyo, (This must be the house,)" Kirby deduced.

"That was a lot easier than I thought," Bombette said.

"I'll just knock on the door," Chopper suggested, walking up to the door and knocking on it. He heard someone screaming from an electric shock and the sound of a thud. The lights inside began to flicker on and off.

_"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! I'm coming, whoever is out there!" _

Chopper shrugged and decided to wait patiently. Heartsy decided to approach Chopper, but not in a happy manner.

"Choppy, listen... I think I should admit something." Heartsy said with a frown. "I...didn't necessarily say some nice things to Bow..."

"What did you say?" Chopper wondered. Heartsy gave him a brief explanation, making him gasp. "You did what?"

"Yeah... I felt like our relationship was being threatened from her. I do think I was getting a little carried away."

"Hey, don't worry 'bout that," Sonic assured. "Sometimes people tend to get carried away often! I sometimes get a bit reckless when fighting Eggy!"

Unfortunately, Chopper seemed a bit shaky near her. "OK... Remind me not to get you angry... I don't like angering good people that much..."

Before the conversation could go further, the door opened, revealing a short, old human with white hair sticking up, spiral glasses and a white lab coat. He looked like he was covered in a bit of soot, with his hair all frizzy.

"Ooog… That wasn't nice and…" the professor paused when he noticed Mario. "Mario! Is that you? Oh, it felt like it's been AGES since I last saw you! Please, come on in! And bring your friends too!"

Mario looked surprised, but nevertheless, he followed the professor into the lab. The walls and floor were silver and shiny, and all around the nine were many different sorts of machines, ranging from ghost flatteners to ghost boots. They went over to a table, where the professor was testing out a new ghost shocker that was capable of stunning ghosts.

_"This reminds me a bit of Professor Toadsmeth..."_ Chopper thought. _"Though he wasn't into ghosts..."_

"Allow me to introduce my self," E. Gadd started. "I am Professor Elvin Gadd! You can call me E. Gadd for short, though. I study the life of ghosts and what their interests are in. I've even kept a few ghosts in some portraits! ...That is until they escaped."

Mario: Escaped?

"Yes. Unfortunately King Boo had escaped his portrait, and now he has gotten a hold of a strange gem with the power of freeing ghosts from their portraits and vice versa! ...Now, what can I do for you youngsters?"

"Well… It's kind of a long story, so I'll try to shorten it." Chopper took a deep breath and began to explain the whole story to him. When he finished, E. Gadd gasped in shock.

"A Crystal Star, you say? And this Bow was kidnapped by King Boo? Oh… This is terrible. Are you planning on going into that mansion to stop him?"

"Of course! He took Bow, and he's got the Crystal Star! We're going to beat him for it!"

"...I hate to break it to you, but defeating someone like King Boo is not the easiest task. With that crown, it's very difficult to even approach him! ...That is, unless you had the right tool."

"'Tool'? What the heck are you talking about, gramps?" Scrub gawked. "We don't need any tools to take on a ghost!"

"That's where you are wrong, little Yoshi," E. Gadd walked over to the closet and got out a red vacuum cleaner. He blew the dust off of it and looked at it. "It's been a while since I've used this, but I think it's still in good shape. Tell me, antenna boy. What's your name?"

"I'm Chopper of Planet Clara!" Chopper replied confidently. E. Gadd chuckled as he brought the vacuum over to him.

"Chopper? An interesting name that is! I think I've heard that name around the Mushroom Kingdom. They said you saved them from a Star God that became evil, yes? Well I'm sure you are that Chopper!" E. Gadd held the vacuum in front of Chopper. "This is the **Poltergust 3000**! This bad boy was invented by me to suck up those ghosts! It was also used by my dear friend Luigi to defeat King Boo!"

"Luigi beat him before?"

"Oh ho ho! Indeed he did! I was very proud of him for doing that! If he was able to defeat him, then I'm sure you all will. You see, King Boo is not as fearless as many people think. In fact, this very vacuum is something he fears, along with the other evil ghosts!"

"Oh, cool!" Chopper took the vacuum from him and put it away, smiling. "So, when do I get to the part when I suck up those Boos, huh?"

"You will get a chance when we get to the mansion," E. Gadd explained. "Perhaps while you're there, you can retrieve those Portrait Ghosts that were taken from me. Keeping them out there is not the best thing in the world..."

"That sounds pretty easy," Shadower stated.

"What are we doing here now? Let's get to it, shall we?" the professor suggested, taking them all outside and over to the gate.

"Ummm… Will that vacuum suck me in?" Vivian asked E. Gadd. He had let out a chuckle in response, but he suddenly stopped.

"…I don't know."

Vivian frowned. "That might be bad... What if Chopper accidentally sucks me in?"

"I'm gonna try to be careful with this thing so no one gets sucked into it," Chopper assured as opened the gate to Boo Woods. "Boo Woods, huh? So we gotta go through here to reach the mansion?"

"Yes, that's the way we must go," E. Gadd answered. "Just be careful! Things can be scary out in these woods! It's pretty dangerous! Thankfully, I've been through these woods before, so I would suggest you follow me."

"OK, then lead the way!" Chopper cheered, following the professor into the woods.

Bombette looked at her surroundings and saw the tree with a scary-looking face on it. "This place kind of reminds me of Forever Forest."

Chopper looked around as well and got the same feeling. "Yeah... It does look familiar! Only this time, there isn't any maze that's in our way."

The only thing that was blocking their way up ahead was a rock with a crack in it. Knowing what to do, Chopper threw Bombette and let her blow it up, allowing them to proceed onward. However, their walk came to a sudden halt when they noticed another pathway behind a couple of bushes, while the one they were walking on had ended.

"These bushes don't look like we can push 'em," Sonic noted, trying to move the bushes.

"Strange... That wasn't there when I first walked through here." E. Gadd recalled. "Then again, I think I remember inventing a teleporter that took me to my lab near the mansion quickly..."

In response, everyone was left gaping, while Chopper and Mario had fallen over on the floor.

Mario: Are you kidding me?!

"Why didn't you tell us this before?!" Chopper exclaimed.

"So sorry about that!" E. Gadd apologized. "Sometimes the old brain tends to forget a little things! But perhaps this is a good time for me to see what these woods are like!"

"So do you know how long this trail is?" Heartsy asked.

"Oh, probably about fifteen minutes, lass! This place is not as long, if I could recall! We just need to find a way past those bushes and we'll be-" he was cut off as soon as Chopper and everyone else turned sideways and slipped through the small opening in between the bushes. "Oh, right... That's not a bad idea either."

As he slipped through the opening, the ten progressed onward.

* * *

**Fifty minutes later-**

"Ahh… That's much better. Sorry for the long wait, my friends. Sometimes when an old guy has to go, he has to go!"

"But... We were right at the end of the trail!" Chopper whined, waiting impatiently for E. Gadd to walk out of the bushes with a relieved look. "The way was smooth from here, but then you just had to go to the bathroom and take forever!"

"Ah, my apologies then," E. Gadd replied. "I was just trying to find a-"

"Look, maybe it's better if we don't go into that," Heartsy sweat dropped. "We're almost there, so we should just get a move on."

"I just hope things don't get any worse..." Chopper groaned.

As if he had predicted it, two shadows had formed nearby, and two figures had emerged from it. Another figure had teleported right beside the shadow figures.

"Well, well, well! So you're finally here, Chopper!" Mysterious grinned, crossing his arms. "Heh. I had a feeling you would show up! C'mon, have a seat and let us talk!"

"Oh, no... Did you really have to come, Bro?" Shadower groaned.

"Why of course, Shadower! We just wanted to have a little fun with you and Chopper!"

"Geez... We were waiting for fifty minutes for someone to go to the bathroom, and now you guys show up?" Chopper sighed. "Can't you give us a break?"

"Hmmmmmm... Yeeeaaa-no."

"Wait, who the heck are these guys anyway?" Sonic asked. "And why did Shadower call the blue and red guy 'bro'?"

"That's because he's my brother," Shadower answered. "He's planning something, that's for sure."

"So I take it that you're going into that mansion to get rid of King Boo and claim the Crystal Star, is that correct?" Tipral asked, eyeing the Poltergust 3000 Chopper had.

"Yeah, that's right! We're going to... Hey, wait a second… You guys are ghosts! Ah-HA!" Chopper took out the vacuum and aimed it at Tipral. "You guys are going to be trapped in here forever!"

"Chopper, I don't think that's going to-"

Chopper ignored Vivian and began to suck Tipral into the vacuum. Unfortunately, it didn't appear to be doing much, as he hadn't moved an inch. The only thing moving were the bushes and leaves on the trees.

"Are you done sucking?" Tipral asked. "If so, then let's just fight already!"

"A fight, huh? All right, bring it on!" Sonic challenged, getting ready to charge toward the three. However, Shadower managed to grab him in time and pull him back.

"Don't try that, Sonic," Shadower objected. "These guys aren't anyone to mess with…"

"Oh, I see…" Sonic looked over at Tipral. "Strange... We saw that one metal freak that looked like you, Chopper, but now there's this guy... Geez, you've got some fakes just like me!"

"...Yeah! I've got a lot of fakers around!" Chopper agreed, turning to Tipral. "I'm ready to take you down, faker! Same with you, Mysterious!"

"Faker? Are you still comparing me to you again?!" Tipral growled, clenching his fists. "It's gotten old already. Then again, the only way to get rid of something like that is to get rid of you, Chopper!"

"Heh heh heh! Ready for defeat, Chopper?" Mysterious smirked. "As for you, Purple and shadow-freak... Let's not goof off like before! Remember that it's something I do not tolerate! Understood?"

Purple: ...

"Yeah, sure," Tipral replied, obviously uninterested.

**Tattle: **_Great... Mysterious again. That jerk has to come back again to get in your way? Geez... Max HP is 60, Attack is 6, and Defense is 0. Make sure you watch out for his fire and water magic! Apparently he can even use both of them together on you! That can deal some serious damage if you're not careful! Other than that, he's just the same old Mysterious._

**Tattle:**_ T__hat's Purple. He's obviously the strong, silent type. There's nothing special to note about him... Max HP is 70, Attack is 8, and Defense is 0. One thing you should be careful is when he punches a hole in the ground. That will prevent you or anyone from approaching any of them. He'll even throw boulders at you, too! That's pretty scary! I would recommend taking him out first, if you know what I mean..._

**Tattle:**_ That's Tipral. Y'know, the dark freak that looks just like you? We've encountered him back in Snowy Mountain a couple of chapters ago! Max HP is 70, Attack is 7, and Defense is 0. Strangely, his stats seem a lot weaker than what he was back in Snowy Mountain. Perhaps he has not fully healed from his fight? What also makes me curious is why he sometimes goes off on his own? What a weirdo..._

Chopper started off the battle with his Ultra Glove attack. With some fire in his hands, he started hurling fireballs at the three like crazy, dealing 8 damage to them all and leaving each of them with a nasty burn. Shadower helped out by using his Shadow Smite, dealing 6 damage to them all as well.

"I hope you like that, Mysterious!" Shadower exclaimed.

"I hope you like THIS!" Mysterious retorted, throwing a water ball at Shadower that dealt 6 damage.

Purple picked up a huge boulder from the ground and threw it at everyone, but they were lucky enough to guard it. Tipral's Star Spear, however, was able to hit Chopper and knock him back.

"Ow! I didn't see that coming..." Chopper jumped back up and attacked Purple with his jump.

"Hmmm… I'm Ultra Ranked, so let's see how I do against these freaks!" Sonic smirked, curling up in a ball and hitting all three with a Spin Dash. Unlike the others, his attack managed to deal 8 damage unlike the usual 6. He came back to the others and waggled his finger in victory.

"You know, Tipral... I'm surprised that you're a lot weaker than before." Chopper noted, but that only angered Tipral. Without speaking, he teleported out of range.

"This isn't good…" Vivian gulped. Tipral had appeared in front of Chopper and punched him straight into Vivian.

"Ack! What the heck?!"

Tipral jumped out of the way and let Purple punch Mario, knocking him to the ground briefly. As soon as Mysterious used his Tidal Wave attack, Chopper pulled off his Art Attack and delivered 15 damage to each of them. Sonic had attacked with another Spin Dash and brought Purple down to 17 HP, Mysterious to 13 and Tipral to 31.

"Wow... This is way too easy!" Chopper smiled, guarding Tipral's Star Magic. Purple, meanwhile, punched a hole in the ground, and Mysterious raised his arms to summon fire and water.

"Take this!" Mysterious roared, firing the fire and water twister at the heroes, dealing 8 damage in the process.

"Geez! That hurt!" Scrub cried.

"Poyo! (No kidding!)" Kirby agreed.

After shaking off the attack, Chopper had struck Purple with his Spring Jump, bringing him down to 4 HP. Scrub whistled and summoned a Stampede to finish off the Shadow Brother, who had collapsed.

"Yeah! I finally got to finish someone off for once!" Scrub cheered.

Tipral teleported once again and managed to hit Scrub with his elbow, and afterward, Mysterious had appeared in front of Shadower and delivered a flaming punch. He managed to guard it successfully and land a Shadow Punch on his brother, finishing him off and making him collapse as well.

"Whew... Good thing I got him in time." Shadower sighed.

"Now it's just Tipral!" Chopper declared, turning to Tipral. He conjured up an ice ball in his hand and threw it at Tipral, dealing 6 damage.

"You know, I have an ability similar to that, but it's definitely not something you'd like," Tipral noted, conjuring up a shadow ball and hurling it toward Chopper. He was relieved to only take 6 damage from the attack rather than 7. What was also great was that the hole Purple made was now gone, allowing Heartsy to bring her hammer down onto Tipral's head. After Chopper jumped on him, he was reduced to 6 HP.

"It's already over, Tipral…" Vivian trailed.

"Not yet..." Tipral growled, hurling a Star Spear their way. Chopper prepared for the worse and attempted to Superguard it. It turned out to be a success, but Tipral had not taken damage from it. Regardless, he jumped on Tipral, and he fell over on the ground as well. They had all dropped 53 Star Points for Chopper before they got up, exhausted.

"What?! Are you serious?!" Mysterious gaped. "We got our butts kicked this quickly?!"

"Hey, the Shadow Sirens got the same beating as you," Chopper mentioned.

"This is all YOUR fault, shadow-freak!"

"My fault? Explain."

"Oh, I'll explain when we get back to headquarters! Purple! Shadow-freak! We leave! ...For now."

With that, the three had left the woods, giving the heroes a time to take a deep breath.

Mario: That was a relief!

"Yeah... We were definitely lucky there." Bombette sighed.

"Well, then! That was some excellent fighting skills you pulled off there, youngsters!" E. Gadd applauded, who had been hiding behind the bushes. "Now then! Off to the mansion! I'll give you some explanation when we get there."

"All right! To the Crystal Star!" Chopper cheered.

The heroes followed the professor out of the woods and to the mansion dead ahead. Unfortunately, they had not realized they were being watched. Some bushes nearby appeared to be rustling until a figure had emerged.

A single Dry Bones walked out of the bush wearing a mask and had a badge with the name "Dusty" on it. The Dry Bones was also holding a Blooper Gun with the ability to shoot poisonous ink out and also a blunt bone club. He happened to take notice of the mansion dead ahead and smirked (if that's even possibly for Dry Bones).

Dusty took out a communicator and said, "This is Dusty. I repeat, this is Dusty. I am in the exact location of where the Ghost Star is. Unfortunately, it seems that there are others chasing after it."

_"Others are after the Crystal Star? Don't let them get to it! If you have to fight them, then you will. We need to test the Ghost Star and see what powers it holds. This must not fail or you won't be promoted."_

"Promoted? Oh, I can assure you that I will NOT fail this mission! I'm going to GET that star, and I'm going to GET that promotion! Dusty out!"

Dusty turned off his communicator and set forth to the mansion ahead. That promotion was one thing he did not want to miss out on.

* * *

**What? Bow appearing in this chapter? Well, I'm sure people would've figured it out in the interlude... If you want more of an analysis on Bow's appearance, she appears the same as she did in Paper Chopper. This chapter also created a little conflict between Heartsy and Bow too (Heartsy originally cursed at her, but I chose to get rid of it because making her say that would not work that well).**

**And yup, expect some Luigi's Mansion stuff to appear in the next chapter!**

**Also, I don't own Dusty. He's owned by Irwegwert. **


	74. Chauncey's Crib of Evil

While everyone was relieved to be out of the woods, that was just the start of the creepiness. There was a large fence in the way of the mansion, and on the pathway was a gate in between two blue torches. Past a gate was a black mansion up on a hill with three floors and only two lights on. Where they were lit up, it almost looked like they were the mansion's eyes, and they were curved as if it had angry eyes. On the roof was a chimney that resembled a large crown with a gem on top, kind of like King Boo's crown. A strange, ghostly aura surrounded the mansion and gave the heroes the idea that this was no ordinary mansion.

Not only that, but the environment had drastically changed as well. The landscape was filled with no trees, with the exception of two near the gate, and the dark blue dirt floor had changed to a dark green. The only thing that was not creepy was the strange, out of place building beside the gate. It was a bright yellow with E. Gadd's glasses on it as a symbol.

"Wow... Talk about freaky." Sonic commented. "Of course, I'm not too scared!"

"Do you all see it up there on that hill?" E. Gadd asked, pointing up at the mansion. "That is King Boo's Mansion! Believe it or not, this mansion had ended up appearing here after Luigi defeated King Boo. Even I was surprised by it. It looked like the real deal! That's one of the reasons why I had to come here!"

"Did you go inside?" Bombette asked.

"I explore a bit of it, but not all of it. But from what I can gather, the rooms are pretty similar."

Mario: This brings back some bad memories...

"Geez... Seeing that angry look on the mansion kinda creeps me out." Scrub shuddered. Chopper had gotten a glimpse of it too and shook a little.

"What's wrong, Choppy? Are you scared?" Heartsy asked, inching close to him. "I'm always here for you if you want."

"Uhhhh... No thanks!" Chopper replied, stepping away from the girl. "I'll be perfectly fine!"

"Ho ho ho!" E. Gadd chuckled. "I never knew you two were in a relationship!"

"But we're not!"

"I'm just teasing you, Chopper! Anyway, just follow me up to the mansion door. We'll get ourselves started then."

Agreeing, the nine began to follow the professor. They had gotten a glimpse of a few ravens staring down at them as they passed by the gate. Just going closer to the mansion made the environment a little creepier. The sky itself was slowly turning to a ghostly, light blue as well.

"Poyo... (This is a lot creepier than I thought...)" Kirby trailed.

When they had reached the entrance, they noticed the door had a depiction of King Boo sticking his tongue out. While they didn't find it creepy, it was definitely not a nice welcome.

"Chopper, I must warn you. It is dark in that mansion." E. Gadd informed. "Luckily, not only can the Poltergust 3000 be used as a vacuum, but it can also be used as a flashlight! So, if you're ever in a dark place, then turn it on. But beware... When it's dark, ghosts will be lurking around..."

"Dark places? I guess we'll be on the lookout..." Vivian replied. "Are you ready, Chopper?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!" Chopper declared, approaching the front door.

"Here, take this, Chopper," E. Gadd took out a white Gameboy Advance SP, but it was labeled "Horror" instead. "This…is the Gameboy Horror SP! I've tweaked it a little so it would work better!"

"A Gameboy Horror SP? What does this thing do?" Chopper asked.

"Hmmmm..." Heartsy got a closer look at it. "Maybe it's a gaming device... Or maybe it can help you get in contact with someone, such as a certain girl standing near you?"

"Huh? I don't get it..."

"Oh ho ho ho! I believe you're talking about the Gameboy Love! Now that's a whole different story, but you are on the right track. Not only can it allow you to get in contact with me, but it can be used as a map to guide your way through the mansion, along with giving you information on any Portrait Ghosts that you've caught."

"Portrait Ghosts?" Shadower gawked. "What are those supposed to be?"

"They're the ghosts that escaped from my paintings that I put up in the gallery in my lab! Thanks to King Boo, they're finally free! You don't know the kind of mischief they'll cause around the woods. However, I do believe by capturing these Portrait Ghosts, you can move further into the mansion. Anyway, I don't want to babble on. You've got some ghost busting to do!"

"OK!" Chopper was just about ready to open the door...

"Oh, and another thing..."

Everyone nearly fell over by the door in annoyance. When they got up, they turned to E. Gadd.

"Huff… Huff… I forgot to tell you something! That Poltergust 3000 is going to get full if you ever face a **Boss Ghost**." E. Gadd informed. "Boss Ghosts are ghosts that are much stronger than a normal Portrait Ghost and requires you to deal a little bit of damage on them. Once you defeat one, you can come back to the lab so we can empty that vacuum. And with that, good luck!"

E. Gadd turned away from them and began to jog back to his lab.

"Well, you heard him! Let's get a move on!" Sonic suggested.

Agreeing, Chopper turned to the door and gave it a good push. Taking a step in, he had turned his flashlight on to get a glimpse of the room.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

* * *

"Ah! Here it is! Boo's Mansion! Just as I suspected it to be like! Excellent…" Dusty looked at the map he had and then at the evil mansion. His glowing blue eyes scanned the area for anything nearby. After all, this was a place filled with ghosts. "Hmmm… Good, I should be fine around here. _I hope…_"

Dusty walked toward the mansion, but then he stopped when he heard cackling around him. The words, "I have fury" echoed around him.

"OK, you can shut up now and reveal yourself, high-pitched weirdo," Dusty suggested, reaching for his Blooper gun. "I'm not going to hurt you..."

"Nyeah heh heh heh heh! So you have the seeing of Fawful! I have revealing!" Fawful had jumped out from one of the bushes with his own blaster out.

"What the heck? Who are you supposed to be? A bean that has gone bad? Get out of here!" Dusty aimed his Blooper Gun at him and shot poisonous ink at him. However, Fawful had fired a shot and managed to block the ink.

"Fawful laughs at your shooting! Only I have fawsomeness! Fawsomeness that can only be the achieving of salad dressing that shall soon be dressing onto you!"

Dusty looked confused. "What on earth are you saying? Are you…a guy that makes no sense whatsoever?"

"Fawful has reasoning for being here! The Green Antenna! He has had the defeating of Cackletta!"

"Ummm… OK, cool story, bro. I'll be going now… _Weirdo…_" Dusty ran off toward the mansion, while Fawful put on his Headgear and flew over to the mansion.

* * *

**Elsewhere in King Boo's Mansion-**

"Mwa ha ha ha! This is art at its finest!" King Boo was in the mansion's basement including golden walls and two dragon statues. The dragon statue to the left had its mouth opened up a little.

"Get me out of here this instant!" Bow demanded, trying to break through the painting with her fan.

"Try all you want, but these paintings were designed to keep ghosts from escaping," King Boo grinned. "That means you're trapped in there, just like I once was!"

Bow groaned, but she thought of something. Sure, she was a pretty Boo, but she was also very scary. Even Bootler did not like her scary face. A smirk had appeared before she covered her face. Her mouth was wide open, revealing her two fangs.

Unfortunately, the response she got was a cackle.

"What? You thought I'd be scared of you?" King Boo approached the painting, his glowing eyes staring into her. "Honestly, your look only makes me laugh! I've scared countless amounts of Boos and ghosts! In fact, I believe I've scared many of your Boos into paintings when they got a glimpse of me!"

"Drats..." Bow mumbled.

"Your Majesssty! I come with sssome bad newsss!" a black Boo with yellow eyes called a Shadow Boo exclaimed, flying into the room."You sssee… That boy named Chopper that you sssaid that would be coming hasss jussst arrived!"

"Chopper is already here? Oh, that's great."

"Is that so?" King Boo turned to his minion. "Well, let's have some fun with him, shall we? He's in for quite a scare..."

"I'm sure Chopper and his friends will defeat you," Bow declared. "Trust me, you're in for something interesting."

"Defeat me? HA!" the king whirled back to Bow. "If he came all this way to my mansion already, then he's a lot dumber than I thought! ...Now if you'll excuse me, I have some guests to scare!"

King Boo flew out of the room while cackling. Bow, meanwhile, was forced to wait patiently.

"I hope you come soon, Chopper..."

* * *

**Mansion entrance-**

"Augh! It's too dark in here!" Scrub complained. "Contadre, turn on that flashlight of yours, OK?"

Chopper turned on his flashlight and saw two staircases going up to a door on the second floor and also a door in front of them covered in electric vines. There was a chandelier up on the ceiling, and the floor appeared to be nice and shiny, with King Boo's face plastered on it. Not too surprising...

They decided to explore upstairs, considering that they could not go through the door ahead. Everyone stayed close to Chopper as he shined his flashlight up to a door on the second floor. There was also another door to their left, except it was much smaller. A small table with a red vase was there as well. The first thing Chopper did, however, was open to the door.

Unfortunately, nothing.

"Dang it... It won't open!" Chopper groaned.

Before anyone could speak up, they heard a strange, ghostly giggle echo through the room.

"Wh-What was that?" Bombette gawked, slightly shuddering.

"Weird... The Bombette I remembered would be a bit fearless..." Chopper recalled.

"Don't push it..."

Mario: I heard it coming from downstairs...

"OK, let's check it out then," Chopper walked down the stairs, and they all saw an orange, ghostly ball floating around with a key. Once it noticed Chopper, it dropped the key and flew away into the locked room they were just at.

"Perhaps this key will let us through that door?" Sonic wondered.

Chopper picked the key up, causing the room to lighten. everyone was slightly caught off guard, but they all felt relieved now that there was at least some light in the mansion. They went back upstairs and unlocked the door with the key. Entering, they found a room with portraits on the wall and six purple candles by the portrait in front of them. Unfortunately, there was no ghost in sight.

"Hey... Where'd that thing go?" Scrub asked.

"Poyo... (It's probably hiding...)" Kirby trailed, getting ready for anything.

"Maybe it was scared of us," Chopper answered, turning to his friends. However, little did he know that behind him was the king of Boos, along with two Shadow Boos. His friends' eyes widened in shock upon noticing King Boo. "...Hey, what's with you guys, huh?"

"B-Behind you..." Vivian stammered.

Chopper turned around, causing the ghosts to disappear. He looked confused and turned back to his friends, causing the ghosts to reappear. "There's nothing there!"

"Gh-Ghosts, Contadre..." Scrub gulped.

"Ghosts? Why should we be scared of them when we have THIS in our hands?" the Star Warrior smirked, holding up the Poltergust 3000 proudly. The expressions of King Boo and the Shadow Boos changed into fear upon seeing the vacuum, and they immediately flew out of the room. Now his friends were gawking.

"Whoa... He just flew away like that from seeing that vacuum..." Sonic muttered. "Maybe we can beat him!"

"Hey, did I hear something behind me?" Chopper whirled around, spotting two orange ghosts with long arms, yellow eyes called Gold Ghosts. He shined his flashlight on them, causing them to disappear. "Wait... How do we beat these guys anyway? The professor never mentioned that..."

Conveniently, his Gameboy Horror SP went off, so he pulled it out to find E. Gadd calling him.

_"Chopper! There's something I forgot to mention…" _E. Gadd started._ "If you see a ghost, shine your flashlight on them, and BEFORE they disappear, use the Poltergust 3000 to suck 'em all up into the vacuum! It may be hard at first, but you'll get it."_

"Umm… OK!" Chopper saw the three Gold Ghosts appear in front of him, and he shined his flashlight on them. He got the Poltergust 3000 out and then sucked them into the vacuum, making the lights turn on in the room.

"Well that ended pretty quickly..." Vivian commented.

A chest had materialized in the room, and inside was a Mansion Key Chopper claimed. It happened to unlock the locked door that was just up ahead.

Through the door, they saw the room had a green floor and some small tables where vases were resting on. However, when the door closed shut behind them, electric vines had covered the door and the other one to their left.

A Gold Ghost had appeared in the room and tried punching Chopper, but he managed to catch it in his flashlight and suck it into the vacuum. "Man, this is pretty easy!"

A pink ghost with yellow eyes and a thinner, taller head called a Purple Puncher appeared and tapped Scrub on the shoulder. "Hey, would you quit it already, Sonic? You don't have to tap me on the shoulder-AAAAAAAH!" Scrub let out a yelp as he got knocked back by the Purple Puncher, who had let out a giggle.

It wasn't very short lived when it ended up getting sucked into the Poltergust 3000. Two other Purple Punchers joined it when they tried to go after Mario and Sonic.

Mario: I don't know how we can take these things...

After defeating them, the lights turned on, and a chest appeared in the center. Like before, a key was inside leading to the next door. The electric vines had also vanished, allowing the heroes to progress into the next dark one appeared to be a wardrobe room, having three closets, a mirror, and a hanger with a couple of clothes hung up.

"Hey, this place looks interesting," Heartsy remarked, noticing some different costumes in the closet, despite it being dark. She then noticed a green ghost with yellow eyes resembling a trash can appear. It was holding some bananas and was eating a few. "Hey... I never thought there were ghosts eating bananas."

"Bananas?! Oh, boy!" Chopper smiled, shining the flashlight on the Garbage Can Ghost and started to suck it into the vacuum. Compared to the Gold Ghost and Purple Puncher, this one took a little more effort to catch, as it was dropping banana peels everywhere. Thankfully, he had managed to get it, along with another Garbage Can Ghost and a Gold Ghost.

They noticed no other ghosts made an appearance in the room, even when it was dark. When Chopper shined his flashlight on one of the closed closets, Kirby walked over to it and leaned on it. A Gold Ghost had come out from hiding.

"Poyo! (Heads up, Chopper! There's a ghost right here!)" Kirby shouted. Chopper nodded and caught the ghost in his flashlight and sucked it into the vacuum, turning the lights on and making a key appear on top of the closet. Kirby put his inhaling to use and moved it onto the ground, allowing him to catch it.

"So, where do you think this key goes to?" Shadower asked.

"How about here?" Chopper suggested, going to the door straight ahead. However, it was unlocked, and it only led outside to a small balcony. He returned to the other in disappointment, muttering, "Nothing..."

Mario: We should check back at the main entrance!

"We might as well," Heartsy shrugged. "There was another door over there, right?"

"Hey, you're right! Let's go!" Chopper declared, making his way back to the foyer. Upon reaching the door, he heard his Gameboy Horror SP going off.

_"Chopper! Chopper! Come in, Chopper! It's me, Professor E. Gadd!" _

Chopper took his Gameboy Horror SP out and saw the professor's image on the screen. "Oh, hey, professor! What is it?"

"_Chopper, listen very carefully! Beyond that door is a hallway with doors leading to stronger ghosts. I'm getting readings that there are Portrait Ghosts in there!" _

"Ghost Portraits? You mean the ones you mentioned?"

_"Yes. I didn't mention this before, but they're much different than normal ghosts. Unlike normal ghosts, though, they're not going to make it easy for you to catch them. They won't show their hearts so easily, unfortunately. BUT… If you use the Gameboy Horror SP, you can get some information on them and how to beat it! Sometimes you can learn the best way to surprise 'em, too!" _

"Oh... Well that's interesting!"

_"Well, Chopper, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you." _

"All right, thanks for the info, Professor! And we'll make sure we get those ghosts, right Chopper?" Sonic asked. He gave Sonic a nod and E. Gadd chuckled. With that, Chopper turned off the device and unlocked the door leading into a small, dark hallway. They found out that all of the doors were locked except for the one that was the closest to them. One of the doors, however, was fake, and it ended up flattening Chopper in the process.

When they walked into the closest door, they found a small room with fireplace, a book shelf with books and a rocking chair that was rocking back and forth. Bombette took notice of the rocking chair and raised and eyebrow.

"That chair is moving on its own..." Bombette muttered.

"Well, the professor mentioned something about using that Gameboy Horror SP to find anything, so I better use it!" Chopper pulled out his Gameboy Horror SP and saw a light blue man with orange hair and mustache, green eyes and a purple robe rocking back and forth on it. He appeared to have a book in his hand.

_"Ah, this Paper Chopper book is very interesting!" _the ghost named Neville remarked.

"Heads up, Contadre! Book dead ahead!" Scrub warned. Chopper turned and saw a book coming toward him. Instead of punching it, he sucked it into the vacuum, which ended up taking care of it.

"Hey, ghost person!" Chopper shouted, turning to the rocking chair. Sadly, Neville did not appear to show himself. "Yeah, I'm talking to you! We know you're there and we're going to get you! So… Show yourself!"

Neville did not respond.

"Well that didn't work…" he trailed, turning to his friends. That was when Neville had appeared, and he was apparently stretching his arms and letting out a yawn. Everyone else could see something exposed in his chest.

"Chopper! His heart's exposed!" Shadower shouted. "Get him!"

Chopper turned around and his flashlight was shining on Neville's heart. He smirked as he began to suck Neville into the vacuum. But just as E. Gadd had told him, the Portrait Ghost was doing a much better job at trying to escape from the vacuum.

_"Gah! You'll never get me into that machine!" _Neville grabbed onto the rocking chair, but, being a ghost, his hand only phased through it. Eventually he got sucked into the vacuum, turning the lights on and revealing a chest.

"Poyo! (Yup! It's a key!)" announced Kirby, who tossed it to Chopper. He took out his Gameboy Horror SP to see where the key would lead them.

"Follow me," Chopper called out to his friends, walking out of the room and heading to the locked door at the end of the hallway. The door led them into a bedroom with a pink carpet, along with some curtains. Over by the corner was a mirror and stool.

"That bed looks very comfortable," Heartsy remarked.

"Well, I don't think we're not alone in here..." Chopper trailed, using the Gameboy Horror SP to see a ghost lady with blonde hair in a pink robe sitting on the stool, combing her hair. The sound of the thunder and lightning made the room flash for a brief moment, making everyone startled.

"Yikes! I didn't know there was a storm here!" Sonic winced.

When Chopper had calmed down, he noticed one of the curtains seemed to be blowing back compared to the others. Looking behind, the window appeared to have a broken hole.

"Hmmm… I think I have an idea!" Chopper opened the curtains and the wind began to blow into the room. Vivian and Shadower held onto their hats, while Neville's wife, Lydia, had taken notice of the wind blowing into the room.

_"Oh, dear… What a nasty draft!" _This ended up revealing her heart, allowing Chopper to catch her in his flashlight and suck her into the Poltergust 3000. Though she struggled a bit more than Neville, he managed to successfully get her caught, making the lights turn on and reveal a chest. Sonic opened it to find another Mansion Key.

"Piece of cake!" Sonic smiled, tossing the key to Chopper. "So, where to next?"

"Let's see..." Chopper exited the room and checked his Gameboy Horror SP. As he was checking, though, the heroes heard the sound of crying coming from a door nearby. "Please don't tell me that was a baby ghost in there..."

"Seriously? It'll be easy to catch!" Scrub assured. "I mean, I doubt the baby will even care!"

"Well, looks like we found out where we need to go next… So… Are you guys ready?"

Mario: Oh, yes!

Chopper turned to the door and unlocked it with the key. The room appeared to be a nursery, with pink walls, a small drawer with a golden lamp, a pink table with hot pink heart-shaped chairs, a shelf containing baby pictures and building blocks. There was also a crib, some teddy bears on a shelf, a ball and a rocking horse.

"It's a baby's room..." Shadower trailed.

Taking out his Gameboy Horror SP, Chopper saw a baby fast asleep wearing yellow pajamas and had a pacifier in his mouth. However, the only problem was trying to find its weak spot. On the other hand... It was a baby.

"I don't really like this..." Chopper trailed.

Kirby looked at the ball and suggested, "Poyo? (Why don't we play some ball! It will be fun!)"

"Wait... Are you sure? I mean, there's a baby in here..."

"Poyo... (He won't hear it, though...)"

"I call soccer!" Sonic declared, kicking the ball toward Chopper, who kicked it back. He, Kirby, Mario and Sonic were kicking the ball around the room, while the others watched it bounce around. When it had hit the rocking horse, the baby let out a cry.

"Uh… I don't think this is a good idea, Chopper…" Vivian trailed.

The ball had hit the wall over by the crib. Since Chopper was closest to it, he decided to get it. Coincidentally, the ball was handed to him and he said, "Thank you!" before turning around. ...But he froze for a moment and slowly turned around to see a baby ghost.

_"Hi there? Whatcha playing?" _the baby named Chauncey asked.

Chopper could only stare at the baby in horror.

"Well I wanna play, too!" Chauncey declared, taking out his pink rattle and shaking it. The door was barricaded by electric vines, preventing them from escaping. Soon teddy bears were flying their way, and they jumped out of the way.

_"Hey, that's not the way to play!"_

"We gotta teach this baby a lesson!" Scrub declared. "C'mon, guys! Let's beat this thing!"

Scrub charged at the baby, but he only phased through it, making Chauncey giggle. Scrub only crashed into the wall, leaving him flattened for a brief moment. Everyone else face palmed while dodging a teddy bear.

"Maybe we need to throw a ball at him," Heartsy suggested. "But only when he doesn't see it coming."

"You mean something like this?" Chopper asked, giving the ball a quick kick. Unfortunately, it had missed Chauncey, but it had luckily bounced off the wall and hit him, causing him to be thrown toward them.

"_Ow! That hurt! Why did you meanies have to give me an owie?!" _Chauncey whined._ "All I wanted to do is play… But you just had to be mean! I HATE older people! You always have to be bigger than meeee!"_

"Well you asked for it!" Scrub retorted.

_"You know what? I'm going to make you all feel how it's like to be smaller than meeee! …__**Small… Now grow smaller! **__Small! Itsy! Tiny! Little! Wee! Ga ga goo goo GA!" _

Everyone gawked as everything around them started to disappear, along with Chauncey.

* * *

**Mansion entrance-**

"Hmmm? I thought this place would be a lot smaller than I thought it would be…" Dusty trailed as he entered the mansion, noticing the electric door in front of him. "Great… There's no way I'm getting through here… I better check upstairs."

He walked upstairs and decided to head for the big door that was in front of him. "Strange... This place was supposed to be dark, but I don't see any darkness in this room! Unless... If someone else is after that star, then there could be a problem..."

Dusty held his Blooper gun near him and scanned the room. Nothing but some shelves and some nice portraits. He decided to move on through the next door, now on the alert.

_"I swear if I fail to get that star, I could be getting a demotion instead!"_

* * *

"Oooog… What just happened?" Chopper slowly got up and rubbed his head. He saw the sky had changed to a strange, distorted color, ranging from black, green, blue, purple, and red. "Oh, nothing too special! We're just standing on a giant crib! ...Wait, a giant crib?!"

When everyone else had gotten up, they too were shocked by their location.

"Where did the mansion go?" Vivian gasped.

"Where we are is the bigger question!" Bombette exclaimed.

Their answers were interrupted by the sound of a baby cry. Unlike last time, however, it was echoing through the sky. A bunch of rocking horses flew around them, and floating in front of the giant crib was Chauncey.

Except he was much bigger...

"Oh, boy... I don't like this one bit..." Scrub gulped, biting his lip.

_"Hee hee hee hee! Now we can play forever and ever and EVER!" _Chauncey yelled.

"Yeesh... This baby's insane." Sonic sweat dropped, only to grin afterward. "But then again, I think we can entertain this little baby a little bit!"

"Entertain? But how?" Chopper asked.

"Maybe some good butt-kicking will take him down!"

"Hey... Yeah! I bet this is a Boss Ghost, and like all bosses, we gotta take him down!" Chopper smirked, hurling a fireball at Chauncey. Unfortunately, it missed. "Whoops! I think I missed... Thinking about it more, I wonder if I can get an ability from those horses?"

Chopper inhaled one of the rocking horses, which transformed into a glowing green ghost with white eyes and a white mouth. Unfortunately, he had lost his legs, but that didn't matter. He was Ghost Chopper!

"OK, you ghost baby! We're going to put an end to your playing, and then you're going into the Poltergust 3000!"

**Tattle:** _That's Chauncey. Despite looking so cute, he's the spoiled baby of both Neville and Lydia. Max HP is 100, Attack is 10, and Defense is 0. That rattle of his has the ability to summon rocking horses, balls, and even teddy bears. If you can weaken him enough, his heart will be revealed, and you can use the Poltergust 3000 to catch him! I'd recommend doing that once he's stunned! ...Strange, it says that a ghost can only hurt a ghost during a Boss Ghost. How strange is that?_

Chopper floated up to Chauncey and delivered a Ghost Punch, causing him to let out a cry when getting knocked back.

_"Wah! WAAAAAAAAH! That hurts!" _Chauncey cried.

"Geez! How loud can that get!" Heartsy complained.

Vivian sank into the shadows and struck Chauncey with a Shade Fist. This only made things worse, unfortunately.

_"I'm going to make you pay for hitting meeee! Come out, horseys!" _Chauncey shook his rattle and rocking horses flew down onto Chopper and Vivian, dealing 10 damage to them both.

Chopper attacked Chauncey with his Ghost Punch, and then Shadower followed up with his Shadow Punch, despite it not lowering his defense. Chauncey shook his rattle and summoned a couple of balls to fall from the sky. Two had hit Chopper, but three more remained in front of Chauncey. One of them looked different, however...

"That one looks real," Scrub noticed. "How about I spit it at him?"

"Go for it!" Chopper smiled, flying up to Chauncey and hitting him with another Ghost Punch. Scrub approached the real ball next and took it in his mouth, followed by spitting it out at Chauncey. Everyone was smiling when his heart was revealed. "Ha HAAA!"

Chopper started to suck Chauncey into the vacuum, but as usual, the ghost was struggling to break free.

_"NOOOOOOOOO! Somebody help me! Mommy! Daddy! Help meeeeeee!" _

"Sorry, but you gotta get in the vacuum!" Chopper declared, being dragged around the large crib.

"_NO!" _Chauncey spun around and broke free from the vacuum, causing Chopper to tumble back. To get back at him, Chauncey flew above him and landed on top of him, flattening him and making him lose his Ghost ability.

"Aw, man! That's not fair!"

"Who cares about that? Let's just get him another time!" Sonic smirked, hitting Chauncey with a Homing Attack. Chopper shrugged and leaped in the air to hit the baby with a Jump. Retaliating, Chauncey summoned teddy bears to rain down on the heroes. They luckily guarded the attack and took only 6 damage.

"Hey, spoiled baby! Wanna see who the real baby is? Well, he's right here!" Scrub declared, pointing at himself.

"Scrub... I don't think you want to be the 'baby'..." Shadower trailed.

"Really? But being a cool baby like myself rocks!"

"Just hit him..."

Scrub listened and fluttered above Chauncey and hit him with a Ground Pound. Chopper tossed an ice ball at him next, which managed to leave him stunned once again. Getting the vacuum out, he began to suck Chauncey into it once again. While he was being dragged around, he noticed Chauncey was starting to get weaker, making it harder for him to break free.

But to his luck, he did have enough energy to break free and threw Chopper off, making hm tumble back to his friends.

"We've almost got him..." Chopper moaned.

_"Even when you're small you guys give me owies!"_ Chauncey cried. _"Grow! Bigger! Stronger! Ga ga goo goo GA!"_

"Hey, he's going to turn us back to normal! Maybe he's not so bad as I thought!"

Mario: I don't think he's making us bigger...

Everyone gawked as Chauncey grew much bigger in size, his shadow now towering over them.

"So... Anyone have any ideas on how to beat this big baby now?" Bombette asked, turning to her friends. "Because I don't..."

"Hey! He is a big baby!" Scrub realized. "Hey, big baby! You're go-"

_"I may be big, but now you're going to be squishy now that you're smaller!"_ Chauncey bellowed.

The first thing he did was try to flatten the heroes. With his size, he was able to hit everyone. However, they managed to guard the attack, preventing Chopper from being unable to use his jump, hammer or even hand ability.

"Even at a bigger size, you've become a bigger target!" Chopper smirked, hitting Chauncey with a Spin Jump. Kirby hit him with his Stone attack, reducing him to 19 HP. "I think we got this!"

Chauncey took out his rattle and, rather than shaking it, he swung it down on the crib, creating an earthquake that had dealt 12 damage to them all. Well, except for Vivian and Shadower.

"Wait... At a bigger size, he's much closer to the ground!" Bombette realized. "Stand aside, people, and see how a Bob-omb gets the job done!"

Bombette attacked Chauncey with her Bomb, and when Chopper jumped on him, he summoned more balls to attack the heroes. They knew what to do, so Chopper hit him with another jump, and then Scrub spat the real ball straight at Chauncey.

"His HP's down to 0!" Heartsy cheered. "...But he's still up."

"Guess we gotta get him in the vacuum," Chopper shrugged, pulling out his vacuum with a smirk. "Playtime's over, ya big baby!"

_"No! It will never beeee!"_ Chauncey whined, only to get caught in the vacuum's suction. Despite his struggling, he was too weak to break off, allowing Chopper to successfully catch him inside the vacuum.

"Woo hoo! We did it!" Sonic cheered, giving a thumbs up in a victory.

Before they could celebrate, everything around them went blank.

* * *

**Nursery-**

"...Huh? We're back in the baby's room!" Chopper noticed, looking at his arms and feet, along with the surroundings. "And it's light in here! ...But it's all pink."

"I don't mind," Heartsy shrugged.

"But that ghost was a boy, right? Then why would he want a stinky room like this?" Scrub wondered.

While he pondered, Chopper opened up the large, golden chest that had appeared in the room. Inside was a pink Boss Ghost Key in the shape of a heart. He held it up in victory, despite it not being the color he liked.

_"KRZZZ…Ch…o…p…p…e…r…KRZZZ." _

Hearing that, Chopper pulled out his Gameboy Horror SP and found the professor contacting him.

_"Oh, thank goodness! I lost contact with you all of the sudden… I was a tad worried." _E. Gadd let out a sigh in relief.

"Well, we had a little fight with some baby ghost or something... He certainly put up more of a fight than the other two ghosts!"

_"I suppose it was a Boss Ghost that you were against. I believe I've explained that to you before, yes?" _

"Yeah... But we're all good now." Chopper assured, letting out a relieved sigh.

_"Hmmm. You seem to be a bit tuckered out after that long battle you had, don't you? Why don't you come on back to the lab? That Poltergust 3000 tends to get a little full when you fight against a Boss Ghost." _

"We sure showed it who's boss!"

_"Ho ho ho! Right you are, Chopper! Now, come to my lab so we can empty it out."_

* * *

**Professor E. Gadd's lab-**

Outside the mansion, the heroes had entered the small, wooden shack that was beside the gate. Little did they know that there was a secret lab underneath it. There were many sorts of machines used for ghosts in the lab such as a tank and a small conveyer belt beside it. There was another machine with an opening around the size of the Poltergust 3000's vacuum opening with pipes connected to the tank.

Overall, it was pretty cool.

"Good job, Chopper and Co.! You've managed to come back here in one piece!" E. Gadd congratulated.

"Well it wasn't too difficult," Chopper assured.

"We've been through worse," Scrub mentioned.

"Take a look at this machine," E. Gadd. noted, looking over at the machines beside them. "This fine piece of work took nearly twenty years to develop! I call it the **Ghost Portrificationizer**! I once used this when Luigi had caught all of those nasty ghosts. This wonderful machine allows us to turn those ghosts you caught into paintings. Not only that, but it also works in reverse, too! Just ask your friend Mario! He's been through that! Oh ho ho ho!"

Mario: It sure was an interesting ride.

"Wow... This thing is pretty cool!" Chopper smiled, staring at the machine. "...But how do I use it?"

"It's fairly simple! Just plug that Poltergust 3000 into that slot and enjoy the ride, Chopper!"

"Oh... That sounds easy..." Chopper took out the vacuum and placed it in the opening of the machine. He put it on reverse and released all of the ghosts, mainly the Portrait Ghosts, into the machine. They went into the tank, causing them to shake around the spinning liquid. They were then taken out of the machine and onto moving panels on the conveyer belt. Other machines helped flatten them to prevent them from moving, zapped to turn them visible, and then pounded into a portrait.

"The ghosts are invisible…so we need to press 'em into visible forms!" E. Gadd explained through the process. "…And presto! Turn 'em into beautiful ghost portraits!"

"Enjoy your painting, Chauncey!" Chopper exclaimed, waving to the painting of Chauncey.

"Hmmm… Well, we managed to turn those ghosts back into paintings. Thank you for your help, Chopper and Co.! I suggest you go back into King Boo's mansion and find King Boo and those other Portrait Ghosts!"

"Will do! See ya, Professor!"

Waving goodbye, Chopper and his friends took the ladder out of the lab and back outside. Though they had taken care of a few Portrait Ghosts, they knew much more was to come.

* * *

**Personally, I like this part better than the other. This is basically what the rest of this chapter will be kind of like, and it's definitely much longer than the previous three chapters.  
**


	75. When Ghosts Attack

"What? How was that possible? Chopper has already gotten the key to enter the first floor hallway?!" King Boo growled, not happy to hear the news. "I guess I didn't do a good job of hiding that key. He's lucky he has that vacuum in his hands!"

"Vacuum?" Bow gawked. "What are you talking about?"

"The Poltergust 3000," King Boo said angrily, turning to Bow. "It's a vacuum designed by that dumb scientist to catch ghosts. It's one of the only things I fear. That is, if I find a way to counter that thing's power!"

A smirk had formed on Bow's face. "If Chopper has that, then I suppose your nights of turning people into painting are over."

"Oh, not quite. Catching me won't be as easy as before! He'll come to realize that once he tries to use it on me."

"Doubt it," Bow replied. "You're not exactly the freakiest thing out there..."

"Oh, so you want me to permanently turn you into a painting?" King Boo grinned. "I can arrange that just for you. That way, you'll be trapped forever and unable to move!"

"Excussse me, Your Majesssty… What about Chopper?" a Shadow Boo asked, interrupting the king. "How can we take on him when he holds that vacuum?"

"I'll take care of him!" a dark ghost with orange eyes, disembodied hands and a scary grin exclaimed, materializing into the room. "I happen to know a good way of stopping that boy! I've made some pretty good plans to take him down! I was thinking about a little prank. You know what I'm saying?"

"A prank? Let me get a glimpse of it," King Boo suggested, taking the plans from the ghost. After looking at it for a couple of seconds, he grinned. "Hee hee! This just might be something I want to see!"

"We can have everyone join in the fun too!" the ghost cackled. Bow, meanwhile, looked uncertain.

_"This doesn't sound good… Whatever plan that ghost has, it doesn't sound good! I need to find a way to get a message to Chopper. …I think I might be able to get SOME things out of here…" _Bow took out a letter and wrote in it. She also got her fan, a picture of her and Chopper and took one bow off her. _"I hope this works…" _

After writing the letter, she managed to throw it out of the painting. _"I guess this painting was only made to prevent me from escaping and not anything else I hold..."_

* * *

**Mansion entrance-**

"I wonder what kind of ghosts we'll run into after that baby?" Chopper wondered, entering the foyer with his friends. Since he was too uncomfortable with the Boss Ghost Key, he thought Heartsy wouldn't mind holding it, so he gave it to her.

"All right, let's see where this key goes," Heartsy declared, approaching the door in front of them. They noticed the heart shape depicted on it. "I guess it goes here, but how will these electric vines come off?"

While she pondered, the key began to glow, along with the door. It shot a beam at the vines that destroyed it. Everyone was left in surprise.

"Whoa... That was cool." Sonic commented.

After unlocking the door, the nine entered a dark hallway with a red rugged path leading to their left and to the right. There was another hallway up north near the right as well. Chopper checked his Gameboy Horror SP and saw that one of the doors north and to the left were not locked.

"OK, let's stay close, and if you get lost, try to see if you can find flashlight around," Chopper suggested, turning his flashlight on and heading up the hallway and to the unlocked door, which was near another door with an electric barrier.

"This take us to…a bathroom?" Scrub looked disappointed when they entered a bathroom. The shower curtain was even up but no one was using it at the moment. Thankfully, it was nice and clean.

"The bathroom is actually very nice..." Vivian commented. "Though, if only it wasn't so dark..."

She suddenly felt something grab her behind. Everyone had notice a lavender ghost that did not float upright. Vivian managed to break out of the Grabbing Ghost's hold and managed to leave a burn on it thanks to her Shade Fist. Chopper then sucked it into the Poltergust 3000.

"Poyo? (What were those ghosts?)" Kirby asked.

"I don't know, but they sure are a big fan of grabbing people," Chopper replied, catching another Grabbing Ghost. The lights turned on in the bathroom and a shadow of what appeared to be a key appeared behind the curtains. Scrub opened them and took the Mansion Key.

"Let's take this to wherever we need to bring it," Scrub suggested. Chopper took the key and walked back into the hallway. Looking in his Gameboy Horror SP, the door was by a hallway they had walked to get here. They stopped at the end of the hallway near the one with the door with the heart depiction. Chopper got the key out and unlocked it.

What they found in the room was a ball room. There were some circular sections on the floor in black and white checkered, and there were some red chairs by some red curtains as well. Some Shy Guy Ghosts in orange, white, red and green were dancing around, swinging their spears at each other and missing.

"Wait... Didn't we see these guys back in the forest?" Sonic asked. "Though these look more like ghosts..."

"Yeah, but since they're distracted, let's take care of 'em!" Chopper smiled, shining his flashlight on the ghosts. Sadly, it didn't reveal their hearts. "Nothing?"

"Maybe you just need to get their masks off," Shadower informed.

Kirby approached them and used his inhaling to suck the masks off them, allowing Chopper to trap them in the Poltergust 3000. There were four more left, so he used the vacuum to suck their masks off and catch them in the vacuum as well.

"They hardly put up a fight!" Chopper complained. "Oh well..."

After he got rid of them, they all noticed the checkered sections slowly rotating, and two ghosts had appeared in the room as well, dancing. The man wore a red suit and had orange hair, and the lady had blonde hair and a green dress. After Chopper investigated them with the Gameboy Horror SP, they were revealed to be the Floating Whirlindas.

Oh, and there was some small music playing.

"This sounds like dancing music," Heartsy listened, turning to Chopper with a smile. "Maybe we can dance together!"

"What's dancing?" Chopper asked.

"Maybe I can show you," she replied, only to freeze briefly. "...Wait, I never danced either. Never mind that."

When Chopper looked at the Floating Whirlindas through the Gameboy Horror SP, he noticed they were minding their own business with their dancing. "Gee... Sometimes I wonder why we're doing this when these ghosts aren't hurting us."

"Well because they're dangerous," Sonic replied. "And 'dangerous' is nothing good. It also means we get to have a little fun!"

"Oh... All right, then!" Chopper noticed the male ghost bow to the lady, causing his heart to be revealed. He jumped over to them and shined his flashlight on them. His vacuum did the job and managed to suck them in, causing the lights to turn on and reveal a chest.

"Those two hardly put up a fight!" Scrub complained. "Where's the challenge in that?!"

"Well, at least they're dancing peacefully in the vacuum..." Vivian noted, while Shadower opened the chest to find a key.

"Let's just see where the key takes us to," Shadower gave the key to Chopper, who had checked his Gameboy Horror SP for its location. The key led to a room to a door at the left corner in the first hallway. They all knew what to do and made their way to that location, only to notice something strange.

"Hey, look at that!" Bombette saw a floating candelabra to the north right by a door where the sounds of a piano could be heard. The candelabra didn't appear to be lit up, so Chopper decided to be nice and light them up himself.

Of course, that was not what the ghost holding the candelabra wanted.

Revealed to be holding the candelabra was a ghost at the age of seventy-two with purple hair and a tuxedo. His name was Shivers, and he was a butler.

_"__Ahhhhh! Fire! Fire! Fire! Run away! Run awaaaay!" _Shivers cried, flying through the hallways while flailing around.

"Poyo! (Look at his arms shake!)" Kirby smiled.

"Well I guess that reveals one ghost," Bombette said. "Let's follow him!"

Everyone followed him to where the locked door was in the left corner of the hallway. Chopper unlocked it and headed into a laundry room, but they followed Shivers to the door south and into the butler's room, which contained small, wooden tables, teapots, and a shelf with a couple of wrenches.

_"Whew… I thought I was going to be a goner for a second…" _Shivers sat down on the stool, the fire on his candelabra now gone. He decided to take a rest as well. Big mistake.

With his heart revealed, Chopper caught him in his flashlight and sucked him into the Poltergust 3000, lighting the room up and revealing another chest. Inside was a key that Chopper happily took.

They went back into the laundry room afterward that had many different types of soap for laundry and some towels. Two Purple Punchers and a red and lavender Grabbing Ghost were in this room. The Purple Punchers were simple to take care of, while the grabbers tried grabbing Shadower and Mario. Thankfully, Chopper caught them both in the flashlight and sucked them in the vacuum, turning the lights on. Sadly, there was no chest in sight.

"Hey... Is that washing machine shaking?" Vivian noticed, pointing at the washing machine to the left corner. Chopper decided to inspect by opening it. Inside was a familiar red bow.

"This is Bow's bow! But… How did it even get here?" Chopper asked.

Mario: This is strange...

They left that room and headed to the other side of the hallway. There was a door standing right in front of them, and there was another to their right. They chose to enter the right door and were led into a room with a tent in the center and four unlit candles on each corner. Chopper simply lit the candles with some fireballs, making a key drop from the top of the tent. Unfortunately, that did not light the room up.

"Wait... So how does this room light up then?" Bombette asked.

"There should be something here..." Chopper trailed. When he got a glimpse of a crystal ball on the table, his antennas sprung up in shock. "Oh! Look, guys!"

When they got a glimpse of the crystal ball, Chopper's flashlight had made it glimmer. When it was bright enough, a ghost lady with long, purple hair, ring-shaped earrings, a red robe, and a purple mask with an eye depicted on it that hid the lower portion of her face.

"It's a fortune teller..." Vivian gasped.

Everyone was left in shock. Not just because of the ghost in the room, but because this Portrait Ghost was not afraid to show herself. Unfortunately, no heart was exposed for Chopper to catch.

_"Greetings, mortals," _the ghost greeted. _"I see you carry the Poltergust 3000, the 'Vacuum That Sucks Up Ghosts,' am I correct?"_

"Who the heck are you?" Chopper asked, aiming his vacuum at her.

_"Relax… I am not like those other ghosts. I am __**Madame Clairvoya**__, seer of __**dropped items**__. Possessions of other people awaken vibrations in my spirit… If you find someone's dropped items, you should bring them to me. I will show you the extent of my vision…" _

"Dropped items? Huh..." Chopper trailed, remembering the bow he had found. He had taken it out to show her, and she was certainly surprised.

_"Wh-What is this?! Bow's bow! The one she always wore on her hat! It's so clean, as if... SOMEONE JUST WASHED IT!"_

Everyone else: ?

_"...My apologies. Sometimes I like to add a little drama, you know. Hold on... Did I just say Bow? Could it really be THAT Bow?"_

"Yeah," Chopper nodded.

_"Ah. I see now. Ahhhh, I see everything. Well, technically, I saw it before, but now I REALLY see it. So you are all friends to this Bow, and you have come to find him?"_

Everyone nodded in response.

_"HACK ka ha harf!"_ Clairvoya laughed, only to be interrupted by her coughs. _"...Excuse me, I don't laugh much."_

"Oh... OK."

_"Oh-ohh! They come! Now the spirits come!"_ the room began to slightly shake for a brief moment. _"Come, spirits of power, come spirits of sight! Show to me the awful things occurring here tonight!"_

Purple fire emerged from Clairvoya's hands as she slowly moved her arms. _"Crystal orb, symbol of my clan, use your darkling power to show us all you could! I mean CAN! Show us all you can! Show us this…Bow! The light of the spirits come! Show us what we seek!"_

Everyone took a glimpse of the crystal ball while a slight tremor occurred in the room. Unfortunately, they had not gotten sight of Bow. The only thing they saw was swirling magic.

_"Ohhhh… Harummm… I see that your Bow lives..."_

"Really? Well that's a relief!" Chopper smiled.

_"Well, she is not in the spirit world…but one cannot say she alive…haaackth ha ha hork! (Excuse me, sorry.) Where is she? Where is she now?" _Clairvoya looked deeply into the crystal ball, but her image had faded away. _"…Ah, the spirits fall silent! Uuuh…This is all I can tell you for now! Bring to me another clue, and I will show your friend to you. This clue no longer speaks to us…"_

"All right, I guess that sounds like a plan," Sonic replied, walking out of the room with the others. Some of them, however, felt uncertain.

"You think we can trust her?" Bombette asked.

"Well... She's a fortune teller, and they, y'know, tell the future!" Chopper answered. "It makes perfect sense!"

"But she's also a Portrait Ghost..." Vivian trailed. "On the other hands, she's actually helping us..."

Mario: We should just show her more items and see what happens.

"I guess I'd have to agree with Mario on this one," Heartsy complied. "Anyway, where does that key go to, Choppy?"

Chopper checked his Gameboy Horror SP and went through the hallway to explore. Unfortunately, they had run into a yellow ghost that resembled a Gold Ghost called a Bowling Ghost. It took out a purple, explosive bowling ball and rolled it toward the heroes. It exploded, covering everyone in soot. The Bowling Ghost disappeared after giggling.

"Well... That was one heck of a surprise." Sonic commented, shaking the soot off him.

"We'll get it next time!" Scrub declared.

The key was revealed to open the door right where Shivers was flying around. They entered the room and found many musical instruments in the dark room. There was a saxophone, a harp, a bass (the orchestra kind), three drums and a xylophone.

"A music room? Interesting..." Shadower commented.

Just by touching the instruments, they began to play on their own. It was discovered that the song playing was the Super Mario Bros. theme, something very familiar to most of them.

Mario: Ah, the memories.

"I don't know what this song is, but it ain't half bad!" Sonic smiled, tapping his foot.

_"It is certainly magnificent!" _

Everyone looked over at the piano and saw a lady with light blonde hair, a hot pink dress, and yellow eyes playing it. They looked over at the instruments and noticed a Gold Ghost, a Purple Puncher, a Garbage Can Ghost, and a Shy Guy Ghost playing them.

"Who are you?" Chopper asked.

_"My name is __**Melody**__. People call me the spectral beauty of the ivory keys!" _Melody answered._ "What a stirring performance you got there! I haven't been so charmed by a piece like that for a long time! You all must have a delicate ear for music. Would you like to listen to my piano sonata?"_

"Sure, go right ahead," Shadower answered.

She giggled and began to play one of the Overworld themes from Super Mario Bros. 3.

"This song reminds me of this one game I played," Heartsy recalled.

"Me too!" Chopper agreed.

After Melody finished playing, she turned to the heroes. _"By the way…that song was featured in a famous game. Do you know which game?"_

"It was from Super Mario Bros. 2!" Chopper answered proudly.

_"No, no, NO! That's all wrong!"_ Melody yelled, banging her hands on the piano. _"I put my heart and soul into that piece, only to be insulted? How could you, you awful boy!"_

"What? But isn't that where it's from?"

"No, it's Super Mario Bros. _3_..." Heartsy sighed.

_"...Exactly right!" _Melody laughed._ "You got it! Very impressive! It's nice to know that there's someone who has some brains! I guess I needn't hold back with you! Would you all care to do battle with my lovely __**Music Sheets**__?" _

"Battle with your Music Sheets? What are you talking about?" Chopper asked.

Melody began to play the piano like a master and a bunch of music sheets flew in their direction. Kirby jumped in and inhaled the sheets to get rid of them.

"Poyo! (That handles that!)" Kirby smiled.

With her weak spot exposed, Chopper shined the flashlight on Melody and began to suck her into the vacuum. Though she struggled, she ended up getting captured, turning the lights on and making a chest appear. Another Mansion Key was inside.

"Whew! I thought we were going to get paper cuts for a second!" Scrub sighed.

"Looks like the key leads to the door across from that ball room," Chopper noted, checking his Gameboy Horror SP. "Let's go!"

They exited the music room and headed down to the hallway where there were two doors facing each other. They unlocked the door to their left and entered what appeared to be a dining room. There was a long, rectangular table, and some lit up coal on some tall pedestals. There were also two candles that were only lit purple, while the four others were not.

One thing for sure was that both Chopper and Kirby loved this room.

"Poyo! (Food!)" Kirby cheered.

"Yeah! A dining room!" Chopper cheered as well, only to be interrupted by the sound of chomping. He was left suspicious, so he lit up the candles and saw a sight that nearly disturbed him. "What IS that thing?!"

Standing in front of them was a purple, obese ghost wearing a napkin around his neck, a red shirt and blue hair. He had ghostly food on his plate that he was chomping down, and it never seemed to go away. His name was revealed to be Mr. Luggs.

"Yeesh... Looks like someone's been overeating." Sonic commented.

"But there's always an easy way to stop them!" Chopper smiled, walking over to Mr. Luggs. "You just take their food away!"

He grabbed the plate (which was not ghostly) and pulled it away. He smiled proudly at his victory, only to hear a roar from the obese ghost.

_"**YOU! **__You…got rid of my precious food! You will pay!" _Mr. Luggs exclaimed, shooting fireballs at Chopper.

"Looks like someone's got a little heartburn," Sonic said.

They all dodged Mr. Luggs's fireballs, but eventually Scrub inhaled one and spat it back in his direction, knocking him off his chair and was now left in a daze. This exposed his weak point as well.

"Get 'em, Contadre!" Scrub shouted.

Chopper immediately shined his flashlight on Mr. Luggs and got him into the vacuum, turning the lights on in the process. No chest appeared, sadly, but they could still progress into the next room. To Chopper and Kirby, it was better than the dining room.

There was a refrigeration, a stove, and even a cabinet filled with many dishes. The door leading outside, however, was covered in fire. Some frying pans were flying in their direction, but they easily dodged them.

"Poyo! (There's bound to be food in the kitchen!)" Kirby cried.

"I'll get the food!" Chopper declared, opening the refrigerator door. What he found, however, was a light blue Purple Puncher with what appeared to be ice protecting its heart. It was revealed to be a Flash, a subspecies of the Purple Puncher.

Chopper tried shining his flashlight on it, but it didn't appear to be effective, allowing the Flash to land a punch and send him flying to the wall. Its ice heart, however, got melted away when Vivian struck it with her Fiery Jinx, leaving its heart exposed.

"So fire can help damage these ghosts," Vivian noticed. "I guess we can do much more to help than I thought!"

With that, Chopper sucked the Flash into the Poltergust 3000, turning the lights on. Afterward, he equipped his Water ability and took out the fire in their way.

"Well that was pretty easy," Shadower remarked. "Let's go outside!"

They walked outside to find a small little garden with a large amount of soil to their right and a doghouse. A ghost dog named Spooky with a spiked collar was sleeping in the doghouse. Chopper got a closer look at the doghouse and ended up squirting water in front of the doghouse. Spooky ended up showing himself, and he started barking at them.

"That dog doesn't look so happy... Let's run." Chopper gulped, running from the dog. They all started avoiding the angry dog until a Skeleton Ghost had appeared from out of the soil. This one, in particular, was named Mr. Bones.

_"Fer the luvva dirt, make that yappy dog be QUIET! I'm tryin' ta get some sleep 'ere!" _

Seeing the Skeleton Ghost, Chopper shined his flashlight on it and sucked it into the vacuum. One bone had gotten sent flying over by the doghouse. This caught Spooky's attention, who ran over to the bone and began licking it.

"Ah-HA!" Chopper took out the Poltergust 3000 out and he began to suck Spooky into it. He easily succeeded, making the area turn light. After removing his Water ability, he decided to inspect the doghouse. What he didn't expect, however, was the doghouse to suck him in. "Eep!"

Mario: Where did Chopper go?!

"He must've went into the doghouse," Heartsy answered, running into the doghouse as well. The rest followed and were led into a graveyard filled with a couple of gravestones and one large gravestone at the top of a small hill ahead.

Chopper first saved his game thanks to the Save Block before approaching the large gravestone. He also noticed a rope hanging from a tree branch that was labeled "Pull".

"What's this?" Bombette asked.

"Hey, this reminds me of the pranks Ghoster would pull. ...And that Hauntost person!" Chopper recalled, grabbing the rope and pulling it. "You just pull it, and something would happen!"

"Wow... You seriously pulled it that easily? Well... That makes it convenient for me! Ha ha ha ha!"

Appearing before them was a dark ghost with orange eyes and disembodied hands. The inside of his mouth was also orange when he opened it.

"I finally get to meet you face-to-face, Chopper! It's something I've been waiting for a long time..."

"Who the heck are you?" Chopper asked in confusion.

"I'm the cousin of someone that you've met before! They call me **Nightrogin**! I'm that cousin of Hauntost that was supposedly destroyed thanks to you!"

"Wait... I don't remember doing that. I think it was Ghoster..."

"Ghoster? You mean my other cousin? Very interesting... I never heard THAT tale before." Nightrogin commented. "But you were still part of eliminating him, and for that, you must pay!"

"So you're asking me for a fight?" Chopper got in a fighting stance. "Maybe you know a little more about where King Boo is! We'll let you go if you listen to us!"

"Nope! I think I got a better arrangement for you all!" Nightrogen's eyes began to glow and everything went blank around them.

"What the heck?" Scrub gawked. "Oh, no... Don't tell me we're shrinking again!"

They found themselves standing in an arena with a pointy fence surrounding them, with a couple of trees behind.

"Welcome to my playground! Heh heh heh heh heh!" Nightrogin cackled, making his appearance through a lightning strike. "So... Like my little arena? I was lucky to get it from the ghost that used to be at that graveyard... Pity he hadn't escaped from his painting... Anyway, I want to see what you're capable of!"

"Bring it!" Chopper shouted back.

**Tattle:** _That's Nightrogin. He's one of King Boo's stronger minions of the army. He's also quite the prankster, which I can't stand... Max HP is 120, Attack is 10, and Defense is 0. Most of his attacks have to do with pranks, sort of like this Hauntost guy that he might've mentioned... Perhaps you've run into him before, if I'm correct? Just be on your guard when he tries to pull out something funny..._

Chopper started off the battle by jumping on him, followed by Vivian's Shade Fist, leaving a burn on Nightrogin.

"Oof! Man, when I thought about putting up a fight, I didn't know it would turn out like this… Well, whatever!" Nightrogin made a box materialize in his hand, and he dropped it in front of Chopper. Out came a boxing glove that pushed Chopper backwards.

"Oof... I wasn't expecting that." Chopper groaned, running back to the fight and chucking an ice ball at Nightrogin. Scrub fluttered over him next and landed a Ground Pound that dealt 6 damage. Groaning, Nightrogin pulled a rope and made an anvil fall on Scrub.

"Ooh! Now THAT was a nice prank! Heh heh heh heh- OOF!" Nightrogin felt himself get bonked in the head by Heartsy's hammer, leaving him in a daze. Chopper smiled and attacked Nightrogin with his Spin Jump, leaving him with 79 HP. That's when his heart was revealed.

Chopper did the usual job and used the Poltergust 3000 in an attempt to suck him in. The ghost screamed in fear and tried to flee, dragging Chopper along the arena.

"No! Get off of me right NOW!" Nightrogin took out a flower and it squirted water in Chopper's face, stopping him from sucking him into the vacuum. He turned back to Chopper and landed a punch that knocked him back toward his friends.

However, once Nightrogin got hit by a hammer attack and a Super Jump, he let his tongue hang out. He flew over to Chopper and tried poisoning him with it, but he guarded it and only took 9 damage instead. This left him wide open for Chopper to jump on him and Bombette to hit him with her Bomb. Now he was reduced to 51 HP.

Two black lasers had shot from Nightrogin's eyes and hit Bombette, dealing 10 damage to her. Unfortunately, that only got worse for him when Chopper struck him with a Spring Jump, and then Kirby attacked with his Stone ability.

"I don't understand! How are you guys wearing me down like this?!" Nightrogin exclaimed.

"Well, maybe it's 'cause you're just not as good as us," Sonic smirked, waggling his finger.

"Then allow me to prove that then!" Nightrogin's eyes flashed, and suddenly his body became transparent. "Now you can't hurt me like this unless you were a ghost. But good luck trying to become one of them!"

When Chopper Superguarded Nightrogin's lasers, he smiled at the ghost. "Well thanks for telling me that!"

"Wait... What?"

Chopper became Ghost Chopper and landed a punch straight on Nightrogin's face, leaving him vulnerable once again. Sonic ran up and struck him with his Homing Attack.

"You just proved that we're better than you," Sonic noted.

"Argh! Shut up shut up shut uuuuuuup!" Nightrogin shouted, making an anvil fall on Sonic. Chopper responded to this by firing a ghost ball from his mouth and dealing 8 damage to Nightrogin. Vivian struck him with her Shade Fist, and he was down to 1 HP. "No no no! This is NOT how it will end!"

Nightrogin punched at Chopper, but it wasn't enough to help him, as the burn left by Vivian had dealt 1 damage, bringing his HP to 0. Chopper took off his Ghost ability and got to work with the Poltergust 3000. Nightrogin hardly had a chance of escaping.

"This isn't how it was supposed to end!" Nightrogin cried. "You... I swear when I get out of this vacuum, you'll be in a world of hurt!"

When Chopper had sucked him into the vacuum, he replied, "Not likely."

He had gotten 21 Star Points for his victory, and because Nightrogin was now gone, they found themselves back in the graveyard with a large chest. It resembled the chest back in Chauncey's room. Asking no questions, Chopper opened the chest and found a green key with a club symbol on it.

"So we had a key resembling a heart, and now one with a club..." Bombette noted. "Interesting..."

_"KRZZZ…Ch…o…p…p…e…r…KRZZZ!" _Hearing this,Chopper pulled out the Gameboy Horror SP and found E. Gadd contacting him. _"…Chopper, can you hear me?"_

"Yup! I can hear you! Loud and clear!" Chopper replied.

_"Oh, good. I'm glad you're OK! I lost your signal for a moment. Hmmm. That sure was some battle you had against that ghost. You should come back to the lab." _

Chopper looked at the Poltergust 3000. "I guess this thing might be a little full... Hopefully that ghost didn't do much damage to it."

_"Don't worry about any ghostly powers attacking it. It wouldn't even leave a scratch on it! Heh heh!"  
_

"Oh, well that's cool! Anyway, we'll meet you back at the lab!"

* * *

**Professor E. Gadd's Lab-**

"Good job, Chopper and Co.! You've managed to get back here in one piece!" E. Gadd congratulated.

Mario: Well it's hard to stop us!

"Right-o! Now, what do you say we put those ghosts in the good ol' Ghost Portrificationizer!"

"Good idea!" Chopper walked over to the machine and ejected all the ghosts into it, and thus repeating the process of before. The painting of Nightrogin looked pretty cool, having a shadowy sort of look. "Well, there goes Hauntost's cousin. Though, I wonder if there's a Ghost Heaven. You guys have any idea?"

"Beats me," Shadower shrugged.

E. Gadd sighed in relief as the last ghost turned into a painting. "Whew! Well, you finally got those ghosts out of the way! However… I never expected that dark ghost to make an attack on you. He even tried pulling a little prank on me! But, all of that is over with. It's time you all went back into the mansion. There's still more ghosts to find…"

"Great idea. So… I think we should head there now!"

Mario: Back to the mansion!

Eager to catch some more ghosts, the heroes made their way out of the lab and back to the mansion.

* * *

**Nightrogin... Get it? Nitrogen? Originally Bogmire was going to be here, but I didn't want this place to be exactly like Luigi's Mansion, so I mixed it up a bit.  
**

**Next chapter, however, is definitely one of my favorites of Chapter 12. :D**


	76. The Rise of Mysteri C

Dusty was searching the mansion carefully, walking through the hallway. He looked at the door lading to the dining room and felt the doorknob. It felt warm to him, making him look suspiciously around. "Someone was recently here... I just know it."

One thing that was good now was that the lights were on in the hallway thanks to the elimination of Nightrogin.

"So I finally find the first floor of the mansion," Dusty said while crossing his arms. "Too bad I can't go any further. The door leading upstairs is locked, and the door leading outside is covered in an electric fence. I'm gonna have to try something else…"

Dusty jumped up onto the ceiling and clanged onto it. A grin had formed on his face (if Dry Bones can even do that). "Yes… I think surprising them would be a good idea. That Ghost Star belongs to me! …Well mostly it's for an experiment, but that will help me get my promotion!"

Now all he had to do was wait.

* * *

**King Boo's Secret Altar-**

"According to what I sssaw… Nightrogin hasss lossst the fight againssst Chopper… It hasss been confirmed that he…hasss become a painting." the Shadow Boo explained.

"Oh, we don't really need him," King Boo assured. "I never even liked him or his plans anyway. He was nothing compared to us Boos and those other Portrait Ghosts! Now then, I have a plan I must share."

The king began to whisper to the Shadow Boo, while Bow tried to listen in. Unfortunately, she couldn't get much of an idea on what they were saying.

"Ooooooooooooo… That isss sssomething I like… I'll do what you asssk, Your Majesty!" With that, the Shadow Boo flew out of the room.

"Now then…" King Boo turned to Bow, only to notice something different about her. "…Hold on a second… You had two Bows. What happened to one of them?"

"If you must know, they're somewhere in the mansion," Bow smirked. "Not even YOU know where they are! As soon as Chopper finds those, he'll know how to defeat you! Gwah hee haa!"

"Defeat me? Like a couple of items will do much to stop me!" King Boo cackled. "Do all you want with those! It won't stop me from turning you into a painting permanently! ...On the other hand, I also enjoy seeing you suffer like this."

"Or maybe you just don't want to be alone in this chamber," Bow replied, her smirk still remaining on her face. "But you know what I don't get? How you managed to even escape that painting you were supposedly in. Something like that is nearly impossible."

"Yes. _Nearly_. It was all thanks to a demon that managed to break the seal from my painting. It was also thanks to him that I was given the Ghost Star to free the other Portrait Ghosts. And what better way than to make you and your friends pay by becoming paintings as well? Chopper doesn't know what's coming to him when I zap him into a painting!"

"Demon? Who is this demon who speak of?"

"A great evil that has powers that even surpass mine," King Boo explained. "I was a bit unsure at first, but after realizing what capabilities I now possessed with this new crown, I hardly cared! All that matters is that the Boo Woods and your Boos will rightfully be mine! Those that refuse will join you."

"We'll see about that," Bow taunted, crossing her stubby arms. "Trust me, I've traveled with Chopper, and we've faced obstacles that surpass even you. You'll see when you get your butt kicked for good."

"Heh heh heh! Well I'll be interested to see what he can do! For now, I've got some other business to attend to."

King Boo phased through the floor, disappearing from Bow's sight.

* * *

**King Boo's Mansion, first floor-**

"Hey, the hallway's no longer dark! That's nice!" Chopper smiled as he walked into the first floor hallway to find light rather than darkness.

"This is pretty cool! We can actually see what's around us! Sweet!" Sonic grinned.

Just as they were about to go to the barricaded door near the shower room, a figure had landed in front of them with his weapon pointed at them.

"Halt! You shall go no further!" Dusty proclaimed. "Your little venture through this mansion ends here!"

"Dry Bones? Here?" Bombette gawked. "But this makes no sense! There are only ghosts in this mansion!"

"Just who are you?" Shadower asked.

"My name is Dusty. I USED to work for Bowser, but I ended up getting fired because of something pretty stupid," Dusty explained. "Don't get all friendly with me, because I'm not exactly on good terms with 'heroes'. I work at a place called Boomo Inc., a laboratory that makes new inventions, specifically explosions. I've come for the Ghost Star that's here."

"Why do you need the Crystal Star?" Chopper asked.

"We need improved explosives. The Ghost Star's power has the power to make explosives that opponents can not even see. Obviously that's something very good for us. Not only that, but I'll be getting a promotion!" Dusty's eyes appeared happy from thinking of a promotion. "Of course, all violence getting the star is highly recommended by Boomo Inc."

"Fine, if you won't let us pass, then we're going through ourselves!" the Star Warrior attempted to pass Dusty, but he shot ink at the floor, causing him to slip and fall. "Ow! What is that?!"

"It's my specialized Blooper Gun," Dusty answered while spinning it. "However, I like to call it my KO gun, because it's good at KOing people like you guys!"

"KO? That's it?" Scrub raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound too threatening..."

Chopper tried to continuously get past Dusty, but each time he ended up slipping thanks to the ink fired at the ground. After slipping one last time, he let out a sigh and turned the other way.

"Good choice, kid," Dusty said proudly, aiming his gun at the others. "You do the same."

Everyone decided to follow Chopper back into the main room. Though his look didn't appear positive at first, a smirk had appeared on his face.

"Poyo? (What's with the smirk?)" Kirby asked.

"Follow me, guys," Chopper suggested, heading back upstairs. They all followed him back into the wardrobe. "I remember there being costumes in here, and maybe with them, we can get past Dusty."

"But he'd probably just shoot at us anyway," Heartsy noted.

"Well... I like the costumes in here, so I wanna try 'em on!"

"So we're basically going to be dressing in costumes like it's Halloween? Are we going to be going trick or treating?" Scrub asked."'Cause I'd like a lot of candy!"

Chopper put on a black hood, a mask that kept the upper part of his face hidden, making his eyes turn white, black gloves, a cape and a green C on the top of his hood.

"Not necessarily…" Chopper said in a lower (but not really that low) voice. "We'll be doing the tricking and the ghosts will be the ones who's giving us the treats!"

"What's with the low voice, Chop?" Sonic asked. "Are you trying to be like a superhero or something?"

"Sorta..."

"Well I'll do what Choppy is doing and find a costume myself," Heartsy checked through the closet and noticed a pink princess dress. She shook her head at it and found a halo and glowing light wings (only activated by a small switch). She also took a staff and found a red, sleeveless robe to go over her sundress. She also found a staff with a top resembling a heavenly symbol that glowed many colors

"Don't call me Choppy, nor shall you call me Chopper!" Chopper declared. "Why? Well… We gotta think of a name in these costumes! So… I guess I'll be called… The Mysteri C! It's like mysterious and C, which is the first letter of my name."

"Well then I am Hearluna, the Goddess of Light," Hearluna declared, raising her toy staff. "I banish evil such as the evil Desuza, the Goddess of Darkness!"

Scrub, meanwhile, had found a pair of plain white underwear and wore it over his head.

"That better be clean," Shadower hoped.

"It doesn't smell, but I guess I'll call myself The Underwear," Scrub decided.

Sonic looked through the closet and found a Blooper costume around his size. "…Is this all I can wear?" he shrugged and put it on, receiving some giggles from the others. "I guess you can call me Blooperquill. Though it sounds TOO lame for my liking..."

Mario put a white sheet on himself with holes and simply called himself "A Ghost", which was a highly original name.

The rest eventually got in their costumes as well. Kirby found a cake costume and called himself "Cake Mix", Shadower called himself "Afro Disco", being in a disco outfit with sunglasses. Bombette was forced into a costume with fairy wings and was deemed "Tinkerbell". This nearly made her fuse light up in anger as well. Now all that remained was Vivian...

"Well, Vivian… Are you going to get in a costume?" Mysteri C asked.

"I don't really need a costume," Vivian replied, shaking her head. "I'd rather not take my hat off anyway..."

"Ummm… OK, you don't need to wear a costume if you don't want. Anyway, let's get back to business and go back into that hallway!"

* * *

**First floor hallway-**

When they reached the barricaded door, Dusty had his gun ready to aim and fire.

"Hold it right there! I know who you a-" Mysteri C cut him off by jumping on him, making him collapse like most Dry Bones. The rest went over to the door covered in electric vines and watched it go away.

"Couldn't we have done that before?" The Underwhere asked.

"...Good point," Mysteri C sweat dropped.

"Well, all we can do is open the door," Tinkerbell said angrily, still annoyed with her costume.

Mysteri C took the key out and unlocked the door with the Boss Ghost Key, bringing them all outside. He pulled his flashlight out to take a look around them. There was a well, a birdhouse, a fountain, some trees, and also a statue. Mysteri C noticed some Dark Boos lurking around as well. Unlike most ghosts, they could not be defeated with the Poltergust 3000.

"There are Dark Boos around here…" Vivian warned. "I don't think we've run into them before.

The Dark Boos noticed them show up and they looked at each other with a grin. However, when they attacked, Mysteri C tossed two fireballs, causing them to be set on fire, making them disappear. This caused the lights to turn on and make the birdhouse shake. This caught A Ghost's attention, who walked over to the birdhouse.

A Ghost: There's something in here!

Mysteri C walked over to the birdhouse and felt a pink envelope hit his face after Mario touched it. After shaking his head, he saw an envelope in his hands.

"What's that?" Hearluna asked, looking over at the envelope. "Is this some kind of love letter, Choppy?"

"...Hey! That's not my name!" Mysteri C whined, his voice turning normal. "...I mean, my name is Mysteri C, Hearluna. I'm a superhero, OK?"

"Not my fault you're cute. I bet you think the same thing since I'm a Goddess."

"...Oh, look at the time! I've got some work to do!" Mysteri C backed away, not noticing the well he was standing right next to. This caused him to fall and land after a few seconds. "I'm OK!"

"Oops..." Hearluna sweat dropped.

"Ooooog… That didn't feel so good…" Mysteri C moaned, standing up in the bottom of the well. He noticed a small glimmering light through a tunnel up ahead. "Hold on a moment. What's this?"

When he reached the end of the tunnel, he noticed two stone fangs on the bottom and top of the hole. He soon realized he was standing right in the statue of a lion's mouth. However, that wasn't all that he saw. He found an altar with blue, long candles, statues similar to the one he was in with orbs in their mouths, a mirror, King Boo, and a painting of Bow.

...Wait a minute.

"You're not going to get away with this, King Boo," Bow growled, banging on the painting's wall.

"But I already have! Heh heh heh!" King Boo cackled. "You and those friends of yours will be history!"

"I can't stand to watch her suffer…" Mysteri C trailed sadly. "I need to get her out this instant!"

Turning around, a Dark Boo appeared and attempted to scare him, but his hammer did all the talking and wiped out the enemy, making the lights turn on in the well. A key had dropped onto the floor, which Chopper picked up.

"Excellent! I finally got the key…and I finally know where King Boo is. I just have to find out how I can actually GET in that room…"

He climbed out of the well and showed his friends the key.

"Are you OK, Ch—I mean Mysteri C?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah, I am," Mysteri C assured, checking his Gameboy Horror SP for the door location. He saw that there was a locked door at the other side of the courtyard, so he headed over there and unlocked the door into a weight room. "What the… There's a weight room in here?"

Mysteri C turned his flashlight on and got a glimpse of the many weights, mats, treadmills and punching bags around the room. They could also hear someone lifting weights. He checked to see who it was with the Gameboy Horror SP and saw a ghost wearing a red tank top named Biff Atlas. He was lifting some heavy weights, that's for sure.

_"Huff… Huff… Man, I've been working out ALL NIGHT…" _Biff Atlas sighed._ "I think I should actually take a break! …No! I can't take a break just yet! I must be ready for the Ghost Olympics soon! It starts tomorrow night!" _

"Another ghost for us to catch..." Mysteri C trailed, wrapping part of his cape around himself. "My friends, we must find a way to catch his weak point."

A Ghost had inspected the punching bags around Biff Atlas. He gave it a good punch, sending it flying away from him. However, what he wasn't planning on was trying to hit Biff Atlas. The punching bag had managed to knock him back.

_"Oof! What… What was that? Who just hit me?!" _Biff looked around for any suspects, but he had not caught glimpse of anyone. _"Meh… Whatever. I bet it was just the wind." _

Afro Disco had made everyone reappear, allowing everyone to sigh in relief. What was also nice was that they knew how to beat him. Mysteri C decided to give the punching bag a good kick and sent it flying toward Biff again, knocking him back. Unlike before, he had managed to spot them, and boy was he angry.

_"What's the big idea?! Why are you distracting me from my training? Trying to be a little prankster, are ya? Well, I'm not going to let that happen! You're gonna get what's coming" _Biff swung his arms around at the heroes, who jumped back to avoid them.

"Take this!" Tinkerbell shouted, ramming herself into Biff and knocking him over, leaving his heart revealed. Mysteri C took out the Poltergust 300 and began to suck him inside. Being the athlete he was, Biff Atlas had enough strength to escape, but not for long. Once he got caught in the vacuum, the lights turned on.

"Good work, Tinkerbell," Blooperquills complimented, attempting to give a thumbs up through his costume.

"Call me that again and I'll explode in your face!"

Blooperquills backed away from the Bob-omb and found himself on the treadmill. Upon moving on it, it managed to cough up a key He picked it up with a grin. "Oh... Well what do ya know? A key's here!"

"Well all we can do now is leave this room," Afro Disco suggested.

As soon as they left the room, they found a hallway with a door to the left and a staircase going up to the second floor to the right. Mysteri C took the key from Blooperquills and used it to unlock the door into the first floor hallway.

"Huh… That's pretty convenient." Hearluna said.

Mysteri C brought his flashlight over to the stairs and made his way up to the second floor with his friends and said, "We gotta make sure that we don't split up. I might take this slow if you guys want me to."

A Ghost: That's all right.

"Good. Now let's see where this door leads us." Mysteri C opened the door on the second floor, and they found themselves in another dark hallway. It looked somewhat similar to the first floor, but it wasn't as big.

"Another dark hallway? Boy, it's like they're crawling with these! How many are we expected to see? Three of them?" Blooperquill asked.

"Beats me," The Underwear shrugged, following the group dead ahead and up north, where there were at least three doors. There was also a red ghost covered in spikes called a Spark, which could blow up in their faces. They entered the door to their right into a room with a rocking chair, a table with a basket of yarn and a couple of couches.

"That rocking chair reminds me of that first Portrait Ghost," Afro Disco recalled.

In the rocking chair, there was an old lady with white hair, a pink dress and some knitting tools, and over on a book shelf was a little something interesting they found, specifically a little journal Mysteri C opened and read.

_What a hilarious trick I played on Miss Petunia today! She jumped into the bathtub after I filled it with ice from the freezer! She actually started shivering pretty badly, and I felt a bit guilty for a second... But Miss Petunia is made of solid stuff! She took a hot shower and felt like new again! Once she'd warmed up, she wasn't even that mad!_

_Nana_

"Poyo? (Who the heck is Miss Petunia?)" Cake Mix asked, leaning against the table with yarn. He had unintentionally made the yarn knock over, causing Nana to show herself. She was even moving around in her rocking chair!

The Underwear had thought of an idea and threw one of the yarn balls at Nana. It was surprisingly effective.

_"Ow! Why you… How could you hit a poor defenseless ghost like that? UNACCEPTABLE!" _Nana yelled, now firing lasers from her eyes at the group and also leaving them surprised.

"Since when can a grandmother fire lasers? That's just…messed up." Afro Disco commented.

"Well this is working, so let's try hitting her with more of these," Mysteri C grabbed a yarn ball rolling on the ground and, while dodging a laser Nana shot, he threw it at her, causing her to let out another cry. "Go get the last one, Hearluna!"

Hearluna picked up the last yarn ball and aimed it at Nana. With one throw, the old ghost got thrown off of her chair and was lying on the ground.

"She's all yours, Mysteri C!" Hearluna exclaimed.

Mysteri C nodded and shined his flashlight at Nana. When he sucked her into the vacuum, the lights turned on, and a chest appeared. Mysteri C opened the chest to find a Mansion Key, and once he checked his Gameboy Horror SP, he saw that the key would take them back to the hallway they found the first three Portrait Ghosts.

"That's where we first started catching those Portrait Ghosts," Vivian noticed. "I guess there was still one room missing."

"Well it'll be a nice treat for us! Let's go!" Mysteri C and his friends left the room, but they stopped when they heard some singing coming from across the room.

"Poyo, (Hear both water and singing," Cake Mix remarked.

"Sounds like another ghost for us to catch!" Mysteri C opened the door that led into a dark shower room. They could all see a shadow of a beautiful lady taking a shower. "Oh... So someone IS taking a shower. This should be easy."

Just as he was about to open the curtains, A Ghost pulled him away. "Hey! What was that for?"

A Ghost: Maybe you should let one of the girls open the curtain...

"Why?" Tinkerbell asked. "I don't have have arms to do it..."

Vivian sighed and floated over to the curtains. Once she opened them, however, the ghost in the shower was not what they thought. In fact, it was a hot pink, pig-like ghost wearing a shower cap and a bathing suit.

"_Eeeeeeeeeeek! Get out of here!" _Miss Petunia shot some water at Vivian, making her cover her face and back away. The curtains closed after that.

"That…THING is some pig ghost?" Mysteri C gawked. "I don't believe it..."

"Didn't that Nana say something about using ice?" Afro Disco recalled.

Mysteri C conjured up an ice ball and opened the curtains again. Just as Miss Petunia was about to shoot more water, he threw the ice ball at her, causing her to shiver and reveal her weak point.

_"Brrrrrrrr! S-S-S-So c-c-c-cold!" _

Miss Petunia was unfortunate and suffered the same fate as the other ghosts by getting sucked into the Poltergust 3000. The lights turned on, and a chest was revealed. The key they found had led to one locked door back on the first floor.

Leaving the room, They walked down to the southern hallway to find a door nearby and another one barricaded by wood. Seeing that the non-barricaded door was unlocked, they decided to enter to find a room with black and white checkered floors, walls, and ceilings. In the center of the room was a chandelier up on the ceiling and a pedestal on the floor shaped like a star. Surrounding the pedestal were five unlit candles

"Light them up if you want to, Vivian," Mysteri C suggested. Vivian nodded and used her Fiery Jinx to light up all the candles. This caused them all to change purple and slowly disappear. The doors were soon covered in electric vines, and a couple of Gold Ghosts, Shy Guy Ghosts and even lavender Grabbing Ghosts appeared in the room.

They took on the ghosts using all their abilities and the Poltergust 3000, and once they were gone, the lights turned on and the doors were no longer barricaded. With that, they progressed into the next room.

"Hmmm? What's this?" Mysteri C saw some astronomy material such as a telescope and a globe in the wooden room. There was also a window the telescope was pointing at. Curious, Mysteri C looked through the telescope and caught a glimpse of the many stars in space. "Gosh... Look at all those stars... I hope one day I can travel through space again."

"Going through space is always a fun thing to do," Blooperquills agreed.

"Yeah... Hey, what's this?" Getting a glimpse of a moon, the window and the wall the telescope was facing had vanished. Yellow comets were now raining from the starry sky.

"Poyo! (This looks so cool!)" Cake Mix remarked.

"I bet I can hit that moon with one of these," Mysteri C declared, grabbing a comet and throwing it toward the moon, only to miss. "Oh... Well that didn't work."

A Ghost decided to catch a comet, and he threw it straight at the moon. It made contact, causing the moon to shimmer and then explode. An aurora pathway had appeared before them leading to the remaining half of the moon. A certain familiar object had made Mysteri C's eyes widen in surprise.

"It can't be… Is that Bow's fan?" Mysteri C turned off his flashlight and walked across the aurora road. He grabbed Bow's fan and quickly returned to the others. "Let's go, guys! We're heading over to where we found those three ghosts, such as Chauncey. I believe we'll be able to catch another Portrait Ghost over there… No wasting time, though!"

* * *

**Second floor, Area 1-**

"So this is it, huh? Well, time to see what's through here." Mysteri C suggested, grabbing the knob and opening the door into a what appeared to be a boy's room with a blue rug, a desk and a bunk bed.

Upon standing on the rug, two twin boys with blonde hair had appeared. One was in red, while the other was in bluish purple.

"_Hey there, you nine! What are you all doing here?" _the one in bluish purple named Henry asked.

"_Wait a second… Henry! Maybe they can play hide and seek with us!" _the one on red named Orville suggested._ "Oh, and by the way… Nice costumes! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" _

"Hide and seek?" Mysteri C wrapped his cape around himself. "Well, while I go fighting crime, perhaps I can play a little hide and seek!"

"Excellent! Then you all can wait outside so we can hide!"

The group agreed and decided to head back outside. Some were a bit unsure about this, while others like Mysteri C and Cake Mix did not mind playing a little game.

_"OK! You can come on in now!" _

Hearing that, they all walked in to find five boxes. Mysteri C looked around at the boxes. He walked up to one but Afro Disco stopped him.

"Hold on, don't open that. Try the one furthest from you." Afro Disco told him. Mysteri C walked over to the furthest box and opened it. Henry came out as a result.

_"Hey, not bad!"_

"…So I suppose the other one is in here, then!" Afro Disco opened up the one furthest to the north and Orville came out of that. Electric vines had covered the fence, which Vivian noticed.

"Something's not right..." Vivian muttered.

_"Hey! You cheated!"_ Henry shouted._ "That guy with the cool afro helped you find one of us! You know what we do to cheaters like you in weird costumes? Well we'll show you!" _

The two boys got on their own vehicles. Henry got on a toy car and Orville got on a toy airplane.

"Oh, a fight, huh? I think this should be a piece of cake!" Blooperquill smired. Mysteri C smirked as well and threw a fireball at Henry's toy car and an ice ball at Orville's toy airplane, knocking them off of their vehicles.

"That looked too easy," Hearluna realized. "Any of us could do that..."

"Sorry..." Mysteri C apologized as he sucked the two boys into the vacuum, causing the lights to turn on. A chest had appeared as well, and inside was a picture of both Bow and Chopper. Getting a closer glimpse of it, he noticed that the background was in Star Haven. "I remember this picture... Back when we were trying to save the Stars in the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser and Maquano.

"Sounds like you were both good friends," Blooperquills remarked.

"Well I was good friends with all of those people," Mysteri C said. "Anyway, we can show this to that fortune teller later. For now, let's unlock that door on the first floor!"

* * *

**First floor hallway-**

Mysteri C unlocked the door and he walked into the room with his flashlight out. Everyone noticed a pool table, a black and white checkered floor and a large mirror were in the room. Along with that was a ghost with purple hair wearing a white shirt and a black vest over it. He was also carrying a cue stick used to play 3-ball with some billiard balls.

"_Sometimes I wish I got to play against a living soul," _Slim Bankshot remarked as he hit the white ball into the three balls, causing them to fly around the room._  
_

"I think I might know what to do," Vivian realized, grabbing one of the balls. As much as she didn't want to do this, she threw the ball at Slim and left him stunned briefly. Though she was guilty, it was probably the only way to win.

"Hey, Vivian… Let me give it a try too!" Mysteri C grabbed one of the billiard balls and threw it at Slim, knocking him to the ground. With that, he sucked Slim into the vacuum and turned the lights on.

"So… Where do we go to next?" Hearluna asked.

"Well... I guess the only thing we can do now is go see that fortune teller. She did tell us to bring some items that belonged to Bow, so that's probably a good idea."

"But we also know that she's a ghost," Tinkerbell mentioned. "You sure she's trustworthy?"

"I don't know if we have much of a choice... It's probably for the better anyway."

With everyone having no choice but to agree, they headed back to the fortune teller's room. Clairvoya was sitting on her stool, waiting for them.

"_So you finally return," _Clarirvoya said, foretelling their arrival. She also noticed some items Chopper held._ "Hm? What is this object you have here? Show it, please, to Madame Clairvoya."_

Chopper decided to show her the picture of him and Bow first. _"Wh-What is this? If it isn't Bow's picture! It shows a friendship between you and her. The black and white must also indicate that it is old!" As she finished her magic, she got a glimpse of Bow in a painting. "Ahh... I see it now. Your Bow is imprisoned, but where? Yes! A painting! Your Bow has been imprisoned within a painting! My orb shows and odd altar, and...c'mon you stupid orb... Yes! Above it, your Bow! Trapped in a painting!"_

Unfortunately, her magic had not lasted long enough._ "Acch! I cannot concentrate... The spirits are leaving me..."_

"Then this should help you out," Chopper said, bringing out Bow's letter.

_"Wh-What's this? If it isn't Bow's letter! Give it to me! I will read it at once!" _

"Are you sure about that?" The Underwear asked.

_"Erm... Sure, it's OK, I'm a licensed letter-reader!" _Clairvoya assured. Chopper sighed and handed the letter to her, which she began to read._ "What what? Hmm... Let's see... 'L-o-o-k-o-u-t-f-o-r-K-i-n-g-B-o-o-a-n-d-h-i-s-m-i -n-i-o-n-s-C-h-o-p-p-e-r-!' Is that all? Not much of a novelist, your Bow. Perhaps this was written in a hurry." _After finishing her chant, she had found another vision._ "Listen! Can you hear it? The inner voice of your dear friend!"  
_

Everyone listened in carefully and heard the sound of a familiar cackle.

"That's King Boo, isn't it?" Mysteri C gawked.

_"I do not understand what she means, but... Beware of King Boo! This is what Bow wishes to say to you. Ohhh, yes, a Boo who wears a crown with incredible power, I see! This is King Boo! ...SO! He is the one who has captured your Bow!"_ Clairvoya explained until the vision had worn off. _"Unfortunately, I can say no more! Perhaps if you bring me one more thing, the spirits shall finally return to me!"_

Mysteri C smirked as he took out Bow's fan. "Here's a little something!"

"Wh-What's this? If it isn't Bow's fan! The weapon Bow uses to fight off evil! Perhaps with this one last item, the spirits shall finally return to me!" Using her power, she delved more into the crystal ball and got a new image. This time, everyone could get a glimpse of glowing, red eyes.

"That image... What is that?" Blooperquills wondered, hearing the sounds of cackling. They all looked in shock as they saw King Boo in the image as well, but with what appeared to be the Ghost Star. "Hey, that's the Crystal Star, isn't it?"

"Wh-What is this! It appears that the orb is giving me a glimpse of King Boo gaining such awful power!" Clairvoya gasped, seeing the Crystal Star transform into a crown for the king of Boos. "But these red eyes... What could they possibly be? Perhaps there is something greater in terms of evil than King Boo himself... But I cannot identify what it is or where it is located... This could be very bad! Well, for you, that is.

A look of uneasiness enveloped Vivian's mind upon looking at the eyes.

Unfortunately, the image on the crystal ball faded, making Clairvoya sigh. _"...Uggghh! Ahhh no, the powers leave me! The spirits depart! This is all I can show you, Chopper… That was the last of my power. But I have given words to what the spirits have shown…so I can return to my painting satisfied this time." _

"Return to your painting? Wh-What do you mean?" Mysteri C asked, his voice not sounding too low.

_"I have given you all the help I had, and that is what I had intended before going into my painting. Now I can finally be at peace. I thank you… I thank you, kind Chopper!"_

Feeling guilty, Mysteri C aimed the Poltergust 3000 at her and began to suck her in. She hardly struggled, making it very easy for him to capture her. Though the lights had turned on and a chest appeared, Mysteri C did not feel so satisfied.

"She was one of the few ghosts that were helpful... If only we didn't have to do that..." Myster C trailed.

"Well, it's what she wanted, Ch- I mean Mysteri C," Blooperquills said, trying to put a hand on his shoulder. "She probably wants us to go after King Boo so what do you say we go do that?"

"OK..." Mysteri C opened the chest and got a key from inside. Checking the Gameboy Horror SP, he noticed the key led up to the third floor. "The third floor? I don't think we've been there."

"That should be pretty interesting," Tinkerbell remarked, following the group out of the room.

* * *

**Second floor, hallway-  
**

When they returned to the second floor, they headed down the hallway with the one barricaded door and found a hallway leading up to a staircase. Being replaced with the nice and shiny floor and walls were a wooden floor and walls. The ceiling was also taller, being in the shape of a roof.

"I guess this must be the top floor," Hearluna deduced.

"Hopefully that leads us closer to King Boo," Afro Disco wished.

Mysteri C unlocked the door to the south to find a room with leopard fur, moose heads up on the wall and also a spiky helmet on the table. A ghost resembling a Purple Puncher appeared, except it was larger in both height and width. It was also light blue like a usual elemental ghost, and its heart was being protected by water. Despite the water heart, it was called a Blue Blaze.

Mysteri C had obviously known what to do and exposed its heart with the help of an ice ball. Now that it was stunned, he sucked it into the vacuum. It was definitely a lot harder to catch compared to a Gold Ghost or Purple Puncher. Even some Garbage Can Ghosts appeared and dropped bananas, which The Underwear had unintentionally slipped on.

"Ouch..." The Underwear groaned.

After doing away with the Blue Blazes and Garbage Can Ghosts, the lights had turned on, and a chest had appeared. Inside was a key that would lead out to the balcony. Mysteri C, however, paid more attention to the spiked helmet.

"Hmmm… What's this spike helmet?" Mysteri C walked over to the spiked helmet and grabbed it. He opened his mouth and he swallowed it, making his skin turn a yellow color and have orange feet. His hood ended up coming down to reveal a pink, spiky helmet. "Yeah... This is the Needle ability! Maybe it might come in handy!"

With that out of the way, they entered the door to their left and entered a small hallway with some cobwebs on the ceiling and a door dead ahead. There were also a couple of doors around, but only one of them was real aside from the door dead ahead.

"Yeesh... Looks like this part of the mansion was not finished." Hearluna commented. "Or this is just the attic..."

Unlocking the door ahead, they had walked outside into the balcony. There were two statues of unicorns, and on the corners of the balcony were plants. Compared to the hallway, this looked much better, especially out in the night.

"This balcony looks pretty nice," Mysteri C commented, looking around at the quality and the railings. However, one thing that caught him off guard were a large group of Shadow Boos in a circle. "Whoa... Are those Boos?! But they don't look like Dark Boos!"

A Ghost: I don't think I know what they are...

"We should see what they have to say," Afro Disco suggested, pounding a fist in his hand. "Maybe they just might know a thing about getting to King Boo!"

"Now you're thinkin' like me!" Blooperquills grinned, trying to give a thumbs up if it weren't for the stupid costume. "So, Mysteri C... What do you think?"

"Obviously!" Mysteri C replied. "Let's show 'em!"

The group approached the group of Shadow Boos, but before making a strike, they happened to hear in on what they were saying.

"_Heh heh heh heh!_ So it turns out that that kid Chopper and his puny friends have made it this far…" one Shadow Boo remarked. "_Oh, we're so frightened! _They'll never save their precious friend! Now it's our turn to get them!"

"Oh, yes!"

"Smash the scaredy-cats!"

"Then let's assume our real form and give them a little scare! _Heh heh heh heh heh heh!_"

The Shadow Boos turned around to face the heroes and surrounded them. Everyone got in their fighting stances as they were circled. As soon as the Shadow Boos flew up, the starry night sky had vanished, being replaced with the distorted kind.

One thing for sure was that this was going to be just like Chauncey and Nightrogin.

Looking up, they noticed one Shadow Boo flying down toward them. However, as it got closer, it was getting bigger.

"Uh oh... Move!" Mysteri C cried, jumping out of the way as it crashed onto the floor.

"_Heh heh heh heh heh!_" the Shadow Boolossus cackled.

"How the heck do these guys become this?"

"Thanks to our great king, we have become much more powerful than before! You're all history now! Just try attacking! It won't finish us! It's not like you can make us pop with something pointy!"

**Tattle:** _That's the great Shadow Boolossus. This is one of the few ghosts that is possibly second-in-command to King Boo himself! Max HP is 130, Attack is 11, and Defense is 6. Geez... With that kind of defense, it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to defeat this thing! It would take FOREVER to do so too! Don't you have something that can, I dunno, make this thing pop? Y'know, something pointy? That could probably weaken it and make it much easier for you to defeat._

"Poyo! (Let's pop this ting!)" Cake Mix cheered.

"My thought exactly, Cake Mix," Mysteri C smirked, bringing his hood down and jumping up to the Shadow Boolossus. With his spikes out of his helmet, it made contact with the giant Boo, causing it to pop. All fifteen Shadow Boos were split, and at least five of them decided to fight against the heroes.

"Unlike most Boos, we're not afraid of taking you on!" one Shadow Boo cackled. "Our powers grant us enough power to fight without fear!"

** Tattle:** _That's a Shadow Boo. It's a freaky Boo that was apparently powered up thanks to King Boo. Ugh... These guys are kinda freaky, to be honest. Max HP is 20, Attack is 10, and Defense is 0. Apparently they have the ability to shoot energy from their mouths, and their tongues can actually poison you if you're not careful! My suggestion? Use something that can attack it and any others that are with it. Trust me, it'll make life a lot easier for you._

Since Mysteri C had already made his turn, Vivian made her move and used her Fiery Jinx to strike all five Shadow Boos and leave them with a burn. Two of them tackled Mysteri C, while two shot dark energy balls at Vivian. The last one attacked Cake Mix with its tongue, but he managed to guard it and avoid being poisoned.

Mysteri C used his Spike Ball attack, which allowed him to roll up in a spiky ball and charge into all five Shadow Boos to deal 6 damage. Tinkerbell finished the five off thanks to her Bob-omb Blast.

"It feels great to do that," Tinkerbell commented as the remaining Shadow Boos formed up into the Shadow Boolossus. Unlike last time, however, it was a bit smaller than before.

Mysteri C popped the Shadow Boolossus with another spike attack and five Shadow Boos faced the heroes. Hearluna was about to throw her staff at them, but she realized it wasn't the correct weapon, so she got her hammer out and attacked them with a Hammerang. This led to one Shadow Boo shooting and energy ball at her, while the remaining tackled Mysteri C, Vivian, Afro Disco, and A Ghost.

"I think we can finish 'em off if we make two more moves," Blooperquills grinned, getting in a ball and attacking them with a Spin Dash. Mysteri C attacked them in a spike ball, and he took them out, leaving five Shadow Boos remaining.

"Oh, boo hoo! Now only five of us are left!" one Shadow Boo cried.

"Yeesh! You guys are much easier than the previous two Boss Ghosts!" Mysteri C remarked. "Just give up already so you can make it easier for us!"

"Not a chance!" the five Shadow Boos formed up into a Shadow Boolossus and fell on top of Mysteri C, dealing 11 damage to him. However, that did not stop him from popping it once again and splitting them into five. That's when The Underwear whistled and summoned his Stampede to attack the remaining Shadow Boos.

Three Shadow Boos attacked Mysteri C, and, while he guarded two of them, he lost his ability in the aftermath. One Shadow Boo tackled The Underwear, and the final one hit Tinkerbell. That did not stop her from hitting them with a Bob-omb Blast, however. Mysteri C finished them off by using his Ultra Gloves to freeze them.

"I think you get catch them in the vacuum," Hearluna informed.

"Oh..." Mysteri C took out the vacuum and sucked in the Shadow Boos, giving them a nice victory and taking them back to the balcony. As usual, a large chest had appeared before them.

"I can't believe we beat them!" Blooperquill smiled. "That…was pretty easy, I'll admit!"

"Yeah... For a second I thought that fight would be much tougher." The Underwear remarked. "But we beat the living snot out of 'em! ...If they're alive, that is."

Mysteri C opened up the chest to find a light blue Boss Ghost Key in the shape of a diamond. "Yes! We can go even further into the mansion now!"

Just as he was about to cheer, he heard the Gameboy Horror SP go off.

"_KRZZZ…Ch…o…p…p…e…r…KRZZZ." _

Knowing what he had to do, Mysteri C took out the device and he found Professor E. Gadd contacting him once again.

_"_…_Chopper, can you hear me? Oh, phew, what a relief!" _E. Gadd sighed._ "That white mist interrupted your signal. …And what's with the costume?"_

"Ehh… Long story." Mysteri C replied.

_"Hmmm. You seem to have done some serious work there! You should come back to the lab! We can have some dinner while we gaze at those ghost paintings! Maybe I'll make an old family recipe of mine, and perhaps you can speak normally."_

"Uhhh… Sure. But this is part of the costume!"

As he turned off the device, his friends looked over at him in confusion. "Uhhhh... Let's not worry about that. We keep the costumes for now."

* * *

**Professor E. Gadd's Lab-**

"Excellent work, guys!" E. Gadd congratulated. "You've managed to gather more than half of the Portrait Ghosts in the mansion! What do you say we put 'em through the ol' Ghost Portificationizer!"

"I'm on it!" Mysteri C put the vacuum's mouth into the Portificationizer and let them go into the tank. With that, they began to go through the procedure of turning into paintings, and boy did they look pretty!"

"Hmmm… Well, we managed to turn those ghosts back into paintings. Thanks for your help, everyone! Why don't we take a break for once and have a nice meal!"

"Poyo! (Hooray for food!)" Cake Mix cheered.

Everyone else nodded in agreement and decided to take a break for a chance. After all, filling their bellies was important, and it would help restore their energy they had lost during their travels in King Boo's mansion.

* * *

**I thought I'd put in some costume to give the chapter a bit more personality than before. Some of the costumes are basically parodies of a few things. Mysteri C is kind of like a parody of batman, and Hearluna is kinda based off Palutena from Kid Icarus. The others... Well, I'm sure you can figure them out yourself. **

**Next up, the heroes travel through the fourth area and get much closer to facing King Boo!**


	77. King Boo: The King of All Boos

After finishing their meal with Professor E. Gadd, they returned to King Boo's Mansion and went back up to the balcony while still in their costumes. The door to their left was covered in electric vines and had a diamond symbol on it, indicating that they key they had gotten is used just for them..

"I'm going to miss this balcony..." Mysteri C trailed as the electrical vines disappeared. "Well... Let's get going."

Before they could unlock the door, lightning began to strike the roof of the mansion. This caused a slight tremor in the mansion. Not only that, but the lightning had managed to cause a huge power outage in the mansion.

"What the... Everything got so dark." The Underwhere gaped.

Before Mysteri C could speak up, he was interrupted by the sound of the Gameboy Horror SP going off, so he pulled it out.

_"Whoa! What a calamity!" _E. Gadd gasped._ "The elec…the electricity has gone out! That lightning strike just now must've caused a blackout. I can't see anything in this blasted darkness…" _

"Wait... If everything's dark, then that means..." Hearluna paused for a brief moment and her eyes widened. "Uh oh..."

_"This isn't good. The ghosts will have the run of the place in this darkness! You all must be on the lookout!"_

A Gold Ghost, a Purple Puncher, and a blue ghost resembling a Blue Blaze called a Blue Twirler had appeared on the balcony. There must've been over twenty of them, as more started to appear on the balcony.

"This...smells like trouble," Blooperquills gulped.

"Guys! Into this door now!" Mysteri C demanded, unlocking the door and heading through. They had just barely escaped from them, and now they were relieved. The hallway they walked into was similar to the previous, but only two doors were real. One thing that caught them by surprise was a ringing phone coming from the furthest room.

"A phone's ringing out in the dark?" Afro Disco gawked. "Well... We ought to check it out."

After avoiding a Bowling Ghost, they checked the furthest door to the right and entered a room with some furniture such as a couch and a table covered in a sheet. Two large chests were in the room, but what was more important were the two phones ringing. The one closest to them was ringing, so Mysteri C chose to pick it up.

_"Hello? Howdy? Heeelloooo?"_

Who's speaking, please?" Mysteri C asked, feeling a bit uneasy.

_"Oh, I'm sorry to surprise you, Chopper! It's me, Professor E. Gadd…" _Everyone let out a sigh of relief._ "Sorry for disturbing you. I know I usually contact you by Game Boy Horror SP, but mine is not working at the moment, so I tried to see if I could contact you by phone."  
_

"Oh... Well, since you know more about this mansion than us, do you have any ideas on how to get the lights back on?"

_"__You do understand that ghosts only lurk around in the dark and avoid the light, right?" _

_"Yes..."_

_"Well, then I have some news for you! You see, there's this one ghost created by King Boo, and it only hides in the darkest places… His name…is Shadno… He's a ghost that is very hard to see, and is on the loose at the very moment. It might be a good idea to do so, considering that he may have what you need to move on. From what I know, he tends to prefer __**rooms with mirrors**__… I also know he's a bit of a costume fan as well."_

"OK, thanks for the information," Mysteri C thanked, hanging up the phone. Just then, the phone next him him started to ring.

"Another phone's ringing now?" The Underwear noticed. "Who else would be calling at this time?"

Mysteri C picked up the other phone and answered. "Hello?" Unfortunately, he didn't hear a response. "Hey, is someone there?"

_"Hee hee..."_

"Hey, who's speaking?"

_"I know where you are..." _

"Where we are...?" Mysteri C slowly put the phone down and backed away. Everyone froze as the phone began to levitate from its place.

_"You should be very afraid..." _the phone trailed._ "Nobody is around to help yooooou... So now... We're going to GET YOOOOU!"_

A Shadow Boo appeared in a large size and managed to scare them all while shouting, "BOOOO!" before disappearing.

"That... That was freaky..." Tinkerbell groaned as she stood up. "That was all a trick, wasn't it?"

"Well, at least we have an idea of where we should go," Mysteri C noted. "Let's get going."

They left the telephone room and headed back outside to the balcony. The army of ghosts made their return and started to fly after them. That was, until a high-pitched voice echoed around.

"_**I HAVE BLINDNESS!**_"

A green ball of energy fired down from where the ghosts were and were knocked off the balcony. A beanish person wearing a red cloak and a strange, mechanical Headgear landed before them.

"Hey, wait a second... You're that Fawful guy we saw back on the moon!" Mysteri C realized. "What're you doing here?"

"The darkness is blinding Fawful like a blind, lazy caterpillar!" Fawful exclaimed. "But I am hearing voices... Voices that give Fawful bad memories. Memories filled with burning passions!"

"So, what you're sayin' is that you wanna fight?" Blooperquills smirked, getting in a fighting stance. "Well... Then we can gladly give you that!"

"Then a ketchup sandwich shall ravage the field as it will be your downfall when scoffed down by Fawful! Then I shall not be beefless, but beefy!"

**Tattle: **_That's Fawful. He's just some bean I don't even know about, even to this day! Max HP is 130, Attack is 11 and Defense is 1. That weird Headgear of his has the ability to shoot projectiles at you. So... Yeah, I'd recommend avoiding those. It is possible for you to knock him to the ground if he's up in the air. That'll get him good!"  
_

"Well this shouldn't be too hard. He's got the same amount of HP as Metal Chopper." Mysteri C got his hammer ready and struck Fawful with a Power Smash, dealing 7 damage. Blooperquills got in a ball and charged straight into him with a Spin Dash, sending the bean person flying into the unicorn statue behind him.

"Unicorns… Unicorns are not beefless. Fawful shall become the unicorn, and the unicorn shall be under Fawful's control!" Fawful flew back to the fight and fired a light green projectile at Mysteri C.

"Ow! That was pretty painful!" Mysteri C cringed, throwing a fireball at Fawful, leaving him with a burn. A Ghost got his hammer ready and brought it down on Fawful next.

"Ouch! Hotness! The biscuits are cooking!" Fawful winced, flying straight into Chopper. Unfortunately, the attack was Superguarded, making him take 1 damage and an additional 1 from the burn.

"So he already has 104 HP left now, huh? Well I think we can try to wrap this up quick, right?" Afro Disco hit Fawful with a Shadow Punch, lowering his Defense to 0 and allowing Chopper to jump on him to deal 6 damage.

Fawful unflattened himself from the jump and took out his blaster. He shot purple energy from it towards Afro Disco, leaving him paralyzed for a few turns. Along with that, the burn effect left by Mysteri C had worn off.

"And now he has paralyzing!" Fawful cackled as he put his blaster away. Mysteri C turned to him and attacked him with a Spin Jump, dealing 9 damage to the bean person.

"I guess I should leave the burn effect on him," Vivian decided as she sunk into the shadows and appeared in front of Fawful. With her fist full of fire energy, she punched him, leaving a burn on Fawful again.

Fawful gave them all a grin as he fired another projectile from his Headgear. This one appeared to be a purple color, and it was heading straight to Vivian. Unfortunately, it was too fast for her to guard.

"Hee hee hee! Oh, Fawful is having the cackling! It gives me bumps of a goose!" Fawful cackled, only to be interrupted by Mysteri C's hammer and Cake Mix's Cartwheel. This reduced him to 66 HP. "Fink-rats! Fawful shall donate suffering!"

He flew straight into both Mysteri C and Cake Mix, leaving them dazed for a brief moment before shaking it off. Mysteri C conjured up an ice ball and hurled it at Fawful, making him shiver.

"It is the freezies!"

"Hope you like that," Mysteri C smirked. "'Cause there's more where that came from!"

Hearluna drew her Hearty Hammer and gave Fawful a good whack with it to bring him down to 55 HP. In response, Fawful fired a reddish pink ball of energy at her, dealing 11 damage.

"You know, I kinda wish we could do much more damage to him," Hearluna groaned. "We need to beat him before the ghosts come back!"

"Then how 'bout I show this freak who's boss?" The Underwear declared, attacking Fawful with his Gulp and dealing 6 damage. Mysteri C did even more damage thanks to his Spring Jump.

Fawful let out a cackle as he decided to ascend and fired a green beam from his Headgear down at Mysteri C. With his cape, he was able to guard the attack, though it had made a hole...

"That...was not a good idea," Mysteri C gulped.

"Let's just hit him while he's up there," Tinkerbell suggested. "I wanna give him what's coming!"

Mario shrugged and decided to hit Fawful with a Super Jump. With him on the ground, Mysteri C reduced him to 24 HP thanks to his Power Smash.

"Give up, Fawful!" Mysteri C demanded. "You're no match for good!"

"Give up? Fawful has no giving up." Fawful answered, letting out a small pant of exhaustion. "I only have continues."

A Ghost: I think it's safe to assume that he hardly makes any sense.

Fawful flew toward A Ghost and tackled him, dealing 11 damage before retreating back to his place. Afro Disco, no longer paralyzed after a couple of turns ago, attacked Fawful with a Shadow Punch to lower his defense to 0. Mysteri C finished the turn with a simple jump.

"Unghh... The game over is not coming..." Fawful grunted, trying to stand up straight. He drew his blaster and fired an ice blast at Mysteri C, who gasped and brought his arms up to guard the attack. This could've done 13 damage and even freeze him. Thankfully, that had not happened to him.

"Go attack him so I can finish him off," Tinkerbell suggested. "I wanna get off this balcony before more ghosts come."

"Uhhh... OK." Mysteri C obeyed, not wanting to get on Tinkerbell's bad side. He attacked Fawful with a Spin Jump, reducing him to 4 HP. Tinkerbell smiled as her fuse lit up and approached Fawful with an explosion, delivering the final blow to the mad bean. The battle rewarded Mysteri C with 34 Star Points, along with a level up He went with HP, giving him now 70 HP, 65 FP and 39 BP.

"Urg… I still…have fury… Faw…ful…urgh…" Having hardly enough energy to continue fighting, Fawful collapsed on the floor.

"Yes! He's done for!" Tinkerbell exclaimed. "Let's hope we don't have to run into this weirdo again."

"Yeah, I hope so too," Vivian agreed. "Something seems so...strange about him."

Unfortunately, things only got worse when the ghosts returned and were now approaching them. Seeing the door nearby, they instantly bolted over to it. ONe thing they knew for sure was that the ghost located in this blackout was most likely somewhere they had been previously.

* * *

**Wardrobe room-**

The heroes had entered the wardrobe room, but unlike before, there was now a ghost in the room. It seemed to resemble a Duplighost like Doopliss, having a sheet covering its body. This one had a black sheet and had purple, glowing eyes. Unlike a Duplighost, though, this one lacked feet.

"I think this is the Shadno guy E. Gadd mentioned," Mysteri C whispered.

_"King Boo better be right that those fools came here," _Shadno said as he searched the closets._ "Because if not, then I'm going to give him the biggest scare!"  
_

He checked one closet and noticed a couple of costumes dropped off from their hangers."_Ah! So they WERE here! Now, if only I could find them…" _

Shadno decided to stretch for a moment. Coincidentally, this had revealed his heart. Mysteri C smirked and shined his flashlight on him. Shadno saw the bright light and turned to the heroes.

_"What the… YOU! So you DID come here in a silly costume! Oh, now you're going to-" _Unfortunately, Shadno had not gotten much of a chance to speak, as he got sucked into the Poltergust 3000. A chest appeared in the center of the room, and inside was a Mansion Key. Checking the Gameboy Horror SP, it was revealed to unlock a door in the basement.

"Hmmm… Interesting. So we get a key that unlocks a door in the basement…" Mysteri C looked up at the wardrobe and then at everyone else in asked in his normal, childish voice, "Hey, guys. Do you think this costume thing is getting a little old now? I mean, we're back here and all, so… How about we get rid of these things?"

Though some of them were reluctant in getting rid of the costumes, they knew they couldn't wear them forever, so they disposed of them and put them back where they belonged.

"While I thought the costume looked cool, I was kinda getting hot in there," Chopper remarked, taking a deep breath now that he was out of the costume. "Plus, I like being me!"

"It feels nice to not wear underwear on my head," Scrub smiled.

"Sometimes being a Goddess isn't always fun, since I like using a hammer more than a staff," Heartsy stated, raising her hammer.

"I'm just glad I don't have to be called Tinkerbell anymore," Bombette remarked.

"Well... Your wind-up key looks like fairy wings." Scrub remarked. "So Tinkerbell fits you nicely!"

The look on her face made the Yoshi instantly back off.

"Well it's nice to get some fresh air for once," Sonic smiled, stretching his arms and legs. "So, what do ya guys say we go to the basement?"

"I guess so," Vivian agreed. With that, they left the room and began to progress down to the basement location.

* * *

**First floor hallway-**

The heroes had raced through the first floor hallway, avoiding the Bowling Ghosts and Shadow Boos chasing after them. Looking through the Gameboy Horror SP, Chopper saw that the basement door was located straight ahead near Clairvoya's room. They all kicked the door open and, unaware of the staircase before them, were tumbling down.

When they had reached the bottom, they found two doors before them. One was to the south, while the other was north. The sounds of the ghosts got even louder as they phased through the walls and chased down down the staircase.

Chopper quickly unlocked the northern door into a room with a stone floor, a small, rectangular table to the left along with some metal, cylinder-shaped containers and some barrel kegs to the right. Also in the room was a generator, with the switch down. Unfortunately, they had no time to explore the room, as the ghosts had come in and surrounded them.

"The switch! Someone pull the switch!" Bombette cried. "We can't hold these guys forever!"

Chopper grabbed the switch and moved it up, restoring the light in the rooms of the mansion that had been lit up before, along with the room they were in. All of the ghosts disappeared as well, and a chest containing a Mansion Key appeared in the room upon opening it. Everyone took the time to catch their breath.

Mario: That was a close one!

"Yeah, I thought we were done for," Sonic remarked. "But at least the power's back on!"

They left the room and unlocked the door south to a dark room with barrels, shelves, crates and small sand domes. There was also a fence blocking their way to the door nearby. Along with the sand domes getting in there way, there were two Metal Blocks as well. One in front of the other door was much larger in size.

"Poyo! (Allow me!)" Kirby smiled, inhaling all of the sand blocking their way. He ended up touching a crate, revealing a Purple Puncher that tried to attack. The Poltergust 3000 easily took care of it. Chopper smashed two Metal Blocks in the way and found a Shadow Boo charging at them. Thankfully, a jump, a Shade Fist, and a Spin Dash managed to do away with it, turning the lights on. The key they found in the chest apparently would unlock the door up in the phone room at the third floor.

"That's...going to be annoying," Chopper remarked, smashing the big Metal Block with his Ultra Hammer. "Oh well... I guess we gotta go all the way back up."

* * *

**Third floor, Telephone room-**

Finally reaching the telephone room, the first thing the nine did was search the room. After all, since it was dark, there was bound to be a way to turn the lights on. By searching through a chest north of the room and one to the right, a Skeleton Ghost had come out from them and were eventually sucked into the Poltergust 3000, turning the lights on.

"That was pretty easy," Scrub remarked. "Well, we oughta check that locked door then!"

Chopper agreed and unlocked the door into the next room. They found a couple of music boxes to the left and right corner, as well as two tables with some chairs. Three toy houses, with the middle one being the biggest and having a doorway was also in the room as well. A chubby, gray ghost bodyguard holding a spear and being around the shape of a non-pointy triangle. His yellow eyes looked very gloomy.

_"I don't think I'm ever gonna get my job right," _the ghost named Gloomy Guard sighed._ "All I do is fail all the time. I deserve to be fired..."  
_

Gloomy Guard noticed the group come in, but he hardly seemed fazed by them. "Oh... You guys must be the ghost busters..."

"Well, that's right," Chopper nodded. "Though... You don't look so good."

_"This is how I always am... I never do anything right. All of the other ghosts mock me for being so fat..."_

"You really shouldn't try to let them get to you," Vivian suggested, approaching the ghost. "My sister had always tried to punish me for all the wrong reasons. But, being with my friends, I don't feel as gloomy as I once was. I actually feel happy."

_"Are you sure?"_ Gloomy Guard asked, raising his head.

"Ummmm... Yeah. I think you're just talking to the wrong people. Maybe there's at least one person out there that will be good to you. I didn't think that before, but I was proven wrong."

_"Maybe... Maybe you're right."_ the ghost replied, attempting a smile. _"Being all gloomy isn't going to help me. I just need to find the right people to be my friends! I think I'll start that once I return to my painting. I thank you, small ghost. For once in my life, I feel much better. Antenna kid, you can do the honors."_

Chopper aimed the Poltergust 3000 at Gloomy Guard and sucked him in, causing the lights to turn on. Though he felt guilty, he was happy to know Gloomy Guard felt much better. Vivian, however, felt as if she had accomplished something big.

_"I never thought I could do something like that..."_ Vivian thought.

"Hey, what's that in the toy house?" Sonic pointed over to the lift through the doorway. "Maybe it'll take us to a higher area in the mansion..."

"Only one way to find out," Chopper stood on the panel, and as soon as everyone else joined him, the lift began to ascend. They were shocked to see the lift take them up to the room. In the center was a little campfire, and dancing around it were a couple of Shy Guy Ghosts circling and swinging their spears at one another.

After prying their masks off, Chopper sucked them into the Poltergust 3000. Taking their place were two Flashes that knocked Chopper back with a punch and let out a giggle. Vivian raised her finger and eliminated their icy barriers protecting their hearts with a Fiery Jinx, allowing Chopper to suck them into the vacuum and turn the lights on. A chimney to their left apparently had the key they needed.

Chopper reached the top of the ladder and got the key from the chest. Searching the Gameboy Horror SP, the door was right next to the door leading into the telephone room. With that, they headed down the lift and made their way to the locked door in the hallway. Inside, they found many suits of armor, a couple of Metal Blocks and some crates.

"Well, looks like we ran into an armory," Sonic said. "Though, those weapons they're holding don't look too safe to approach."

"Well I'm going to smash these blocks first," Chopper declared, smashing the Metal Blocks around. Coming out from hiding was a Purple Puncher, a red Grabbing Ghost, a Blue Twirler and a Garbage Can Ghost. Though they got sucked into the vacuum, a chest had not appeared when the lights turned on.

"Hey, what's that, Contadre?" Scrub asked, looking at a suit of armor with a finger pointing up from a small, red circle on the floor. He looked up and saw a blue ! block there. "Hey! Maybe a Sprung Jump'll work!"

Chopper stood on the red circle and used his Spring Jump to hit the block, making a chest appear by the door they had come through. Bombette kicked the chest open and found a key inside.

"As usual, it's a key," Bombette said as she tossed it to Chopper. Though, to their dismay, the door they needed to go in was back in the basement.

"Yeesh... This is going to be one heck of a work out." Shadower remarked.

"That's fine with me," Sonic grinned.

* * *

**Basement-**

After going through the cellar once again, they had entered the basement hallway and noticed the green flames emitting from the torches. There were only two doors in this hallway, and another one dead ahead with King Boo's face on it. They had all deduced that King Boo was somewhere in there, but now was the time to find the remaining Portrait Ghosts, as E. Gadd had wanted them to do so.

Chopper unlocked the furthest door to the left into a room with a cold container and a small body of water that appeared to be green. He became Ice Chopper as soon as lavender and red Grabbing Ghosts appeared. They became frozen solid, while Scrub shattered them with his Ground Pound, making it light in the room.

"That takes care of that! Now, about this water..." Getting a closer look, Shadower discovered it to be dangerous. "It's probably not a good idea to touch it..."

That hardly stopped Chopper from freezing it, allowing them to cross over to the other side. Vivian turned the valve that was across the water to stop the waterfall behind the fence. With that, she grabbed the key, while Chopper found the door's location to be right next to them.

Unfortunately, the group was suddenly reminded of Snowy Mountain when they entered the room beside it. The floor was made of ice, and on the ceiling were icicles dropping down onto the floor. A crate and a container were also very cold upon touching. Everyone started to shiver and huddle up close to each other.

"Not the cold again!" Scrub complained.

"And here I thought we'd be done with this..." Heartsy groaned, trying to stay close to Chopper. Though, his Ice ability had only made things colder around everyone. He ended up changing to the Fire ability, making everyone much warmer.

The first thing they noticed was the firewood over by the upper left corner. Chopper approached the wood and lit it on fire with his fire breath. There, an ice cube ghost with white eyes wearing a red Eskimo outfit. His name was revealed to be Grimace, strangely.

"_HOT! OH VERY HOT! What do you think you're doing? Don't make it TOO HOT!" _Grimace screeched._ "You know what happens when you light fire in a mansion? That means you have to pay a big price!"  
_

Grimace began to summon a barrage of ice in their direction. It had managed to send Chopper flying to the wall and left dazed. Vivian decided to take action by melting the ice surrounding Grimace with her Fiery Jinx. This left him stunned, allowing Chopper to suck him into the vacuum and make the lights turn on.

"Good work, Vivian! You… You really showed that ghost!" Chopper complimented.

"Thank you..." Vivian replied, her face briefly turning red.

Chopper opened the chest, and out came a key. Just as he was about to open his Gameboy Horror SP, however, he received a message.

_"Chopper, my boy! From what it looks like, you've found the key leading to Vincent Van Gore."_ E. Gadd informed.

"Vincent Van Gore? Who's he?"

_"He is an artist who has the ability to bring paintings to life. More specifically, ghosts."_

"Wait..." Sonic paused, trying to think for a moment. "You mean those ghosts we've been seeing around here are all...?"

_"Correct. They were made by him. He is one of the most important ghosts for you to capture, and by doing so, all of those ghosts attacking you will most likely be gone. He also holds the key needed to get to King Boo!"_

"Then we oughta go find him then!" Chopper declared, removing his Fire ability. "Let's go!"

* * *

**Third floor-**

After leaving the safari room, the group noticed that there was only one real door aside from the one leading to the balcony. It was the door to the right, and inside were many different types of paints ranging from Gold Ghosts, Purple Punchers and Blue Twirlers...

However, most of them were lying on the floor, practically ruined.

"Poyo? (What happened to this room?)" Kirby gawked.

"So you've managed to show up…"

Everyone looked over at the chair ahead and saw Dusty sitting on it while twirling a gold Boss Ghost Key resembling spades. "I believe this is what you're looking for, correct?"

"Yeah but... Where's that artist ghost?" Chopper asked.

Dusty tossed something in front of the group, which was revealed to be a green ghost with white facial hair, a red and white striped shirt, a green coat and a red beret. He was in a painting.

Mario: How did this happen?

"Boomo Inc. has many ways in taking down ghosts like him," Dusty explained, pointing his Blooper Gun at the group. "Now... Let's make this easy. Give me the Crystal Star!"

"But we don't have it..." Vivian replied.

"...Wait, what?"

"That key leads to where King Boo is, ya nutjob," Scrub explained, getting in a fighting stance. "That's why we came here in the first place!"

"But... You... Oh, forget it!" Dusty fired his Blooper Gun at the group, but they jumped out of the way in time. He decided to take his club and attempt to swing it at them. "I should've done this back in that hallway! Now you're all toast!"

Chopper managed to knock him away with his hammer, but that hardly stopped him. Dusty pulled out a bomb and threw it at them while shouting, "_**EXPLOSION!**_"

His plan was unfortunate to backfire when the bomb spat back in his direction. Thankfully, he ducked just in time.

"Look, just let us have the key!" Chopper demanded. "The Crystal Star is very important to us!"

"What for? Give me a reason to let you have it." Dusty suggested.

"Well... We need it to save the world!" Scrub explained triumphantly.

"Universe," Chopper corrected.

"Oh. Yeah..."

Dusty pondered for a moment, thinking whether the universe or his promotion was important. He looked down at the key and held it out for Chopper to take. Just as he was about to grab it, Dusty pulled his arm away, allowing him to fall over.

"Nope!" Dusty exclaimed proudly. "You're probably bluffing. I ain't falling for something like that!"

When Chopper stood back up, Dusty had his club ready to strike. Before he could make the hit, however... He found himself scorched by flames.

"Oof! Wait a second… FIRE?! Oh, crud! My one weakness!" Dusty dropped the key and ran out to the balcony to roll around. After getting them off, he sighed in relief, only to realize he didn't have the key in his hands. "Crud! ...Oh, forget it. I'm probably too late to get it. I'll just have to find something else to replace it if I'm going to keep my promotion. For now..."

He pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it onto the ground. However, once the smoke was gone, he was still standing in the same exact spot.

"Wait... Was that supposed to make me disappear, or do I have to get away at the moment?"

With Dusty out of the way, everyone stared down at the golden key. Compared to the others, this once appeared to glimmer in beauty. Chopper proudly held it up.

"Finally! We've got the key!" Chopper cheered. "Now there's only one last thing to do... Let's go stop King Boo and save Bow!"

Everyone nodded and agreement and followed him down to the basement. The time had came to take down King Boo, and they weren't going to back away at the last moment.

* * *

**Basement-**

Returning to the basement, the crew entered the door with King Boo's face plastered on it and came across a small, crooked hallway leading to a door covered in electric vines. Just by approaching them, the vines had disappeared, allowing Chopper to unlock the door. Before they entered, however, they hit the Save Block and Heart Block located near the door.

"All right... You ready, guys?" Chopper asked his friends.

Mario: We're definitely ready!

"OK, then..." Chopper grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened it. Through the door was King Boo's Secret Altar, which felt all too familiar to Chopper. To the others, this place was quite a site. It wasn't even dark either!

"Wow... What a room." Heartsy commented.

The heroes slowly approached King Boo and listened in to what he was saying.

"Aahh, I could just stare at my Bow painting for hours!" King Boo sighed wickedly, watching Bow knocking on the painting's walls. "It's definitely true of what they say about fine art…it takes utterly refined sensibilities to truly appreciate it! The way you plead for help, Bow… I find it so…satisfying. Perhaps it is because of how you and your disgrace of what you call your Boos never swear your loyalty against me. What a foolish mistake that was... And now you're here, stuck in this painting forever! Not even your little friends can do much to help you! You and all those you ever cared about will soon become history!"

_"Oh, it's you who's going to be history soon, King Boo!"_ Chopper thought, clenching a fist.

"But, you know, now that I think about it..." King Boo started as he turned to face the heroes, letting out a cackle in the process. Bow took notice as well and smiled. "Having this Bow painting here on its own doesn't seem very fitting. I think I'd be interested in having a nice little painting of Chopper, Mario, and their pathetic little friends! Then my gallery will truly be complete! Bleah HA HA!"

Everyone got in a fighting stance, with Chopper aiming the Poltergust 3000 at him. His response was another cackle.

"Oh, you think I'm afraid of you now that you carry that infernal machine? Fool! That thing works just the same as it had before! I, however, have evolved far from a house-cleaning device! Allow me to observe!"

Aiming his crown, King Boo shot a bolt of energy at the Poltergust 3000, causing any use of sucking to not function. Chopper tried to turn it on, but it was no use.

"Poyo... (Uh oh...)" Kirby gulped.

"I must say…I despise the way you SHWEEERRPP-SHLOOOOP-WHOOORPP-SHLEEEOOORG-vacuumed all of my friends and Ghost Paintings!" King Boo growled, glaring at the vacuum. "Don't imagine that I will flee from you. I will fight you like a true Boo!"

"Bring it on!" Sonic challenged.

"Now! Join Bow…inside the painting!" King Boo made the room spin around, transforming the painting of Bow into a swirling vortex. King Boo flew into it, and soon it was starting to suck everyone in as well. Though they all tried to flee, the portal was too strong and sucked them in.

* * *

It didn't take long for everyone to enter the area the painting led them. They were surprised to find themselves up on the roof, but with a big difference: the sky was a fiery purple, and there appeared to be no bottom to this place.

"The roof?" Vivian gawked. "No... This doesn't seem right."

"Bleah ha ha!" King Boo cackled, descending in front of them. "How do you like my little arena? This is the perfect place for your grave!"

Chopper tried to turn the Poltergust 3000 on, but as usual, nothing was happening. King Boo laughed in response. "Face it, Chopper! You cannot win against me with that device! And now I shall dispose of you all!"

Groaning, Chopper put the vacuum aside and got in a fighting stance. "Fine! Guess it has to be done the old-fashioned way!"

**Tattle: **_That's King Boo, the king and the ruler of Boos. Well, most of them, anyway... Even as the king, he's definitely the most powerful of the Boos, so he's no laughing matter! Max HP is 150, Attack is 11, and Defense is 1. Most of his attacks range from breathing fire, or shooting ghostly balls of energy. That crown of his seems to have the ability to paralyze or deal some serious damage to you. If the Ghost Star is really on his head, then try to be careful! Just win the day and save Bow! That's all that matters!"  
_

Starting off the battle, Chopper ran up to King Boo and delivered a Jump attack, taking 4 out of him. Mario went next and attacked with a Super Jump instead, dealing 7 damage instead. However, that didn't seem to faze King Boo too much.

"Bleah ha ha ha ha! Oh, I'm just getting started!" King Boo opened his mouth and breathed blue fire upon Chopper and Mario, leaving them with a burn.

"Ow! That really hurt!" Chopper cried, trying to shake off the attack. Unfortunately, he knew he had to wait for it to wear off, so he attacked King Boo with a Spring Jump. Sonic followed up with a Homing Attack.

Grinning, King Boo began to spin around and fly over Chopper. He dropped down on him, leaving the boy flattened for a brief moment. When he stood up, he cringed from the burn and attacked King Boo with his hammer.

"Take this!" Bombette exclaimed, blowing up in front of the ghost and dealing 5 more damage and bringing him to 112 HP.

"Bleeeaahhh! I knew you all could put up a fight, but obviously I might've misjudged you!" King Boo raised his stubby arms so it could reach for his crown. "But my crown here will do all the work! Heh heh heh!"

His crown began to glow, and out came a bolt of purple energy that struck Bombette. What was worse was that she was also paralyzed for a couple of turns.

"Argh! I...can't...move...!" Bombette grunted.

"It feels so good to have a powerful crown!" King Boo cackled.

Chopper groaned and hurled a fireball at King Boo, scorching him and leaving a burn as well. Vivian had done the same thing, dealing 5 damage as well. King Boo, in retaliation, used his crown to make purple lightning strike both of them, dealing 11 damage.

"See? My crown can attack more than one person at a time! So much stronger than your little toy!" King Boo scoffed.

Chopper clenched a fist and hurled an ice ball at the king instead. Kirby attacked with a Cartwheel afterward, and during that time, the paralysis on the Poltergust 3000 seemed to wear off. Mario took notice of it first and informed Chopper of it.

"Wait... That stupid machine is active again?!" the king gaped, looking both angry and disappointed. "Then perhaps my crown cannot permanently disable it... It was supposed to give me greater power that that!"

"Well, looks like you were wrong!" Chopper smirked, aiming the Poltergust 3000 at him. "And that means you're history!"

He turned on the Poltergust 3000, causing it to suck in the air around him, specifically where King Boo was. He winced in pain from getting closer each second to the vacuum, but with his crown, he zapped it once again, disabling it temporarily.

"Bleah ha ha! Much better!" King Boo grinned.

"Crud... I was hoping that would've beat him."

"Well, then when the time comes, we get him again!" Sonic declared with a thumbs up.

"And then I will disable it again!" King Boo roared, charging straight into Sonic. He, however, was fully prepared for the attack and brought his arms up to guard it, taking only 10 damage. After taking 1 damage from being burned, King Boo was reduced to 90 HP. Chopper took action by hitting him with a Spin Jump, and then Heartsy used her Hearty Throw to deal 6 damage.

King Boo growled and shot a ghost ball from his mouth at Heartsy, who brought her hammer up to guard it. He took additional damage from the burn, but that was when the effect wore off. Chopper was about to use more fire attacks, but he decided to go for his normal hammer attack. Scrub used his Gulp to deal 6 damage and bring him to 66 HP. Not only that, but the Poltergust 3000 was now working again, so Chopper grabbed it and began to suck King Boo into it.

Regardless, the Poltergust 3000 did not manage to suck him in, but Chopper could tell he was getting close. King Boo used his crown and disabled the vacuum once again.

"Look, there's no use in escaping now. You're done for!" Chopper declared. "Just give us the Crystal Star and we'll be all set!"

"Done for? I wouldn't say that just yet!" King Boo shouted. "Do you remember all of those Shadow Boos lurking around the mansion?"

"We fought that Shadow Boolossus..." Vivian recalled.

"Wanna guess how they managed to get all that power?" the king pointed up at his crown. "You can thank this crown! And, thinking about it more, I was considering using it on myself to see what it can do!"

"Poyo... (Oh, no...)" Kirby gulped.

King Boo's crown began to glow, and a large amount of energy surged into him. His eyes and tongue remained the same, but his white body had changed to a freaky black.

"Whoa..." Scrub gaped.

"Bleah HA HA! Oh, are you guys afraid of me? Well good! With this power, you're all going to be paintings for all eternity!"

King Boo opened his mouth, and purple flames shot out rather than blue. Everyone got engulfed in the flames and lost 11 HP. For Chopper, things were not looking so good, so he ate a Jelly Ultra and recovered 50 HP and FP. Mario followed up by taking 5 HP out of King Boo with his trusty hammer.

"Taste my dark power!" King Boo cackled, shooting a shadow, ghostly ball from his mouth and letting it hit Mario for 11 damage. While he cackled, Shadower lowered his defense with a Shadow Punch, and then Chopper followed up by hitting him with a Spring Jump. Now he was left with 44 HP. "Ack! You were lucky there!"

"Or maybe we knew that we could attack," Shadower corrected, guarding King Boo's ground pound. Chopper attacked quickly by hitting him with a Spin Jump, and then Sonic attacked with a Spin Dash next. This left King Boo stunned, and it also made the Poltergust 3000 active. Chopper started sucking him into the vacuum, but, as usual, King Boo managed to disable it in time.

King Boo let his crown do the work by firing lightning bolts on all the heroes and dealing 11 damage. Chopper decided to equip his Ghost ability during this moment and delivered a Ghost Punch to King Boo. Vivian's Shade Fist left him with another burn.

"So, how does it feel to get hurt by a ghost?" Chopper asked, giving King Boo a smirk.

"It feels the same as a normal person. I wonder how it feels to get hurt by a ghost king?" King Boo grinned, shooting a ghostly ball at Chopper and knocking him back. He retaliated by firing a ghostly ball back at him, and once hit by Bombette's Bomb, he was down to 4 HP.

"4 HP already? I guess it's over for you, King Boo." Sonic stated with a grin.

"Argh... Not...yet..." King Boo raised his stubby arms and used his crown's power to strike them all with a lightning bolt. Chopper had lost his Ghost ability in the process, but he didn't care at the moment. Mario decided to step up and jump on King Boo, delivering the final blow.

"_**BLEAHHHH…**_" King Boo cried, dropping to the ground and awarding Chopper with 38 Star Points. He used the level up he gained to upgrade his FP to 70.

With King Boo dazed and stunned, the Poltergust 3000 started to activate. Everyone looked over at the stunned King Boo and back at the vacuum. With a smile, Chopper picked up the vacuum and began to suck King Boo into it.

"Urrgh... I... I can't escape!" King Boo yelled, his tail getting caught in the vacuum. "You may have won this fight, but I will come out of my painting and destroy you all! I'll be-"

He was unfortunately cut off when the rest of his body was sucked into the Poltergust 3000. The only thing that didn't get sucked in was the crown King Boo wore.

"We... We did it!" Chopper smiled, holding the crown up in victory.

Mario: Yippee!

Before their victory could be celebrated, they noticed everything disappear around them, and the surroundings then changed to the Secret Altar. Bow's painting was still on the wall, but she did not appear to be moving.

"That was one intense battle," Chopper sighed, wiping his forehead. Just as he finished, his Gameboy Horror SP went off.

_"KRRZZZ…Chopper…" _As usual, Chopper opened the device to find E. Gadd. _"Chopper and Co., you've finally done it! That was remarkable! King Boo is finally back where he belongs! I know I never say this, but... I'm...sniff...so proud of you all."  
_

"Yeah... It was a big fight, but we managed to win in the end." Chopper turned back to the painting. "But... Bow isn't moving. Do you think she...?"

_"No, it's not likely, my boy! She was probably sleeping during the whole battle! Say… Why don't you come back to the lab and empty that Poltergust out. We can always turn it in reverse to free Bow! If there are more trapped in paintings, I'd recommend doing that as well!"_

Chopper nodded and pried the painting off the wall. The others grabbed a couple of paintings of Boos that were imprisoned by King Boo as well. With satisfaction in their faces, they made their exit out of the mansion.

* * *

**Professor E. Gadd's lab-**

"You did a fantastic job, Chopper and Co.! You did all of that in a single night of Halloween!" E. Gadd congratulated. "Relax, everything's over. But for now, we oughta take care of those ghosts. Go ahead! Do the honors!"

"With pleasure!" Chopper put the Poltergust into the machine and emptied out all of the ghosts, including King Boo. Like the others, they were turned into paintings. The painting of King Boo was certainly the most beautiful of them all.

"Now that settles that!" E. Gadd declared. "And I hope King Boo is finally trapped for good! _Perhaps I should sell this when I have a garage sale... It could get me some coins and also help get rid of this thing!_"

Once the Portrait Ghosts were taken care of, E. Gadd put the thing in reverse and began to free all of the Boos trapped in paintings. As each Boo was free, they cheered.

"Freedom!"

"Boo haw haw!"

Bow's painting was the last to be put in reverse, and once the procedure was done, Bow came spitting out of the machine as her normal, ghostly self. The other Boos were shocked, but happy to see her return.

"_**Gwah hee ha!**_ I'm finally back to my normal self!" Bow cackled.

"You might want these," Chopper pulled out the bow and fan and tossed them to her, along with the picture that belonged to her. After putting her bow on and putting her fan and picture away, she flew over to him and the others.

"So, is that tyrant finally gone?"

"Yup! He's in a painting!"

"Good. I hope he never returns to terrorize me and my Boos again. That would be awful... As for you, Chopper... I can't express my thanks to you and your friends for helping me."

"Well, we are friends, after all," Chopper smiled.

"Oh, you..." Bow pinched his cheek, causing him to wince in pain and rub his cheek.

"Ow! I don't like that!"

"You've still got those adorable cheeks I can't resist. Perhaps I should reward you all."

"We're fine with no reward," Heartsy assured suspiciously.

"Well... I'm still going to give one." Bow gave Chopper a quick kiss on the cheek, causing him to gag.

"...That's not what I wanted," Chopper said, obviously horrified by the kiss and wiping it.

"Ahem..." the heroes and Bow turned to E. Gadd, who had just approached them. "Chopper, you've got the crown King Boo wore, did you not?"

"Right here!" Chopper smiled, giving him the crown.

"Ah, good! I can probably bring this back to its normal shape with my Originification machine!" the professor walked over to a silver container and dumped it inside. It shook for a couple of seconds, and it ended up coughing a pale red Crystal Star.

Mario: That's pretty cool!

"I don't know if Tails even has something like that," Sonic remarked.

"Hmmmm... Well, I guess this could count as an award." Bow decided, taking the Ghost Star from E. Gadd and handing it to the heroes. "Here you go, Chopper. You and your friends earned it!"

Chopper smiled, taking the Crystal Star from her. With one bright flash, it began to circle over his head. Being proud of this accomplishment, he held it over his head.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 13! And Chopper can use the special move Nightmare!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_With King Boo finally defeated, Bow was finally free from his grasps, along with the other Boos trapped by him. Unfortunately, Chopper couldn't hold onto the Gameboy Horror SP and Poltergust 3000 any longer, as Professor E. Gadd needed them back. Bow was definitely excited to see Chopper again, with no king to step in the way. However, despite the accomplishments of getting the Ghost Star, there was still evil out there more evil than Bow. Where were these Crystal Stars coming from? And who was creating them? Things were starting to get much more complicated for Chopper and his friends._

* * *

**Well this was certainly a long chapter. Much longer than the previous three chapters in this second act. Of course, I don't believe Chapter 12 is going to be the longest chapter overall, as there are ones later in the story being much longer. It was pretty fun to do, I'll admit, especially with the costumes. There's bound to be more interesting things like that later in the story. :P**

**I probably might make this whole chapter into two chapters so the boss chapter is just that chapter. I'll probably do that when I finish editing the whole story, though.**


	78. Chapter 12 Interlude

Back in the New X-Naut Fortress, Grodus was having a little discussion with an X-Naut Scout. There was a holographic communicator in front of his throne that was recently installed as well.

"Have you gotten any news from Lord Crump, recently?" Grodus asked. "Has he found the Ghost Star located in that mansion?"

"Last time I checked, I hard Lord Crump aborted his mission and took off to some other place," the X-Naut Scout answered.

"What?! He aborted his plan?! Speak now, X-Naut! Tell me where he went this instant!"

"Uhhhhh... I hate to tell you this, but... Lord Crump told us not to tell you where he went, so… Yeah."

"If he believe that will work, then he is an idiot," Grodus declared. "But if he wants to play it that way, then I will contact him myself. I will get the answers from him then."

He pressed a button on his throne, and a hologram of Lord Crump and two X-Nauts appeared.

_"Whoa... Are you contacting me, Grodus?" _Lord Crump gawked._ "What're you doing here? And what's with that glare?"_

"So, you just abort the mission and go somewhere else instead?! You sicken me, Crump! Our priority was to find the Crystal Star in Boo Woods!"

_"Well, sir… I found something interesting! I heard there's this Crystal Star out in this lighter place and not the dark. I debated whether to go to the woods or to this other area, and I thought it was much better here!"  
_

Grodus raised an eyebrow. "Hmmmm? So you say there's a Crystal Star there? Where exactly is it?"

_"Well, I passed a place that was up on the clouds. I think it's called __**Wingel City**,"_ Lord Crump explained._ "I first thought it was called Wing City, but aside from that, I heard there was a Crystal Star there. Though... I don't think I can get up onto those clouds..."  
_

"So you're saying the next Crystal Star is somewhere in a sky world? Hmmmm... Perhaps this would be a great opportunity to use our X-Naut Battleships. With those, we can seize the city and take the Crystal Star!" Grodus pondered before looking back at Lord Crump. "I was thinking of firing you at first, but I'm starting to change my mind... Consider yourself lucky."

_"Well of course you can't fire me! I've got the ol' Crump-a-bomb to deliver, and no one can fire the one with that!" _

"Now I'm considering firing you..." Grodus stated, causing Lord Crump to shut up.

_"OK, I'll just…stay here and wait for the X-Naut Battleship to arrive," _Lord Crump said as the hologram disappeared. The X-Naut Scout crossed his arms in a salute and left as well.

"So, you think you'll win this time, Chopper… Well let's see how you face against my X-Naut Battleship! When you get a glimpse of them, perhaps then you will finally give up and give us what we need!"

* * *

**Rogueport Sewers-**

"Gwaaa ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, Kammy! You're a genius!" Bowser cackled as he stomped his way through Rogueport's sewers in the city area. A couple of Goombas ended up running to avoid getting stepped on. "I never knew that there would be a Crystal Star down here! And nobody has even found it yet!"

"Oh, I'm so proud that you're proud of me, Your Cheeriness!" Kammy complimented, flying over to Bowser's side. "Anyway, I heard there's a little secret room that holds the Crystal Star we're looking for. All we need to do is go through this underground city."

"Yes! Yessss… I like the idea! We'll just blast through these sewers like never before! Let's go, Haggy!" Bowser stomped his way through the doorway on his own, flattening a Goomba that didn't bother getting in his way. The setting had changed from resembling a sewer to an underground level with bottomless pits, some brick and yellow blocks and some Elite X-Nauts and Gloombas.

One thing for sure was that World 4 of Super Bowser Bros. was about to begin!

"Ready to roll!" Bowser exclaimed as he stomped his way through. He unleashed his fiery breath on an Elite X-Naut and Gloomba in his way, knocking them out and covering them in soot. After hitting a yellow block, a piece of meat dropped in front of Bowser. He picked it up and gave a grin.

"Ah, good old meat! You never fail me!" Bowser chowed down on the meat and grew bigger in size. This made it much easier to avoid falling in bottomless pits. It was also easy for him to jump across the descending and ascending platforms over a bottomless pit up ahead.

Meanwhile, Kammy was having a much harder time keeping up.

"Your Excitedness... Do slow down, please." Kammy moaned. "I don't think I have enough strength to move my broomstick any faster..."

After stepping on another Elite X-Naut, Bowser consumed another piece of meat and grew to a gargantuan size. Not only that, but he was invincible, allowing him to plow through any brick blocks or enemies blocking his path.

"Gwa ha ha ha! I'd like Mario to see me like this! He'd be running for his coins!" Bowser cackled, knocking over the flagpole and destroying the small castle standing in his way.

Eventually Bowser had reached his destination and found himself in a small little house with water dripping from the ceiling. His cackling came to a halt when he got a glimpse of the soggy bed and filthy floor.

"Wait... This is it?" Bowser gawked. "The Crystal Star's located in this filthy place? Then again, I raised my troops to be filthy, and this is poor filthiness in here!"

Kammy flew into the room, adding, "Why, I'd be disappointed to see some of my fellow Magikoopas keeping their rooms neat and tidy! So disgraceful to His Majesty!"

"Your darn right it is! Now, onto the Crystal Star... So it's in this effortless, messy place?"

The old Magikoopa noticed a rosy skinned person with a gray beak, a tail made of feathers, a green hat with a horizontal white stripe, a low, dark olive bandanna around his neck, a green vest, white bands on the wrists and dark trousers. Right beside the bed was a spear, and in the guard's hand was a shiny, dark green star that caught Kammy's attention.

"Why, Your Graciousness! The Crystal Star!"

"Huh?" the guard named Gus yawned and stepped off his bed. Upon seeing Bowser, he grabbed his spear and aimed it at him. "Hey! Who the heck are you, an' what are you doing breaking into my house? Don't tell me your robbers!"

"Breaking into your house? That's one of my specialties!" Bowser responded. "We're here to rob you of your Crystal Star!"

"Crystal Star? What's a Crystal Star?"

"That thing you've got with you! Give it to me!"

"Oh, this?" Gus looked over at the star. "And what if I refuse?"

Bowser opened his mouth and scorched him with his fire breath. The star had been caught in it as well and was burnt to crisp.

"Oh, no! Not my blanket! That was my last one!"

"Wait... What do you mean?"

"My star-shaped blanket is ruined!"

"Wh-WHAAAAAAT?!" Bowser gaped. "You're telling me we came all this way to get a blanket?!"

"Oh, dear..." Kammy trailed. "Not again..."

"Kammy, why do you always lead me to the wrong places?! Is that brain of yours too shriveled?!"

"Of course not, your Angriness. It's just that... We're already being beaten to the punch each time."

"Grrrrgh!" Bowser stomped the floor in anger, unaware of the banana peel under his foot. He ended up slipping, sending him flying in the air and also crashing through Gus's house.

"Lord Bowser! Don't leave without me!" Kammy cried, flying through the hole after the king. Gus, meanwhile, gawked at the hole in his wall.

"Great... Looks like I have to go on guard duty to fix this!" Gus groaned. "And I bet some hero's going to come in and try to take me on to get past me! Well... At least it can't get any worse..."

Suddenly, the ceiling tore apart and water splattered over his head, leaving Gus to pout.

* * *

**Castle Dedede-**

Fumu lied on her bed with her pink and green book that matched her clothes. Her room contained a book shelf with a couple of books, and beside her was a small table to put stuff on next to the bed. The walls were pink, and one the wall was an oyster shell too, along with a desk beside the shelf.

"This is just great… Now I can't warn Chopper and the others of these monsters helping Dedede!" Fumu groaned, grabbing onto her collar and attempting to pull it off. "I'm surprise Dedede never mentioned this thing before, considering that I knew a couple of his other secrets. I guess he's taking it further."

Giving up on trying to pry the collar off, Fumu grabbed the TV remote and turned the TV on to the only channel: Channel DDD.

_"This is Channel DDD! Brought to you by Taco Inc. Say PK Taco with us!"_

The next thing she saw was King Dedede standing beside a table. On the table was a poorly made plushie of Chopper. The eyes looked beady, and the mouth looked like it had been cut open with scissors

_"So, Chopper… How would you like to play a game called 'Whack A-Chopper'?" _King Dedede asked before moving over to the plushie to open its mouth. He also tried keeping his face away from the camera.

"This is just like what he was doing with Kirby. Typical." Fumu sighed, not too surprised.

"_Oh, sure, Your Majesty! You can hit me all you want because I'm so dumb!" _the plushie exclaimed stupidly._ "Derr… How do I play anyway?"_

_"Well, this is how you play!" _King Dedede grinned, pulling out his hammer and continually bashing it. Fumu turned off the TV, uninterested in the show. It appeared that Chopper was not the king's biggest target at the moment.

As she lied back on her bed to rest, she heard the sound of something appearing on her window. Opening her eyes, Fumu saw Meta Knight standing on her windowsill.

"Sir Meta Knight? What are you doing here?" Fumu asked. Meta Knight took out a scroll and handed it to her when she approached him.

"Give this to Chopper when he arrives in Hatty Town," Meta Knight requested. The scroll was red and wrapped in a blue ribbon.

"What for?"

"He will find out for himself," he answered, turning away from her and revealing his wings.

"Hold on, Sir Meta Knight!" Fumu exclaimed. "I want to know something."

Meta Knight stopped in his tracks and turned back to her. "What do you wish to ask me?"

"Is it true that you were the one to rescue Chopper from his home six years ago?"

"Where did you hear that?" the warrior asked in surprise.

"Well... Your two servants aren't exactly good at keeping secrets, especially when the room they're in is not closed all the way."

Meta Knight mentally reminded himself to scold Blade and Sword Knight. "Yes, it's true. He was chosen to take this grand power that would be strong enough to defeat the evil demon knight, Maquano."

"Maquano?"

"He was the one responsible for destroying Mondrao, home to many powerful Star Warriors. Thankfully, his evil has passed away once he was sealed. Though, I can't say the same with his monsters..."

Fumu blinked in surprise. "You know about them?"

"I'm afraid so... And now, they appear to be trying to find a way to take down Chopper. Anyway, that is all I can speak about. Take the scroll to Chopper. That's my only request."

"But-"

Meta Knight ignored her and flew off. Fumu tried to reach out for him, but he was already too far away. Sighing, she took a look at the scroll and left her room.

_"I just hope what Meta Knight is giving Chopper is something good..."_

* * *

**?-**

On a large, grassy plains, Gemerl was flying past a couple of trees. Not much was around, but the clouds here were pretty gorgeous. To him, it wasn't so interesting. One thing that caught his attention were some blue, alien-like creatures with horns on their heads and spears. Their arms and legs were a lot skinnier compared to their hands and feet, and their eyes were a bright yellow.

"This is a strange place..." Gemerl remarked, scanning the area. "But I know a Crystal Star is located somewhere here. I can feel it..."

When he looked down over by a workshop, he noticed someone busting out of the wall. The figure appeared to be a penguin, and in his hands was a pale blue Crystal Star.

"Ah-ha! So that penguin has the Crystal Star!" Gemerl flew over to the penguin and landed in front of him. Getting a closer look, he was wearing a light blue robe with a hint of purple. For some reason, his shape almost resembled King Dedede, only he was smaller in height and a little less fat. "Wait... This is it?"

"Uh... I'm not doing anything bad." the penguin assured. "I'm just...taking my star back."

"And now you're going to give it to me," Gemerl declared.

"And what if I refu-OH, OW!" the penguin's arm was grabbed and was being squeezed. "Stop it! Stop with it!"

"Listen here, you fat penguin! That star belongs to ME! It will be what grants me ultimate power far beyond even the greatest evil! So, you can: A) Give me the Crystal Star and at least be spared... Or B) I destroy you and take it."

"But I need this thing, you piece of scrap metal," the penguin replied angrily. "How else will those pesky Wingels be stopped?"

This had not convinced Gemerl, and now he was squeezing his arm tighter. His other arm transformed into a missile launcher, which he aimed at the penguin. "I don't care whether you need it for something special, nor do I care about these Wingel creatures you're talking about. So, do me a favor and-"

Gemerl's communicator had gone off, cutting him off in the process. He groaned and released the penguin, who quickly scurried away before he could spot him. "What is it now? I was in the middle of something!"

_"Sir, I believe we've found something you might find interesting,"_ a Phi commander named Phimin informed. "You might like it!"

"I had a Crystal Star so close to my hands at the moment! Give me a reason why you should tell me this is important!"

_"Well... As a matter of fact, we DID find a Crystal Star's location."_

Gemerl froze for a brief moment. "Say what now?"

_"Yes. There's one on this floating island." _Phimin explained._ "There's no sign of Chopper here too, so this could be easy pickings."_

"Hmmmmm... Well, now that I think about it... I'd rather not get my hands dirty over that one star. I can always pick it up later."

_"We also discovered a new base. It's pretty empty, so it looks like easy pickings."_

"Oh, really? Tell me about it, Phimin."

_"I'll send you the location immediately, Master Gemerl."_

"Perfect," Gemerl remarked, turning off his communicator. While finding a Crystal Star location was awesome, so was a new base in Gemerl's eyes. He took off in the air, leaving the area, declaring, "That penguin will be in for a treat when I return to annihilate him and whoever else is in the way!"

* * *

**Boo Town-**

"Ah, it feels great to be free once again, especially back at this town," Bow remarked. "Honestly, I could not stand that place. It reeked of evil ghosts."

"Your Ladyship, perhaps we can reward him with two things we have," Bootler suggested, taking out one of the objects. "You know, it was one of the few reasons why you wished to see him."

"Oh, yes. Thank you for reminding me, Bootler." Bow took the white orb from him and gave it to Chopper. "Chopper, this is called the **Diamond Orb**. With this, you can now make your friends stronger. You remember that orb that you got two years ago, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" Chopper answered, taking the white orb from her. "It helped us power you guys up to Diamond Rank!"

"Diamond Rank? What's that?" Sonic asked.

"You guys can become much stronger thanks to this!"

"Oh, neat!" Scrub smiled.

"I also have something else for you," Bow added, holding another object in her hands. "These will help you for sure. Close your eyes and hold out your hands for me, OK?"

Chopper closed his eyes and held his hands out. He felt something on his hands and opened them to see a pair of shoes resembling his.

"I was lucky enough to find these shoes. You know, those Diamond Shoes, right?"

"The Diamond Shoes? Oh, boy! I remember these! Woo hoo!" Chopper held them proudly over his head.

**You got the Diamond Shoes!**

As Chopper instantly equipped the shoes, the background changed around him, and Toadette walked in as usual.

"Hey, Chopper! It's me again!" Toadette greeted cheerfully. "It's been a while since we've seen each other, huh? You're lucky that you've gotten the Diamond Shoes! They're GREAT!"

"Yeah, I can use the Rocket Jump thanks to them!" Chopper cheered.

"Rocket Jump? I don't know what you're talking about. …But it sounds a little interesting. These shoes allow you to move faster AND use a new move called the **Wall Jump**! If you ever see two walls close to each other, you can jump off the walls and reach a higher point of an area with them. All you have to do is jump against a wall with marked feet, and you will jump off! When you're in battle, you can use the Wall Jump to deal some serious damage to enemies!"

As she finally explained the tutorial, Chopper was taken back to Boo Town.

"Wow! These shoes do feel great!" Chopper smiled, running around the town to get used to them. "It feels as though my jumping is even stronger!"

"Now, then… You remember what asked you before, right?" Bow reminded.

Chopper instantly froze as he looked at Bow. "Ummmmm... No, not really."

"The idea of you becoming 'Lord Chopper' of my Boo clan?"

"Hey, look, there's no way that he's going to do that," Heartsy stepped in.

"And what makes you think that?" Bow asked. "You don't have the right to speak for him, you know."

"...Wait, do you mean what you told me a year ago?" Chopper remembered. "I can't do that, Bow... It's not just because I don't want to live my life having to do something like that which would take my freedom away, but I'm trying to save the world! It's very important that I collect these Crystal Stars after all."

Bow let out a sigh. "All right... I can understand your reason, Chopper. Just try to come back in one piece, OK? Because I can't do this to you."

She grabbed and pinched Chopper's cheek, causing him to let out a cry. When she finished, Heartsy tapped Chopper on the shoulder and asked him for a little something. Though confused at first, he eventually handed it to her.

"Well, see ya, Bow," Chopper said, summoning his Warp Star and jumping on it. Kirby did the same thing and jumped onto his Warp Star as well.

"Hopefully I see you soon," Bow smiled. Her goodbye was interrupted when she felt Heartsy tap her on the shoulder. "What do you want?"

"Well, I just wanted to give you a little something," Heartsy held out a red present box with a blue ribbon wrapped around it. "It's just an apology for what I said to you before..."

"Hmmmmm?" Bow took the present and smiled. "Well, this was rather nice of you. I suppose I can accept your little apology."

"Good! Well, see ya!" Heartsy jumped onto Chopper's Warp Star, and they all took off.

With them gone, Bow decided to check what was inside the present box. Pulling out the object, both ghosts noticed it was black and round. It also had some kind of fuse on the top.

KA-BOOM!

Bow and Bootler remained floating, covered in soot. Bow's bows and Bootler's toupee were both ruined.

"Bootler..." Bow hissed.

"Yes, my lady?" Bootler asked.

"Can you remind me to teach a certain pink girl carrying a hammer a lesson next time we see her?"

"Of course, Your Ladyship."

* * *

The heroes had heard an explosion from behind and looked down. Almost everyone was surprised.

"Was that an explosion?" Sonic gawked.

"Boo Town appears to be all right, though..." Vivian noticed.

"I guess it's nothing special, then," Heartsy assured. _"You know, I kinda feel a little bad for doing something like that. ...Oh, who am I kidding? She was asking for it!"_

_"I wonder what Heartsy wanted that bomb for," _Chopper thought.

* * *

**Hatty Town-**

As the nine made their landing in Hatty Town, they saw Fumu and Bun waiting for them. In fact, they were trying to catch their attention by waving their arms.

"Chopper! Over here!" Fumu called out.

"Oh, hey, guys!" Chopper greeted, running over to them. The first thing that caught his attention was the collar on Fumu's neck. "Wait... What's that weird thing on her neck?"

"It's a collar," Heartsy answered, getting a closer look at it. "It doesn't look so comfortable... Why did you get it?"

"She said it was a gift from the Mayor of Hatty Town," Bun informed.

"Well, maybe I can get it off!" Chopper tried pulling off the collar, but it was no use. That, and it was only making things worse for Fumu. "Oh... This thing won't come off."

"Poyo? (Is there any way to get it off?)" Kirby asked.

"Hmmmmm... If only my friend was here, he could do something like that." Chopper said while pounding a hand with his fist. "He's skilled with machines!"

"Well, the reason why we're here is because Sir Meta Knight wanted me to give this to you," Fumu took out a scroll and handed it to Chopper. He opened it and began to read the message.

_Chopper,_

_It has been a while since we've last faced each other. Now I believe the time has come for us to battle once again! It is what His Majesty requests. Meet me at the Fountain of Dreams, and then our battle shall begin! As a Star Warrior, you must accept my challenge!_

_-Meta Knight-_

"He wants to fight me..." Chopper trailed.

"Are you really going to go on with it?" Bun asked. "I mean, Meta Knight is a very tough war-"

"We've taken down his battleship, and I managed to take him down before! This shouldn't be too difficult! Besides, we need to go to the Fountain of Dreams anyway."

"Right! If this Meta Knight guy wants a challenge, then I guess we can have a little more fun!" Sonic smirked. "Plus, you've got those new shoes that you can test on him!"

"Hey, you're right! C'mon, guys! Let's get going!"

They got back on the two Warp Stars and launched out of Hatty Town and to the Fountain of Dreams.

Fumu, unfortunately, was still uncertain about the situation. Bun noticed and assured, "Oh, he'll be all right, Sis! If he said he took on crazy demons, then Meta Knight wouldn't be able to take him on!"

"It's not just that. It's something else that's confusing..." Fumu trailed.

* * *

**Fountain of Dreams-**

When the heroes landed at the Fountain of Dreams, they stood near the fountain and looked around the purple trees for any figure. Chopper, especially, was scanning the area.

"So you've come at long last, Chopper. You came much sooner than I thought." Meta Knight said, standing on a branch of a tree closest to the fountain. He jumped down and landed in front of the crew.

"This is Meta Knight? A lot smaller than I thought..." Sonic remarked.

"Why do you want to fight?" Chopper asked.

"If you read the letter, it would've mentioned something about His Majesty," Meta Knight answered. "However, there's much more to it. While on your travels, I visited an old man in Rogueport, and he allowed me to see your progress. I specifically noticed the huge improvement in skill ever since the battle with the Shadow Queen. However, I feel that there is only one way to prove that."

"And what's that?"

Meta Knight drew his sword and answered, "By facing you."

"But... I have to save the universe!" Chopper cried. "I don't have time to fight!"

"As much as I've warned you about the consequences, you don't seem to be listening to my advice," Meta Knight said. "So... Defeat me, and I will let you pass."

"And you won't stop me if I win?"

"No. I always keep my word. There's no honor in stopping you if I lose. I wish to test your skills, Chopper. I won't take no for an answer."

Chopper turned away and crossed his arms. "Well what if I refuse?"

Meta Knight sighed and turned invisible with his cape. He appeared in front of Chopper with his sword aimed at him.

"As I said, I will not take no for an answer. It's either you face me, or you die here. Draw your sword and fight me, Star Warrior!"

"Fine then!" Chopper declared, becoming Sword Chopper and drawing his sword.

"If Contadre's fight, then so are we!" Scrub declared. "I've been waiting to kick this masked guy's butt ever since we ran into him!"

"So be it... But I will not go as easy as I did back at my battleship." Meta Knight informed. "I will use as many of my moves to defeat you!"

**Tattle: **_That's Meta Knight, a masked warrior that's known for fighting fair. He's also a loyal servant to that freak King Dedede. Max HP is 140, Attack is 11, and Defense is 1. He'll usually attack with his sword and all, but he's got some tricks up his sleeves such as his ability to disappear with his cape. He might even use his powerful Mach Tornado against you, which is something you WANT to avoid! Really, it's BAD! Other than that, you should be able to take him… I hope._

"Time to put my jumping skills to the test!" Chopper smirked, leaping in the air and attacking Meta Knight with a jump. Though he had defense, he did manage to deal 6 damage. Sonic followed up by using his Spin Dash.

"I see you put more of a fight now, Chopper. Allow me to show you my improvements." Meta Knight said, spinning his body in the form of a drill and attacking Chopper, dealing 11 damage. While he was open, Shadower lowered his defense with a Shadow Punch.

"I guess I should try out my Wall Jump attack," Chopper decided, jumping off from a tree branch and leaping on top of Meta Knight. He performed a ground pound in the same way as his Spin Jump, but the attack was much more powerful, dealing 18 damage rather than 16. "Whoa... This thing sure packs a punch."

Using his cape, Meta Knight disappeared from the sights. Everyone looked around to find him, but they ended up getting struck by a powerful sword slash coming from Meta Knight.

"That is what I like to refer to as my Dimensional Cape," Meta Knight explained. "You won't be able to find me when I use it."

Vivian managed to leave him with a burn thanks to her Shade Fist. This also caught his wing on fire, so he used his cape to cover up the burn, healing himself of the status too.

"My burn status doesn't do much..." Vivian trailed.

Chopper charged at Meta Knight while spinning like a drill. His Spinning Sword managed to deal 8 damage to Meta Knight and leave him at 96 HP.

Gripping his sword, Meta Knight flew above Chopper and thrust his sword downward. To his surprise, he saw Chopper guard the attack and strike him in a fast manner. Meta Knight skid back and noticed a small tear in his cape.

"Oh, geez... I'm sorry about that." Chopper apologized as Mario hit Meta Knight with his hammer.

"Never apologize to your opponent," Meta Knight advised, jumping in the air with energy charged in his sword. He swung, and a Sword Beam fired down toward the heroes. They all put their guard up and guarded the Sword Beam, taking 12 damage in the process. Meta Knight landed, ready to strike at any moment.

"Hmmmm... Say, Chopper... Maybe we should try out that new Crystal Star on Meta Knight!" Sonic suggested.

"Good idea!" Chopper brought forth the Ghost Star.

"Using a Crystal Star against me? You are making a grave mistake, Chopper..." Meta Knight trailed.

A dark source of energy had appeared from the Ghost Star, and using its power, it fired a small beam at Meta Knight. Surprisingly, he had not flinched.

"Wait... What?" Chopper gasped. "How does it not work?"

"I have my secrets..."

"Well, if that's not going to work..." Sonic curled up in a ball and threw himself at a fast pace at Meta Knight, which threw him against the tree. He managed to glide back to the fight and swing at Chopper rapidly, dealing 11 damage. Chopper retaliated by attacking with a Spin Jump. Heartsy's Hearty Throw brought him down to 59 HP.

"To have your friends fight well on your side is most impressive," Meta Knight said. "But in the end, it will not help you win, Chopper."

Raising his sword, he began to store energy for his Mach Tornado. Obviously this was something they needed to avoid, so Chopper hit him with his Wall Jump, and then Vivian pulled everyone into the shadows just as Meta Knight unleashed his Mach Tornado. Thankfully, it missed, but as soon as they came out from the shadows, Meta Knight hit Chopper with his sword once again.

Shadower lowered his defense with his Shadow Punch before Chopper could hit him with another Wall Jump, reducing him to 20 HP. Meta Knight fired another Sword Beam, which was Superguarded by Chopper.

"So, you've been able to perform the Superguard... That's a very hard move to pull off." Meta Knight remarked.

"Well, it saved me from taking some serious damage!" Chopper jumped in the air and hit Meta Knight with a Sword Beam. Scrub's Ground Pound brought him to 6 HP.

"Unngh... Impressive, Chopper... I can see your improvements..." Meta Knight disappeared using his cape and managed to strike all nine of them with his Dimensional Cape. To finish off the fight, Chopper fired another Sword Beam, causing Meta Knight to get knocked onto the ground and reward Chopper with some Star Points.

"Yes! We did it!" Bombette cheered.

"Poyo, (He was a lot tougher than usual,)" Kirby remarked.

"Good... So you've all gotten stronger..." Meta Knight wheezed, his mask now cracked in half. "As much as I do not wish to, I've kept my word. I'll allow you to pass."

Mario: Good!

"But..." Meta Knight slowly stood up, his mask now falling off and revealing his face for everyone to see. "If you do not heed my words, Chopper, then it will lead to your downfall."

With that, he escaped using his cape. Those who had not seen his face were a bit surprised.

"He...looks like Kirby," Heartsy gawked, looking over at Kirby.

"It's kinda hard to take him seriously without that mask on," Sonic remarked. "But... Let's just get to the Crystal Star location, OK?"

"All right," Chopper nodded, jumping on the pedestal and holding the Ghost Star out. As the procedure went on, Meta Knight's last words started to haunt his mind. _"I don't know... I'm being told that this will help us, but he's saying that it won't. Does he know a lot more about the Crystal Stars than us?"_

When Chopper got a glimpse of the map, noticed a grassy land with clouds and a city on the clouds. A floating palace was also seen a bit further from the city. A pale blue Crystal Star was located there.

"Whoa… The thirteenth Crystal Star is up on the clouds? We better tell Professor Frankly about this!" Chopper suggested.

* * *

**Frankly's house-  
**

"Hrrrrrmmmm... Very interesting..." Frankly remarked, closing his book. "The next Crystal Star is located up in sky land in a floating palace..."

"Up in a sky land? Sounds neat So what's there, gramps?" Scrub asked.

"Ahem! Well... There's this one city called Wingel City, one of the few homes of the Wingels. It's amazing that you can find such a beautiful place up on the clouds. It's so heavenly!"

"Wingels? Those sound like wing and angel put together..." Chopper trailed.

"Exactly. The Wingels can be considered as an angel type of race. They're very pretty to see. Not only that, but they are actually very intelligent. Yes, one of the most intelligent species out there."

"Really? Sounds interesting..." Heartsy trailed.

"Hey, did you say you're going up to Wingel City?" Goombella asked, walking in upon hearing the conversation.

"Ah, Goombella! You're just on time!" Frankly said, delighted to see Goombella. "I was just talking to Chopper about Wingel City and how intelligent they are!"

"Wingel City? Omigosh, considering their intelligence, I bet they know a lot about some questions I'd like to have answered! You GOTTA take me there, Chopper!"

"But we're only interested in getting the Crystal Star..." Chopper trailed.

"Don't worry, I won't get in the way or anything. Granted, I'd be interested in helping you get the stars. But, I'd probably do my own thing there."

"Oh... Well, OK. That doesn't seem so bad."

"Oh, thank you! I'm SO happy right now!" Goombella cheered. "Don't worry, it'll only be for a short while. It'll just be a bit of research and I'll be outta there!"

"If I'm correct, the pipe leading to Wingel City should be located around the pipe leading to Petal Meadows," Frankly recalled. "Though, I do believe it requires an ability to jump off walls..."

"Sounds like a good idea!" Chopper smiled. "I think I know how to take care of that! But first... I think I need to make my friends a lot stronger."

"About time!" Scrub shouted.

The group went to Merlon's house, where he upgraded all of Chopper's party members to Diamond Rank after giving him the Diamond Orb (which he was very excited to have). Vivian's HP went up to 85, and she learned a move called Soothing Kiss, which would allow her to kiss Chopper to get rid of any status inflictions like poison or burn.

Scrub's HP went up to 70 and he learned Dizzy Egg, which could allow him to throw an egg at a target. It doesn't do much except that he can make them dizzy or not.

Kirby's HP went up to 70 too and he learned Squishiness, which could make Chopper or himself dodgy.

Shadower's HP went up to 90 and he learned the move Shadow Slam, which lets him slam a target down hard and penetrates defense.

Bombette's HP went up to 100 and she learned the move Exploding Screech, which would make a loud explosion that could make all enemies become frozen for about a turn.

Heartsy's HP went up to 85 and she learned the move Hearty Cyclone. This would allow her to create a pink cyclone using her hammer, which could hit all enemies in the battlefield.

Mario's HP went up to 95 and he learned the Triple Jump ability, which would allow him to deal damage to three enemies instead of one with his jump. It's also pretty strong.

Finally, Sonic's HP also went up to 95 and he learned the move Sonic Wind, which could blow all enemies away easily and give Star Points. However, it doesn't always work and it's based on pure luck.

Now that that was over, Chopper went to Rogueport Sewers with his upgraded party members and Goombella and entered the room with the water and the platforms that go to a pipe leading to Petal Meadows. To the upper left corner, there were two adjacent walls with feet marks labeled on it

"Well, looks like that will lead us to our destination," Chopper said, using his Wall Jump to reach a floating cloud with a pale blue pipe. All of Chopper's party members who could get up there helped those who couldn't.

"So this leads down to Wingel City? Well, c'mon! We don't have time to waste! I wanna see what's here!" Bombette jumped down into the pipe first, and with the others following. Chopper gave one final shrug before jumping in.


	79. Reunited Friendship

**CHAPTER 13**

**-Wingel's Wonderful Skies-**

Everyone made their way through the pipe, and when they got out, they found themselves in a large, beautiful city with a ground that wass not made of cloud but beautiful, shiny marble. The buildings were tall and gold and a fountain could be seen in the middle of the city with an angel-like being holding a harp.

"Wow, Professor Frankly was right! This place IS beautiful!" Chopper smiled. They saw a light yellow girl with white angel wings on her back and long blonde hair. Many of them noticed she was actually very pretty.

"My guess is that Wingels are also very pretty to look at," Goombella deduced. "This might be something I could speak about to many archaeologists!"

"Well, you go do that. Right now, we have something to take care of." Chopper was about to move on, but he had accidentally bumped into someone. "Oh! Sorry!"

His apologetic look stopped when the figure turned around, revealed to be a mouse thief Chopper recognized.

"Whoa... It's you."

"Oh, hmm hmm hmm! It's been a while, hasn't it, small piece of…well, whatever you are." Ms. Mowz remarked. "I almost thought you disappeared from Rogueport and would never come back again. But it seems you brought more friends! …Especially that hunk of cheese there." she gave the plumber a wink.

"You know this mouse, Mario?" Sonic asked.

Mario: Uh huh!

"Ms. Mowz? I don't understand why you would be here." Goombella said in a confused manner. "Hold on… Are you trying to steal something from here?"

Ms. Mowz approached Mario, having more interest in him than the others. "I haven't seen you for five months! How have you been, sweetie? Are things in the Mushroom Kingdom OK for you? I would certainly like to go there and see what it's like. Sadly, I can't really stay here for so long, so farewell!"

Ms. Mowz jumped into the pipe, and she was gone in a blink. Chopper walked over to the fountain and looked at the harp. The water was sparkling and it looked crystal clear. He decided to take a sip from the fountain, causing hearts to appear in his eyes.

"Wow! This water is so good!" Chopper said with glee. "You guys need to try this out!"

"Ah, so I see travelers have arrived! It's such a nice thing to have travelers…"

Everyone turned to see a gold man with gray eyebrows and a small mustache walk over to them. He was wearing a top hat, held a cane and had a cool monocle. You know, like all mayors!

"Whoa… Now THAT'S a mayor…" Sonic gaped. The mayor took a look at everyone and chuckled.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," the mayor greeted. "My name is **Mayor** **Winklin**. You see, I'm the mayor that runs this beautiful city. We're peaceful people known as Wingels. We mostly enjoy peace, but there are rare occasions where the **Aliebits **make an attack on us."

"Aliebits?" Everyone gawked.

"Yes. Unlike us, they're not so friendly. They live up at a floating palace called **Night Palace**, and they're not afraid to throw people out. We don't know who's in charge, but we've heard that these are underworld creatures."

"…Yeah, I think I'll just stick with aliens if that's fine with you," Sonic decided, while Mario approached Winklin and asked about the Crystal Star.

"Crystal Star? Errmmm… I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. All I know is that my ancestors made this town. In fact, maybe I should tell you an interesting story!"

"Oh, boy... Old man stories. They ain't any fun." Scrub complained.

"When I was here, I was lucky to meet this beautiful girl named Wilnova. We ended up getting married and had two daughters. Our youngest daughter seems to have gotten her beauty. What was also great was that her son had become very intelligent, being a mechanical and hacking genius! I have to say, I'm very proud of him. And then..." Winklin paused, noticing everyone was asleep. "Hey! You! Did you even listen to what I was saying?"

Everyone was startled from his voice and nodded to him upon waking up.

Mario: We just want to know about the Crystal Star...

"Oh, then my apologies for the unnecessary story, then. To be honest, I don't know much about this Crystal Star you speak of. However, I did hear something related to that from my grandson."

"Your grandson?" Vivian gawked.

"Of course. He was the one I mentioned in my story. He lives right over there." Winklin pointed to the yellow house that was not too far. "I think his mother went out, though…so I don't think he'll be able to answer the door. He's only eight, so he's not necessarily independent."

"OOOOOOK... Well, can I ask you something?" Goombella asked, approaching Winklin.

"Why of course. What do you need?"

"Is there any museum or something located here?"

"Of course. The Wingel Museum is filled with so many artifacts and history of the many great ancestors. It's not too far from here, so you can obviously-"

"Sorry to interrupt, but thank you for telling me!" Goombella shouted, running toward the museum. _"I bet Professor Frankly's would LOVE to see the stuff in there!"_

"So... I guess we should go check out the house." Vivian suggested.

They walked over to the yellow house Winklin had informed them of. It wasn't very big, but exterior wise, it looked nice. The door was brown, and looking through the windows, the interior had mostly yellow walls and a red carpet. This was mostly Scrub's doing, but Shadower pulled him away from the window.

"Hey! What was that for?" Scrub asked.

"I wouldn't say that's the right thing to do..." Shadower advised.

Chopper approached the door first and knocked on it a couple of times, not knowing about the doorbell.

"Poyo? (Hey, what's this button?)" Kirby wondered, pressing on the doorbell to create the sound. While no one had answered, there were some footsteps approaching the door.

"I hear someone in there, but no one's opening the door," Chopper remarked. "Hey! If you're in there, we just want to tell you your grandfather sent us here!"

"My grandpa? ...Hey, that voice sounds familiar." the door opened, and revealing himself was a yellow spherical-shaped person like Chopper with gray wings on his head, skinny arms like Chopper's with white gloves, and two, short gray legs with small feet. Even his face resembled Chopper a bit.

The boy took a look at Chopper and gasped. "Chopper? Is that really you?"

"I don't believe it! **Flyer**! It's you!" Chopper cheered, giving his friend a hi-five. Everyone else was confused.

"Wait… You know him?" Bombette asked.

"Of course I do! This is Flyer. He's my best friend!" Chopper announced. "I met him when I was five years old!"

"You serious, Contadre?" Scrub gawked.

Mario: I think I remember seeing him two years ago in Staris's Shrine!

"I can't believe that you're actually here!" Chopper gasped. "I never knew that you of all people would be here! Heck, I didn't know you were even a Wingel!"

"Well, you never asked," Flyer mentioned. "Since you're my friend and all, and these people are with you, there's no harm in letting you in. So... Come in!"

Flyer stepped out of the way to let everyone into the house. Along with the carpet and yellow walls were some nice furniture such as a comfortable, orange sofa and an HD TV.

"It's so great to see you, Flyer!" Chopper smiled. "Especially when you're not being brainwashed to do Maquano and Bowser's bidding!"

"I was going to warn you about a star I found back then, but Maquano got to me first and brainwashed me. I don't know what happened, but I had no control over myself. But, thankfully, you helped me regain control of myself."

"Interesting..." Sonic mused. "I'm glad I never had to face my own buddy!"

"Say… What ever happened to that Flyknightis stuff you have anyway?" Chopper asked out of curiosity.

"It's over here," Flyer walked over to a table nearby and unlocked a drawer kept locked. Everyone caught a glimpse of a cape, pauldrons, a mask and a sword. "I kept it here for memories. However, I made a promise I would never equip it. I prefer to be intelligent self."

"That's understandable," Vivian said.

Flyer closed the drawer and looked back at Chopper and his friends. "So... Why have you come here, Chopper?"

"Well, we were told by the mayor that we need to come here to ask someone about the Crystal Stars," Chopper answered. "You know about them, right?"

"The Crystal Stars? How do you know about them?"

"We have a map that takes us to their locations," Heartsy answered.

"Let me see it at once! This is quite a discovery!"

Chopper took out the Magical Map and gave it to his friend. Flyer started to check the map with a shocked expression.

"Amazing… So this thing can reveal where a Crystal Star is? And to think I thought there was only one…" Flyer said in awe.

"We just need to find the thirteenth star," Chopper explained. "Then we'll be closer to our goal!"

Flyer gave back the map and looked proud. "Well, rest assured, gang! I happened to have stumbled upon a Crystal Star and kept it in my workshop!"

"Poyo! (Yay! We've got the star already!)" Kirby cheered."I can take you guys to my workshop if you want," Flyer mentioned. "The only problem is that it's not in Wingel City, but on the Grassy Plains. We'll just have to head down there and find my workshop."

"Sounds pretty good," Shadower smiled.

"Well... It would be good, but there's one problem."

"Really? What could be such a big problem?" Scrub wondered.

"Well... The Aliebits tend to wander around the plains." Flyer sighed. "And they'll attack anything on sight, specifically Wingels. Though they can't fly, I don't think you guys can either."

"Oh, come on! It shouldn't be that bad!" Sonic assured with a grin. "We kicked some metal and ghost butt before! These guys will probably be a snap!"

"But they come from the underworld!"

"Underworld smunderlord! The only thing they're probably going to get is a good butt-kicking! You with me, guys?"

Mario gave him a smirk while nodding, while many others agreed.

"Well... All right. If you guys are telling the truth, then I'll believe you." Flyer decided. "If you guys are also planning on doing some butt-kicking, then perhaps I should join in!"

Flyer opened another drawer and took out a wrench that had a small, green button on it.

"What's that supposed to be?" Vivian asked.

"This is my Transformation Tool," Flyer introduced proudly. "With it, I can build all sorts of inventions by changing this tool into whatever I want! Sometimes it takes a little brains to think of a few things. Not only that, but I'm a skilled hacker and have the ability to use the wind on my side!"

"Wait... You can use the wind?" Bombette gawked. "How's that possible?"

"All Wingels have that ability when they're first born. It helps us drive enemies away, or we tend to use it to make us fly faster while in the air. I've never used it for fighting, but I can think of an idea of how to use them for that. Besides, it'll help you on your quest!"

"Wait, you wanna come with us on our quest?" Chopper gawked.

"Of course, Chopper! Friends stick together, right? Plus, I'm interested in meeting these friends of yours too! So... What do you say?"

"Yeah! I'm in!"

"Well that's fantastic!"

**Flyer has joined your party! Press X to have Flyer lift Chopper in the air and reach ledges that are way too high for him normally! This is most useful when there's a high ledge and a big gap in the way. Press Y to let Flyer summon a tornado to blow piles of leaves or snow out of the way… Or, if you're near something badly damaged or disabled, Press Y to let Flyer fix that object. While in battle, Flyer can attack enemies with his Flying Attack, which penetrates through defense… Or he can attack an enemy with Shocker!**

"Well, now… How about we get going? I think we should head out before my mom gets back! At least… Maybe I should tell my grandpa first that I'm going to be going with you, Chopper." Flyer flew out of the room and everyone followed him outside. They saw him talking to Mayor Winklin first thing.

"…So you're going with your new friend to collect the Crystal Stars?" Winklin questioned, receiving a nod from Flyer. "I see… I'll alert your mother that you'll be gone for a while. I'm sure she wouldn't be worried about you. I think you can take care of yourself."

"Thanks, Grandpa!" Flyer flew back over to Chopper. "All right, Chopper! We can head out now!"

"All right! Great! But… I think I might want to do a little something first."

"Really? What is it, Chopper?"

"Well, considering that you're our newest party member and all... There's a way to give you more abilities."

"Chopper, we need to get the Cry-"

"But this'll help you especially!"

"All right... Take me to wherever you need me to go."

* * *

**One moment later-**

After leaving Merlon's house, the heroes had returned to Wingel City. Flyer, however, was brought up from a normal rank to Diamond-Rank. His HP went up to 80, and he learned Disable, which gave him the ability to stun a target and prevent them from attacking. He also learned Tornado, which can allow him to attack all enemies with a tornado, which has a chance of confusing enemies. His Diamond-Rank ability is Wind Storm, which can let him send enemies flying into each other, with a chance of them getting blown away.

"Huh... I feel much stronger than before..." Flyer trailed. "Did that wizard give me a boost in strength?"

"Uh huh! Now you're just like the rest of my friends!" Chopper proclaimed proudly.

"Really? …Could it be that those Shine Sprites contain the power to enhance one's abilities? These are some interesting relics you've been carrying around."

"The Crystal Stars are very powerful," Vivian noted. "They have the power to even save the universe."

"Ah, I see... Anyway, let's head out!" Flyer walked over to the gate that would go out of the town and down to the plains. They saw clouds that acted as platforms.

"Whoa… We're pretty high up…" Shadower gaped.

"I just hope we don't fall…" Bombette gulped. Flyer grabbed her and began to fly down the clouds to help. Everyone else followed by hopping down the clouds. "Thanks for the help, even though I could've done this myself..."

"So… How was your little adventure?" Flyer asked, looking back at Chopper and his friends. "You said you collected more than one Crystal Star, is that correct? How many did you get so far?"

"Well, so far I've gotten twelve of them," Chopper answered. "And trust me, they were not easy. It wouldn't have been easy without the help of my friends. Speaking of that, I should introduce them to you!"

He cleared his throat and started to introduce each and every one of them. He tried not to take too long, as he didn't want to bore Flyer.

"Huh... So you've been through a lot with these guys." Flyer remarked.

They jumped off of the last cloud and landed down on the plains. It was mostly covered in plains, with a few hills there and there. It was also very wide in size. No one could tell how far these plains went.

"This place is so beautiful..." Vivian remarked, gazing at the entire view in awe. "I've never seen a land so big..."

"Yeah, this place is pretty big compared to Wingel City," Flyer said as he put Bombette down. "I don't think I've traveled that far through this place."

"Sounds like something I can pull off," Sonic smirked.

"It almost feels a bit romantic. Wouldn't you agree, Choppy?" Heartsy asked sweetly, turning to Chopper.

"What do you mean?" Chopper asked.

"Wait, hold on a moment..." Flyer cut in, pointing at Heartsy. "Chopper mentioned that you and him are of the same kind, correct?"

"Yeah," Heartsy nodded. "It's unbelievable, isn't it?"

"Ummmmm... Well, I'm not so sure..." Chopper trailed.

"But weren't Chopper and your kind wiped out by Maquano? Chopper was supposed to be the last of his kind left."

"Well... I guess that's not true." Heartsy said proudly.

"Hmmmmmm... Well, I suppose I can try to prove it using my 'Species Tester'. This is primarily used to determine what is of the same kind and what is not. After all, there are many creatures that may be the same species, but look very different physically."

He took out a light blue device that had two holes in it. Chopper put a finger in one, while Heartsy put hers in the other. After a good test, Flyer noticed a positive result.

"My gosh! But... Wow! What a discovery!" Flyer gasped. "To think that Chopper was last of his kind left... Perhaps... Your kind could be revived!"

"Of course," Heartsy agreed, grabbing Chopper's hand. "Our plan was to get married, after all."

"N-No it wasn't..." Chopper stammered, getting his hand out of her grasps. "Can we just go to your workshop?"

"I suppose so," Flyer nodded, putting his "Species Tester" away. "Now... We must go east from here. My workshop is located there."

"What about any monsters getting to it?" Vivian questioned.

"Don't worry about it! The place is safely hidden from harm!"

They decided to press onward through the area. There weren't many bushes around, but with the help of Shadower's vision, some hidden ? blocks were discovered to be around. Unfortunately, the only thing that came out were coins. Regardless of that, they reached the pathway ahead. There was also another pathway down leading to an area with a large gap between them and a ledge that was too high to reach.

"Oh... That doesn't look like anything I can help you with, Contadre." Scrub informed, his mouth dropping upon seeing the ledge.

"Same with me," Heartsy added.

"Well, then maybe I can assist you then," Flyer declared, grabbing a hold of Chopper's arm and using his wings to fly up in the air and to the ledge. There was a Flem Block for Chopper to destroy using a fireball, and revealed to be in there was a silver Mushroom called an Ultimate Shroom, something Chopper remembered seeing before. It could recover 100 HP.

After that, they left the area and took the main pathway. Unfortunately, they could not move further due to a couple of voices halting them.

"Heh heh heh! Hey! Looks like these freaks came into our territory! We haven't seen guys like you in a long time!"

Everyone looked down and saw two blue arms rise from the ground, and out came navy blue aliens with horns holding spears. Another rose and it was a dark pink color with a spike on its head. This one appeared to be a much higher rank.

"So… These must be the aliens that your grandfather was talking about, wasn't he?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, these are them," Flyer confirmed.

"Aliens?! Who do ya think you are, callin' us aliens?!" the Spiky Aliebit fumed. "We're ALIEBITS! Get that right! I think it's time we taught these folks a little lesson! YA HEAR US?! Yer goin' down!"

The Spiky Aliebit came charging at Sonic, but Chopper brought his hammer down on the alien, making it cringe. Flyer flew in the air and came down at the Spiky Aliebit at a diagonal with a kick, dealing 9 damage to it.

"Argh... I still have one more trick up my-" the underworld creature was cut off as Flyer equipped a purple arm gun and fired an energy shot from it, defeating the Spiky Aliebit instantly.

"And score one for us!" Chopper cheered.

The two Aliebits left charged at Chopper with their spears and they took 10 HP away from him. However, Chopper gave them a stomp, and Flyer finished them off with his Tornado.

"Well... That worked out nicely." Flyer sighed, trying to catch his breath. "I don't think I've ever fought those guys before. They don't seem as intimidating as many Wingels had proclaimed."

"See? Told ya we could wipe the floor with them!" Sonic grinned smugly.

Mario: It's going to take a lot to beat us!

Flyer smiled as they began to move on. However, he came to a sudden halt, making everyone confused.

"What's wrong, Flyer?" Chopper asked.

"Guys, you might want to see this..." Flyer trailed, stepping out of the way. There was a large gap between them and the path ahead. "There's supposed to be a rainbow bridge here, but it looks like someone decided to destroy this bridge, as if to stop us."

"Is there any way we can fix the bridge or something? Maybe you can fly us across it?" Heartsy suggested.

"Well, there is a bottom to this place," Flyer pointed down at a huge waterfall below and a strong river current leading out to the ocean. "I don't think I could fly everyone over there. My wings might get a bit tired. Way too risky."

"So... How do we get across then?" Scrub asked.

"Well, I do know that there's a builder that we can go to. See that pathway going down?" the young Wingel pointed at the alternate pathway going down. "If we go down there, we'll find another path. Of course, climbing back up could be difficult, though the two walls are close to each other."

"Sounds like I can use my Wall Jump for that," Chopper smiled. "So who is this builder we need to go to anyway?"

"His name is Mr. Shwalister," Flyer explained as he slowly flew down to the lower path. "He's a builder that can repair bridges and make them good as knew. He's not too far from here. If we follow the way to his house and ask him for our help, I'm sure he'll gladly accept. So, follow me!"

Flyer flew towards the light green road leading to a wooden house up on a small hill. Sonic smirked and he followed the Wingel.

"Well, let's go follow him," Chopper zipped through the road and made his way to the wooden house. For the others, their travel was a bit longer.

"Poyo... (It's strange that Chopper knows this person…)" Kirby trailed. "Poyo? (Maybe he has some weird thing to help understand what I'm saying?)"

"Well, if he does, then that might help a lot of us," Heartsy replied.

"How come Contadre never even mentioned him before?" Scrub asked.

"I don't think we asked..." Vivian answered.

When they had finally reached the house, they saw Chopper, Sonic and Flyer talking to a yellow chubby man with a gray beard and in overalls.

"Why, if it isn't Flyer! How are things, my boy?" Mr. Shwalister asked.

"Things are going fine. Well, sort of..." Flyer trailed with uncertainty in his voice.

"Sort of? So there must be a problem then..."

"Yeah, there is one problem. We were trying to get to my workshop, but the Rainbow Bridge is destroyed. My guess is that those Aliebits were responsible for it."

"The bridge is destroyed?!" Mr. Shwalister gasped. "Well, then we need to do something about that! Flyer, grab your tools and let's go fix that bridge. If you have something important to do that requires this bridge to be made, then I'll be happy to help. Why don't you people help as well?"

"I guess we can give a hand," Shadower shrugged. "But what do you want us to do?"

"You're just carrying some stuff, that's all."

"Ummmm... OK! This doesn't sound like anything bad!" Chopper smiled. Mr. Shwalister gave Chopper some rainbow board walks, which felt a bit heavy for the Star Warrior. "Gee, this sure feels heavy! How do you carry this anyway?"

"Trust me, it's not that difficult," Mr. Shwalister assured.

Chopper headed over to the bridge as fast as he could and put the stuff there. The rest of the group decided to help as well and did their part of the job. When Mario was given rainbow boards to carry, Mr. Shwalister stared at him in shock.

"Are you Mario? Oh, man! You're pretty famous around these parts! You still got that magnificent 'stache on ya! Keep it cool, man."

Mario: Well... I guess a lot of people say that.

After about five minutes, all of the rainbow boards were in place, and Flyer and Mr. Shwalister got to work.

"You don't have to help us here, guys. We'll take it from here!" Flyer assured.

"OK, we can leave it to the professionals," Scrub smiled, laying down to rest. Unfortunately, his relaxing time was not very long, as the bridge was completed within a minute.

"Whew! We finally did it, boy! The bridge is finally finished! Now you can proceed across." Mr. Shwalister declared, relieved to have finished his work. "So... Why do you need to go to your workshop, Flyer?"

"We're going to get something we need to save the world," Flyer explained. "It's kind of a long story."

"Ah, I see... Well, I've done my job for now. I wish luck to the rest of you!" With that, Mr. Shwalister was off.

"You know, mentioning the Crystal Stars while introducing your friends, I feel like I need to study them a bit more. Maybe we can study that Crystal Star I've got! C'mon! The workshop's not too far from here!" Flyer flew across the bridge and went between the two, small mountains past the bridge.

"We go follow him. Let's go, guys! This Crystal Star is going to be a SNAP!" Chopper followed Flyer between the two mountains, along with the others. A sense of relief filled their minds, knowing that this was going to be an easy star to get.

* * *

**_This might possibly be the shortest chapter yet!_  
**


	80. Taking Flight

"There it is! Over there! That's my workshop, Chopper! We're finally here…" Flyer pointed to the building down the hill. There appeared to be wings on the roof. "Not many people roam around here, including Aliebits, so we should be fine."

"Hold on, what are those wings on the roof for?" Bombette asked. "Can they make the place fly?"

"They're made of metal, so no. It can't fly."

"Oh... That would've been cool, actually." Scrub remarked.

"I could probably do a little something to make it fly, but I don't intend on doing that. Anyway, the Sky Star's in my workshop, so we should get going!" Flyer flew down the hill and Chopper followed, except he ran.

"Ah! Now running down a hill is something I'm interested in!" Sonic smirked, running down the hill at full speed. Everyone else followed while having some thoughts about the workshop.

"Poyo! (I hope his workshop has a refrigerator! I sure am hungry!)" Kirby said cheerfully. Unfortunately, he tripped on a rock and came tumbling down the hill. Since he was near the back of the group, they also got caught and were tumbling down the hill as well. Thankfully, they had stopped right by Chopper, Sonic and Flyer.

"Perhaps we should've let Kirby walk down the hill after us..." Shadower groaned.

"Well, now that you're all here… I believe I have a Crystal Star to give you guys." Flyer said, though he looked at the others with uncertainty. "Though... I don't know if I can trust you guys in coming inside."

"What? C'mon, why not?" Scrub complained.

"The thing is... A lot of my inventions are in there, and it's hard for me to trust someone while in my workshop because I'd be worried about them breaking my stuff. Heck, I don't really trust Chopper with my gadgets either!"

"You don't?" Heartsy gawked. "But why?"

"Well... Let's just say he created an accident when holding onto one of my machines..."

Chopper blinked, unsure of what to say. "So... What can we do?"

"Well, I won't let you guys inside, but you can certainly take a peek from the doorway. There aren't any tools around there."

"Joy..." Scrub grumbled.

"All right..." Flyer slowly opened the door for everyone, including himself to get a glimpse. "Welcome to my..."

He stopped, noticing that the whole place a mess. Things were knocked onto the ground and some safes he had were opened up. Many devices he had were also broken. "My workshop! What happened to it?!"

"This doesn't look good..." Vivian remarked quietly.

"Hold on... I kept the Crystal Star in a safe place no one would bother to look. I bet there's still hope!" Flyer rushed into the workshop, searching for his safe he had hid behind a wall. To his shock, a piece of the wall was torn, and a broken safe was in there. "Oh, no no no no! The Crystal Star is gone! GONE I TELL YOU! Somebody had the nerve to invade my workshop, steal some of my valuable inventions, and rob me of the Crystal Star!"

"Who did it?" Chopper wondered, entering the room with his friends. They took note of a shredder that wasn't broken. "Well... That thing isn't broken!"

"It's just a shredder. And, come to think of it, I should've kept that thing hiding. It's a very dangerous machine..." the Wingel got a brown bag and put it over the shredder. After all, shredders beat paper.

On the table, Chopper spotted a videotape. "Wait, I think I found something! Though, I'm not sure what it is."

"That's a videotape," Flyer informed, taking it from him. "These can display videos and images on the television. Thankfully, the TV has not been pilfered."

They saw a penguin in a light blue and purple robe and a chubby belly that seemingly resembled King Dedede a bit. Many of them were caught off guard, believing it to be him. However, this penguin had a jagged beak instead.

_"Ahem! People of Wingel City! My name is the Mighty Penguinator!" _the penguin announced._ "The time has come at long last to take over your precious land! You have been hogging it for way too long, and now we're going to claim it!" _

_"Hey, King Bebe! You'll never guess what happened! There…"_

_"Don't call me by that name, Aliebit! My name's the MIGHTY PENGUINATOR! NOT King Bebe! But… Back to business! Now…" _King Bebe turned his attention back to the camera. _"Er… Forget what you just heard there. I'm the Mighty Penguinator, and I'm going to invade the Wingel's land thanks to my new battleships! …And this!" _

He took out a pale blue Crystal Star and held it up. Chopper gasped, while Flyer paused the video.

"Do you see that, Flyer? That King Dedede wannabe stole the Sky Star!" Chopper exclaimed. "And did he say that he's going to make an attack on the city? We need to stop him at once! ...Though, how are we supposed to find him?"

"Let me look at the map, Chopper," Flyer requested. Chopper gave him the map and he took a look. "According to the map, it says that the Sky Star is located in Night Palace. That place is home to the Aliebits. Though it might be dangerous, I think I have a solution on how to get there! Follow me, guys!"

The group followed Flyer outside to the back of the workshop. There appeared to be a large cliff nearby, and below was more landscape. The way leading to the cliff's edge appeared to have a track as well.

"So we just need to get to the Night Palace, is that right?" Bombette asked.

"Correct," Flyer nodded.

"But that thing's up in the sky! How the heck are we supposed to get to that?" Scrub questioned. "We can't fly that far!"

"I was just getting to that..." Flyer trailed, pulling out a silver cube. "Now, prepare for some mechanical genius!"

He tossed the cube over by the track, and a white airplane with yellow stripes on it appeared. A symbol of a wing appeared on it.

"Whoa, that plane reminds me of the plane I would use with Tails!" Sonic recalled. "How'd you even make this?"

"Well, I made blueprints of this ever since I was three," Flyer explained, getting out a cloth to polish it. "It hadn't taken me very long to finish, so I decided to call it the Hurricane!"

While everyone was excited, Heartsy in particular noticed only one seat: the pilot's seat. "Wait... There's only one seat in this thing! How are we all supposed to get in this thing?"

Flyer stopped polishing his plane and sweat dropped. "Oh... I...designed this plane for just a pilot to sit in. I never even thought about it."

"So you're saying that we can't get to the Night Palace?" Bombette asked angrily.

"Well, maybe if I just got out some blueprints, I could figure out a way to get everyone in the-"

"But we don't have time for all of that," Shadower noted. "It's very important for us to get the star now."

"Oh... I'm sorry, guys..." Flyer sighed. "I didn't mean to disappoint you all."

"Hey, don't get all droopy," Sonic said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's not the end of the world or anything! There are always alternate ways of getting on a plane, just like I used to do with Tails!"

"Well, from what I can recall, Chopper always stood on top of the plane for some strange reason," the Wingel informed, looking over at Chopper standing on the plane and waving. "Yeah, just like that."

"If we have to sit this out, then that's all right..." Vivian trailed. "I'd say it's more important for Chopper to go, considering that he carries the map."

"Are you guys sure?"

Mario: I'm sure you guys can handle it!

"We'll take them down with ease!" Chopper declared. "Though, I don't recommend that you guys stay here... You should probably go back to Wingel City where it's safe. I think there's some big building where you go buy stuff from different stores."

"That's a mall, Chopper," Flyer corrected.

"Oh... Right! The mall! Why don't you go there?"

"I don't even like malls, though," Heartsy remarked.

"Poyo! (I bet they have food!)" Kirby hoped, licking his lips and dreaming about delicious food.

"I think they've got lots and lots of food!" Chopper smiled.

"Really? Aw, sweet! Then I'm going to enjoy taking a break!" Scrub fist pumped.

"I guess it's not a bad idea to sit this one out," Sonic shrugged. "Sometimes a hero needs to relax!"

Mario: Let's head back now before anything gets out of hand.

Everyone had left, with the exception of a few others, specifically Vivian, Scrub and Heartsy.

"Hey, Choppy..." Heartsy started, grabbing his attention.

"Huh? What is it?" Chopper asked.

"Promise me you won't get annihilated out there."

Chopper stared at her, unsure of how to respond.

"Annihilated means destroyed, Chopper," Flyer informed.

"Oh... Well, I'm sure we won't get destroyed out there!" Chopper assured. "We're going to take those baddies down!"

"Good," Heartsy smiled, jumping onto the plane right beside Chopper. Before he could question, she kissed him on the cheek and jumped off the plane. Chopper, on the other hand, had the same typical reaction, only this time he fell off the plane and landed on the track.

"Gross!" Chopper cried.

"While I do sympathize with Chopper's 'injury', that was quite humorous," Flyer remarked, letting out a small chuckle.

"That was just my little good luck charm for you," Heartsy explained, giving Chopper a wink before running off. Scrub approached the boy and helped him up.

"Man... You can't even handle-"

"Not now, Scrub," Chopper grumbled, wiping his cheek.

"Hopefully the trip goes well," Vivian said, approaching him as well. "I just hope you don't get into a serious situation..."

"I probably won't. Well... Hopefully I don't." Unfortunately, this didn't seem to help in any way. "Ummmm... Have some faith in me, though!"

"I think I've already got faith in you," the Shadow Siren replied, giving him a smile.

"Go knock those alien guys into the dust!" Scrub exclaimed with a fist pump. With their goodbyes out of the way, the two followed the others back to Wingel City, leaving only Chopper and Flyer.

"You certainly have some interesting friends," Flyer remarked.

"Yeah, they sure are," Chopper agreed, jumping back on the plane on the back side. "So... Are we going?"

"Of course," Flyer nodded, getting into the pilot's seat. "Just to let you know, we're going to be flying high in the air, so I just hope you can hold on tight. Thankfully, the flight won't be too long."

"I've done this before, and I could do it again! So... Yeah, I'm ready!"

Flyer started the plane, and it started to move toward the cliff up ahead. It didn't take long enough for the Hurricane to be high up in the air. That was where the two caught a whole glimpse of the land below.

"Hey, I think I can see Wingel City from here!" Chopper remarked, noticing the city up in the clouds. "So what did you do with this plane before?"

"Well, I installed some defense systems such as a turret," Flyer informed, putting his finger near a button with a turret labeled on it. "I installed it right where you're standing so I can get someone to at least shoot. The Hurricane can also shoot projectiles from the front as well! So, I can assure you that getting to the Night Palace will be a snap! Besides, those Aliebits don't carry any ships, so it should be smooth sailing from here!"

"Then... Why do we need weapons while in the air?"

"I never said it was to fight against the Aliebits..." the Wingel trailed. "So... How was the Crystal Star hunt for you anyway? You never mentioned that..."

"I guess the hunt has been going fine," Chopper answered. "Though, if there was one thing that was freaky, it was getting the Queen's Star.

"What happened when you were getting the Queen's Star?" Flyer asked, now curious. Having no choice, Chopper gave him an explanation of the events occurring from the Queen's Star. "Really? That happened? Very interesting... So that explains why the sky was covered in darkness during that moment. I thought for a second there was a rainstorm occurr-"

"Sorry to interrupt your little game, but I'm not lettin' you get that Crystal Star, Contadre!" Moe Hawk cut in, flying beside the Hurricane thanks to his Hovercycle.

"Contadre? Who's Contadre?"

"Ummmmm... It's a bit of a long story." Chopper sighed.

"Oh... Anyway, who the heck are you?"

"The name's Moe Hawk, winged punk! I do whatever I want to do an' that's how I roll! Plus, I'm much better than my bro, Rawk Hawk! He's nothin' but a chicken!" Moe Hawk pointed at his Mowhawk. "See this Mohawk? It agrees with me!"

"But hair can't technically let out words. That's impossible." Flyer stated.

"And aren't you a chicken too?" Chopper questioned.

"Sh-Shut up, Contadre!" Moe Hawk retorted. "You won't believe how angry I am that you trashed by Hovercycle twice! Ya know how much it cost for me to get this thing fixed?! Five hundred coins! Try savin' that much money, punk!"

"But we have around 999 coins..."

"What?! How'd you get that much?!"

"Well, we were mostly getting a lot of coins from battles and blocks. Though we had much more than that before buying some stuff."

Moe Hawk's jaw instantly dropped. "No way! That ain't fair, Contadre! Maybe I can get some of that money when I finally beat ya in a race!"

"No thank you," Chopper replied. "We've got other things to do."

"What, you too chicken to race me while on that scrawny-looking plane you're on?"

"Scrawny?!" Flyer guffawed, not getting Moe Hawk's attention. "Oh… Now you've asked for it! We can take you on!"

"Har har! Bring it, wing-head!"

Just has Moe Hawk was about to boost onward, Flyer activated a red button that activated a greater boost. Moe Hawk found himself left in the dust as the plane went farther and farther.

"Wha... How do I beat THAT?!"

Before he could have an episode, Moe Hawk stopped and took a deep breath. _"I gotta remember why I sometimes go to anger management..."_ After one last breath, he revved his Hovercycle and grinned. "You might have the lead so far, but I'll be takin' number one soon enough!"

For Chopper and Flyer, the wind became much heavier than before, forcing Chopper to hold onto the plane for dear life. As he finally balanced himself (while holding onto the plane, mind you), Flyer's eyes widened in shock. Standing in front of them was a large, grayish battleship.

"That thing's huge!" Chopper gasped.

"But... There aren't supposed to be any Aliebit ships like these!" Flyer gaped.

As Chopper got a closer look at the battleship, he noticed a familiar symbol on it. "Wait a second... That's not an Aliebit ship! That looks like it belongs to the X-Nauts!"

"X-Nauts?"

"They're these alien guys in costumes that were chasing after me for the Crystal Star," Chopper explained. "Their leader got obliterated, but I remember seeing some X-Nauts before... But how are they still in action again?"

"Well whatever it is, we should try to stop it," Flyer suggested. "They're heading directly toward the city!"

"Oh, gosh! Then we really should do something!"

While they were discussing the matter, Moe Hawk had finally caught up to them, not caring about the giant battleship in front of him.

"All right, so I finally reached them... So, what do I use against them? Hmmmm..." Moe Hawk started to ponder until a light bulb appeared over his head. "How about that bazooka? It'll blast them big time!"

"Maybe we can find the core thingy of the battleship to destroy it," Chopper suggested. "I did that when I was taking down Meta Knight's ship."

"I guess we can try that out... Though, landing might be a little too risky. Let's see where I can go." Flyer flew around the ship while dodging its shots and saw a little H near the ship's top. He landed the Hurricane, and both he and Chopper got off the ship. Moe Hawk shook his fist and got off his Hovercycle as he landed.

"Get back here, punks! I'm not done with you yet!" Moe Hawk shouted. He noticed Chopper inhaling a wheel and getting a red cap that was backwards. Flyer cleared all of the other wheels blocking the doorway leading inside. Chopper, meanwhile, transformed into a wheel and ran over the X-Nauts charging at them.

"Man, it's been a while since I've seen you use a Copy Ability, Chopper!" Flyer said, following Chopper into an engine room of the battleship filled with a couple of gears. They could see a ledge up above them leading into the duct. Flyer took a look and then looked down below, seeing nothing but a bottomless pit.

Thankfully there were some platforms with a couple of X-Nauts doing some work, but that didn't make much of a difference.

"All right, I think I'll be able to help you get into that duct with my flying," Flyer informed, grabbing Chopper's hands and flying up to the duct's entrance. He first tossed him in there before going in with him.

"NOW where did they go?" Moe Hawk came into the engine room and took a look around. Looking down below, he found no sign of the twerps. What he didn't notice, however, was an X-Naut taking out a small blaster and aiming it at Moe Hawk. The moment it fired, the chicken felt an extremely hot sensation in his behind.

"_**COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOUCH!**_" Moe Hawk cried, rocketing in the air and crashing his head through the air duct. He rubbed his behind, trying to relieve the pain. "Argh... I'm goin' to MOE the guy who did that to me! Now my biscuit's were burnin' like- Hold on a second..."

He blinked and noticed some figures in the air duct ahead. "Ah HA! So they're in the air duct! Though... I don't know if I can get in there. I may be all buff and ripped, but my jumps are pretty weak. I'm goin' a different way."

Moe Hawk managed to free himself from the hole and landed on the X-Naut who shot him, causing it to become flattened. Taking out his club, he began to smack away a couple of X-Nauts that were attacking him while he took a pathway in the same direction as the air duct. "First these freaks are goin' to get MOE'D, and then Contadre and his wing-headed friend will get it next!"

* * *

"This place sure is strange..." Chopper commented, using his Wall Jump to get higher into the duct. For Flyer, it was easier for him, being able to fly up. There wasn't much in the duct except for a Metal Block. Chopper smashed it, and they found a little passageway with cracks they could slip through if they turned sideways. Chopper did just that and he fell into a room with four pillars with hearts embedded in them. They appeared to be holding the ceiling up.

"Intriguing..." Flyer commented, getting a glimpse of the rather peaceful room. The walls were light blue as if resembling the sky, and the floor was depicted with clouds. "Though the rest of this place feels more dull, this one seems to stand out."

"Hey! Looks like a Wingel and a green freak have come in here as well!"

Looking ahead, they caught a glimpse of an Aliebit with angelic wings and a halo over its head. It also appeared to be carrying an angelic bow as well.

"Wait, aren't these those alien guys? But why are they here?" Chopper questioned.

"If I were to deduce this question, it's most likely that these X-Naut fellows have found some of these monsters and captured them. It's most likely that they kept them here. After all, they're not that good with technology.

"Technology? What's that?" the flying Aliebit called an Aliepara asked. "Well, it don't matter now! I'm takin' you both down!"

It fired an arrow at them, which Chopper easily stepped out of the way. When he looked back at the monster, an idea struck him. "Hey... Maybe I can get some sort of ability from this freak!"

"Be my guest," Flyer shrugged.

Removing his ability, Chopper approached the Aliepara and inhaled it. He managed to copy its ability and gain angelic wings on his back, a golden bow with heart-shaped arrows and a yellow, glowing halo. He smiled at first, but he looked confused at first.

"Wait... Huh? What's this? I don't seem to have changed that much..."

"Take a look," his Wingel friend replied, taking out a mirror. Chopper got a look at himself and gasped.

"I'm...some kind of angel! Does this mean I'm...Angel Chopper?"

"I guess so..." Flyer replied with confusion. "Anyway, let's get out of this room."

He approached the door, but it didn't appear to be open, even when trying to open it himself. "Drats... This door is locked! There's no panel that I could hack through either!" Flyer slowly turned to Chopper, but his eyes caught a glimpse of the pillars. "However... I think those pillars might be useful!"

"Four pillars?" Chopper turned back and saw them as well. "Oh, yeah! But how can they be useful?"

"I once heard from my grandfather that if an arrow strikes pillars like those, they might reveal something. Since you're carrying arrows, you ought to try it out!"

"All right! Though, I hope I know how to use a bow and arrow..." Chopper floated off of the ground with his wings (which he was delighted in doing, by the way), and he aimed and fired at each of the pillar's hearts. This triggered the pillars to shoot a blue laser at each other, forming a square and opening the door. "Wow! Now that was neat!"

"Let's get a move on, shall we?" Flyer suggested, flying out of the room with Chopper. They ran into a three-way hallway, with a hallway up ahead and one to the south. A couple of X-Nauts appeared to be over by the south hallway, but the one up ahead seemed to stick out more than the others. Getting a closer look, there was a sign.

_WARNING: THIS ROOM LEADS TO THE CORE. DO NOT MAKE ANY CONTACT WITH THE CORE, ESPECIALLY ARROWS. THEY WILL CAUSE SOMETHING SERIOUS TO HAPPEN._

_X-Naut Administrator_

"No one's even guarding this door! This should be easy!" Chopper scoffed, opening the door. Meanwhile, the X-Nauts guarding the other hallway turned their attention to the door behind them. Some banging sounds were heard, and some markings of fists appeared on the door as well. It broke off and fell on the X-Nauts, flattening them. Moe Hawk had jumped on top of the broken door and raised a finger in victory.

"Aw, yeah! Not even a metal door is a match for the great Moe Hawk!" Moe Hawk boasted. "Now to find Contadre! I ain't finished with him yet!"

* * *

Entering the room, the two noticed the room was circular, had a bluish tint to it, and had a blue, spherical-shaped core in the center. Some sparks coming from the floor and ceiling were connected to the core on two pedestals.

"Well, this doesn't look too bad," Chopper commented. "There aren't any enemies in the way!"

"I expected there to be some enemies here..." Flyer trailed. "Keeping it open like this is not very wise..."

"Well, since their leader is gone, they've probably become too stupid!" the Star Warrior remarked, aiming at the core. "Well... Better destroy it!"

One arrow was enough to destroy the core. Unfortunately, explosions began to emit everywhere from the room and knock them back into the hallway. Moe Hawk even noticed them get blown back and grinned, only to be interrupted by an alarm and a couple of small explosions.

"Huh? What the heck is goin' on?!" Moe Hawk questioned.

_WARNING: CORE HAS BEEN DESTROYED. SELF-DESTRUCTING IN T MINUS ONE MINUTE._

"That doesn't sound good..." Flyer gulped.

"Well we're not staying here forever! Let's run for it!" Chopper exclaimed, grabbing Flyer's arm and running as fast as he could through the hallway Moe Hawk tore through.

"Hey! Come back here!" Moe Hawk shouted, chasing after them.

As they ran through the hallway, they noticed a couple of X-Nauts trying to flee as well through the windows. Some of their ships were working, while some ended up crashing. They would handle that much later. Now was the time for escaping.

It didn't take them long to return to a familiar room and back to the landing pad. Flyer got into the Hurricane, and Chopper jumped into the back. With that, they were off.

As they got farther and farther from the battleship, they caught a glimpse of Moe Hawk and his Hovercycle flying out as well just as the ship exploded.

* * *

**Wingel City's mall-**

What was nice about the mall was that there were some sections that were outside, specifically some tables people could sit at to eat. There, they could get a glimpse of the nice, beautiful sky and even a view of some of the city as well. Some of the heroes actually didn't regret their decision of staying here!

Especially a white dinosaur and a pink puffball, who were chowing down on food in a matter of seconds.

"Dude, you gotta try this food out!" Scrub exclaimed, gulping down some fruit. "It's really good!"

"Poyo! (I never want to leave this place!)" Kirby cheered, inhaling many sorts of food.

"Well... At least we're having fun." Shadower commented. However, just as they were about to have another discussion, they not only heard an explosion, but caught a glimpse of it in the sky.

"Whoa... Did you guys see that?" Sonic gaped, looking up at the sky. "Gee, I never thought I'd get a glimpse of an explosion from up in the sky! It's usually me who's blowing up battleships!"

"I wonder if Chopper was involved in that..." Vivian pondered. "I just hope he wasn't caught in that explosion..."

"I wouldn't want that either..." Heartsy trailed. "But, while we're here and all… There's one thing I wanted to talk about."

Mario: Really? What is it?

"It's that dark being that looks kind of like Chopper... Just who is he, exactly? And why does he try to get in our way?"

"Well, with the Shadow Queen gone, perhaps he's stopping us for other reasons..." Bombette trailed. "But still, I don't get that guy. He can't even learn to smile!"

"Maybe when we see him next time, we can try to make him turn that frown upside down," Sonic suggested with a grin. "Though, I don't think it'll be so easy."

"Seeing how evil he is, doing that might be a bit too painful," Heartsy remarked. "Why's he even so angry?"

"I'm guessing it's that story he told us about when we first ran into him..." Vivian trailed. "Honestly, I know a bit about him, but I don't know everything."

"Who cares? We'll just pummel him when he challenges us again!" Scrub declared. "...So, uh, how are you guys doing?"

"Uh… Good, I guess?" Shadower replied with a gawk. "How about you? How was the Glitz Pit? I never got the full story."

"The Glitz Pit was AWESOME! That, of all the places I've been to, is my favorite place! That's where I was born, too. Man, Contadre really saved my butt there too! Thinking about it, I was considering calling myself the Great Contadre Jr.!"

"...That name sounds kinda dumb," Bombette remarked. "Even the name 'Contadre' on its own sounds weird."

"Well I like it! It sounds a whole lot better than his real name!"

"Ehhh... That's debatable." Sonic said, putting his arms over his head and leaning his chair back. "So... You guys wanna know about my world?"

"Your world? What's it like?" Heartsy asked.

"Well, there are a couple of loops around, and there are many robots made by Dr. Eggman. I've even got a couple of friends like Tails, Amy, and Knuckles! I bet you'd like them! ...Well, at least two of them anyway."

"Why? What's wrong with one of them?" Bombette asked.

"Let's just say he's a bit of a knucklehead..."

* * *

**Up in the sky-**

"Man, that was pretty intense, wasn't it, Flyer? We managed to escape from that one!" Chopper smiled, relieved to have destroyed the battleship. As the Hurricane began to fly further to their destination, the sky was slowly becoming darker. There was also something floating in the distance as well.

"Well, would you look at that? You see that place up in the distance?" Flyer asked, pointing to the floating palace up ahead. "That's where we need to go. That's the Night Palace."

"Huh... Well that place looks interesting."

As they got closer to the palace, another battleship had blocked their path. It was another X-Naut battleship, and through the window into the control room was a familiar face.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! MAN, have I been waiting to find you, Chopper!" Lord Crump cackled.

"Lord Crump!" Chopper gasped. "So you are still around!"

"Lord Crump?" Flyer gawked. "That name doesn't sound very leader-like..."

"I think he's second-in-command..."

"I gotta say, I never expected you to destroy that other battleship," Lord Crump said with a hint of frustration in his voice. "But that ain't going to happen here! This battleship is much stronger offensively and defensively! Show him how it's done, Johnson!"

Johnson sighed and pressed a button, causing the battleship to fire a beam. The Hurricane had barely managed to dodge it, dealing a slight amount of damage to its wing.

"Oh, man... This isn't good..." Flyer gulped. "If this plane takes another hit, I don't know how long I can hold it in the air!"

"Buh huh huh! Good work, Johnson!" Lord Crump smirked. "Now let's get him again!"

"Crud... We gotta try to stop this ship too!" Chopper exclaimed, shooting some arrows at the ship. Sadly, they had barely done a thing.

"Don't think you're leavin' so soon, Contadre!" Moe Hawk exclaimed, taking out his bazooka as he flew toward the plane. "I barely made it out of that battleship, an' now I'm gonna end it here! Say your prayers!"

To the heroes' surprise, this caught Lord Crump's attention. "Whuh? Who thinks you can go and take care of Chopper?! If anyone's going to be doing that, it's ME! ME of all MES! X-Nauts! Fire at that red chicken!"

"As you command, Lord Crump," the X-Nauts obeyed, firing their turrets at Moe Hawk. He managed to dodge them with ease and aimed his bazooka at the ship.

"Oh, so ya wanna fight, huh? Then I'll show ya!" Moe Hawk fired a missile at the battleship, creating a hole and revealing the core. He was about to fire again, but the ship had managed to shoot his Hovercycle, damaging it and making it plunge down, along with Moe Hawk. "Aggghhhh! No! My awesome Hovercycle! And it wasn't destroyed by Contadre this time! Hear me out, Contadre! I'll back back for you again! I'll be the winner of the next race!"

"Wow... We didn't have to race him... Awesome!" Chopper smiled.

"Chopper! Look over there!" Flyer shouted, regaining his attention. "I think he actually did us a favor and revealed the core. I think I've got an idea… Hurricane transforming… Now!"

"Wait, what?" As Flyer pressed a button, Chopper found himself rocketing upward in the air. Just as he was about to plunge, he remembered the angel wings and remained floating. He looked down and saw that the Hurricane had four wings and were in the shape of an X. A turret had appeared as well, and when the plane flew up to him, he grabbed the handles and started firing at the battleship's core.

One shot hit the core, and it was all over.

"What the… Oh, crud…" Lord Crump gulped, noticing that the battleship was going down.

"Ha HA! You couldn't beat us!" Chopper taunted, sticking his tongue out at him. "Your battleship was much easier to take down than the other!"

"Grrrrr! This isn't the last time you'll see me, Chopper! Next time, I'm gonna give you the old Crump-a-bomb!" Lord Crump shouted, shaking his fist while the X-Naut battleship had crashed onto the plains.

"Whew! Well that was close!" Flyer sighed. "I'm glad I managed to get this transformation working!"

"Well, next time maybe you should warn me when you're going to do that..." Chopper sweat dropped. "I could've fallen if it weren't for this ability!"

"I guess I should keep that in mind. But for now, we have a palace to head to!"

Agreeing, Chopper held onto the plane tightly as the Hurricane got closer to the Night Palace. This time, without more conflicts getting in the way.

* * *

**In the original version of this story, there WAS a race between Moe Hawk and the Hurricane. However, I didn't feel like it would fit too well for this chapter. Not only that, but it would kinda make the chapter a bit redundant by having one thing get in the way and suddenly something else next. I thought this was a lot more entertaining. :P  
**

**Next up, Chopper and Flyer invade the Night Palace!**


	81. On the Floating Palace

Back at Wingel City's mall, a Koopa wearing a gray helmet and a blue cape was laughing evilly as he stood at a cashier's desk. He held up a laser gun as he laughed evilly.

"Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha! At long last! I, Kojo Pete, ruler of all cities, shall get my vengeance against those Dayzeeflower Girls! …And also get rid of that little pale green fool that sent me all the way here. Ugh… He's going to pay for this! But now that I'm prepared, I shall destroy him!"

"Sir… That laser costs 430 coins." a female Toad wearing glasses and was in a green vest informed. "You must pay for that if you want to use it."

"Oh, right. Sorry about that." Kojo took out his piggy bank and dumped 430 coins onto the desk. The salesclerk's mouth dropped upon the pile of cash. "Now, then! Give me my laser so I can do some world-conquering! For world-conquering the biggest importance to villains! So if you were to address my motive, it would be to rule the world! I, Kojo Pete, which is what you shall call me by, for it is the correct name, will be victorious over the Dayzeeflower Girls, for they are my greatest enemies! If you were to know my enemies, they would be Dayzeeflower Girls, as I, Kojo Pete, are their greatest enemies! And soon they shall be defeated, as this laser will finally rid of them and that freak! To know why I have bought this weapon, it would be to eliminate my enemies! I, Kojo Pete, will use this laser to-"

"Yeah yeah, good for you," the clerk said, cutting off Kojo Pete's monologue. "You're holding up the line."

Looking back, Kojo noticed a bunch of angry Goombas, Toads, and Koopas that were impatiently waiting on line.

"I suppose you're correct. There are some things I need to do, after all." Kojo left the mall as he cackled and looked at his laser. The first thing he decided to do was break into a Wingel's house. There was no need to pick the lock, as the laser had done the job. "Now, I shall finally rob this house of their goods and use it to get money! For gaining money is the way to make up for spending it! And to spend means to lose! Which is why I, Kojo Pete, must gain! By stealing, I will gain! Gaining is what I desire! The desire is what I wish for most, and getting what I want most is the biggest priority to-"

"OK, show's over. You're under arrest."

Kojo turned around and saw two Wingels in sun glasses and cop hats approaching him with handcuffs.

"What is the meaning of this?" Kojo exclaimed. "For what are you trying to achieve with those handcuffs?"

"Uhhhh... We're going to arrest you!" one Wingel cop answered. "It's against the law to destroy people's property! Sorry, but we gotta put you in the slammer for that."

"But... But... I was just getting to world-conquering! For conquering the world is what will get me what I want! Wanting everything is something I must have! For getting what I want will help me in my job in world-conquering! It will also help get the Dayzeeflower Girls' attention so I can defeat them! This laser is what I need to stop them, and getting their attention means I can blast them! I, Kojo Pete, will not be humiliated by them as usual, as humiliation is unacceptable! To have something unacceptable would mean to-"

"We hate to interrupt your monologue, but you can tell that to the judge if you want," the other cop said, putting the handcuffs on him.

As the cops took him to the slammer, Kojo narrowed his eyes angrily.

"Curses..."

* * *

**Near the Night Palace-**

As the Hurricane got closer to the Night Palace, the sky had become much darker and starry. Fireworks had also appeared in the sky, as if there was a party going on. The largest part of the palace was not only at the top, but also at the back of the palace. Two towers also stuck out as well. Thankfully, for the two, the ride went much smoother ever since the X-Nauts tried to attack them.

"This looks like a really cool palace," Chopper remarked. "I can't wait to set foot on this place!"

"I've never been here, so this might be interesting. Once we land this thing, then we can-" Flyer paused and realized one thing, making him gulp. "Uh oh..."

"What is it?"

"Ummmmmmm... There's one small problem to this transformation..."

Chopper raised an eyebrow. "A problem? What would that be?"

As the Hurricane got closer to the Night Palace, Flyer answered, "While this transformation is meant to be useful in battle, I didn't install a landing gear for it. That means this landing might be a little bumpy. Brace for impact, Chopper!"

Chopper held onto the Hurricane as tight as he could as the plane crashed onto the floor. Thankfully, it wasn't too damaged, but there was no way they could fly out of here without any repairs.

"Oh, crud... I'm going to have to fix this thing." Flyer groaned, taking his cube out and storing it back inside. "Thankfully, I can repair this thing while it's still in the cube!"

As Flyer put the cube away, Chopper looked down at the shiny, lavender floor that showed a slight reflection of himself. "Wow! This place really looks cool! It's much more interesting than that stupid mansion we had to go through. Too bad my friends aren't here to see this..."

"Hmmmmm... Maybe while I'm fixing the plane, I can also try to put in an add-on that can help them travel with us! Though, I don't expect it to be perfect..."

"How come?" Chopper asked.

"Well, that would take WAAAAAAAAY too long to do. I might just put in one, small installation that will probably be enough. Maybe when our hunt is done I'll do something like that."

"OK... Well, I guess we better check this place out." the Star Warrior turned his attention to the staircase ahead.

"Careful, Chopper… I can see some Aliebits around here and they don't look friendly…" Flyer warned, taking notice of a few Alieparas flying over the palace, along with at least two Aliebits patrolling the area. There were at least two Aliebit statues that had a railing leading into one of the palace buildings.

"A couple of Aliebits around here? No problem!" Chopper aimed his bow at an Aliebit and prepared to fire.

"Chopper! Don't!"

"Huh? Why?" he asked, turning to Flyer.

"This place is a heavily guarded, and if we were to simply fight, it might make this place even harder to progress. We need to think of a plan..."

"Awwww... But I want to fight these guys!"

"Chopper, we can't just go out in the open and fight! I thought you knew about thinking of a strategy against your foes?"

Chopper paused for a moment and turned to Flyer. "Yeah... I guess you're right. I guess we might as well do that."

"If we're going to sneak past them, we'll have to use the rails that go over those enemies and to the door. Thankfully, I can fly you across!" Flyer explained as he grabbed Chopper's arms and flew him up to the statue. He let him go, and he landed on the rail. Thankfully, the Aliebits didn't bother to look up at the railing.

"So, what are you plannin' on doin' tonight?" an Aliepara asked.

"Oh, not much," the Spiky Aliebit answered. "Though, I know we're goin' to be listenin' to the Mighty Penguinator's speech a little later. It's somethin' we can't miss! It's going to be the speech of the century!"

"Oh, yeah. I remember that! Maybe we can impress the Mighty Penguinator by showing our magnificent spears! He'll definitely know we're ready for action!"

"Hmmmmm... We might as well. I don't like guarding this place anyway." With that, the two Aliebits made their way up the stairs and through the doorway leading into the palace's interior. With the coast clear, both Chopper and Flyer jumped off the railing and landed by the doorway.

"Well, looks like the coast is clear!" Chopper smiled. "I guess we should-"

Just as they were about to set foot through the doorway, a gate had come down and blocked the way.

"Oh... I guess we can't go through here." Flyer said in a disappointed tone. "This is a shame..."

Before Chopper could give up hope, he noticed on one side of the staircase was a large, Metal Block. Smiling, he leaped down and twisted his body to perform his Ultra Hammer attack on it. It broke, revealing a hidden ladder leaning against the wall.

"Huh... So there was a ladder hidden here..." Flyer trailed. "My guess is that it will take us to the top of this building!"

"Time to see what's above!" Chopper exclaimed, climbing up the ladder. For Flyer, he simply flew up to the top. The center of the area was large and square-shaped, while the left and ride side were a bit narrow. Some Alieparas and Aliebits were on the thick wall, and they happened to spot them.

"What the... We've got some intruders in-"

Many arrows were fired in their direction, and a couple of tornadoes were shot as well, eliminating the enemies. Chopper and Flyer smirked, but they were interrupted when an Aliepara rammed into Chopper, knocking his Angel ability away. To get back at it, he leaped in the air and struck it with a Jump, and then Flyer finished it with his Flying Attack.

"That takes care of those goons," Chopper stated. "Though, it had cost me my Angel ability..."

Flyer spotted some binoculars nearby and decided to take a good look at them. He decided to check the top of the palace at the bright light coming from the window. His reaction, however, was more disgusted than happy.

"What in the world?!"

"Huh? What's wrong, Flyer?" Chopper asked.

"I don't think you wanna know..."

"But it might be important!"

"Is seeing that penguin shaving his back something important?"

"...Shaving? What do you mean by that?"

Giving up, Flyer stepped aside and let Chopper see for himself. His expression changed from curious to disgusted. "That's not a pleasant sight..."

"I know. Now let me get back to using those. Maybe I can try to see what he has to hear with this." Flyer took out a communicator-like device and fired it straight by the window King Bebe was at. With that, he started to listen in on him.

* * *

"Boy… That party is going to be starting in an hour and a half. I'm feeling nervous right now! I don't know what they'll say to me!" King Bebe exclaimed nervously, struggling to shave one section of his back. "Come on, already! I need to get my back shaved! I don't want to have a hairy back, you know!"

He used his other arm to shave and succeeded. With that, he tossed his razor, which accidentally went into the toilet. King Bebe quickly changed into his robe and grinned.

"Well, then… I have a speech to deliver! Heh heh heh heh… Maybe then I'll show off that Sky Star to everyone! I was so lucky to get away from that robot and get it here! Those alien freaks will be so proud of me! He, especially might be happy to see this!"

King Bebe pulled out the Sky Star and looked around nervously. "I just hope he isn't watching me at the moment... I really don't wanna know what would happen if he was not pleased with this star.

He took a deep breath, put the star away, and started to exit the bathroom and into the hallway. A couple of Aliebits stepped out of the way as he approached a few of them.

* * *

After listening in, Flyer pressed a button to retrieve his device and stepped away from the binoculars. "So we need to get to the whole party if we're going to find the Crystal Star." Looking up ahead, he noticed a large door. "My guess is that that large door will take us to our destination!"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Chopper leaped off the wall and onto the other side. There were two towers that were right next to the staircase, with one to the left and the other to the right. The tower to the right had a gate in the way, preventing anyone from progressing. However, there was a small amount of space underneath the gate.

Looking behind them, they found a doorway leading to the wall's interior. They checked inside and saw a bright light on the ceiling, but the room itself was not very wide. It was rectangular, with the end of the northern section having a small opening. Two Aliebits were in the room, and they started charging at them. A fireball and another tornado did away with them.

Flyer flew over to a switch on the wall and pulled it down, opening the gate once again. "Well, this should help us in case we need to get out of here."

Chopper looked over by the small opening to the north and started to ponder. This was something he remembered seeing before. Obviously he knew he had something that could help him!

"Chopper, what are you doing?" Flyer asked, approaching his friend. "We can't go through that small opening!"

"I think we can," Chopper assured, turning into a tube and rolling through the opening. He came across a small, square-shaped room with a chest and a Shine Sprite. Inside the chest was a badge called a Hammer Toss. With this ability, Chopper could throw his hammer and deal a large amount of damage, at the cost of not being able to use his hammer for three turns. He found this too risky of a move and put it away before hitting the Shine Sprite and returning to Flyer.

They headed back to the previous area and walked up the staircase leading to the large door. Unfortunately, it appeared to be sealed off by a large, angry block. However, the difference was that this one appeared to be a rainbow type rather than metal or stone. Chopper knew what to do and twisted his body to smash it with his Ultra Hammer.

Unfortunately, it hardly did a thing.

"Crud! My hammer doesn't do a thing!" Chopper groaned. "I need my Diamond Hammer for this!"

"Diamond Hammer? Is that a stronger version of your Ultra Hammer?" Flyer asked. Chopper turned his head to him and he nodded.

"Yeah, the Diamond Hammer can smash these blocks easily. Unfortunately, I don't have it with me, so we're not moving anywhere. Do you have any ideas?"

"Well, we can't go to the tower that's to our right…" Flyer trailed, eyeing the tower to the right, then he looked over at the left tower. "The tower to our left, however, is not being barricaded. I suggest we go there before any Aliebits get to us."

Chopper agreed and they walked over to the big tower to the left after clearing through two Aliebits guarding the door. Thankfully, the door wasn't locked, so they were able to enter with ease. Inside, they found the floor and walls to be a much brighter color than outside due to there being light in here. Along with that, there were cloud paintings on the wall too.

"Huh… So this is what the tower's like, huh?" Chopper saw stairs circling around the small room, along with a door to the right. They walked through there first to find something rather familiar. At least, in Chopper's eyes. He sighed, "Oh, goody… I was wondering when I would see this thing again…"

"You've seen that chest before?" Flyer asked, noticing the black chest nearby.

"Huh? Is someone in here? Can you hear me?" the black chest wiggled around in the small room. Chopper and Flyer walked over to the wiggling chest and it stopped and looked at them.

"Yeah, we can hear you loud and clear," replied Chopper with a nod.

"Really? Interesting… So that means you're the legendary hero that can stop it. But, looking at you, you remind me of my apprentice."

"Apprentice? What the heck are you talking about?"

"Hmmmmmm... If I'm correct, perhaps this apprentice he speaks of could be an ancestor of yours!" Flyer remarked.

"You really think so?" Chopper turned back to the chest. "So... I'm guessing you must know something about this guy who looks like me then, right?"

"Correct. I was his mentor." the chest answered. "I'm the one who taught him how to use a sword. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see him that much because the king thought he was the one that kidnapped his daughter. I guess that winged one was correct about you being my apprentice's ancestor..."

"I...guess."

"I can tell by your looks. Except… You don't have yellow eyes or blonde hair. You have two antennas instead…" the chest trailed. "Not something I'd expect from a descendant... But, anyway, let's get back to the important topic here. I've been stuck in this chest for thousand of years, and I can't get out of here. I need your help."

"Why would I help you?" Chopper gawked. "I don't even know you! Besides, I've seen four of you chests and all you've done was curse me."

"And not to mention it's not a smart idea to trust a black chest," Flyer added.

"What are you talking about?! A curse? …Though I am an honest person, I can say this: I'll give you an ability that will help you on your journey. The other chests also gave you a useful ability. You would expect me to do the same thing."

"…Yeah, this chest is stating the truth. The other chests that 'cursed' me actually gave me some pretty helpful abilities. I won't deny that." Chopper recalled. "But… To be honest, I know you're just going to do some weird cackling and act like it's bad. We'll go get your stupid key if you want."

"Wait, Chopper… You really think we can trust this chest?"

"It's pretty much our only option," Chopper shrugged. "We just need to find a Black Key and use it to unlock this chest."

"Yes. Make sure you come back with it." the chest demanded while it wiggled. "It's getting very cramped in here..."

"Hmmm... All right, then." Flyer nodded, following Chopper back into the previous room. "I think it could be on the upper floor of the tower, so those stairs might help us."

When they reached the top of the circular staircase, they found a pink door. The room they entered was small and contained four pink lights on each corner.

"Yuk yuk! I've been waiting for you, Slick!"

Chopper's eyes darted around the room for the voice until he noticed a rocking chair near the upper left corner of the room. Sitting there was a familiar figure.

"Doopliss..." Chopper muttered.

"So… You finally come here, huh, Slick? I bet you're surprised to see someone such as myself here!" Doopliss smirked, staring at the two with his orange eyes. "Well, it wasn't easy, that's for sure. But my shape-shifting skills sure can come in handy at times! I decided to use the rest of my time to wait for you!"

"So a Duplighost has been waiting for us? Strange..." Flyer trailed.

"You know about these guys?" Chopper questioned.

"Well, I've been studying a few things in the past. Goombas, Koopas, and even Duplighosts were among them! Obviously this one sounds like an enemy of yours, Chopper..."

"Yeah, he is..." the Star Warrior turned to Doopliss and got in a fighting stance.

"Hey, where'd your other friends go anyway? Did they decide to run off?"

"No. We couldn't take them with us to this palace..."

"Oh, really? Yuk yuk yuk! Then this might be fun! Without your friends, you can't do much to stop me!" Doopliss rushed toward Chopper, but he ended up bumping into the wall for a brief moment before getting his act together.

**Tattle: **_Of course, we see Doopliss again. He's just what he usually is. Max HP is 120, Attack is 10, and Defense is 0. He'll use his usual shape-shifting abilities on you just like the last time and, well, you know the rest. To be honest, there really isn't much to this guy other than his Head Missile and shape-shifting. I think you'll have no problem beating him, Chopper! Also, I wonder why Doopliss is here and not with Beldam. Well… At least it's better that he's not being punished by her. I mean, you know what happened with Vivian!_

Ready for action, Chopper leaped in the air and performed a jump attack on Doopliss, dealing a good 8 damage to him. When he returned to Flyer, he gave him the cue to attack. A Flying Attack was all he needed to deal 9 damage.

"Oof! Say... You seem to have gotten a bit stronger, Slick! But that won't save ya when I decide to use your abilities on-"

"Yeah yeah... You're going to turn into me. Just do it already." Chopper cut in, getting a bit impatient.

Doopliss changed into a form of Chopper and used his jumping to hit Flyer, who cringed in response. "Ouch! I didn't think your jumps would hurt that much, Chopper!"

"Same here," Chopper walked over to Doopliss and this time he did a stylish flip and stomped on him with a Fire Stomp, leaving him scorched and also with a burn status. "That'll help us a little bit by slowly damaging him!"

Flyer knocked Doopliss back with another Flying Attack. He ended up flying across the room and hit one of the lights. Obviously he had a much easier time telling which one was the real Chopper.

"Urgh… All right, Slick! You're playing hard? Well I'll play hard too!" Doopliss walked over to Chopper and brought his hammer down on him. Luckily, Chopper held his hammer up to guard the attack, but he ended up taking 9 damage.

"I'd use my hammer… But it's not as tough as my stomping…" Chopper remarked, hitting Doopliss with another jump after he took damage from the burn. Flyer reduced him to 68 HP with his Flying Attack. "It's been about three turns, and you're already down to 68 HP!"

"Argh... I'll get you, Slick!" Doopliss turned back into himself and then turned his attention to Flyer, in a puff of smoke, he transformed into him and put his attacks to good use. An arm cannon materialized on his right arm, and then he fired a shot at Chopper. The attack was Superguarded, aggravating him even more. "What?! What ever happened to playing fair, Slick?!"

"Well, this is part of fighting, Doopliss. Say... Wanna see my Wall Jump technique?"

"Wall Jump?"

"Lemme show you," Chopper jumped off the wall and then came down on Doopliss with a jump and then a much faster stomp that dealt 18 damage.

"Oof! Crud, that REALLY hurts!" Doopliss cringed. Flyer smirked and struck him with another Flying Attack, leaving him with 40 HP. "I think it's time to change things around. Unfortunately I'm getting nowhere because of this."

Doopliss changed back into himself and floated up and hit Flyer with a Head Missile. His attack was Superguarded, making him lose 1 HP in the process.

"Nice try, but your attack needs a bit more effort into it," Flyer remarked, hitting Doopliss with a Flying Attack. Chopper's Spin Jump was able to deal 12 damage rather than the normal 9 this time. Now he was down to 18 HP.

Grinning, Doopliss transformed into a frying pan and managed to smack Chopper in the face, leaving a red mark on his cheek. Once Chopper hit him with another Jump, Flyer finished the fight with his Flying Attack, causing the Duplighost to collapse from exhaustion.

"Aw, crud…" Doopliss moaned, dropping 32 Star Points for Chopper to retrieve. Though he was weak, he had enough energy to get up. "Crud! And here I thought my plan would've worked!"

"Well obviously it was a failure," Flyer remarked. "So what do you plan on doing now?"

"Well... I have enough energy for at least one last thing..." Upon hearing that, Chopper and Flyer held their guard up, preparing for the worst. Instead, Doopliss turned away from them and jumped out of the tower through the window, followed by jumping off the floating palace. The results, of course, were rather painful for the poor Duplighost.

"Well, that was odd. He just ran away like a coward..." Chopper trailed.

"Hey, Chopper! I think he dropped some kind of black key." Flyer informed, noticing the Black Key lying on the ground.

Chopper looked over at the key and gasped. "Hey... We need this for that chest!"

"I was just thinking about that... So, should we trust that chest?"

"I suppose so," Chopper answered, picking up the key. "Though, I suggest you just play along with what he says. I think it'll go much smoother."

"Play along?"

"You'll see..."

The duo left the room and headed back to the room where the black chest on the bottom floor. Upon seeing them, it began to wiggle.

"Ah, so I see you've returned…and is that the Black Key?" the chest gasped, seeing the Black Key in Chopper's hand. "Oh, thank goodness. I can finally be free from this chest."

"Well... Here we go!" Chopper put the key in its lock and twisted it, unlocking the chest. Of course, the expected happened.

_**"****WHEEE HEE HEE HEE HEE! FOOOOOOOLS!" **_

The chest opened up, and as usual, Chopper's surroundings had changed to the usual when a black box was free.

_**"****Oh, you just HAD to listen to me! What a stupid little kid you are…" **_the curse remarked._** "You should know better not to talk to strangers! It won't help you in the near future... Of course, I am a warrior that keeps my word, and because of that, I WILL spread an evil curse upon you!"**_

"Ummmmm... This is probably the fifth time this has happened to me, and you've said the same thing as the other curses..." Chopper trailed. "Can't you think of anything original?"

_**"****Hmmm... Perhaps that is something I should've thought about before escaping that imprisonment. But when your trapped in a box for many years, you don't care about original speeches! You know how cramped it is in there? Well, you probably have no idea because you were never stuck in a black chest! But not it's time for me to finish this job and place the curse! Take THIS!" **_

Many bright flashes emitted from the area, and Chopper felt a surge of a curse enter his body.

_**"****Wheee hee hee hee hee! Now you're cursed! …Of course, I need to explain how this curse works. It can be helpful…when you want to be a lazy couch potato! If you hold both the R and L button at the same time, you'll end up lying flatly on the ground as if you're asleep! I want to see you try it. NOW!"**_

Chopper suddenly found himself lying flat on the ground like a piece of paper upon using the ability. Though he wasn't able to move quickly, he was able to inch around like a caterpillar. The curse couldn't help but find it hilarious.

_**"****Oh, look at that! You see yourself right now? Now THAT looks humiliating! Lying on the ground makes you feel like an ordinary piece of paper, and it will surely make you feel unpleasant! Just look at the expression on your face. Priceless!" **_

Chopper got back up, shaking himself. "This seems more helpful than harmful. Why would you say that this is a horrible thing? You even said yourself that this would be helpful. So… Thank you very much for your help!"

_**"****So you understand how it works, don't you? Then it looks like my job is done here! WHEEE HEE HEE HEE HEE! So long, fool!" **_the curse cackled, only to remember something._** "…Wait, before I go… I must tell you something. Watch out for the darkness… If the entrance opens, then nobody knows what might happen…"**_

And, just like the other curses, the cursed background crumpled up and disappeared from the room. Chopper looked at the walls and then at Flyer, who looked just as confused.

"Wow, I don't know what to say… But I think whatever that...whatever it was gave you, it should be pretty helpful." Flyer remarked. "Let's get out of this tower. There isn't much else around here..."

"Agreed," Chopper and Flyer walked out of the tower and over to the gate blocking the other tower.

"All right, time to put my new ability to use! Just watch what I do, Flyer!" Chopper fell paper flat on the ground and crawled under the gate, since the gate wasn't connected to the floor. Flyer had managed to do this as well and got under the gate as well.

"Wow, Chopper! That move really IS helpful!" Flyer smiled. "I'm sure this will be something we can use in case if there's something like that!"

"Well, all we can do is go to the next tower! Let's not waste any time and get moving!" Chopper rushed over to the tower, clearing through the Aliebits guarding and reaching the door. After exchanging nods with his friend, they headed inside.

* * *

**Expect to see a couple of returning things in the next chapter... :D  
**


	82. Another Sibling

Chopper opened the door to the second tower, but he find a circular staircase like the previous one. He only saw a spring going up to a door on the upper floor. There was also another door to the right, much like the previous tower. However, that one was locked.

"Great... A locked door." Chopper sighed.

"Well, the only solution is to check the upper floor," Flyer suggested. He flew up to the door while Chopper used the spring to get to the door. Entering through the door led them into a similar room with the lights, except there was a figure standing in the center of the room.

"Uh oh... It's one of these guys..."

"If I'm correct, that is a Thwomp, isn't it?" Flyer gawked. "These beings don't really move, Chopper. I see no reason to worry..."

"But these guys QUIZ you!"

Standing before them was a Thwomp, but unlike the previous two, this one was wearing a set of black shades. Since it was sleeping, Chopper approached it on its pedestal to wake it up. The room had shook for a brief moment, and when it had stopped, the Thwomp woke up. The two could see a little orange glow coming from its shades.

"Hmmmm? Who's there?" the Thwomp scanned the room and caught sight of Chopper and Flyer. They seemed to slightly wave, but not in an excited way. The Thwomp let out a chuckle. "Mmmmm hmmm ho ha! Well, so you must be here to get the Tower Key that I'm holding! Are you sure you REALLY want that thing?"

"Tower Key? Well, if it's supposed to unlock that door below, then yeah!" Chopper answered.

"So you DO! Ho ho ho ho ho! I think we could make a little deal. Usually I don't give keys to outsiders, but I think I'll make an exception here... If you wanna get this key, you'll have to go up against me! If you win, you can have the key, but if you lose, you're mine! So, what do you say?"

"Bring it!"

"Mmmmm hmmm ho ha! Now you're in for it! Prepare to use your brains, you – whatever the heck you are!"

Their surroundings had changed like puzzle pieces into a game show. Flyer looked a bit confused, and then he looked back at the Thwomp, who now had a red bow-tie with white polka-dots, just like the previous two Thwomps.

"What the..." Flyer trailed, unsure how to comprehend this scenario.

"Hey, hey, hey, ladies and germs! IIIIIIIIIIIIT'S time for the 69th Super Fun Quirk Quiz!" the Thwomp introduced. "It's time for you to use those ears, er…antennas and wings and listen carefully! If you answer five questions correct you instantly win the game! But, get three wrong and you're going to be screwed! And what do I mean by that? Well, you're probably going to have the worst time of your life! So don't try to screw up, ya hear?"

"Ummm… OK? So if we screw up we're probably going to hear an old person babbling on and on?" Chopper gawked. "That doesn't sound nice..."

"No, it has NOTHING to do with an old person! But enough about that. We're playing a little game here and you need to answer my questions! Now…" the Thwomp cleared his throat, "Question Number One! Tell me, what is hidden in this tower?"

"Uh… That's simple. A Tower Key." Chopper answered.

"Are you suuuuuuure about that? Come on, now. Be honest…"

"Yes."

The answer was indeed correct, as a positive ding could be heard. The Thwomp angrily spun in response.

"GWAAAAAAAAAARGH! You're…right! OK, now that one was too easy! Why did I even throw that one in there? The questions will get MUCH harder, though. I can guarantee that!"

"Well, then be prepared, Chopper," Flyer whispered.

"Ahem! Now, then… Onto Question Two! Let's see if you can get this one… Which area can you find the Sun Star in? Peadow Meadows? Unagi's Cave? Sunset Hill? Or what about King Boo's Mansion?"

"That answer to that would be Sunset Hill, obviously…" Chopper answered. The results were, of course, the same.

"GWAAAAAAAAAARGH! You're…right! OK, that question was way too easy! They'll be A LOT harder, so prepare that tiny brain of yours!"

"Technically, same species have the same brain size, and some are much more intelligent than similar ones, so saying something like that is high illogi-"

"Onto Question Three!" the Thwomp declared, cutting off Flyer's boring explanation. "Where exactly is the Sky Star at this moment?"

Chopper and Flyer found their mouths drop to the floor.

"Wh-What? How the heck are we supposed to know that?!" Chopper gasped. "Ummmmm... I dunno..."

Unfortunately, the answer was not correct.

"Gwar har har har har! Wrong, wrong, WROOOOONG!" the Thwomp cackled. "Ha ha ha HAAAA! I got you that time! That's one wrong so far! Remember, if you get three wrong, you'll suffer a terrible fate! You don't want that now, do you? So… Moving on!"

"That was an unfair question..." Flyer remarked.

"Are you ready for…Question Four? Now, let's see… Who is the secretary that works for King Dedede?"

"Uh… Definitely Escargon. I can remember him right now." Chopper answered. And indeed he was correct, as the Thwomp was spinning angrily.

"GWAAAAAAAAAARGH! You're…right! OK, now that one was too easy! They're going to get A LOT harder! So get your brains ready and listen closely!"

"Well, we'll find out," Flyer replied.

"All right, let's get to Question Number Five! What is the name of the robot who is wanting to get his revenge on you for a long time?"

"Metal Chopper," Chopper answered.

"Are you suuuuuuure about that?"

"Of course."

After the positive ding was heard, the Thwomp had another episode.

"YAAAAARGH! You… You got that one right!" the Thwomp shouted. "Wait a second… Don't tell me you already got your fourth question correct! This isn't good… That's it! I think it's time I made these question far out impossible! I'll make sure your brain swells to the point that it'll explode!"

"But it's impossible for a person's brain to swell up and explode from an impossible quest-"

"All right, then! Let's see how you deal with Question Number Six!" the Thwomp declared, once again cutting off Flyer. "What is the plane you used to get to the Night Palace!"

"Oh, gee… How am I supposed to know?" faked Chopper.

"It sure reminds me of something I have," Flyer recalled. "Hmm… Now what would that be? Ah, yes! My Hurricane, obviously!"

With the final question correct, the Thwomp found himself angrier than usual, spinning much longer than before.

"_**NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! **_You… You… You got it right!" the Thwomp raged. "I don't believe it! You answered five of the six questions correct! I don't want to admit it, but I have no other choice. You've won this round…"

With that, the background changed back to the tower room, and he no longer had his bow-tie. Flyer would've questioned the scenario, but he thought it'd be best to leave it as it is.

"You make me sick. You've beaten me in a game that NO ONE has ever beaten me in! Why did I have to LOSE this game? Oh, all right… Just take the key already." the Thwomp caused the room to shake, and out came a pink key. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must get back to sleeping!"

The Thwomp closed his eyes and fell asleep. Chopper and Flyer exchanged glances before the former picked up the key, proclaiming that they should take it to the locked door below. They left the room and landed right by the locked door. The door had led them into a small room with a single purple pipe.

"A purple pipe? What the heck is a purple type doing here?" Chopper wondered.

"Well, there's bound to be something below, so we might as well check it out," Flyer suggested, following Chopper down the pipe.

When they came out of the pipe, they noticed they were in a circular room with a lavender marble ground and hot pink walls. Hot pink lights were in the corners of the room. Four pink portal-like doors were surrounding them.

"This place looks pretty mysterious… I don't see any enemies around here. Do you think it's safe?" Chopper asked.

"Let me see..." Flyer took out a gadget that could detect enemies. He didn't find any sight of red dots. "No... It doesn't look like there are enemies here..."

_"Why, hello there, people."_

The two stopped in place as they saw a hot pink spirit with yellow eyes appear before them. It didn't have much of a physical appearance. Only a hot pink mist appeared before it with the yellow eyes.

"Who are you? Are you one of those God spirit things?" Chopper asked.

_"Nay, I amm not. I'm just a lazy spirit doing nothing special in its life."_ it answered. _"I used to live on the Island of the Gods, but not anymore. Anyway, that's nothing important. I see you've managed to make your way down here. I am impressed."_

"Really? That's pretty cool. So what do we need to do?" Flyer asked. "I remember that Thwomp mentioning some 'thing'. Would that 'thing' happen to be you?"

_"A 'thing'? What is this 'thing' you speak of? ...Perhaps you mean 'that'?"_

"Ummmmm... I guess so." Chopper answered with confusion in his voice.

_"Ahhh... I see. Well, if you wish to get 'that', then you must go through the correct door. Look at them carefully, for one of them is different. The one that's different shall lead you forward, while the others shall bring you back here. Don't let your eyes deceive yourself. Look carefully."_

"OK, then. That doesn't sound so bad! So… Let's see here…" Chopper looked at the portal doors and noticed that the second one was darker. They walked through it into a similar room with three portal doors.

"This is interesting…" Flyer mused. "So there are only three portal doors this time. I must inspect them!"

Flyer flew over to the three doors and noticed the first one was darker. He signaled Chopper to come over and they jumped into that portal.

Unlike the other room, this one had only two portal doors instead. They took the second one and found another room with one portal. Since it was the only one they could enter, they took it to a different room with a small staircase leading to a big chest. Past the chest were a couple of Rainbow Block and one large, Rainbow Block. It was definitely much bigger in size compared to the normal large block.

As the duo reached the large chest, the spirit appeared before them.

_"Congratulations! You managed to make it to this room. I'm impressed! For that, you may take what's in that big chest. I'm not fully sure what's in there, so this should be a surprise!_

"Really? Thanks!" Chopper walked over to the chest and opened it. Getting a glimpse of the object, he gasped. "No way… It can't be…"

"What is it, Chopper?" Flyer asked.

Chopper grabbed the red hammer with the faces being orange and held it up like a typical item. "It's my Diamond Hammer! But it doesn't look as dull like before!"

**You got the Diamond Hammer!**

As per usual, Chopper was transported into a whole new area and found Toadette approaching him.

"Hi there, Chopper! I can't believe we're meeting again!" Toadette cheered. "You finally got the Diamond Hammer! That's great!"

"Oh, it's you again. I don't know if I need your help, since I know how to use this hammer and all that..."

"Hee hee! Oh, it's OK! I don't think you know what kind of abilities you can use with that hammer. If you're moving and you hold the B button, you'll spin the hammer and yourself as you move. It's kind of like the Super Hammer technique, but you can only do it by moving and holding B, which can also help you clear through a ton of blocks. It can even smash big Rainbow Blocks too!"

Raising her arm, a couple of Rainbow Blocks lined up appeared, with a big one at the end.

"Really? Let me try!" Chopper walked over to the Rainbow Block and he spun his hammer around. He was able to smash the block into smithereens as soon as the Diamond Hammer made contact.

"That was impressive! See? Now you don't have to twist your body if you want to smash those kinds of blocks. With that hammer, you can also hit all ground enemies with full damage! Try it out when you face multiple enemies! That's all I have to tell you, so see you next time!"

Toadette ran off and Chopper was taken back to the chest he was standing by. Looking at his Ultra Hammer, he tossed tossed it into the chest and closed it tight so no one could get it.

"That hammer does look a lot more interesting than that other hammer of yours," Flyer remarked.

"Well, looks like I can smash these blocks!" Chopper walked over to the Rainbow Blocks and brought his new Diamond Hammer down on one of them, destroying it. Inside was a Jelly Ultra. "I guess I can put this along with the rest of my Jelly Ultraz.

"Ummm… Don't you mean Jelly _Ultras_? Why did you end it with a Z?" Flyer asked, looking confused.

Chopper shrugged and put the Jelly Ultra away and used his Diamond Hammer ability to clear through the rest of the blocks, along with the large one. A pipe was revealed to be underneath the large one.

_"That should bring you back to where you first were in this place,"_ the spirit informed. _"Good luck!" _

After saying goodbye, the two jumped into the pipe and returned to the small room where they once were before. They left the second tower and headed to the large building with the large door now that they had the Diamond Hammer.

"Well, I guess there might be a reason for this Rainbow Block being here..." Chopper trailed. "But, since it's in our way, we have to get rid of it."

He took a couple of steps back and charged at the Rainbow Block while he spun hammer around. The hammer made contact with the block, and it was smashed. Chopper felt proud of himself as he approached it. Just as he was about to open the door, he heard snoring coming from behind, and it wasn't very small. In fact, it was quite loud.

"Something tells me that there's something huge behind there..." Flyer gulped.

"Sounds like it... But it's the only way to go." Chopper said, trying to push the door open. "Hey, Flyer! Can you give me a hand?"

Flyer nodded and walked over to the large door to help him push the door open. Upon entering, they found themselves in a large, circular room resembling a dark bluish cave. A couple of icicles were hanging from the ceiling, and the room gave them a cold feeling. Chopper, however, was not paying attention to much of the interior. Two things had already caught his attention.

In the corner were a pile of bones, and in the center was a light blue dragon that nearly resembled a certain dragon from the Palace of Shadow. His underbelly was mostly white, and his wings and claws were dark blue.

"That thing's huge!" Chopper gasped.

The dragon's eyes opened at an instant and let out a roar when he spotted the two. "Who dares enter my lair?!"

"That… What…" Flyer's eyes shot wide open as he stepped back to the door behind him. The dragon noticed this and spat an ice ball to freeze the door.

"I want an explanation to why you're in my lair! I was having a nice nap until you came in and wake me up!" the dragon roared. But, now that I think about it, I _am _kind of hungry…"

"Hey, can you do us a favor and let us through?" Chopper asked. "We need to beat up that Bebe person. I'm sure you'd like that, right?"

"Oh, that fool? He hasn't fed me in a long time." the dragon recalled. "I had to gobble down some of his Aliebits that would come in here because of that. Though you don't look as tasty, it's better than nothing."

"If you're trying to intimidate me, then you're not doing a good job! I beat down a dragon just like you! What was his name again? Gloomtail?"

"_**WHAAAAAAT?!**_ Did you just say that you destroyed my younger brother Gloomtail?!" the dragon gaped, letting our another roar. "_**FOOOOOOOLS!**_ You have messed with the wrong dragon, the mighty ice monster, Frosttail! I shall turn you all into popsicles before I gobble you down!"

"Oh... That sounds nice..." Flyer trailed sheepishly.

"Then if you want to fight, then we'll take you!" Chopper declared. "Come on, Flyer! Time to show this dragon who's boss!"

"All right... We can do this..."

"Brrraaa ha ha ha ha! You really think you can take me? I'd like to see you try!" Frosttail snorted.

**Tattle: **_No way… I never knew Gloomtail had another brother! So, this is Frosttail… He's kind of intimidating, if you ask me. Max HP is 140, Attack is 11, and Defense is 2. He'll attack with his ice breath which has a chance of freezing you. If you have the Fire ability on, then you might have a lesser chance of becoming a frozen Star Warrior. It says here that he hates fire, so that might not be a bad idea to use against him. He'll also bite you, which can also freeze you. Watch out when he unleashed his Blizzard Breath! THAT is terrifying! Just try to turn the heat up in this fight!  
_

Gripping his hammer tightly, he decided to give it a good test and used his Fire Smash to deal 8 damage to the dragon. The hot sensation caused Frosttail to let out a painful screech.

"_**BRAAAAARRGH! **_How on earth did you… Why are you using fire against me?!" Frosttail gasped. "You have no idea what you're doing..."

"Take this, you monster!" Flyer shouted, flying up to Frosttail's nose and hitting it with his Flying Attack. When he flew back to Chopper, Frosttail cowered his nose in pain. He hissed at Flyer as he brought one of his paws on him, dealing 11 damage.

Chopper gasped and looked at Frosttail with an angry look. He changed to his Fire ability and unleashed his fire breath on the ice dragon, dealing 8 damage due to him being weak to fire. Flyer got himself up and hit him with another Flying Attack.

Frosttail gave them a glare as he opened his mouth and breathed his cold, icy breath at them. Unfortunately for him, they guarded it and did not become frozen.

_"Great... It didn't work."_ Frosttail thought.

After shaking off any cold left on him, Chopper jumped in the air and spun his body around while breathing fire. His Fire Spin managed to strike his nose and deal 8 more damage, bringing him to 96 HP.

"You know, Vivian would've been a great help here..." Chopper muttered. He then looked back up at the dragon. "I'm guessing you're another one of the Shadow Queen's pets, right?"

"No, you would be incorrect," Frosttail answered coldly. "I never get to see my owner, which is why I hate him more than that penguin! But before I take care of them, I'll take care of YOU first!"

Frosttail was about to flatten him with his paw, but Flyer flew in and stopped him with another Flying Attack.

"Grrrr! You're starting to become a pest… Perhaps now is the time to bring this up a notch!" Opening his mouth again, Frosttail shot an ice ball that knocked Chopper back. Flyer took this opportunity to strike him again before Chopper got back up and deal 10 damage thanks to his fireball ability. Now he was left with 68 HP.

"Brrrrrrrghh... I can't believe I'm getting taken down by two small people!" Frosttail exclaimed, appalled by this situation. "Very well... It's time I showed you the full extent of my power.

Grinning, Frosttail raised his Attack by 11. The duo gulped, knowing that this attack would be a deadly one.

"Crud... Without Vivian, this could be bad..." Chopper gulped. "I guess we need to hit him with everything we've got!"

He transformed into another fireball and did 10 more damage. Meanwhile, Flyer brought him to 48 HP with his Flying Attack.

"Now you're in for it!" Frosttail used all of his might to unleash a huge blizzard breath. Unfortunately, it was Flyer who became frozen, and Chopper had barely lost his Fire ability from the attack. "Brraaa ha ha ha ha! NOW you realize my true strength! And I even froze your little friend!"

"You're going to pay for that..." Chopper growled, clenching his fists. He charged at him in a fireball and did another 10 damage to him. When Frosttail tried smashing him with his paw, he Superguarded it, making the dragon take damage instead.

"Y-You... How dare you?!"

Chopper made his next move by using his Wall Jump to deal 14 damage and bring him to 21 HP. After guarding Frosttail's ice breath, Chopper breathed fire on him and reduced him to 12 HP. After bringing his paw on him, Frosttail noticed Flyer thaw out, taking 3 damage as well.

"Brrrrrr! What the heck just happened?" Flyer asked, shivering in the process.

"Well, apparently you became frozen... I just managed to bring this guy to 12 HP." Chopper answered, giving Frosttail a glare.

"So... I guess we better do the job, right?"

"Of course," Chopper nodded, turning to Frosttail again. Opening his mouth, he dealt 8 damage to Frosttail with his fire breath. Flyer's Flying Attack managed to successfully hit his nose and leave him in a defeated state.

"N-No… How can this be… I…lost?" Frosttail moaned, falling over on his back in defeat and giving up 42 Star Points. Chopper kindly accepted them and upgraded his BP to 42. With that, he removed his Fire ability, no longer needing it at the moment.

Just as they were about to go, however, they heard some moaning from Frosttail again. The duo noticed that he had coughed up a small chest lodged somewhere in his throat. Not caring that it had just come from a dragon's stomach, Chopper opened it and found a Palace Key.

"Hey... Maybe we might need this to unlock the door ahe-"

"It's not even locked," Flyer noted, pointing to the big door ahead. "Perhaps it unlocks a door somewhere else in the palace?"

"Might as well find out," Chopper pushed the door open with Flyer's assistance, and they were brought back outside. They noticed another large staircase ahead, but this one appeared to be leading up to the biggest part of the palace. "Hey, looks like we're at our destination! Let's go, Flyer!"

"Uhhhh... I don't think so." Flyer pointed to the large amount of guards by the palace's entrance. "I don't think we're a match for them if we try to take them all on at once!"

"Oh..." Chopper scanned the area, trying to look for anything. Beside the staircase to the left, however, was a small, locked door. "What about this?"

"Why, of course!" the Wingel smiled, flying over to Chopper. "There is always another way in! While it might not take us exactly where we want, this will surely lead us to a much safer area. I'd rather play it safe."

"OK..." Chopper mumbled, unlocking the door and entering. They came across a room with a small staircase going down and then one going up to a door ahead. Below them, however, was a pathway to the lower left. They decided to check it out, and they found a couple of Rainbow Blocks line up. Knowing what he had to do, Chopper used his Diamond Hammer to destroy multiple blocks. A Sweet Punch was revealed to be in one of them, which could recover 100 FP.

"What a delicious delicacy!" Flyer remarked. "I suppose you plan on consuming that beverage?"

"Uhhhh... I'm going to save it..." Chopper replied, unsure of what he was talking about. After putting it away, they left the room and took the upper right door into a longer hallway. An Aliebit and Aliepara were roaming the room, and upon spotting them, they charged. Chopper decided to put his new hammer to use by spinning it while still charging at them. This attack was successful in dealing some serious damage to them both.

Once they were gone, they reached the end of the hallway and found a high ledge above them. A door appeared to be there after getting a better glimpse at it.

"This doesn't look like anything too hard for me to handle," Flyer smiled, grabbing Chopper and flying him up to the ledge. They entered through the door and found themselves in a much lighter room with light lavender walls, ceiling and floor. There were also some very expensive vases on some small vase holders.

Chopper smiled as he looked at his own reflection, but he stopped when he saw some Aliebits walking across from another hallway.

"Those are a lot of Aliebits..." Flyer trailed. "But thankfully, we're not in their sight. Maybe we can follow them and figure out where this King Bebe is."

"King Bebe... That name sounds funny..." Chopper remarked, trying to hold in his laughter. "It sounds like 'King Baby'!"

"Yes, well... We can't just stand here and laugh about his humorous name. We still need to get that Crystal Star..."

"Yeah... Let's just do that."

Chopper waited to see if the coast was clear and approached the hallway the Aliebits ran through. To the left was a foyer, which was where the palace's entrance was. A Save Block was over there, so Chopper hit it first before going back to Flyer.

"So... If I'm correct..." Flyer took out a device capable of scanning footprints and scanned the floor for any signs of Aliebit footprints. "The Aliebits are going to the upper floors."

"Then we should check it out," Chopper decided, following Flyer through the hallway. They headed to the next hallway north of the door nearby and found a doorway leading to a staircase. It seemed to go up to the third floor.

There wasn't anything too special going on in the second floor. All there was was a hallway leading to a small room with a couple of chests that included nothing special. However, a Star Piece and Shine Sprite were there, so that was a plus.

Going up to the third floor, however, they found one, large door near the staircase leading to a balcony. Two Spiky Aliebits were there, and upon spotting the two, they charged at them with their spears. It wasn't long until they were knocked off the balcony.

"OK... So that was easier than I th-" Chopper's antennas twitched upon hearing a large army of Aliebits. He looked below, but he didn't find any sight of them. He looked up and noticed a large platform up on the fourth floor connected to the palace. What they also noticed was that there was another palace connected to the platform. "Hey, Flyer! Can you see that?"

"Yeah, I can..." Flyer nodded, shocked by the other palace. "It's very surprising to see another palace connected to this part. Though, it doesn't look as big."

"You think that's where Bebe is?"

"Most likely. Most leaders have their own little place anyway."

They left the balcony and returned to the hallway. There was one door in the hallway that led into a bathroom, which Flyer found all too familiar. It reeked of Bebe.

"What is it, Flyer?" Chopper asked.

"This was where I found Bebe," Flyer answered, opening the window. He pointed down at the binoculars below on the large wall. "See?"

"Oh... I remember now!"

"I think I have an idea!" Flyer took out another device and found a small portion of Bebe's feathers. He scanned it and got a little map. "I think I should be able to find out where Bebe is with this device! And, judging by the map, he's not on this floor..."

"Well... Then up to the third floor!" Chopper declared, running out to the staircase. Flyer sighed and followed him, studying the map on his device in the process.

* * *

**Wingel City's Mall-**

"You know, sometimes I wonder why you guys got me this beverage," Bombette recalled, holding onto a soda with her "hands".

"Well, Fuzzy Pop is known to calm people down and all..." Shadower trailed. "And, uh... Considering that you kinda got angry over-"

"Are you implying something?"

"N-No..."

"Well, one thing for sure is that this place has something special," Sonic grinned, taking a bite of a chili dog in his hand. "You guys gotta try these out! They're REAL good!"

"Sorry, but I'm not interested in chili dogs..." Heartsy declined. "Chocolate is good, though!"

"Hey, guys! Look over there!" Scrub noticed a new booth that was put up. It was labeled "A Plushie For You". "Looks like a new store was put up."

"Poyo? (What are they selling?)" Kirby asked.

Getting a much closer look at the booth, they caught a glimpse of a pale green plushie with two antennas, green feet and white gloves. It seemed all too familiar...

"They're selling plushies of Chopper?" Vivian gasped. "That's so strange..."

"Who would even sell somethin' like that?" Scrub asked, crossing his arms. "I mean, it's cool that they have one of Contadre, but maybe they oughta make one for me too!"

"If they're selling plushies of Choppy, then I'm getting one!" Heartsy declared, running up in line. Someone else was already in line, and after buying a plushie, she turned to face the girl.

"Well, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Bow asked, her eyes meeting with Heartsy's.

"Yeah," Heartsy replied, not too happy to see her.

"You know, I've gotta hand it to you. You did manage to trick me with that little present of yours. But, just so you know, that's not going to happen again. I can assure you that I'll be getting back at you."

"We'll just see about that. Now let me go up in line so I can get a plushie of my precious antenna boy."

"If you insist... Let's go, Bootler." Bow said, flying out of her way with her butler.

When Heartsy walked up to the booth, she noticed a salesclerk wearing a gray cloak. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to hide much of his face, but that wasn't what Heartsy was looking at.

"So are you having the buying of my plushies that lack fury?" the salesclerk asked.

After looking at the Chopper plushie, she looked at the salesclerk with suspicion. "Do I know you?"

"What? Fawful says no. All Fawful was doing was having the making of plushies like two sewing machines in a battle, then they would be sold like unneeded objects. So, do you have the buying of my plushies?"

"Well... Yes!" Heartsy placed some coins on the stand and hugged the Chopper plushie. "I could never decline such an offer like this!"

"I have thanks!" the salesclerk giggled. "Now have the enjoyment of a happy hippo in a hot spring!"

As she stepped away, Vivian had approached the booth and gotten a plushie as well, though no one else had paid too much attention. There was something much more important going on as soon as a Wingel wearing an army hat appeared.

"Wingels and others alike!" the Wingel soldier exclaimed. "We have been warned about an invasion of the Aliebit army that would be occurring tomorrow morning! Knowing about these news, we request that many of you Wingels arm up and join us to invade the Night Palace immediately!"

The heroes gawked as many Wingels had began to leave the mall.

"Did you guys get any of that?" Sonic asked.

Mario: I heard all of it!

"The Wingel's are going to invade the Night Palace!" Bombette exclaimed. "You know, the one Chopper and Flyer are on!"

"All right! This is what I'm talkin' about!" Sonic smirked, stretching his arms and legs. "We finally get to step in the action for once! Plus, I'd say Chopper needs our help anyway!"

"I'd really love to go help Chopper, I suppose," Vivian remarked.

"Well, I'd love to give those monsters a good whacking! We should go!" Heartsy declared.

"Then it's decided! We're going to help Contadre and that other Wingel person!" Scrub declared.

Mario: Flyer...

"Yeah, he could use some help," Shadower agreed.

"Poyo! (Let's go!)" Kirby exclaimed, running toward the group of Wingels first. The others followed, leaving the booth. The salesclerk grinned devilishly and then he broke into a cackle.

"I have chortles!" the salesclerk exclaimed, removing his cloak and replacing it with his red one. "Now Fawful finally has the knowing of where the fink-rats will be located thanks to the trackers. Showing them the fury of Fawful will be of ease!"

Taking out his Headgear, Fawful put it on his head and flew off, cackling like a madman.


	83. War at the Night Palace

Now at the fourth floor, Chopper and Flyer had found another balcony. This time, they could see the large platform where an entire army of Aliebits were. Their eyes widened in the shock in the sheer amount of them standing before a podium.

"Oh my gosh... Look at how many there are!" Chopper gasped.

"If we were caught among them, I don't know how long we'd last..." Flyer murmured.

"Well, we might as well find a way onto that platform."

They left the balcony and returned to the hallway. They found a door just up ahead, but there was also a hallway to the north. There was a large door at the end of that hallway, but it appeared to be heavily guarded by some Aliebits.

"If I'm correct, then that must lead to that platform," Flyer remarked. "However, trying to sneak past them might not be too effective..."

"Then... We should probably move to the next floor!" Chopper decided, but first he wanted to see what was through the door. They came across a small obstacle course with some raised platforms connected to the floor. Two platforms were close enough for Chopper to Wall Jump up to. Reaching the platforms now, he found a gap between him and the next one. Flyer helped him get over there so he could jump to a higher platform and claim a Shine Sprite and Ultra Shroom.

They left the fourth floor and headed up to the fifth. There was another balcony for them to check out, and they noticed they were at a much higher elevation than the platform. However, there was still no sign of King Bebe. The only thing they could hear was the chatter of the Aliebits.

"Doesn't look like he's there..." Chopper trailed. "I guess we just have to wait..."

"Or, we can check the sixth floor," Flyer mentioned. "After all, we need to make some sort of surprise attack to get that star."

"OK!" the Star Warrior nodded, leaving the balcony with his friend and checking the room dead ahead. There didn't appear to be much in the room except for a small little crack in the floor to the right. Chopper approached it and noticed a dim light coming from it. He smiled and slipped under the opening into a room with four, snowy platforms. Each of them were at a higher elevation than the other, with the highest platform having a chest.

Knowing what he had to do, Flyer grabbed Chopper and flew him up to each platform until they got to the chest. Inside was a Fire Plus badge, which can allow Chopper to deal more damage with his Fire Hand, but at the cost of not using his Ice Hand.

When they exited the room, three, white enemies in the shape of an Ember appeared before them. Unlike the Embers, however, they had a colder aura surrounding them. One opened its mouth and breathed out a cold wind.

Chopper whipped out his Diamond Hammer and started to attack each of them with his Fire Smash. Since touching them was a bad idea, Flyer whipped his arm cannon out and attacked them with his Shocker. Once they were gone, they progressed onward to the northern hallway leading to another balcony. There was only a yellow ? block containing a coin, though.

Going up to the sixth and top floor, there was a bit more security than usual. Sadly, the balcony was not at the beginning of the staircase, so they were forced to travel through the hallway. Another icy Ember enemy, which were identified as Shivies, came charging at them, but it was easily defeated by the duo.

The main hallway had no door ahead, so they were forced to take the northern hallway. They noticed a beautiful purple door to their right, and guarding it were two Spiky Aliebits. And, judging by their expressions, they were not too happy with their job.

"Man... I can't believe that the Mighty Penguinator made us stay on guard duty!" one complained. "We get to miss out on his speech!"

"Maybe we'll get to next year..." the other assured.

"Well, it's not like anyone gets to go in there. In fact, NO ONE has!"

"Hmmmm... Good point."

They spotted the two heroes and aimed their spears at them. Chopper and Flyer took action and easily defeated the two enemies, giving them easy access to the room.

Entering the room, the duo found a pink floor, blue walls and a large, king-sized bed. There was also a blue desk with a purple diary. It all screamed of loyalty, that's for sure.

"Could this be Bebe's room?" Flyer wondered, scanning the room. "This is definitely fitting for a king..."

The first thing Chopper did was jump on the bed and bounce off happily. "This bed feels like an comfy!" After having some fun on that, he found a drawer filled with food. He helped himself and ate most of the tomatoes and many other sorts of food.

Flyer looked over at the diary on the desk and decided to read a few pages. One page caught his attention, and he asked Chopper to come over to him.

"Chopper, I might have discovered something...interesting," Flyer noted.

"Really? What is it?"

"Just read this, OK?" the Wingel handed his friend the diary, and he started to read it.

_Dear Diary,_

_Well, I managed to get my hands on this cool-looking star! It's all glittery! Of course... I know for sure that he is going to make me give it up, just like any other gems I get! Why should I have to do something like that for him? I got it first! Also, why should I feed his dragon?! That should be his job, not mine! If only he didn't threaten me with being frozen for eternity, I'd give him a good whoopin'! Thankfully, he never reads this thing, so I doubt he'll even see this! But if he does... I hope one day you get what's comin' to you, **Chillbi**!_

_-The Mighty Penguinator-_

"Whoa... This is weird... Who is this Chillbi guy?" Chopper gawked.

"Chopper, remember when he mentioned something about 'he'? And remember something what Frosttail said about who was his owner?"

"Well... Ummmm..."

Flyer took the diary from him and explained, "This is the guy running the whole charade! I mean, just look at Bebe compared to those Aliebits! He doesn't look like any underworld being! Obviously this Chillbi is the big baddy here!"

"Oh... That makes a lot of sense..." Chopper trailed. After pondering for a moment, an idea surged into his mind, and he pounded his fist into one of his open hands. "Maybe we should go see Bebe and see if we can get any information on this Chillbi guy! If that's the case, then he must have the Crystal Star!"

"Of course," Flyer nodded. "Since we're on the top floor, now would be the opportunity to make a surprise attack."

Chopper nodded in agreement and ran out of the room with his friend and to the balcony dead ahead. They caught a full glimpse of the platform below and the other palace ahead.

"Hey, I can see Bebe coming up to the podium," Flyer informed his friend, pointing down at King Bebe.

King Bebe had approached the microphone and started by clearing his throat, making the rabble from the Aliebits become silent.

"My fellow Aliebits! It has been brought to my attention that those Wingels are hogging too much of the land!" King Bebe explained. "I think it's time we took it back by force tomorrow!"

In response, the Aliebits began to cheer.

"Yeah! Awesome idea, Mighty Penguinator!"

"That idea is the BOMB!"

"That land belongs to us!"

"Down with those Wingels!"

"I'm hungry…"

"We want our land back! It's OURS!"

"Uh… I found Frosttail defeated..."

"Heh heh heh heh! Oh, you guys are simply awesome! Once we take back our land, we'll be unstoppable!" King Bebe cackled. "And just how are we going to do this? Behold!"

King Bebebe held up the Sky Star, making the Aliebits gaze at it in awe.

"Whoa… That's amazin'!"

"I like the pale blue color!"

"What exactly does it do?"

"It's just a gem…"

"WOW, A STAR-SHAPED GEM MADE OF CRYSTALS!"

"Be quiet over there!"

"That thing's a crystal-like star?"

"Yer kiddin', aren't ya?"

"Can I hold it, please?"

"Heh heh heh heh! I don't know what it does, but surely it has something powerful. I bet with this bad boy, we can win the war! Who's with me?"

Many Aliebits cheered in agreement, while Chopper and Flyer could only stare down at the star in his hands. They both exchanged nods and went into action, with Flyer flying Chopper down to the platform and over King Bebe. Unfortunately, he happened to notice.

"Eh? What the heck is that?" King Bebe gawked, feeling Chopper's foot hit his face and making him stumble back. Flyer was about to take action, but an Aliepara had already grabbed him. Another one managed to grab Chopper.

"Got 'em!" the Aliepara exclaimed.

"Oh, good work!" King Bebe managed to pull himself together and approach the two. "So… You two must be spies that have come here to stop my plans, aren't you? Lie to me, and I'll give you a taste of my good ol' buddy!"

The two's eyes widen when they spotted a large, silver hammer in King Bebe's hand. It looked much more mechanical compared to what King Dedede carried.

"Well... We're here for that star, Bebe." Chopper explained. This caused a couple of Aliebits to snicker, and suddenly they were bursting out in laughter.

"SH-SHUT UP!" the king exclaimed. "My name's the Mighty Penguinator!"

"King Bebe! Haw haw! It sounds like 'baby'!" one Aliebit laughed.

"He's got a girl's name!"

"Hey, King Bebe! You need help changin' yer diaper?! HAW HAW HAW!"

"Arrrgghhhhh! Shut up shut up shut up shut uuuuuuuup!" King Bebe roared. "Just destroy them! Now!"

The Aliebits stopped laughing and prepared to throw their spears at them. That was, until a bomb had struck a group of them, causing an explosion of light to emit. They all stopped and turned their attention to a large army of Wingels coming their way, along with a couple of others familiar to Chopper.

"What the... Wingels?!" the king gaped.

"These fiends shall NEVER take away our land! Wingels! Fight for your life!" the Wingel captain exclaimed, taking a bow out and firing down at the Aliebits. Many were destroyed, but they didn't give up the fight. Alieparas charged at them, and soon a big war commenced.

"Cripes! This ain't good!" the Alieparas carrying Chopper and Flyer gulped. "What am I supposed to do now? Hey, Penguinator! Do ya got anythin' fer us to-"

They found themselves engulfed in flames, causing them to drop Chopper and Flyer onto the stage where King Bebe stood. Chopper's friends had come onto the stage as well, delighted to see him and Flyer.

"Guys! You're here!" Chopper cheered.

"We couldn't miss the party, y'know!" Sonic grinned.

"I don't believe it! Now everything's ruined! Those good-for-nothing Wingels!" King Bebe exclaimed, stomping the ground like a child. "This ain't fair!"

"So, you're Bebe, huh?" Scrub asked, letting out a small snicker. "I can't take that seriously!"

"It's the Mighty Penguinator! MIGHTY! PENGUINATOR!"

"Well, it doesn't matter what your name is," Chopper stated, getting in a fighting stance. "Just give us the Crystal Star, and maybe we don't have to kick your butt."

"Don't forget that we need to ask him a few questions," Flyer added, making Chopper nod back at him.

"What? No way! I got this thing fair and square!" King Bebe objected, holding the pale blue star out.

"You STOLE it from MY workshop!"

King Bebe looked back at the palace ahead and threw it into the window. Everyone was surprised at how well he managed to aim it as well.

"He just threw it into that palace..." Vivian gasped.

"HA! How do you like THAT?!" King Bebe cackled. "Now you can't get it! And if you want it so badly, you'll have to get through me first!"

"Poyo, (Well, considering you remind me of another king, this shouldn't be too difficult,)" Kirby remarked, getting in a fighting stance.

"I hope you're ready to feel some pain, you intruders! 'Cause I'm an expert at it!"

**Tattle: **_That's King Bebe – or the Mighty Penguinator, to some people. Strangely enough, he's got a girl's name... Max HP is 150, Attack is 11, and Defense is 0. That hammer can keep you from using your hammer or jump attacks if you're not careful. He'll even try to peck at you with his beak and slide toward you as well, so watch out for that. But seriously, Bebe? This is just too much!  
_

"All right, let's start this off a little nicely, huh?" Chopper rushed toward King Bebe and landed a single jump on his head, dealing 8 damage. Flyer flew into action next and hit the king in the side of his head with his Flying Attack to deal 9 damage.

"My beautiful face! That's it, Wingel! Take this!" King Bebe charged at Flyer and brought his hammer down on him. He guarded it taking 10 damage instead.

"That was a bit too close," Flyer panted.

Chopper took his hammer out and approached King Bebe. Everyone but Flyer gawked at the new hammer in his hands as he brought it down on the king's head.

Mario: What kind of hammer is that?

"It's a Diamond Hammer," Chopper answered. "It helped me smash a few Rainbow Blocks in the way! Plus, it does much more damage!"

"That sounds pretty useful," Shadower remarked, going up to King Bebe next and hitting him with a Shadow Punch.

Angered, King Bebe ran up to Chopper and pecked at his face, dealing 11 damage and making the boy wince in pain. He retaliated by equipping his Wheel ability and charging straight into him to deal 8 damage.

"Neat! That reminds me of my Spin Dash! Speaking of that..." Sonic curled in a ball and threw himself at King Bebe to bring his HP down to 99. The consequences, however, were King Bebe sliding on his belly at Sonic, taking 11 out of him.

"Let's try a Wheel Spin," Chopper declared, getting into wheel form again and spinning himself. The attack did 10 damage, and King Bebe was knocked off the stage, crushing a few Aliebits with his weight. A few Alieparas used all their strength to lift the king and take him back to the stage.

"Argh! When will this fatso lose some weight?" one Aliepara mumbled.

"Hey! I heard that!" King Bebe hissed, only to get hurt by an explosion from Bombette. She landed and smirked at the king.

"How'd you like that?!"

Growling, King Bebe grabbed the Aliepara that insulted him and threw him at Bombette, leaving her dizzy. He smirked, now feeling satisfied.

Chopper leaped in the air with his Spring Jump and managed to hit King Bebe's head and take 16 out of him. Heartsy's Hearty Hammer brought him down to 57 HP.

"Grrrrr! Taste my hammer's power!" King Bebe raised his hammer and jumped in the air. By slamming his hammer on the stage, a large shock wave had managed to hit everyone and take 11 damage. He grinned, holding his hammer by his shoulder. "There's more where that came from!"

"Man... That hurt... But if he thinks we're going to lose, then he's gotta think again!" Scrub clenched his fists and began to flutter in the air. Once he was over King Bebe, he struck him with eight ground pounds and delivered 8 damage. He even added a bit of a style to it too.

Chopper turned into a wheel again and charged into King Bebe, bringing him to 41 HP. Unfortunately, since he was nearby, King Bebe managed to swing his hammer and knock him back, along with his Wheel ability. What was worse was that he couldn't use his jumping.

"Crud... This isn't good." Chopper gulped.

"Heh heh heh! Looks like my ol' hammer showed you something!" King Bebe cackled. "You ready for round two?"

"Sure," Chopper became Angel Chopper, surprising the others as he fired an arrow and hit King Bebe for 8 damage.

Mario: This is surprising...

"I was surprised about this ability too!"

Regardless, Mario put his Super Jump to use and dealt 10 damage to the king. He put his guard up as King Bebe pecked at him, doing only 10 damage.

Chopper aimed another arrow at King Bebe, but with much more power charged into it. He fired, and the king was down to 13 HP. Vivian's Shade Fist reduced him to 5.

Having little energy left to fight, King Bebe got on his belly and charged at Chopper. He successfully guarded it, while Flyer finished the battle with one Flying Attack, making King Bebe drop to the floor.

"_Bluugghh!_" he moaned, dropping 37 Star Points for Chopper to claim.

"Looks like we did it," Shadower sighed. "Though, the fight was a bit underwhelming..."

"I'll say," Chopper agreed. "But first, we need to ask Bebe a few things."

Chopper and Flyer approached King Bebe and patted him on the shoulder in an attempt to get up. While he didn't stand, he was able to raise his head.

"It's over, Bebe! Just admit defeat, and the fight will be over."

"OK… I'll admit defeat…" King Bebe groaned, holding a white flag. "But... The war isn't over just yet."

"The war's not over yet? But these are your guys!" Scrub gaped. "Just call it off already!"

"But I can't! I'm not in control of these guys! That's something only he can do!"

"What are you talking about?" Heartsy asked.

For the first time in a while, King Bebe shed a tear. "Look, guys... I'm not the one who's responsible for planning the attack. I was just following orders, that's all!"

"Following orders? That doesn't justify you breaking into my workshop." Flyer remarked, giving the penguin a glare.

"But I had no choice! If I didn't follow orders, I'd be a frozen penguin by now!" King Bebe got on his knees and grabbed Chopper's arms like a beggar. "Listen, kid! You've gotta stop Chillbi! He's the one who's been making the plans this whole time! He wanted that Crystal Star! He wants to take back the Wingel's land! He is the one who has control of the Aliebit army!"

Mario: Where can we find him?

"What? You wanna know where he is? He's...up at that palace ahead." the king pointed at the palace dead ahead. "But... No one's even allowed in that place. Those who do feel his wrath. But, I feel that perhaps you guys can take him..."

"Well that's what we plan on doing," Chopper assured. "But you gotta promise that you won't do any harm."

"Yeah! I promise! I'll even give back everything I've stolen, especially the stuff from the workshop!"

"Good," Flyer smiled. "Now... Let's go meet this Chillbi, all right?"

The ten managed to get past the whole war between the Aliebits and Wingels and finally approached the palace door. Unlike the other doors, this one appeared to have angel wings. Since it wasn't guarded, they entered the palace.

Little did they know that there was a figure standing at the palace's balcony watching them below. In his hand was the Sky Star.

"Those fools... They're going to meet a cold fate..." he muttered. "And that penguin will follow after!"

* * *

**Chillbi's Palace-**

In the room, they were met with a hallway with a couple of vase holders and vases on top of them. There were even pictures of what appeared to be angels. The floor appeared resemble clouds, while the walls were a mix of sky blue and a dark purple.

One thing for sure was that this place was weird.

"What a strange-looking hallway..." Heartsy trailed.

"It certainly looks a lot different compared to the decor of the other places here," Flyer remarked.

When they reached the end of the hallway, they were met with a staircase leading up to a large door above. By the staircase was a Save Block and Heart Block, something Chopper desperately needed. After that, they headed up the stairs and passed by the white, icy torches that lit up as they walked by them.

The large door was a lot like the other door, except a cold mist seemed to come out through the cracks. Everyone found themselves shivering.

"Ugh... Why do we have to encounter so many cold places?!" Scrub complained. "First Fahr Outpost, then Snowy Mountain, then we enter that cold section of that mansion, and now this!"

"Well, the guy's name kinda makes sense when you think about it," Sonic remarked. "Anyway, let's go pay him a little visit!"

Nodding in agreement, the group opened the door into a much larger, square-shaped room. The walls resembled the hallway, but now there were stars added. Also, the floor didn't just look like clouds, it felt like them.

"Whoa... This place feels weird..." Chopper trailed.

"So... It looks like some visitors have arrived. I rarely have any..."

The heroes looked up ahead and saw a figure facing the opposite direction. When he turned, they got a much better glimpse of him. He was wearing a navy blue robe that went down to his feet, and his face was hidden by his hood. The only thing they could see from his face were glowing red eyes. His hands were blue, and six heart-shaped angel wings were on his back. They appeared to be navy blue, which matched his robe very well.

"So, you must be Chillbi, right?" Chopper asked.

Chillbi smirked under his hood. "That's correct, child."

"But... You don't look at all like the Aliebits!" Flyer gasped. "I don't see much of a resemblance! Are you...a _Wingel_?!"

"A Wingel? Of course not! Those things disgust me! I'm something _beyond_ that." Chillbi grinned, revealing his fangs. "It's probably nothing you can handle, though. After all, I'm one of the exiled ones of my kind."

"Exiled?" Chopper gawked.

"That's right. I was feared for the evil lingering in my mind. I betrayed my leader, but I was not strong enough to stop him, so I was thrown into the underworld. Thankfully, I've learned a bit of ice magic thanks to a good teacher and vowed to destroy all angels in the world. So, to start it off, I decided to go with the Wingels! Since they're too weak, why not test my powers on them?"

Flyer was left appalled. "I can't believe you would do something like that..."

"Oh, but I already am!" Chillbi smirked. "And with the Crystal Star in my hands, I think the job will be much easier!"

"Not if we can stop you!" Chopper declared, charging at him. Chillbi grinned, spreading his arms and creating an ice pulse that sent everyone flying back to the wall.

"Oh, please... Is that all you've got? Broo ha ha! Then you are just as pathetic as the rest of those Wingels!"

"Oh, trust me, we've got much more than that."

"Is that so? Then why don't you show me then!" Chillbi brought down his hood, revealing his blue skin, red eyes and dark blue hair. "I'm always interested in a little fight!"

"All right! Bring it on!" Sonic challenged, getting a fighting stance. "We're going to mop the floor with you!"

"Well, we'll see what happens when you're on your knees. There were a few that tried to challenge me, but they've failed, just like you will when this fight comes to an end!"

"Don't let him get to you, Chopper..." Vivian suggested.

Chillbi grinned as the door was blocked by ice. "Now come at me!"

**Tattle: **_That's Chillbi, an angel who was banished from his own world. He looks kinda weird compared to those Aliebits... Max HP is 180, Attack is 12, and Defense is 2. He'll attack by using ice magic, such as an ice beam or even an ice pulse. He'll even try to pull off an ice shield if he wants! If you're not careful, he'll summon little ice minions. Try to use Flyer's Tornado or Vivian's Fiery Jinx if you have it. But, geez! An angel for a boss? How unexpected can you get?  
_

Chopper decided to make the first move and fired an arrow at Chillbi, doing only 6 damage rather than the usual 8. Flyer's Flying Attack, however, pierced through his defense and dealt a full 9.

"Not bad, but I don't think you'll be standing up anytime soon after this," With his hands open, Chillbi formed a ball of ice energy and flicked his hands, causing it to fire in Chopper's direction. He brought his arms up and guarded the attack. "Hmmmmm... Well, I guess I was wrong. This could be very interesting..."

"Well, that attack looks like a ripoff from one of my abilities," Chopper scoffed, firing a charged arrow at Chillbi. Vivian struck him with a Shade Fist, leaving him with a burn.

"No additional damage? But how?" Vivian gasped.

"I may have ice powers, but that doesn't make me weak to fire," Chillbi hissed. "And to answer your question, child... I learned this from a book. Just like this move!"

He pointed a finger at Chopper, and in a flash, he was struck by a quick blast of ice magic. Chillbi lowered his finger, grinning in delight. "Personally, I like to call that my 'Finger Flash'. It has a nice name to it, don't you think?"

Chopper got his hammer out and brought it down on Chillbi, causing him to cringe. Heartsy's Hearty Hammer did another 6 damage to him as well.

"Take this!" Chillbi shouted, spreading his arms and firing an ice pulse. They all guarded it, taking less damage and preventing themselves from becoming frozen. What happened afterward, was an arrow and a Spin Dash hitting Chillbi.

Chillbi began to twirl one of his hands around, causing many ice cubes to circle over his hand. By aiming his hand at Chopper, the ice cubes came flying in his direction. All together, they managed to deal 14 damage.

"Ow! I didn't expect that to be painful!" Chopper cringed. "I mean, they're ice cubes!"

"That's because my ice cubes have a little special something that makes them painful," Chillbi explained. "It has a bit of-"

He was cut off when Shadower landed a Shadow Punch, lowering his defense and silencing the angel.

"Wow... I was thinking the same thing, Shadower!" Chopper smiled.

"Well... It was our turn, so yeah..." Shadower trailed.

Chopper charged up an arrow and fired it at Chillbi, dealing a good 10 damage to him. In anger, Chillbi opened his mouth and started breathing ice on Shadower, leaving him frozen.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?!" Bombette gaped.

"That fool interrupted me when I was in the middle of-"

Chopper had managed to cut him off by hitting him with a Wall Jump, dealing a good 18 damage. Bombette followed in and struck him with a Bomb, bringing him to 91 HP. Chillbi was about to get angry, but he remained calm and started to pant.

"Ungh... Well now... I'll admit, you're one of the few people to actually hurt me, aside from my ex-leader, of course." Chillbi remarked, pointing another finger at the group. "So, it looks like I have to take some drastic measures to destroy you all!"

About four icy bullets had fired toward Chopper. He guarded all four, taking a minimum of 8 damage. Since Chillbi's defense had returned to normal, he decided to remove his Angel ability and switch to his Fighter ability. His Vulcan Jab had managed to deal only 6 damage, sadly. Kirby's Stone had done 8 damage.

Chillbi placed his hand on his forehead, only to feel a bruise. He growled in anger and summoned an icicle to fall on Kirby, taking 12 out of him. Chopper threw in a Smash Punch, and then Mario added in his Super Jump as well.

Mario: It's best that you give up!

"I'll never give up the Crystal Star to the likes of you!" Chillbi hissed, firing an ice beam in Mario's direction. He managed to Superguard and avoid taking any damage. It made things worse for the angel when Chopper and Flyer took action, with Chopper hitting him with another Smash Punch and Flyer using his Flying Attack. Now he was down to 44 HP, and Shadower was no longer frozen.

"Wow... This fight isn't as bad as I thought it'd be..." Chopper trailed.

"You are a much bigger pest than I thought..." Chillbi mumbled. "How in the world do you have the power to take me on?"

"Well, that would be-"

"Chopper... Please don't." Vivian advised.

"Hmmmmm... I think I understand now. You are carrying something just like the star I have, aren't you? Perhaps you are using its power to take me on, are you not?"

"Actually, no," Chopper answered.

"I see... Well, if you want to witness the power of my Crystal Star, then I will gladly show you!" Chillbi took out the Crystal Star, and, using its power, he opened one of his hands. Though nothing happened at first, half of the audience began to scream in terror as they were turned into souls. All of the souls went into Chillbi's hand, and then he gobbled it down, recovering 30 HP.

"He...stole the souls of half the audience?!" Heartsy gaped. "This guy's insane!"

"Ahhhhhh... Much better." Chillbi grinned. "You see, us underworlders do carry a certain power... One that can steal souls? Unfortunately, we can only take about one soul, but using this star's power, there's no limit to how many I can take!"

"You monster..." Chopper growled, giving the angel a glare. "There's no fairness in this!"

"Fairness?! Broo ha ha! I never said I was playing fair!"

Chopper took out a Jelly Ultra and ate it to recover 50 HP and FP, while Flyer struck him with his Flying Attack.

Chillbi decided to have a little fun and summoned a couple of Shivies to his side. Chopper, in response, used his Diamond Hammer to hit them and Chillbi. What was also nice was that it was capable of piercing through an enemy's defense. Add Vivian's Fiery Jinx, and the Shivies were gone, and Chillbi had taken another 8 damage, along with a burn.

"Take this!" Chillbi shouted, summoning a harsh blizzard. Everyone guarded it, taking only 13 damage. When the attack was finished, Chopper used his Power Bounce to deal 10 damage. With Flyer's Flying Attack, Chillbi was down to 29 HP.

Chillbi hissed as he summoned an icicle to fall on Flyer, but to his shock, he was able to Superguard it. "What?! But how?!"

"Well, if Mario managed to do it, so can I," Flyer answered, hitting him with another Flying Attack. With Chopper's Smash Punch, Chillbi was down to 12 HP.

"Ungh... No... Not so soon..." Chillbi groaned, firing an ice beam in Chopper's direction. While he didn't become frozen, he lost his Fighter ability in the process. However, he didn't care, since Chillbi was already low on HP. He got hit hammer ready and brought it down on the angel. He then stepped aside for Flyer.

"The honor's all yours, Flyer," Chopper smiled.

"Thank you," Flyer flew over to Chillbi, his arm cannon now in his hand. "This is for all the people you've hurt!"

With one blast of energy, the attack managed to hit him, making him scream, "_**BRAAAARGH!**_"

Chillbi had dropped 43 Star Points for Chopper to receive, giving him a level up as well. He chose to upgrade his HP to 75.

"This... This cannot be..." Chillbi winced. "I'm the master...of the cold dark... How can mere mortals...stop me?"

A glimmering light had emitted from Chillbi, and as it got brighter, he had exploded into icy dust. All that remained was the Sky Star, which had dropped onto the floor.

Feeling satisfied, Flyer put his arm cannon away. "Well, it's over..."

"Well, you had to do what you had to do," Sonic said, putting a hand on Flyer's shoulders. "But hey! He won't be hurting anyone else again!"

"Yes, you're correct. The enemy is eliminated, and now we Wingels can return in peace."

Just then, the door had opened up, and King Bebe and the Wingel soldier had come in. They were surprised to see no sign of Chillbi.

"What in the hey?! Where's that evil angel you were warnin' me about?" the soldier asked, turning to King Bebe.

"Well, looks like he's gone... And that means..." he looked up at the heroes in glee. "I'm free!"

"That explains the absence of those Aliebits... Perhaps a little reward is necessary!" Everyone found themselves a bit excited after hearing that. "For me, that is!" Most of them had fallen over in response. The ones that didn't were gawking at the soldier taking out some Gummy Goombas and tossing them into his mouth.

"Are those...?" Vivian gawked.

"Aw, man! Gummy Goombas are just AMAZIN'!"

"But, sir... What about the-"

"It's OK, fellow Wingel. I'll go eat 'em outside. You...do whatever you wanna do." With that, the solider made his exit.

"You know, that soldier does not realize something..." King Bebe trailed. "You wanna know how he got everyone to come here?"

"Was it because... Wait, hold on... Did you do that?" Scrub gawked.

"You're dang right I did! That makes me pretty mighty, don'tcha think?"

Everyone else: ...

"OK, OK. You guys did a good job. I really do thank you for stopping Chillbi for me. Now I'm finally free from his wrath, and I can start to do what I've always dreamed of: dancing!"

Mario: Dancing?

"That's right. Specifically hip-hop. I mean, I've always been good at that stuff! I was MADE for that! Maybe I'll turned this place into a hip-hop stadium."

"Yes, well... You go do that." Flyer sweat dropped.

"As for you guys..." King Bebe picked up the star and handed it to Chopper. "Well, I guess you deserve this. Consider it a little apology for what I've done."

"Thank you," Chopper replied, taking the star from him. With one flash, he was holding it over his head proudly.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 14! And Chopper learned the special move Sweet Sky!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_Clouds as far as the eye could see… Above those clouds was the Night Palace, owned by the dark ice wizard Chillbi. With the angelic wizard out of the picture, Chopper was able to claim the Sky Star that was stolen from Flyer's workshop! King Bebe turned to a new leaf, now deciding that he will turn the Night Palace into his own hip-hop stadium! Now that the Wingel's land was restored to normal, the Wingels could finally live in peace! But, it doesn't mean that they'll be in peace for long with the upcoming darkness. Could the heroes stop it in time?_

* * *

**I think it's kinda obvious that Chillbi is based around Lucifer.**

**Overall, this was a very fun chapter to work on. It was also great to see a character from around the end of the first Paper Chopper to also become a party member. That makes nine party members overall, and only one more remains. Now where could that last party member be? Hmmmmm...**

**Next chapter: Grodus gets a little something special, Bowser's quest continues to fail, King Dedede decides to order another demon beast, Gemerl discovers an interesting base, and Flyer has eyes on someone (much to Chopper's horror).**


	84. Chapter 13 Interlude

"So... You once again fail me, Lord Crump..." Grodus trailed, giving Lord Crump a glare, who was covered in dirt.

"Look, I'm sorry, Grodus… I tried to stop him, but some red chicken came out of nowhere and started attacking us. He's the reason why our X-Naut Battleship got badly damaged! So don't go blaming me for being all dirty!"

"You let our greatest weapon get destroyed!" the X-Naut leader roared. "How else are we going to stop Chopper now? This is all of your fault, you fool! I've been giving you so many chances, and each and every time, you always blow it! Perhaps I should give someone else your job..."

"My job?! No way, man! That job is best suited for ME!"

"Lord Crump, I've told you every time that you must do something, and in the end, you never get it done when it comes to the Crystal Stars. The only time I could recall you doing something right was when you told me Chopper had the map."

"Oh, really? Only one?" Lord Crump wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"You would be corre- Hold on, your expression seems a bit suspicious. Are you hiding something from me?"

"Hmmmmm... Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."

"Lord Crump, I demand that you tell me what you're hiding at once," ordered Grodus.

"Only if you promise to let me keep my job," Lord Crump demanded.

"Then this conversation is pointless. I'm not going to waste my time about something you have that requires me to let you keep your jo-"

"OK! OK! I'll show you!" Lord Crump exclaimed in defeat. He took out a yellow, star-shaped gem that caught Grodus off guard.

"What is that…?"

"It's a Crystal Star. Yup! Good ol' Lord Crump managed to find one of these bad boys! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh HUUUUUUH!"

Grodus took the Crystal Star from Lord Crump and started to examine it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was the real deal. "Lord Crump, where did you get this?"

"I found this thing in some cave when I fell onto those plains," Lord Crump explained. "Yeah, this thing'll surely come in handy!"

"Gaaack ack ack ack! Excellent! Surely Chopper will need this Crystal Star! If he ever shows up, I think I know just what to do with him. Lord Crump, perhaps I was wrong about you."

"You serious?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I still think you're an idiot, but you did manage to find me a Crystal Star. For that, I will let you keep your job." Grodus stated. "You are dismissed."

"Sure thing, Grodus! And with that, POW! I'm gone!" Lord Crump took off, thinking about what he will do with his next robot. Now that Grodus was alone, he gazed at the yellow Crystal Star in satisfaction.

"We're getting one step closer now… One step closer…"

* * *

**Boo Town-**

Many Boos were having the time of their lives now that King Boo was finally out of the picture. Many were scaring and playing pranks on each other as usual. However, their little game was interrupted when they saw two figures coming their way. One, in particular, scared them the most and made them fly away and huddle near the corner of a house.

"Graa ha ha ha ha! Now THIS is a genius idea, Haggy!" Bowser cackled, wearing what appeared to be a mask of a blue Clubba. "Using a Tubba Blubba mask to scare these guys away? Priceless!"

"Nyeah heh heh heh! Perhaps it should teach these Boos a little lesson for disobeying us!" Kammy grinned. "Those good-for-nothing traitors!"

"You know, I was always wondering about that. I think I'll go give 'em a talk!" Bowser approached the Boos and gave them a glare. "Now! Tell me, Boos! Whose idea was it to go against me?! If you give me an honest answer, perhaps I won't fry you up!"

"Ahem… I would suggest you stay away from them."

Turning around, Bowser found a green ghost and her butler in front of him. Bow was giving him a glare and had her fan out, ready to hit the big Koopa.

"Well well well, if it isn't that one ghost that decided to go up against me with both Mario and Chopper! What are you doing in a place like this?"

"If I could recall, these Boos used to live back in Forever Forest," Kammy informed. "It's so strange to see these traitors in a place like this..."

"If you must know, King Boo had managed to destroy our mansion and forced us to move here," Bow explained. "We didn't want to, but we couldn't find anywhere else to go, so that was our only option."

"King Boo? That pansy thought he could force you into coming here?" Bowser gawked, only to break into a cackle. "Gwa ha ha ha! I can't believe you people let HIM of all people get in your way! You must be even more pathetic than I thought!"

"Pathetic, huh? Well... I can assure you that I've been improving my skills with my fan." the female ghost smirked. "If you want, I can use it against you if you want."

"You? Fighting Bowser?!" Bootler gasped. "My lady! You shouldn't be doing that! You don't stand a chance against him! You would need the help of someone like Mario or Chopper!"

"Still your tongue, Bootler!" Bow snapped. "I can easily take care of myself. I would suggest you stay back for now..."

"Lord Bowser, remember that we have to ask them about the Crystal Star..." Kammy whispered.

"Oh, right," Bowser nodded, giving Bow a glare. "Look, I don't care about fighting you. I only came here looking for the Crystal Stars. Of course, if you don't tell me where it is, I might as well roast you up just like Bubba Blubba would do to you Boos!"

Many Boos covered their faces in fright, some of them even remembering the horrible memories. Bow, however, appeared unfazed and gave him a smirk. Kammy seemed a bit suspicious.

"Yes, there was a Crystal Star here, Bowser," Bow answered confidently, getting Bowser's hopes up. "...However, you're a bit too late. My Chopper just happened to get the Crystal Star on King Boo's crown."

Bowser's jaw dropped. "WHAT?! You can't be serious!"

Now it was Kammy to make the next move. "Not here?! Then tell us where that boy went so we can find the next star ourselves! Or else I'll turn you into a newt"

"Gwa hee haa!" Bow cackled. "Honestly, I don't know where he's going. I do recall seeing his friends back at a place called Wingel City though..."

Before Kammy could say another word, Bowser cut her off. "Oh, really? If he's heading there, then that's where we'll go catch him! C'mon, Haggy! We've got some work to do!"

Bowser stormed off and took off on his Koopa Clown Car. Kammy flew after him with her broomstick, leaving only the ghosts.

"My lady... Do you think that was most wise?" Bootler asked. "I mean, surely they might run into..."

"Oh, don't worry. I highly doubt they'll even be there." Bow assured. "Bowser just might have another fit when he figures out he was beaten to the punch again." Smiling, she took out a plushie of Chopper. "And I'm also happy to get my hands on one of these."

* * *

**Castle Dedede-**

In King Dedede's throne room, the king was leaning back on his throne, speaking to Tartara Corporation as usual.

_"So you wish to order another Demon Beast?"_ the Tartara asked.

"Of course!" King Dedede nodded. "I've waited a while, and now I want Chopper out of the way! That other demon beast ain't here, and I haven't gotten much of a chance to check some of the other ones!"

"Your Majesty, think of the money you have..." Escargon whispered. He then felt his eye stalks get grabbed, and then he was lifted off the ground by King Dedede.

"Listen here, Escargon, I know what I'm doing. If I managed to handle Nightmare Co., then these guys should be a piece of cake."

"But remember the mistakes you made with-"

King Dedede squeezed his eye stalks tighter as he gave him a glare. "I told you to listen to me! That is, unless you want a hammer hitting your head..."

"No, I'm good..."

He let go of Escargon and turned back to the Tartara. "I was thinking of a demon beast that was along the lines of the other... Only a little different."

_"Hmmmmm... Let me see..."_ the Tartara checked the inventory for any Demon Beasts. One caught his attention. _"Ah, yes! I believe we do have a little something! And this might be a treat for you! We've got two in store for you!"_

"Two? Now we're talkin'!" King Dedede grinned, rubbing his hands evilly. "Show 'em to me!"

_"As you wish, Your Majesty,"_ Pressing a button, the Tartara gave King Dedede an image of the two demon beasts. A wide grin had plastered on his face from the results.

"Heh heh heh... Perfect. They'll do nicely!"

"We will send them to Chopper's next destination. Hopefully those two will still be together..."

"Yeah, let's hope," King Dedede replied. He turned around to grab a bag of potato chips from his table, but he noticed someone peeking through his door. "Escargon, did you see that?"

"What was it?" Escargon asked.

"Sounds like that brat is still spying on us..." the king squinted at the door, but rather than seeing a light yellow, he saw a blue cape pass by. "Wait a minute..."

"Shall we commence the death penalty on her, Your Majesty?"

"Nah, I don't think it was her. It was obviously someone else from this castle."

"Let me see," Escargon ran over to the door and swung it open. He had managed to get a glimpse of Meta Knight walking away from his door. "Ah-HA! So it was you, Meta Knight?"

"Pardon?" the knight questioned, turning his head to Escargon.

"You were spying on us!"

"Let him in, Escargon," King Dedede demanded, pressing a button on the arm of his throne to hide the TV screen. Escargon groaned and let Meta Knight come in. Sword and Blade Knight walked in with him.

"Hey! Leave your servants out of here!" Escargon yelled. "They're not authorized to be in he-"

Once again, King Dedede grabbed him by his eye stalks. "Ignore him for now. He still doesn't know his place."

In response, Escargon groaned and crossed his arms. Meta Knight and his two servants approached the king at his throne.

"So, do you wish to speak to me?" Meta Knight asked.

"Of course," King Dedede sat up straight on his throne and let go of Escargon. "So... It seems you've been spying on me, correct? I suppose that that brat couldn't keep silent."

"But Your Majesty, we never heard through her collar about that," Escargon informed.

"Oh... Right. I was going to say that."

"I've only discovered Tartara Corporations on my own, Your Majesty," Meta Knight answered. "And it would surprise you to know that I have much more knowledge about these beings than you do."

"Is that so? Then please enlighten me on this subject."

"As you wish. The Tartaras are considered to be one of the deadliest group of monsters throughout the universe, rivaled by a few others. They originally worked as planet destroyers and wiped out many planets in the vicinity. They were led by a demon named Maquano, who had destroyed many who had opposed him. I was unfortunate enough to witness one who had been slain by his sword..."

"You met this guy before?" Escargon gawked. "And who did you witness dying?"

"Chopper's father, Toalune."

"Oh, really? So, this Maquano is the one running this whole business then?" King Dedede asked. "I'd really like to meet him!"

"Fortunately, Maquano is no longer around these parts, thanks to him being sealed away. The Tartaras cannot work as well without him leading, so they are now working as a corporation to create Demon Beasts. But even then, they are nothing to laugh at, which is why you working with them is foolish, Your Majesty."

"What? So you're calling your king out on what he can or cannot do?"

"Of course not, Your Majesty... I am only trying to do what is best for you."

"Yeah, just like when you failed to defeat Chopper before," Escargon mentioned.

"Well, to be honest, I'm perfectly fine with working with these guys," King Dedede grinned. "They're much easier to deal with than Holy Nightmare Co.! Now those guys would charge me severely, or even go as far as to create demon beats that would steal my money. These guys, on the other hand, don't charge me as much! I could probably get away with a lot on these guys!"

"I see... If that is your decision, then I will not make any more objections." Meta Knight stated, slowly turning away. Escargon noticed a red book in his hands.

"Hey! What's that you got with you?" Escargon asked.

"This?" Meta Knight turned back around and showed a red book with a star in the center. "This is a book I've held onto for a while. They explain the events of a town a thousand years ago. I was letting the Mayor of Hatty Town borrow it a while ago. It seems he decided to give it back to me. Apparently he forgot I was even delivering this to him..."

"Lemme see that!" King Dedede snatched the book from him and opened it, only to become disappointed. "This thing looks too old! I'd rather read something abou- What's this? Did I see something that looked like one of those Crystal Stars?"

"Don't you remember those, Your Majesty?" Escargon questioned.

"Errmmm... Yes! Of course I do! We were going to get those to become filthy, stinkin' rich!" King Dedede dropped the book and gave Meta Knight a suspicious look. "So... Do you have anything to explain to me about them? Maybe this time it won't have any dirty results unlike before..."

Meta Knight picked up the book, turned away from him and began to walk off. "I am sorry, Your Majesty, but not even I can tell you about them."

"What?! That's preposterous!" Escargon shouted. "Why not?!"

"It is something you could not even handle. The results may not be too great..."

King Dedede remained silent as Meta Knight and his two servants left the room, leaving Escargon appalled.

"You're just going to let him go off like that?!" Escargon gaped. "I mean, surely he must be bluffing!"

King Dedede brought a fist on his head, silencing him. "Leave him be. We'll get back to the Crystal Stars soon enough. For now, we've got some demon beasts to take care of Chopper!"

Escargon groaned and turned his attention back to Tartara Corporation as per usual.

* * *

**Rogueport Sewers-**

Gemerl was searching through Rogueport Sewers after being informed of a new base he and his Phis could take over. So far, he wasn't having much luck on the location, and he was getting frustrated.

"Great... I should've known better than to abandon my job on getting that one Crystal Star." Gemerl grumbled. "Phimin is going to get a serious demotion for this. It'll probably be worse than-"

He paused when he found himself in a large area covered in ruins. He flew over to the round pedestal in the center of the room and took a look at the large, red door that was before him.

"What's this? A large door? This place wasn't on the maps! How could there be something like this here? Perhaps THIS was what Phimin was talking about..." Gemerl hovered over to the door and opened it revealing the inside. "This place doesn't look so mechanical... But I feel something else in here. Something...dark...and evil."

He entered the Palace of Shadow, closing the door behind him to make sure no one else saw. While exploring, he noticed there was no sign of any enemies, as if someone had already explored this place. He had already reached the courtyard and was surprised by how large it was. "This place is very empty... But it's huge! I always wanted a large base that would freak people out upon seeing it! Though, it seems that someone's already been here before... My guess is that Chopper entered this place..."

When Gemerl reached the throne room, he saw the throne standing up and decided to sit on it, unaware of the secret passageway leading into the Shadow Queen's chamber. "This chair... Being on it makes me feel like an overlord. That is an awesome feeling."

His communicator went off, forcing him to answer. "What now? I'm a little busy here..."

_"So did you find the new hideout?"_ Phimin asked.

"Oh. It's you. And yes, I did find it." Gemerl answered. "I've reached the throne room, if you must know. Inform the others to come to the Palace of Shadow, all right? Also, any whereabouts of the Crystal Star?"

_"Affirmative. The good news is that we DID find a Crystal Star located on a floating island. Unfortunately, we've been having some difficulties getting it..."_

"Difficulties? What difficulties?"

_"Well, we've been having problems where this…brown furry thing would come out of nowhere and throw us off the island," _Phimin explained._ "He's even thrown in a couple of traps to boot! Many Phis have fallen for them, and it wasn't pretty. This...whatever he is is also pretty strong too..."  
_

"Then call in reinforcements and focus on eliminating that thing first! We are NOT going to let someone get in the way of the Crystal Star!"

_"Understood, sir. Phimin out."_

Gemerl put his communicator away, annoyed with the fact that someone's throwing his minions off his island. However, he felt like it was time for a monologue.

"Surely Chopper will never know that I'm staying in this place! Not even that Grodus person will know my whereabouts either, so maybe I should plan an attack on him when the time comes."

* * *

**Wingel City-**

Back in Wingel City, Chopper, his friends, Winklin, and the Wingel soldier were standing by the pale blue pipe leading back to Rogueport Sewers. Flyer had already discussed that he wanted to travel with Chopper, and Winklin did not object.

"We thank you so much, Chopper and Co.," Winklin thanked. "Thanks to you guys, we can live in peace without the disturbance of the Aliebits and their evil leader, Chillbi."

"It's always an honor for you people to help us," the Wingel soldier added. "We can finally go out and have free Gummy Goombas now that the war's over."

"Pardon me, sir?"

"Errrrr... Nothing special."

"Don't mention it, Grandpa," Flyer smiled. "Also, thank you for letting me go out on this adventure. It's really nice to get reacquainted with Chopper and his friends."

"Well, after what you and your friends did, it wasn't something I could decline! I'm sure you'll be having a good time just like I did when I was your age! Just make sure you come back in one piece, all right? You definitely don't want your mom to get upset, all right?"

"Understood," Flyer nodded before turning to Chopper. "Well, let's head out! We need to go to the Fountain of Dreams, correct?"

"Uh huh! Let's go!" Chopper whistled and summoned his Warp Star. Kirby had done the same thing, and everyone jumped onto one of the stars. Flyer gaped, but joined Chopper on his. With that, it took off into the sky.

"You never mentioned anything about this!"

"Oh... I guess I should've done that. Oh, by the way, just so I don't forget, there was actually someone who could probably use your help."

"My help? Surely you jest..."

"She's got something on her neck that I can't even get off," Chopper noted. "Hopefully you can do something about it."

"Well, let's hope I can..." Flyer trailed.

* * *

**Fountain of Dreams-**

Fumu was sitting at her place by a tree near the Fountain of Dreams and was writing in her journal, saying, "Things have been going pretty well in Dream Land as far as I'm concerned. The only problem: I still have this collar on. I want to find a way to get it off, but not even Chopper and his friends could do that. I shouldn't try to give up hope just yet..."

Speaking of Chopper and his friends, they had landed right by the tree.

"Chopper? You're here already?" Fumu gasped, running down the hill to meet them.

"Yup! We made it back in one piece! No worries!" Chopper assured. "Hey, Flyer, this was the girl I was talking about. Maybe you could give her a hand with that coll-"

He stopped when he noticed Flyer's expression looked stunned. In fact, everyone took a look at him.

"Ummmmm... Flyer?" Chopper waved his arm in front of Flyer's face, trying to grab his attention. "Earth to Flyer?"

"Looks like he's broken," Scrub noted.

"Oh... Well, I guess sometimes a computer needs to shut down, right? ...Though, Flyer isn't really a computer."

Flyer couldn't help but stare at Fumu. Something about her seemed so...interesting to him. It wasn't until Chopper managed to nudge him when he was brought out of his little daze.

"S-Sorry… I don't mean to be rude..." Flyer trailed, his face a bit red. He extended his hand to Fumu. "My name's Flyer. I'm a good friend friend of Chopper's."

"It's nice to meet you," Fumu smiled, shaking his hand. Though, his face only got a little redder. "My name's Fumu. I'm a resident of Dream Land and a friend of Chopper and his friends."_  
_

"I-It's very nice to meet you too... So, I guess you want me to l-look at that collar, r-right?"

"Go right ahead."

Flyer took a deep breath and got a magnifying glass out to get a closer look at the collar. Everyone watched out in curiosity, hoping for some positive results. Though he was a bit nervous, he had finally came up with a conclusion.

"So do you know how to get this thing off?" Fumu asked.

"I believe I do," Flyer answered, making everyone smile. "I can come up with a decollarfying device that can remove even the toughest collars. Unfortunately, this may take some time to work on..."

"A long time? How come?" Chopper asked.

"My work takes a while to work on, and it takes some time to even test it. I'm hoping that I can get it done quickly. But for now, you'll just have to keep that on until my device is finished."

"All right, that sounds good," Fumu said, giving Flyer a smile. "Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it. ...I should probably get going."

She took off, leaving Flyer in a somewhat dreamy state. His cheeks had also turned red again.

"Ummmmm... Flyer? What's with your face?" Chopper asked.

"Chopper... I think I've just met my soul mate..."

"Soul mate? What do you mean?"

"It means he's in love," Heartsy smiled.

"WHAT?!" Chopper gasped. "No no no! That can't be right! Don't cross the dark side, Flyer!"

"You know, maybe we can actually set up a double date now that your friend has a crush on her. It'll be like having two best friends going on double date!"

"Eek!"

"Uhhhh... Guys? Don't we have something to take care of?" Shadower asked, pointing at the pedestal.

Agreeing, Chopper leaped onto the pedestal and took out the Sky Star. Flyer gazed in awe at the whole scenario occurring, specifically the thirteen Crystal Stars circling the fountain, along with the Magical Map glowing as it floated above Chopper.

"This is...unbelievable!" Flyer gaped. "How is this even possible?"

"It's called magic, genius," Scrub answered.

The map revealed a floating island to the northwest of the water and up in the sky. There appeared to be an altar with a brown Crystal Star located. Chopper's expression, however, wasn't too exciting.

"Back in the sky again? I was hoping for something a little more...different." Chopper remarked.

Vivian got onto the pedestal to see the map. "A floating island? Well, we should go see Professor Frankly about this island..."

* * *

**Frankly's house-  
**

"I see..." Frankly trailed, closing his book. "If I'm correct, then the next Crystal Star, the Island Star, is located on the floating land mass, Clearno Island."

"Clearno Island?" Chopper gawked.

"It's just west of Rogueport, above the ocean. If you travel further out there, you can get a glimpse of it. Don't worry, it's not that hard to miss! ...Though, the blimp no longer goes there due to some...circumstances.

"Circumstances? What's going on there?" Sonic asked.

"Well, many reports have said that whenever people visited the island, they were thrown off at an instant. Those who didn't get thrown off ended up leaving on their own after being so frustrated, or some never even returned."

"Never returned? Ouch..." Scrub cringed.

"But who would do something like that?" Heartsy asked.

"Maybe it could be the Phis or the X-Nauts," Chopper deduced.

"X-Nauts and Phis?" Frankly gawked. "But weren't they defeated by you guys?"

"We thought so, but those guys are still at it again. I even ran into Lord Crump while up in the sky, and we faced Gemerl to get the Sun Star."

"Hrrrrmmmmmm... So they're not giving up so easily as I thought. My only advice would be to be on guard while on Clearno Island. If either the X-Nauts or Phis are there, be prepared to fight. I wish I could go out and help you, but all I can do is cheer you on, Chopper."

"Thanks, professor!" Chopper turned to his friends and asked, "So... I guess we're off?"

"You betcha," Sonic nodded, heading out of Frankly's house. "So, what're we going to do? Are we using that Warp Star?"

"Actually, why don't we use the Hurricane?" Flyer suggested.

"But didn't you say that it was only seated for one person?" Bombette recalled.

"I did say that, but while we were leaving the Night Palace, I got to install a little something to help you guys travel on it too. Just watch!"

Flyer tossed the cube on the ground, and the plane had come out. Chopper jumped on the back, and Flyer got in the pilot's seat. Pressing a green button, the Hurricane had shot a green beam that captured the others inside, leaving them unable to move.

"Hey! I can't move!" Scrub complained.

Mario: What is this?

"Yeah... I should've warned you guys about this earlier." Flyer sweat dropped. "This is a prototype, so there may be a few faults. However, your immobility will actually help keep you with my plane. Just enjoy the ride!"

"Next stop: Clearno Island!" Chopper proclaimed.

The Hurricane took off into the sky and began to head west of Rogueport. Despite the horrible things they heard from Clearno Island, our heroes were not going to let that get in their way!

* * *

**I suppose this chapter kinda gave some people the idea of who might've been telling the intro of the story...  
**

**I was a bit unsure of having Flyer actually have a crush on someone, but honestly, it was hard not to pick Fumu. While I'm not big on shipping, the idea of them being together isn't too bad. :P**

**Next up: Our heroes get a surprise visit from an inhabitant of Clearno Island, and things start to go downhill!**


	85. A Big Jerk on Clearno Island

**CHAPTER 14**

**-The Great Unwelcoming-**

As the Hurricane traveled across the water, Chopper spread his arms out and enjoyed the ride. The others, unfortunately, could not do as much. Though they could not move their legs, the only thing moveable for them were their head and arms.

"Boy, we sure got copped out in this ride..." Scrub pouted. "I wanna be able to move my whole body!"

"Well... Sometimes it's best to take a break for once." Sonic remarked, crossing his arms. "Though, being able to move freely would be a nice idea..."

"I'm also wondering how I'm able to move when I'm usually connected to the floor..." Vivian mentioned. "Though, I guess it's probably better not to come up with a conclusion."

"I, too, would like to know about that," Flyer agreed, keeping his eyes on what was ahead as he flew. "There must be some sort of logical scenario behind you ghostly beings... How is it possible for one to detach themselves off the floor?"

"Ummmmm... Maybe we shouldn't be discussing that." Chopper suggested. "I mean, this story already has enough weird stuff in it..."

"Very well then..." Flyer looked up ahead and caught a glimpse of the floating island. "Oh my... I believe we're nearing our destination already."

"Really? Cool! I'm going to see what's up ahead!" With a whistle, Chopper summoned his Warp Star and took off for the island ahead.

"Flyer... Can you let me out of here?" Vivian asked.

"Pardon? What for?" Flyer gawked.

"I'm going to follow Chopper..."

"Hmmmmm... Well, very well." Flyer pressed a button and released Vivian from the beam. She had landed on a rock below and sunk into the shadows.

"Too bad I can't do something like that..." Bombette sighed.

* * *

**Clearno Island-**

Chopper freely explored the island upon reaching it. The first thing he found was many trees and vines surrounding him. Obviously this place was some sort of jungle, though there were coconuts on a few trees for some odd reason... Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to explore when a figure jumped out of the ground and knocked him onto the ground, which sent his Warp Star flying off the island.

"Ouch! What the heck was that?" Chopper groaned, quickly getting up. He saw a brown furry creature in the shape of a tulip (only he had more pointy edges on his head than a tulip). While his arms were skinny like Chopper's, he didn't appear to share the same physical strength as him. He also had blue shoes with a red lightning bolt stripe and white gloves with sharp spikes on them that help him punch, dig, and even attach to walls.

Chopper was about to make a comment on him, but he noticed his Crystal Stars were scattered all around him. "Oh, no! This is not good! Why did you have to do this? In fact, who the heck are you?"

"The name's **Tamber**! I'm the one who guards this super-awesome island that belongs to me, and I don't like people invading it! That includes puffballs like you."

"You don't like people invading it? What for? ...And did you just call me a 'puffball'?"

"Yeah! That's right! You know what I think of puffballs?" Tamber cracked his knuckles. "They really annoy the heck outta me! They can't even do squat either. I think that fits you nicely!"

"Well... Ummmm... You look like a tulip."

"HEY! I'm not a tulip? I'm super awesome and ripped!"

He obviously did not look ripped.

"Look, can I just ask you a-"

"Shut up, puffball."

"Hey! Stop calling me that!"

"No way! You ARE a puffball anyway, so I'm entitled to call you that, you freakin' puffball!"

Chopper decided to ignore him and asked, "Look, can I ask you a question? I'm looking for a brown star located on this island. Do you think you have any idea where it-"

"Like I even care, puffball," Tamber retorted.

Chopper groaned and approached his Crystal Stars. Tamber, however, got in the way and picked them up before he could get his hands on at least one of them.

"Hey! Give those back!" Chopper demanded.

"These gems are mine! Mine, I tell you! Finders keepers, losers weepers!"

"But... I'm already here. Just give them back, OK? I don't wanna use force..." Chopper took out his Diamond Hammer, but unfortunately, Tamber didn't seem too fazed by it. What did catch him off guard was a shadow being coming out of the shadows.

"I'm here, Chopper," Vivian informed. She noticed Tamber facing them with a confused look. "Who is that?"

"Crud! There's more of you people here?!" Tamber gaped. He stepped back slightly, but he shook off his shocked look and put on a cool guy face. "Well, it doesn't matter! I don't need to throw you off just yet! Maybe this'll be pretty fun, especially with a puffball!"

With that, he was off, leaving Chopper frustrated.

"Great... He got away with the Crystal Stars!"

"He took the Crystal Stars?"

"Yeah. I crashed into him, and they scattered everywhere, so he decided to be a jerk and take them from me." Chopper pouted, crossing his arms. "By the way... Where are the others?"

"I'm not so sure..." Vivian answered, inching a little close to Chopper, her face slightly red. "D-Do you think I can tell you something?"

"Tell me something? What is it?"

"Well... It's just that I..." she paused when she noticed some shadows. She stepped out of the way as the rest of their friends landed, with Flyer storing his Hurricane in his device.

"So, this is Clearno Island? Interesting..." Shadower remarked.

"It kinda reminds me of Angel Island," Sonic recalled, looking around the area. He noticed Chopper looking a bit unhappy though. "Hey, Chop. What's the matter? You should be excited!"

"I would be, but some jerk came in and stole the Crystal Stars," Chopper sighed.

Mario: They were stolen? By who?

"He called himself Tamber. He kinda reminds me of a tulip."

"A tulip? Well, if he was a jerk, we should say that back at him." Bombette suggested.

Chopper decided to move on ahead and discovered an area with a small lake and a couple of vines hanging from the trees. The place reminded them of a tropical forest.

"This should be fun," Sonic smirked, grabbing the vine and swinging. Unfortunately, his hand slipped off the vine, and he found himself plummeting into the lake. "Ack! No!"

Mario took action by diving into the lake, getting Sonic out before he could drown. The blue hedgehog shivered from the cold water, and even Mario did as well.

Mario: It's-a cold down there!

"I guess we should avoid that..." Chopper suggested, defeating a Tropical Shy Guy that was prepared to attack them. The others started to take the vine across the lake and over to the other side. Vivian, however, didn't go yet.

"Ummmm... Chopper?"

"What is it, Vivian?" Chopper asked.

"Well, I didn't want to go just yet. There's something important that I think I should tell you..."

"You need to tell me something? What is it?"

"It's just that... I tried telling you guys this before, but I don't feel very confident in saying it in front of everyone. Maybe it's probably best that we keep this between you and I..."

"Is it really that big for you to tell? Maybe I could tell them for-"

"I'd rather not let them hear just yet. I don't feel too comfortable having them hear this. Chopper, promise me you won't tell everyone else, right?"

"OK... I guess so..." Chopper trailed, feeling uncertain.

"Thanks, Chopper," Vivian smiled, giving him a hug, which made Chopper feel very uncomfortable. It made things worse when a certain someone was watching.

"PBBBBBBBTTHHHH! BAH HA HA HA! That's so lame!" Tamber laughed, jumping down from a tree.

"Huh? Hey! What're you doing here?!" Chopper gasped, getting out of Vivian's hug.

"Laughing at you, obviously!" Tamber answered, quickly making his escape before Chopper could get annoyed.

"Argh... That annoying tulip!" Chopper groaned. He let out a sigh and turned to the vine. "I guess we should just go."

After crossing over the lake with the vine, Chopper ran on ahead to catch up with the others. Vivian sighed and followed by going through the shadows. The others had not gotten too far. In fact, they had just reached a waterfall. Down below was another lake, but there appeared to be a few blocks down there. Chopper obviously went down there to hit the blocks, but he only found coins in them. There was a Star Piece in one corner, however.

"OK... So I guess we need to go up, right?" Sonic asked, looking up at the rocky ledge above. "Man... If only Tails was here, this would be so much easier for me."

"Well, we've always got Flyer he-" Chopper paused when he noticed Flyer on his drawing tablet, drawing a picture. "Hey! What are you drawing, Flyer?"

"Uhhhh... Nothing!" Flyer replied, quickly putting the tablet away, his face flushed red. "I was just...working on a little something!"

"Yeah, for his girlfriend," Scrub laughed, grabbing the tablet from Flyer's inventory and showing a picture of Fumu.

"Give me that!" the Wingel snatched the tablet from Scrub and put it away. "For your information, I'm trying to think of a design for the device needed to remove the collar on Fumu! This takes a lot of time, you see."

"Or... You were just looking at her picture. Don't you think so, Contadre?"

"I just needed Flyer's help to get to that ledge..." Chopper trailed.

"Oh. Right. Allow me to assist." Flyer flapped his wings and grabbed Chopper's arm. He was able to fly up to the ledge for Chopper to land on. Beside him was a small, lavender rock that he smashed with his hammer. Afterward, Flyer proceeded to help the others get up as well. Well, those who couldn't fly.

"Well, this may not be that difficult with Flyer's ability to fly," Sonic grinned.

Mario: Hey, what's that?

The plumber pointed to the pathway up ahead and caught glimpse of what appeared to be a small temple. It was a sandy yellow, with two torches and a staircase in between them. However, one of the torches had something sparkly and clear. It reminded them of a...

"Hey! That's one of the Crystal Stars!" Heartsy exclaimed.

"Wait, really?" Chopper rushed past a Tropical Shy Guy and took a look at the Diamond Star in the flames. He conjured up an ice ball and hurled it at the torch, getting rid of its flames and cooling the Diamond Star. He then snatched it and put it away. "OK, that's one down! Only...twelve more to go..."

Everyone else let out a groan. Well, except for Kirby, who seemed more than delighted.

"Poyo! (I'm pretty excited to see what's up ahead!)" Kirby exclaimed, running into the temple ahead.

"Well... At least we still have a shot at getting them back." Shadower mentioned. "Maybe this won't be bad after all..."

The rest seemed to be a little more excited, though not as much. Regardless, they followed Kirby through the temple's entrance.

* * *

**Elsewhere on Clearno Island-**

Further in the tropical forest area of Clearno Island, the two Shadow Sirens and Doopliss were hopelessly searching around the area, trying to find the Crystal Star. Unfortunately, they hadn't had much luck in finding it.

"So… The Crystal Star is somewhere on this island, I presume…" Beldam trailed, searching behind a couple of bushes. "Bah! There's nothing but bushes and trees! How are we supposed to find the star here?"

"I liked my old home a lot better than this place," Doopliss remarked, some bushes getting caught in his sheet. When he managed to get them off, he sighed. "This place ain't good for my sheet!"

"Shut it, freak-in-a-sheet!" the hag snapped. "Your remarks aren't helping us get anywhere!

Doopliss mumbled as he looked away from Beldam.

"Now, since the Crystal Star is located here, it's safe to assume that Chopper will be here too. We must formulate a plan if we are to ambush him and that traitor Vivian!"

While she began to explain, Marilyn noticed something appearing under the three of them. It appeared to be some sort of net. It didn't take long for her to figure out what it was doing there, so she got her sister's attention and grunted, "Guh! Guuuuh!"

"What is it now, Marilyn? What? There's a net right here below us?" Beldam looked down at the net, and the three ended up getting caught in it. "How did this net appear under us?! Why didn't you tell me before, freak-sheet?!"

"Huh? Hey! I didn't see it!"

"Well, well, well… Looks like I've caught some thieves today!" Landing in front of the three was Tamber, who crossed his arms and gave a grin. "So I overheard you wanting to come take the Master Star, right? Well... Too bad! That thing's mine!"

"Guh?" Marilyn gawked.

"What? You wanna know what the Master Star is? Well... It's...er..." Tamber pondered, trying to remember what it could do. "I just know that it keeps this island from being destroyed, and if it breaks, so does the island. I hold onto it 'cause I like it, and you can't have it! The Master Star's mine, and so is this island, so maybe you oughta beat it."

"This is YOUR island? Mmmmwee hee hee hee hee! Oh, you foolish little creature! I don't see your name anywhere on it! You honestly think that you can keep us trapped in here? We can simply sink into the shadows!" Beldam cackled.

"Well, maybe, but what if I brought in my pet? C'mere, John!"

A shadow beast on fours with huge fangs came to him. It had evil red eyes, sharp claws, and a long tail. One thing important to note about John was that his meal consisted of shadows.

"See this? This is my new pet I found a moment ago! I don't know where the heck he came from, but now he's with me!" Tamber grinned. "Don't try escaping, because he can get people in the shadows!"

"Whoa… Now THAT'S cool!" Doopliss commented.

"You're not helping, freak-in-a-sheet," Beldam growled.

"Now, if you'll excuse me... I have a puffball to take care of." Tamber said, turning away and running off.

"Guhhhhh..." Marilyn grunted.

John decided to glare at the three beings, awaiting any attempts of escaping.

* * *

**Inside the temple-**

"Geez... It's so hard to see in here." Bombette said, trying to find her way through the dark hallway. "Does anyone have a light?"

"Well, I can see clearly. Of course, I suppose having some light is not a bad idea." Shadower suggested, and in response, Vivian lit up a small flame, and Chopper conjured up a fireball.

"OK, this is a little better, but it's still not enough! We need more!" Scrub complained.

"Here, let me help," Flyer changed one of his devices into an electric torch and lit it up, providing more light. "That should be more helpful. We should take a look around here. Perhaps another Crystal Star may be located here?"

Everyone agreed and started to explore the temple now that it was much lighter. There appeared to be many pieces of brick that had fallen off the wall, creating some square-shaped holes. The only thing that caught them off guard were some strange, gooey bat creatures with yellow eyes called a Batooey. They were not that strong, so getting rid of them was fairly simple.

Upon passing through a doorway, they all noticed some writing on the wall written in Old English. Since Flyer was the smartest in the group, he decided to give it a read.

"Such strange writing..." Flyer remarked.

Mario: What does it say?

"It says, 'If thou hast the flames of two, thou shalt open thy way to the artifact that sits on its…buttocks'? Strange... An artifact on a buttocks?"

"That sounds a bit weird," Heartsy agreed. She took a closer look ahead and caught a glimpse of two unlit torches. "Hey, maybe we need to light them both up at the same time! Surely you can do that, Choppy!"

"I think so," Chopper approached one of the unlit torches and lit it up. He then lit the other, but nothing happened. "Maybe they need to light up at the same time? I guess you should come help, Vivian."

"All right, it might be a good idea" Vivian floated over to the left torch and lit it up at the same time as Chopper, causing the door to open. This led up to a room with light shining from the ceiling and a statue of what appeared to be a buttocks.

"I hope that thing's fake," Bombette remarked. They took a couple of steps up the staircase and noticed something standing on top of the buttock statue. "Hey, isn't that one of the Crystal Stars?"

"That's the Crystal Star we got after giving that Grubba beating!" Scrub recalled. Chopper decided to go up to the top of the stairs and take the Gold Star from its place.

"Got it!" he put it away, causing the room to suddenly shake. A boulder had appeared in front him, and it was rolling his way. Chopper gasped and began to run down the opposite staircase, easily outrunning the boulder. He saw a glimmering light at the end of the staircase at a doorway, and that luckily led him back outside. The boulder couldn't fit, thus making it stuck. "Wait... Aren't my friends in there?"

The doorway had exploded, and rock chunks came flying out. Chopper ducked to avoid a few of them, and Bombette came running outside first.

"Yeesh! You need to learn to be careful once in a while!" Bombette suggested. "You could've gotten flattened by that boulder!"

"Really? I think I outran that thing..." Chopper trailed.

"Well, it doesn't matter right now," Flyer dismissed. "We're all safe, and that's what's important."

"Oh, not for long!"

Looking up, the heroes noticed some green Phis with orange eyes floating above a few trees. On their jetpacks were a few bombs. These Demolition Phis took out a single bomb and grinned down at their enemies.

"Phis? Oh, crud... That means Gemerl might be here!" Chopper gaped.

"Gemerl? Who is he?" Flyer asked.

"The one leading the Phi army."

"Taste bombs, heroes!" the Demoltion Phis exclaimed, throwing the bombs onto the ground. A large explosion emitted, scorching most of the trees down to ash. While the heroes got blown back, they were thankfully not seriously injured from the bombs. The Phis left, and all that remained was a barren wasteland in this particular area, along with a fiery red sky.

"Talk about impressive..." Sonic gaped. "They burned down all the trees! That's just crazy!"

The only thing they could do was stare at all of the burnt down trees, bushes, and even some of the grass as they continued on ahead. Chopper clenched a fist, mumbling, "Those Phis are going to pay for this..."

* * *

Tamber had gotten a glimpse of the explosion as well. His eyes were widened in shock from the results. Sure, he had seen a lot of spectacles, but this was to the extreme. "Oh, I see now! Those people are here to blow up my island! That sneaky little puffball! Well, let's see how he likes it when I finally start pounding him! I'll be like 'HYAH'!"

Unintentionally, he had punched a wall in a temple leading underground. Tamber paused and moved his hand out of the way. Before he could go on another fit, he heard another voice.

"Mimimimimimi! So THIS is where that meanie-head Chopper went to! That penguin thought he could make cute little me do his bidding, but I don't think so! I do whatever _I_ want!"

"So there's another jerk on my island?" Tamber began to rub his hands evilly. "Then it's time I had a little fun with them too! Heh heh heh!"

* * *

"Yo! Contadre! I found a star!" Scrub announced, spotting the Emerald Star over by a bridge and waterfall in the background and tossed it to Chopper. He easily caught it and put it away.

"All right! We've got three stars so far." Chopper smiled. "Hopefully we find more!"

They spotted a few Demolition Phis getting ready to throw some bombs, but using the Emerald Star's Clock Out, they remained frozen in time, allowing he heroes to bash on them and also defeat them. Afterward, they crossed the bridge to a small, grassy plain and waterfall.

"Despite this place being burned down, at least this waterfall still looks nice," Shadower commented. He noticed a red star up ahead and gasped. "Guys! It's the Ruby Star!"

"Not so fast! You won't be getting this so easily!"

Hovering near a bridge dead ahead was a dark blue Phi with light blue eyes. It had a pointy, green hue, and its shoulders were spiky. In the Phi's hand was what appeared to be some sort of assault rifle.

Aiming its assault rifle, the Phi said, "I've finally got you, Chopper! At long last I finally lay my eyes on you!"

"Who are you?" Flyer asked.

"I am Phimin, one of the higher-class Phis in Master Gemerl's army," Phimin introduced. "I was given orders by Gemerl to look for a Crystal Star located on this island. He assumed you, too, would be showing up as well. I desired to see who you are, and now I finally get the chance to destroy you!"

"How long have you been with that robot?" Heartsy asked, getting her hammer out.

"Not too long. After you invaded the old Phi base, I was given a job as a high-commander. He saw some potential in me with my weapon. Now it's time for me to prove to him that I'm much more than those other Phis and destroy you!"

"So you've just got one measly weapon! So what?" Scrub laughed. "This is probably going to be too easy!"

"I thought you'd say that... Let's take it up a notch!" Phimin drew another black assault rifle, causing some to gape. "Heh heh! Let's see how you handle me now!"

"Well we're not stepping down so easily, so prepare to be beaten down!" Chopper declared.

**Tattle: **_That's Phimin, one of Gemerl's tougher minions. It looks like a real trooper. Max HP is 150, Attack is 11, and Defense is 1. It'll attack by using its weapons and also by, well, it's just going to shoot you with those guns. Is that ALL it even does? Man… If this is all that it does, then it's pretty pathetic for a mini-boss, if you ask me! REALLY pathetic…_

"So, she thinks he's pathetic? Well, we'll see how that goes!" Chopper made the first move, taking out his hammer and dealing 7 damage to Phimin. Mario noticed that its HP and Defense were the exact same as the Shadow Queen, but, based on fighting Chillbi, he had no issues. He charged at Phimin and hit him with a Super Jump.

Phimin aimed its two guns at Chopper and shot twice at him. One could do 5 and the other 6. He was lucky enough to guard both shots, taking only 9 damage instead.

"Hmmmm... I guess I might have a better shot next time." Phimin said, a little disappointed with its hits.

"Time for a Wall Jump!" Chopper declared, hitting Phimin with a Wall Jump, dealing 16 damage, and with Flyer's Flying Attack, it did 25 altogether. Phimin took action by charging up a shot from its gun and shooting it at Flyer, dealing 13 damage.

"Yeesh... I think we may have underestimated him..." Flyer winced. "He's got a lot more stronger attacks than I thought."

"And that's one of the few reasons why I'm a high commander," Phimin smirked, satisfied with his attack.

"Well, then we'll just have to show him what we're capable of," Shadower brought his arm back and Phimin got struck by a shadowy fist, bringing his defense down to 0.

"Thanks, Shadower!" Chopper smiled, charging at Phimin and hitting him with a jump, bringing him to 94 HP.

_"Phimin! Don't tell me you're losing already! Fight back with all you've got!" _Gemerl exclaimed, his voice coming out of Phimin's communicator._ "You found that Ruby Star, so if you beat them, you can get whatever he has and bring it back here! That includes a promotion!"  
_

"A promotion? Now that sounds very nice, sir... Don't worry, I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeves!" Phimin pulled out a grenade and he threw it at the whole group. It blew up, resulting in the group taking 11 damage.

_"Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. Continue that and you'll take them down in no time!" _

"Well, we can continue what we're doing and take you down with ease," Chopper jumped off the stage wall again and took 18 HP away from Phimin with his Wall Jump. Kirby took 10 out of the robot with his Stone attack.

"Grrr! Take this!" Phimin fired two blasts at Chopper, dealing a total of 11 damage. His defense had finally been restored as well, but it didn't stop Vivian from hurting Phimin with her Shade Fist, along with burning it. The robot shrugged it off and tossed another grenade, which everyone managed to guard from. "Great... I was hoping it would do full damage."

Chopper smirked, striking the Phi with his hammer, followed by Bombette exploding with her Bomb attack, bringing Phimin down to 44 HP.

"So... You people seem to have more of an advantage on the ground. Perhaps this can change that!" Phimin flew off the floor and made sure it was not high enough for a ground attack to reach. "Ha HA! See how you get through this, heroes!"

Not only that, but it fired a charged, explosive shot onto the ground that managed to deal 13 damage to everyone. They groaned in frustration. Not only were ground attacks useless, but the Phi also had much stronger attacks.

Mario: It might take a lot to bring him down.

"Then we'll just have to jump on him," Chopper shrugged, leaping in the air and hitting Phimin with a Jump. Mario had done the same thing and managed to bring Phimin onto the floor. It quickly shook itself and tossed a grenade. They all Superguarded it, followed by Chopper hitting him with his hammer and Scrub inhaling and spitting out Phimin with his Gulp.

Phimin decided to aim at Heartsy this time and fired two shots. She managed to guard the first one, but the second one made her take 6 damage. She responded by hitting Phimin with her Hearty Hammer. Chopper used a Spin Jump and brought the robot down to 1 HP.

"No... This isn't how it will end!" Phimin exclaimed, firing a charged shot at the group to deal full damage. However, Sonic was quick enough to react and managed to strike the Phi with a Spin Dash. "_**YAAAARGH!**_"

Once Chopper had received 35 Star Points from the battle, Phimin started to malfunction, and sparks began to emit from its body. With one bright flash, the robot had exploded. Even the Phi's communicator had gotten blown up as well.

"Whew! That was close!" Chopper approached the Ruby Star that was behind the remains of Phimin and picked it up. "All right! We got another!"

"Sweet! Four Crystal Stars collected and only…nine more to find." Sonic grinned. "If we keep this up, we'll have the stars back in no time!"

"Well, we might as well get going then," Chopper crossed the bridge and saw the sky change back to its natural blue color. They finally caught sight of trees, indicating that this area had not been struck by the explosion. What also caught their interest was a yellow temple covered in vines dead ahead.

"Wait... Another temple?" Heartsy gawked. "But didn't we just explore one?"

"Hold on... I think there's something written there." Flyer announced, flying straight for the temple. When they got closer, they noticed a small hole near the temple's entrance. Obviously someone had punched a hole in there. Flyer, however, paid more attention to the sign right beside the temple. "It says that this is 'The Labyrinth Temple.' Very interesting..."

"Yeah, I guess it does, only for a nerd!" the heroes turned to their left and saw Tamber smirking at them.

"Oh, no... Not him again." Chopper groaned.

"Wait, you met this guy, Contadre?" Scrub gawked.

"He's that Tamber guy."

"'That Tamber guy'? I'm much more than that." Tamber replied, taking offense. "You know that you people aren't allowed on this island, especially puffballs. They can't explore islands."

"Poyo! (I take offense to that!)" Kirby exclaimed, giving Tamber a glare.

"I think he's talking to me," Chopper whispered.

"And what gives you the right to be so disrespectful to us?" Heartsy asked, glaring at Tamber as well.

"Oh, what's this? A chick is trying to defend a puffball? PBBBBBBBTH! Go hide behind the puffball, since chicks can't do squat!"

"You think you're tough? I WILL beat the snot out of you if you don't shut up!"

"BAH HA HA HA HA!" Tamber laughed, falling back on the floor and rolling around. "You mad? Look at those arms! That can't do-"

A fist had collided with his face, leaving him dazed. He got up and felt a bruise on his cheek, and he also noticed Heartsy lowering her fist.

"That's for bullying my Choppy and the others," Heartsy stated.

"Argh... I swear I'm going to punch you so hard in the face!" Tamber growled. "You know what? Maybe you guys are interested in taking a little swim!"

"Wait, what is this leading to?" Sonic gulped.

"Oh, nothing... Nothing... Well, unless you consider me showing you the way into the Labyrinth Temple!" Tamber laughed, kicking a switch behind a bush, causing he stairs in the entryway to turn into a slide. The heroes barely had enough time to react when they saw Tamber punch them into the doorway and into the temple.

"_**AGGHHHH!**_"

"HA HA! Enjoy drowning in the temple, losers!" Tamber grinned. "That place is next to impossible when it comes to escaping!"

* * *

**Ah, yes... Tamber... Each story has some kind of jerk in it, like Bob from the first Paper Chopper. In this story, we have Tamber that takes that role! He certainly doesn't take a liking to puffballs like Chopper either. :P  
**

**The Labyrinth Temple is pretty much based off Labyrinth Zone from Sonic 1 (and we all know how much we LOVE that place). I guess you can also say Clearno Island is kinda based around Angel Island too.**


	86. Through the Labyrinth and the Waters

"Wooooooooaaaaaaaahhh!" Chopper cried as found himself going down a slide in the Labyrinth Temple. As they went deeper, they all felt the slide getting more slippy and a bit dark.

"Oh, no... This is like Labyrinth Zone all over again..." Sonic groaned.

"Labyrinth Zone? What's that?"

"It's an area I first explored on my first adventure, and it was filled with water, and we all know how much I _love_ swimming in water..."

The slide eventually ended, and the heroes found themselves in what appeared to be green water. It was no longer dark, so they could all get a glimpse of the tan, rocky floor. Unfortunately, it wasn't even close to being flat with a couple of bumps being in many places.

"Looks like we're underwater again... How's everyone doing?" Chopper turned his attention to everyone else, who gave assuring nods. All except for Sonic, who seemed to struggle with the water.

"Boy, I don't know how Sonic's going to survive under here. Is there anything around here he can get?" Shadower asked. Up toward the pathway ahead was an air bubble that rose up. Sonic immediately rushed over it and took in the air inside of it, gaining some air.

"Air bubbles? But... Wait, they must have a decent amount of air for Sonic to breathe!" Heartsy deduced. "Maybe he won't have too much of a problem!"

"That would be a good thing," Vivian remarked.

Sonic pointed over to the platforms leading up to the surface. Everyone followed, with the blue hedgehog leading. He used his jumping skills to jump up out of the water and started to breathe heavily, while the others took their time with that.

"FINALLY… I can BREATHE! Next time we go for a swim, I say we go to the beach." Sonic wheezed, deciding to take a seat. Little did he expect to place his behind on something pointy, making him quickly stand up. "Yeesh... What was that pointy..."

"Hey, Chopper… Isn't that the Sapphire Star?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah! It is!" Chopper gasped, while Sonic looked at the star and picked it up with a grin.

"Hey, this Crystal Star matches my color! Cool! Well, here ya go, Chopper." Sonic tossed it to Chopper, who put it away. "I guess that means there's eight more to go?"

"Hold on... While we're here, let's see that map of yours, Chopper." Flyer suggested. "We can still get a clue on where the Island Star is."

"Oh! Right!" Chopper took out the Magical Map, but he gawked when he saw nothing but multiple stars located on Clearno Island. "Eep! I can't see the Island Star anywhere with all these scattered stars!"

"Oh, dear... That's disturbing..."

"I don't like this one bit..." Vivian trailed, getting a glimpse of the map as well.

"Great… Just great. This might be an annoying trip for us. Plus, these tunnels are so small, it might be so annoying to search for more Crystal Stars here."

"Well, the best we can do is just search," Flyer shrugged.

"I guess so... Let's move on." Chopper ran on ahead to find some yellow platforms moving in a circle. Below the platforms was moare water. Sonic jumped on the platform and then jumped over to the other side to avoid the water. The rest crossed over the water and followed Sonic through the tunnel. However, the tunnel was moving at a downward elevation into the water, making Sonic stop at the slope. The others didn't know and ended up bumping into him, causing them to all tumble into the water.

What made it worse? There were Cave Bloopers swimming around the water and attempting to attack them. Along with that, there were spikes sticking out of the floor. Up ahead was a block door and an air bubble for Sonic to breathe into. To their lower left was a blue ! switch. Chopper gave it a kick, and the door opened up to a narrow, underwater tunnel.

"Might as well check to see what's through here," Chopper walked through first and the current pushed him through the tunnel. Sonic was next, following Chopper through the tunnel as well. It brought them deeper in the water with some moving platforms that could take them up to a trap at the surface, which had spikes on the ceiling. Obviously that was not where they wanted to go.

"This place is like a deathtrap," Shadower winced. "No wonder that Tamber guy threw us in here..."

"Mmmmmmmgggffhh!" Sonic began to choke as he saw the countdown appearing above him, starting with the number five. He looked around for an air bubble, and thankfully, there was one near some spikes. Sonic took action and took in the air bubble.

"Poyo? (Is that a crack?)" Kirby asked, pointing to the crack on the wall past the spikes.

"It looks like something that can be blown up," Chopper noted.

"Then you know what to do, Chopper. Throw me at the wall and I'll let it rip!" Bombette declared. Chopper nodded, picked her up, and threw her at the wall instead of near it. She was left dazed for a brief moment before glaring at Chopper, furiously asking "OW! What was that for?!"

"You SAID to throw you at the wall, and that's what I did," Chopper shrugged.

"Ugh... How about what we usually do then." the Bob-omb suggested, still peeved. Chopper threw her again, but this time near the wall. She exploded, creating a hole in the wall, along with a current that sucked everyone in. Luckily, some poles were sticking up from the walls, allowing people like Chopper and Sonic to grab onto them to avoid any spikes or Cave Bloopers.

Unfortunately, someone such as Bombette only crashed into the Cave Bloopers.

"You need a hand, Bombette?" Chopper asked.

"Yes... I would LOVE a hand." Bombette replied angrily. "I'd love to have at least TWO of them..."

"Oh... Well I wish you had some hands to help yourself too."

When the strong current had finally ended, the ten were led to a smaller area with a Rainbow Block in the center of the underwater tunnel. Chopper smashed the block, causing the water current to flow upward. This brought everyone up to the surface on a large spring of water. Two walls appeared to be close together leading to a ledge.

"We're finally back up on the surface!" Sonic sighed in relief. "I just hope it stays this way..."

"Hmmmmm... Chopper, I believe these walls are close enough to perform a Wall Jump!" Flyer deduced.

"Then that is what I shall do!" Chopper declared, using his Wall Jump to reach the ledge to the right. There, he found the Garnet Star lying on the floor. "Hey, guys! I found the Garnet Star!"

The others got up to Chopper and gazed at the Crystal Star. Before anyone could comment, however, another voice caught their attention.

"Hi there! I never expected people like you to be here!"

They all gawked at the figure, who was revealed to be Goombella.

"What the… Goombella? How on earth did you get here?" Chopper asked. "In fact, are you really Goombella?"

"Now's not the time for questions! I found two mine carts that you could use to get out of here."

"Hold on a moment..." Flyer walked over to Goombella and took out his scanner. After scanning her, he got a negative result. "This isn't the real Goombella that you're talking too."

"Ugh... I guess my little plan didn't work after all. Might as well reveal myself! Mimimimimimi!" Purple smoke surrounded the fake Goombella, revealing her to actually be Mimi wearing a black dress. Everyone got in a fighting stance, with the exception of Vivian, Shadower, Sonic, and Flyer.

"Who is she?" Vivian asked.

"Is she an enemy?" Shadower also asked.

"Yeah. She attacked us back in that temple back at Snowy Mountain." Heartsy explained.

"Surprise! It's me, Mimi!" Mimi introduced. "Golly, you sure weren't too stupid to fall for that! But, too bad you won't be getting out of here? Do you know why? Because I-" Unfortunately, she hardly had enough time to finish, as she was pushed out of the way like a door by Chopper. Right behind the girl were two mine carts.

"Well what do you know... Two mine carts!" Chopper smiled.

"Hey! I'm over here, you know! Don't try to ignore me! LISTEN TO ME!" Mimi waved her stick arms at them to gain her attention, but it hardly did much. Letting of a huff, Mimi teleported out. _"Those meanies sure have something in store for them! I'll give them a taste of their own medicine for ignoring me!"_

The heroes took a look at the mine carts and pondered over who should go in what. Eventually they had decided to share a mine cart in the same manner as they would with a Warp Star. Unfortunately, both carts did not have the same rail, so they had to be patient as they started to travel.

"Poyo, (Let's hope this isn't too long,)" Kirby wished.

Those that were in the same cart as Kirby: ?

Mario: It would be nice to understand him...

They waited patiently as the mine cart began to move in a loop. Thankfully, they didn't have too many issues traveling, though.

As for the others... They had ended up going downward, and that just happened to be where some water was.

"Uh oh... Not more water." Sonic gulped. "All right... I better be ready for this."

As the cart went underwater, it was moving a little slower. Sonic desired air, but alas, there were no air bubbles for him to take. When Chopper noticed the timer above the hedgehog, he became Water Chopper and created a small air bubble for him to take in, replenishing a decent amount of air. He removed the ability afterward.

"You don't need to thank me for that," Chopper told him. Eventually the cart rose up from the water and was moving in a straight path. They had found the other railing beside them, along with the others.

"Hey, guys!" Scrub shouted, waving his arms to gain their attention. When they all waved, they paid no attention to the abrupt ending of both rails. They were thrown off into a small underwater area with no air bubbles, so Sonic was having the time of his life at the moment.

While there was not much around to explore, there was one small crack on the bottom of the left wall. Chopper decided to put his new ability to use and slipped underneath to find a blue ! switch in his face. He gave it a whack, causing the water in the other room and this one to drain out. When he returned to the others, he found two blue orbs, a blue, sealed door and an opening leading into more water.

"I'm gonna see what's down below here. You can all stay here and relax." Chopper jumped into the small tunnel into another room, only it was circular, and it only had one blue orb. To the south was a little hole he could fit through as a tube, so he turned into a tube and traveled through there. Once again, there was another blue ! switch he hit, causing the water to drain. Along with that, a large chest was revealed.

"Another big chest? Sounds like something good is inside!" Chopper opened the chest and found a pair of gloves with green electricity coming out from them.

**You got the Diamond Gloves!**

"Diamond Gloves? Wait a second… Aren't these supposed to have light power?" As he put the gloves on, he was transported to the tutorial room, where Toadette was waiting.

"Hey, Chopper! It's me again!" Toadette greeted as usual. "Congratulations on getting the Diamond Gloves! They sure are a 'shocking' experience! So let's practice using them, OK?

"They're shocking? What do you mean by that? What does this even shoot?" Chopper noticed a green ball of electric energy emit from his hand. His eyes widened in shock before tossing the ball.

"See? There's the elemental ability! With them, you can fire electric ball! On the other hand, if you hold B, you can charge up your elemental ball and fire a stronger one! This can destroy big green Electric Blocks, Ice Blocks, or Flame Blocks! Give it a try!"

Chopper stored enough energy and he shot a huge electric ball from his hand and destroyed one of the big Electric Blocks placed in the air.

"You did it! That was excellent!" Toadette applauded. "You can also use that attack in battle to deal some massive damage to your enemies! ...Oh, and one more thing… If you see any blue orbs, you can shoot an electric ball into those and make something happen! That's really all that's to it. So… Hope to see you soon!"

When she had left, Chopper was taken back to the room with the empty chest. He checked his gloves for a moment before returning to the previous room with curiosity.

"Interesting… Let's see how this works." Chopper threw an electric ball at the blue orb, causing it to light up with electricity. The water below him suddenly shot up and took him back up to his friends.

"Hey, Contadre! You're back! So, what did ya find down there?" Scrub asked.

"Well... I learned this!" the Star Warrior threw an electric ball at both blue orbs, which caused the blue door to open up. Upon walking through the door, everyone gazed at the new area in awe. The ground changed to a brown color with some blue stripes, and the sky also changed to a more modern-like temple that was bluish in color. It also didn't feel too cramped either. The water had changed from green to blue as well.

"This place feels so serene..." Vivian commented. "It's much nicer than that other temple."

Chopper took a couple of steps up ahead and saw a slide going down to the water. However, across the water was another pathway they could take.

"Well, I'll definitely take this over that annoying labyrinth," Sonic stated.

"This'll be a cool place to explore, so let's check it out!" Heartsy suggested, racing on ahead, Sonic followed next, easily outrunning the girl. When Chopper ran past her, she spun around and fell over on the bottom of the slide, nearly touching the water. The other two easily ran across the water and reached the other side.

"Yeesh... I never thought Contadre and Sonic could do that." Scrub gaped. "I wanna be able to do that!"

"Ugh..." Heartsy groaned, slowly getting up and rubbing her hair to fix it. "Could you please warn me next time?"

"Sorry," Chopper apologized. "Just follow us over here, OK?"

"Errrr... How, exactly?" Bombette asked, looking down at the water. There didn't appear to be much, but there was a surf panel beside Chopper. "Unlike you guys, we can't run over water."

"It's OK," Vivian assured, going over the water. Everyone gawked, surprised to see Vivian's "tail" appear over the water. "We Shadow Sirens can float over the water."

"But... Look at your tail!" Flyer gaped. "Shouldn't it be appearing _under_ the water?"

"Yeesh, man! You need to chill out!" Scrub suggested. "Maybe you can go look at that picture of that Fumu girl!"

"Not now, Scrub..."

Vivian picked up Bombette and carried her across the water, slowly putting her down to avoid any explosions. Chopper decided to give the Shadow Siren a hand by becoming Water Chopper and using the surf panel. He was willing to help anyone across, but Heartsy quickly jumped in his arms before anyone could react.

"If you deserve to hold anyone, I think I fit that bill," Heartsy smiled, giving him a flirty look. Obviously this only scared Chopper, making him drop her and retreat. The girl crossed her arms in annoyance in her failure as Flyer got her out of the water and flew her across. _"It'll happen someday, Choppy! You're bound to love me!"_

After everyone was across, they pressed onward and ran into a blue, robot shark with a silver underbelly and a propeller on its back. This one was revealed to be called a Jawz after Sonic destroyed it with his Spin Jump. A red, hermit crab-like robot with wheels for legs and a spiky, hermit-like shell also got in their way. This was called a Turbo Spiker, and it had the ability to fire its pointy shell at them. Unfortunately, they could not create another one, so a jump from Chopper could beat it._  
_

As the heroes progressed further through the pathway, they didn't notice Tipral glared down at them from a platform with his arms crossed.

"So, you've finally gotten thirteen Crystal Stars so far..." Tipral mused. "You know, reaching this far is quite impressive. Unfortunately, the road lying ahead won't be easy for you."

"Oh my gosh... Another puffball?! You've gotta be kidding me!"

Upon hearing the voice, Tipral whirled around and saw Tamber fuming at him. "And you are...?"

"Who I am ain't important, puffball!" Tamber raged, steam coming from his head. "Get offa my island! The Master Star's mine! You can't have it!"

"Master Star?"

"Yeah! It's mine! Now you will get off Clearno Island, or you'll be swimming with the fishes!"

"Please... I'm not going to leave just because of some furry tulip." Tipral remarked, turning away from him. "I have more important things to attend to."

"_**TULIP?!**_" This had only gotta Tamber angrier. He stomped on the platform furiously and charged at Tipral. He stepped out of the way, allowing Tamber to fall off the platform and into the water.

"So... He was just all talk I guess." Tipral mused, teleporting out of the area.

* * *

After they had jumped off a moving platform, the group had landed in shallow water. Thankfully, it only went up to their feet, so there was not many issues. The downside, however, was that they couldn't move as quickly.

"Well, this is definitely better than nothing..." Sonic trailed.

"Though, I wish I could move a lot faster..." Chopper groaned, noticing a moving platform going up and down just up ahead, so he jumped onto the platform with ease. Sonic jumped out of the shallow water and got on it too. The others joined and let the platform take them up to a bridge made up of small, metal spheres.

Waiting for them was an annoyed Mimi and the Crystal Star.

"Hey! It's the Crystal Star!" Chopper smiled, picking the star up.

"'The' Crystal Star? Isn't it supposed to be 'a' Crystal Star?" Flyer asked.

"This one's actually called a Crystal Star."

"Oh... That sounds very original."

"You meanies were ignoring me back at that icky temple!" Mimi complained. "I was just in the middle of talking, and you guys had to-"

Chopper sighed and ran past her. Unintentionally, she was knocked into the water as the others followed her. She slowly stood up, climbed back onto the bridge, and grit her teeth in rage.

"Those meanies are REALLY gonna get it now!" Mimi hissed, raising her arms and creating a large amount of Rubees over her head. "They're going to regret their decisions once and for all!"

Across the bridge, Chopper and his friends had taken notice of the gap between them and the pathway up ahead. Down below was some water, and below that was a bottomless pit. Obviously that was not what they wanted, but thankfully there was a blue ! switch across the gap, so Chopper used Sonic's Spin Dash to get him to hit it, creating a bridge for them.

"Whew! That felt good!" Sonic grinned as he crossed the bridge. They had come to a dead end with a big Electric Block standing in their way. Chopper used his Diamond Gloves and fired a large electric ball at the block, destroying it. There wasn't anything behind it, but the wall leading up to a high ledge appeared to be jumpable via a Wall Jump.

When they reached the ledge, they found a door waiting for them ahead, and it led them to a small pit with another metal bridge. Landing on said bridge, they realized they were trapped.

"Poyo... (I think we've made a bad choice...)" Kirby trailed.

"Argh! You guys are still alive?! Come on!"

They brought their attention to the voice coming through the wall. Peeking through a small hole, Chopper noticed that Tamber was in a small room beside a lever with his usual angry look on his face.

"Hey, it's Tamber!" Chopper announced. "We should really thank you!"

"Wait, what?" Tamber gawked. "Thanking ME? For WHAT?"

"We've found a couple of Crystal Stars down here! Plus, I found some neat gloves!"

"WHAAAAAAAAAT?! Oh, come on! That's not fair! You were supposed to drown! ...Well, it ain't over yet. This lever here will lead to your doom!" Tamber grinned, pulling the switch down. However, nothing happened. "...What? What's going on? This is supposed to destroy the bridge! COME OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!"

The rest could only gawk as Tamber continued to pull the switch down, whining even more each time he failed. In fact, his whining was starting to get on their nerves.

Mario: Mama mia...

"When will he stop?" Shadower asked, trying to cover his "ears".

Finally, Tamber had given up on pulling the switch and decided to take a break. Wiping his forehead, he noticed a little manual beside him.

"Oh, wait... Here's the manual for this." Tamber opened the instruction manual, and it said to pull the switch up. Grinning, he pulled the switch up, causing the bridge to get destroyed. "Ha ha ha ha ha! Enjoy drowning, puffball!"

"You gotta be kidding me…" Chopper trailed, plummeting into the water below while Tamber made his exit. They had landed right in front of another tunnel, so they were forced to swim ahead, while Sonic was forced to take in more air bubbles. Thankfully, the tunnel wasn't too long, having it end by a blocked doorway and two blue orbs. Tossing electric balls at them opened the doorway and revealed silver mini-submarines.

"Mini-subs? What the heck are they doing here?" Heartsy asked.

"They look like they're in good shape," Flyer informed after inspecting them. "Perhaps we can use these to reach the surface!"

Sonic immediately jumped into one of the subs, getting some air in the process. Since there were five, two of them could share a sub. Mario decided to join Sonic in the first sub, and Scrub and Shadower went into the second one. Vivian and Heartsy shared the third, Kirby and Bombette took the fourth, and Chopper and Flyer chose to share the last one.

"All right, I think I can take control of this," Flyer started the sub and it began to move through the deep water. They noticed a bunch of Robo Bloopers and Robo Cheep Cheeps in the water. With a simple missile, the subs destroyed the enemies.

"Aw, man! I wish I was driving this thing!" Scrub desired, watching Shadower fire a missile.

"Well... You're a bit too young for that." Shadower replied.

"But Flyer's doing that! And so is Heartsy!"

"Well... Maybe because they may have more experience with those. Do you have any idea on how to use these?"

"Errr... OK, I think you made your point."

"Hey, do you see that?" Vivian asked, noticing something up ahead. It appeared to be a giant, red colossus. It went up to the surface and grabbed all five subs, pulling it back to the surface. The colossus then dumped everyone out near a waterfall and a ladder just up ahead.

"Ugh... What was that?" Bombette groaned.

The red colossus had landed on the ground in front of them and stared down at them with its orange eyes. It looked like a typical rock monster, only this one appeared to be made of Rubees.

"Mimimimimi!" Mimi cackled, appearing next to the colossus. "You see what happens when you try to mess with me?"

"Excuse me, but we have something more important going on-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Mimi exclaimed, cutting Flyer off and pointing at the group. "You've been a big pain in the pigtails for me, and now you're going to get crushed by my sweet Rubee Colossus! Now destroy them, my pet!"

The Rubee Colossus roared and brought one fist down in an attempt to pound them. They luckily jumped out of the way and managed to knock the fist back with their attacks.

"If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get!" Chopper declared. "Bring it!"

**Tattle: **_That's the Rubee Colossus! I think this might be one of Mimi's pets... Max HP is 160, Attack is 12, and Defense is 2. This thing will use its fists to smash you down into a pancake or it might just fire Rubees at you! Those things can be VERY pointy, so don't go attacking those things! I makes me wonder why Mimi never used something like this back in that temple...  
_

"Time to put my Diamond Gloves to the test!" Chopper's glove had a green static aura around it, and he threw an electric ball at the Rubee Colossus, causing it to lose 6 HP in the process. Next, Shadower brought his arm back and hit the Rubee Colossus with a Shadow Punch, bringing its defense down to 0.

In retaliation, the Rubee Colossus brought its fist down on Chopper, flattening him like a pancake. He got out of that and decided to hit him with an Electric Stomp, which was a little similar to a Fire and Ice Stomp, only it uses electricity.

"This is going to be very helpful," Chopper remarked, jumping away from the Rubee Colossus.

"Let's see how it likes an explosion," Bombette ran up to the Rubee Colossus with her fuse lit up and exploded, dealing 8 to the enemy. It, however, did not prevent the Rubee Colossus from smacking both her and Chopper.

"Ouch... That looked like it hurt." Sonic cringed.

"Yeah, it did..." Chopper groaned, rubbing his face in pain. He glared at the Rubee Colossus and decided to put his Water ability to use. He summoned a Tidal Wave and delivered 8 damage to the enemy. Flyer's Flying Attack helped take 9 more out of the Rubee Colossus.

"Colossy... How about you smash them with a hammer?" Mimi suggested, grinning evilly.

The Rubee Colossus nodded and created a large hammer made out of Rubees. It smashed the ground, creating a shock wave that hit the ten and did 12 damage. After shaking the pain away, Chopper hit the Rubee Colossus with his hammer, and with Heartsy's Hearty Throw, it was down to 101 HP.

"Heh... Well this isn't going too bad." Sonic grinned.

Annoyed with Heartsy's attack, the Rubee Colossus brought a fist down on her, leaving the girl stunned for a brief moment. Sonic got in a ball and hit the Rubee Colossus with a Spin Dash, followed by Chopper shooting water from hit mouth at it.

"Say, Colossy... Maybe you should try blocking their attacks?" Mimi suggested. The Rubee Colossus obeyed and fired a couple of Rubees to block the heroes from approaching it. Since this used up its turn, Chopper attacked with his Diamond Hammer and destroyed the Rubees and hit the Rubee Colossus for 8 damage.

"Is that all you've got?" Chopper taunted.

"You meanie!" Mimi scowled. While she had a small fit, Mario performed a Super Jump and did 8 more damage, reducing the Rubee Colossus to 72 HP.

Mario: This battle will be over in no time!

The Rubee Colossus summoned more Rubees, but this time it fired one at Mario. He guarded it, taking only 11 damage, while the other Rubee appeared in front of the Rubee Colossus. Chopper shrugged threw an electric ball at the Rubee Colossus, while Vivian got rid of the Rubee and left the colossus with a burn thanks to her Fiery Jinx.

After being flattened by the colossus, Kirby got in a cartwheel and hit it in the head. Chopper followed up with a Spin Jump, bringing it down to 45 HP.

"Uh oh… This isn't good! Do SOMETHING good, Colossy! You can't LET them beat you, right?" Mimi told the Rubee Colossus. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to get her attention, which only got her enraged. "Hey! What are you doing?! I'm talking to you! Don't disobey me like that you…"

Having enough, the Rubee Colossus whacked her away. Everyone seemed to smile, but it wasn't for long when the colossus got in a ball and began to roll over them all, leaving them flattened by the end of the attack.

"Ow... That was not expected..." Scrub groaned.

"Yeah..." Shadower groaned, getting up first and hitting the Rubee Colossus with a Shadow Punch. Chopper was unfortunate to lose his Water ability, but he shrugged it off and fired an electric ball at it, leading him to guard its fist afterward.

With its defense down to 0, Scrub fluttered above its head and delivered a Ground Pound, and once Chopper jumped on its head, it was down to 13 HP.

"Only 13 HP left? Man, we're doing a pretty good job!" Sonic grinned, guarding a Rubee being fired at him. A Rubee had appeared in front of the colossus again, but that didn't stop Chopper from destroying it with his Diamond Hammer, along with leaving the Rubee Colossus severely low on HP.

"OK... Who wants to finish this thing off?" Chopper asked.

"I'll do it!" Bombette answered quickly, lighting her fuse. "I wanna see what happens when an explosion takes this thing down!"

Everyone else chose not to object to her choice and watched her finish the fight with literally a bang. Smoke had engulfed the Rubee Colossus, and it had dropped 38 Star Points. Chopper used these to upgrade his FP to 75 upon leveling up.

"Whew! Now that felt good!" the Bob-omb sighed in relief. "I hadn't finished something like that with an explosion in a while!"

As the smoke cleared, however, it was discovered that the Rubee Colossus was not defeated. However, it appeared to be severely damaged from the explosion. It had dropped a purple Crystal Star - one very familiar to the group.

"It's the Queen's Star!" Vivian gasped, quickly grabbing it and giving it to Chopper. "Gee whiz! I never thought this thing would be carrying that!"

"Yeah! Neat!" Chopper smiled, putting the star away.

The Rubee Colossus let out another roar, interrupting their little victory. It raised its fists, and a large amount of energy had been surging through them.

"Uh oh..." Flyer gulped. "I think it's got one last big attack! If it hits, then this place is going down!"

They all got in a fighting stance and prepared to leap in and attack the Rubee Colossus. Just as its fists were about to collide with them, there was a brief flash, and suddenly the Rubee Colossus found its arms missing.

Landing in front of the group was Tipral.

"Tipral? What are YOU doing here?" Chopper asked, giving him a glare.

"Look, I'm not here for you at the moment," Tipral noted, giving him a glance. "You have somewhere to go, right?"

"Yeah, but why did you save-"

"That is not any importance to you, Chopper. I suggest you leave now, because if you don't, you might be next after I'm through with this thing."

Tipral fired a Star Spear at the door on the ceiling blocking the ladder. Light began to shine down from there. "Now go!"

Despite being confused, the heroes decided to make their exit by climbing through the doorway. When they were all gone, Tipral turned his attention back to the Rubee Colossus.

"All right... Good. Everything is going according to plan... All that's important now is wiping you out!"

With that, Tipral jumped toward the Rubee Colossus, preparing to finish it off.

* * *

**If you remember in the first Paper Chopper, the Diamond Gloves were a lot different compared to the ones in this story... Yeah, I thought that I'd make these a bit different this time!  
**

**Overall, this chapter isn't exactly my favorite. I mean, I'm not a big fan of writing small, cramped areas in a story. There's not much that can be said about them... However, we won't be having any of that next chapter! In fact, we'll be seeing something that was mentioned back in the interlude!  
**


	87. Get a Load of This!

Back in the tropical area of Clearno Island where no damage was done, a small, purple spherical-shaped creature with a blue hood covering his entire face except for his eyes, and dark purple gloves and shoes was having a nice time exploring. He was mostly looking at the money he had, but he had another important mission too. After all, he had another ally, and he had been separated from him.

"Mmmmmffggh! (So, I'm finally on this island, huh? Woo-hoo!)" the being named Lemmy cheered, his voice being muffled through his hood. "Mmmmmggfffhh! (That means there's a TON of valuable stuff! I'll take 'em all!)"

Lemmy began to crawl on the floor, searching for any money. Unfortunately, this was interrupted by a witch-like voice.

"Hey! You! Can you hear us?"

Lemmy stopped and looked up to see the two Shadow Sirens and what appeared to be a toaster trapped in a net.

"Hmmmm? Mmmgffhh Mgghfff? (Hey, is that a toaster?)" Lemmy asked.

"What in the world are you saying?!" Beldam asked angrily. "Just help us out of here!"

"Mmmgggffhhh? (What for?)"

"Guh! Guuuhhh!" Marilyn grunted.

"Mmmggffhhh? (Trapped? Well, I guess I can free you. I've got nothing important to do!)" Lemmy pulled out a cutter boomerang and threw it over the rope on the net, freeing the three. Doopliss had changed back into himself in the process. "Mmmmffghh! (Hey! That's no toaster!)"

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee hee! Excellent! Now that we're out of that mess, I think we need to get out of here before…" Beldam paused when he heard John wake up. "Great... That monster's waking up!"

"So... You have freed yourself from that prison, am I correct?" John asked, approaching the three with a growl.

"That thing talks?" Doopliss gaped.

"Of course I can talk! I didn't have anything interesting to say, that's all."

"Sorry, but we have other business to attend to," Beldam said, grabbing Lemmy and throwing him at John. "For now, have some fun with this pest!"

With John distracted, the three made their escape. John groaned and threw Lemmy off him, sending him flying toward a tree. Unfortunately, this tree fell on top of Lemmy.

"Great... This is all your fault that those three have escaped." John growled, pushing the tree out of the way so he could glare at Lemmy (who was very much alive and not too hurt). After looking at him for a moment, he realized something. "Hold on a moment... I recognize you..."

"Mmmggffhh? (You do?)" Lemmy gawked as he stood up.

"Yes... I can even understand you under that muffled hood. Let me see..." John took out a booklet and flipped through a couple of pages. "You wouldn't happen to be Lemmy, right?"

"Mmmgffhhh, (That's me,)" he nodded.

"So you were sent here for the same reason as I was... A fat penguin wants us to search for someone named Chopper..."

"Mmmmmmffgghh. (I don't know.)"

"Obviously you don't. You just care about money. Look, since we were both sent to do the same job, we might as well both work together to eliminate the threat."

"Mmmffghh! (OK!)" Lemmy nodded.

"Good. Now follow me if you can..." John began to move on forward, with Lemmy following him. Along the way, a couple of trees had accidentally fallen on him, which John had to push off him each time.

* * *

Upon exiting the labyrinth, the heroes gazed in awe as they found the clear, blue sky lingering over them. The grass felt nice and green, and many gardens appeared around the field as well. There were even a couple of loops around as well. One thing for sure was that everyone was liking this.

"Wow! Now THIS is what I'm talkin' about!" Sonic smiled. "Loops, green grass, and a nice, clear sky!"

"Poyo, (I'll admit, this is a really nice place to be in,)" Kirby commented, feeling the fresh air. Unfortunately, their time to feel the nice breeze got interrupted by some Demolition Phis.

"Located! Located!"

"Oh, come on! More of these guys?" Chopper groaned.

The two robots fired bombs down, but Chopper took action by changing to Ice Chopper and freezing the bombs. He then proceeded to throw two electric balls at the two Demolition Phis.

"Attack! Attack!"

They threw more bombs toward the group, refusing to give up. Sonic attacked both bombs with a Homing Attack and then knocked the Phis back onto the grass.

"Take this!" Heartsy brought her hammer down on both Demolition Phis, destroying them. Two Hearts and Flowers dropped and so did a couple of coins. Chopper happily collected them, recovering a brief amount of HP and FP.

"It's always a good idea to grab these hearts and flowers before you move on," Shadower informed.

"You don't need to tell me that, Shadower," Chopper replied in an annoyed tone.

"Oh, I wasn't talking to you."

"You were talking to the readers?"

"...Never mind."

By exploring the garden in the area, there was a small, yellow sunflower that gave a couple of flowers upon circling around it. However, due to Chopper's FP being full, there was no point in taking them. Another small flower garden had a much larger, effeminate flower with a yellow face and orange petals, along with golden petals behind it. It appeared to be very happy-looking.

Mario: Those flowers remind me of the ones back in Flower Field.

"Maybe it knows something?" Heartsy deduced, approaching it.

"Poyo! (Wait! Don't approach it!)" Kirby cried.

The flower known as a Lovely winked as it quickly retreated and lunged toward Heartsy. Kirby had saw it coming and quickly pulled her away from the Lovely, telling her that it was actually an enemy.

"Whoa... That thing's quite a trickster then." Sonic said.

When the Lovely tried lunging at them again, Mario and Chopper stomped on its head and guarded its lunge attack once again. Vivian finished it off with a Shade Fist, despite feeling guilty for destroying a flower. With it out of the way, they progressed to the next area and found a hill going downward and a loop leading to a ramp. The ramp appeared to lead to some fluffy clouds.

"More clouds? Well, it's always nice to have them." Chopper smiled, eager to reach said clouds.

Going through the loop, Chopper and Sonic waited for the others to come to them before leaping onto the bouncy clouds. They had led them onto a much larger cloud acting just like the ground below.

"Oh, boy... Now that I think about it, I think I'd rather be back at that temple..." Bombette trailed, avoiding a white Puff called a Blow Puff that was trying to throw them off by blowing wind. Chopper jumped on its head, and Flyer's Flying Attack defeated it. Afterward, they had found the Sun Star on one small cloud platform that required the help of Mario's Spin Jump to get.

"Great! That means there's only four more left!" Chopper declared, putting the star away. "We're getting close to collecting them all back!"

Moving on ahead, they found a cloudy hill leading down to a spring that appeared to be aiming at a smaller cloud. The heroes went down the slope and got launched onto the cloud. This one was close to the ground, but jumping off was a bad idea, as there was a spike pit down below. However, there was another cloud just up ahead.

"I can help you here," Heartsy declared, using her hammer to send Chopper flying onto the other cloud. A blue orb was there, so he waited for the others to get to the other side before striking it with an electric cloud. With that, the cloud slowly began to move forward, allowing the ten to relax for a brief moment.

"So... We're here... Standing on a moving cloud..." Shadower trailed, unsure of what else to say.

"Poyo! (This sure is life!)" Kirby smiled.

Eventually the cloud had stopped, and below them was a good area to land. Jumping down, they progressed into a large garden with some trees around. A Lovely was nearby and lunged at Kirby, sending him tumbling back. Sonic took care of it with a simple Homing Attack. Another enemy was over by one tree, and it appeared to be a purple Dayzee called a Bubble Dayzee. Unlike a Crazee Dayzee, it could create bubbles to trap people in.

Mario: Those are some strange Dayzees...

When the Bubble Dayzee sang, bubbles came out from its mouth. Chopper gazed at one, only to get caught in it. "Uh oh... This isn't good..."

Scrub ran in and attacked the Bubble Dayzee with some Mini-Eggs, causing it to shrink it size. This gave Shadower the opportunity to finish it off with a Shadow Punch. This helped free Chopper once the Bubble Dayzee was gone.

Reaching the end of the area, they found a gate blocking their way, so they were forced to check the trees. Chopper whacked one tree and found a blue ! switch, which revealed a pipe after being hit. He was led into the background and hit a blue ! switch there to open the gate.

"Well that takes care of that," Chopper declared, returning to the others and proceeding into the next area. There were a couple of Electric Block surrounding a small stream, and two Demolition Phis spotted them and charged.

"Located! Located!"

"Hmmm... This looks like a great opportunity to try out my Diamond-Rank move!" Heartsy decided, gripping onto her hammer's handle tightly and spinning herself around. A pink cyclone had formed around her, and she started to spin rapidly around the area. The two Demolition Phis got caught in the twister and received some serious damage from the attack as soon as Heartsy finished. Chopper's Diamond Hammer ability helped clear them out.

"Those are a lot of Electric Blocks..." Sonic remarked. "But, nothing too difficult to get rid of, right, Chopper?"

"Uh huh!" Chopper nodded, firing electric balls at the blocks and destroying them. A pipe was revealed to be in the center, and since there was no pathway ahead, they were forced to enter the pipe. It had led them into a small, gray underground room with a couple of pictures and writing on the wall. By a fireplace was an old, brown, furry man on his rocking chair.

"Who are you, sonny? Are you one of them robots?" he asked.

"We're not robots," Chopper replied. "We're just... Ummmm..."

"Tourists," Flyer answered.

"Ummm... Yes! Tourists! And... Well, who are you?"

"Hrrmmmm… My name? Well... Lemme see... Ah, yes! My name is Shunny! I'm an old furry man that lives underground. That's why I'm always so hungry and weak. I do nothing but rock on this chair day after day until my pants come off."

Everyone noticed that Shunny did not appear to be wearing pants.

"Yeah... Well, have fun with that, I suppose?" Heartsy gawked, unsure of how to respond to , Flyer looked up at the writing and the pictures. He noticed a picture of a large Crystal Star and twenty others surrounding it. "Hey, Chopper... Look at that picture!"

Chopper took a look at the picture and gasped. "Hey... That's the Crystal Stars, right? And in the middle is that Master Star thingy I remember Tamber mentioning... I wonder what it's for?"

"Maybe one could be granted unlimited power," Flyer deduced. "Something called a 'Master Star' sounds like its power does not have any limits... I wonder if there's anything else in here as well?"

"Er… Nothing is here, fellers. Nothin' but an old man sitting here and, well, being old." Shunny said, lying back on his rocking chair while checking his muscles. Chopper, however, did spot the Winter Star in the room.

"Hey! Look what I found, guys! The Winter Star!" Chopper picked up the Winter Star and put it away. Realizing what he just did, Shunny eyed the Electric Block in the room.

"Say there, sonny… Would you mind breaking that Electric Block I just put there?" Shunny asked. Chopper, of course, listened and destroyed the block with an electric ball. A black panel was revealed to be underneath. "Now, could all of you sonnies just stand on there? I have something important to tell you guys."

Everyone shrugged and walked on the black panel, with Bombette asking, "So, why did you need us to stand on this panel anyway?"

Shunny got off his rocking chair and walked over to a lever behind it. Grinning, he removed his fake beard. "Ha HA! There's no such thing as a 'Shunny'! Just someone who's super-awesome and cool, that is!"

"Tamber... So you tried to trick us..." Chopper trailed.

Mario: This isn't very surprising...

"Yep! And guess what else you're going to experience?" Tamber pulled the lever, causing an explosion from below the heroes to send them flying to the surface and into the air. "Ha ha ha! That should take care of them! Now to make my exit out of here!"

With that, he exited through the pipe.

* * *

**Surface-**

While their little "flight" had not lasted very long, the explosion had sent them rather high in the air near a few clouds. Many of them were certainly not happy either.

"I swear... This jerk keeps getting in our way!" Scrub grumbled. "I seriously want to pound that furry butt of his!"

"I just want him to leave us alone," Chopper sighed. "I'll only fight him when he actually tries to seriously hurt us."

When they began to plummet, everyone closed their eyes tightly to avoid looking down. Just as they thought the landing would be severely bad for him, they felt themselves land on something...bouncy. It was revealed that they landed on a trampoline when they opened their eyes.

Mario: A trampoline?

"Well that's a relief! Good thing it saved our butts!" Sonic sighed in relief, jumping off the trampoline. He noticed up ahead was a gray and red robot hovering over the ground holding a large axe. They were all curious and followed the robot to the area ahead.

"Why can't I find any trees to cut down? Dr. Robotnik NEEDS me to get some wood!" the robot exclaimed in anger. Upon hearing footsteps, it turned around and spotted the heroes. "What's this? Are those Robotnik's enemies?"

"What the heck is this thing supposed to be?" Chopper asked.

"I'm known as a Lumberbot. I cut down trees for Dr. Robotnik, the greatest scientist in the world! He came here in search of some valuable treasure. I suppose you're here to stop him, so I won't let you!"

"Man, this is going to be good!" Scrub smirked. "We're gonna kick some robot butt!"

"Or maybe it is you who shall get the butt-kicking," the Lumberbot said, readying its axe. Everyone got in their fighting stances and prepared for battle.

**Tattle: **_That's a Lumberbot. It's basically a robot that chops down trees. Max HP is 100, Attack is 11, and Defense is 0. Its attacks range from attacking you with its axe to firing...logs at you? How is that possible? I would be careful of that axe if I were you. I mean, those things are dangerous! People who are even reading shouldn't even carry them around either! They're REALLY dangerous! Uh oh… Don't tell me I just broke the fourth wall, didn't I?_

"100 HP? Well, this might not be so bad." Chopper walked over to the Lumberbot and attacked it with a jump, taking 8 out of it and performing a stylish move in the process to gain Star Power.

"Ooh! Ooh! I wanna make the next move! Lemme at 'em!" Scrub shouted. Chopper shrugged and he stepped aside, letting the little punk Yoshi flutter over to the Lumberbot and pound on it eight times.

The Lumberbot gripped its axe and started to spin around vertically. Chopper was struck by this big attack and took 11 damage. In retaliation, he fired an electric ball at the robot, leaving it briefly stunned. This gave Mario the opportunity to run in and attack with another Jump.

"Crud… This isn't looking too good. It's time I searched for traps!" the Lumberbot searched for traps, but it couldn't find any. Regardless, it chopped a section of a tree nearby and sent the log flying in Mario's face. Afterward, the Lumberbot was hit with a jump and a Flying Attack.

"You know, I CAN disable this robot. My ability works great against robots, if you wanted to know, Chopper." Flyer pointed out right before he got struck by he Lumberbot's axe.

"Argh! You won't prevent me from doing my tree-cutting job!" the Lumberbot yelled.

"But cutting trees down is bad for the environment," Chopper noted, hitting the robot with an electric ball. Once Kirby hit it with a Cartwheel, it was down to 27 HP.

"Poyo, (Wow, this fight is going much faster than I thought,)" Kirby remarked. "Poyo! (I guess we really have gotten stronger!)"

"How will I explain my destruction to Dr. Robotnik if it comes to this?" the Lumberbot asked. "...No! I shall not think of that so soon."

"Well, you oughta be, 'cause we're going to turn you into scrap metal!" Sonic smirked.

The Lumberbot growled and brought his axe onto the ground, creating a shockwave that hit everyone. "HA! Enjoy that, bubs! 'Cause it'll be your-" Chopper cut it off just as soon as he hurled an electric ball at it. Heartsy pulled her hammer out next and smashed its head afterward.

Once the Lumberbot attacked Heartsy with its axe, Chopper made another jump, leaving it at 3 HP. With a Ground Pound, Scrub managed to finish the Lumberbot off, destroying it. Chopper earned a level up from the process and upgraded his BP to 45, making his stats 75 HP, 75 FP and 45 BP.

"That thing was so pathetic, that I never got the chance to make an attack," Bombette remarked.

"Same here," Shadower added.

"It was more like a mini mini-boss," Chopper deduced. "Maybe there could be more of them here?"

"Nah, not likely," Sonic replied. "It's not that fun when you're only going up against enemies like that! And I think I remember that piece of scrap metal mentioning Eggy being here. Maybe we oughta check out!"

They continued on ahead and found another gap, with a spiked pit before them. Thankfully, there were some grassy sections on the large spike pit. Nearby was a Bubble Dayzee ready to attack them, but Mario's hammer took care of it.

"So... How do we expect to get over these spikes?" Scrub asked. "They're too tall for me to get you over, Contadre."

"Well, I know when invisible, I can phase through spikes," Shadower informed. "Perhaps we should try that out?"

His eyes flashes, and everyone had become transparent. Chopper poked the spike and noticed his finger phase through it. Smiling, his entire body phased through the spikes, allowing him to reach a grassy section. Above him was a yellow ? block requiring a Spring Jump to hit, and that got him a Jammin' Jelly. Afterward, they passed through more spikes and reached the other side to find a flower garden to the lower left and a pathway to the upper right. A Lovely was found in the garden, which Chopper defeated using a fireball.

In the middle of the garden was a red ? block containing a Lightning Immunity, allowing Chopper to jump on an enemy made of lightning and not take damage. It also prevents paralysis too. He saved it for now and took the pathway up ahead. There was a section of the ground moving upward, along with a tree with a bush and rock nearby.

Chopper decided to search through the bush first, making someone quietly cry out. The tree didn't have anything hidden, and hitting the rock did nothing except for making it let out a small cry. The heroes didn't seem to hear it and progressed up the hill and onto some grassy platforms. Some were moving, while some remained still. The first platform was too far to reach, so Heartsy used her hammer to send Chopper flying toward it.

Thankfully, most of the other platforms did not require the use of a partner, as they were moving. After Scrub helped Chopper get over one last platform, they moved onward through the grassy road leading to another platform ahead, but they noticed the platforms were starting to break apart.

"Uh oh... Let's run!" Sonic cried, making a run for it to the platform leading back down. They definitely did not want to fall, especially into the pit of spikes below.

Thankfully, they had made it and went down the hill and to the next area. Once they were gone, the bush started to rustle, and the rock started to slightly move.

"Hey, that worked out better than I thought!" Scratch sighed, getting out of the bush. "I thought they'd never show up!"

"Yeah!" Grounder agreed, getting out of his rock form. His grin had turned to a gawk. "Wait... Weren't we supposed to get them?"

Scratch pondered and came to the realization. He smacked Grounder, causing his face to spin. "You idiot! Why didn't you stop them?!"

Grounder stopped his head from spinning and answered, "Well... I don't know... I- Hey, wait a minute! Why didn't _you_ stop them either?!"

"Dr. Robotnik wanted us to... Ummmm... Gee, I don't remember." Scratch sweat dropped. Apparently waiting for the enemy for four days seemed to make him forget. "Well that's not important! We'll go catch them and make sure Dr. Robotnik gets the Crystal Star!"

"OK!" Grounder chased after them, but he stopped at the spike pit. He had nearly fallen off, but once Scratch came running, both fell into the pit.

"_**YEOW!**_"

From the result, both skyrocketed into the air and off the island.

* * *

Upon reaching the next area, they noticed a dark blue building that looked somewhat familiar to the temple they had entered earlier. Only this one was much easier to see without the trees. Nearby was also a cliff leading off the island.

"Hey, where do you think that'll take us?" Bombette asked.

"Perhaps it might take us to our destination?" Flyer deduced.

"I hope so," Chopper said, approaching the doorway. "So, where do you think that Eggman person might be?"

"He's right here!" Floating above the building was Eggman on his floating Egg Mobile. "And for your information, the correct name is Dr. Robotnik!"

"Nah. Eggman's much more fitting." Sonic grinned. "So, I thought we'd get to see you again!"

"Ah, Sonic! So we finally meet again! And you've even brought your friends too! How nice!" Eggman grinned.

"Look, I'd like to stand here and mock you as usual, but we've got some serious business to take care of, so... I'm just going to cut this short." Sonic ran up to Eggman's mech and managed to send him crashing toward the cliff. He then did a little break dance. "See? Piece of cake!"

Everyone else: ...

The silence was then broken by the sound of a machine. Turning to the cliff, they saw a robot shaped like a star ascending and flying toward them. Piloting the machine was Eggman, obviously.

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho! Don't think I didn't come prepared, now!" Eggman cackled. "Looks like I'm here just in time to slice you all into little pieces with my new invention: the **Egg Star**!"

"Egg Star? Lemme guess: you got that idea from the Crystal Stars?" Sonic asked.

"Hmmmm... Perhaps. But that is not what's important. Prepare to face against your greatest obstacle yet!"

"Greatest obstacle? Yeah... I'd say that that ice angel freak was more of a bigger obstacle than you are." the hedgehog replied, attempting to tick off the scientist. Eggman's face was about to redden, but he fought the urge to yell and remained calm. Pressing a button, a turret had come out from below the Egg Star.

"Thankfully, I've installed many weapons strong enough to handle the likes of you and your friends, Sonic. So… If you happen to have any last words, I'll consider letting you say them _after _I destroy you all."

"But... How can we have any last words if we get destroyed?" Chopper asked.

"Oh, that's very simple: you won't!"

"That...sounds kind of stupid."

"Less talking, more action," Sonic said, stretching his arms and legs.

**Tattle: **_That's Dr. Eggman, just like before. That thing he's controlling is the Star Ship. Max HP is 170, Attack is 12, and Defense is 2. Dr. Eggman's Egg Star will fire at you with its turret or it might just to a rapid spin attack. Unfortunately, hammer attacks won't reach him, nor will ground attacks. You'll need to use attacks up in the air like a Jump or an Elemental Hand attack. It says here he has an IQ of 300... Yeesh! I wish I was that intelligent!  
_

"Maybe I should test out my Soft Stomp on the Egg Star? I haven't tried that out yet…" Chopper started the fight by jumping on the Egg Star and landing a Soft Stomp that lowered its defense to 0. Sonic added a Homing Attack to deal 9 damage.

"Let's see how you deal with THIS!" Eggman pressed a button, and the turret fired an orange blast at Chopper, knocking him back near the cliff. Thankfully, he managed to regain balance and run back to the doctor.

"See how you like this!" Chopper cried, firing an electric ball as he ran back to his friends. Sparks emitted from the Egg Star, leaving it slightly disabled and a certain egghead angry.

"Urgh! Stupid machine! WORK!" Eggman yelled, slamming his fists on the buttons until Kirby sent the Egg Star flying toward the entrance with a Cartwheel.

"Poyo! (Now that was fun!)" Kirby cheered, giving Chopper a high five, but then he was blasted by the Egg Star's turret. The mech had come flying back with an irritated Eggman.

"So, you want to play hard now, do you? Well, I've got some tricks up my sleeve!"

Chopper looked around for a wall, but all he saw was the doorway leading into the hidden palace. He decided to jump off the doorway and landed on Dr. Eggman's cockpit with a Wall Jump.

"Great work, Contadre! Now it's my turn!" Scrub fluttered over to Eggman's cockpit and attacked the cockpit with his Ground Pound, taking 8 out of it.

"Get a load of THIS!" Eggman pressed a red button and the Egg Star shot its flamethrower at Chopper and Vivian. Both guarded the attack and prevented themselves from getting a burn.

"Bad news, Chopper. I think your Soft Stomp effect on the Egg Star wore off." Flyer informed.

"Then I'll just use a Power Bounce," Chopper declared, jumping on the Egg Star eleven times to deal 12 damage. Flyer followed up with his Flying Attack, bringing the Egg Star to 94 HP.

"Grrr! See how you like this!" Eggman shouted, making the Egg Star fire its turret at Flyer and knock him to the floor. Thankfully, he was able to stand up and shake off the attack. "Well... You all are much tougher than I thought... This should be interesting!"

"Well of course it will be," Sonic assured, hitting the Egg Star with another Homing Attack. Chopper tossed another electric ball to cause more static to emit for a brief moment. But despite this, Eggman grinned evilly, and Sonic managed to catch sight of it. "What's up with the grin?"

"Gah ha ha ha ha ha ha! It's just that... I feel now is the perfect time to demonstrate something a little special!" Eggman pressed an orange button, causing the area to shake.

"What's going on?" Vivian asked. Just then, a spike appeared on top of Eggman's cockpit.

"Welcome to your doom, my friends! This spike will protect me from any of your stupid little jumps! You're no match for me now!" Eggman explained, soon breaking into evil laughter. "Oh ho ho ho ho! It's not use now! Give up!"

The Egg Star began to spin around and it rushed past everyone, dealing 12 damage to them all. Chopper pondered after shaking off the attack. Obviously jumping would do no good, but electric energy would be useful... Maybe, just maybe...

"I think I can hit this thing," Shadower noted, throwing a Shadow Punch at the Egg Star, lowering its defense in the process. "Try using one of your Elemental Hand attacks, Chopper."

"OK!" Chopper nodded, firing another electric ball at the Egg Star.

"Grrrgh! Impossible! How are you still hitting me? Unless… No!" Eggman let the turret fire rapidly at them eight times, each doing three damage. They were all able to guard the attack and not take as much damage.

"Time to test out my Diamond Hand attack!" Chopper smiled, charging up an electric ball and firing it directly at the Egg Star. It managed to deal 12 damage. "Hey! That was pretty good!"

With that, Vivian attacked next and hit the Egg Star's cockpit with her Shade Fist, leaving it with a burn, along with bringing it down to 47 HP.

"No way! I can't believe this! Grrrrrr!" the baffled Eggman fired a laser at Chopper, leaving him a bit exhausted in the process.

"Ugh... This isn't going too well..." Chopper groaned, deciding to attack with another Diamond Hand. Heartsy's Hearty Throw helped bring the Egg Star to 28 HP.

To their surprise, they all caught a glimpse of two Shine Sprite symbols and another vertically changing to a Mushroom, flower, star, and a Poison Mushroom. By throwing a small star at the third slot, Chopper had gotten three Shine Sprites matched together, causing him and his partners to fully restore their HP, FP and Star Power. Along with that, the audience began to fill up while they continued to fight on the stage.

"What is this blasphemy?!" Eggman gaped.

"It's called a 'Bingo', fatty!" Scrub answered with a smirk.

"'Fatty'? Well... I suppose I should teach you a little manners!" the Egg Star began to spin again and charged at the heroes. They brought their guard up and took 11 damage in the process. Afterward, Chopper threw an ice ball at the Egg Star, while Sonic smirked and clenched his fist.

"Sonic Wind!" Sonic shouted.

"Wait... Sonic Wind?" Eggman gawked, now seeing a large, blue gust of wind surround the Egg Star. This wind was very harmful, as it managed to deal 8 damage and bring it to 13 HP. "Urgh... This isn't over yet!"

Pressing a button, the turret started to fire rapidly at the group. They brought their guard up and took the 16 damage received by the ship. With the burn left from Vivian, the Egg Star went down to 12 HP. Chopper decided to start off by throwing an electric ball at it, causing a large amount of sparks to disable the controls on Eggman's mech.

"Ack! The controls! They won't function!"

"All right, Eggy! Time to finish this the old-fashioned way!" Sonic jumped in the air and attacked the ship with his Whirlwind. While not as powerful as his Sonic Wind, it was enough to defeat the Egg Star and cause some explosions to come out from its exterior. The ship started to crash toward the cliff as a result from the attack.

"What the…! _**NO!**_ This… This can't be happening! You'll regret this, hedgehog! I swear I'll be back!" Eggman yelled, his voice decreasing in volume as the ship crashed into the water below the floating the island. Chopper smiled in victory as he claimed 39 Star Points.

"Well, even if he were to come back, he'd still be outnumbered by us," Chopper said. "Plus, you know what they say, the more the merrier!"

"Yup, that's true," Sonic agreed.

"Anyway, I guess we should explore that building," the Star Warrior ran over to the doorway of the building and noticed a staircase leading downward. They all took the staircase into the building known as the Palace of Secrets, unaware of Tamber taking notice of them.

"Ack! No! That palace will get them closer to the Master Star!" Tamber gaped, followed by stomping the ground like a spoiled child. "No no no no no! That puffball can't have what's rightfully mine! The Master Star belongs to ME! Gah... I need to think of a new plan..."

He jumped in the air and spread his arms and legs out. With that, he began to glide away from the palace thanks to his fur's capability of doing so.

_"Just you wait, puffball! You're going to get what's coming!"_


	88. Attack of the Demon Beasts

Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, they were all caught by the beauty of the palace's interior. The floor was made of blue marble, while the dark blue walls were made of a rocky texture. There were a few pillars holding the hallway up as well. Everything was all nice and dandy...until they noticed flames rise up from a fire geyser.

"Eep! That was close!" Chopper cried, his face nearly getting caught in the flames.

"Looks like things are going to get hot," Sonic stated. "It's not too bothersome. I mean, it's just one fire geyser..."

"Obviously there would be much more where that came from," Flyer remarked. "There usually isn't just one fire geyser. They tend to be in a lot of groups due to to the likelihood of there being magma in the-"

"Then we shall move onward then!" Chopper declared, cutting Flyer off, who had become a bit annoyed. They progressed through the hallway, dodging a few fire geysers that appeared from not only the floor, but also the ceiling. Near the door, a wall of fire geysers were blocking their way, forcing Shadower to turn them all transparent in order to get past them. With that, they entered the door.

They came across a small set of steps leading up to some flat ground. There were also some sections of the wall that would stick out quickly to knock anyone out of the area. Not only that, but Koopatrols in light blue armor were lurking around.

"Uh oh... Not Koopatrol Scouts..." Chopper groaned.

"Koopatrol Scouts? You know them?" Bombette gawked.

"Well, I ran into these guys before. Though, seeing as I ran into them in Chapter 11 of the first story, maybe they'll be much weaker for me!"

Mario took a look at the pale blue-armored Koopas, and their pale blue eyes caught sight of him and Chopper. The two jumped in surprise and got in a fighting stance.

"Well, would ya look at that? If it isn't Mario! And Chopper's even here too! Man, we're lucky people to find you here! I guess this means we get to pulverize you!"

The two Koopatrol Scouts charged at the two, but Chopper had used his electrical powers and hit them with his Ultra Gloves.

"_**AIIYEEEEE!**_ It's shocking!" the two shouted, only to get finished off by Bombette's Bob-omb Blast. The pink Bob-omb landed back by the group, slightly injured from the explosion.

"Are you all right?" Flyer asked.

"Ugh... Yeah, I'll be fine." Bombette assured, standing back up. "I'm used to that ability. Just don't get in the way of it, though."

They found another staircase up ahead - two, actually. One was going down to the right, and the staircase below was moving to the left. Upon reaching the bottom, they were met with a door up ahead and a long hallway to the north. The northern hallway didn't really lead to anywhere, except for a crack in the wall. By blowing it up, they found a Shine Sprite, a chest containing a Volt Shroom and a hidden Star Piece under the floor thanks to Chopper's Spin Jump. Afterward, they returned to the other hallway and spotted a robot resembling a hermit crab. However, unlike the ones in the temple, these were brown, and their body was barely seen due to the large, bulky rock shell on its back. It was revealed to be called a Rock Shell, and when Chopper hit it with his hammer, it didn't leave a scratch.

"Whoa... My hammer doesn't do a thing!" Chopper gaped.

Mario: They must have a very high defense...

Despite most of their normal attacks (except Flyer's), the Rock Shell didn't appear to budge. However, when Bombette exploded, it had flipped over, revealing its soft side. When Chopper jumped on it, he was able to defeat it.

"These are just like those Clefts!" Bombette recalled. "An explosion will flip it on its back and become vulnerable!"

"Well that should be very useful," Flyer remarked. "Perhaps more of these specimens will be here?"

"Maybe..." Chopper trailed, heading through the door ahead. They ran into a round room with a door ahead, and another north and south. The room also appeared to be moving around as well. At first, it looked all right, but then flames had appeared on the ceiling from the fire geysers.

"This...doesn't look so good," Heartsy gawked. "But I think we can avoid them, right?"

"I hope so..." the Star Warrior jumped on the spinning ground and reached the door to the left. They entered that door into a room with a green ! switch near the edge of the floor. Up above were some blocks barricading what appeared to be a fire stone. Down below, however, was lava.

"Poyo! (I think this is the first time we saw lava in this adventure!)" Kirby remarked.

"Hmmmm... I might need to come up with some sort of hypothesis for this puzzle..." Flyer trailed, taking out a tablet and writing on it.

"Dude, we don't have time for this stuff! We need to-"

"Hold on, Scrub. Formulating a plan is much more helpful than you think..."

After a moment, Flyer had formulated a plan and had suggested that Chopper get Sonic to retrieve the object if it ends up falling. Though, he informed that they would have to time it correctly. Scrub decided to give the green ! switch a kick, causing the fire stone to fall. With that, Chopper kicked Sonic while he was in a ball and got him to retrieve the item at the right moment.

"Well that takes care of that!" Sonic grinned, tossing the fire stone to Chopper. "Way too easy!"

They left that room and headed to the door south. The first thing they found were some rocky platforms and lava below. Unfortunately, the platforms did not appear to be sturdy, as they had some cracks in them. Needless to say, the heroes were not too happy to see this room.

"Ummmm... I know this is pretty obvious and all, but I don't think we should fall..." Chopper gulped.

"Well look on the bright side, Contadre! The jumps don't appear to difficul-AAHHH!" Scrub stepped back as the platform before them crumbled. He let out a sigh of relief, glad not to have been on that platform. Strangely, however, it reappeared.

"The platform just appeared?" Flyer gawked. "But there's no logical way for that to-"

"No time for that! Jumping time!" Chopper declared, quickly crossing the lava with the platforms. He came back with what appeared to be a water stone. "That was too close!"

With that out of the way, they returned to the previous door and headed into a small room with a wide door. The left and right side had an empty space of what was depicted as fire and water. Chopper understood what this meant and put the correct stones in each, opening the door. Of course, there was also a hidden Shine Sprite high above at the top of the room, which was identified by its shadow. Chopper's Spring Jump helped get it, and afterward, they entered the room ahead.

Unfortunately, they were led into a hallway moving to the right. Why it was unfortunate were the sounds of shots being fired. It was quite obvious what was being fired.

Mario: I hear Bullet Bills...

Walking through the hallway, they saw a dark green Bullet Bill flying in their direction called an Army Bullet Bill. As per usual, Vivian's Veil helped hide Chopper and his friends from the oncoming projectiles. They were met with the Army Bullet Blaster and defeated it thanks to Bombette and proceeded through the door.

The next room contained a few Firebars spinning around a narrow pathway, and surrounding them was also more lava. Mario went first and leaped over the Firebars, with Chopper coming next and gaining some coins.

"Hmmmm... That Labyrinth Temple was pretty annoying, but on the other hand, this place has dangerous lava..." Shadower pondered. "Which to prefer?"

"If you ask me, I prefer this area," Sonic remarked. "I'm not that good of a swimmer."

When they reached the end of the pathway, they found no sight of a door. However, they did see a ledge up above. Considering that there was a wall on the opposite side, Chopper took this opportunity to reach the upper level and meet two Rock Shells. Using his Diamond Hammer, he managed to do away with them both.

When they jumped down one step, they noticed a beam of fire coming their way. Shrieking, they all jumped away from the beam and got to safety.

"What the heck was that?!" Bombette gaped. "We could've been singed!"

"Though, it looked like it could easily be avoided if we stayed low..." Vivian noticed upon seeing the fire beam fire once again. That's when the gears in Chopper's head started to work, and a light bulb appeared over his head.

"Tube time!" Chopper proclaimed, transforming into a tube, while everyone else was forced to join him. When the fire beam stopped, he rolled into danger territory and watched as the fire went over him. "I had a feeling this would work!"

When the beam stopped, he got out of his tube form and jumped onto a small step over the small tank gun shooting fire. They were met with a door up ahead. Along with that, they were starting to see pillars in the background rather than a cave.

"This place is starting to look less like a cave," Shadower remarked. "I'm all fine with that!"

Mario: Let's just hope things don't get any hotter.

Chopper entered the door first and noticed a hill moving downward. At the end of the rocky hill was a gate locked shut. However, it didn't seem to attach to the ground, though. Above them, however, was a large hole, and they could hear the sound of someone pushing someone. After getting a better look, they saw Tamber pushing a boulder.

"Let's see how you like being smooshed, puffball!" Tamber grinned, pushing the boulder behind them, which started to roll after them. "You won't be getting my Master Star now!"

"Run for it, guys!" Chopper cried, running down the hill first. Everyone followed and reached the gate. Using his ability, Chopper slipped under the gate with his friends and watched the boulder shatter upon hitting the gate.

"That didn't look so strong," Heartsy remarked.

"Well, we could've probably stopped it, but it would've been too risky," Flyer noted. "What matters is that we're safe from harm."

"Hey, guys! Look what I've found!" Chopper announced, holding a pale red Crystal Star in his hands. "I found the Ghost Star!"

"Neat! That means we're only missing one more, along with the one star located here!" Sonic grinned.

They decided to move on ahead and found two more Rock Shells. Defeating them gave Chopper a level up, allowing him to upgrade his HP to 80. They then found a pedestal with a large, dark pink star embedded in its center. For some reason, it reminded them of the pedestal back at the Fountain of Dreams.

"Poyo? (Maybe this'll be just like trying to find a Crystal Star?)" Kirby wondered.

"Well, only one way to find out," Chopper declared, jumping on the pedestal. Suddenly, the star began to glow a bright pink, and a blue beam had come down on Chopper and enveloped him in it. When it disappeared, he was gone.

"What happened to Contadre?" Scrub gaped.

"Perhaps this is just a transporter," Flyer deduced, flying over to it and standing on it. Just like Chopper, he had disappeared from the beam.

"We should check and see where it leads," Vivian suggested, entering the beam next, followed by the rest.

* * *

**Outside, near an altar-**

"Hmmm… I swear the Palace of Secrets should be around here somewhere…" John trailed as he looked carefully around an old, brown temple. There were stairs leading to the top, and up there was a large, green star resembling a Crystal Star and also a smaller, brown star.

Lemmy took notice of the star and began to point at it. "Mmmgffh! (Hey! That's that weird star thing! C'mon! Let's get it! I WANT it!)"

John turned around, his tail accidentally hitting Lemmy's face and knocking him over. "Oh, trust me. I don't think our targets are up there. It's most likely that they're in the Palace of Secrets. Thankfully, I just found its location at the side of this temple.

Lemmy slowly got up and followed John into the temple using a pedestal, unaware of two greedy plumbers that were hiding behind a few bushes. They revealed themselves and stared at the Master Star with that insidious look in their eyes.

"Wah ha ha ha ha ha! At long last! That star is ours!" Wario grinned. "We're going to be filthy, stinkin' rich!"

"Yeah! More money for us!" Waluigi agreed, following his chubby brother up the stairs. However, they were stopped when Tamber landed in front of them. "Huh? Who's this guy?"

"That Master Star is MINE!" Tamber exclaimed, clenching his fists. "You losers can go take a hike! That is, if you want to fight me!"

"Whaa? Yours? Wah ha ha ha! Yeah right! Like you can put up a fight!" Wario cackled, flexing his muscles. "Haben't you seen these-"

POW!

The two Wario Bros. let out a cry as they were sent flying off the island with one punch. Tamber grinned in satisfaction as he walked up to the top of the temple where the altar was, a splash being heard in the process. He took this time to gaze at the Master Star, along with the other star.

"Don't worry, Starry. You're safe in my hands." Tamber assured, hugging the Master Star. "Though, I thought I heard of something mentioning that brown star... I wonder what it was? ...Nah, must be nothing special!"

* * *

**Palace of Secrets-**

After being teleported, Chopper found himself higher underground, but the surroundings had vastly changed. There was no sight of any lava, and the rocky, blue ground had transformed into a nice, crystal green color. In the background was a sparkling waterfall as well.

There were no walls in sight, nor were there any doors. When he stepped off, the others had appeared and gazed at the place as well.

"Dude... This is awesome!" Sonic grinned.

"I find it very intriguing that there's an underground palace is this area..." Flyer remarked.

Unfortunately, they were not alone, as Demolition Phis were roaming around. They spotted the group and fired bombs, but the group did away with them with their usual attacks.

"More Phis here? Well this is going to be fun..." Chopper sighed, hitting a yellow ? block to reveal an ultimate Shroom. "Ooh! This should be helpful!"

Mario: A silver Mushroom?

"Yeah, it's an Ultimate Shroom. They recover 100 HP!"

"Sounds neat," Sonic grinned.

"I bet those'll replace those Ultra Shrooms now that we have these," Scrub predicted.

They continued onward to the end of the area, where they found two red ! switches and a door. Unlike the greenish floor, this door was blue with a hint of yellow embedded in it as well. Hitting one of the switches caused the door to open, but there was one small problem: another door happened to be just ahead, and it was sealed. Plus, the back door seemed to close quicker.

"Poyo... (This doesn't look so easy...)" Kirby trailed.

"You know, I think I might know what to do here," Sonic said, stretching his arms. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin', Chop?"

"Well, I was thinking about finding the Sky Star, but I think I know what you mean," Chopper nodded, keeping Sonic in place as a ball and then hitting the switch opening the first door. Everyone hurried through and let Sonic hit the other switch, allowing them to progress through the next door. Sonic had barely made it through both doors, though.

"That was a close one…" Sonic panted.

They found two small steps with a couple of small Rainbow Blocks that Chopper easily destroyed. In the background was a depiction showing a small, furry being handing a brown star over. It was very old, and it wasn't very clear either. Flyer took a good look and pondered.

"That painting looks like someone handing a Crystal Star over..." Flyer deduced. "But the only thing being seen by the other picture are some white hands... Almost like gloves."

"Like gloves? That's very difficult to decipher..." Vivian trailed, only to notice the Sky Star was nearby, which made her gasp. "Chopper! The Sky Star!"

"Really? This is GREAT!" Chopper cheered, holding up the Sky Star. "Now we got all the Crystal Stars that were stolen!"

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! Ah, thank you so much for finding that Crystal Star for us, Chopper!"

Chopper's expression had changed as soon as two Shadow Sirens rose from the shadows, along with a Duplighost landing near them. Most of them were less than thrilled to see them.

"Those guys again?" Scrub groaned.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Chopper?" Beldam recalled. "Oh, yesss… We've been waiting to see you again! You do remember us, right?"

"Ummmmm... Not really." Chopper lied, more interested in seeing the witch's reaction.

"_**WHAAAAAAAT?!**_ H-How could you forget US?! We are the thre – I mean, the Mighty Shadow Sirens…with freak-sheet here… We've encountered you many times!"

"Guh-huh!" Marilyn agreed.

"Well this Slick's probably not too smart," Doopliss remarked.

"Quiet down, freak," Beldam silenced.

"Well, I take it you must be another one of Chopper's enemies, am I right?" Sonic asked, rubbing underneath his nose with his index finger. "I'm guessing you know something about those Shadow Brother guys..."

"I remember seeing that Duplighost before, but I don't think you told me about two other shadow beings," Flyer remarked. "Say... They look similar to Vivian!"

"Those two shadow beings are my sisters, Flyer," Vivian noted. "I'm the youngest of the three..."

"Youngest? But you don't appear to be the smallest. Then again, siblings can be much different in size and height..."

"Ah, Vivian, dearie… I almost nearly forgot about you. I'll make sure that once everything is all over, I'll give you the biggest punishment I've ever thought of! I might as well strap you to a train while being shocked! That should teach you a little lesson!"

"Don't even try to!" Chopper exclaimed, defending Vivian. "You'll have to get through me first!"

"Ah, yes... Obviously you must be taught a lesson as well. Well, I might as well get started." Beldam fired her ice magic at him, but Chopper hurled a fireball that managed to counter it, causing an explosion between both projectiles. "Ack! Marilyn! Freak-sheet! Do something!"

"OK! OK! …But call me by my NAME!" Doopliss groaned, flying up and coming down headfirst toward Chopper, only to be blown back by Flyer's wind abilities.

"Guh!" Marilyn was about to unleash her electric attack, but then she got bonked in the head by a stick harshly, leaving her knocked out. Soon, Doopliss had gotten knocked out as well when he got back up, leaving Beldam furious.

"Arrrgh! Who is responsible for this?!" the witch turned around in anger, only to be struck by a stick as well. The last thing she noticed was a small person in a blue hood carrying a stick.

"Mmmgffh! (Take that, hag!)" Lemmy declared, dropping the stick. With the Shadow Sirens and Doopliss knocked out, he began to dance happily. "Mmmggfhh! (Yeah! I knocked out those freaks I saw before!)"

The group couldn't help but gawk at the strange hooded being, with Shadower mentioning, "Weird... This person's the same size as you, Chopper."

"Hey... You're right!" Chopper realized. "Maybe he's a friend?"

"Who are you exactly?" Heartsy asked, approaching Lemmy first. He blinked in response and quickly zipped over to her.

"Mmmggfhh? (Are you single?)" Lemmy asked.

"Did...anyone understand what he was just saying?" Bombette asked. "His voice sounds muffled..."

"I think he was asking for a Mushroom," Chopper deduced, handing Lemmy a Mushroom. "Here ya go!"

In response, Lemmy threw the Mushroom to the side and turned back to Heartsy. "Mmmmgff. Mmmggffhh. _Mmmggffhhh_? (Are. You. _Single_?)"

Getting a better understanding of Lemmy, Heartsy replied, "I'm not interested in you..."

"What was he saying?" Chopper asked.

"It doesn't matter what he just said. There's a more important thing at hand." John said, making his entrance by landing in front of the group. His appearance caught everyone off guard, including Lemmy, who didn't expect him to land so quickly.

"Whoa... Talk about surprising..." Sonic muttered.

"So... Who is the one named Chopper?" John asked, his eyes darting around the room.

"...He is?" Chopper answered, pointing at Lemmy. John responded by attempting to claw at him, but he jumped just in time to avoid.

"Yeah... Not gonna work."

"Mmmmgggffhhh! (Hey! Next time, warn me when you're going to jump in!)" Lemmy shouted.

Mario: Who are you guys?

"My name is John, and this small demon is Lemmy," John answered politely. "We are dual Demon Beasts sent by King Dedede to destroy you."

"Mmggfhhh? (Who's King Dedede?)" Lemmy asked.

"The fat penguin we had met briefly before coming here... Then again, we barely had the time to even meet each other. But that's not important. We have a mission, and we plan to accomplish that."

"King Dedede?" Chopper clenched a fist and glared at the two. "I can't believe he's still trying to stop us..."

"Yeah, well, let's just get this over with," John decided, getting in a fighting stance. "We'll wipe you and your friends off the face of the earth!"

"Mmmggffhhh! (Yeah! ...Except for that girl!)" Lemmy added.

"No. We're wiping them all out."

**Tattle: **_That's Lemmy, a poor little…whatever he is. Max HP is 140, Attack is 11, and Defense is 0. All he really does is attack you with a stick and a boomerang. Other than that, there's nothing too special about him. He's just a small demon...  
_

**Tattle: **_That's John. Compared to Lemmy, he sure looks like a real Demon Beast! Max HP is 160, Attack is 12, and Defense is 0. Watch out! He can charge and attack both you and your partner! I'd say take him out first before focusing on Lemmy. He's the REAL powerhouse of the two, and boy does he look intimidating as well! It'd actually be interested in keeping him as a pet to scare away any thieves in Rogueport if he wasn't evil.  
_

Chopper started off the fight by taking his hammer out and attacking the two with his Diamond Hammer, successfully doing 8 damage to both. Flyer attacked with his Tornado next and delivered an additional 9 damage to the two.

"You pests!" John growled, rushing toward Chopper and attacking him with his claw. Lemmy tossed his stick at Chopper, who had guarded the attack. He then ran in to reclaim his stick afterward.

"OK... So they can do some serious damage together... I'd say we should handle John first." Chopper suggested.

"Good idea. Though, it's also a good idea to hit 'em both." Sonic noted before hitting the two with a Spin Dash. Chopper had agreed to what Sonic said, but he still wished to take out the bigger threat, so he jumped on John's head.

John had charged at Chopper again, but this time, he turned his body so his tail could smack him. He guarded the attack, along with Lemmy's thrown boomerang that could hit two people at once. Sonic had managed to guard the attack as well.

"Mmmggffhh! (I love this boomerang!)" Lemmy remarked as he caught it.

"See how you like this, John!" Chopper exclaimed, using his Diamond Hand ability to fire a charged electric ball at John, taking 12 out of him in the process. Vivian raised her finger next and scorched both John and Lemmy with her Fiery Jinx.

"Mmmmgffhh! (Owwie! This is going to damage my parka!)" Lemmy cried.

"Just shut up and fight, Lemmy," John growled, jumping in the air and bringing his feet down on Chopper to flatten him. When he jumped back, Lemmy ran up to Vivian and hit her on the head with his stick. This was something she was easily able to guard.

Chopper decided to equip his Tornado ability and used its power to spin in a tornado and hit both John and Lemmy for 8 damage. Scrub's Gulp also helped deal an additional 8 damage to the two as well. In retaliation, John attacked Scrub, and Lemmy threw his stick at Chopper again.

"I might as well hit John with a Power Bounce," Chopper muttered, approaching John and jumping on him eight times with his Power Bounce. Heartsy bashed John with her hammer and brought him down to 66 HP.

"Unghh... Well, you people are pretty good. That fat penguin never mentioned your guys' strength..." John muttered, now becoming a bit exhausted. "This should be interesting..."

He charged at Chopper again and used his claws to attack. Unfortunately, this attack was Superguarded, making him take 1 damage. Even Lemmy's stick attack was Superguarded, so he had taken 1 damage as well. Add the burn they both got hurt from, and they took 2 damage overall.

"OK, let's get 'em again!" Chopper declared, attacking John and Lemmy with his Diamond Hammer. Bombette had followed up with her Bob-omb Blast and dealt 10 damage to the two. This did not bode well for John and Lemmy, but they had not given up. John jumped on Bombette's head, and Lemmy threw his boomerang at both Chopper and Bombette. Being low on HP, Chopper ate a Jelly Ultra to recover 50 HP and FP, and Mario put his Triple Jump to use and hit both John and Lemmy for 10 damage.

"John's only got 36 HP left, and Lemmy only has 59. Not too bad..." Chopper remarked.

"Argh! I will get you for this!" John roared, attacking Mario with his claws. He guarded the attack, while Lemmy threw his stick at Chopper, which he managed to guard as well.

Chopper went in for another tornado attack, while Kirby charged into both John and Lemmy with his Fireball ability. John did not have much left in him at this moment. He himself was getting exhausted, especially when he attacked Kirby. Though he did full damage, his attack was not as fast. Lemmy did not have much of an issue when throwing his boomerang.

"Mmmggffhh? (Are you OK, John?)" Lemmy asked.

"Do I look all right to you?!" John hissed, making Lemmy recoil. Chopper had struck John with a Power Smash, and it was all over for him when Kirby finished off the demon beast with his Stone attack. This caused John to collapse from exhaustion.

"Mmmgffghh! (John!)" Lemmy exclaimed.

"Looks like it's just between you and us," Chopper declared.

Lemmy glared at Chopper and took out his boomerang. He threw it at both Chopper and Kirby to deal 11 damage, then he caught it when he returned. The Star Warrior and Flyer worked together as a team to attack, with Chopper taking 12 out of him with a Spin Jump, and Flyer using a Flying Attack to bring Lemmy down to 22 HP.

"Mmmggffhhh! (You people are seriously getting on my nerves!)" Lemmy shouted. "Mmmggffhhh! (All I wanted was that girl!)"

"What the heck is he even saying?" Bombette asked.

Annoyed, Lemmy ran up to Bombette and bonked her on the head with his stick. This did not go well for her, as her fuse lit up in anger and made her blow up in front of Lemmy. Chopper hit him with a tornado attack, and he did not have much else left in him.

Though Lemmy was weak, he did manage to knock Chopper's Tornado ability off him. Chopper was about to make an attack, but Heartsy had already finished him off with her Hearty Hammer.

"Hey! I was going to finish him!" Chopper complained.

"Well... I guess you were a bit too late." Heartsy replied, though she gave him a smile. "Though I can give you a little kiss you make you feel better."

Chopper instantly backed away in response and claimed his 45 Star Points. Afterward, both Lemmy and John had gotten up from being unconscious, though they were very weak. John, in particular, appeared to be in the most pain.

"You... You..." John stammered.

"You what?" Chopper gawked.

"You may have bested me, but just you wait... When the time comes, you will face against more of us. Some even stronger than me..." the Demon Beast let out a couple of painful coughs as he held his chest in pain. "Even some that I don't even work for exist as well..."

"What are you trying to say?" Sonic asked.

"I'm saying that you should watch your back, because you're bound to run into more. One, in particular, can even possess people and take over their mind. You never know... You may possibly run into it. And when you all suffer, we'll see who has the last laugh!"

A bright light had emitted through John's chest, and as it got brighter, he had exploded, leaving no remains of him behind.

For Lemmy, all he could do was gape in fear and run. Unfortunately, he had not been paying too much attention and bumped into the depiction on the wall, knocking him out.

"Boy... That was pretty unlucky of him..." Chopper trailed.

"But what John said... Do you think we should be on the lookout?" Vivian asked.

"Ummmmm... Well, we'll find out..."

With nothing else to do, the heroes had progressed on ahead to a staircase leading higher up into the palace. There were a couple of them to the left and right, with the final staircase moving to the upper left. They headed through the door into a small room with a pedestal to the far left and a statue of what appeared to be a furry being just like the one on the depiction they saw earlier.

"Hey... Look at that statue!" Scrub gaped while pointing at it. "It looks so cool!"

"I think something's behind it," Bombette noted, noticing a small crack behind. "I'll just blow up this statue and we can be on our way!"

Unfortunately, her trick didn't work, as the statue remained unfazed from the explosion. "What?! How did that not work?!"

Mario: I don't think your explosion is strong enough.

"Crud... I guess we can just enter that pedestal to our left..."

"Yeah, we should do that," Chopper agreed, running over to the pedestal. "After all... We need to find a Crystal Star!"

After jumping on it, Chopper was transported out of the palace. The others quickly jumped into the beam to follow.

* * *

Unbeknownst to them, the Shadow Sirens had gotten up and noticed that Chopper and his friends were gone. Beldam was none too pleased.

"Argh! That's great! We had that boy in our hands, but now he's gone!" Beldam growled. "How are we supposed to stop him?"

"Guh? Guuuh?" Marilyn grunted.

"Hmmmm? Ah, yes! Of course! There is always THAT! Chopper and his friends will be history with THAT!"

"Hey, what about that freak that knocked us out?" Doopliss asked, looking over at the unconscious Lemmy.

"Oh, him? Well, I would teach that brat a lesson, but we have no time for that. Let us go, my sort-of-lovelies! Marilyn! Freak-sheet! We have some other business to take care of!"

"Guh-huh!" Marilyn replied, following her sisters into the shadows.

"Aw, c'mon! It took me a while to get here!" Doopliss complained, making his exit afterward.

* * *

**There's that small little cameo of Wario and Waluigi...  
**

**Originally, Lemmy and John were not going to be Demon Beasts. But, seeing that I didn't put much into King Dedede sending Demon Beasts after Chopper, I think it would be fitting for them to be that. There was no other explanation of their existence, so I went with that.**

**Next chapter is the boss chapter! Hmmm... I wonder who the boss is?**


	89. Tamber: Puffball vs Tulip

Chopper jumped off of the pedestal and landed on green grass. He was now back in the forest area of the island, but this time there was a brown temple standing before him after walking through the doorway outside. There was a round, flat area around the temple, and surrounding it were many trees. Obviously this was the island's center, if he had to deduce.

He noticed something glowing in his pocket and took it out. The Island Star appeared to be nearby! His friends caught glimpse of it when they took notice of it.

"Chopper, your map is glowing!" Vivian noticed. "We must be near the Crystal Star!"

"Really? Great! I guess we finally found our destination! ...Though my guess is that there's going to be a boss coming up soon." Chopper said, running over to the front of the temple. There was a Save Block and Heart nearby, and past that was staircase leading up to an altar. "My guess is that there's a big monster guarding the Crystal Star!"

"Most likely," Sonic agreed. "But I'm ready to take it on if it gets to us!"

"Though, these stairs might be a bit of a pain," Bombette remarked.

"Well, we've climbed countless things! This should be easy a cake!" Chopper exclaimed, hitting both blocks and making his way up the staircase. The rest followed and noticed as they got closer, they could see a green glow.

"Hey, I wonder what that light is. It's kind of like that glowing light of the Crystal Stars." Heartsy noticed.

When they had reached the altar, they noticed a large, green Crystal Star sitting atop of a small, silver pedestal. It was much brighter than a Crystal Star. They could also feel a large amount of power swelling in the green star as well.

"Whoa... That thing looks awesome... I bet that's the Master Star!" Chopper gaped, gazing at the star's beauty. When he saw a brown Crystal Star beside it, he quickly got out of his little trance. "There it is, guys! The Crystal Star!"

"And there's no one to stop us!" Scrub cheered. "This should be ea-"

"Oh no you don't! Not when I'm here!"

Everyone stopped in their tracks as they heard the sound of someone climbing the temple. Tamber had climbed up to the top using the spikes on his gloves and was slightly panting in exhaustion upon landing in front of them.

"You jerks ain't getting this star!" Tamber exclaimed.

"Tamber? You're still at it?" Chopper gawked. "Look, we need the Crystal Star. It's important to both us and the universe!"

"I can't believe none of my plans worked against you!" Tamber raged. "Each and every time I try to do something, you just come back unharmed!"

"Well, they have helped us get the Crystal Stars," Shadower mentioned.

"I see what this all is now! You people knew how to get past my traps! You studied this place before you even came here!"

"No we didn't," Flyer replied. "We knew nothing about this place other than the Crystal Star. Your traps were just not very...effective."

"But... I... Well the Master Star's mine!" Tamber shouted harshly, clinging onto the Master Star. "No puffball in the world will get their hands on this thing!"

"This guy's impossible to negotiate with," Heartsy groaned.

"I don't care about that Master Star thingy!" Chopper shouted back. "That brown Crystal Star is what I came for! Just stop trying to bother us!"

"Pbbbbbbbbthh! Like I'm going to listen to a PUFFBALL! You know your race is the reason why there's global warming and suffering in the world!"

"Stop calling me a puffball! That's not what I am!"

"What's that? You want me to call you it again? OK, then! You are an abominable puffball! You puffballs can't do anything right! Plus, puffballs can't-"

"Shut up, please! Why do you keep doing this to me?"

"Because, you're one of the few people to make it up here, and the only option is to do something so horrible to you!" Tamber grinned. "So... Let me get back to ripping on you again!"

Thus, his insults continued on, which started to get on everyone's nerves. Chopper, in particular, was having enough of it, and he ended up pushing Tamber into the Master Star. He and the star itself fell off the pedestal, and he gasped when he quickly stood up to take a look at it.

"The Master Star!" Tamber cried, inspecting every part of it. "Oh, thank goodness! It's all fine!"

"What's wrong with that?" Sonic asked.

"Well, I think this island goes away if this thing breaks and all, but I just like this thing and keep it for myself and- Hey, wait a minute!" the furball put the star back in place and gave Chopper a glare. "You were trying to destroy this island, huh? You thought the only choice you had in stopping me was breaking this thing, right?"

"No, I never planned on doing that," Chopper replied with uncertainty.

"OK, OK, that's cool. But you know how I feel about something like that? It makes me very, very, VERY ANGRY!" Tamber hissed, clenching his fists in anger. "That's the last straw now! Since you people never get thrown out of here with my traps, it looks like my fists have to do the talking!"

"Fine," the Star Warrior got in a fighting stance. "As much as I hate doing something like this, you kinda are asking for it."

"Especially since he insulted you and even us," Heartsy mentioned.

"Well, we better be ready," Sonic declared. "I guess this is our little boss fight."

"What? No giant monsters? Weak..." Scrub whined.

"Well, if you guys end up getting your butt kicked, I can always send you crying home to your parents," Tamber grinned. "I'm not one to take lightly! I am stronger than you think!"

"That's funny, because we've taken on enemies that look more intimidating than someone shaped like a tulip," Chopper recalled.

"SHUT UP! I'm going to CRUSH you all!"

**Tattle: **_That's Tamber. He's the guardian of Clearno Island and the Master Star. Max HP is 200, Attack is 13, and Defense is 3. Most of his attacks have to do with punching you. He'll even raise his attack up with the help of the Master Star, so you might want to use Vivian's Veil to get out of that. Even if he's only eleven, he is not someone to take lightly. Those arms might look skinny, but he is strong and powerful. But that hinders his speed a little, so he's not necessarily a fast person. But still, this guy is a complete jerk! I think it's payback time for what he's done to you! So, give him everything you got, Chopper!_

"A Defense of 3? Eek... That does not sound good..." Chopper gulped. "But still, we've gotta take this guy down!"

He made his attack first and threw an electric ball at Tamber. He cringed, but at the time, he was shocked.

"What the… What kind of powers DO you have?" Tamber gawked. "How did you pull that… No, don't tell me that those gloves I hid were able to let you use electricity! Dang it! I let a puffball get them!"

"Oh, that was you who hid them? Thank you!"

"You're not welcome!"

Sonic attacked Tamber next with a Spin Dash to take 6 HP out of him. When he returned, he performed a little stylish move. For Tamber, however, the fun was about to begin.

"Now it's MY turn to attack!" Tamber walked over to Chopper and attacked with a single punch attack that took 13 HP out of him. "Ha ha ha! Now that felt good to punch the puffball!"

"Ow... That actually kinda hurt..." Chopper winced.

"Now you're going to get your butt kicked big time! You probably regret fighting me already!"

"Actually, not in the least! We still have some strategies of our own!"

With him giving Shadower the cue, Tamber felt himself get struck by a shadow fist, causing his defense to be reduced to 0. This also left him very vulnerable to some powerful attacks. Then came Chopper, who leaped in the air and jumped on Tamber's head, taking 8 out of him.

"Let's see how you like this!" Tamber used his fist to pound the ground, causing the ground to violently shake. Everyone had taken 13 damage as a result. "Heh heh! I always love doing that!"

"Yeesh, that was a bit unexpected," Chopper sighed, a bit dazed from the tremor. He quickly shook his head and bashed Tamber with his hammer, while Bombette blew up in front of him to take another 8 HP out of him. Now he was down to 160 HP.

Tamber decided to dig underground, causing everyone to gawk. They didn't know where he was, and he could come up anywhere. Unfortunately, he seemed to target Flyer and managed to send him flying upward with a powerful punch. The Wingel landed on the ground, taking 13 damage.

"Ready to give up, puffball?" Tamber asked.

"Not a chance!" Chopper retorted, creating another electric ball and hurling it at Tamber, only taking 5 out of him. He couldn't help but laugh.

"That's all you've got? You'll have to do better than that!"

"If you want more, then I'll give you more!" Flyer declared, flying up to Tamber and knocking him back with a Flying Attack, taking 9 out of him in the process. The furball stood up and grit his teeth in anger.

"Hey, puffball! If you want to see something powerful, then I'll give you my good ol' Power Punch!"

Tamber clenched one of his fists, and it began to briefly glow green. "Using a little power from that Master Star, I can give you a little something! I like to call it my 'Puffball Fist'!"

"What? Why?" Chopper gawked.

"Because it's used for puffballs like you!" With one swift movement from his arm, Tamber delivered a powerful punch to Chopper's face, causing him to get sent flying back down the staircase. Everyone gaped, realizing that he had just lost 15 HP from that attack. "Ha ha! He's even so light too!"

"Whoa! He just sent Contadre tumbling!" Scrub gaped.

Looking back down at Chopper, Heartsy turned to Tamber with a glare. Her fists clenched up in anger and she approached him.

"What's your problem, huh?!" Heartsy asked, fire starting to build up in her eyes.

"Oh, here we go again! You defending that stupid puffball!" Tamber groaned. "Why don't you go make out somewhere else, OK? Chicks only seem to care about someone guarding them! They just cry when they get hi-"

A hammer had made impact on his head and left him in a daze. Heartsy kept her glare at him as she stepped away from the furball.

"You know, maybe if you stop trying to be stereotypical, then maybe that hammer wouldn't have caused some serious harm to you," Heartsy noted.

"I wanna get at him next time," Bombette suggested. "This guy is a real jerk, thinking about that sort of stuff!"

Chopper had returned and had his hammer raised in the air, ready to strike Tamber. Like Heartsy's hammer, his Diamond Hammer made contact with Tamber's head and left him in another daze. He shook off the attack and growled in anger.

"That's it! I'm going to crush you under a rock!" Tamber lifted a rock from the ground and threw it at Chopper and his friends. Thankfully, they Superguarded it, to Tamber's dismay. "What?! No way! That's stupid!"

"Have some of this, too!" Chopper cried, spinning his hammer around and hitting Tamber with his Diamond Hammer attack. Bombette was about to get him next, but Scrub beat her to the punch and attacked Tamber using his Gulp, taking another 8 out of him.

"So, how does it feel to get your butt kicked, fur ball?" Scrub asked after spitting him out. Tamber angrily grabbed the small Yoshi and knocked him away with a punch, sending him back away towards everyone else.

When Chopper caught a glimpse of Scrub's nose, he noticed a big bruise just like Tipral had left when he punched the Yoshi's nose. Like before, Chopper was far from pleased.

"You're going to pay for doing that to Scrub! Shadower! Go lower his defense!" Chopper demanded.

"Absolutely," Shadower nodded, lowering Tamber's defense with a Shadow Punch.

"What the heck are you doing, puffball?" Tamber asked. Chopper ran up to the furball and took 12 out of him using a Spin Jump. "Oh... I see now! You're playing rough! Well, I can do that too!"

He charged at Chopper and prepared to punch him, but Chopper managed to put his guard up and take less damage than usual. In response, Chopper hit him with his hammer, and then Mario landed a jump on Tamber as well.

"I only got 87 HP left? No fair!" Tamber complained.

"That's what happens when you try to fight us," Bombette replied sharply. "Just give up, or you're going to experience greater pain than before!"

"What? I'm supposed to be afraid of those words? I'm guessing you're just all talk! I, on the other hand, am awesomely ripped and cool!"

"Yeah... You sure look like it." Heartsy said sarcastically.

"Oh, yeah? Well let's see how you deal with my Master Star Fist! It's so much powerful than that one punch attack! I just need a bit of time to prepare this..." With that, green energy from the Master Star had got into Tamber's fists, and now they were starting to glow.

"Poyo... (That looks dangerous...)" Kirby trailed.

"Well, don't we usually hide in the shadows to dodge these attacks?" Vivian recalled.

"Yeah! I think that'll work just fine!" Chopper nodded. After he hit Tamber with an electric ball, Vivian used her Veil move to hide him and the others in the shadows.

"Here it comes, puffball! Say hello to my Master Star Fist!" Tamber thrust his fist forward, and a green wave that was in the shape of a fist had fired out. Unfortunately, it had missed, leaving him shocked when the group emerged from the shadows. "No way… I MISSED?! You're one annoying puffball, you know that?"

"Well, I had to prevent myself from getting hurt!" Chopper retorted. In response, Tamber angrily rushed over to Chopper and took 13 out of him with his punch. The Star Warrior retaliated by hitting him with his hammer, and then Vivian scorched him with a Fiery Jinx, bringing him to 74 HP.

"Take this!" Tamber shouted, punching the ground and creating another quake to damage everyone. Well, except for Vivian and Shadower, who appeared to be immune to the attack as usual.

"You know… This might be the time to test out that Sweet Sky move. Let's hope it works, though." Chopper brought the Sky Star out and found a bunch of pictures of Chopper and his friends floating down. There were bigger versions and ones that were silver color, which could recover 10 HP at a time. It was the same thing as the flowers as well, and there were the Poison Mushrooms too.

Luckily, Chopper got three silver ones, four big ones, and six small ones and he recovered 56 HP. He also got 43 FP back as well. Everyone else recovered their entire HP as well from Tamber's attacks.

"Wow! That was actually a pretty neat ability, Chopper!" Bombette remarked, turning to Tamber with a glare. "Now, I remember saying that I was going to get him next... So, if you'll excuse me..."

She charged at Tamber and covered him in soot from her Bomb attack. Tamber shook off the soot and punched Vivian, leaving a small bruise on her.

"That's for helping the puffball dodge that one attack!" Tamber shouted.

Chopper glared at Tamber and gripped the handle of his hammer. He spun again and hit Tamber with his Diamond Hammer attack. With Flyer's Flying Attack, Tamber was down to 50 HP. That didn't stop the furball from punching Flyer, though.

With electric energy in his hand, Chopper hurled an electric ball at Tamber and took 5 more out of him. Afterward, Kirby went up and fell on top of the furball with his Stone.

"He only has 37 HP left. This is going too bad..." Chopper sighed.

"Poyo! (Maybe now he'll finally give up that star!)" Kirby added.

_"He's right! I've only got 37 HP!" _Tamber thought with anger._ "What am I supposed to do? I'm not gonna let myself lose to this puffball! I'm TAMBER, dang it! I can finish him off with one fist behind my back!" _

Tamber dug underground again and managed to hit Kirby with his dig attack. After returning, Shadower decided to put his Shadow Slam attack to use and managed to create a giant shadow in the shape of a hand to grab Tamber and slam him onto the ground, dealing 8 damage. Chopper followed up by hitting him with an Electric Stomp. Of course, Tamber threw in a punch to knock him back.

"Stop it! Those electric attacks are starting to annoy me!" Tamber yelled.

"Then give up!" Chopper exclaimed.

"No way, you thieves!"

Having not much of a choice, Chopper brought his hammer down on him, and soon Mario followed up by hitting him with a Super Jump. Now he was down to 12 HP.

Tamber began to pant, realizing that he was getting weaker by the moment. He clenched his fist and threw a Power Punch at Chopper. Unlike before, he managed to guard the attack and not get sent flying back. With him off guard, Heartsy struck him with a Hearty Throw, leaving him with 4 HP.

"He's all yours, Choppy!" Heartsy shouted.

"Thanks, Heartsy!" Chopper created a ball of electricity in his hand and gave the furball a glare. "Look, if you give up now, then I won't have to do this to you!"

"Urrghhh... Not in a million years, puffball..." Tamber grunted. "I hate you!"

"But what did I ever do to you?" Chopper gawked.

"E-Everything..."

"Everything? No way!"

"You're just a filthy puffball, that's all!"

Sighing, Chopper hurled the electric ball at Tamber, giving him one nasty shock.

"_**Hurgh!**_" Tamber collapsed, dropping 55 Star Points for Chopper. Due to leveling up, he was able to upgrade his FP to 80.

"Whew! That felt SO good." Scrub remarked. "I mean, this guy was a huge jerk!"

With their victory, they turned their attention back to Tamber, who slowly got up on his knees.

"Guh… How did I lose to a stinkin' puffball?" Tamber muttered. "This is so dumb! Puffballs are supposed to be weaklings!"

"Weak? But we took on things that were more intimidating than you." Chopper remarked. "I think you were just too overconfident."

"Or your ego is too inflated," Flyer added.

"Hey! My ego's not...whatever the heck you just said!" Tamber shouted back. "I'm probably cooler than the rest of you all! I was just... I wasn't going all out!"

"We just want the Crystal Star, that's all," Shadower explained. "You know, that brown star."

"What? This?" Tamber picked up the Island Star and held it in front of him. "Well, I think this thing was here the whole time. It looks cool, but not as cool as the Master Star. What, you wanted this thing the whole time?"

"Yes..." Chopper trailed. "And we've been trying to tell you..."

"Well why didn't you say that in the first place?! I was told a long time ago that some hero or whatever would come here carrying a map wanting this thing!"

"But... We _do_ have it."

Tamber paused. "...Say what?"

"Here, just take a look!" Chopper took out the Magical Map and showed it to Tamber. Taking a look at it, he realized this was the exact map he remembered hearing about.

"No way… How could a puffball like you be this hero going after those stars?!" Tamber gaped. "Er… Never mind that. But fine, fine. I'll give you the stupid star. I'll even be nice and let you get healed."

With that, Tamber grumpily touched the Master Star, which create a large pulse that recovered everyone from their wounds. He then held the Island Star in front of Chopper.

"Here. Take it, puffball." he muttered. "And... Maybe not everyone is after my Master Star..."

Shrugging, Chopper claimed the star and held it high above him after the usual procedure.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 15! And Chopper learned the special move Earthquake!**

**END OF CHAPTER!**

_After defeating Tamber and knocking some sense into him, Chopper acquired the fourteenth Crystal Star on Clearno Island! Now only six more remained, and with all twenty Chopper could finally accomplish his quest! But what about the owner of the Master Star himself? Was he truly done with his goal?  
_

"All right, now that that's over with... Will you kindly get off my island?" Tamber asked, only to pause for a moment. "Wait a sec... Why do I suddenly remember something that I don't like the sound of?"

"What do you remember?" Chopper asked.

"That along with giving the star, I need to...help...you."

"Wait, you suddenly want to help me? But... You've been kind of a jerk to us. Plus, you've always been insulting me all the time..."

"What if I was to say that you were so awesomely cool?" Tamber asked. "You're probably the awesinest, coolest, cooliest, awesomiest puffball out there."

"Three out of those four words aren't really words, though," Flyer interjected.

"We might as well talk about this," Chopper suggested, going over to his friends to discuss.

"Hmmmm... I'm not sure whether or not to let him join us." Sonic said. "Though, I do think he can be a bit helpful."

"He's a bit rude, though," Heartsy mentioned. "I mean, remember what he did to us?"

"Perhaps I have a little idea..." Flyer declared, flying over to Tamber. "Maybe you can join us, but you have to apologize to Chopper and his friends."

Tamber was left appalled. "_Apologize?!_ What for?!"

"You should know very well what you did..."

"All right! Fine!" Tamber walked over to the group and muttered, "I'm sorry..."

"Ummmm... I don't think I heard that." Chopper replied.

"I said I'm sorry!"

"Oh, OK! That's good! All right, I guess you can join us." Chopper extended his hand to Tamber. "Are you up for it?"

Tamber looked down at his hand with uncertainty. Despite not wanting to shake the puffball's hand, he extended his arm. With one handshake came one new party member.

**Tamber has joined your party! Press X to have Tamber smash through anything that you can't normally destroy with his fists! Press Y to allow Tamber to dig underground for anything valuable, or to have Tamber lift anything up, such as a boulder or a door and allow you to get through if you're close to one. While in battle, Tamber's attacks do much more damage, and he can fight using his powerful Combo Punch… Or he can attack an enemy with his Dig ability!**

Mario: Are we all good?

"Yeah, sure," Tamber muttered, letting go of Chopper's hand. "Since we're 'allies', I think I might as well give you a hand in getting off this island. There's a little secret here that leads to this one place. I had it blocked a long time ago to prevent people from getting here. But first..."

He turned to the Master Star and pried it off the pedestal. "I'm takin' this with me! No one else but myself can be trusted with it!"

Everyone followed Tamber down to the teleporter at the bottom of the staircase and headed back into the Palace of Secrets. They found Tamber standing in front of the statue they remember seeing before.

"All right, you remember seeing this statue of one of my ancestors while walking in this room?" Tamber asked, pointing to the statue.

"I tried breaking it, but it didn't work," Bombette informed.

"That's 'cause you're too weak to do it!" the furball noted, which didn't exactly please Bombette. "Watch and learn."

With one punch, the statue smashed into smithereens, making everyone gape.

"How…"

"…Did…"

"…He…"

"…Do…"

"…That?"

"Heh heh heh! You see, my kind have such amazing strength that allow us to lift and smash things. Now we can move on." Tamber walked through the secret hallway with the others into a room with flowers and another teleporter in the center.

"Whoa, this place looks magical!" Chopper commented.

"Yeah yeah... It's nothing special. Just follow me out of here, OK?"

With that, the eleven stood on the pedestal and were beamed off of Clearno Island.

* * *

**Well, there you go, people! The final party member of Paper Chopper: The Crystal Stars! Some of you might have seen this coming... And unlike the other partners, he may not be the nicest one around.  
**

**Overall, whether this chapter is better than Chapter 13 is a bit debatable. However, I do think Chapter 15 is a heck of a lot better! :P**


	90. Chapter 14 Interlude

"What? Are these news true? Speak up, X-naut!" demanded Grodus, who was speaking to a hologram of an X-Naut Scout.

_"Yes, sir. It is confirmed that Chopper will be coming to our base next." _the X-Naut Scout confirmed._ "He has acquired fourteen of the twenty Crystal Stars. If he takes our Moon Star, then he'll have fifteen in his hands. Sir, I have a feeling he might collect them all." _

"Don't think like that, X-Naut. He may have many stars in his disposal, but he won't be collecting them all when us X-Nauts are there to stop him. Besides, I believe Chopper has come at the right time. After all, we have buffed up the security in our base. This time, he will have a much harder time getting here!"

_"Shall we round up some of the troops?"_

"Absolutely. If he somehow breaches security, it's probably for the best that we be prepared. Tell Lord Crump to help gather up the troops and prepare for an ambush! We will eliminate him and those friends of his once and for all!"

_"But... What if this plan were to fail?"_

"Don't be ridiculous. We've been planning for this moment! If all else fails, Chopper will have to deal with me personally. I can assure that I have reached new levels of power. I am even greater than the Shadow Queen herself!"

_"Should we get the C Robos ready as well?"_

"Obviously," Grodus replied sharply. "Even if my men do not succeed, I know the C Robos may have an easier time... They will eliminate Chopper, and then they will hand me his Crystal Stars! It's all thanks to a pathetic little robot that we have this army! Too bad he couldn't give us a hand..."

_"OK, dude, I mean sir..."_ the X-Naut Scout trailed.

"Are you still here? You should be telling Lord Crump to get prepared!"

_"Got it, sir!" _the X-Naut Scout saluted his leader, and then the hologram disappeared. Now being alone, Grodus looked out into the glass wall with a glare.

"So, we'll finally meet face-to-face again, Chopper… I can remember the last time we first met. The feeling of rage has been burning inside me from my defeat! You've left me humiliated! I will make sure that in our next battle, I will not give you any mercy! Your fate will come to an end!"

* * *

**Wingel City-**

Things back in Wingel City had gone back to normal. Without the threat of Chillbi and the Aliebits, all of the Wingels had returned to peace. People could live their normal lives with no invasions and no heroes to help save the day.

Well... That's what could've been happening at the moment if a large turtle and an old hag came into the city, causing many Wingels to run in fear. Someone like Bowser was used to this whole scenario, but he couldn't help but cackle still.

"Gwa ha ha ha! Yes! That's it! Your new awesome ruler has finally arrived!" Bowser declared, raising his arms. "I, Lord Bowser, have come to reclaim what is rightfully mine!"

"Yes! And if you refuse to heed our commands, a severe punishment shall be coming your way!" Kammy grinned. "I've always wanted to say that..."

"What in tarnation?! Who are you to have the right to take our city?!" the Wingel soldier exclaimed, overhearing the two and approaching them. "We Wingels have finally had peace restored, and you chubby turtle and your ugly, wrinkly witch, will not disturb us!"

"Ugly? _WRINKLY?!_" Kammy gaped. "I'll have you know that I am as young and beautiful as any one of your kind! You should've seen me back in the old days!"

"We will not fall for your ludicrous attempts in taking over our city! I'll have you know that you will suffer the awesome, mighty power of-"

Having enough, Bowser jumped on the Wingel soldier, leaving him flattened. "Yeah, I hardly have the time for something like that. All I care about is finding those blasted Crystal Stars!"

"Hmmmm... Perhaps we should go ask the mayor of this town." Kammy suggested. "We did just that back in that desert! You know, this place looks like the perfect area to set up a little picnic! We could bring fried eggs and-"

"Kammy! What did I tell you about the picnics?!" Bowser growled, giving his assistant a glare.

"R-Right, Your Viciousness. Crystal Stars first, picnics later."

"Good. Now then, let us get to-"

"_**Hold it right there!**_"

Bowser turned around and saw two Wingel cops approaching him. One of them appeared to be carrying a baton.

"What's this? You guys dressing for Halloween or something?" Bowser snickered. "Go over to that ghost area, 'cause they don't mind."

"Excuse me, but is that your hovercraft?" one cop asked, pointing his baton at Bowser's Koopa Clown Car. It had crashed beside a house.

"Yeah, it is," he replied, crossing his arms. "What're you gonna do about it?"

"You do know that it is illegal to damage personal property. I'm afraid we have to place you under arrest."

The Koopa king gaped. "Wait... ARREST?!"

"Now you listen here!" Kammy shouted, getting in front of Bowser. "We are in the middle of an important quest! There's much more important stuff going on here!"

"Sorry, ma'am, but one cannot damage property. I'm afraid your friend's going to have to spend the day in the slammer." the second cop noted, putting handcuffs on Bowser.

"Wh-What?! You can't be serious! I'm trying to conquer the world here!" Bowser complained.

"Yeah, yeah... Tell it to the judged." the first cop said as they both took Bowser to the police station.

"Oh, dear..." Kammy trailed, now alone. "...I suppose I can wait by setting up a little picnic!"

* * *

**Castle Dedede-**

"So, Your Majesty... How are you feeling today?" Escargon asked, approaching his king's throne.

"I am feeling very good, Escargon," King Dedede replied calmly, soon giving him a glare. "However, I'd feel much better if you weren't in my way!"

"Oh, right..." the secretary stepped aside and asked, "So, how do you think the new Demon Beasts are doing?"

"I was just getting to that..." the king got to work and pressed a button to move his throne to get a look at his large monitor. As per usual, the Tartara appeared on it.

_"Good day, Your Majesty. Are you well?"_ the Tartara asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How are the Demon Beasts doing?"

_"You mean Lemmy and John? Well, we've received some reports that John was destroyed by Chopper."_

"What?! That can't be right!" King Dedede gaped.

_"However, we did not hear about Lemmy... If he, too, was defeated, he is surely still alive. Though, on his own, he really isn't that much."_

King Dedede slammed his fist on the arm of his throne. "Then get me a new Demon Beast right away if he's already useless!"

"_I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but we don't have any new ones coming in yet. On the other hand, you still have to pay us back. With you ordering Mimi, Lemmy and John, you owe us 3,400,000 Deden overall."_

"3,400,000 Deden?! But… We don't have THAT much money!" Escargon gaped, grabbing onto the throne. "Your Majesty, do you have any bright ideas?"

"Uh… _Why _are you putting your hand on my throne? You know you can't touch my royal throne, remember?" King Dedede reminded.

"Whoops! Heh heh…" Escargon chuckled nervously, removing his hand from the throne. "Sorry, Your Majesty… I just got a little carried away."

_"Must I remind you of the terrible consequences of not paying us back?" _the Tartara asked in a threatening voice._  
_

"But how can I pay you back the money if I don't HAVE that money?" King Dedede asked, twiddling his thumbs. "Can't we make a deal or something?"

_"Well… There is ONE thing you can do… You can always try to eliminate the threat yourself."  
_

"You mean you want us to get rid of Chopper?" Escargon gawked.

_"Of course. Do that, and we can cancel your payment and even offer you Demon Beasts for free."_

King Dedede's jaw dropped to the floor. "No payments and free Demon Beasts?! How come Nightmare Corp. couldn't be like this?!"

"Your Majesty, should we really be listening to him?" Escargon whispered, receiving a bonk in the head in return.

"Escargon! Didn't you hear?! Free Demon Beasts! That will surely come in handy!"

"Obviously that would be a bit pointless... Typical for you." Escargon muttered so no one could hear him. He looked back up at the monitor and asked, "So, why do you want Chopper eliminated so badly?"

_"That is none of your concern," _the Tartara retorted._ "All that we demand is that you eliminate Chopper and bring his body here as proof. Then we will consider the deal."  
_

"Now that I think about it, I'm sure Chopper will be back at the Fountain of Dreams," Escargon remarked. "Should we go there?"

"Heck yeah we will!" King Dedede replied with a shout. "Chopper's got the Crystal Stars, and we can become rich off 'em! Plus, with him eliminated, we can conserve our money and use it for whatever we want! C'mon, Escargon! We're going!"

Before Escargon could object, King Dedede grabbed his arm and began to run out of the throne room.

_"Heh heh heh… What idiots." _the Tartara chuckled before the monitor turned off.

* * *

**Palace of Shadow-**

Standing before Gemerl in the throne room was a black Phi with a hint of red on parts of its body, sporting intimidating red eyes as well. Compared to other Phis, this type of Phi far surpasses them in strength and speed. Though, the info it gave to Gemerl was far from pleasing.

"So, you say that the Phis failed to get the Island Star from Clearno Island, is that true?" Gemerl asked.

"Yes, Master Gemerl," the Phi known as a Master Phi confirmed. "They could not find its location, and most of the Phis on the island were wiped out by Chopper. Phimin, included, was eliminated."

"Phimin? Great... One of my commanders is gone. This does not bode well for us, especially when that X-Naut leader has his commander." Gemerl stood up from his throne and clenched a fist. "Argh! To know that my forces are decreasing is a huge issue if those X-Nauts plan to fight us! This is going to be a huge pro-"

The sound of a dark moan caught Gemerl and the Master Phi off guard. The Phi leader quickly got a weapon out to prepare himself for what was lingering around.

"Who dares interrupt me?!" Gemerl exclaimed. "Show yourself right now!"

The dark moan continued, though Gemerl didn't appear to be too fearful of it. Looking back at his throne, he noticed something. Moving it aside, he discovered a secret doorway.

"What's this? I didn't notice this doorway before..." Gemerl trailed.

"What shall we do, Master Gemerl?" the Master Phi asked.

"What you will be doing is staying here. I will explore this place on my own."

With that, Gemerl entered the doorway and headed down the staircase. The air began to grow heavier as he traveled, but as a robot, he was hardly affected. Eventually he reached a door leading into a chamber with many lit candles.

"A chamber? Here? What is the point of this place?" Gemerl flew over to the coffin and noticed its lid was not in place. "Looks like something was in here... Though I can still sense something in here."

_**"****Ah, so the dark presence still remains in here... How interesting."  
**_

Hearing the voice, Gemerl stopped in place and looked around his surroundings. "Who speaks?! Answer now!"

_**"****Let's just say I have a relation to this place. Let me tell you a little something, rbot. You see that coffin you checked out? That's where my wife used to sleep before she was destroyed by Mario…and then that fool Chopper. Your rival, Grodus, was the one who resurrected my wife. However, he was 'obliterated' by her and disappeared."**_

"I don't care about any back stories, you fool! I just need to find the Crystal Stars so I can use its power to transform into **Ultimate Gemerl**! That transformation is all I need to rule this universe!"

_**"****But, at what price? You do realize that if you decide to eliminate everyone, there won't be much to do and you yourself may become uninterested. Do you want to live alone for the rest of your life?"  
**_

"Who ever said anything about eliminating everything in the universe? I'd rather make them my slaves. It will be us Phis ruling over all. Robots are much more superior to living beings. The idea of living alone for the rest of myself also sounds foolish."

_**"You do have one point, I'll give you that. I think I only know one person who wishes to live alone for the rest of his life after what happened to him."**_

"Sorry, but I don't care. I have other business to take care of." Gemerl stated, exiting the chamber. The dark voice chose not to object and faded from the room as well.

* * *

**Rogueport Sewers-**

In the center of the small town area of Rogueport Sewers, a statue was created in place. It had been there for the past five months when a certain someone discovered a pedestal capable of taking them to Clearno Island. Some of the people didn't seem to care too much, as they had already adjusted to the statue being there.

What they didn't expect, however, was a beam to fire out of the statue and shatter it. The eleven heroes had jumped out of the beam and landed on the ground.

"I haven't been here in a while..." Tamber trailed. "You guys have any idea where we are?"

Mario: This is Rogueport Sewers.

"Rogueport Sewers? It looks stupid."

"Well if we go to the surface, we'll find Rogueport," Vivian informed. "Though, it's not the nicest place out there..."

"Well, I'd like to see it!" demanded Tamber. "I don't care if you hate it. I wanna see for myself!"

Shrugging, they all headed up to the town itself. Tamber took this moment to look at his surroundings. The quality of Rogueport looked absolutely awful. There were a few thieves around, robbing a few people of their coins, and two Pianta gangsters were dealing with two Craws. It was overall abysmal.

"This place looks awesome," Tamber smiled, receiving surprised looks from the others.

"You...like this unsanitary place?" Flyer gawked.

"Yup! What? Puffballs hate this place? Then I like it!"

"OK... Well, I think there's something we should do at the moment." Chopper suggested, taking Tamber to Merlon's house. The shaman himself was surprised to see him, though Tamber didn't like the look of his face.

"Ah, I see you've arrived. You brought back another friend for me to upgrade, am I correct?" Merlon asked.

"This old guy's going to upgrade me? He looks kinda stupid..." Tamber trailed.

Merlon ignored the eleven year old and used his magic through the power of the Shine Sprites Chopper collect to upgrade him. A large amount of power had surged into Tamber, and he felt his power and defense increase.

Tamber's HP went from 50 to 120. He even learned his Super-Rank move, Rock Throw, his Ultra Rank move, Power Punch, and his Diamond Rank move, Quake, which allows him pound the ground with his fists and hit all enemies on the ground and ceiling. It also ignores defense and flips some enemies over.

"Did I just get stronger? If that's the case… Ha ha ha ha! I'm stronger than you, puffball!" Tamber laughed.

"Yeah, yeah... Just keep throwing those at me..." Chopper sighed.

"Well, I can do 11 damage to any enemy when I attack! I bet you'd like to do that much damage, puffball!"

"Whatever… Let's just get outta here and go to the Fountain of Dreams." When Chopper headed outside, he whistled and summoned his Warp Star. Kirby summoned his as well, and the two jumped on them when they arrived. Tamber chose to go on Kirby's proclaiming that he will never join a puffball on a Warp Star (despite joining a puffball on a Warp Star).

"I can't believe we're going back to Dream Land. I hope that I get to see Fumu there…" Flyer trailed, the dreamy look appearing on his face once again.

"Flyer! Please! Don't be like that!" Chopper gasped. "You know the dangers of...that!"

"Oh, relax, Choppy," Heartsy interjected. "I, personally, support this. It'll work well for not only Flyer, but us too-"

"Hey, I think I see Pop Star just up ahead!" Scrub yelled.

"Poyo! (Time to return home!)" Kirby cheered.

* * *

**Fountain of Dreams-**

It hadn't taken them long for them to arrive in the Fountain of Dreams. Everyone dismounted from the Warp Star, though Tamber ended up landing headfirst.

"Ungh... You dirty puffball..." Tamber mumbled.

"But I didn't cause you to fall," Chopper noted, looking around. He noticed Fumu back up on the hill where the tree was. "Hey! It's Fumu!"

Hearing the name caught Flyer's attention as he turned to the girl up on the hill. The rest of the group saw her as well, and she too took notice of them and met them at the bottom of the hill.

"Hey, guys!" Fumu greeted. "I suppose things are going well."

"Absolutely," Heartsy nodded. "We only have six more stars to go!"

"That's great!" she turned to Flyer. "So, how has that device been going?"

"Err... It's been going great!" Flyer replied, trying to sound confident. "I was able to work on it while we were traveling on Clearno Island. Hopefully that collar will be off you in no time."

"Or maybe I can just smash that thing!" Tamber suggested, a manipulative grin appearing on his face.

"No no no!" Heartsy scolded. "You're NOT going to do that!"

"That might actually do more harm than good," Sonic noted.

"What? C'mon! I can prove how awesome and ripped I am!" Tamber complained.

Chopper was about to raise a finger and speak, but the sound of a vehicle stopped him. Turning around, the gang saw King Dedede and Escargon get out of their car.

"Dedede!" Fumu gasped.

"_**CHOOOOOOOPPERRRRR!**_" King Dedede yelled, finally approaching the pale green boy.

"You again?" Chopper sighed. "Why at this time?"

"We have a bone to pick with you, Chopper!" Escargon explained. "First we're gonna crush you and THEN we're gonna take you back to the castle!"

"You can't do that! Why do you want him anyway?" Fumu asked.

"That's none of your business! Stay out of this or else things might be a little shocking for you." King Dedede grinned, reaching for a certain remote. Upon realizing this, Fumu backed away.

"Well... Now that I think about it, I do miss beating your butt, Dedede!" Chopper smirked. "I might actually have a fun time fighting you again!"

"Heh heh heh! Well, I think I might as well." the king smirked as he pulled out his hammer.

"You will regret messing with His Majesty!" Escargon exclaimed.

"...Hey! Forget that collar on the girl!" Tamber declared, turning to the two opponents. "These guys are a better fit!"

**Tattle: **_That's King Dedede, the ruler of Dream Land. That hammer is HUGE! Max HP is 190, Attack is 13, and Defense is 0. He'll use that hammer to deal some heavy damage against you. He'll even inhale you or even jump on top of you. Luckily, he makes yellow stars appear, which you can use against him if you inhale them. As usual, he'll try to throw his own minions at you, which I find really weird… Personally, this guy REALLY needs to lose some weight. Seriously!_

**Tattle: **_That's Escargon, King Dedede's secretary. He's just a weird snail-like thing. Max HP is 170, Attack is 11, and Defense is 0. His spiky balls that he throws at you can be poisonous. He'll even offer King Dedede some food to heal himself with, so I think it would be best if you took him out first. Another thing mentioned in here is that he tends to point out Dedede's flaws, but the results usually aren't pretty. I guess that's what happens when you work with someone so ignorant...  
_

"Well, considering the things Escargon has, I guess we should take him out first," Chopper jumped on Escargon and took 8 HP out of him. Tamber was about to punch, but he realized he could only hit an enemy in the front, and the king himself was the one in front of them.

"If I can't punch one of you, then I'm attacking you both!" Tamber punched the ground with both fists and dealt 11 damage to both King Dedede and Escargon with his Quake. Both of them nearly fell over, but they managed to maintain balance.

"Whoa! That weirdo sure packed a punch" King Dedede quickly shook his head and brought his hammer down on Chopper, while Escargon threw his spear at Tamber, who easily guarded the attack.

"Let's put the Island Star to use!" Chopper suggested as he pulled out the Island Star and used its ability to cause an earthquake. Like before, King Dedede and Escargon struggled to stand.

"Argh! Another one of these?!" King Dedede cringed, he and Escargon taking 20 damage in the process. Tamber added more to it with another Quake attack.

"Your Majesty! Are you all right?" Escargon asked.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm fine! I'll be much better when we clobber these guys!" King Dedede leaped in the air and landed on Chopper, taking 13 out of him. Escargon took out a piece of cake and tossed it to King Dedede, who recovered 20 HP from it. "Ahhhh! Very nice, Escargon!"

"Well, that cake must explain his poor diet..." Flyer remarked.

"How dare you speak that way to His Majesty!" Escargon shouted back sharply. Before he could say another word, Chopper had hit him with a Wall Jump, and then Tamber used his Dig to go underground and shoot up from below Escargon to take another 11 out of him.

"Escargon! Get me some of those sodas you saved for me!" demanded King Dedede.

"Of course, Your Majesty!" Escargon pulled out a Fast Shake and gave it to King Dedede. As soon as he drank it, he became dodgy. He even threw an electric spiked ball at Kirby to paralyze him.

"Poyo! (Hey! You can't go twice a turn!)" Kirby cried.

"Heh heh heh! I simply just took His Majesty's turn, that's all!" the escargot chuckled, only to get smacked by King Dedede.

"I never gave you permission to steal my turn, Escargon!" King Dedede growled.

Chopper performed another Wall Jump and landed on the snail to dish another 18 outta him. Tamber used his Quake once again to attack both opponents, leaving Escargon with 62 HP. King Dedede inhaled Chopper and spat him out at Tamber, while Escargon charged at Vivian with his spear, even if she was able to guard the attack.

Conjuring up an electric ball, Chopper hurled it directly at Escargon, while Bob-omb joined in and attacked them both with a Bob-omb Blast. Angry at this, King Dedede charged directly at them both, but he didn't see the rock coming and tripped. On the plus side, he fell over Chopper and Bombette.

"Ungh... What the heck?! This stupid rock was here!" King Dedede shouted angrily, kicking the rock. It bounced off a tree and hit Escargon's eye, causing him to yelp in pain.

"YEOW! Your Majesty! Watch where you kick!" Escargon cried.

"Oops..."

Rubbing his eye, Escargon took out a flaming spike ball and hurled it at Bombette. She put her guard up and prevented herself from getting burned. Kirby ended up shaking off the paralysis, so he left both King Dedede and Escargon with a burn thanks to his Fireball attack. Chopper added a Spring Jump to Escargon and he was down to 36 HP.

"You're going to pay for that, Kirby!" King Dedede growled, jumping in the air and flattening the pink puffball. Escargon threw a spear at him as well, but Kirby saw it coming and Superguarded it just on time.

After Chopper hit them both with his Diamond Hammer, Tamber punched the ground again and took 11 out of the two. One thing for certain was that Escargon was going down pretty soon. Unfortunately for them, their attacks were easily Superguarded by Chopper, with both of them taking 1 damage upon physical contact.

With Chopper's Jump attack and Tamber's Quake, Escargon had fallen.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty… I've failed you…" Escargon moaned.

"Whoa, I'm already down to 105 HP? Great… Now you've made me mad!" King Dedede jumped on Chopper and took 13 HP from him.

"Oh, boy… This isn't good! Wait, hold on a moment. I got some Jelly Ultraz!" Chopper smiled.

"...I don't know what to say about that," Shadower stated.

"It doesn't matter," Chopper replied, eating the Jelly Ultra and recovering 50 HP and FP. Meanwhile, Tamber ran up to King Dedede and landed his Combo Punch on him. He punched him twice, with his third attack ending with an uppercut and had taken 11 HP out of him. Afterward, Tamber went back to his friends to brag. Well, not until King Dedede jumped on him.

"You know, I still think you should lose some weight," Chopper remarked.

"I don't need to lose weight! I'm in perfect shape!" King Dedede declared. Chopper shrugged and he inhaled one of the stars created by him and spat it at the king, leaving him with only 86 HP. Once Tamber attacked with his punches, King Dedede was left with only 75 HP. So what did this fat penguin do? He brought his hammer down on Chopper and took another 13 out of him.

"Wow, that did hurt…" Chopper shrugged and threw an electric ball at King Dedede, while Tamber attacked with his Combo Punch. At this point, the king was started to feel exhausted.

"You know, now that I think about it... I still never got to use my minions against you! Well, looks like that time has come!" King Dedede grinned, summoning a Waddle Dee and throwing it at Chopper. He then threw a Waddle Doo at Tamber, but then Chopper followed up by hitting him with an electric ball. This made King Dedede's face turn red with anger. "YEOOW! Seriously, HOW did you get that electric attack? In fact, how did you get a new hammer?! You didn't have this stuff before!"

"Well, I just got stronger..."

"Who cares about that? Beating your butt is my priority!" Tamber declared, landing another Combo Punch on King Dedede to bring him down to 35 HP.

"I should get you outta the way first," King Dedede knocked Tamber back with his hammer and then walked over to Chopper and brought his hammer up.

"Oh no ya don't!" Chopper brought his hammer down on King Dedede's foot, causing him to yelp, while Tamber got back up and punched him. He wasn't too far from defeat now...

"Grrr!" King Dedede rubbed his foot and whacked Chopper with his hammer, knocking him to the ground. While he struggled to get up, he did manage to strike him with an electric ball, weakening him just enough to be defeated.

"Ouch… Tamber, get him!"

"Heh heh! Of course!" Tamber grinned, clenching his fists tightly as he charged at King Dedede. With a single punch, he was able to send him flying toward a tree behind him. The force was even strong enough to break the tree as well.

"Woo! 42 Star Points!" Chopper cheered.

"Unnghhh... What was that all about?" King Dedede moaned, only to fall unconscious like his assistant. With the coast being clear, Fumu had finally approached them.

"That punch was amazing!" Fumu gasped, looking over at Tamber. "That kind of strength isn't common for people your age..."

"Well, it's because I'm awesome and cool," Tamber grinned. "No puffball could ever do that!"

"Errrr... Yeah, sure." Chopper sighed. "Maybe you should go back to the village or something. I don't think those two will be knocked out long enough."

"I was planning on that. It was great to see you guys again." With that, Fumu headed off, but she noticed Flyer waving goodbye. She gave him a little smile as she waved goodbye as well.

"You like that weirdo?" Tamber asked, noticing Flyer's expression.

"Well... Ummm..." Flyer stammered.

"PBBBBBBBTTHHH! BAH HA HA HA! What a dork! ...Well, then again, that puffball's the bigger dork."

"Hey, man! Contadre ain't a dork!" Scrub defended. "He's one of the coolest people out there!"

"Well, I'm cooler."

Choosing to ignore him, Chopper jumped onto the pedestal and held the Island Star above him. Tamber's bullying was interrupted when he gazed upon the ritual before him.

"Whoa... What IS that?!"

"This happens when we get a new Crystal Star," Vivian answered.

When the process was finished, Chopper discovered a yellow Crystal Star up on a purple moon in some kind of fortress. The moon looked much smaller than the other one. ...Or was it just due to distance?

"Fascinating..." Flyer gasped, getting a glimpse of the map. "Just look at the next Crystal Star location!"

"What? Lemme see!" Tamber pushed Flyer off the pedestal and snatched the map from Chopper. "It looks like some yellow star's located on a purple ball in this map! Where the heck is that?!"

Chopper took the map back from him and answered, "Well, we just need to go see Professor Frankly about this. Usually he knows about these locations."

* * *

**Frankly's house-  
**

"Hrrmmmm… HRRRMMMMM… This one looks very confusing. That fortress there reminds me of the X-Naut Fortress on the moon." Frankly deduced, studying the map very carefully. "If you said that the X-Nauts have finally returned, then perhaps this is where their new base is."

"New base? They've already made a new one already?" Chopper gawked. "Don't those things take like...a long time?"

"Some large fortresses tend to take many years," Flyer remarked. "But perhaps these X-Nauts possess the technology to make a fortress in a lesser amount of time?"

"Perhaps that is more likely," Frankly stated. "But if those X-Nauts have the Crystal Star, then surely they will be preparing for your arrival. It would be best to be on guard."

"Well I can just smash our way through," Tamber declared. "I'm pretty good at that!"

"Hold on a moment, Tamber. We can't just smash our way through." Flyer cut in. "Haven't you ever heard of 'strategy'?"

"...Nope."

"Well, first we need to know where this moon is and how we get to it," Shadower noted. "I don't know if the Fahr Outpost cannon would help us get there... Plus, I think they said something about it being overheated. Do you have any ideas, Frankly?"

"Let me think for a moment…" Frankly pondered. "Hrmmm… I think… No, that wouldn't be it. How about… No, not a good thing. Oh! AH-HA! I think…"

"You think what?" Heartsy asked.

"_**I DON'T KNOW!**_"

Everyone fell over in frustration, but they quickly stood back up and gave Frankly an annoyed look.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me! You're telling us that you have NO clue on what to do?!" Tamber complained. "I thought you were some smart professor guy!"

"Well, I THINK I have a suggestion, but you better listen up," Frankly suggested. "Are all of you ready? And you there! In front of the computer! You listen up too!"

"Did someone pile-drive your head or something?" Scrub gawked. "I don't see a computer around here!"

"OH, NEVER YOU MIND! Don't worry about such trivial details! Sheesh! Anyway, the only place I would recommend is going back to the planet where you locate the Crystal Stars. Unfortunately, other than that, I don't have as many ideas. There's not much else around Rogueport that can help reach a moon far from here."

"Poyo! (Then back to Dream Land we go!)" Kirby cheered.

"Well, I guess we don't have much of a choice," Bombette said.

"If that's our only option, then we shall return to Dream Land," Chopper smiled. "Besides, I've always wanted to start a chapter in Pop Star! This should be fun!"

Mario: We could probably see more of the planet too!

The eleven heroes left, saying their goodbyes to Frankly. Both Chopper and Kirby let out a whistle, and both Warp Stars came flying their way. Everyone got on and headed off back to Pop Star. One thing for sure was that it wasn't going to be easy.


	91. Milky Way Wishes

**CHAPTER 15**

**-A Milky Way to the X-Nauts-**

Upon returning to Dream Land, the group had decided to go meet at Hatty Town to see the Mayor. Chopper's Warp Star had already gone on ahead, while Kirby's Warp Star was a little behind. As for the people on the Warp Star, two people in particular were not getting along too well.

"Ow! Could you put your boot off of my butt, you little dinosaur thing?" Tamber asked angrily.

"Hey! It's not my fault it's touching your butt!" Scrub retorted. "There's not enough space around here! I think I should've gone over to Contadre's Warp Star. At least he won't be such a jerk!"

"Poyo! (It's not easy to pilot this thing when you're arguing!)" shouted Kirby as he was driving the Warp Star. They flew over King Dedede's Castle and was going toward another town nearby called Cappy Town.

"Kirby, we're going the wrong way. We're supposed to be going to Hatty Town, not this place!" Shadower reminded. "Why are you stopping here?"

Mario: Just let him concentrate.

Just as soon as they paid attention to where they were going, everyone but Kirby gawked at the restaurant they had stopped by.

"Wait... Where did you take us, Kirby?" Shadower asked.

"Poyo... (I'm hungry... So, I wanted to go eat some food...)" Kirby trailed, getting off his Warp Star and running into the restaurant.

"But... There's no time for food!"

"Well who cares? I'm kinda hungry!" Scrub declared, following the pink puffball into the restaurant. Eventually the rest followed into the green interior and saw an orange chef making food.

"Well! If it isn't Kirby! How are you doing today?" the strange, orange Cappy...whatever he was known as Chef Kawasaki asked. Kirby jumped onto the table with a cheerful look.

"Poyo! (I'm ready for anything on the menu!)" Kirby declared.

"Errr... I suppose I could get some food. I mean, you brought me some customers!" Kawasaki cheered. "I never get many customers!"

Mario: Do you know something about a purple moon with X-Nauts?

"What's that? You're wondering if I know about some purple moon? Err… I'm sorry, sir. I don't know too much about other areas other than Pop Star. Sorry, Mr. Mustache."

Mario: Oh, don't worry about it.

"So, what do you all want on the menu?" Kawasaki asked.

"Hmmmmm..." Scrub pondered, looking at the menu. "I think I'll have-"

"Wait! I think I have a better idea! I'll whoop ya up my Spicy Special!" Kawasaki headed into the kitchen and started up his Spicy Special. Scrub frowned in disappointment.

"Well, I bet it's going to be something that'll make my guns even...er...gunnier?" Tamber pondered.

"OK, Kirby... I know you're hungry and all, but we have something a little more important to be doing..." Shadower noted.

"Poyo! (We'll go out after we eat!)" Kirby decided, and his decision was final.

"My special is finished!" Chef Kawasaki came back into the room and had five bowls of his Spicy Special sitting on the table. "Get it while it's hot!"

Everyone else took their seat and started to have a nice meal. Tamber, however, did not look pleased.

"What the heck is this?!" Tamber asked angrily. "This isn't anything I'd eat! Where's the meat?! The good stuff? Forget this! I'm leaving!" he got off of his stool and began to walk out.

"But there IS meat in it!" Kawasaki cried, making Tamber stop and turn back to his stew.

"Then why didn't you say so!" Faster than the others, he began to stuff the food into his mouth. When the rest got to taste the Spicy Special, they noticed Tamber's face turning red.

"Hey, what's with Tamber's face?" Scrub asked. "He doesn't look too good."

Tamber let out a scream as fire had burst from his mouth and nearly catch Mario's cap on fire. The rest gawked, only for their faces to become as red as Tamber's. Before they knew it, they were breathing fire. All but Kirby seemed to be affected by the stew.

"IT BUUUUUURNS!" Scrub yelled.

"Poyo! (Yummy! This is so good!)" Kirby cheered, happily eating his stew while the others ran around screaming.

* * *

**Over Dream Land's forest-**

"I don't know what happened to the others. Shouldn't they be following us to Hatty Town?" Chopper asked, focusing on piloting the Warp Star.

"Perhaps they made a pit stop?" Flyer suggested. "...No, wait. That's not possible."

"Have you ever been to that forest, Chopper?" Vivian asked as she took a look at the forest below.

"I don't think so... But I know Kirby has! ...And I bet Fumu did too!" Chopper smiled.

"I should try asking her..." Flyer trailed. _"...If I even have what it takes to talk to her without being embarrassed."_

"I think I see Hatty Town up ahead!" Heartsy announced, pointing at the town past the forest. "I hope the Mayor might have an idea on how to get to that moon!"

"Yeah, let's hope..." Chopper trailed, his Warp Star going past the forest. A figure had walked out of the forest and looked up at the Warp Star with a glare.

"So, YOU'RE the famous Chopper…" the mysterious figured hissed. "You're going to pay for what you've done to me... When the time comes, I'm going to serve justice on you!"

The figure slowly faded away into the forest.

* * *

**Hatty Town-**

When they had reached the Mayor's house, Chopper and his friends on the Warp Star had leaped off and landed in front of the house. Luckily, the Mayor had just walked out of his house and caught sight of them.

"Chopper? You've come back already? Have you already gotten the fifteenth Crystal Star?" the Mayor asked.

"Well… No, we didn't. Unfortunately, we don't know what to do at the moment." Chopper explained. "Professor Frankly told us to come over here and ask if you knew a way to get to a purple moon."

"Purple moon?"

"Here, take a look," Chopper showed the purple moon on the map to the Mayor, whose eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Oh, my..."

"Do you have any idea on how we can find that moon?" Vivian asked.

"Hmmmmm… I don't think so." the Mayor sighed. "I'm sorry, Chopper. I wish I had an idea of what that moon was or how to get there, but I'm afraid I don't. If that's where the Crystal Star is… Then… I don't know what to do..."

"Oh… Well thanks for the help…" Chopper let out a sigh and began to slowly walk out of town. _"Great... We have no idea of how to get to that moon!"_

Sonic had caught up to him and looked down at the Star Warrior with an assuring smile. "C'mon, Chopper! Cheer up! I'm sure we can find SOME way to get that Moon Star! There must be a way!"

"But we don't have any ideas! Nobody knows of this moon, and using a Warp Star wouldn't help us in finding it! I wish there was a way, but it doesn't look like it..."

"Choppy! This is just not like you!" Heartsy remarked. "You're usually not one to give up so quickly! I mean, even when we couldn't find an idea of what to do, you'd still try! Don't lose hope just yet!"

Chopper sighed. "And most of the time, it led to getting punched and crushed. That hurts, you know!"

"Chopper! We've all experienced that pain!" Flyer exclaimed. "Heck, back when we first met, I'd say I've taken more hits than you."

"You're probably right about that. Sorry if I sounded a bit selfish there."

Vivian put his hand on his shoulder. "It's all right, Chopper. We probably have had issues of our own... Though, maybe there still is a way of getting to that moon."

"I hope so..." As Chopper looked up, he saw another Warp Star make a landing near them. The others had gotten off, their entire bodies on fire, with the exception of Kirby.

"What the... What happened to them?!" Bombette gasped.

Mario: Hot hot hot!

Scrub, Shadower, Mario and Tamber found themselves rolling on the floor to get rid of the flames. However, it was thanks to Flyer's wind powers that their flames had been blown off, allowing them to stand up. Strangely, they didn't look like they were too harmed.

"That…was…SPICY!" Scrub yelled, sticking his tongue out.

"Augh! It was awful too!" Tamber complained. "I just want to get to that stupid moon thingy!"

"We don't have much of an idea of what to do, though," Chopper informed. "We don't know how to reach it."

_"Hey, hey, hey, people! Maybe I can give you a hand!" _

A lavender, jester-like being with two hats with pompoms, with the left being blue with white circle polka-dots and the other hat being red with white triangles on it had appeared behind the group. He also had brown shoes, big googly eyes and a red bow-tie. He appeared to be balancing on a beach ball. They all turned around and gawked at the character.

"Whoa... I don't think I've seen him before." Chopper remarked. "So... Who are you?"

_"My name is Marx!__ I used to be a living thing just like you, but...well, I think you get the rest." _

"Well, I guess it's quite obvious," Flyer shrugged.

_"Anyway, I heard you say something about collecting a Crystal Star on a purple moon, correct?" _Marx asked.

"Yeah... But we have no clue on what to do."

_"Perhaps I have a little idea!"_

"Poyo… (You know, there's something oddly familiar about him…)" Kirby trailed, giving Marx a suspicious look. "Poyo... (He looks pretty similar to this one guy...)"

_"Well... I can assure you that I'm not like that guy then, for I am a friend!" _Marx assured._ "You see, I happen to know a way to get to this moon and get that Crystal Star!"  
_

"So this little creamy thingy knows where the Crystal Star is?" Tamber gawked, not feeling certain. "Well, that's just super! While we're there, maybe I should go buy something in space and have the words 'I heart puffballs' on it!"

"Let him speak!" Heartsy shushed.

_"If you wanna get to that purple moon, you should ask the giant comet __**Nova **__for help," _Marx explained._ "If you can find him, he will grant you one wish. However, finding him is not an easy task. He only appears if you have four wish stars from other planets. Not really a big task, unless there are some dangerous enemies… But I think you can do it! You're Chopper!"_

"Yeah! You're right!" Chopper nodded, giving a more determined look. "There's no reason to give up! We've got this in the- Wait, how do you know my name?"

"Why, everyone knows the great Chopper around here, even the deceased!"

"Right..." Bombette trailed sarcastically.

_"Now, if you want to collect all four wish stars around Pop Star, you need to go to the Moon, Grasslin, Aqualiss and then Crystalmeth. They hold what you seek!"  
_

"Well… I guess we should go ahead and head there. Though, it's weird how you even know about this..." Chopper trailed. "But it doesn't matter. If this is our only option, then we will do that!"

Chopper and Kirby summoned their Warp Stars, and once everyone got on, they took off into space once again. With them gone, Marx grinned.

_"Finally... My return will come soon!"_

* * *

**Space-**

"So… We need to go to four places. I think we should start by going to the moon." Chopper suggested. "It's one of the closest places anyway. That is where the old X-Naut Fortress and TEC was, right?"

"Yeah, he was," Heartsy nodded. "He risked his life to save us."

"TEC? Who is he?" Flyer asked. With that, Mario decided to give him the details on him, in which Flyer nodded back. "Oh, I see… So he's a computer! Hmmm… You know I can always try to fix him if he's still destroyed. Or if I need to hack, I'll gladly hack into the system."

However, when they flew closer to the moon, they noticed something unexpected.

"The X-Naut Fortress looks the same as we saw before!" Vivian noticed, seeing the exterior completely harmless.

"Wow! You're right! ...Though, maybe it could've been the inside that's damaged. Let's take a look." Chopper landed in front of the fortress and headed inside. To their surprise, the fortress was the way it normally was. The only exception, however, was that there were no X-Nauts. Some Z-Yuxes had remained on the moon, though.

"Wow, this place reminds me of one of Eggman's bases," Sonic recalled. "Though, I like it bases when they're not filled with enemies."

They had taken the time to explore the fortress, and everyone was glad to not see any enemies lurking around. When they had finally gone down to Sublevel 4, the door leading to TEC's room was locked, indicated by the red glow from the terminal.

"It's locked... That stinks..." Chopper frowned.

"Allow me," Flyer stepped in, taking out a screwdriver and putting it at the side of the terminal. After working on it for a brief moment, he had gotten the code and put it into the terminal, opening the door. Nothing had changed in TEC's room either, which was nice.

Upon walking in, the lights had turned on, specifically the computer standing before them.

**"Chopper… I am pleased that I could see you again." **TEC said.** "You too, Mario. How are you both?" **

"It talks!" yelled Tamber.

"Of course TEC talks," Chopper replied.

Mario: What happened here?

**"I detonated explosives after you left to ensure the base would never be used for evil," **TEC explained.** "Of course, I was destroyed in the resulting explosion. …But…one day I regained consciousness, and all was as before. Yes. Everything. I do not comprehend why. But… As I regained consciousness, I saw a light, and I thought I heard Peach's voice… At that point, I knew peace had returned, and the X-Nauts were no longer here."**

"But the X-Nauts built a new fortress!" Chopper mentioned. "And the only way we can get there is if we find a wish star that's said to be on the moon. TEC, do you happen to know of any wish star?"

**"Is this what you're talking about?" **A mechanical arm appeared from the computer and it held a yellow star. **"Something had crashed into this room a long time ago, and when I inspected it, my scanners picked it off as a 'wish star'."**

"Well then give it to us!" Tamber demanded.

"**If it is what you need, then I will give it to you," **TEC held the shiny wish star over Chopper's hands and dropped it in them.

"Thanks, TEC," Chopper smiled, which then turned to a frown. "Though, we've gotta get going at this point."

**"I understand. You still must continue your adventure. For now, farewell. ...Also, Mario, tell Princess Peach that I said hi."**

Mario gave the computer a nod before the others said their goodbyes. With that, they left the fortress and got back on their Warp Stars to take off.

"So… How on earth can we survive in space and not suffocate?" Scrub asked.

"Well, that's very simple," Flyer started. "You see, th-"

"So, which place should we head next?" Chopper asked. "Maybe Grasslin?"

"All right..." the Wingel groaned, though he was somewhat relieved to not have to explain the whole space scenario. The two Warp Stars had then flew toward the small, green planet.

* * *

**Grasslin-**

When the group had landed, they found green grass, a few hills, and a blue sky. Needless to say, it looked somewhat like Dream Land, except there was no castle. The clouds were also low, unlike Dream Land's. However, there were some enemies from Pop Star, such as the Bronto Burts that were flying around when they went down a small hill.

"You know, Choppy, this could make a great honeymoon," Heartsy said, pinching Chopper's cheek.

"Ow! Stop that!" Chopper cried, slapping Heartsy's hand away from him. "I've already experienced enough of that already!"

"Hmmmm... You know, maybe when my birthday comes, we can go out of a cruise."

"A cruise? I don't know if I could do that..."

"Well, then we can just get some cardboard and pretend it's a cruise."

"Pbbbtth… BAH HA HA HA HA HA HA" Tamber laughed, overhearing their conversation. "This is golden!"

"Shut up, Tamber!"

"But... It's just so lame!"

"You have a better idea?" Heartsy asked, giving him a glare. Before an argument could commence, Sonic noticed something glowing up in the clouds.

"Hey, guys… Take a look up. I think I can see something." Sonic suggested, pointing at the glowing cloud.

They looked up and saw a glittering light coming from one of the clouds. There was also an enemy with a blue cape nearby called a Starman. Chopper inhaled it, and he got a red cape and a golden winged circlet on him.

"What kind of ability is that?" Scrub asked.

"It's the Hi-Jump ability. Watch what I can do with this!" Chopper made a big jump onto the cloud and grabbed the wish star on there. When he started to descend, he spread his cape out and used it as a parachute. Mario smirked, remembering something similar he had done.

"Poyo? (I wonder why I never thought of doing that before?)" Kirby wondered.

"I figured it out when I was falling this one time," Chopper recalled.

"I guess we should get out of here," Bombette suggested. "There's no point in us being here anyway."

Agreeing, Chopper and Kirby summoned their Warp Stars, and everyone got on to return to space. Now they had to go to the next planet nearby. Unlike Grasslin, Aqualiss looked mostly blue from far away, to Sonic's dismay.

"Wait, if it's all blue there, then... Oh, no..." Sonic gulped.

"Well, it is called Aqualiss, and the term 'aqua' refers to wate-"

"NERD!" Tamber shouted, cutting Flyer off. He gave him a glare before both Warp Stars flew down to the planet.

* * *

**Aqualiss-**

When they had reached the planet's atmosphere, the noticed the sky was similar to that of Grasslin. However, there was hardly any land with the exception of an open island made up of mostly sand and a few rocks. A couple of palm trees were around too. They decided to land on the small island and get a nice view of the ocean.

"Well, as much as I don't like water, this IS a nice beach. Plus, with these rocks..." Sonic grabbed a flat rock and threw it. The rock skipped across the water and out of their sights.

"Lemme try to skip a rock!" Chopper grabbed a rock and threw it. The rock skipped over the water too, but it ended up hitting something that had appeared above the water and stopping it. Everyone took a look at who was on the hovering vehicle and were far from pleased.

"Har har har har! I'm back, idiots! Cooler than ever!" Moe Hawk smirked.

"Hey! Only I can say something like that!" Tamber yelled.

"I don't know who you are, but I ain't here for you. I came here to race Contadre!"

"No... We're too busy." Chopper groaned. "We need to find a wish star to get to the next Crystal Star."

"Oh, really? Maybe this might interest you!" Moe Hawk pulled out a shining, yellow star. When Chopper looked at his wish star, he noticed it looked very familiar. "See? I thought so!"

"Where did you even get that?" Flyer asked.

"Eh… I found it…wherever the heck I found it. But that ain't the point! Yer racin' me right now, Contadre! First one to make it back here wins. If ya win, you can take this stupid thing. An' just like before, there ain't any rules."

"Fine... I guess I don't have much of a choice." Chopper got on his Warp Star and flew beside Moe Hawk. Since no one had decided to step in to say go, Flyer decided to take that role.

"Ready… Get set… _**GO!**_"

Chopper instantly took off, leaving Moe Hawk in the dust again.

"Get back here, you little marshmallow! I didn't start squishin' ya yet!" Moe Hawk took off after Chopper, and he didn't have as much of an issue catching up. Even better (at least for him), he took out his flamethrower. "Hey, Contadre! How's about I turn up the heat?"

"Oh, now things are going to be extreme. This should be awesome…" Tamber snickered as he sat on a lawn chair and began to eat popcorn. Not too pleased with his action, Vivian tried taking the popcorn away from him.

"Tamber! Don't be like this, please!" Vivian pleaded.

"No way! This is entertainment!" Tamber retorted, successfully getting his popcorn back.

"But you know Chopper could get hurt!"

"Not like I really care, but maybe you do!" the tulip snickered. "It was hilarious how you decided to hug the puffball! I bet you really like him!"

"What?!" Vivian covered her mouth and blushed. "I mean... He's just...nice to me and all... I was just doing that to...um...thank him..."

There was a sudden explosion coming from behind the island. When Flyer flew up to get a look, he noticed Moe Hawk had just recently threw a bomb, but he was unfortunate to miss.

"Arrghhh! Why don't you stand still for once, Contadre?!" Moe Hawk growled.

"You know, you gotta try harder than that, Moe Hawk! I'm still up ahead and I'm winning! Oh, and another thing…" Chopper removed his Hi-Jump ability and dropped an electric ball into the water, which electrocuted Moe Hawk due to being close to the water.

"Why you little…" Moe Hawk clenched his flamethrower and unleashed it upon Chopper. He succeeded, but the Star Warrior dove underwater to put out the flames. Still desperate to cause harm to him, Moe Hawk followed him underwater. "Even underwater you cannot escape me!"

"You're seriously following me underwater? Come on, Moe Hawk…" Chopper groaned, noticing him behind. "Can't you learn to play a little fair?"

"Contadre, do I have to remind you about the rules again?"

"No, but I don't like you trying to attack me constantly!"

Chopper had finally flew up to the surface and caught sight of his friends waving. He smiled as he was prepared to reach the finish line, but Moe Hawk had suddenly gained the lead and flew past him. His Warp Star began to spin around and leave him in a daze.

"Har har har har! Now I'LL be the one who's winnin'! So long, sucker!" Moe Hawk cackled, reaching the finish line. Well, he could've, but his Hovercycle had suddenly run out of gas. "Wait... Why is my Hovercycle not moving? Oh, don't tell me... It's out of gas..."

With that, he and the Hovercycle had plummeted into the water, while Chopper had reached the finish line. Kirby had gotten his Warp Star as well and they all flew back over to the soaking Moe Hawk.

"CRUD! Ya managed to beat me AGAIN!" Moe Hawk raged.

"Well, I beat you the last few times..." Chopper trailed. "Can I have the wish star now?"

"ARGH! Fine! Take it!" Moe Hawk pulled out the wish star and threw it in Chopper's face. "I don't want it anyway! All I wanna do now is get off this planet! I HATE it here!"

"Well, good luck with that," Chopper said, just before the group made their exit. Now only one more planet remained: Crystalmeth.

"Uh… The name Crystalmeth reminds me of this one thing..." Shadower trailed.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Bombette asked.

"It's... Well, oh, forget it. It's nothing special."

"I wanna know what it is," Chopper said, curiosity getting to him, though that had hardly did much to get Shadower to tell him. But, not wasting any time, they headed down to the next planet in search of the final wish star.

* * *

**Crystalmeth-**

When they landed on the planet, they didn't find anything too special. The floor was purple, and there were many different colored crystals splattered all over the place. Smashing them revealed things such as coins, flowers, and even hearts. However, the one thing they they all managed to see ahead was a Save Block.

"Poyo… (I have a bad feeling about this...)" Kirby trailed. "Poyo. (Seeing a Save Block here means that we're going to encounter something big.)"

After hitting the Save Block, Chopper replied, "I'm sure there is, but it's always nice to fight something to get a wish star rather than race."

Once everyone was prepared, they headed through the pathway ahead. Strangely, the entire area had changed as well. The floor was a bluish gray, some sections of the left and right wall were covered in old writing, and in between those walls was a black background. Needless to say, the group was entirely confused.

"Whoa... Talk about a sudden change." Sonic gawked.

"Yeah, this looks a lot different than the rest of this area..." Shadower remarked.

When they approached the center of the area, however, they realized they were not alone. A brown, rock fist had appeared above them and prepared to crush them. Thankfully, they had barely escaped getting hit.

Upon looking up, the group saw a stone-like being that looked flat and angular with two rectangular eyes in the background. He also had another stone hand and diamond-shaped earrings. The face he had definitely showed he was not happy to see them.

"Who dares disturb my rest?" the stone creature asked, while in truth, it didn't have much of a face or body. "Hold on a minute… Why do I recognize that pink color? And there's even pale green here too? GRAH! I HATE those two colors!"

"He hates pink and pale green? I don't see anything wrong wit-" Chopper stopped when he looked at himself and Kirby. "Oh... Well, this isn't good. Now we're stuck here with this... Wait, who are you?"

"My name is **Wham Bam Rock**. I live on this planet and I usually spend my whole time sleeping." Wham Bam Rock explained. "But a star came in here and I thought perhaps I could keep it as a souvenir…"

When he opened his right hand, the heroes noticed a yellow star.

"Hey! We need that thing, so could you do us a favor and give it to us?" Chopper asked.

"NO! Why would I give it to the likes of you? You disturb my rest and you invade my planet without me knowing? _**UNACCEPTABLE!**_ You must be punished for your crime!"

Mario: So he wants to fight us?

"I guess so," Chopper shrugged, getting in a battle stance. "OK... You asked for it!"

**Tattle: **_That's Wham Bam Rock, the one who likes to crush enemies in his way. Max HP is 200, Attack is 12, and Defense is 1. This guy loves to smash things, so he'll always bring his fists down on you. Heck, he might even snap his fingers and make a bunch of rocks fall from the sky! His hands are what you want to attack, since you cannot attack his head. Unfortunately, since his hands are made of rock, he won't lose HP from getting burned. I don't know if he has a full body when I get a look at him... In fact, I wonder how he's able to float up in the air like that… Meh, I'll never find out._

"Those hands look a bit high up. Maybe I should lower its defense!" Chopper made a big jump and lowered Wham Bam Rock's defense with his Soft Stomp, which helped bring his Defense to 0. Kirby helped out by throwing in his Cartwheel and dealing 8 damage to Wham Bam Rock.

Wham Bam Rock showed no mercy and brought his fist down on Chopper and took 12 HP away from him. However, with his fist on the ground, that left him vulnerable to ground attacks.

"I guess we can hit him with some ground attacks then," Chopper took out his hammer and brought it down on the hand, causing Wham Bam Rock to cringe.

"Urrnnghh! You little pest!" Wham Bam Rock tried to grab Chopper with his right hand, but Tamber smashed the fist with his powerful Combo Punch, making him hold his stone hand in pain.

"Ha! Take that, stoney!" Tamber scoffed.

In anger, Wham Bam Rock raised his fist and brought it down on Tamber. He tried to keep him in place in an attempt to put an end to the furball.

"HEY! Get off of me!" Tamber cried. Chopper helped free Tamber by giving the stone hand an Ice Stomp, making the hand release Tamber so Sonic could attack with a Spin Dash and knock it away, leaving him at 150 HP. He also performed a Stylish when he returned to the group.

"Sweet!" Sonic said, looking as if he was break dancing. Wham Bam Rock retaliated by grabbing Sonic and tossing him down onto the ground to make him take 12 damage. Thankfully, he was able to get back up and exclaimed, "Like I'm going to give up so easily!"

Once Chopper threw an ice ball and then Flyer used a Flying Attack, Wham Bam Rock's defenses had finally returned, to the dismay of the heroes.

"Well, at least we managed to deal some serious damage to him," Flyer remarked.

"Perhaps I should try a little something else…" Wham Bam Rock snapped his finger, causing rocks to fall upon the group. They were all able to guard his attacks, so the damage was not too severe.

"This is a good opportunity to try out my Hi-Jump ability!" Chopper put the Hi-Jump ability on and leaped upward to Wham Bam Rock's hand and dealt 7 damage with a single fist. "I have to admit, that was pretty cool to do!"

Afterward, he called out for Shadower to punch him. He listened and lowered Wham Bam Rock's defense. When the guardian tried crushing him with his fist, he Superguarded it, allowing Wham Bam Rock to take 1 damage instead.

"Whew... That was close." Shadower sighed, relieved to have avoided the attack. Chopper smiled and jumped off one of the walls and hit Wham Bam Rock with a Wall Jump, bringing him down to 100 HP. Scrub fluttered up to Wham Bam Rock's hand next and brought him down to 92 HP instead.

"I'm impressed how you managed to bring me down this far... Perhaps now is the time to show you a little interesting move!" Wham Back Rock brought his hand over everyone and let the parts of it drop on them. After guarding the rocks, they saw his hand change more to a round stone.

"Well that was interesting... But it's not going to take us down!" Chopper declared, readying his hammer as soon as Wham Bam Rock's fist landed on the ground. He dished 7 out of him, and then Vivian left a fiery punch on his fist as well. Goombella's tattle turned out to be true when Wham Bam was not left with a burn.

"My Shade Fist cannot even burn him..." Vivian trailed.

"Heh heh! That's because I'm made of rock" Wham Bam Rock laughed, bringing his fist down on her. Not too happy to see her get crushed like that, Chopper held his hammer over himself.

"Take this, freak!" Chopper cried as he threw his Diamond Hammer at Wham Bam Rock's fist and brought him down to 70 HP. Bombette exploded in front of the fist and she dealt 7 damage.

Wham Bam Rock decided to bring one of his fists back and knocked Chopper all the way back with one heavy punch. Unlike his normal attacks, this one had did a bit more. It didn't stop him from returning and hitting Wham Bam Rock with a Hi-Jump.

"Here, let me help you," Heartsy suggested, pulling her hammer out and smashing Wham Bam Rock's fist, leaving it cracked.

"GRAAHH! My fist! That's IT! No more Mr. Nice Guy now!" Wham Bam Rock grabbed Heartsy and threw her down on Chopper, leaving them both dizzy.

"Ouch... That was painful..." Chopper moaned. He quickly shook out of his daze and flew into the air to hit Wham Bam Rock again. Once Flyer made his attack, they left him with 33 HP, which the group was happy to notice.

Wham Bam Rock tried to punch Chopper again, but he was able to Superguard and avoided the punch. This allowed him to use his Hammer Throw, and then it also helped Tamber land a Combo Punch on his fist, bringing him down to 14 HP.

"We almost got this! Very nice!" Chopper gave a thumbs up, but then he was crushed by Wham Bam Rock's fist, knocking his ability away. "Oh... That wasn't very nice..."

Regardless of whether he lost his ability or not, Chopper used his Hammer Throw to bring Wham Bam Rock down to 6 HP. Kirby's Cartwheel delivered the final blow and finished the battle.

"What? NO! _**GRRAAGGHHH!**_" Many explosions came from Wham Bam Rock, and with one last explosion, he was gone. Chopper received 39 Star Points, and he also leveled up. He upgraded his BP to 48.

With Wham Bam Rock gone, a yellow glittering star floated down to Chopper, and once he held it up, all four wish stars began to circle around above Chopper.

"Huh? What is going on?" Bombette asked.

Mario: I have no idea…

"Well, whatever it is, it looks like it's going up to space. I think we ought to follow it!" Chopper summoned his Warp Star and quickly got on it. Kirby summoned his and they all flew off of Crystalmeth to follow the four wish stars.

After all, it was their only chance of finding the Crystal Star.

* * *

**There's a reason why I like this chapter, and we'll be seeing that in the next five parts of this chapter. :P  
**


	92. Showdown With Marx

The heroes had followed the four stars into the center of the planets with their Warp Stars. However, when they had reached the stars, they noticed that their own Warp Stars had flown over there, leaving them floating in front of the six wish stars.

"What the… Our Warp Stars!" Chopper cried.

Before they could try to grab the two Warp Stars, all six stars had formed together. A large, yellow circular clockwork comet made of pieces of debris and machinery appeared before them. Items such as a weather vane, a telescope, a wind-up key, a drafting compass, a globe, two atomic tubes, a pendulum, a twisted pocket watch, a triangular ruler, several piano keys, a compass, and a light bulb were such examples. Its mouth resembled that of a cat face as well.

"READY."

"Wait... Ready?" Scrub gawked. "Ready for what?"

"I don't know... Well, I suppose I should talk to it..." Chopper attempted to space swim up to Nova so it could looked down at him with its blue eyes. "So... You're Nova, right?"

"CORRECT. I AM THE COMET NOVA. WERE YOU THE ONE THAT HAS SUMMONED ME HERE?" Nova asked.

"Yeah. We collected some wish stars in order to summon you."

"AH, I SEE. SO YOU ARE THE ONE THAT HAS SUMMONED ME. VERY WELL, AS I PROMISE TO ALL THAT SUMMON ME, I WILL GRANT YOU ONE WISH."

"One wish? Yes! This might be the perfect chance of finding that purple moon!" Bombette cheered.

Chopper raised a finger in order to make his wish, but he soon felt someone push him aside to take his place instead.

"Ow! Who the heck was that?!" Chopper cried.

_"I'm sorry! I just needed to make a little wish of my own!" _Marx grinned, turning to Nova._ "Well... I'd like to finally restore the power that I have lost!"_

"Wait, Marx?!" Chopper gasped. "What're you doing here?!"

_"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to get back what was taken from me! Now! Nova! Grant me my wish, and then you may destroy these fools!"_

"OK. 3... 2... 1... GO!" Nova exclaimed, his eyes glowing yellow and granting Marx's very wish. His ghostly form has disappeared, and life had finally been restored to Marx.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha! I can't believe I did it!" Marx cackled. "Thanks to you, everything went according to plan! All of those wish stars that were on those planets. I set them there! You all fell right into my trap!"

"Wh-What?" Vivian gasped.

"And now... My transformation can finally begin!" Golden yellow wings with two claws and bright red hearts on each side developed on Marx. Fangs had also developed on Marx's mouth, and he himself had grown a bit bigger in size. Many hexagons of many colors were under his wings too. "I thank you all for your help! You've all made this a VERY special day for me! Now I can go find that Crystal Star myself, since _I_ know where to go! Hee hee hee hee hee hee!"

With that, Marx flew off, leaving the rest to float into space.

"That jerk! He was just using us this whole time?!" Tamber shouted. "C'mon, you stinky puffball! There's no way we're going to let him get away!"

"WHY did I listen to that little jester?" Chopper face palmed. "He had us ALL fooled! And I even listened to him! Stupid stupid stupid!"

Vivian brought her ghostly tail onto Nova and extended herself over to Chopper in an attempt to comfort him. However, when Chopper unveiled his eyes, he saw Meta Knight instead of Vivian. A disappointed look had appeared on his face.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Chopper," the illusion scolded. "You've brought an evil jester back to life. You should know better than this after the help I've given you."

"It's not my fault, Meta Knight! I just... I didn't suspect him to be evil! I'm really sorry for letting you down." Chopper replied, only for the illusion to fade away.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Chopper," Vivian suggested, now getting his attention. "We were all fooled by him... Maybe we can still stop him..."

"Well… Maybe you're right, Vivian. Maybe we do have an idea... I think I might know of one." Chopper summoned a brand new Warp Star and grabbed onto it. "I hope it works, though."

Kirby summoned his Warp Star and everyone else got on that one. With that, Chopper's Warp Star flew straight toward Nova. They noticed an entrance leading inside of the comet.

"What kind of idea are you thinking of?" Flyer asked, only to quickly figure it out. "...Oh, I see! You're trying to see if there's anything that Nova has that can grant a wish, right?"

"Ummmm... I guess so?" Chopper shrugged.

When they entered, they found the inside of the comet to be more mechanical, which wasn't too surprising with the amount of machinery outside. But nevertheless, they flew through the comet without any problems and got to the purple diamond-shaped core. Right near the core was a computer, which caught the Wingel's attention.

"Are my eyes deceiving me or is that a computer?" Flyer noticed, feeling determined to use it. "Chopper! Bring me down there and maybe I can hack into its system! ...Maybe I can use it to follow Marx or look up anything related to this purple moon."

"Hey, that sounds like a good idea!" Chopper agreed, watching Flyer get off the Warp Star and fly over to the terminal. He turned the computer on and started to get to work.

"Got it! Now… Location… Let's see if purple moon works." Flyer typed up the words "purple moon", and he got one result: the purple moon known as…Nautina? "Uh… Guys? You might want to look at this." Stepping aside, everyone got a glimpse of the image, and boy were they surprised.

Mario: Interesting…

"OK, I think that's what the moon is, I mean there's a base on there for crying out loud!" Chopper exclaimed. "Think you can get Nova to take us there, Flyer?"

"I'm on it," Flyer pressed the button, causing the comet to start moving. However, this had caused the interior to shake and leave everyone off balance.

"I hope we didn't do anything bad, because if we did… I don't know WHAT to say…" Bombette gulped.

"It's nothing, really. The comet is just moving. You can even see through this computer." Shadower pointed to the computer, which showed them passing through the stars. "It's actually incredible to see how fast this thing can move."

"Yeah. I'd say this thing might rival my speed, or it might even be faster!" Sonic remarked.

So they had waited inside Nova for quite a while, but they had gotten a chance to get a glimpse of all the stars they passed by. Many of them commented on how beautiful it was.

"Poyo... (I feel like at peace with these stars around...)" Kirby sighed.

"Yeah. I always liked stars." Chopper smiled.

After five minutes had passed, Nova started to slow down, allowing the eleven to let go of whatever they held on to. Up at the distance, they caught a glimpse of a purple moon.

"Is that the moon?" Scrub asked.

"I can see a base on there, that's for sure," Sonic noticed as Nova got even closer.

"Yeah, that looks just like Nautina," Flyer confirmed. "I don't know if Marx has reached here yet, so maybe we don't have to deal with him!"

With that, the heroes began to wait for Nova to come to a halt.

* * *

**Nautina-**

"So… How have things been with you, dude?" an X-Naut Scout asked, turning to his comrade.

"Meh, the usual," the second replied with a shrug. "Grodus yelled at Lord Crump for not cooperating with him, and he's also told us to look out for anyone. Though, I feel that Grodus has become pretty serious with Chopper coming here. He must REALLY want to stop that kid."

"Definitely. I mean after what he's done to him in the Palace of Shadow, I can definitely agree that Grodus wants to get back at him. If that kid gets that Moon Star, he only needs five more!"

"Five more?! Are you serious? That's not good for Sir Grodus! ...Well, at least those Phis don't have any Crystal Stars. It's one for us X-Nauts and zero for the Phis! We're the winners here!"

"Yeah, we sure are!" the first X-Naut Scout looked up at the sky and gawked at something approaching. "…Say, do you see a shooting star coming over here?"

"Yes. Yes I do." the other agreed calmly. "I suggest we GET OUTTA HERE!"

The two X-Naut Scouts fled for their lives as Nova came in close. Thankfully, they managed to escape and return to the base just before they could get sent flying from Nova's impact.

* * *

Chopper and Kirby came flying out of Nova with their Warp Stars, and they landed on the moon. They didn't see anything around except for some big stones and some smaller rocks with some cracks in them. The smaller rocks looked like they could be blown up, while the big stones looked like they could be smashed.

The others had jumped out of Nova and slowly descended due to the gravity. When Tamber had landed, he sensed something underneath him.

"Hold on… I sense something underneath us. Excuse me for a minute…" Tamber began to dig underground, and when he rose from the surface, he found a red drink underneath. "This looks like a refreshing drink! Don't mind if I do!"

He was about to drink from it, but Chopper swiped the drink away and put it in his inventory along with his other items. "Don't Tamber! This thing is a Sweet Punch, and it can recover 100 FP. I think we should save this when my FP is low!"

"Say, Contadre..." Scrub started. "Combining an Ultra Shroom and Jammin' Jelly makes a Jelly Ultra. What about an Ultimate Shroom and a Sweet Punch?"

"You would get an Ultimate Punch, and MAN, those things are TASTY! I really like 'em!" Chopper answered, remembering the awesome taste of an Ultimate Punch. "But we shouldn't be talking about food at this time. We need to find the X-Naut base before Marx shows up!"

Everyone agreed and they took a look around the moon. Aside from the rocks and stones, there wasn't anything too special. There were only Nautina Clefts and blue X-like enemies resembling Yuxes called B-Yuxes. They were a little tough, having 34 HP, an Attack of 12 and a Defense of 1. Like all Yuxes, they could make mini Yuxes to protect themselves.

"Hey, Bombette… Let's see what's around here." Chopper suggested, picking up the pink Bob-omb. Bombette didn't seem to mind, and he threw her at one of the small rocks. There wasn't much except for a Thwomp item, which would allow someone to summon a big Thwomp to crush an enemy. "Well, this really isn't much. How about that big stone? Tamber, why don't you smash that thing, would you?"

"That, I can do," Tamber grinned as he walked over to the stone and smashed the block. However, punching and moving for him was starting to irritate him, due to the gravity. "Ack! I hate being on this moon! I can barely do anything on it!"

"Hey, you know, since we're on a moon, I bet I can do the Moon Walk! Too bad I don't got any Moon Shoes, because I could do it easily!" Chopper started to move backwards. Many looked confused, but it didn't seem to bother him.

"I wish I had a pair of hands so I can face palm…" Bombette trailed.

"Well... You can always face foot! Anyway, let's just see which way we're supposed to go." Chopper took out the Magical Map and looked at which direction they needed to go. "It says we need to move east. So… Let's head east!"

They all began to head east by simply moon jumping. After all, it was much faster than simply walking. Only Vivian and Shadower struggled to moon jump due to the lack of having feet.

"Well, now I know how it feels like to have the gravity change on the moon," Sonic remarked, a bit disappointed in not being able to run as much. "But, jumping isn't that bad, right?"

"This place is NOTHING compared to being underwater! Swimming is much more difficult for me. I mean, water feels so much slower when you're in it, and it can be very bor-" Unfortunately, Chopper had not noticed Nautina Cleft, and he had ended up landing on the spikes on its head, causing him to yelp and hold his foot in pain. "OWWIE! THAT HURTS!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Tamber laughed, now falling on his back. Many were sick of his laughter, so Heartsy had given him a kick to make him stop. "OW! Don't kick me!"

"Then stop laughing! Pain isn't something you should laugh at!" Heartsy scolded.

"Well it wasn't me, so I can laugh at it," Tamber replied as he got up. Just then, the Nautina Cleft had charged at him and sent him flying back. "HEY!"

"Now is it funny?"

"NO IT ISN'T! JUST SHUT UP!"

Most of the group tried attacking it, but with its Defense of 8, they couldn't do much. Flyer didn't even try to hit it with his Flying Attack, knowing that he'd get hurt from its spike. It wasn't until Bombette stepped in to take action.

"Ugh… I'll take care of this thing." Bombette groaned, walking over to the Nautina Cleft and, with one explosion, she flipped the Cleft over, which allowed Chopper to stomp on its bottom.

"Are we technically hitting its butt?" Scrub asked. Chopper shrugged and looked at the Cleft.

"Ummmm... Probably not." Chopper stepped out of the way and let Scrub finish off the Nautina Cleft.

Mario: This definitely reminds me of being on the moon where the old X-Naut Fortress was.

"Yeah, it does kinda remind me of the moon on the X-Naut Fortress," Chopper agreed. "Kinda strange, isn't it? I just hope we don't run into any more trouble on this moon…"

Unfortunately, he jinxed it when a B-Yux shot a pink ring of energy in their direction..

"You just HAAAAAD to jinx it, puffball! Nice going!" Tamber groaned. Chopper glared at him and moon jumped over to the B-Yux and landed a first strike. He brought his hammer down on it afterward. Sonic tried to attack with a Spin Dash, but due to the gravity, he was struggling. Mario decided to attack instead and stomped on the B-Yux to finish it off and give them Star Points.

Afterward, they decided to break some rocks on the ground using Bombette's ability. There wasn't much except for an Ultra Shroom, along with a Sweet Punch that Tamber found underground.

* * *

"Man, this place is so BOOOOOOORING..." Scrub complained. "We haven't found a single thing!"

Indeed they hadn't. They had been moon jumping for twenty minutes, and still they had not come across much. Sure, they ran into the usual Nautina Cleft and B-Yux, but they had gotten so used to their attacks that they were hardly a threat. It was even worse when Tamber was constantly complaining.

"You just HAD to have us land further from the fortress, puffball. You just HAD to!" Tamber huffed. "I suppose that we've all learned a lesson from this?"

"Poyo? (What lesson?)" Kirby wondered.

"That puffballs are bad with coordina-" Tamber stopped for a moment and remained in place. Everyone noticed him not moving and turned to him with confused looks.

"What's the matter, Tamber?" Shadower asked.

"I sense something underground..." Tamber pondered. "But it doesn't feel like some sort of item. It feels like something...big."

"Can you check it out?" Chopper asked.

"Yeah yeah..." the furry tulip had dug underground, and when he emerged, he held up a blue diamond. "Hey! Look what I found! I bet it'll make me some money!""Money? Doesn't it have any other purpose?"

"That diamond is an important piece in entering the fortress!" came a voice above them. Everyone looked up and gasped at the figure slowly descending in front of them.

"It's Marx!" Vivian exclaimed.

"Yes… Marx!" Marx grinned, though his expression had quickly turned to one of disdain. "I don't know how you managed to get here before me, but I guess it gives me the opportunity to destroy you! Heh heh heh! Then the universe will be mine!"

"Universe? But... Couldn't you have just wished to rule it instead?" Chopper gawked.

"Restoring my life was the first step. Now all that's needed is the Crystal Star in that fortress! With that, I shall become unstoppable!"

"Yeah... Tell that to the others who wanted a Crystal Star."

"Let's just fight this thing already," Tamber demanded.

"Heh heh! Very well! Let us have some fun!" Marx cackled, swooping down for an attack.

"Everyone duck!" Shadower shouted.

When everyone avoided the jester, he quickly came to a halt and turned back to face the hero.

"This should definitely be a treat..." Marx remarked, getting ready for battle just like the others.

**Tattle: **_That's Marx. He's some kind of crazy jester…bat…whatever the heck he is. He really DOES scare me a little bit. Just look at him! He's more threatening than a Goomba! Max HP is 220, Attack is 13, and Defense is 1. He'll attack with many moves such as swooping down at you and also spitting out an ice bomb. He can also summon a portal that will suck you in if you're not careful. The attack that's his most dangerous is when he shoots out a huge laser. He'll prepare himself for it, but when he does, use Vivian to hide in the shadows. To me, this is someone you REALLY want to be careful of. He may look a bit cute, but he looks a bit creepy too! I mean, look at those wings and those fangs… Ugh…_

"Go on, Chopper! Try to fight me! None of your silly ground attacks can reach me!" Marx cackled. Chopper realized that was true upon noticing him hovering off the ground. However, that didn't stop him from firing an electric ball at him.

Marx felt himself chattering his teeth from the electricity, but things got a little worse for him when Kirby floated up and turned into a stone, crushing him and leaving him on the ground.

"Eat this!" Marx fired three silver cutters out from his wings, and Chopper was struck by all four, making him lose 13 HP in the process. Thankfully, he was able to to hold his own and bring his hammer down on the jester bat...whatever he is.

"Finally! He's on the ground!" Heartsy took her hammer out and smashed Marx's head. In anger, Marx flew up and dropped a couple of seeds on the ground. They suddenly grew into thorny vines, and Chopper and Heartsy were both struck by the attack.

"Whoa! That was shocking!" Chopper gaped. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy with Marx's attack, so he hit him with an ice ball. Mario had landed a Super Jump afterward, bringing him down to 174 HP.

"Heh heh heh heh! Take this!" Marx swooped down and knocked Chopper back towards Mario, which made both of them fall over and take 13 damage. "I'm already beating to down to a pulp! You simply cannot beat me! I'm INVIIIIINCIBLE!"

"Well, I heard a supposedly 'Koopa King' say that to me two years ago, and was he invincible? NO! I can beat you down! Just watch!" Chopper took out his Thwomp item, and a giant Thwomp fell on Marx.

"_Ouch…_" Marx had already suffered 12 damage from the attack. Now that he was on the ground still, Tamber walked over to him and delivered a Combo Punch and took away 10 from him. Marx managed to get the Thwomp off of his and fired spears of energy at everyone in a rapid pace. It was fortunate that everyone Superguarded this attack, due to its high attack power.

"Whoa… I can't believe we Superguarded that. That was a close one…" Shadower huffed. He went next and threw in a Shadow Punch on Marx, which slightly knocked him back a little.

"Thanks, Shadower!" Chopper leaped up and attacked Marx With his Power Bounce. Luckily, he stomped on Marx about thirteen times, which was able to bring him down to 126 HP.

"Urgh…" Marx grit his teeth and quickly disappeared. Everyone gawked and looked all over the place for him. Vivian was unfortunate to not notice a shadow underneath her. Marx had rose up from it and knocked her down.

"That Marx is starting to get on my nerves," Vivian remarked, sinking into the shadows and rising up in front of Marx. With a fiery fist, she landed a Shade Fist on Marx and left him with a burn.

"Arrrgh! You pest! You'll be going down after I'm done with Chopper! No… Maybe after I'm done with Kirby…" Marx began to think for a moment, but he was interrupted when Chopper delivered a Jump attack.

Marx swooped down to attack, but everyone was able to Superguard it and deal 1 damage to the jester. Along with that, he took damage from the burn received from Vivian. Chopper prepared another electric ball and fired it at Marx, and then Flyer successfully took 9 HP out of him with his Flying Attack. Now he was down to 94 HP.

"Got him!" Flyer shouted after flying back. Unfortunately, he got struck by one of Marx's silver cutters. Speaking of cutters, Chopper had decided to put on his Cutter ability.

"So, if you think you can use cutter attacks, then I might as well do the same thing!" Chopper threw his cutter blade at Marx and took 7 HP out of him. Since he was now on the ground, Sonic followed up with his Spin Dash and brought Marx down to 79 HP.

"Poyo... (He's almost down...)" Kirby trailed. "Poyo... (But he's a little far from defeat too...)"

"Argh! You may have brought me down this far, but that's not going to stop me from finishing you! _**HYYAAAGH!**_" Marx coughed up a bomb and dropped it on Chopper. He was able to bring his arms up and guard the cold attack before he could freeze.

"Whew! Maybe I should use bombs too!" Chopper switched to his Bomb ability and threw a bomb at Marx to deal 7 damage. Bombette helped him with a Bomb attack.

"You're pushing me pretty far, you know! Perhaps it's time you witnessed one of my deadliest attacks, star Warrior! Hee hee hee hee!" Marx's cheeks began to puff up as began to charge his laser.

"If he hits us with that laser, he might beat us pretty quickly," Flyer noted.

"Ummmm... Uh... Food time!" Chopper exclaimed nervously, taking out a Jelly Ultra and stuffing it into his mouth to recover 50 HP and FP.

"You really need to settle down on those Jelly Ultras, Chopper..." Vivian suggested.

"I would, but I can't when Marx is going to destroy us with a huge attack!" Chopper replied. "We might be in some serio- Wait, you can hide us, Vivian!"

"I was planning on doing that, actually," Vivian smiled, grabbing Chopper and pulling him down into the shadows. She had also helped the others hide in the shadows as well.

Marx opened his mouth and fired a large laser. However, due to everyone hiding, he had missed, giving everyone a chance to emerge from the floor. Marx, looking angry, swooped down at them and dealt 13 damage to them all. However, that didn't stop Chopper from throwing a bomb at him.

"Little bomb attacks aren't going to help you! You should've realized that…" Marx grinned evilly.

Mario: Well how about this?

Mario performed a Super Jump attack on Marx, bringing him down to 47 HP. Marx coughed, but he didn't make too much of a fuss and disappeared, making a portal appear. Chopper tried his best not to get sucked in, with the help of the others, particularly Vivian. When the black hole was gone, Marx had returned and received a Hammer Throw to the face from Chopper, and a Shade Fist from Vivian.

"You know, he really isn't that freaky when we're beating him," Heartsy remarked.

"Oh, really?" Marx flew above her and spat a bomb on her, leaving her frozen.

"Oh, come on! That's not fair!" Chopper complained.

"She was asking for it! So, I decided to give her a cold fate! Heh heh heh heAAACKPTH!" Marx coughed from the burn attack, allowing Chopper to land a jump on him and Kirby to attack with a Cartwheel.

"See how you handle this!" Marx exclaimed, firing a bunch of spears at everyone and doing 15 damage to them. Thankfully, Vivian was able to help thaw Heartsy out, while Chopper prepared to charge up an electric ball. With Marx only at 18 HP, Tamber decided to store power in his fist for an attack.

"All right, puffball! I'll hit him, and you finish the job!" Tamber declared as he charged at Marx and delivered a Power Punch, leaving him dangerously low on HP.

"Argh... Look, Chopper… I'm a bit weak, and I don't think I can do much else..." Marx panted. "Can't we talk about this?"

"Well, it would've been BETTER if we settled this peacefully, but, being a greedy jester who just wanted power, you kinda missed your chance," Chopper remarked. "I, Chopper of Planet Clara, will finally-"

"Oh, just get on with it already, puffball!" Tamber face palmed.

"Fine..." Chopper tossed the electric ball at Marx, which was enough to send him flying back. He had been sent directly at Nova, and upon making impact, both Marx and Nova had exploded. From the result, Chopper had managed to get 50 Star Points from the battle.

"Whew! I can't believe we got through that one… I feel relieved!" Chopper sighed, removing his Bomb ability. "I mean... We defeated Marx!"

"He was admittedly a challenge..." Shadower commented.

"I concur," Flyer nodded. "I mean, with those deadly attacks, we could've been history."

"Well, I was pretty tough," Tamber reminded. The sound of chirping crickets were heard when the others didn't respond, making him scowl. "Oh, whatever. Let's just find that stupid base."

* * *

Thankfully, their travel through the rest of Nautina was not as long as the previous, since they started to hear the sound of technology five minutes later.

"The Magical Map is detecting the Crystal Star a bit closer now," Chopper noted, getting a look at the map. "That means we're already...here."

When he lowered the map, he gaped at the size of the huge forest that was before them. Unlike the previous fortress, this one looked possibly more futuristic. There was such transportation such as clear pipes that a few X-Nauts were traveling through and even some beautiful glass windows. Despite the huge size, they could also see the top of the fortress, which was made of indestructible glass. Something appeared to sparkle up there.

"The top of the fortress... That must be where the Crystal Star is!" Vivian deduced.

Most of the group was too distracted by the fortress. Flyer, in particular, was gawking at the transportation pipes. He saw some X-Nauts in purple armor called X-Naut Hunters traveling through them as well.

"This place… It's AMAZING! I've never seen anything like this before! I don't think I've seen any phenomenon like this before! It's so cool!"

"Yeah, you're right, man! This place really IS cool!" Tamber agreed. "So, puf- I mean Chopper… This is the place where those wussy X-Nauts are, right?"

"Yeah, this is the place," Chopper confirmed. "I'm sure they're all prepared to take us down, though. I'd be careful if I were you…"

Though there was a large, blue barrier covering the base, the entrance itself was not blocked. It had an opening on it shaped like a diamond. Remembering the diamond he had gotten, Tamber placed it on the door, allowing them to enter the fortress. There, they found a pipe leading into a little kart going straight to the interior.

Everyone got on the hovering kart, and once Chopper pressed the green button, they were heading right into the New X-Naut Fortress.

* * *

**I'd put a little more in the Nautina area, but... It's a moon. There's not much you can put in a barren landscape. Well, at least we had a fight against Marx. But for now, we're going into the New X-Naut Fortress! Totally original, right, guys? :P  
**


	93. Storming the New X Naut Fortress

Everyone waited patiently for the hovering kart to take them to the New X-Naut Fortress's major interior. As they did, they continued to take a look at the beauty of the fortress itself. Needless to say, they were looking forward to storming this fortress.

"This is it, guys! We're heading into enemy territory!" Chopper announced.

"This is going to be TIGHT!" Sonic grinned, doing a fist pump.

"I'm SO ready to take down the X-Nauts again!" Scrub declared.

Their conversation was put to a halt when the hovering kart stopped at a door door and opened up. Everyone walked off of the device and they were in a big room with some small stairs going up to one door and also door right across from them. Just like in the X-Naut Fortress, there was a light above the door to determine whether it was locked or not. Both doors had red lights above them.

"Huh… There's nobody around here." Sonic noticed, his expression changing to a smile. "Well, looks like we're safe for now. Nobody's here to stop us! But… The door's also locked..."

"Well, if we can find a way out of this room and into another, I would appreciate that. How about we try upstairs?" Bombette suggested.

"That door's locked too," Vivian noted, pointing to the red light above the door. "You remember how the doors worked in the X-Naut Fortress, right?"

"Errr... I think I do have an idea of what a color might represent."

Scrub heard a beeping sound coming from across the door, making him gulp. "Uh… Guys, the door across from us is opening..."

Just then, the door's light switched to green and two X-Naut Hunters came walking out of the door. Unlike their predecessors, these X-Nauts were carrying weaponry, such as futuristic assault rifles. The sheer sight of those weapons was enough to make everyone stay on guard.

"Well, well, well… If it isn't Chopper! So nice of you to show up…" the first X-Naut Hunter said, aiming his weapon at Chopper, whose eyes shot wide open from the gun.

"Yeah, so nice of us to show up. Why? Because we're taking over this place!" Tamber proclaimed with a smirk. "You X-Wusses probably couldn't even harm me! That's why I plan on rolling you up into a ball and tossing you outta here!"

"Oh, I wouldn't mess with us if I were you…" the second X-Naut Hunter mused, aiming his weapon at Tamber. "We're X-Naut Hunters, perfectly trained to hunt down people such as you. Since you're in our territory, why don't we reward you all?"

"You mean you'll reward me with the Crystal Star?" Chopper asked, only for one of the hunters to fire. Thankfully, it had barely hit Chopper's foot, but it put him on guard. "I guess not, huh? Well, then I guess we have no choice but to fight you!"

"All right, then! We'll fight you! We planned on doing that anyway!" the first X-Naut Hunter smirked. "Hunter 32, how about we show these eleven what we can do with these guns and what skills we got!"

"Gladly," replied the second X-Naut Hunter. They charged at Chopper and the others, who had prepared for battle. Luckily, Goombella was able to come onto the stage and give the stats of these guys. They had 38 HP, an Attack of 13 and a Defense of 2. Together, X-Naut Hunters could be pretty dangerous.

"All right, let's get this show on the road! Hut hut… HIKE!" the two X-Naut Hunters tried to tackle Chopper, but they missed and fell on the ground. Smiling, Chopper approached the first one and brought his hammer down on it.

"Well, that was stupid…" the two sighed. Flyer did the honors of giving the first X-Naut Hunter up at the front a Flying Attack, leaving the X-Naut Hunter with only 23 HP left.

Both X-Naut Hunters attacked Chopper with their assault rifles. A blue laser fired from their guns and Chopper guarded both of their attacks. He proceeded on attacking the first X-Naut Hunter, with Mario following up with a Super Jump.

"Aw, man! That's NOT cool! Look what they just did! I'm down to 8 HP because of them!" the first X-Naut Hunter fired at Chopper, while the other fired at Mario. The laser knocked them back, but not by a lot.

"Well, this is pretty much over. Well, for you, it is kinda over." Chopper threw an ice ball at the X-Naut Hunter, causing him to freeze, while Vivian raised her finger and attacked with her Fiery Jinx, defeating the first one.

"No! Not Joe! Aw, Crud! Now you asked for it!" the remaining X-Naut Hunter fired a blast from his gun at Chopper. As usual, he guarded the attack and only took 12 damage.

"All righty… Let's see…" Chopper decided to toss an electric ball at the X-Naut Hunter, while Scrub attacked with his Gulp, taking 8 HP away from him. The hunter retaliated by shooting at Scrub's stomach.

"OI!" Scrub held his stomach his stomach as he he looked up at the X-Naut Hunter, who was readying his weapon. Chopper took the time to attack the Hunter with a Fire Stomp, leaving a burn on him. Sonic threw in a Spin Dash and brought it down to a low amount of HP.

"Gah! This isn't finished!" spat the X-Naut Hunter. He fired at Chopper, but his shot had missed. Chopper smirked and threw his hammer at him, and then Tamber had finished off the hunter with a Combo Punch, rewarding them with 10 Star Points.

"Ha ha! You guys are such weaklings!" Tamber scoffed.

"But you only finished off one X-Naut," Flyer informed.

"Well... I was still cool!"

Both Hunters got up, still exhausted. But, rather than staring at them with intimidated looks, they slowly stepped back in fear, with the first X-Naut Hunter saying, "Whoa… I didn't know this kid really had it in him. Dude, I say we make a run for it and warn everyone else!"

"Good thinking! _**YAAAAAAAAAAAH!**_" the two X-Naut Hunters yelped as they bolted. Fortunately, for the heroes, they had forgotten to lock the door behind them.

"Hey, they left the door open for us!" Chopper smiled. "Looks like they were too scared to pay attention to the lock!"

"Yeah, or else we'd be stuck in here forever!" Scrub mentioned.

"It's great when minions are not the smartest bulbs out there," Heartsy smiled.

Just as they were about to progress, they heard the speakers go off. The voice coming from them was fairly obvious to most of them.

_"Attention all X-Nauts! This is Sir Grodus speaking. In case if you didn't know, Chopper is in the base. I repeat, Chopper is in the base."_ Grodus informed._ "I suggest you lock every single door in this base and eliminate him on sight! We can't let him find any useful items in the rooms. I am locking the elevator leading to the sixth floor as well. If you need something in my room, you must speak to me via communicator. If not, then you're out of luck."_

"Well, looks like they already know we're here," Sonic shrugged, not caring too much. "I'm guessing the Crystal Star is up on the sixth floor, right? Then that Grodus must be there as well!"

"I'm sure that staircase will lead us further," Vivian noted, looking over at the other door. "Maybe we can find a way to unlock it through this door?"

"Yeah, we should check this door and see what we can find," Chopper walked through the door and noticed a couple of trees and bushes in the area. Everyone else got a look at the tropical forest and gawked.

"Wait... A tropical forest in this place? Something doesn't seem right..." Heartsy trailed.

Looking up, the group got a glimpse of the beautiful, blue sky. Thankfully, not many of the trees were blocking it, so it was awfully bright in here. Regardless of the confusion, they liked it here.

"This is just amazing! There's a sky right inside of a fortress! Genius!" Flyer squealed. "I never knew they could throw in something like this! Not even I am able to think of stuff like this! Chopper, we NEED to check this place out!"

"Well… All right. It does look cool and life-like, but it feels like it's kinda fake too." Chopper remarked as he walked around.

"That's what I meant when I said something didn't feel right here," Heartsy reminded. "Bringing a forest in here would be a bit too difficult."

"Yes, well... I suppose I should've thought of that." Flyer shrugged, following his friends through the small forest. Surprisingly, the trees seemed to be real when Chopper whacked them. Nothing seemed to come out, though, so there was no point in hitting them. After Tamber smashed a stone blocking the way to the next area, they reached a small area with a small waterfall and stream. Near a rock were two X-Naut Scouts.

"There's a couple of X-Nauts here. I guess we ought to take 'em down!" Scrub suggested.

"They're probably a lot weaker than the hunters, so this shouldn't be too bad," Chopper ran over to the scouts and jumped on one of them. This had led into a battle, and when the others joined him, the X-Naut Scouts were clearly outclassed. Before they knew it, they had defeated them. "Well... That was pretty easy."

Upon jumping on the rock, they noticed a door just up ahead. Since they couldn't do much else, they took the door into a larger area. However, unlike before, there were Jungle Shy Guys holding spears patrolling the area. They didn't seem to pay too much attention when they approached them, though.

Mario: They're ignoring us?

"What are they even doing?" Bombette asked, noticing that two Jungle Shy Guys were swinging their spears at each other, along with attempting to jab at each other. Seeing as they were not attacking them, they took this opportunity to land a first strike. Chopper jumped in the air and landed a jump on the first one. ...Well, he would've, if he hadn't phased through it and fell on the floor.

"What the... I couldn't even jump on them!" Chopper gaped, noticing his body phase through the enemies. "Are they even real?"

"They're holograms, Chopper," Flyer informed. "They're technically not real."

"Oh... Well that's good. I guess we can just move on and not bother with them!" Chopper moved on and found another X-Naut Scout, so they all defeated it quickly and reached a gap with water below.

"Allow me to help, Contadre! Get on!" Scrub shouted, pointing to his back. Chopper got on his back, and the Yoshi fluttered over the river. When they landed, they found another gap across from them with a blue ! switch.

"Sonic, we need you to give us a hand," Chopper gestured Sonic to come over, so Flyer used his flying capabilities to help him across. Once he was there, Chopper kicked Sonic into a ball and sent him colliding into the blue ! switch. This made a bridge for both gaps and allowed everyone to cross the bridged to a door ahead. Entering it brought them into a small, circular room with a green ! switch on the ground.

Mario decided to give the switch a good kick, which caused something that surprised many of them. The tropical forest changed into a futuristic area that resembled the other rooms of the New X-Naut Fortress. The walls were silver and had glass windows, which gave everyone a glimpse of space. The floor was a navy blue color with an X-Naut symbol plastered on it.

"See? I knew it was all fake." Heartsy said. "They probably couldn't bring an entire forest here!"

"They couldn't, but their idea of creating a holographic forest is very interesting," Flyer remarked.

When they left the room, they noticed that there were now doors in the hallways. In addition, they had green lights over them, so they could freely explore them.

"Well, with this place finally back to normal, I think we can finally cause some damage!" Tamber rushed into one of the rooms, and everyone heard the sound of punching and smashing. The door opened up and two X-Naut Scouts were thrown out of the room.

"No! Please Have mercy!" cried the X-Naut Scouts.

"Tamber, you should just let them go," suggested Chopper.

"Wha... Seriously?! They're the bad guys!" Tamber guffawed.

"But I think they had enough..."

When Tamber stopped paying attention to the two X-Naut Scouts, they ended up making a bolt for it. From what they could see, they were badly injured, and one of them even tripped. Regardless, they had made their exit through both hallways and returned to the room they first started in.

"Yeah! That's right, ya crybabies! Run away and go back to your alien boss!" Tamber called out. "We'll take care of him once we're done causing ruckus in this place!"

"I guess you showed them, huh, Tamber?" Flyer gawked.

"Totally! I showed them what muscles I got on me! Yup! I'm just too awesome! I consider myself better than any puffballs out there! Indeed… Puffballs don't have THESE muscles!"

"Ugh, this again?" Heartsy groaned while rolling her eyes. "It's getting old, Tamber."

"Guys… I don't think we should argue." Vivian suggested, standing in between the two. "It's not going to get us anywhere... I think we should see if we can find a switch that will unlock some other doors..."

"Good point, Vivian. Tamber, did you see a switch inside of that room?" Chopper asked. Tamber had shaken his head in response. "Well, then we better check in some of the other rooms if we want to unlock a door."

Chopper crossed the bridge and walked over to the next silver door. Inside they found a little picture of a room with an electric floor. There was also something that showed an electric stick figure being resistant to the floor.

"Oh, boy… I bet there's going to be a room with an electric floor. That's just super…" Chopper groaned before noticing a slip of paper on the wall to his left. "Though, I can see a little gray spot on the side. Go ahead and inhale it, Kirby."

"Poyo! (I'm on it!)" Kirby replied. He opened his mouth and inhaled a piece of paper off the wall, revealing a switch attached to the ceiling. Chopper smiled and jumped to pull it down. They heard a beeping sound come from the room, and on a small monitor, they noticed the door going upstairs was unlocked.

"Neat! We got the door unlocked!" Sonic smiled. "We should go head on outta here. Or, maybe we can check the other rooms around here."

Chopper shrugged and headed into the other hallway to find two doors with green lights on them. Entering one of the doors, they found a big fan that was blowing a strong amount of air to the right. There was also something interesting about the wall the fan was facing, and through that wall was a chest when Flyer picked it up via his treasure tracker.

"I'm picking up treasure through that wall," Flyer informed.

"Through that wall? Then maybe... Shadower! You should use your power to get me through that wall." Chopper suggested.

"All right, that doesn't sound too challenging," Shadower nodded, going over to the fan's air current with Chopper. They both became transparent, and they were blown through the wall, where Chopper found an Ultimate Shroom in the chest. The two both got out by phasing through the wall again and left the room. They all checked the last room to the left and found a long pathway with an electric floor that quickly turned on an off.

"An electric floor? OK... That doesn't sound too challenging. I can always run this one!" Chopper assured, running over to the metallic section of the pathway. However, seeing how quickly the electric floor turned on, he had a feeling it would be too difficult to get across. "Errrrr... This looks a little too difficult."

"Then maybe I should give you a hand!" Tamber grinned, approaching from behind Chopper and attempting to push him. However, Vivian managed to pull him away with a lot of effort.

"Please, Tamber! That won't work..." Vivian panted, exhausted from pulling the furball.

"Hmmmmm... Well, judging by how quickly the floor is turning on and off, I don't think Sonic's ability could help get us across." Flyer deduced. "We'd need some sudden speed to get across."

"Let's not come up with an analysis so soon," Heartsy cut in. "Leave this to an expert!"

"Expert? Like you can do a thing to get past this!" Tamber laughed.

Heartsy ignored him and approached Chopper, the latter tilting his head. "Heartsy, what kind of idea do you have in mind?"

"Well... It's been a while since we've had a little kiss, right?" the girl asked, inching closer to Chopper. He, of course, had turned white and slowly backed away. However, Chopper soon realized what she was doing and no longer looked at her in fear.

"No way! I know what you're trying to do! You're just faking it! But I know your little game, and it's not going to work!"

Heartsy frowned at first, but another idea came into her mind. She wrapped her arms around Chopper's and got much closer to him. "I'm not faking it. Even you know that I would show you my undying love to you."

Now this seemed to get Chopper freaked out again and blazing through the unlit electric floor. Flyer was left in surprise when he saw Chopper over by the chest at the end of the pathway.

"...Of course!" Flyer exclaimed, snapping his finger. "When one is scared, sometimes their speed will increase when they get away! That's just like with many species!"

"Too bad he doesn't give me that affection, though..." Heartsy sighed.

Relieved now that he was safe, Chopper opened the chest and found a badge called the Rainbow Spin Badge, which was an Elemental Hand attack that used…rainbow energy? "You know, considering that I didn't use some of the other badges, I think using this one is not such a bad idea!"

He equipped the badge and performed a rainbow spin attack with his fists. He smiled when he saw the remains of what appeared to be rainbow energy cut through the air. Thankfully, the electric floor had turned off, allowing him to return to the others and show off his new attack.

"So the puffball can create rainbows. How nice..." Tamber trailed sarcastically. "What's next? You're going to spread pixies and wonder around?"

"Ummmm... No, not really. I'm more into kicking butt than that." Chopper replied.

Regardless of whether he was going to be throwing rainbows around, the group headed back into the first room where they fought the X-Naut Hunters and noticed the door upstairs was now unlocked.

"Yeah! Finally! We don't have to deal with this annoying area!" Scrub cheered.

"Poyo? (I wonder what we'll find around here?)" Kirby pondered.

"Only one way to find out!" Chopper declared, heading up the stairs and into the next hallway. It somewhat resembled the previous hallway, except it had windows with asteroids in the background.

"This place looks pretty cool," Sonic commented with a smirked. He looked down below and saw the ground with a couple of X-Naut Scouts working. X-Naut Hunters were down there, but they appeared to be doing the supervising rather than the working.

"I don't see any bridge here. How are we supposed to get across this place?" Tamber asked.

"Hmmmmm..." Chopper pondered for the moment, but he noticed he was standing on a panel. A very familiar-looking one at that.

"What is it, Chopper?" Flyer asked.

"Hey! It's a paper airplane panel! It's been a while since we've seen one of these!" Chopper gasped. Before he could transform, he looked to see what was across from where they stood. He saw a floating asteroid stuck on the door. Coincidentally, a door happened to be there too.

"Oh, I see a door!" Vivian noticed, getting a clearer look at the door. "I guess you know what to do, right, Chopper?"

"I sure do, Vivian! Now the rest of you guys will see my awesome paper airplane ability!" Chopper jumped up and he formed into a paper airplane, leaving those who hadn't seen the transformation gaping.

"Oh, my..." Flyer trailed.

"Wha... How the heck did he do THAT?!" Tamber questioned. "It's not like we live in a universe where we're made of paper! This isn't some kind of cartoon!"

"You know, I think it would be me doing the questioning, but considering all of the craziness I've seen, I can't come up with any hypothesis."

"Well, I ain't joinin' him in that plane! 'Cause I have a better idea!"

Everyone but Tamber joined Chopper inside of the paper airplane, and he started to glide down to the asteroid. Chopper turned back to normal, and the rest had landed on the asteroid too. As for Tamber, he decided to do it his way by gliding toward the asteroid. His landing, however, was not so great. He had hit the asteroid headfirst, leaving him in a daze.

"Need a hand?" Chopper asked, offering to help him up.

"I don't need help from a puffball!" Tamber retorted, slapping his hand away and getting up on his own. "See? I told you I could do it my way!"

"Yeah... I say we just get a move on..." Bombette trailed, walking over to the door.

The group entered the next room with a bridge going over a pool of water. The floor was silver, and the walls were more of a navy blue than what they usually were. Sonic looked down and gulped when he saw a couple of robotic Piranhas in the water.

Mario: Don't look down, Sonic.

"I know. I'm trying not to." Sonic replied, doing his best not to look down.

Sadly, there were no rails to prevent them from falling into the water. However, there were a few things in the pool, such as a few yellow ? blocks, but Chopper decided not to bother with it and continued his way over the bridge. It even branched into three pathways, with one of them having two X-Naut Scouts cleaning the filth in the water.

"Dude, do you know what doesn't make sense? The fact that there's water up on the second floor…" one of the X-Naut Scouts said to his comrade.

"You said it, man!" the second agreed. "I mean, look at this place! Why do we have a place like this here? Wouldn't it be better to bring the water area on the bottom floor?"

"Sorry, but there's no way that can happen. The Piranhas can't take the pressure to the bottom floor, so Sir Grodus wanted us to bring the water here instead."

"Oh... Well that's lame. I wish we didn't have to deal with this dumb job either."

"Hmmmm... Well this is an interesting room indeed." Flyer remarked, flying over the water and getting a glimpse of a door ahead. "I think I've found our way out of this room! Just take the center path!"

"Who? What?" the X-Naut Scouts stopped upon hearing the voice and noticed Chopper and his friends. "Hey! What's Chopper doing here?"

"Uhhhh... I'm guessing he managed to get through that door..." the second X-Naut Scout replied. "So... Should we get them?"

"Heck yeah! Beating him means that Sir Grodus'll reward us!"

The X-Naut Scouts charged at them, but they were engulfed in flames by Vivian's Fiery Jinx. They jumped into the water to cool themselves off, letting them sigh in relief.

...Or, they would've been relieved if they didn't feel their butts get bit by a couple of Piranhas. They shot up like a rocket while screaming their butts off and ran out of the room.

"Well... That was easy." Shadower said with a smile.

"At least we don't have to deal with them!" Chopper smiled, getting ready to move on. Just then, the loudspeaker went off, but instead they heard another familiar voice.

"_Attention X-Nauts! This is your awesome guy who's second-in-command, Lord Crump! Yup! I'm on this thing now! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!" _Lord Crump laughed stupidly._ "Well… That's not the point. You see, I can see you're here, Chopper. YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT! I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE! Ya know what I got in store for you? Have a look for yourself!" _

Just then, the pipes on the wall began to burst with water, causing the water level in the pools to rise.

"Uh oh… This place is flooding!" Chopper tried to get to the door ahead, but they were too late. The whole room became entirely flooded with water, and there was nothing they could do about it. It was even worse for Sonic, considering he couldn't breathe. Good thing there were some air bubbles for him to take in.

But it wasn't over just yet. Chopper swam toward the door ahead, but he saw that through the door, there was a ledge leading to the surface. He gestured everyone to follow him through the door, and they had managed to swim up to the surface and grab a hold of the ledge. A door was in front of them, and taking it led them into a room with the floor being made of glass. Underneath the glass was more water, and up ahead was an elevator being guarded by two X-Naut Hunters.

"Whoa... Chopper's here?!" the first X-Naut Hunter gasped.

"Well don't just stand there! Let's get him!" Both X-Naut Hunters aimed their weapons and fired. Flyer had fired his arm cannon at the first soldier, leaving the X-Naut paralyzed and allowing the others to defeat him. Heartsy had stunned the other with her Hearty Hammer, and then Shadower used his Shadow Attack to pull him into the shadows and beat him up to defeat the enemy. With that, they turned their attention to the elevator.

"Well, looks like we're going to be going up to the third floor, right? This should be a little interesting!" Chopper remarked.

"We shouldn't be wasting any time. Let's move!" Scrub shouted.

Chopper pushed the button, and they all headed into the elevator. Unfortunately, the only floor they could head to was the third floor, so Kirby punched the button, and the elevator closed.

All they could do was wait.

* * *

**Hooray for the introduction to the X-Naut Hunters! They're the first X-Nauts to use guns...er, I mean blasters against the heroes! Also, unlike the X-Naut Fortress in Chapter 7, this new fortress is not just put in one chapter. There's definitely a lot more in this one...  
**

**Just you wait and see what happens next chapter, though... Things could get a little ugly.**


	94. The Dark Side of Chopper

The elevator opened and everyone walked out of it. The room they entered was a little big, having two doors around - one to the left and one to the right. The one on the right was the only one that was unlocked, having a green light over it. The walls and floor were very shiny, with the floor being a bit transparent too. Some red and purple lights were glowing from underneath.

"Well, since the right door is unlocked, we should just check that room out," Chopper walked over to the right door into a large room. Unfortunately, they hadn't had the time to investigate the area when they were met with a familiar face.

"Oh, MAN, have I been waiting for you, Chopper! It's been a while, hasn't it?" Lord Crump grinned. He was standing next to a blue lever. Chopper gasped and got in his fighting stance, as did the others

"Hey, we've seen your face before! So you're back, aren't you?" Heartsy asked, pulling her Hearty Hammer out.

"Your dang right I'm back! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! Did you like my special treat I gave you all?" Lord Crump asked.

"If you mean the flood, then no," Shadower replied.

"That's just a little thanks for sending me flying in space after destroying my precious Magnus von Grapple 2.0! If you thought I was done there, think again! Who here likes swimming?"

"Swimming? We've had enough of that, thank you very much." Chopper replied, but that hadn't stopped Lord Crump. He grinned and grabbed a hold of the lever.

"What are you doing with that lever?" Sonic asked nervously. Lord Crump laughed stupidly and gave an evil grin.

"I think it'll be nice if you all got to visit my Aquatic Park! Come on! It'll be a blast. Actually, more like you're going to be drowning! BUH HUH HUH HUH HUH!"

Lord Crump pulled the lever, and a trapdoor appeared right under the heroes' feet. Everyone screamed as they fell through and were traveling through a clear transportation pipe that gave them all a look of space around them.

"Great... Lord Crump's making us go through ANOTHER water area!" Chopper groaned. "As if the Labyrinth Temple wasn't enough!"

"So, what? It's just water. It's not like it's going to kill us or anything." Tamber replied, crossing his arms angrily. "I'm just glad that we don't have to go into someplace hot. I'll take an aquatic area over a lava one ANY DAY."

"Well... I don't think everyone will agree with that." Scrub said, looking over at Sonic.

In a moment, the rest of the pipe area was filled up with water, leaving them underwater. However, there was also a current that was carrying them through the pipe. It had curved upward and shot them straight out. They had landed on dry land, but that did not mean there would be no more water. Looking down below and around them, water was there.

"At least we're on dry land for a change," Vivian sighed.

"Hopefully we don't have to swim too much either," Sonic added. "It really doesn't help with my running."

Moving on ahead, Chopper found a normal block in their way. He was about to smash it with his hammer, but Heartsy had beat him to the punch and smashed it with her own hammer. He frowned, but he hardly cared and moved on ahead, trying to avoid falling into the water. After all, the pathways were a bit narrow, and falling was pretty easy.

The pathway had branched into two, with one leading to a stone for Tamber to smash, and the other leading to the correct direction. A Rainbow Block was in the way, so Chopper smashed it with his hammer and found a gap between him and the light blue platform ahead. Scrub had suggested helping him across, but the gap was too far for him.

"What? Weak! I wanted to help!" Scrub pouted.

"Well, time to get to work," Heartsy declared, holding her hammer like a golf club and swinging it behind Chopper, sending him flying across the gap and landing on the platform. Though, the landing wasn't exactly neat. "Whoops... Maybe I should've given you a warning..."

Thankfully, all it had done was left Chopper slightly dizzy, though that had caused him to fall into the water. Flyer was ready to fly in and get him out, but Vivian had taken action first and extended her ghostly tail so she could pull Chopper out. To her relief, he was not unconscious, and he was easily able to get out of his daze and stand up.

"Are you all right?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah, I am," Chopper nodded. "Thanks for the help, Vivian. I could've been in some serious trouble!"

"Y-You're welcome," the Shadow Siren replied, her face turning briefly red, though Chopper had not taken notice of it. During that time, the others had managed to get across the gap with the help of those that could fly. They pressed on from there, finding a little elevator pipe up ahead and an X-Naut wearing a scuba outfit called an X-Naut Scuba Diver. It, too, carried a weapon, and it was a spear gun.

"Another new X-Naut?" Chopper gawked.

Mario: It's just an X-Naut with diving gear...

"Really?" the Star Warrior squinted at the X-Naut Scuba Diver and realized the enemy looked just like a normal X-Naut. "Oh, right! It is a regular one! ...It just has scuba gear."

"Tell us something important," Tamber suggested.

Chopper gave him an irritated look, unaware of the X-Naut Scuba Diver that had spotted them.

"Whoa, what?! Aw, crud! Don't tell me... Chopper's here of all places?!" the X-Naut aimed at Chopper and fired. Since he had spoken out loud, Chopper whirled around and managed to dodge it in time. The spear had hit one of the pipes, causing another leak, thus making the water level rise.

"That's the second time there's been a flood!" Scrub gaped. "Why do we have such bad luck?!"

"Well, it's a good thing that X-Naut missed us, though," Bombette pointed out.

"We better get out of this room quickly before we get caught in the flood as well!" Chopper suggested, pushing the X-Naut Scuba Diver out of the way and hurrying in through the elevator pipe. The others had followed him inside and were taken out of the room before the area could flood. Now they were safe and traveling through the pipe. As usual, they were able to see the beauty of space itself.

"Poyo... (It feels so nice to see the stars...)" Kirby smiled. "Poyo... (I wish we got to travel through space...)"

"But we were traveling through space, Kirby," Heartsy mentioned.

"Poyo. (No, I mean for the most part. We're mostly in some building right after we go into space for the most part.)"

"I wish the same thing," Chopper agreed proudly.

After five minutes, everyone was taken to an area below the fortress. There wasn't any water around, but when they walked through the hallway, they found something interesting. Entering one door, they were on the balcony of a room that had a glass floor, but with lavender walls and a couple of computers. It appeared to resemble a laboratory.

"Whoa… This place is just… I don't know what to say about it!" Flyer gawked.

Mario: Amazing?

"Yeah, amazing! This is probably the most advanced place I've ever seen through this whole base! I mean, LOOK at this laboratory! Those pink lights in those tubes, and even those robots over there that look like they're shaped like Chopper!"

Upon hearing the last sentence, Chopper's eyes widened.

"Wait, did you just say those robots look like me? Let me see!" Chopper took a look at the robots. They were definitely shaped like him, but they had guns on their arms and pointy antennas. Their eyes were blue and they had jetpacks that allowed them to fly. "Wait a second… Are those the C Units? What are THEY doing here? I thought they were all destroyed?"

"C Robos? You got any idea what they area?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah. They were made two years ago to take me out, but we managed to destroy them. But now... These robots are back." the Star Warrior clenched a fist. "I bet those X-Nauts had something to do with it."

Chopper looked at the X-Nauts in white lab coats and pale blue uniforms. These X-Naut Scientists could use chemicals like the PhDs and also heal themselves or their comrades with potions. That, and they have potions that have other effects against opponents. While they weren't doing much work, they did try to provide assistance to X-Nauts in dark green. They held wrenches and their uniform was covered in dirt. These troops were called X-Naut Engineers.

"We're almost done, Jojo!" an X-Naut Engineer shouted, working on a C Robo's configurations from behind. "These C Robos will be good in no time! We just need to charge their electrical attacks and then everything should be in order!"

"Good. Sir Grodus wants these guys out immediately." one X-Naut Scientist informed. "He said they'll be able to put a stop to Chopper once and for all."

"I sure hope so," another X-Naut Engineer said. "It's pretty neat we managed to build these robots thanks to using that one robot as a model! Too bad that one's too useless to fight for us."

Now that was what set Chopper off. He jumped off the balcony, ignoring the objections of his friends, and he landed right by the two X-Naut Engineers. They didn't seem to spot him, but the scientists were the ones to get their attention.

"Hey! What's that boy Chopper doing here? Get him!" shouted the scientists.

"Wait... What do you mean?" one X-Naut Engineer gawked.

"Chopper's here! Stop him!"

"Got it!" another X-Naut Engineer decided to put the C Robos out for a test and activated them. With their eyes now glowing, they aimed their weapons at Chopper and fired.

"Oh, crud..." Chopper gulped. However, his instincts had taken action from the electric shots, and he opened his mouth to inhale them. Upon swallowing them, he gained a spiked golden crown with a greenish-blue gem in the center, and large plumes of green lightning in the crown and on the top of his head.

"Poyo! (Hey, that's the Plasma ability!)" Kirby cheered. "...Poyo? (...Or was it Spark?)"

With his new ability in hand, Chopper began to fire plasma needles at the X-Nauts. The engineers tried to attack by throwing wrenches, but that hardly stopped Chopper's attacks. They had become paralyzed, and he managed to take them out with his jumping and hammer attacks. He whirled to the X-Naut Scientists and dodged their potions. His plasma shots had struck them and defeated them as well.

He looked over at a door nearby with a glass window showing a couple of X-Naut Scientists working. "If they said that that one robot they modeled off was C-2 Choppor... Then they might know where is is!"

Chopper tried opening the door, but the X-Naut Scientists had already sealed it to prevent him from coming in. That didn't stop him from trying to get in, oh no. Rather than take the door, he had fired a plasma shot at the window and broke it, allowing him to jump through and land on an X-Naut Scientist's head unintentionally. The remaining X-Naut Scientist checked for any potions he had, but he realized he had none.

"Crud! I'm out of potions!" the X-Naut Scientist gulped. "Dude... Don't hurt me, all right?"

"I need to ask you something," Chopper started. "I was going to ask the other one, but I think he's already knocked out. Anyway, please tell me where C-2 Choppor is!"

"What the heck are you talking about? What's a C-2 Choppor?"

"He's a robot that looked similar to me with one arm gun, stripes on his body and a red visor. I want to make sure he's all right!"

"Dude, all the robots look the same! We don't identify them with a number or name!" the scientist cried out, stepping away. "Just let it go!"

"I can't!" Chopper retorted. "He's a good friend of mine who risked his life to help me out! I don't want anything bad happening to him!"

"Well... Uhhh..." the X-Naut Scientist was about to make a run for the door, but Chopper quickly got in his way to stop him. He tried jumping out the window. Chopper's friends had shown up, leaving him trapped. "Crud... This isn't good..."

"Chopper! What's going on?" Vivian asked.

"Those robots... They mentioned something about using one as a model." Chopper explained. "I want to know if that robot was C-2 Choppor or not!"

_"C-2 Choppor, you say? Ah, yes... I remember that robot."_

Everyone, including the X-Naut paused and turned their attention to a TV monitor in the corner of the room, there, they found Grodus's face.

"It's Grodus!" Scrub growled.

"Grodus!" Chopper shouted, glaring at the leader. "What did you do with him?"

_"Oh, nothing too special... Well, we were planning on returning to the Mushroom Kingdom to see if Mario was back, but we had found something more interesting..."_ Grodus explained, giving Chopper an evil grin. _"There was this one robot that looked an awful lot like you, Chopper. We had tried taking him, but he seemed to put up a bit of a fight, and my troops did not appear to be a match for him. However, we did manage to deal a decent amount of damage to shut him down. My troops brought him back here, and we had decided to turn him back on to see if he would follow our commands. Unfortunately, that was not the case..."_

Grodus seemed to be satisfied by the shocked expression on Chopper's face.

_"Oh, don't worry, Chopper. It gets better from here! Gaaack ack ack ack! While we knew this robot had a lot of fighting potential, there was no way he could listen to our orders. Instead, we decided to create new robots that resembled him, using your friend as a model of course. But since we already have enough C Robos, C-2 Choppor had no use to us."_

"Where is he?!" Chopper exclaimed, hints of rage in his voice.

_"Something seems so different about Chopper..."_ Vivian thought, noticing what appeared to be dark steam coming from Chopper's fists. _"He's not usually one to get this angry..."_

_"Don't worry, your little friend is somewhere safe in our power generator room,"_ Grodus assured. _"But I can't assure you that he's in good shape. Oh, no. We had to take a little something out of him to prevent him from turning on again!"_

"Wait... What are you saying?" Flyer asked.

_"I'm saying that your little friend is history!"_

"N-No... He can't be gone..." Chopper gasped, his fists clenched even tighter. "Why would you do something like this, Grodus?"

_"Because conquering the universe is more important than that piece of scrap metal! On the other hand, seeing you hurt like this is too good for me! How do you feel, Chopper? Are you getting angry?"_

Everyone took a look at Chopper and noticed his face was not the usual. Some thought he looked sad at first, but getting a much better look at his face, they could tell it was the sign of rage. His whole body was shaking as well, though they couldn't tell what this was for. The dark smoke coming from his fists had faded away, but taking its place was some dark energy that was slowly appearing around Chopper.

"What in the world?" Shadower gawked. "What's going on?"

"You... You're not going to get away with this..." Chopper hissed.

"Oh, I'm afraid I did," Grodus replied calmly. Though, this dark energy surrounding Chopper was rather strange, so he decided to take a step further. _"And you can't do a thing to help him!"_

Chopper had let out a raging scream, and a dark blast of energy had struck the TV monitor, destroying it. A dark explosion had also emitted from Chopper, knocking his partners into a corner, and also throwing the X-Naut Scientist to the wall, knocking him out.

"Oh, man... What was that just now?" Bombette moaned. "That didn't look like anything the X-Nauts could do."

When the smoke had cleared, the partners gasped as they saw Chopper's appearance change from pale green to black. Dark smoke and energy surrounded him, and the boy's eyes had changed from black to a glowing white. Not only that, but his fingers appeared more pointy than round. Shadower had gotten a glimpse of Chopper, and his eyes widened in shock.

"No... It can't be..." Shadower trailed, now shaking in fear. "I think I've seen this before..."

"Really? What happened to Contadre?" Scrub asked.

"I'll explain later. What's more important is that we get out of the way!"

The first thing Chopper started was picking up the other X-Naut Scientist. A powerful slap to the face had wakened him up, but the X-Naut was too frightened by the sight.

"Wh-What is that?!" he gaped.

_**"Power generator room. Now."**_ Chopper demanded.

"P-Power generator r-room?! I-I don't know where that is!"

_**"Tell me, or it'll cost you your life!"**_

"Whoa, there, cowboy!" Sonic stepped in, getting in Chopper's way. "That ain't the way to be like toward others! He's the enemy and all, but we're not going to threaten the-"

Chopper wasted no time and elbowed Sonic in the stomach, sending him flying into the wall. Everyone had run over to Sonic to see if he was all right, but he assured them he was fine when he quickly stood up.

"Dude, what's your problem? This isn't like you!" the hedgehog shouted.

"That's because he isn't himself," Shadower noted. "Once in that form, you don't have control over yourself. The only thing that's in your mind is destruction and power..."

"You know about this?" Flyer asked.

"Yeah... But, there's something more important at hand. We need to stop Chopper!"

They saw Chopper smash the door in the way and levitate off the floor. He then flew to another locked door in the room, and by opening his hand, he fired a dark beam that destroyed it and allowed him through the hallway. Many X-Nauts tried to stop him with their body slams and guns, but he was much faster than them and sent them flying into the walls. The others were shocked to see so many unconscious X-Nauts in the hallway.

"Wow… I never knew a puffball could do THAT… But, at least he cleared the way!" Tamber grinned. "Let's go follow him!"

"Yeah... I mean, with this power, he could end up destroying the base, and that wouldn't be a good idea." Sonic mentioned, running after the Star Warrior with his friends. Thankfully, he wasn't too far ahead, as he had just reached a door at the end of the hallway.

Behind the door, two X-Nauts were having a little conversation while on guard duty. One hunter turned to his friend named Bob, the biggest loser of the X-Naut Hunters and asked, "So, what are you doing for Christmas?"

"Christmas?! Are you kidding me?! We're not even CLOSE to Christmas!" Bob gawked. "Plus, I know what you're going to do. Just like EVERY time, you're going to humiliate me! Let's just do our jobs and make sure no non-X-Nauts get through this water area."

Just then, the door burst open and Chopper came flying out. The two X-Naut Hunters had barely enough time to react, as the explosion from the door sent them flying into the water. When Chopper looked at his surroundings, he saw that the room looked more like a sewage system, but with clear water. Seeing no one around, he flew over the water with ease, unaware of a camera watching him as he traveled through the pipe.

_"Now this is very interesting..." Grodus remarked. "He seems to have no care over anything and is focused more on destruction. That said, I cannot allow Chopper to destroy my base, so this has to come to an end."  
_

X-Naut Scuba Divers had caught Chopper while they were in the water and fired their spears at him. They had barely missed, and it only angered Chopper more. Firing a dark ball of energy downward, the water had exploded, and the X-Nauts had crashed onto the ceiling. He ignored them and flew on until he found a pathway up on the ceiling at the end of the pipe.

"Wait! Chopper! Stop!"

Chopper turned around and saw everyone approaching him with a boat used by X-Nauts.

"Please, Chopper! Get a hold of your senses! I don't like to see you like this..." Vivian trailed, sadness in her voice. Chopper had stared down at his friends, and slowly, he aimed the palm of his hand at them. Dark energy in the shape of a ball began to form, and everyone was left startled. The only one that remained unfazed was Shadower.

"Chopper... We're your friends. Don't try to blast us." Shadower warned, shadow energy forming in his hand.

After getting a better look, Chopper's angry look had changed to one of surprise, but it hadn't lasted long. He closed his eyes tight and put one hand on his forehead as if he was in pain. Chopper was unfortunate to fire the dark energy toward his friends, but Shadower created a large, shadow wave in the form of a hand to stop the attack, though it had left him exhausted.

"Dude... That was incredible." Sonic gaped.

Mario: How'd you stop that?

"Sometimes, dark power can stop itself..." Shadower panted. "Though, it's no easy feat. Doing that did kind of leave me exhausted, you know."

Opening his eyes again, Chopper's angry look returned, and he had flown up the doorway. The rest of the group followed him upward, and they had surprisingly returned to the room where Lord Crump had dropped them, except they were in the corner. Now the heroes had a better glimpse of the room, and they saw many crates and boxes. There was also another door as well.

"We're back in the room where Lord Crump sent us," Vivian said.

"Where did Contadre go?" Scrub asked, scanning the room. There were a couple of X-Nauts beaten down and defeated around the walls and corners of the room, and Chopper hadn't bothered collecting the coins. "Whoa, man... He sure took care of those guards.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of Chopper in the room. The only thing they noticed was a dark, misty trail leading to the door ahead.

"Maybe that's the trail he left behind!" Bombette deduced. "Let's get a move on!"

They followed the dark trail into a room ahead, which had a lift that Chopper was taking. ...Or rather, he was flying up to where the lift would take someone. The group wasted no time and took the lift up to a dead end. Chopper was there, and he had just found the wall.

"Stop right there! You're trapped!" Shadower shouted, getting Chopper's attention. He slightly turned his head and fired a wave of dark energy in their direction. Thankfully, as heroes, they were able to easily dodge the attack.

"I just hope we don't have to fight him..." Vivian trailed, dodging a punch that was coming her way.

"Oh, I'll be happy to do that!" Tamber declared, charging at Chopper and knocking him into the wall with a punch. The attack seemed to be pretty effective, to the groups' surprise. "He's just like the usual puffball!"

Unfortunately, that didn't make Chopper any happier. He had landed in front of the group with dark energy ready to be fired. _**"Power! Destruction! Darkness! If that is what you wish to see, then I shall give it to you all!"**_

"...Now that sounds nothing like Chopper," Heartsy realized, gripping her hammer tightly. "Get a hold of yourself, Choppy!"

Chopper ignored her and prepared to fire the dark blast, but Sonic had taken action by hitting him with a Homing Attack. This left him off guard and gave Mario the opportunity to jump on his head. Chopper knocked Mario away and fired the dark blast, but Kirby jumped in and inhaled it, allowing him to spit it at Chopper and leave him stunned.

_**"Unghh... You will not defeat me..."**_

"Sorry, Contadre, but we don't have much of a choice," Scrub said, laying an egg and leaving Chopper dizzy with his Dizzy Egg. He tried attacking Scrub, but he had missed and ended up coming in Bombette's direction. Her fuse was lit, and she blew up in front of him, causing him to get sent flying in the air. He quickly stopped in midair and hurled dark energy spears in her direction. Thankfully, Vivian pulled her into the shadows in time to dodge it.

As much as he didn't want to attack, he was left with no choice. Flyer flew in the air and fired a shot from his arm cannon to leave him paralyzed. Now that he was on the ground, Heartsy swung her hammer and sent him flying toward the power generator. He, however, had jumped off in time and was ready to land a punch.

"Forgive me, Chopper..." Vivian frowned, aiming a finger at him and scorching him with her Fiery Jinx. The guilt had run into her mind at that moment, but it only made him charge after her. That was, until Tamber had jumped in and grabbed a hold of his arms in an attempt to push him back.

"Ready to give up, puffball?" Tamber grinned. To his surprise, though, Chopper was able to fight Tamber's strength. "Whoa, what?! You don't have this kind of strength!"

"That's because that form makes him a lot stronger," Shadower informed. "Just keep him there, and I can probably finish this up!"

He threw his fist at Chopper, and a shadow wave of his fist managed to strike him and send the Star Warrior flying into the wall near the power generator. He sat on the ground, defeated.

"Did we beat him?" Scrub asked.

"He...looks like he's very exhausted," Flyer noticed, seeing Chopper slowly stand up and pant.

_**"N-No... So much energy...consumed..."**_ Chopper moaned, very close to falling over. _**"If I am to die here, then you will all go down with me!"**_

He raised his arms and prepared to charge up another dark attack. However, upon seeing a figure near the power generator, his angry eyes turned to one of surprise. His attack stopped, and he lowered his arms.

"Wait... What's going on?" Bombette asked.

Chopper approached the disable robot, which was silver with horizontal stripes going across its body and a red visor that didn't appear to be glowing. Along with that, the robot had one stubby, round arm similar to how Kirby's arms were, and the right arm had an arm gun. Two antennas were also on the robot's head. When Chopper got a better look, he noticed how badly damaged it was.

_**"****Choppor..." **_Chopper trailed, his eyes appearing sad, along with his voice. With his rage no longer unleashed, his dark form had subsided, and he had returned to normal. No longer was his Plasma ability on him as well, and he looked bruised up and exhausted. In fact, he had a hard time standing, so he had fallen to his knees. His partners had quickly approached him to see if he was all right.

"Are you OK, Chopper?" Flyer asked.

"Hold on, dude! We gotta make sure this is the puffball!" Tamber grabbed Chopper and began to shake him like a rag doll. "Hey, puffball! Speak up!"

"Ow! You're hurting me!" Chopper cried.

"Yeah, he's fine," the furball assured, dropping him without any care. The others would've gotten mad at him, but they paid more attention to Chopper and tried helping him up.

"Unggh... What just happened?" the Star Warrior asked weakly.

"You mean you don't remember what happened?" Sonic gawked.

"No... All I remember was getting very angry and... Oh, no."

"What is it?" Flyer wondered.

"Don't tell me THAT happened..." Chopper gasped, noticing some of the damage in the room. "Did I transform into...that?"

"I'm afraid so," Shadower nodded. "Though, I'm surprised by how you don't remember what had happened."

"I usually don't. I hadn't turned into that in a very long time... Usually I don't try to get so angry, because something like that would happen... Plus, that ability drains so much of my life that it might even..." Chopper's voice had gotten a bit weak, leaving some of them worried.

"Chopper, don't speak. We just need to heal you." Flyer got an Ultimate Shroom from Chopper's inventory and gave it to him, allowing him to fully recover his HP.

"Phew... I feel much better..." Chopper sighed. However, when he turned to the broken C-2 Choppor, his expression had changed. "Choppor... I can't believe what those X-Nauts did to you..."

"Hmmm… Let me take a look at him for the moment." Flyer looked down at C-2 Choppor and noticed that inside of him, he was missing a little something. "Ah, I see the problem here. They took his power device out of his system. If I could get that, I could reinstall it back into him and he'll be back up and running again. But I need to get his exact one if he's going to remember everything."

"So... You're telling me there's hope?"

"Yeah. I'm sure what Grodus was saying earlier was to get to you. ...Or, he just doesn't know that I have some mechanical skills!"

"Well that's great to hear!" Scrub grinned, though it hadn't been long when he remembered something. "Hey, Shadower... You said that you knew a little something about that dark form Chopper had taken."

"Yes. I suppose now would be the perfect time to explain it." Shadower decided, clearing his throat and watching everyone approach him to listen. "You see, my brothers and I served a king a thousand years ago. He had a large amount of power - quite possibly the strongest amount I've known of. I was pretty loyal back then, especially toward him. There was this one power he possessed that could increase his power dramatically using rage. He hardly used it due to its many drawbacks, hence why he tried not to be so enraged. However, he eventually decided to grant either me or my siblings this power as well."

"Wait... So does this mean you...?" Bombette asked, unable to finish her question.

"Yes. That type of power is within me too." the Shadow Brother confirmed. "My ruler had decided that I was fit for this kind of power due to my power over the shadows. Unfortunately, it had damaged my relationship with my brother, Mysterious."

"Is that why he's always been so mean to you?" Chopper wondered.

"Yes. However, at the same time, he feared me when I first had it. He's been holding a grudge against me to this very day for having that kind of power. However, considering that I wasn't one to rage as much, I never put this power to use, nor do I plan to do that. You can probably figure out the answer by now."

"But if your brother's always been picking on you, how come you never let your rage loose?" Scrub asked.

"He knows I won't do it, and the fact that it would only make things worse for us. As for you, Chopper... I suppose your positive attitude throughout this adventure has to do with that dark power?"

"Yeah," Chopper nodded. "I always try my best not to get so angry, because it has done some stuff I did not like."

"Why don't we just move on from that whole scene and get back to what's more important," Sonic suggested. "I'm sure Grodus is waiting for a butt-kickin' anyway!"

"Yeah, you're right!" Chopper smiled. "Let's go!"

Everyone agreed and headed back to the lift. Chopper had gotten one last glance and gave the damaged C-2 Choppor a nod. "Don't worry... We'll get you back. I promise."

When they had returned to the hallway, they noticed the door to the left of the elevator was now unlocked. They proceeded through and found two X-Naut Hunters and a little more guarding a couple of doors around. They defeated them and checked the rooms. The first room had a Fire Block standing by the wall they faced.

"Uh oh... Not one of these..." Chopper gulped, but he forced himself to do it anyway and let Vivian scorch his behind and send him charging into the block, revealing a secret passage to a room with a chest. When he cooled his butt off, Chopper had found an Elevator Key inside before returning to the others before leaving the room.

The next door led them to a room with a barrel and a prison cell containing an Ultimate Shroom. A red button could be seen on the wall beside the cell, but it was too high for Chopper's hammer to reach. So, he needed some help from a certain plumber.

"Mario, I need your help on this one," Chopper noted. "Hit me with your hammer, OK?"

Mario: OK.

Mario brought his hammer down on Chopper, bringing him underground. He walked under the barrel, and with one jump, he got into it. Mario jumped on the barrel afterward and struck the switch, opening the jail cell.

"Hey! It's an Ultimate Shroom!" Tamber snatched the Ultimate Shroom, but it was snatched by Chopper before he could take a bite from it. "Aw, you gotta be KIDDING ME!"

"Sorry, but I can't let you have it, Tamber. We gotta save it." Chopper said as they left the room and walked over to the locked door all the way to the right. Thankfully, the key had unlocked the door, turning the light above it green. There, they discovered another glass pipe and another view of the outside.

"Poyo? (Is this supposed to be an elevator?)" Kirby asked.

"It looks like one. Let's find out!" Chopper smiled, stepping into the pipe. He found himself getting sucked upward to the next floor.

"Neat! It looks like something from one of those sci-fi shows!" Heartsy remarked, jumping in next. The rest followed and were taken on another trip through a pipe. Unlike the others, this one was much more enjoyable.

* * *

**Now this was an interesting little chapter. I feel there were a couple of things that stood out here. Two, in particular. I think some of you might have an idea of what those two could be. :P  
**

**Next up: The heroes discover something rather...interesting on the fourth floor and continue to explore the New X-Naut Fortress.**


	95. Battle Against the BUH

The door up on the fourth floor opened up and everyone was thrown out of the pipe. They found a large hallway with a dark blue floor with the X-Naut symbol plastered all over. The walls had windows on them, allowing the group to get a glimpse of some other planets. One certain one had caught Chopper's attention.

"Wow, I can't believe I can actually see my home planet from here," Chopper gasped, gazing at his home planet in the distance.

"Home planet? I gotta see!" Scrub got a glimpse of the planet through the window, along with a couple of others. "Whoa! Now that looks pretty cool! That planet with the different continents is yours?"

"Yeah. You like it?"

"Uh huh! We oughta go there sometime!"

"Actually, I'd like to see your home planet too," Heartsy added.

"Maybe some day..." Chopper trailed, walking away from the window, only to accidentally bump into an X-Naut Hunter holding his weapon out. He turned around to face the hunter, making his eyes widen. "Uh oh..."

"Well well well! What do we have here?" the X-Naut Hunter grinned, aiming his weapon at Chopper. "Looks like today's my lucky day, isn't it?" the hunter prepared to fire, but his weapon had suddenly melted. Gawking, he noticed Vivian with a raised finger. "Whoa… What a finger you got! There's no way I'm gonna stay here! ...Wait, hold on a sec! I shouldn't be acting like this! I was TRAINED to do stuff like this!"

The X-Naut Hunter got in a kung fu stance and charged straight at Chopper.

"I don't think so!" Chopper spun his fists and performed a Rainbow Spin Attack on the hunter, knocking him by the window. This knocked him out, but Chopper wasn't so sure and poked at the X-Naut.

"We might as well leave this guy be," Sonic suggested. "There's no point in attacking him now, right?"

Everyone agreed and they walked away from the knocked out X-Naut and continued their way through the hallway. There wasn't anything too special around, no other doors for them to explore the place. However, there were still some X-Naut Hunters that were trying to shoot at them, so they took their time in defeating them.

At the end of the hallway, they saw a locked door and an unlocked door to their north. Having not much of a choice, they took the northern hallway to a door straight up ahead. It led them into a room with an electric floor and a couple of batteries that were on tiles that didn't contain electricity.

"Hey... This room looks awfully familiar..." Chopper pondered, recalling seeing a room similar to this. "Wasn't there a room with an electric floor and some stick figure being resistant?"

"I think so," Flyer nodded. "He seemed to be resistant with some sort of electrical power surging in him."

"Oh! I think I see it now! Watch this!" Chopper changed into his Plasma ability. and when he stepped on the electric panels, he was not harmed by it. Now he looked over at the machine to his left, which had two batteries missing. Flyer flew over the panels and started to help him look for the batteries in the big room.

"I found a battery!" Flyer grabbed the battery on a non-electric panel and he flew over to the machine and he placed the battery in it. Chopper noticed another one and threw it into the machine as well.

"So… Now what?"

"We wait, maybe?" Flyer shrugged. Chopper shot a Plasma Needle at the machine, but it didn't do much. However, it did make the machine run a little, which gave Chopper an idea. He began to slide around on the panels and then shot a stronger plasma shot at the machine.

"Strange… You can make your plasma attacks stronger when you move around? That reminds me of static electricity." Flyer remarked, though he pause when the machine began to shake. The only thing it seemed to let out was a puff of smoke.

"Poyo? (That's it?)" Kirby gawked.

"No... That can't be right." Bombette guffawed. "We did that for nothing?"

Surprisingly, a shaman in a gray robe, a white mustache that was almost shaped like an L, and black shoes was shot out of the machine. He was in this electric-proof bubble that came rolling on the panels, causing them to light up when it rolled.

"What in tarnation just happened?!" the shaman asked, looking at his surroundings. "Hold on... Am I out of that blasted machine? Oh thank goodness! Curse those freaks for trapping me..."

"Wait a second… I remember seeing someone that looks a lot like you." Chopper realized, getting a better look at him. "…Well, except for that robe. It looks a lot different. Are you…Merlo?"

"Hrmmm… I believe you're talking about a relative of mine." Merlo answered. "There are many Merlons and Merlos around these parts of the world. We Merlos are brothers to the Merlons. If you've been to Rogueport, you would've met my brother, Merlon.

"Yeah, we met him before," Flyer confirmed. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"Nautina is the moon where I reside on. Unfortunately, some alien freaks had came here and built this fortress over my home. I had put up a barrier to protect me from them. Unfortunately, all they did was throw me into that machine, since I was invulnerable to attacks. I thank you for getting me out of that machine."

"No problem," Sonic assured, giving a thumbs up.

"Though, I think I might need some more help..." Merlo trailed.

"What do you need?" Chopper asked.

"Well... You see, while this bubble protects me, I made it so I couldn't get myself out either. However, this bubble can be destroyed if the attack is strong enough. Maybe if you had someone with incredible strength, they could bust me out of here. Thankfully, those freaks had nothing that could break me out of here."

"Sounds like I can smash that!" Tamber grinned, crossing his arms. "Hey, puffball! Bring him over here and I'll smash that bubble!"

Chopper nodded and rolled the bubble off the electric floor. No longer needing his ability, he removed it before Tamber smashed the bubble with one punch. It had turned into sparkly dust, and now Merlo was free.

"Ah! Finally! I'm free from that accursed bubble!" Merlo cheered. "It's been so long since I've been out of it! Now I can finally teach those freaks a lesson for what they did!"

"I think you mean the X-Nauts," Chopper corrected. "We're trying to find the Crystal Star in this base, so maybe you might want to hold off trying to teach them a lesson.

"Crystal Stars, you say? Hmmm… So you're collecting them. Well, if you plan on continuing your way through the base, perhaps I can give you a hand! You see, one of those X-Nauts had dropped a key leading into the coaster room, and I happened to have gotten it!"

"The X-Naut Coaster? Wait a second… They have a CARNIVAL set up?" Bombette gawked.

"Absolutely. Just follow me, and I'll unlock the door." Merlo pulled the key out, and the group followed him to the hallway where the locked door was. He unlocked it, leading to a large room with a huge glass dome surrounding the ceiling. There were many different rides in this amusement park-like area such as a roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, and even a Merry-Go-Round. "Well... I wish you all luck. If I can't give those X-Nauts a lesson, then surely you can do it for me."

When he left, the heroes took the time to gape at the entire room. There were many different colored lights on these rides, which fit very well with the spacey sky.

"Wow… Since when did Grodus set up a whole amusement park?" Chopper gawked.

"He must've had a big budget," Flyer deduced.

In the center of the carnival was another pipe, but it was hanging over the top of the glass dome. Thankfully, it was over a gray lift that could bring them up to it. They decided to take that, and it had brought them up to the sixth floor, to their surprise. The first thing they noticed when they reached the sixth floor were the windows on each side of the room, and the small plants in the corners. In front of them was a large door with the X-Naut emblem.

"So, this is the sixth floor, right?" Bombette asked.

"Looks like it," Shadower nodded. "I guess we can finally confront Grodus."

Chopper approached it and attempted to open it, but it was unfortunately locked. He tried bashing the door open too, but that had not worked either. "Crud... This door's sealed.

_"Gaaaack ack ack ack! Really, now… You honestly think you'll be getting through this door?" _Grodus cackled through a loudspeaker._ "I came prepared, you know. Your chances of getting through here are slim! You might as well give up while you can!"_

"Well we'll find our way through here," Chopper looked at the door and spotted an x-shaped opening. "Ah! There's something! We just need to find a key for that thing! So 'Gaaaack ack ack ack' to you, Grodus!"

"Yeah! You're going to get it now!" Scrub added.

They returned to the fourth floor and prepared to explore the carnival area, but they had noticed that many X-Nauts had come in and went on the rides. Well, at least a few of them.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't the Star Warrior himself, Chopper! We've been waiting for you, you know! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!"

"That sounded familiar..." Heartsy trailed.

Standing in front of them was Lord Crump and an army of X-Nauts ranging from normal, elites, scouts and hunters.

"So, how do you like this big park? Looks cool, huh?" Lord Crump grinned. "Yeah, it was all my idea. Grodus didn't like the idea, but I was able to convince him to do it."

"By begging?" Chopper wondered, angering the X-Naut commander.

"No! The great and mighty Lord Crump does not BEG! People beg ME, not the other way around! And soon, you people will be begging me for mercy!"

"Are you serious?" Scrub snickered. "You've challenged us before, and all that's happened in the end was you getting some serious butt-kicking!"

"All right, I'll admit, you've managed to pull some decent moves against me in the past, but I'm new and improved! Wanna see?"

Mario: All right..."

"OK, then! _**IT'S GO TIME!**_" With that, the army of X-Nauts got ready on Lord' Crump's command and surrounded the group. "_**GO GET 'EM!**_"

All of the X-Nauts leaped in the air and began to jump on the heroes one by one. But, since there were so many, they couldn't tell whether they were attacking Chopper or another one of their squad. That easily gave the eleven the opportunity to sneak away without anyone noticing.

"Wow... Is it just me, or are those X-Nauts not good at paying attention?" Heartsy asked.

"Who cares? Let's get outta here before they spot us!" Bombette suggested. Everyone agreed and ran as far from Lord Crump and the X-Nauts as possible.

"Buh-HUUUUUH?!" squawked Lord Crump, noticing the disappearance of the group. "_**STOPPP!**_"

All of the X-Nauts obeyed his order and stopped. With the area around him clear, Lord Crump took a look around him and found no sign of Chopper and his friends..

"Uh oh… Where did those punks go? Hey, you! Yeah, you! Did you see where that Star Warrior went? D-Did anyone?"

X-Nauts: ?

"Aw, crud! We gotta go after him!" Lord Crump turned around and saw the group fleeing. "He's right there! Get him!" he shouted, chasing after the group. Sadly, they were much slower than the heroes, who had easily outran them.

"Keep running, guys!" Chopper was prepared to move faster, but he stopped when he found an elevator up ahead. "That looks like a different elevator!"

They entered the elevator and were taken up to the fifth floor of the palace. The hallway resembled a hotel hallway, having a carpet with many X's and no windows. They were safe. For now.

"Whew! That was a close one!" Sonic sighed.

"That was the largest army of X-Nauts I've seen in such a long time," Vivian remarked.

"Well, anyway... I guess we should explore this place." Chopper suggested. He looked up ahead and caught a glimpse of a door, but there were words written on it. When they approached the door, the words "Lord Crump's Room" was plastered in big words.

"Lord Crump's room?" Scrub gawked. "That chubby commander got his own room?!"

"Well, he's second-in-command of the X-Nauts, so it would make sense," Shadower noted. "Though, I am curious about what is in here..."

"Let's check it out!" Chopper smiled, kicking the door open. Upon entering, they saw a bed, a black floor with a white X on it and purple walls. There were also blueprints on one of Lord Crump's tables as well.

"What in the world?" Flyer took the blueprints and began to inspect them. He saw a robot on there that was meant to look kind of like Lord Crump, but with the number 3 on the body. "Take a look at THIS, Chopper!"

"What is it?" Chopper took the blueprints and studied them. "Hey, this robot looks kind of weird, but it looks a bit menacing... Though, the materials he needs on here is not around here… Anyway, we should check this room out. There might be something-"

"You mean something like this?" Tamber asked, holding up an X-shaped key.

"...Where did you find that?" Flyer asked.

"In the drawer."

Mario: Well that was easy.

"Well, I guess you should hold onto it for now," Chopper suggested. "That will help us get to Grodus's room! Though, that might not be easy at the moment. Lord Crump and his goons are after us!"

"Are we SERIOUSLY going to run away from some fat guy and some X-Nauts! No way! We can take them on! My fists are ready for ANYTHING that gets thrown at me!" Tamber declared. "Don't be a wuss!"

"Fine... We should go back there and kick some butt."

"I guess we don't have much of a choice..." Vivian trailed. "But, before we go… We should probably check Grodus's room."

"Grodus's room?" Bombette gawked. "Where is it?"

"I think I saw it in the opposite of Lord Crump's. Follow me." the Shadow Siren led the group to the left of the hallway, where they found a door labeled "Grodus's Room". Entering it, they found a black carpet with a large X-Naut emblem, a king-sized bed suited for a ruler, and a small aquarium with robot Piranhas. That, and there was a laptop at his desk.

"This room is definitely much bigger than Lord Crump's," Chopper commented. "It's even bigger and rounder!"

Vivian approached a chest that was in the corner and pointed at it. "Look over here, Chopper."

Chopper zipped over in response and opened the chest to find a yellow Shroom with bananas as polka-dots. He gazed at it for a moment and gaped at the Mushroom. It could recover 75 HP, but for him, it could recover 125.

"YESSS! A BANANA SHROOM! I can't believe they even make these things!" Chopper cheered as he put it away safely. Afterward, he hit the Heart Block instead and walked back into the hallway. "OK, if Crump wants a piece of us, then we'll go down there and kick his butt! Let's go!"

"Yeah! I'm interested in fighting this Crump!" Sonic agreed as they headed over to the elevator and began to descend to the fourth floor. One thing for certain was that they were all ready for another battle with the buh.

* * *

**Fourth floor-**

"All right, where'd those punks go? He's hiding around here somewhere…" Lord Crump pulled out his metal bat as he scanned the park for them. "Come out, come out wherever you are!"

"Yeah, we need to give you one heck of a beating!" an X-Naut Hunter shouted, holding his rifle. They all stopped when they heard the elevator from the fifth floor coming down, and standing on that platform were Chopper and his friends.

"Whuuuuuuh? He's coming back! Get ready, X-Nauts! We're gonna get him this time!" Lord Crump declared.

When the elevator opened up, Chopper and his friends ran toward Lord Crump and the X-Nauts, making them all ready themselves for battle.

"Let's do this!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh huh! Oh, MAN, have I been waiting to get back at YOU, Chopper!" Lord Crump smirked. "It's been a long time, my friend! And this time, you're toast!"

"Pbbbbbbth! Look at this guy, thinking he can take us on!" Tamber scoffed. "Well, you obviously don't got the muscle to take us on!"

"Oh, yeah? Well I've got a little something else! X-Nauts! Form up!" Lord Crump whistled, and X-Naut Scouts got in a football position. "Now! Let's show these eleven no mercy! We can't fail Sir Grodus!"

**Tattle: **_Ugh! This guy again? He just never learns to quit, doesn't he? Max HP is 100, his Attack is 13, and his Defense is 0. Yeah, this doesn't sound bad, does it? He'll attack you with simple body slams, as usual. His X-Nauts can be a little bit of a problem, however. The have 30 HP, an Attack of 12, and a Defense of 0. They'll be the ones that annoy you the most. But, even if you were to take them out, Lord Crump would just summon more of his minions to help him. I would recommend taking Lord Crump out, because those X-Nauts can't do anything else without him._

"So, what kind of moves are you going to use against me? My guess? You're probably going to use some kind of bat against me!" Lord Crump scoffed. "Pbbbbbbbbth! Like you can even do anything to ME!"

"Oh, yeah? Well watch this!" Chopper jumped straight onto Lord Crump's head and pulled of a stylish command after his first jump. He performed another stylish after his second stomp, taking 8 out of him.

"Whoa… Since when did you even get a stronger jump? Wait, why am I being so scared? I'm the BUH!" Lord Crump raised his fists up, but he was punched in the stomach by Tamber.

"Man, you really ARE chubby! You should seriously lose some weight!" Tamber mocked.

"No way, man! I'm already in shape! Like I need to listen to a fur ball! I'll even prove it! Get 'em, X-Nauts!" Lord Crump whistled, and the X-Naut Scouts charged at Chopper and tackled him, taking 12 away from him. "And here comes the ol' Crump-a-bomb!"

"Crump-a-bomb? What kind of move is that?" Flyer gawked.

Lord Crump rushed toward Chopper and jumped to unleash his body slam upon him, but Chopper Superguarded the attack and managed to deal 1 damage to the X-Naut commander.

"Oooog… How on earth did you do THAT? My body slam was…Superguarded?!" Lord Crump gaped, left in shock. Chopper smirked and spun around with with rainbow energy in his hands, striking Lord Crump with his Rainbow Spin. He fell over on the X-Naut Scouts, who helped him up, but he got struck again by Sonic's Spin Dash, making him fall over on the X-Nauts.

"Lord Crump, sir... Could you please get off?" one X-Naut Scout moaned.

"Yeah, yeah!" he groaned, slowly getting himself up. "Argh... These pests are becoming a pain on my side!"

"Might I suggest we all dog pile on him, sir?" another X-Naut Scout asked. Lord Crump nodded and gestured to get Chopper. The scouts all obeyed and tackled Chopper, only for it to be Superguarded.

"Ha! Try that on for size, Lord Crump!" Chopper smirked, only to get body slammed by Lord Crump. When he managed to stand back up, he got his hammer out and brought it down on him.

"He's only got a maximum of 100 HP, so this shouldn't be so bad," Chopper told everyone. Vivian shrugged and she punched Lord Crump with her Shade Fist, scorching him in the process. At this point, he was more than halfway defeated, having only 47 HP left.

Lord Crump whistled and ordered the X-Naut Scouts to get in a mob. They all formed up into a ball and Lord Crump used them to roll over everyone. Unfortunately, the attack was Superguarded and no one took any damage.

"Crud! Looks like I have to try something else for size…" Lord Crump ran toward Vivian and used his body slam to take 13 HP away from her. Despite this, he did manage to get hurt from the burn left by her.

"Take this, Crump!" Chopper shouted, creating an electric ball and tossing it at Lord Crump, electrocuting him in the process. Heartsy attacked next, bringing her hammer down on Lord Crump.

"Grrrr! Why won't you just give up already?" Lord Crump growled.

"Why should we give up when we're winning the battle?" Bombette shrugged.

"Oh, fine, I got a better idea… X-NAUTS! ATTACK!"

All the X-Naut Scouts began to bounce on Chopper, but he guarded their attacks and took only 6 damage. Lord Crump made his attack next, but it was guarded by Scrub, who then attacked him with his Ground Pound. Once Chopper used a Wall Jump, Lord Crump was down to 4 HP.

"Uh oh… This isn't good! Excuse me for a moment…" Lord Crump whistled and all of the X-Nauts broke up and split. Lord Crump, on the other hand, made a run for it and went behind the stage to recover all of his HP.

"What a cheater!" Chopper guffawed. "He did this exact strategy before! You can't just heal before a battle! That's just wrong!"

"Well, considering that other enemies have done that, it's not too much of a surprise," Shadower remarked, just as Lord Crump returned with all of his injuries healed.

"All right, X-Naut Hunters! Come out here and gimme a hand! We're showing them no mercy!" Lord Crump shouted. A huge amount of X-Naut Hunters came in and formed into a tower. "Now! X-Naut Hunters! On my command… _**FIIIIIIRE!**_"

The X-Naut Hunters fired at Chopper with their guns. The attack was pretty strong, being able to take 14 HP away from Chopper. Lord Crump's attack, however, was Superguarded with ease.

"Is that the only attack you've got?" Scrub scoffed. "'Cause it STINKS!"

"I think I should heal myself," Chopper sighed as he pulled out an Ultimate Shroom and ate it to recover 100 HP. Tamber decided to bring Lord Crump's HP down with a single Power Punch.

"X-Nauts! Get that furry tulip...thingy!" Lord Crump demanded.

"As you command, Lord Crump," one X-Naut Hunter replied.

The X-Naut Hunters aimed at Tamber and shot him with a blast. Lord Crump ran toward him next and hurt him with a body slam. When he stood up, Chopper had managed to strike him with his Rainbow Spin, causing him to get sent flying back to the X-Naut Tower.

"I LOVE this ability!" Chopper cheered. Shadower helped bring Lord Crump to 71 HP with one Shadow Punch.

"Buh huh huh huh…uh, crud… This isn't good. You guys should be down by now! Oh, well, I guess I can test out my new bat against you!" Lord Crump commanded the X-Nauts to attack in unison, and, together, they leaped in the air and fell on Mario, dealing 14 damage to him. Meanwhile, Lord Crump got his steel bat out and hit Chopper with it.

"Ow!" Chopper cringed, changing to Plasma Chopper and using a Plasma Needle attack on Lord Crump to electrocute him. Bombette attacked with her Bob-omb Blast, sending the hunters falling, along with dealing 10 damage to Lord Crump.

"Hey, I think that attack just stopped those X-Nauts from attacking!" Bombette realized. "I think that should help prevent us from taking more damage!"

"Well, I know I'm not gonna give up just yet!" Lord Crump brought his bat down on Sonic, only for him to guard it. Since he was left open for an attack, Mario hit him with his Jump.

"Heh heh heh! Now we're bringing you down, Lord Crump!" Chopper smirked, shooting a bolt of lightning at Lord Crump, leaving him sizzled for a brief moment.

"I got a good idea! Take this!" Lord Crump threw the steel bat at Chopper and knocked his Plasma ability away.

"Hey! You...cheater!"

"Oh, cry me a river! It ain't cheating!"

Chopper clenched his fists and ran toward Lord Crump, hitting his face with a Rainbow Spin. Scrub brought him down to 29 HP after hitting him with a Ground Pound. Lord Crump got a chance to body slam Chopper easily without his Plasma ability getting in way. Chopper brought his guard up and managed to take less damage.

"OK, let's finish this up! Two more turns and this fight is OVER!" Chopper brought his hammer up and struck Lord Crump. Flyer made his move next and brought him down to 12 HP.

"OK, you've got some pretty good moves, I'll give you that. But, having only 12 HP won't stop me, Lord Crump! _**COME ON OUT, X-NAUTS!**_" Lord Crump gestured the X-Naut Hunters to make a tower, and they shot a projectle at Chopper, and then Lord Crump attacked afterward. "Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! You're going down!"

"No, I think it's YOU who's going now!" Chopper clenched his fists and charged at Lord Crump with full force. His Rainbow Spin had brought his down to 4 HP - enough for anyone to finish the fight. Mario volunteered to make the final move and decided to put his Hammer Spin to good use. He struck Lord Crump and sent him flying into the X-Naut tower. This caused the tower itself to lose its balance and eventually fall over...on Lord Crump

"Uh oh…" Lord Crump gulped as a large amount of X-Naut Hunters had fallen on him, defeating him and the army of X-Nauts. Chopper received 43 Star Points and a level up. He went with upgrading his HP to 85.

Mario: We did it!

"Yeah... We sure showed him." Sonic smirked.

They turned their attention to the pile of X-Naut Hunters lying on the floor. They appeared to be shaking somewhat, and before they knew it, Lord Crump had gotten out of the pile and landed in front of the group. Though, he looked too exhausted to continue fighting.

"Buh… Grodus, WHY? WHY didn't you give me anything to destroy Chopper? Just… WHY?" Lord Crump complained. "After all I've done to help you… Now what excuse am I going to give now?" he stopped for a moment and pondered. His complaining had then changed to laughter. "…Hold on, if Chopper beats him, then I don't have to worry about a punishment!"

"What are you talking about?" Chopper asked.

"Oh, nothing. I'm done with you guys for now. I'm going back to my room. So, with that... Pow! I'm gone!" Lord Crump walked off past the unconscious X-Naut Hunters and Scouts and headed back to the elevator going to the fifth floor.

"Well... I guess we should just go to Grodus's room and get that Crystal Star..."

The group all nodded in agreement and headed to the lift leading up to the pipe. Before they knew it, they were returning to the sixth floor to confront Grodus.


	96. Grodus: Supreme Leader of the X Nauts

With everyone at the sixth floor, everyone had stepped off the clear pipe and approached the door before them. Beside it was a Save Block and Heart Block, the former being hit by Chopper.

"All right, this is it!" Chopper declared. "It's time to confront Grodus and get that Moon Star! Are you guys ready?"

"I'm ready," Vivian nodded.

"Time to open this door!" Tamber took out the X-shaped key and placed it in the opening. The X on the door began to glow red, and slowly, the door began to open and reveal the way.

"Whoa… Now THIS is cool!" Tamber remarked with a smile. "But there's a pretty long pathway up ahead that leads up to an elevator. Crud… Do we have to walk that whole way?"

"Well, there's a speed panel that can help increase our speed. I think that should help us." Chopper headed through the door and let the speed panel help him move faster through the long hallway. Everyone else joined him and managed to catch up. Unfortunately, that hadn't brought them that close to the lift.

While they made their way through the hallway, everyone looked at the glass windows all around him. Just like on the fourth floor, many planets could be seen from afar.

"Wow, this is such a sweet view!" Sonic smiled. "We can see all the asteroids, the planets, and, heck, we can even see Pop Star from here! Hey, is that Mobius over there? Man, I never knew I'd get to see my planet somewhere around here."

"Yeah, it's pretty cool that we can see our own planets from here," Chopper agreed.

Unfortunately, they did not have enough time to gaze at the planets, as they had finally reached the elevator. Unlike the other lifts, this one had a center made of mostly glass, and in the glass was another X-Naut emblem.

"Well, we're finally here… We're about to confront Grodus again..." Vivian said nervously. Everyone took a step onto the elevator, and it slowly began to take them up to the higher section of the room. It was large, round, and it even sported a blue rug leading up to a throne that was a mixture of purple, black, and yellow. The walls and ceiling were entirely made of laser-proof glass as well.

"Well... This is quite an interesting room." Flyer remarked.

"So... It appears you've arrived, Chopper..."

Everyone caught a glimpse of Grodus standing by his throne and got in fighting stances. He, however, did not appear to be fazed.

"Grodus..." Chopper trailed.

"It's such a pleasure to finally see you in person again, Chopper. I see you've brought some new friends with you, especially one in particular." Grodus glanced at Mario for a brief moment. "Despite my sayings of you not coming here, I'm not too surprised to see you arrive. I didn't really expect Lord Crump to finish you off anyway. He's not really that tough when it comes to fighting."

"OK... I just wanna know... How the heck did you manage to survive the Shadow Queen's attack? You should've been obliterated back in the Palace of Shadow!"

"Ah, yes... That little scenario when I had revived the Shadow Queen..." the X-Naut leader mused. "Did I ever tell you about a new ability I have with my body?"

Mario: New ability?

"That's right. And with it, I can transport myself wherever I want. Sadly, that was the first time I used it, and during that point, I didn't care where I went as long as I wasn't being obliterated.

"So this is why you're here..." Vivian trailed.

"Of course! And because of that, I have a much better fortress! But, you know, I haven't expressed my thanks to you, Chopper."

"Thanks? What for?" Chopper gawked.

"Thanks to you, that traitor of a witch is gone, and I no longer have to deal with her!" Grodus grinned. "As for those Shadow Sirens and Brothers… I have no use for them. I knew that they were just going to use me this whole time. I'm not that foolish..."

"Then why did you ask for their help?" Vivian asked.

"Well, obviously getting the Crystal Stars would not be so easy on my own. When you Shadow Sirens wished to return to me, I knew I couldn't reject that kind of request!"

"Hmmmm... Well, I'll admit, that was not a bad idea..." Flyer commented.

"But still... This whole time, we thought Grodus was dead." Chopper grumbled. "I guess that wasn't case..."

"True… True… But I'm not one to give up so easily! That's why I've gotten some stronger minions and a bigger fortress."

"Yeah, but that still didn't stop us. You see, WE got a little stronger while you were making plans." Sonic smirked. "So this kinda backfired on you if you were just sitting here making your minions stronger, while not concentrating on YOURSELF!"

"Gaaack ack ack ack! Oh, you honestly thought I would forget about myself? You are a foolish little blue…spiky animal thing." Grodus mused. "I've taken care of that already. After learning from my mistakes, I tried to find a weakness that should work against you!"

"Pbbbbbbbth! Yeah, right!" Chopper scoffed. "We'll just see what happens when we mop the floor with you!"

"Very well, then. Let us put this chatter aside and battle for what really matters. Now come!"

Chopper charged at the X-Naut leader and prepared to jump, but Grodus put his scepter to use and cast a spell. He sent a shock wave toward everyone, knocking them back nearly off the upper part of the room.

"I've been waiting for this moment, Chopper! Now we can finally put an end to our conflict! Now! Grodus X2s! Come out and assist me! Your assistance is required" Grodus summoned four gray Grodus X2s, and they surrounded him in a green shield. "Gaaack ack ack ack! These new Grodus Xs have a stronger defense, and they do EXACTLY as I say! This is the end for you, Chopper! Even if you were to destroy these, it wouldn't matter, as I could simply unleash my most devastating attacks upon you!"

"Well, just wait and see what we've got in store for you!" Chopper smirked.

**Tattle: **_That's Grodus, the supreme ruler of the X-Nauts. Boy, it's been a while since I've seen this guy. Max HP is 250, Attack is 14, and Defense is 3. Those Grodus X2s have 7 HP, an Attack of 6, and a Defense of 2. Grodus will attack you with lightning, fire, ice and even water attacks. Seriously, his attacks can HURT, especially his arcane blasts, which can deal __some serious damage__ to you. He'll also try to freeze time in order to allow himself some free attacks. Not to mention he'll try to use a confuse ray on you that'll make you confused. But, the WORST part about Grodus is that he can recover 50 HP when his HP is low. SERIOUSLY! That's just… What a cheap boss! Don't let this stop you, Chopper! You can do it!_

"Crud… This isn't good. He's got that shield up and he's got a lot of HP." Chopper groaned. However, he soon remembered something during their last fight, so he turned to Vivian. "Hold on a minute… I remember you took care of those Grodus Xs. I'm sure you can destroy these too!"

"Well, I do know that my Fiery Jinx took care of them. All right, Chopper. I'm going to give it a go!" Vivian raised her finger and destroyed the Grodus X2s within a second.

"Gah! I should've made them resistant to fire! But, that's not a big deal…" Grodus pondered. Chopper shrugged and attacked Grodus with his Power Smash, taking 7 out of him.

Grodus pointed his scepter up to the ceiling, and it began to glow a yellow color. He then swung it swiftly and unleashed his powerful lightning magic upon everyone, taking 14 HP away from them.

"Gaaack ack ack ack! Now! Return to me, my Grodus X2s!" Grodus summoned two Grodus X2s that increased his defense. However, Chopper used his Ultra Glove attack and dealt damage to Grodus and his Grodus X2s, destroying them instantly.

"He's got a pretty high defense, but I don't think that should stop us from losing hope," Flyer flew over to Grodus and attacked his cranium head, causing him to cringe and lose 9 HP in the process, bringing him to 217 HP.

Grodus decided to try to freeze everyone in time – but that didn't work for him due to everyone guarding it. Annoyed, he summoned more Grodus X2s to increase his defense.

"If only there was a way to keep him from using them… I just WISH there was a way!" Chopper pondered for the moment right after he had equipped his Plasma ability.

"Hold on, Chopper… Let me lower his defense just to make this a little easier. It'll also take care of those two Grodus X2s that he's got with him! Just watch!" Shadower twirled his finger and aimed at Grodus. His finger flashes black, and his Shadow Smite had managed to eliminate the two Grodus X2s and lower Grodus's defense to 0

"Thanks, Shadower! Now this is where things get a little interesting!" Chopper shot a strong Plasma Blast toward Grodus that took 10 away from him. He was then knocked back by a strange power Grodus used by bringing the palm of his hand in front of him. "What the… What on earth was THAT?"

Grodus let out a cackle as he summoned two more Grodus X2s. "That is a powerful magic I hold within me!"

"And where did you get that sort of power from?" Bombette asked.

"I'm afraid that is top secret..."

"Well, whatever... Chopper shrugged and used his Ultra Glove attack on Grodus to deal 8 damage to him and destroy his Grodus X2s, while Tamber delivered a Combo Punch on Grodus, dealing 11 damage.

Grodus pointed his scepter up and quickly swung it to deliver a blast of fire energy at Chopper, which left a burn on him and also did 14 damage. "That was just a taste of some of my magic, Chopper. I still have more up my sleeve!"

"Man, with such a high defense, this fight is starting to become a REAL pain…" Chopper groaned after watching more Grodus X2s appear. Vivian was the first to attack, using a Fiery Jinx to scorch Grodus and destroy his Grodus X2s.

"Boy, do I have a present for YOU, Grodus!" Chopper walked over to him and with a flip and a bunch of sparkles from his feet, he lowered his defense down by three, but unfortunately, it only dealt 2 damage. "That's called a Soft Stomp, and it just softened you-"

"Yes, yes, I get what you mean. Anyway, I will make you regret that." Grodus fired an ice beam from his scepter at Chopper, but it ended up hitting Vivian instead, who became frozen.

"Vivian!" Chopper gasped, running over to her in shock.

"Gaaack ack ack ack! Well, it appears my attack missed the wrong target... But no worries. I'm perfectly fine with freezing her." Grodus grinned, summoning his two Grodus X2s.

"You're going to pay for that..." Chopper turned to Grodus and held up the Crystal Star. Using its power, he was able to create white webs around Grodus and cause them to explode, dealing 15 damage. This had managed to bring him down to 158 HP.

"Arrrgh! Very clever, Chopper... Using the Crystal Star I once held is not something I'd expect." Grodus groaned, just before he got hit by a Spin Dash coming from Sonic. He started by shaking the area with an earthquake spell that removed Chopper's Plasma ability and caused harm to the others. Well, except for the frozen Vivian and Shadower.

"Since he has no defense at the moment, I think I'm going to hit him again!" Tamber declared as he walked over to Grodus and, with three punches, he took 11 HP out of him. Chopper attacked Grodus using another Ultra Glove ability, bringing him to 129 HP.

"Gaaack ack ack ack! Silly little Star Warrior! You don't know what you've just done!" Grodus raised his scepter and cast a huge shockwave that ended up paralyzing Sonic and Tamber.

"Ack! No! I'm paralyzed! This isn't good!" Sonic winced, unable to move. Tamber was about to complain, but he he chose not to. The good news was that Vivian had thawed out.

"Ugh… What happened?" Vivian moaned.

"Vivian! You're OK!" Chopper said, smiling.

"Well it's nice that you're thawed out," Bombette said. "But we have something more important to worry about."

"Yeah, and I know what to do here," Heartsy smirked, using her Hearty Cyclone to deal 6 damage to Grodus and destroy his Grodus X2s. With them out of the way, Chopper took the opportunity to strike with his Power Bounce and brought Grodus down to 102 HP.

"So… You've managed to push me this far… Well, then I will no longer hold back! Let's see you handle THIS!" Grodus raised his scepter up and made a purple aura beam strike Chopper and his friends, taking 16 out of them.

"WOW… That…did a lot of damage…and my HP is pretty low. Not to mention Grodus's defense is back… Yeah, this is bad." Chopper pulled out a Jelly Ultra and ate it to recover 50 HP and 50 FP. "Whew! Well I feel much better."

"Don't try to worry too much, Chopper. We can do this. I KNOW we can!" Bombette declared, trying to bring some confidence back to him. In the meantime, she walked over to Grodus and detonated in front of him with her Bob-omb Blast. Unfortunately, due to the two Grodus X2s, the attack only did 5 damage.

Grodus used some fire magic and attacked Mario with it, which he successfully guarded to avoid being burned. The plumber destroyed his Grodus X2s and even dealt some damage to Grodus using his Triple Jump, dealing only 6 damage to him. Chopper, on the other hand, decided to switch to his Ninja ability.

"It's been a while since I had this on me, so I think now's the time to get back to using this!" Chopper rushed toward Grodus with a kunai knife and swung at him, dealing 8 damage. This helped bring his HP down to 83.

"A Ninja ability? I'm surprised you can even use something like that. No matter… I still have the upper hand!" Grodus began to cast a spell through his scepter and swung it in the direction of Chopper and his friends. "Go, comet! Destroy these impudent fools!"

Looking up, the group gaped at the comet falling in their direction. Scrub exclaimed, "Oh, come on! That's not fair!"

When the comet hit, the group had managed to Superguard it, leaving them unharmed and Grodus infuriated.

"WHAT?! How did you avoid that attack?! Impossible!" Grodus angrily summoned two more Grodus X2s during this moment. At this point, due to his HP, the group was feeling more confident. Plus, Sonic and Shadower had broken free from their paralysis.

"Ah! It feels good to move again!" Sonic smiled.

"You know, I think we can do this, guys! He's only at 83 HP!" Chopper made the first move, throwing two kunai knives. He hit the Grodus X2 behind Grodus and also him to take 8 HP out of him.

"Yo, Contadre! I got an idea! Watch THIS!" Scrub walked over to the Grodus X2 and inhaled with the help of his long tongue. He spat it at Grodus to deal 8 damage and destroy the other Grodus X2. This angered Grodus, making him hold his scepter up while gathering more magic.

"Take THIS!" Grodus swung his scepter and struck the group with a lightning spell while cackling. His cackling stopped once he got hit by a kunai knife by Chopper. The other Grodus X2 behind him was also struck and destroyed.

"Poyo! (I got an idea! It's kind of like Scrub's attack!)" Kirby walked over to the Grodus X2 and inhaled it and then spat it at Grodus to deal 8 damage.

"That's a real neat trick, Kirby!" Chopper smiled. "I should do something like that! ...Well, if my inhaling could penetrate through defenses..."

"This isn't over yet!" Grodus roared, firing an ice beam at Flyer, which he successfully guarded. Grodus summoned more Grodus X2s and his defenses were back up.

"Oh, forget this! I got a better idea on how to take him down!" Tamber pounded the ground with his fists and hit the Grodus X2s and also Grodus, which ended up doing 11 damage to him. Chopper had jumped on him, bringing him down to 38 HP.

"Woo-hoo! We've got this in the bag!" Sonic cheered.

"Just because you're bringing me down doesn't mean I'm going to give up just yet! I still have enough magic to take you all down!" Grodus used his Clock Out spell to immobilize them, but just like before, it had failed.

"Maybe you ought to use attacks that hurt us more," Heartsy scoffed.

"Next time, I'm using a stronger attack," Grodus told himself as he summoned two more Grodus X2s, which were unfortunate to get destroyed by Vivian's Fiery Jinx, and that allowed Chopper to attack him with his kunai knife.

Grodus simply scowled and he unleashed an aura beam down on Chopper and his friends, taking 16 out of them. But, once Vivian used her Fiery Jinx and then Chopper attacked with his kunai knife, Grodus wasn't looking too good. He was already down to 5 HP.

"Well, looks like it's over, Grodus," Chopper declared, aiming a kunai at Grodus. "Ready to give up?"

"Not yet!" Grodus raised his scepter, and using his magic involving a bluish green glow, he recovered 50 HP. Everyone was far from pleased.

"Hey! No cheap moves!"

"Gaaack ack ack ack! There aren't any rules, you know! I can recover my own HP whenever I want!" Grodus cackled.

"Argh..." Chopper clenched his fists and stomped on Grodus with a Soft Stomp (which sadly did no damage), and then Tamber delivered a Quake attack, destroying his Grodus X2s in the process. Afterward, Grodus created another aura attack from his scepter, but Chopper was lucky enough to Superguard it, which did not please the X-Naut leader.

"Well, this seems to be working in our favor!" Chopper created an electric ball and used his Ultra Glove attack to get rid of the Grodus X2s and deal 8 damage to him.

"Man, LOOK at you!" Tamber exclaimed, laughing at Grodus. "You're going to be going down soon with the help of my fists! Just watch!"

He charged at Grodus and struck him with his Combo Punch, taking 11 out of him in the process. This had brought him down to 25 HP.

"Gah! I can't let this stop me…" Grodus huffed, casting a fire spell on Tamber that dealt 14 damage. He followed up with more Grodus X2s, which ended up getting destroyed by Tamber's Quake, and then Chopper's Rainbow Spin had brought him to 6 HP.

"Ungh... I will not be defeated so soon, Chopper!" Grodus panted, now feeling exhausted from battle. One of his glasses had a crack left in it, and his robe was battered up as well. He aimed his scepter at Chopper and fired an ice beam. Though it had managed to hurt him, he prevented himself from freezing by guarding it.

"All right, Grodus! This is it!" Chopper declared. "You can give up anytime, and you will be spared!"

Unfortunately, Grodus had not said anything, but instead he aimed his scepter at him. Chopper knew he wasn't backing down anytime soon, so he charged at Grodus and finished him with a Rainbow Spin. The attack left a large crack in Grodus's cranium and scepter, and he had been brought to his knees.

Chopper rushed towards Grodus and with one Rainbow Spin Attack, he knocked the X-Naut leader back and sent him down onto the ground, dropping the Moon Star.

"Unhh… No… This…can't be…" Grodus groaned, dropping the Moon Star and giving Chopper 62 Star Points, which made Chopper level up and upgrade his FP to 85.

"It's over, Grodus. We've won fair and square." Chopper stated, staring down at the X-Naut leader.

The only response Grodus gave them was a small cackle. It had eventually gotten louder, which could now be heard by everyone. Many were confused.

"What're you laughing about?" Scrub gawked. "We kicked your butt!"

"This… This isn't over just yet… I was just getting started…" Grodus brought his head up and knocked Chopper and his friends back with a force from the palm of his hand. He was still staggering a little, but he still had some energy to stand up and cast spells. "All of the Crystal Stars belong to ME! That will never change! Even if I lost to you, I've still got a little something special! Take THIS!"

Swinging his scepter, he had struck Chopper with a lightning spell, making him spin and fall.

Vivian gasped. "Chopper!"

"Gaaack ack ack ack ack! Now, let us finish this, shall we?" Grodus was about to make another attack on Chopper, but Vivian raised her finger up and gave the X-Naut leader a glare.

"If you do that, then I will scorch you," Vivian threatened. "I'm... I'm not afraid to hurt you!"

"Well, now! It looks like Vivian is protecting her little friend, isn't she? You know, my dear… I happen to have discovered your betrayal just as soon as you had made your exit from my fortress.

"What are you talking about?" Vivian asked. Grodus took out a picture that had her and Chopper on it and showed it to the group. "No… That picture? How did you get your hands on that?"

"Well, I happen to know someone who was spying around. It was a certain X-Naut named Johnson, if I must say." Grodus explained. "I told him to go spy on Chopper for a little bit, because I wanted to know what you and your sisters were planning. Surprised? I would say that…"

"Picture?" Chopper asked while getting up. "Hey, I remember that when we got our first Crystal Star. Those were good times… But enough about that! Let's finish this!"

Chopper rushed toward Grodus with his hammer ready to strike. Grodus would've made his attack too, but seeing how fast he was approaching, he was left with no other option. He cast a quick spell through his scepter and teleported out of the fortress in a blink of an eye. All that was left was the Moon Star and a power device.

"Chopper! Look at THAT!" Flyer pointed to the power device. "That looks like something a robot would have! Like… A certain robot named C-2 Choppor, for instance!"

Upon realizing that, Chopper's antennas sprung up, and he picked up the power device. "Yeah, Flyer! This might be the thing that could help us get Choppor back up and running!"

Tamber had taken the opportunity to gaze at the Moon Star. "So this is another Crystal Star, huh? Wow, it looks pretty nice. Are we going to take it?"

"Yes, that is what we came for," Flyer nodded

Smiling, Chopper walked over to the Moon Star, and upon touching it, it started to circle around him. He held it above him, sighing in relief.

"Whew! We finally did it!"

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is 16! And Chopper learned the special move Rapid Spin!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_After many hours of exploring the dreaded New X-Naut Fortress, Chopper and his friends defeated Grodus and acquired the fifteenth Crystal Star, the Moon Star. Unfortunately, Grodus got away, and his location as of now is unknown. With Grodus out of the way for now, Chopper decided to wonder how they will get out of the fortress… They had no whereabouts on the location of Pop Star, and using the Warp Stars to travel would not help too much. Were they possibly stranded on Nautina?  
_

* * *

**Outside of Nautina-**

With the defeat of Marx and the destruction of Nova, all that remained were the spare parts from the comet, and the lifeless body of Nova.

However, something strange suddenly began to happen. Power from Nova's remains began leave and go into Marx's body, causing him to become surrounded in a dark, gooey substance. It had eventually disappeared, and what had been created was a figure revived, yet different.

"Hee hee hee hee! I'm baaaaaaaaaack, and I'm coming for you, Chopper!"

* * *

**Well, Chapter 15 has finally come to a close, and unlike Chapter 7, there was a fight against Grodus. And this time, Grodus was not messing around.  
**

**In the interlude, we see...well, some interesting things happen, that's all I will say.**


	97. Chapter 15 Interlude

After his little issue in Wingel City, Bowser had finally been set free and immediately left the city when he found his Koopa Clown Car. Now he was flying over the ocean and heading toward a floating island in the distance. Meanwhile, Kammy had been telling him the exciting picnic she had set up in the city, which didn't help him out as much.

"You should've been there, Your Wretchedness! There were so many delicacies we had in the picnic! It reminded me of the time I had went on a picnic with Kamoe Koopa! Oh, what a spectacular one that was! It's such a shame you ended up missing all of the fried eggs. I know how much you love those!"

"Will you can it, you wrinkly hag?!" Bowser snapped, having enough. "Stop trying to mess that dumb city, for crying out loud! I think I wanna forget that place!"

"But what about the Crystal Star that was said to be there?"

"I don't care about that one at this point. I'm sure Chopper probably got his hands on that star already. Besides, we already know there's a star on that floating island up ahead! I'm all for getting that one! ...You know there's a star there, right?"

"Of course, Your Evilness! My research is certainly correct!" Kammy assured. "There should be one on this very island! Let's take a look, Lord Bowser!"

When they had arrived on the island, Bowser jumped off of his Koopa Clown Car and looked at his surroundings. He could see many trees, but what caught his attention was a big temple that had stairs leading up to the top. Not only that, but someone was up there as well.

"Hey, who's that up there?" Bowser wondered.

"Perhaps it is someone else going after the Crystal Star!" Kammy deduced. "We must not let him reach it before us!"

"Yeah, of course. I'll go show that fool who's boss!" Bowser stomped his way up the stairs and upon reaching the top, he found an altar, but that was just it. There was no sign of a Crystal Star. Who was there, on the other hand, was a demon beast in a blue parka.

"Mmmggffh? (What the… Who the heck are you, fat turtle…whatever you are?)" Lemmy asked, noticing Bowser first.

"Who am I? Why, I'm…" Bowser paused, trying to decide whether to use his real name or not. "The great Koopa Koot! I'll make you go on errands and award you with only 1 coin each time!"

"Mmmggffhhh? (You can understand me?)"

"Yes, yes, but that's not what's important. Back to serious business! Tell me: where is the Crystal Star?"

"Mmmmmggffh? (Crystal Star? Errr... I don't know. Are you talking about those star-shaped gems? 'Cause I think some kid with antennas got it. What was his name? Helicopter?)"

Bowser's mouth dropped. "Are you SERIOUS?! You're telling me someone named HELICOPTER got the Crystal Star? Arrghh! This is unbearable! It's almost like trying to find the Crystal Stars when Mario was on the hunt!"

"Mmmgffh! (Hey, I'm not done yet!)" Lemmy interrupted, taking out a map. "Mmmffgghh! (I think I remember a location of one Crystal Star. I think the star is located on **Viti**, the Island of the Gods!)"

Bowser stopped stomping. "Whoa, did you just hear that, Haggy? This kid knows where one of the Crystal Stars are!"

"Yes! This is very good!" Kammy grinned. "We must get this...whoever he is to help us!"

"Absolutely!" Bowser grabbed Lemmy and held him up so he could easily stare at him. "Listen, you! I got a deal for you! If you can take me to the island called Viti, I think I might make you an honorary minion of mine! You look a little tough, and that's what I need for a good quality minion! Maybe you could be Kammy's replacement."

"Replacement?! Lord Bowser, I believe I must object to this now!"

"Mmmmggffhh! (If this helps me get money, then you've got yourself a deal!" Lemmy declared. "Mmmggffhh! (I've been having enough bad luck lately, and I want to get some good out of this!)"

"Yes! Excellent! Perhaps now I'll finally claim a Crystal Star before Chopper! Come on now, Haggy! We're getting off of this stupid island!" Bowser took Lemmy down to his Koopa Clown Car and got on it.

"If that thing manages to become second-in-command, I'll... Ooh... I'm not going to be a happy Magikoopa!" Kammy grumbled, following Bowser off the island.

"Mmmmgggffh! (Go that way!)" Lemmy pointed toward southwest. Bowser listened and began to fly in that direction.

"Just you wait, Chopper and Mario! I'm going to be there and take the Crystal Star and the ones you have!" Bowser declared, raising a finger. "Bowser's back in the game, baby!"

* * *

**Castle Dedede-**

"Ugh… I can't BELIEVE IT!" King Dedede groaned, a couple of bandages now on his body. "We got our butts handed to us. Escargon! This is, without a doubt, YOUR fault!"

"MY fault? Why is it my fault, Your Majesty? I mean, I…" Escargon felt a hammer fall on his head, leaving a large bump. "Y-Your Majesty... Was that really necessary?"

"Of course. If it weren't for you slacking off, we'd be out of debt with these Tartaras!"

"Yet you never seemed to pay Nightmare Corp..."

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. Go on."

"Good. Anyway, I think it's time I paid a visit to Tartara Co. I need to get a new demon beast to crush Chopper!" King Dedede the button on the arm of his throne, and it moved forward and faced the TV monitor that had come down from the ceiling. "And this time, I hope it doesn't involve me fightin' that boy!"

When the Tartara made its appearance on the TV, the first thing it noticed were the bandages on King Dedede and Escargon. _"Well well well! You are not looking too good, Your Majesty. Did everything go all right?"_

"Well it would've if it weren't for my secretary..." King Dedede trailed, his eyes meeting Escargon with a glare. He brought his attention back to the Tartara afterward before Escargon could object to his words.

_"I see... So, I suppose the deal is off then."_

"Well that ain't why I called you!" the king exclaimed, slamming his throne's arm with his fist. "Get me a monster! A big, tough one that'll get Chopper!"

_"Another monster? I see..."  
_

"Remember, Your Majesty... We still need to pay for those other Demon Beasts." Escargon whispered. "We don't want to get on their bad side..."

King Dedede pinched Escargon's mouth, silencing him. "Zip it! I know how to handle these guys!"

_"Must I remind you of the 3,400,000 Deden you must pay us?"_

"Yeah, yeah... I know..." King Dedede grumbled.

_"You better have the money soon… Because if you don't, you might not like the consequences. They are terrible, after all." _the Tartara reminded.

"I know that already," the king grumbled_. _"Right now, I need a monster, and you need to give it to me! That's how business works, after all!"

_"Hmmmm... Very well. I will not object to your choice, Your Majesty. After all, like you said, business works that way. Anyway, we've just gotten a new Demon Beast in store, and unlike the previous two, this one is quite the fighter! Let me show you!"  
_

King Dedede looked at the demon beast shown on the TV. It looked like a tree with boxing gloves, and its animation showed it punching and smashing walls in its way. "Hey! I like that one! It looks a lot stronger than those other two! What's it called?"

_"His name is Treenoon. He's an expert at boxing and can knock out so many foes in his way. His punches can even smash through steel. Let me tell you, this is a major improvement over Lemmy and John." _

"If it's an improvement, then that's all I need! Send 'em right away!"

_"Very well. This Demon Beast will add to your fee, just as a heads up..."  
_

King Dedede eyed his Demon Beast machine with that insidious look in his eyes. Escargon was excited, but at the same time, he was still worried.

"Your Majesty, you think we-"

"Not now, Escargon!" King Dedede replied, cutting him off. "I want to see this new Demon Beast!"

The machine began to burst with spark, and through a brief explosion, a large tree wearing blue shorts and red boxing gloves had landed on the carpet. He had leaves for hair and yellow eyes.

"Well... This is interesting." Escargon remarked, approaching Treenoon. "So you're the Demon Beast?"

Treenoon looked down at the escargot and simply walked past him to King Dedede. He gave him an honorary bow.

"So, you are King Dedede, correct?" Treenoon asked.

"Well... Yeah. That's me." King Dedede smirked, crossing his arms.

"I see," he stood up and balled his boxing gloves into fists. "So where is this Star Warrior that I must eliminate?"

"Chopper is in another world at the moment," Escargon answered, approaching him from his side. "We'll have to set up a teleporter in order for you to-"

Treenoon gave him a punch that sent him crashing into the wall. "I did not ask you."

"Whoa! Easy now, Treenoon!" King Dedede cried. "Don't be doing that to Escargon! That's MY job!"

"Oh... My apologies, Your Majesty. So you wish for me to eliminate the Star Warrior, correct?"

"Yes. And I would like you to take something called the Crystal Stars from him and bring it back to me!"

"I see... Well, I have directions to where he shall be going next." Treenoon took out some paper and handed it to King Dedede. "My guess is that he's looking for a Crystal Star in that location. Transport me to there, and I will look for him and get the job done."

"Good! Get onto the machine, and I'll send ya there!"

Treenoon obeyed and stood on the machine again. King Dedede punched in the location, and with a press of a button, the tree boxer was zapped out of the castle - just in time for Escargon to return to his king.

"Ugh..." Escargon groaned, followed up by quickly shaking his head and steaming in anger. "Where'd that rotten tree go?! I swear I'm going to use his wood for my fire!"

"He already went in search of Chopper," King Dedede answered. "So... Now that that's out of the way, you can finally get out of here."

"Me? Get out? But why?"

"According to my schedule, this is supposed to be my 'me' time, and I can't go through a day without some 'me' time. So..." King Dedede took out his hammer and raised it. "I'll give you a one second head start!"

Eyes widened, Escargon immediately made his exit, allowing King Dedede to lower his hammer and get back on his throne. He hid the demon beast machine and TV monitor with the same button and began to relax once again.

"This time, I'll finally get my hands on a star without having to do it myself!"

* * *

**?-**

Out on an island to the southwest of Rogueport, Beldam, Marilyn and Doopliss had been exploring a small town that consisted of a blue and white floor and many white buildings. There were also townspeople ranging from Toads, Koopas, Lakitus, Monty Moles, and even wind spirits.

"That Chopper… He's already gotten fifteen Crystal Stars so quickly!" Beldam grumbled. "How is that even possible for a ten-year-old?! This is just great… This wasn't how it was supposed to be planned! We need more time!"

"Well, maybe we use someone else to distract Chopper?" Doopliss suggested.

"Guh-huh!" Marilyn agreed.

"Hmmm… Getting someone to go distract Chopper and his friends... That doesn't sound like a bad idea. But, we don't have a clue on who could do the work. We don't know that many people that can help us!"

She noticed a bluish green wind spirit with a white mustache and a bald head float by. He didn't appear to have any legs, and he looked fairly skinny. An idea had struck Beldam's mind as she approached the wind spirit.

"Hey! You, there!" Beldam exclaimed, getting his attention. "Answer us right now! Do you know someone who can help us with someone who needs to be taken out? Failure to do so will lead to some terrible consequences!"

"Such bad manner you have, you foul witch!" the wind spirit chastised. "But, if you must know, there is a teenager who can do the job for you. He goes by the name of Tidos. He's a Bandit in this town who'll take work from people for a price. You can find him in a green house, no one really goes to see him due to fearing him. Personally, I don't recommend going to her, ma'am..."

"I see… A teenage fool can do the work for us?" Beldam released the wind spirit with a grin on her face. "Mmmwee hee hee hee! This should be an easy task! Most teenagers are so gullible these days! I suppose his house is up ahead, I presume?"

"Didn't you listen to me? You shouldn't go see him! He's fairly dangerous!"

"Well so are we! And even if he were to attack, we know how to take care of him! Let us go, my sort-of-lovelies! Marilyn! Freak-sheet! We have a Bandit to find!"

Beldam sank into the shadows with Marilyn, and they had begun their search for Tidos's house. Doopliss, annoyed, had to search for the house himself. It hadn't taken long for the group to finally find the house. It was around the edge of town, and it was certainly an empty area. The door was white, and it had a symbol of a Bandit mask on it.

"Ah, so this is the place!" Beldam smirked, approaching the door. "The people around here seem to be afraid of this Tidos. Well, this makes things easier for us when we don't need to wait on a line!"

The oldest Shadow Siren knocked on the door, and it didn't take long for it to open. Revealed to be behind the door was a Goomba wearing a pilot's helmet and green face paint that was in stripes. The name "Leon" was labeled on his helmet.

"Eh? Who're you?" Leon asked. "Are you here to see Boss? Sorry, but he don't want visitors today."

"This is more of a job than a visit," Beldam informed. "We have something we'd love for him to do for us. Mmmmwee hee hee hee!"

"Really? Well… I guess for you three, I might as well let ya'll in." Leon let them in and led them to a dark room, where they saw a silver Bandit with a brown cowboy hat covering a part of his upper face. Some parts of his outfit had a bit of green on them, and his hands and feet were also green.

"Who are ya'll and what do ya want?" Tidos asked in an uninterested tone.

"Boss, these three were wondering if you can do somethin' for them!" Leon explained.

"A little job fer me? Hmmm… It's been a while since someone gave me a job. Very well. What do ya three need from me?"

"Well, you see, we need you to, let's say, take care of a certain someone," Beldam explained.

"A certain someone?" Tidos gawked. "Tell me... Who is this certain someone ya'll want me to take care of?"

"We have a sketch of him right here," the witch took out a sketch of Chopper and handed it to him. His name had been written to the side of the picture, along with some other important information (if it was even important).

"This is it? This is someone you want me to take care of?"

"Correct."

Tidos tossed the sketch in her face. "Look, I don't go around eliminatin' kids. That's goin' too far. I only eliminate wanted criminals."

"Well, you see, he is a criminal! ...To us, that is! He has collected fifteen Crystal Stars and destroyed a demon! If that doesn't spell 'criminal' to you, then what does?"

"Sorry, I ain't doin' it."

"We will reward you with 800 coins if you do the job."

"800 coins?!" Leon gasped. "Boss! That's a huge amount of money!"

"Hmmmmmm... 800 coins sure sounds like a lot fer us. On the other hand, I'd rather not do such a dirty job like that. The people don't mind me goin' after criminals, but kids? No, that ain't welcome here."

"He should be coming to this very island next," Beldam informed. "And, if you'd like, you don't have to destroy him. You can simply bring him to us, and then we can reward you, if that sounds better."

"...OK, fine. I'll do that. The people won't be as upset if I leave him alive." Tidos got off his chair and approached Beldam, swiping the sketch from her. "But listen here, witch. You better have that money fer me when I come back with this Chopper. I always try to make sure I get my money."

"Of course, of course... Why would we forget about that?"

"Good. Now get outta my house. I need to get myself prepared. Leon, go find my equipment and bring it here."

"Got it, Boss!" Leon nodded, heading upstairs. The three had left the house, and when they closed the door, that insidious grin had reappeared on Beldam's face.

"Mmmwee hee hee hee! Excellent! This should help us get back according to plan! Just wait until Chopper sees what's coming!"

* * *

**Outside of the Dark Steeple-**

After the events in Clearno Island, Tipral had eventually returned to the Dark Steeple...or rather, he decided to stay up on one of the dead trees. Even though the curse was broken on the villagers of Twilight Town, he had still considered the Dark Steeple to be his home. The fact that it had not changed much gave him enough of a reason to go back as well.

"Hmph… Look at you now. You're nothing but a purple mist." Tipral said, glaring at the crystal ball in his hand containing a purple mist. "I know you can't say a thing to me, but I've got something to tell you. This is the only time I'm willing to help you and that king out. And if this whole plan turns out to be a complete failure, then tough luck. You're not getting any more help from me."

He checked his gloves and noticed a few shard remains from the Rubee Colossus on it. He easily shook them off, remembering what he had done back on Clearno Island in the process.

"You were lucky that time, Chopper... But I can assure you that we will fight once again, and that time, you should prepare yourself!"

He had eventually started to feel tired, so he had closed his eyes and began to take a little nap. Unfortunately, this nap had only lasted about thirty minutes, as a certain, dark voice had interrupted his sleep.

_**"****Wake up, my son…" **_

Tipral's eyes opened from the sound of that voice. It was one he recognized easily. "So you're back again..."

_**"****Yes, I am back. Son, I have just found out that Chopper has acquired the Moon Star, and now he's going to go after…the King's Star."  
**_

"The King's Star? And that is located...?"

_**"****The location of it is on an island far to the southwest called Viti. It is also known as the Island of the Gods. Also… That is where your mother and I got married and were born. It was a beautiful island…until we trashed it."**_

"So I suppose you want me to go there and get rid of Chopper, am I correct?" Tipral asked.

_**"****Partly. However, Chopper is not my biggest target. A certain Shadow Siren traitor is the one I'm after." **_

"You mean Vivian, right?"

_**"Yes. What I want you to do is to find Vivian and get the queen into her so she'll be possessed. Once you've done that, we'll go to phase two of the plan: eliminate Chopper once and for all. Surely he'll refuse to attack one of his own friends when possessed." **_

"Yeah, get me to possess her when there are many of her friends around to help her out. That sounds so easy." Tipral said sarcastically.

_**"Oh, I assure you that we will finally get her all alone. Trust me... There's one thing those fools don't know about that girl... And when they hear about the news... Man, are they going to abandon her!"**_

"OK, I really don't care. I'm just going to teleport to Viti and wait for those fools."

_**"No, don't teleport there.**_ _**I would recommend taking a different way. There's a cruise called the Rainbow Cruise that will reach Viti in three days. Don't walk around where people can see your normal form. I would recommend changing to something else and spying on those heroes."  
**_

"Fine. I'll take the long way. And just where is the Rainbow Cruise going to be at?"

_**"****Pudgy Island. It'll stop there."**_

"All right. I'll do as you say, but if this plan gets messed up in any way, don't ask for my help again." Tipral said harshly.

_**"Oh, that is all right. I will personally make sure everything goes all according to plan..."**_

Tipral grabbed the crystal ball, and with that, he had teleported out of the dark area.

* * *

**New X-Naut Fortress-**

The group had made their exit from the sixth floor with the Moon Star in their hands. They were trying to move as fast as they could, due to an alarm ringing through the forest.

_Warning! Warning! Intruders in Sector 35! Security doors activating!_

"We need to MOVE!" Chopper was grabbing onto everyone's hands as he rushed past the doors and to the elevator. Everyone succeeded in getting to the third floor and to the power generator room. With the power device, they could finally revive C-2 Choppor, and perhaps he could give them a hand in escaping.

"Hurry, Chopper! Get that power device back in him!" Flyer shouted.

"I know! I know! I'm trying!" Chopper got the power device out and attempted to put it in C-2 Choppor. That was, if he knew how. "Ummmm... I don't know how to do this!"

"Here, I'll try," his Wingel friend took the power device, opened C-2 Choppor, and installed it. After closing the hatch on the robot, C-2 Choppor's dull visor had brightened, and he slowly stood up.

"C-2 Choppor, now active. …Where am I?" C-2 Choppor noticed Chopper in front of him and looked surprised. "Chopper… Is that you? It's been so long years since we've met..."

"Choppor… You're OK!" Chopper cheered, hugging his robot friend while shedding a tear of joy.

"Hold on a minute… Now I remember what happened." C-2 Choppor realized. "Some aliens shut me off and put me here."

"Don't worry, Choppor. We took care of them, and we also got this!" Chopper held the Moon Star on the palm of his hand to show his robot friend.

"So they are gone? In that case… You must get out of here quickly. The security in here must mean that there are some robots that might come here to eliminate anyone who might have something in those aliens' possession."

"...Oh, there are some C Units still around here," Bombette gulped.

"We would get out, but we don't have any ideas," Chopper explained. "Nova is destroyed, so there's no going back there…"

"Then I will teleport you guys out of here," C-2 Choppor declared. "I do have a teleporter installed in my system, but it only has one use. I'll use it to get you guys out of this fortress."

"What about you?" Chopper asked.

"I can't let those C Units cause some serious damage," the robot stated, raising his arm gun. "I'm going to put an end to them all. That was what I was meant to do, after all."

"But... You can't leave us!"

"Chopper, I don't think we have much of a choice..." Shadower trailed. "I think he can take care of it. Plus, it's important for us to get out."

"...I guess you have a point."

Just then, the lift had started to move behind them, and some C Units were starting to approach them with their weapons ready.

"There's no time to waste. You must go. Now." Before Chopper could say anything else, C-2 Choppor threw the teleporter down at them, and they were instantly teleported. Chopper was able to give one last goodbye to his friends before teleporting out, however.

"Bye, Choppor..."

"Farewell, Chopper… Perhaps we might see each other in the future…" C-2 Choppor closed the teleporting device, preventing the C Units from getting in. With his weapon ready, he began to fire.

* * *

**Dream Land-**

Chopper slowly opened his eyes and found himself lying on the grass of Dream Land. When he sat up, he noticed he and his friends were right by the Fountain of Dreams. Quite convenient.

"Unghh... Wait, are we back in Dream Land?" Chopper gawked, looking at his surroundings when getting up. He turned around and saw the others get up as well.

"Hey... We're back in Dream Land." Heartsy noticed.

Mario: That was pretty lucky...

"I'm glad we got out of that..." Vivian sighed. "Though, I feel bad for that robot... He's back in the fortress all alone."

"I wish he was back with us too..." Chopper agreed. "But, when he first joined me, his mission was to destroy all the C Robos in order to free the stars being held captive inside. I guess he wanted to help eliminate those C Robos in the fortress to prevent them from attacking some innocent people..."

"Hey, let's try not to get too sappy," Sonic suggested. "He's doin' what he needs to do, and I'm sure he'll come out of it fine. For now, we've got a Crystal Star to find."

"Yeah, I guess so," Chopper nodded, heading down to the Fountain of Dreams. There wasn't anyone around for them to talk to, so Chopper hopped onto the pedestal and brought out the yellow star. The fountain began to glow, and the fifteen Crystal Stars had surrounded the pedestal Chopper was standing on.

"Poyo, (Just imagine all of the Crystal Stars on here,)" Kirby said.

After the map had finished glowing, Chopper let it fall into his hands to see what had been revealed. To the southwest on an island, there was a large island, and revealed to be there was an indigo Crystal Star.

"Hey... It looks like we have to go to another island..." Chopper noticed, showing everyone the map.

"Another island?!" Scrub gaped. "Come on! First Pudgy Island, then Clearno Island, and now this?"

"Well, looking at it, this island looks...really nice, actually! But, we ought to go see Professor Frankly about this. I'm sure he has a better idea.

* * *

**Frankly's house-**

"I… I don't believe it! Can it possibly be?" Frankly gasped, taking a look at the map on the table.

"What's wrong, Gramps? Is it something bad?" Scrub asked.

"No… It's not bad. In fact, this is very interesting! You see, the sixteenth Crystal Star is located on the island called Viti, the Island of the Gods. It is very sacred."

"Wow... That sounds really cool!" Chopper smiled.

"It is also said that a great demon was born there as well..."

"That...doesn't sound cool."

"Wait... A great demon was born there?" Vivian asked, a shocked expression left on her face.

"Ermm... Yes. Though, it was usually seen as a rumor. Nowadays, it is a glorious place that tourists go to." Frankly explained.

"Well, the sounds very nice," Flyer smiled. "So, how do we get to the island?"

"Luckily, there is one way you can go to the island. There's a cruise that specifically heads to Viti called the Rainbow Cruise. It has all sorts of wonderful things, such as a buffet, a gaming corner, a store, and plenty of more."

"Poyo? (A buffet?)" Kirby gasped.

"A gaming corner?" Heartsy gawked.

Mario: And plenty of more?

"Well... We can always take the Warp Star or Flyer's plane there." Chopper noted.

"Poyo? (Are you crazy?)" Kirby gaped, shaking Chopper. "Poyo! (That cruise has so much there! Think of the food there! The buffets!)"

The thought of the buffets appeared in Chopper's imagination with many different sorts of food. He imagined himself jumping into a pool of food and inhaling it all in an instant.

"Ummmmm... Well..."

"And don't you like to play games?" Heartsy asked. "I'd bet there'd be some really cool games to play there!"

"Errr..."

"C'mon, Contadre! Why don't we take a cruise there?" Scrub suggested. "We deserve a little break for once!"

"But... But..." Chopper stammered, starting to feel too much pressure. "O-OK... I guess we have to..."

"AWESOME!"

Their cheering had unfortunately been interrupted when someone else had come into the room.

"I'm back, Professor Frankly!" Goombella announced. "I've finished my research, but I really didn't find much... …Oh! Hey, guys! What are you doing here?"

"Well, Goombella, we were discussing where the sixteenth Crystal Star is," Frankly explained.

"And where is it?"

"Viti."

"Omigosh! Viti? I've been DYING to go there!" Goombella exclaimed, quickly turning to Chopper. "Chopper! You HAVE to take me there with you! I would LOVE to see what's on the island! I heard that it's beautiful!"

"…Oh, all right. I guess I could take you…" Chopper shrugged.

"YESSS! I swear I'll owe you for this!"

"OK... So, how do we get on the boat, Frankly?"

"Well, if my research is correct, it should be going to Pudgy Island," Frankly explained. "I'm sure you know about that place, am I correct? However, you need some tickets to go there, and, unfortunately, I don't carry any of those... However, I think the Piantas may be able to help you out."

"Don Pianta? I remember him retiring…" Vivian said.

"Really? Very interesting... I suppose there's a new boss running that group, then? That might explain why there is less Piantas causing crime..."

"Well, we might as well go see this guy. Thanks for the help, Frankly!" Chopper said, making his exit out of the house with his friends and Goombella. "So... Who here knows about these Piantas?"

"I've seen them before," Vivian mentioned. "But, I think Mario knows a bit more than me."

Mario: I'll take you guys to him!

They headed to the west side of Rogueport, and Mario led them to the shop to the west of the area. Entering it, they found a blue Boo with pink cat ears and a pink bow-tie. Since Mario had already gave the password before, he was allowed to go through the door ahead and to the backside of the shop. They found some barrels to the left corner and a staircase leading up to a door.

Taking that door led them into a room with a green rug, blue walls, and a desk. Three Piantas were in the room too, two yellow ones in black suits and sunglasses being familiar, while the light blue one in sunglasses and a white suit did not.

"Hey, Tony! Look at dat kid! We've seen 'im before, haven't we?" Vinny asked.

"Yeah! Why's he here! Get outta here, kid! Dis is a private business!" Tony warned. "Or you come here lookin' for a fight? Hey, New Boss! How's about we take out da trash?"

"Hold on, you two," the blue Pianta named Frankie cut in. "Don't be like dat to our guests! See, dis is why we've been havin' a bad reputation in da past! You dopes always act so hostile toward guests!"

"Well, at least someone's showing some respect," Bombette mumbled.

"Now, tell me, what do ya want?" Frankie asked, turning his attention back to the group.

"We're here because we heard that you might have an idea on how to get tickets for the Rainbow Cruise, right?" Chopper asked.

"Rainbow Cruise? Aw, dat sounds like something in Tony's imagination." Vinny said. "I bet it's got unicorns and all dat stuff."

"Vinny, ya dope!"

"Ya hear dat, New Boss? Tony still believes in fairy tales!" Vinny exclaimed, only to get smacked across the face by Tony.

"Shut it, Vinny!"

"Both of you stop dat nonsense!" Frankie snapped. "Don't be actin' like dis in front of dese folks!"

"Oh... Right." Vinny realized. "We better quiet down. After all, you're da new boss, New Boss."

Frankie quickly turned his attention back to Chopper. "So yer sayin' dat ya need tickets to da Rainbow Cruise? Hmmm… Well, you've come to da right place."

"Great! So these guys are willing to give us boat tickets!" Scrub cheered.

"Now hold on dere... I ain't goin' ta give dem to you just yet. If ya want da tickets, den ya have to do me a little favor. Don't worry, it's not anythin' against da law. It's just a delivery."

"A delivery? Oh, that doesn't sound so bad…" Chopper trailed.

"Dang... I thought smashing stuff would be involved." Tamber groaned.

"Here's da box ya need tah deliver here." Frankie got a box out of his cabinet and gave it to Chopper. "See here, dis package was delivered to da wrong person. I'd like to get this out of da cabinet so I can fit other important things in dere. Take dis to its rightful owner, an' I'll give you some tickets."

"All right, thank you," Chopper said. He looked at the box and saw the name "Koopie Koo" labeled on it. "Koopie Koo? Who's that?"

"Koopie Koo? I think I might have an idea where to deliver that!" Goombella realized.

Mario: Me too!

* * *

**Petalburg-**

Everyone had arrived in Petalburg and found a female Koopa with a blonde ponytail and pink shell and a male Koopa with a green shell, a bandage on his nose, a light blue sweatshirt and blue pants. The latter had taken notice of the heroes approaching them and appeared surprised when he saw three familiar faces.

"Mario? Is that really you?" the Koopa quickly walked over to Mario. "Wow! It's been so long since we've seen each other! You remember me, right?"

Mario: You're Koops!

"Oh, great! You do remember me!" Koopas smiled nervously. "Well, umm... I can't express how thankful I am for what you've done for me. I've been regaining my confidence, and I'm planning on running for mayor in the future..."

"I'm really proud of him, too," Koopie Koo added. "Say, who are your friends?"

"I'm Chopper! I'm a friend of Mario! And these people are my friends too!" Chopper introduced.

"So... What are you doing here?" Koops asked.

"We've come to deliver something to Koopie Koo," Goombella answered. "It'll help us get some tickets from the Piantas."

"Piantas? Why are you helping those guys out?"

"We're taking a cruise to Viti," Chopper explained. "Though... I do think it would be easier to take a Warp Star."

Mario gave Koopie Koo the box, and she had opened it to find a book. "Oh, Koops! This is the book I had ordered a long time ago!"

"So it was a book this whole time?" Goombella gawked. "So, what is it? I bet it's interesting!"

"It's about planned parenthood!"

"...On second thought, I think I'd rather not touch that."

"We ought to get a book like that, Choppy," Heartsy suggested. "After all, it's VERY important in the future."

"...I think I'd like to go now," Chopper suggested, keeping his eyes away from Heartsy.

"Well, it was really good seeing you guys," Koops said. "Maybe in the future we will meet again? Hopefully then I might be even mayor."

"That would be splendid," Koopie Koo agreed.

They had made their goodbyes and finally departed from Petalburg, and now they had headed back to Rogueport.

* * *

**Rogueport, Pianta Syndicate-**

"All right, we did the job," Chopper said as the group approached Frankie.

"Hmmmmm... Izzat so?" Frankie began to smell the air around him. "Well, I don't smell any package in your hands. Ya sure you gave it to da right person?"

"Yeah, New Boss! Maybe dese guys just took da package and threw it in da trash!" Tony deduced.

"Now, now... I think da most important thing here was to get rid of dat package. You guys did the job, an' I think ya'll earned some tickets."

Frankie took out twelve Rainbow Cruise tickets and gave them each a ticket.

"Gee... Thanks." Chopper smiled.

"It's no problem. Say, why do you need to go on dat cruise anyway?" Frankie asked.

"To save the world!" Scrub answered.

"OK, sure... Go enjoy savin' the world."

With the conversation over, the group left the building and headed to their next destination: Pudgy Island.

* * *

**Pudgy Island, docks-**

Getting to Pudgy Island was fairly simple. All they had to do was take their Warp Star there, and there they were. Up at the docks was an enormous cruise ship made up of many different colors, with the trims being rainbow-like. Over by the dock was a couple of rich people such as Goldbob and his family, a Bumpty with a magnifying glass, and many others.

"Well... The ship has an interesting design." Flyer remarked.

"Poyo! (I can't wait to eat some food there!)" Kirby smiled, licking his lips.

"We'll be able to take a break for once," Shadower added. "I mean, considering what we had to go through, it's great that this travel will be a lot better..."

When the cruise's walkway had opened up, the people began to make their way into the boat. Chopper and his friends were the last ones to enter the cruise, and before they knew it, the boat was taking off.

And what awaited them was three days of relaxation!

* * *

**Ahhhh Chapter 16... Such a memorable chapter it is in my opinion. And such a chapter that I was inspired from one of my favorite stories on here. It's actually in my favorites, if you hadn't checked it out.**


	98. Day One on the Rainbow Cruise

**CHAPTER 16**

**-Viti, the Island of the Gods-**

Exploring the hallway of the cruise, they all felt the soft red carpet on the ground and saw shiny, brown walls. The people they had walked past consisted of a couple of Toads, Lakitus, Koopas and Bob-ombs. That wasn't all, however. Some Waddle Dees and Cappies were on the cruise. Very strange indeed...

"Huh... This cruise actually looks neat." Chopper smiled. "I'd like to see more of this place, but I think we need to go get our rooms first. There ARE rooms to sleep on this cruise, right?"

"There should be," Vivian answered. Chopper nodded and they all headed to the left hallway and then the right one to find a small line with a couple of the passengers on the cruise getting a room.

"This is going to be GREAT! I'm so excited!" Goombella exclaimed. "You have NO idea how much I want to explore Viti! There's just SO much to discover there!"

After a couple of minutes, it was their turn to come up to the stand and get their rooms, which relieved everyone. Chopper was the first one to approach the blue Toad.

"We have twelve people here…so do we need six rooms?" Chopper asked.

"You have twelve?" the Toad looked over at the others behind him. "Well, there are four bunks in each room, and if there are twelve of you, I would set up three rooms for you all. You'll have rooms 777, 778 and 779. Here are the keys to your room."

The Toad took out three keys and handed them to Chopper.

"Thank you!" the Star Warrior said, right before turning around. "All right, we've got three rooms. Four of us have to share a room."

"I think it's safe to say that the girls should share a room together," Shadower said.

"Ummmm... OK, that's fine." Chopper replied, unsure of why that was a suggestion.

"Well that stinks..." Heartsy groaned. "I'd actually like sharing a room with Choppy. It'd help us be closer."

"I take it back. I'm fine with this..."

"All right, then I'll hold onto the keys for Room 777 then," she decided, taking the key from Chopper's hands.

"I guess I'll hold onto the keys for Room 778 then," Chopper said, looking down at the key. "So which one of you guys would like to room with me?"

"I'll share a room with you," Flyer volunteered.

"OK. Anyone else?"

"Yo! Contadre! Pick me! Pick me!" Scrub shouted, jumping in the air.

"OK! You can come with us too, Scrub!" Chopper stated. Scrub fist pumped in response.

"Well, I suppose I'll go into Room 779, but I'm not holding the key," Sonic stated.

Mario: I'll hold onto it, then!

"Poyo, (I'll go room with you guys if you want,)" Kirby decided.

"Sign me up," Shadower added.

"Well... I guess that leaves me with a room." Tamber smirked, putting his hands on the back of his head. "Yeah, it stinks that all of you guys have to share a room. But, someone such as myself deserves to have his own room."

"No one is having their own room," Goombella deadpanned. "There's only one room available for you."

"Oh, really? Then who do I have to share it wi-" Tamber stopped, his eyes widened upon realizing who he had to share a room with. "Are you SERIOUS? You want ME, a ripped and sweet kid, to share a room with a freakin' puffball?! Nooooo way! I'm not sharing a room with HIM! We…whatever the heck I am, aren't supposed to share rooms with puffballs. It's a family statement!"

"...Actually, I'd probably want to share a room with the other group," Chopper said.

"Uhhh... Sorry, Chop. We're full." Sonic mentioned.

"Oh... Crud."

"Well now that we've got our keys, let's go find our rooms!" Bombette suggested.

They walked through the hallway an saw the 660's hallway. There were a couple of other hallways, but they finally past the previous hallway and found the 770's hallway. This hallway was right by a dining area, while the other hallway ahead led outside to some outdoor activities. There was also a hallway leading to a mall and places where people can get massages and jewelry.

"Here we are. Our rooms..." Chopper unlocked the room to his door and they all saw that the inside had a red carpet, a table, curtains on a window that showed the blue sky and the water, and two bunk beds, which made four beds altogether.

"I call top bunk!" Scrub shouted, getting on the bunk.

"AW, MAN! You gotta be KIDDING ME! Well, at least I can get the top bunk over…" Tamber noticed Flyer go up to the top bunk on the left and lay down on it, which got him angrier. "Oh, come on!"

"Poyo. (I suppose we should to our rooms, right? I'm willing to do that.)" Kirby said, waiting for Mario to unlock the door to their room. Heartsy opened the door to her room and went in, with Vivian following next.

Chopper walked into his room, closing the door behind him. Scrub was lying down on his top bunk with his legs crossed, looking up at the ceiling. He smirked and looked down at Tamber.

"Boy, it sure feels good being on this cruise!" Scrub smiled. "And we're even away from those older men and those girls! This is like a men's club right here! …Except we're younger than that."

"Men? I don't want to be a man though..." Chopper trailed, lying on the bottom bunk on the left side. "I like being my ten-year-old self! It helps me enjoy life at its fullest. Why can't we have a world that will stay peaceful for all eternity?"

"For once, I have to agree with the puffball. The whole peace around the world would be a nice thing." Tamber said, looking out the window. "Hey, guys... What do you think the southwestern area of the sea is like?"

"Unfortunately, I've never been to Viti, so I wouldn't have a clue," Flyer answered, working on his gadget. "Though, the island itself sounds very intriguing... The only thing that actually worries me is that rumor of a demon being born there..."

"Hmmmmm... Could that demon be... No, it couldn't be..." Chopper pondered.

"What's up with you, Chopper?"

"I was wondering if that demon was actually the Shadow Queen... I mean, she had to be born somewhere..."

"Say, Contadre, since there's been a Shadow Queen already, do you think there's possibly a Shadow King?" Scrub asked.

"A Shadow...King?" Chopper began to ponder for a moment. Then he remembered what that spirit in the Sun Temple mentioned something. "Well... I do remember that spirit in the Sun Temple mentioning a king getting defeated by chosen ones or something... So maybe he used to be around. I just don't wanna talk about this kind of topic."

"Let's talk about something else," Tamber suggested. "Like what is going on in the other rooms. Do you think the guys in the other room are just chilling? …What if the girls are talking about us? I bet they're talking about me."

"Not likely," Scrub snickered.

"HEY!"

* * *

**Room 777-**

"Wow! That's interesting! So you had bombnesia when you first joined Chopper?" Goombella asked Bombette, looking very surprised. "And you even went on a quest with Mario?"

"Yeah, that's right! I once went on a quest with Mario before." Bombette recalled. "That was about two years ago. I remember I had a Bob-omb that was so obsessed with me. I ended up breaking up with him, but he wouldn't stop bothering me afterward. It got kind of annoying, if you ask me… But then I found out he traveled with Chopper, which is pretty surprising... Also, I found it weird that I thought I was a pirate when I had bombneisa…"

"That does sound pretty interesting. I mean, your ex-boyfriend knew Chopper before YOU knew about him? I'm really interested in this stuff! Say, Vivian… How did you meet Chopper? You never told me about that."

"Ummm... Well, at first I was actually on Grodus's side because of Beldam." Vivian explained timidly. "She said that she had a new plan, but I was never told about it. Maybe it's because she KNEW that I was going to betray her and join up with someone…who happened to be Chopper."

"Wait a second… I remember when I went to see you and your sisters." Goombella recalled. "Beldam said she wouldn't treat you horribly. That just doesn't seem right! She was lying this whole time? Sheesh! What an ugly liar!"

"I don't really understand why Beldam lied to me like that. She once told me if I didn't bring the mail in, she would hang me over a pool filled with Piranhas. It felt terrible to me…but then she said that she had discovered a plan that would benefit us. I didn't know what it was, but we went over to the X-Nauts to convince them to go after twenty of the Crystal Stars."

"Wow, I never knew that…" Heartsy gawked.

"Grodus decided to send us to the Rainbow Train to find the first Crystal Star, but there was a problem when the sketch of Chopper went missing. She blamed it all on me, and I was forced to go find the sketch and Chopper in order to get the map from him. If I didn't, she said she would've given me the punishment of a lifetime. It wasn't easy…"

"That sounds SO wrong!" Goombella guffawed. "That's just abuse right there, sister! ...Wait, but how did you join him?"

"Ummm… Well, when I was searching for the Diamond Star, a robot called a Phi was about to attack me because I looked threatening to it. I tried fighting back, but it didn't seem to work too well for me. I thought all was lost…until Chopper came and beat the robot down."

"I'm guessing this was the first Phi you've ever encountered?" Bombette guessed. Vivian gave her a nod.

"It was. Well, at least for us it was the first one. I thanked him, even though I didn't know who he was. But when he gave me the sketch, I finally realized he was Chopper. …But I didn't have what it took to hurt him. After what he had done for me, it was too difficult. But we had a little conversation, and he was very sweet. And then I…"

"What did you do?" Goombella asked curiously. Vivian looked nervous, twiddling her thumbs together. Something like this was not a thing she liked to spill out.

"Ummmmm... Well, I'd rather not tell..." Vivian replied, her face turning a shade of red.

"Awwwww, c'mon, Vivian! I wanna know!"

"You don't need to put pressure on her," Heartsy suggested. "She doesn't have to tell..."

"Oh, yeah!" Goombella turned her attention to Heartsy. "So you and Chopper are of the same race? I find it pretty interesting, considering that both of you are ten and all."

"Yeah, it is pretty interesting! In fact, we had met at a daycare when we were only two. He was my best friend back then... I can still remember that day when he was at my birthday party..." Heartsy smiled, the image of her kissing Chopper in her mind. "I think I wanna go spend some time with him tonight."

"And why is that?" Bombette asked.

"We haven't hung out together in a long time. I'd really like to do something like that, especially for a good friend."

"You're going to spend some time with him?" Vivian asked. _"Maybe I should spend some time with him tomorrow night... I do have something important to tell him..."_

"Hmmmmmm... I'm sure I might have a good idea of what we can play. After all, there's a game room on this cruise." Heartsy smirked. "Surely he'll be into that!"

"Game room? Oh, yeah. I'd like to play those...if I had hands." Bombette grumbled, only to notice some pale green near Heartsy. "Hey, Heartsy! What's that you've got?"

"Oh, this?" Heartsy took out a Chopper plushie. "This is a plushie of Chopper, obviously. I really like the design of this thing. It feels like I'm holding a miniature Choppy!"

"Though... Something seemed awfully strange about the one selling them..." Vivian trailed, keeping her plushie hidden in her arms.

"Well, while we wait to go out and do something. I'm going to go check what's in these magazines." Goombella took a magazine out from a drawer and began to read them. "Ooh! There's a pool and museum here! I HAVE to check out that museum!"

"Goombella, this is a time for relaxation..." Bombette pointed out.

"True, but I'm curious as to what's in that museum."

* * *

**Room 779-**

"Man, it feels great that we're on this cruise! THIS is what I've been waiting for! A little vacation is what I need!" Sonic smirked, lying on his bottom bunk.

"Thankfully, we're not in the water, so there's no reason to be afraid," Shadower added. "Though, I hope no one gets seasick..."

"Poyo! (I'm going to love it here!)" Kirby cheered. "Poyo! (There's going to be so much to do on here for THREE days! And we don't even have to go out and fight any villains or get hurt! It's three days of relaxation!)"

Mario: ...What did he just say?

Kirby ignored him and found a little magazine upon jumping off the top bunk. The magazine was labeled as "Rainbows".

"Poyo? (Why is the restaurant called 'Rainbows' anyway?)" Kirby wondered as he cruiously looked through the pages and saw a couple of nice things on the menu. It had a Max Tomato Sandwich, chili dogs, pasta and even a banana sundae! "POYO! (I SERIOUSLY NEED TO GO TO THE RESTAURANT AND GET SOME OF THIS FOOD! A TOMATO SANDWICH! YESSSS!)"

He quickly bolted out of the door, making Mario sit up. He checked his pockets and remembered the key in his own hands.

Mario: He should've taken the keys with him before he left… Oh well.

* * *

**Room 778-**

Back in room 778, the four boys were relaxing, now that there wasn't much to talk about. The only one who wasn't relaxing was Flyer, who was working on one of his inventions. Well, two of them, actually. The new one was shaped like a circle with a radar on it.

"Chopper! Take a look at this nifty device I just made while you were sleeping!" Flyer told Chopper, who opened his eyes and got up from his bed and saw the invention Flyer worked was working on on the table.

"Whoa, what IS that device?" Chopper asked, now looking curious.

"I decided to call this… The Fumu Locator."

"The Fumu Locator? Why are you naming it after her? ...Are you still brainwashed?" Chopper gawked, knocking on Flyer's head to make sure.

"Calm down, Chopper! I'm not brainwashed!" Flyer replied, swatting his hand anyway. "But, anyway… This device can tell us where we are. So far, we're a little close to Pudgy Island at that moment. We're going west, see?"

"Yeah, I can see we're going west. But we're going so slow..." the Star Warrior frowned. "Well, what about the other gadget? That looks like the one you made to get rid of that collar on Fumu."

"Uh huh," Flyer nodded. "I'm actually very close to finishing it. It can break through any locked collars and remove it. I'm calling it the Removicollar. And maybe, just maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"...Nothing."

"Oh, OK. Right now, I think I'm going to see if I can get something to eat. Maybe later all of us can go to the restaurant and get some food there. After all, we have enough spare time!"

"Food? Eh… I think I'll just sit here." Tamber decided. "I ain't going to go join a puffball to eat anyway, so get outta here, ya puffball."

Chopper gave him a glare before leaving the room with the keys and headed through the hallway to where the restaurant was.

"I might just go get one little snack and that'll be it. It's not like anything bad is going to happen…" Chopper trailed upon walking into Rainbow's. Thankfully, it was pretty close to their hallway. However, instead of people eating food, he saw a couple of people by the Cheep Cheep chef and the Toad waitress with two purple ponytails. "What the… What's going on over there?"

The only person he recognized there was Kirby, who looked like he was going to cry for some reason. He also saw a blue Bumpty with a brown cap and a magnify glass. He had recognized him from the dock. He didn't recognize the other people that were there, but there was a Toad with a black polka dot cap and a frown on his face.

"It was awful, I tell you!" the chef named Chimi cried. "I had the pot earlier, but it was grated by someone! …Ack! Stupid Cheep Cheep tongue of mine! I meant to say that it was TAKEN by someone."

"Hmmm. Yes. This is most definitely a case to me. A case that's…interesting." the Bumpty deduced. "But, what shall I call it, that is the question before us. I got it! This is 'The Case of the Missing Stew Pot II'! Indeed. That will do nicely."

"Missing Stew Pot II? There was another mystery like this?" Chopper pondered.

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… My dear cruise passengers… This appears to be a full-fledged mystery, one that could possibly impact us all, to the least."

"_**WHAT?! A MYSTERY?!**_"

"A mystery, you just said? …And uh, um, er, exactly…what kind of dish is that, you say?" Chef Chimi asked.

Everyone else: ...

"Hey, can someone tell me what's going on here?" Chopper asked, approaching the group. "I'm looking for some food, but I find you guys here instead..."

The Bumpty walked over to him and looked at him in suspicion. "So, it WAS you, wasn't it? I KNEW you were behind all of this! Answer me now, little boy! Or else I, Pennington, shall be forced to take drastic measures."

"I don't mean to sound, like, worried, but I don't think you're even allowed to do that here," the Toad Waitress said.

"Oh, I'm not saying I shall harm him, dear woman. Let's just say that I have many ways in getting people to talk..."

"I didn't even do anything wrong," Chopper objected. "I just came in here and suddenly everyone was around here. Heck, Kirby would know that I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Poyo, (Yeah, he's right,)" Kirby agreed.

"Ermm… My apologies, dear boy." Pennington apologized. "I was just practicing my accusation skills, you understand. Yes, sorry."

Everyone else: ...

"Actually, I don't understand..." Chopper trailed.

"Now, onto the case!" Pennington declared, ignoring Chopper and turning to the others. "I believe that all of this started when we got on the Rainbow Cruise. I am going to find the culprit and put an end to this mystery! This little conundrum doesn't appear to be a challenge…for me…"

"_**Oooooooooooooooh…**_"

"The central clue to this case, and also probably the most vital one, as it happens… Is that someone has stolen Chef Chimi's pot of Golden Mushroom Stew and has probably eaten it all. That would most likely be my prediction. But, who do I suspect? Well, my friends, it leads me to esteem that the one responsible…is YOU, gluttonous woman!" Pennington exclaimed, pointing to the Waitress.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?! ME?!" the Waitress cried. "Are you totally koo-koo? Why would I, like, take something like that? I don't even like Golden Mushroom Stew!"

"Errm… Pardon me… Sorry. Please accept my apologies, my dear woman. I just had some suspicion on you, that's all. But, seeing as though you are confused, I don't find you suspicious at all. So sorry."

Everyone else: ...

Along with that, Pennington had earned a glare from the Waitress.

"…Ahem. Very good. Now, let us get serious, shall we?" Pennington declared. "This, I believe, will be a case noteworthy of my intellect! Hmm… Yes…"

"OK, OK… Hang on a second. So, what you seem to know so far is that you don't know who the culprit is. And uh… I guess that's about it, right?" Chopper asked.

"Yes, you would be correct, dear boy," Pennington nodded.

"But you randomly accused people! I don't think that's good detective skills..."

"Urgh… This is not getting anywhere." the Toad with the black polka-dot cap groaned. "You people can have fun with your little game. I'm going back to my room."

"Hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmph!" Pennington turned his attention to him and pointed at him with his magnify glass. "You there! In a hurry to get back to your room, eh? You, sir, are highly suspicious! I have now just broken the case! The true culprit I believe… Is Dark Toad, the strange Toad!"

"So because I'm leaving, that means I'm the culprit. Maybe you should leave to get your facts straight, beak-faced geezer."

"Beak-faced… Geezer… GEEZER?! Well, I can't say I deserved such a verbal thrashing, but… Then who did do it, hm? Hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmph! This puzzle keeps deepening with every confounding step…"

"Poyo! (No food? Aw, man! This isn't good at ALL!)" Kirby complained. "Poyo! (Without any food, I'm going to starve! I LIVE to inhale food!)"

"I love food too...and with no food being made here... Oh, man, I don't like that thought." Chopper gulped. However, he paused when he noticed a spill on the floor. He approached it and started to inspect it. Meanwhile, Pennington left the restaurant to find the culprit, not paying attention to the spill on the carpet.

"That culprit should be here somewhere..." Pennington trailed. "They won't be getting away... Not on my watch!"

"Hey, Kirby, look at THIS!" Chopper pointed at the spill and getting Kirby's attention. "It looks like a clue that'll lead us somewhere. We should follow the trace to the room where it ends at."

"Poyo! (Yeah!)" Kirby agreed, following him through the hallway. The trail had led to the 760s hallway, and they heard a belching sound coming from Room 764. Not only that, but the trail appeared to end at the door.

_"BUUUUUUURP! Boy, that was tasty…" _the voice said behind the door._ "I LOVE this stew! It's so delicious and…golden! I gotta do this a little more often, y'know? I wish I had a delicious strawberry cake too. Those things are DEE-LICIOUS!"_

"Hmmmm… I'm getting a little suspicious now. He might be the one." Chopper deduced, listening in on the voice. Kirby knocked on the door, and when it opened, they saw a big fat Shy Guy with a bib, a fork, and a knife. To some people, he is known as the Gourmet Guy. The inside of his room only had one bed, but it wasn't as big.

"Whoawhoawhoawhoa! What do you want?!" Gourmet Guy asked nervously, noticing the trail below. "BUUUUUUUUUURP! Ermm… Sorry about that. Now, what do you need?"

"There was a pot taken from the kitchen, and now people are are trying to find it," Chopper explained. "And... I guess it was probably you."

"What? A pot from the kitchen? Oh, I get it! Food gets stolen and you blame the chubby guy! NOT NICE!"

"Yeah, but there were drops of stew outside of your door."

"Wh-What? Drops of stew outside of this room on the floor? N-No… I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about!" Gourmet Guy stammered. "People spill stuff! And there's nothing in the drawer, so no need to look! You won't find a thing!"

"Poyo… (Well... I guess we ought to take a look at what's in the drawer.)" Kirby suggested.

Chopper agreed and opened up the drawer to see what was inside. He saw several gourmet magazines, and one of them was an issue devoted to the food of the Rainbow Cruise. There was a large photo of Chef Chimi on the cover… His smile was just blinding. However, Chopper noticed something under the magazines.

"What's this?" Chopper pulled the item out and it was indeed the Galley Pot. "Ah-HA! So THIS is it!"

"Doh! I'm sorry! I ate it all! It was MEEEEEEEEE!" Gourmet Guy confessed. "Now I'm in some serious trouble!"

"Kirby, you stay here and make sure nothing goes wrong," Chopper suggested. "I'm going to get Pennington and show him the REAL culprit!"

"Poyo! (All right!)" Kirby nodded, just before Chopper went out to find Pennington.

* * *

**Pennington's room-**

In Pennington's room, Pennington had managed to find the culprit, and he was now interrogating the person with a small chair and a light hanging over it. This was something common for Pennington. At least, when it came to getting questions.

"Ah-HA! So it WAS you!" Pennington exclaimed, pointing his magnifying glass at the perpetrator. "YOU were the one responsible for taking the pot of stew that belongs to Chef Chimi!"

Potato Chip Bag: …

"Answer me now!" Pennington demanded, glaring at the potato chip bag. "Where did you put the pot of stew? Don't make me go to drastic measures…"

Potato Chip Bag: …

"Nothing, huh? Interesting… Well, you asked for it…" Pennington walked over to the bag and picked it up. He was about to open it up, but then he heard the door knocking, so he checked that instead to find Chopper.

"Follow me, and fast!" Chopper requested.

Confused, Pennington followed Chopper back to Gourmet Guy's room, but not before grabbing the bag of potato chips. Once they were back in the fat Shy Guy's room, he found the empty pot and the spilled stew on the ground. He smirked, realizing he had found the true culprit.

"So! You were so enamored of the stew that you wanted to steal it and devour more?" Pennington questioned. "And you stole the entire pot when the chef was chopping shallots? Answer!"

"Yes… Yes, that's right." Gourmet Guy admitted. "I'm so sorry, I just couldn't control my hunger… Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

"Very well! Justice has been served! Let this be a lesson to you, Gourmet Guy! May this terrible crime never recur! And you, my dear sir…"

Chopper: ?

"Yes, you with the two antennas that hang above your head! My keen sleuthing instincts identified you as the correct person to collar the ruffian!" Pennington deduced. "Now, about your little hunt you're on. Yes, it would be the Crystal Star on Viti, am I right? I have been confined by the captain that you are searching for them, is this correct?"

"...Wait, the captain knew about that? ...Well, anyway, I am. You want to speak about this to me, right?"

"It would be a good idea! But we cannot speak here. Find me in room 741 so we may discuss this in private… Trust me, I've known about these Crystal Stars for a long time… Oh, and make sure you return the pot to the chef. That is all." With that, Pennington made his exit.

"Kirby, do you mind taking the pot back to Chef Chimi?" Chopper asked.

"Poyo! (Of course! Maybe then there will be food ready!)" Kirby said happily, taking the pot and leaving the room to return it to the chef. Meanwhile, Chopper went over to room 741 and entered Pennington's room, which he left unlocked for him.

"Ah-ha! I have been waiting! I must admit, I was rather impressed with your work on the last case." Pennington complimented. "But, anyway… I believe you have a certain knack for detective work. So it is decided then. I shall take you on as my very new assistant!"

"New assistant? I don't know anything about detective work, though…" Chopper trailed.

"You have keen eyes, though. I can most certainly tell you would make a great detective! My eyes never deceive! But, let me introduce myself while we're here. To reiterate… My name is Pennington. I am a detective from Poshley Heights. However… I was fired after two robots broke into the sanctum and took the Garnet Star away. So now I am heading to Viti to help the Gods with some crimes. Surely they will reward me with a job."

_"Two robots? That sounds kind of like the Phis…" _Chopper thought.

"I am also known as 'The Penguin With the Improbably Large Brain.' I am sure you have probably heard of me, so that is all I will say on the subject."

"Large brain?" Chopper gawked, trying to get a better look at him. "How do you have a large brain?"

"A high level of intelligence is all that is needed for a large brain," Pennington said confidently. "And as for your name… Wait! I demand you do not tell me. I shall deduce your identity!"

"Ummm… OK?" Chopper gawked, seeing Pennington identify him with his magnifying glass. Simply put, he didn't like it.

"Those antennas… Those gloves… That pale green skin… And that roundness… …Ho ho ho! All too easy! You, sir, are quite obviously the famed _**Flyer**_, are you not?"

"_**WHAT?!**_" Chopper waved his arms and he then shook his head. "I'm NOT Flyer! My name is CHOPPER! The REAL Flyer is in the room I'm staying in, if you must know…"

"No need to introduce yourself! I know all about the famous **Flyer **from planet Clara! You are indeed the one that has stopped the Star God Staris, haven't you? I know of this because my family lives in Shiver City, and they told me everything about what happened there." Pennington explained. "Now, about the Crystal Star… So it seems that one of them is located on Viti, is it not? Let me see that little thing you use to find them!"

"You mean the Magical Map? I guess you could…" Chopper took out the map and showed it to Pennington. He studied the map and looked at the Crystal Star on the island with interest.

"Ah! So this IS the Magical Map that was once used by Luigi! Interesting… Well, I can't do much about it now. We're not on Viti just yet. However, once we're there, we shall discuss this issue. Perhaps I should take you to the Gods themselves? They could help you… But, for now, there's not much else I have assigned for you. Perhaps you should relax for now."

"Well, thanks for the help, I suppose. I might as well take a break. Take care, Pennington…" Chopper left the room and went over to the gaming corner, where he saw Scrub playing a game that required a toy gun.

"Aw, c'mon! I almost have this! I know I can do it!" Scrub was shooting the zombies in a game called "Zombies Galore", a survival game that required the player to defeat the zombies before they got to them.

"Scrub? What the heck are you playing?" Chopper asked, getting a look at the game. "Zombies Galore? Never heard of it."

"It's not a bad game. You ought to try it, Contadre. It's full of AWESOMENESS! …Oh, there's also a game called 'Chopper of Planet Clara' over there. Kinda strange how they have an arcade game of you."

"Really?" Chopper walked over to the other machine and saw the exact game. He noticed a sign that said, "Chopper's Adventure. Coming soon whenever."

"Listen, Scrub… We're going to be going to the restaurant in the evening." Chopper decided. "I think you'll be pleased to see some choices of food."

"REALLY? Oh, boy! Now I'm excited!" Scrub exclaimed. "I can't WAIT to go out and eat something! It's only 4:00, so what time are we eating?"

"Ummmm... Six? Anyway, I gotta go!" Chopper took off and headed back to his room. However, there appeared to be a note on it. "Huh? What's this? A note?"

He took the note off the table and began to read it.

_Turn back now! The boat will be destroyed if you don't get off!_

"Oh, crud… I think we're being threatened on this boat…" Chopper entered his room and saw Tamber lying down on the bed just like before and Flyer was still tinkering with his gadget "Guys, we've got trouble! I just found this note and it says that the boat will get destroyed if we don't get off!"

"What? Are you serious?" Flyer gawked, stopping with his invention and going over to the note. "Oh, dear... This is not good."

"Yeah... I thought we'd be safe! We're toast!"

"Pbbbbbbbbth! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Tamber laughed, getting up and taking the note. "I KNEW you would fall for that one! I wrote this note just to mess with your puffball mind! I can't believe you fell for it!"

"Hey! That wasn't funny!" Chopper frowned. "I could've told everyone about the note, and there'd be a big problem!"

"But you didn't..."

"I know I didn't... Anyway, I'm going to relax for a little bit until six. I think we'll go eat then." Chopper decided, getting back onto his bed to relax.

"What about Scrub? He can't get in the room if you're holding onto the keys." Flyer mentioned.

"Well... The door is unlocked on this side, right? Someone can open it then."

And with that, Chopper took a little snooze.

* * *

**Two hours later-  
**

It was dusk on the Rainbow Cruise, and Chopper and his friends were at a table at Rainbows. Goombella came with them to the restaurant because she was hungry too. Chopper had opened a menu and gazed in awe at it.

"Wow! I can't believe they have something that shows off all sorts of foods! I thought you could only see it at the entrance!" Chopper gaped.

"You've...never been to a restaurant before?" Flyer gawked.

"No... I live in a giant jungle on another planet. There aren't restaurants there."

"Well, there are a lot of interesting choices on this menu," Goombella remarked. "I don't know what to choose from!"

"Soup and salad? Where the heck is the MEAT? I can't eat vegetables! Someone tell me where the meat is!" Tamber asked angrily. Vivian sighed and flipped over to the page to the meat on his menu. "Aw, sweet! THIS is what I'm talking about!"

The Waitress had come to their table to place their orders. "Hi, there! Welcome to Rainbow's! I'll be your server today! Is there anything you want to, like, drink?"

Mario: I remember you! You were on Excess Express!

"Hey, I remember you too! I was, like, lucky enough to get a promotion to work on here! It's GREAT!"

It hadn't been long until they all got their drinks and food and were now eating. For people such as Chopper and Kirby, they had quickly finished their food due to their insane ways of eating. While that was going on, Sonic was telling a little story.

"…And then I hit his cockpit and he was DOWN! …Again." Sonic concluded. "I can't believe he still refuses to give up after all the failures he's endured..."

Mario: Same here.

Most of the group had started to become tired due to it getting dark outside. Seeing this as an opportunity to talk, Heartsy had inched over to Chopper to talk to him.

"Hey, Choppy..." Heartsy started, only to notice some food left on his mouth.

"What?"

"Errr... You've got a little something on your face."

"Huh? I do?" Chopper began to feel his face. "Ummmm... I don't feel anything."

"I'll take care of it," Heartsy took a napkin and began to rub his mouth with it. He winced, attempting to object, but the napkin had muffled his voice. _"A messy mouth is definitely not the best thing to kiss..."_

"What was that for?" the Star Warrior asked angrily, rubbing his mouth after she finished.

"Look, let's get to what I wanted to talk about. Do you wanna spend some time together after this?"

"Spend time together? What do you mean?"

"I mean by hanging out. Just us."

"Oh... That doesn't sound so bad."

"Thanks, Choppy!" Heartsy gave him a smile and got back to eating her food.

* * *

**After dinner-**

They were leaving the restaurant, but before Chopper could get to his room, he felt his hand being grabbed by someone else's. He turned to see who it was who grabbed his hand, and it turned out to be Heartsy.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Chopper asked.

"Don't you remember, Choppy? You said you'd spend some time with me, and that's what we're going to do." Heartsy stated. "Now let's go spend some couple time together."

"Wait... Are you making me go on a date with you?" Chopper gulped. "I take it back... I'm out of here!"

He made a bolt for it, but Heartsy remained calm and got her hammer out. She swung it and summoned a pink tornado in Chopper's direction that sucked him in and brought him back to her. He had been left dazed, but when he quickly shook his head, he noticed he was back with her. Before he had time to react, she grabbed his hand and dragged him into the gaming room. He noticed their location and was surprised.

"Wait, what? A gaming room? Did someone pile-drive your head, Heartsy?"

"Nope, no one pile-drove my head," Heartsy answered. "Didn't you remember that gaming system I had back in my apartment? You'd probably know a little more about me."

"Oh... OK. Some games doesn't seem so bad... I thought you'd give me the cooties..." Chopper walked over to an arcade game called "Light and Dark War". "Hmmmm... Maybe this game?"

Chopper started the game up, and he and Heartsy both chose a character. Chopper decided to play as a Light Soldier, while Heartsy chose to be a Dark Soldier. The goal was to capture the other base and destroy the opponents.

"I KNOW I'm going to beat you in this, Choppy!" Heartsy smirked, destroying some of the Light army. Chopper gasped, but he had a trick up his sleeve. He began to send bombs down on the Dark Soldiers.

"Oh, I don't think so! These bombs are certainly helpful! They'll crush you!" Chopper replied. Unfortunately, Heartsy already took him down, and he saw the words "You Stink!" on his side of the screen.

"Oh... I lost..." Chopper trailed. "A girl just beat me in a video game..."

"Did I just hear a familiar voice?"

Bow was floating past the gaming room, but she stopped when she saw Chopper with Heartsy. An idea struck her mind, and she quickly disappeared before they could see her.

"I think we should play another round of this game," Heartsy suggested.

"But I don't want to get my butt handed again," Chopper complained.

"Then... I think I have a better idea." she said, leaning her face closer to Chopper's and giving him a flirty look. He quickly backed away in fear, having a feeling what that could be.

"Ummm… I say we play another game then!" Chopper turned around, but he stopped when he saw Bow appear in front of him and scare him, making him fall back. "Eep! What was that?!"

Bow took her fan out and waved it. "Ahhhhh... Something like that is always so fun. It's actually surprising to see how easy you fall for that."

"Oh... It's you." Heartsy deadpanned. "What do you want?"

"Oh, I was taking a little vacation to see my father," Bow answered. "Probably nothing you'd be interested in."

"OK. Well, I'll be going then." Heartsy turned away and headed for another game, but she tripped and dropped her hammer. It had bounced off the wall and hit Bow in the head, knocking her out. Chopper hadn't seen the hammer, but he did see the Boo get KO'd.

"Bow! Are you OK?" Chopper gasped, trying to get her up, but to no avail. Heartsy had noticed the hammer and knocked out Boo and gulped.

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…" Heartsy quickly grabbed Chopper's hand. "…I think we should get out of here."

She bolted out of the room with Chopper and her hammer, surprised to see Bow get knocked out so easily. Then again, seeing something like that almost made her laugh. Almost.

They went outside while it was nighttime and sat down on the beautiful chairs so they could get a view of both the water and the moon. Well, more like Heartsy made Chopper do that. What was also nice was that the rainbow trim on the Rainbow Cruise had began to glow.

"Look at that moon, Choppy… It looks so beautiful tonight. It's usually not this pretty back in Sand Town." Heartsy said. "Maybe this is what it looks like when we're located south from Rogueport."

"Yeah, the moon looks pretty cool, I'll admit," Chopper agreed. "Though, I think it was cooler when we were all on the moon."

"Yeah, I'll agreed to that. But seeing the moon and water here... It just feels so...romantic."

"...What?"

Heartsy placed her hand on top of his and she leaned on him with her eyes closed. Chopper, of course, was extremely uncomfortable and quickly moved away from her.

"Hey, why did you do that?" Heartsy asked.

"Pl-Please don't do th-that," Chopper stammered, now shaking in fear.

"Come on! There's no reason to be like this! Having someone close to you is supposed to be a good thing." she scooted up to him and wrapped her arms around his. "Just remain calm, Choppy... Don't try to struggle."

"B-But I can't! Why do you keep doing this to me?"

"Isn't it obvious, Choppy? I love you!"

"But why?"

"Because you're such a caring and kind person. Of course, I find you incredibly cute, but I wouldn't be that shallow." Heartsy explained. "Plus, looking back at the daycare, I saw something in you. You didn't seem to be like those bullies that had bothered you, and I couldn't let someone such as yourself be bullied by them. Heck, I even got bullied myself there and in Sand Town for my name, but it was thanks to you that I was motivated into standing up for myself. Did I motivate you into doing the same thing?"

"Well... Ummmmm..." Chopper trailed, trying to ponder. "I think I did. Back on my first adventure..."

"Then I'm proud of you for what you did," Heartsy smiled, closing her eyes and letting her hair touch Chopper's head. "You have no idea how happy I am to be with you..."

"Pl-Please let go of me... I really want to go back to my room."

"...OK, I guess you can," Heartsy decided, letting go of Chopper. "But I want to do one more thing before you go."

"Like what?" Chopper gawked, titling his head.

She stared at him with a smile. "I want us to kiss."

"What?!" Chopper gaped. "No way! I'm not doing that! That's gross!"

"Come on, Choppy! A kiss is not so bad! It's supposed to be a good thing!"

"Well I don't like them!"

"Look, it's not as bad as you think. Just close your eyes, and before you know it, everything will be over."

"But I really don't want to do this," Chopper objected, though the look on her face didn't seem so happy. Plus, he wasn't the kind of person to upset girls. "...All right. I'll try... But I'm not doing this again."

Heartsy gave him a smile and watched as he closed his eyes tightly and ready himself. She had leaned forward and puckered up. The kiss hadn't lasted that long, as Chopper quickly broke away and quickly coughed and stuck his tongue out in disgust.

"Yuck! That was awful!" Chopper gagged.

"Well... You managed to do it." Heartsy said, still giving him her sweet smile.

"I hope Flyer can help me get these cooties off me!" Chopper declared, running off inside to go into his room. Heartsy had walked back in, a feeling of accomplishment in her mind.

_"I can't believe I actually got him to do it! It wasn't so long, but it felt so great..."_

However, when she left, it was discovered that they weren't the only ones looking out at the water. Up on the upper level, Mario had been looking up at the moon and water, and he had even seen the whole scenario with Chopper and Heartsy. However, with them gone, he brought his attention back to the moon.

"_Wow, this is such a beautiful sky! Much nicer than what I've seen before!" _Mario thought.

While he was looking at the moon, he heard a small sound coming from afar. He noticed by the moon a small, dark indigo mist was flying toward the cruise ship. ...Or was it him?

Mario looked at the mist get closer and closer until it had appeared in front of him. He had stepped away while gawking, looking at is suspiciously.

Mario: What is that?

The last thing he saw was the mist charging directly at him before his sight had completely gone black.

* * *

**This was definitely a long chapter, but I think it's packed with some interesting moments. I personally liked seeing Pennington make his return here in the story. What's also coincidental is that in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Pennington appeared in Chapter 6, while in this, he's in Chapter 16. Both have the number 6 in it. :P  
**

**Anyway, next up, we go to the second day of the Rainbow Cruise!**


	99. Day Two on the Rainbow Cruise

Daytime had finally come, and all of the passengers on the ship were fast asleep. That was, until the sound of the loudspeakers went off.

_Good morning, cruise passengers! How did you sleep, last night? This is your captain, speaking. We only have 48 hours left until we reach Viti, so please, enjoy yourselves for now and go to some of our activities, or perhaps even get yourself your own foot massage at the spa!_

Sonic opened his eyes and stretched. "Whew! Now THAT was a good night's sleep! Man, last night was pretty nice when I walked outside. I wonder what it's like outside…"

He walked over to the window and opened the curtains. The sun's rays came through the window and lightened up the room, waking up Kirby, Shadower and Mario.

"Ack! Sonic! Don't open those curtains! The sun's getting in my eyes thanks to you!" Shadower shouted, covering his eyes. Kirby nodded in agreement, since they couldn't understand him.

"Yeah, Sonic! Don't-a open the curtains when we're-a asleep!" Mario scolded. "You're-a gonna get the sun in our eyes! Close-a those curtains before-a someone becomes-a blind!"

"OK, fine," Sonic shrugged, approaching the curtains to close him. He, along with Kirby and Shadower, suddenly froze and turned to Mario.

"Poyo? (Did Mario just…talk?)" Kirby asked.

"Of course I can-a talk! I'm-a Mario, for Pete's sake!" Mario declared. "I've-a been talking this whole time! Don't-a you remember me-a talking? It-a was very quiet!"

"Errrmmmm… I don't know what to say, Mario…" Sonic said, shrugging. Shadower got up and took his comb out to fix his afro, followed by putting his hat on.

"Well, I guess we should wait until Chopper gives us the cue to come down for breakfast, wouldn't you say?" Shadower wondered, adjusting his hat.

"Maybe we should-a just go out and-a get some food ourselves!" Mario suggested. "After all, we do-a need to fill-a our stomachs!"

Everyone looked at each other in confusion, but they eventually agreed and went out to get some breakfast themselves.

* * *

**Room 777-**

Because of the loudspeaker, the girls were slowly getting up. Heartsy had gotten up first, giving her Chopper plushie a hug. _"Last night felt so great! Too bad it didn't last forever..."_

"Girls, it's already morning time. We should be getting out of bed right now!" Bombette shouted, trying to get them moving. People such as Vivian and Goombella struggled to get up, the latter appearing more irritated.

"Calm down, Bombette! Seriously!" Goombella yelled. "I was almost about to headbonk you for a second! Don't nag us out of bed! You said that's how you ended up leaving Koopa Village, because of your nagging and yelling."

"…Yeah, you got a point there, Goombella. That WAS my own fault. I think I ought to lay off the nagging for a little bit." the pink Bob-omb had sat back down on her bottom bunk, not calm. "You know, sometimes it's a good thing that we're away from those boys, don't you think?"

"Ummmm... I guess I can see why." Vivian said, slowly getting up with her messy hair. Goombella had noticed her eyes and gaped at them.

"Whoa, Vivian! I never knew you had such beautiful eyes!" Goombella remarked. "I mean, you probably get a lot of people with those eyes!"

"Well... I don't like to show my eyes around public... It's just that... They're used for bad purposes..."

"Bad? How is that bad?" Heartsy wondered.

"They can leave people of the opposite gender in a trance... And those were meant to be used to destroy my enemies so many centuries ago. I personally don't like to use them because of the reminders of what had happened to those who caught sight of them..."

"Hmmmmm... Well, I suppose I can understand why you wouldn't want to use them." Bombette said. "Anyway, we should go get some breakfast! I'm starving!"

"But... You don't have a mouth." Heartsy noted.

"Armless people can carry objects around in this universe, so there's no problem with mouthless people eating food."

"Well, I think I'm going to go see Chopper. You can go get breakfast if you want." Vivian grabbed her hat and put it on to shield he eyes. She then sank into the shadows.

* * *

**Room 778-**

In Room 778, Tamber was the first one to wake up and stretch. He took out the Master Star and began to hold it tightly. "It's all right, Master Star. You know that I'll never leave you."

"What the heck are you talking about, Tamber?" Flyer asked.

"Errrr... Nothing!" Tamber shouted, quickly putting the Master Star away. "I was just..."

"Hugging and talking to your Master Star?"

"No! ...You go back to your inventions, nerd!"

Flyer ignored him and got back to his inventions. Chopper had slowly gotten up and happily stretched.

"Ahhhh! Today is another new day!" Chopper smiled. "It's daytime out, everything's so calm, and there's going to be some food to eat!"

"And you came running into the room last night," Tamber added.

"Yeah, I- Wait, I did?"

"Yeah. You complained about having to kiss that pink girl with the hair, and it was HILARIOUS!" Tamber laughed.

"Wh-What?" Chopper closed his eyes to remember. "...Oh, right. I did do that. Bleaugh... ...Oh, and Bow is here, too."

"Bow? Who is she?" Flyer asked.

"Another friend of mine I went on an adventure with. She's nice, but I don't like her pinching my cheeks. It really hurts."

"Well I wanna see that. It might be funny." Tamber grinned.

"Tamber, that's not something you should be doing. Anyway, are we going to stay here or are we going to get some breakfast? We can't leave our friends waiting." Flyer slowly turned to Scrub's bunk. "…That means get up, Scrub."

"Awwww, man! I thought you guys would think I'm asleep! I really don't wanna get up anyway. I'm a little too tired." Scrub protested. Chopper gave Tamber a glance and gestured him to get him down. Despite not wanting to, Tamber decided to do so and punched below the bed and Scrub came jumping off off the bed and into Chopper's hands - though he had a problem holding him.

"Whoa! Scrub, you've grown a little while we've been traveling!" Chopper winced, putting him down. "It must've been that running that got you to grow."

When Scrub took notice of his height, he noticed he was actually becoming a little bit taller than him.

"Hey, I've gotten a little taller than you, Contadre! Now who's the scrub now, huh?" Scrub smirked. "Oh, yeah! Being a little taller than you is just awesome! I'm even taller than Bombette, Heartsy and even Flyer! Heck, I can be taller than Vivian and Shadower as well!"

"But you'll never be as tall as me," Tamber declared, crossing his arms and smirking.

"Well... You're not exactly the tallest one in the group either." Flyer noted. Tamber responded by angrily pushing him out of the way and leaving the room. The Wingel was far from pleased. "Man, he's got some serious problems…"

He flew out of the room afterward, with Scrub following next. Chopper walked out of the room as well, but he was stopped when Vivian rose up from the shadows in front of him.

"Whoa! You surprised me for a second there, Vivian…" Chopper gasped.

"I'm sorry, Chopper. I didn't mean to startle you like that." Vivian apologized.

"Well, it's all right..."

"Thanks... Well, the reason why I'm here is I wanted to ask if we could, umm… If we could spend some time later. Just you and me and no one else."

"...Huh?" Chopper gawked. _"This again?"_

"I'll tell you why later... It's pretty important."

"Oh... OK. If it's important, I might as well."

With that, they went over to Rainbow's to get something to eat. Unfortunately, they stopped as soon as they saw a green ghost lying on the floor. Pennington had arrived at the scene to inspect the issue, and Bootler was there as well. A worried look appeared on his face.

"So, you're telling me that you were going to go find your master while she was looking around to do something and you find her lying dead in the gaming room?" Pennington concluded. "Answer me now, because I don't have the patience…yet."

"What the… What's going on?" Chopper asked, walking over to the two. He noticed Bow and gasped. "Oh my gosh! What happened to her?"

Pennington heard the sound of Chopper's voice and turned to him. "Ah, my dear **Flyer**! Your timing is impeccable! A new case has arisen! Now then, Mr. Bootler, please explain the facts to my assistant, **Flyer**."

"Of course, I must!" Bootler assured, sounding nervous. "You see, Lady Bow was supposed to come to Viti to visit her father at the mansion. I was told to come with her and make sure she would be OK, but then I found her body in the gaming room, motionless!"

"Now, now, calm yourself… The next part is vital. So tell **Flyer **very slowly." Pennington suggested.

Bootler's head hung low and he slowly shook his head in shame. "OK… OK… To be honest, her father wanted me to guard her and make sure she was unharmed. He told me if she was in terrible shape, I would face insufferable doom! I do not wish for that to happen… The thing is, she was just fine yesterday."

Pennington began to walk back and forth. "Let's examine these facts, shall we? Someone has decided to murder this the Boo… Though she was definitely fine yesterday… Hmmmm… And the boat has not stopped in the intervening time… I have it! Rudimentary, my dear **Flyer**! Rudimentary! The killer is still on the boat! …_Ah-ha!_"

"Ummmm... My name's Chopper, not Flyer. And I think I might have an idea." Chopper grabbed a glass of water and splashed it on Bow's head. To Pennington and Bootler's surprise, she had woken.

"Ugh… What just happened?" Bow moaned, slowly opening her eyes and getting up. "I remember going to the gaming corner, and then I was suddenly knocked out. Though, I don't remember what caused it..."

"What?!" Pennington gasped. "I mean… Yes! Just as I suspected! Ghosts cannot die! That's highly impossible!"

"My lady! You're OK!" Bootler gasped.

"Yes, I'm still alive. Were you the one to wake me up, Chopper?" Bow asked.

"Well... I guess so."

"I see..." she smirked. "Well, perhaps I should repay you for your actions!"

"...No, I'm good."

"Well... Since you are here, maybe I can ask if you'd like to spend some time with me? Like around eleven? I'd like to get to talk to you about some stuff, like the Crystal Stars, perhaps?"

_"Wait, what?! I'm not getting a break here!"_ Chopper thought, guffawing mentally. "Well... If it's important, then all right."

"Good. I'm certainly looking forward to it." Bow said, pinching his cheeks before going off. Chopper winced and rubbed his cheek before going to a table where Scrub, Flyer and Tamber were. Vivian had even joined them.

"Dude, what the heck are you doing, bringing a GIRL to our table?" Tamber asked, giving Chopper a glare. "This is a GUY'S table, so we can't have any girls here!"

"This is a guy's table?" Chopper gawked. "But... I don't see a label on here."

"Tamber's just bluffing," Flyer stated. "You're more than welcome to join us, Vivian."

"Thank you..." Vivian smiled, sitting down with the group. "So... What's going on with you guys?"

"Well, Tamber was hugging his Master Star back in his room," Scrub snickered.

"HEY!"

"That's funny," Vivian giggled.

"OK, that's fine! Laugh all you want!" Tamber scowled. "I'm fine with my Master Star! It's not like you have something so important to you!"

"OK..." Scrub ignored Tamber and turned to Chopper. "You know... There's something I always wondered."

"What?" Chopper asked.

"Remember when you two found me in my egg? Does that mean you're my parents?"

"I don't think that is likely," Flyer stepped in. "You see, if you were born from an egg, then obviously someone has to have laid that egg."

"And we found you at a hot dog stand," Chopper pointed out, not liking this conversation one bit. "I think you just got out of the egg on your own."

"Yeah, maybe that's true..." Scrub trailed. "But still! You made sure that nothing bad happened to me! That's kinda like parenting, right?"

"Ummmmm... I don't know." Chopper shrugged. "I'm not an expert on this!"

"I don't know too much either..." Vivian trailed.

"Well, it doesn't matter whether it's parenting or not. What matters is that I'm not being sold as hot dogs to people back at the Glitz Pit." Scrub sighed, though he cringed at the thought. "Eeeeuuughhh... Just imagining that turns my stomach inside out!"

In a moment of time, the Waitress had approached them. "Hi! Big welcome!"

For some reason, she sounded a bit stranger than usual, leaving the group to tilt their head.

"Ermm… Sorry about that! Well, welcome to, uh… Rainbows! I'll be you server for today! What would you like to order?" the Waitress asked. Chopper decided that he would have pancakes, Vivian went for an omelet, Scrub chose a waffle, Flyer chose to have scrambled eggs, and Tamber chose to have bacon and sausages. "Thank you! I'll be on my way!"

The Waitress took their menus and quickly left. While they began to talk, Pennington was sitting with Dark Toad and a Koopa named Koopsicle, who happened to have a popsicle picture on his shirt, coincidentally.

"So, you two know some interesting things about Viti, especially you, Dark Toad…" Pennington mentioned. "Have you been there before, if I may ask?"

"How do I know about Viti? I LIVE there." Dark Toad replied, giving him his usual grim look. "…Excuse me for my rudeness. I'm not in the happiest mood. To be honest, I'm never happy. Is it because of loneliness? Maybe… Maybe not. But maybe I should tell you a little about Viti. You have heard about the Gods there, right?"

"The Gods? They're on that island? Whoa… I never knew THAT." Koopsicle gaped. "Can you tell me a little about them, Sli—er, Dark Toad?"

Dark Toad looked at Koopsicle suspiciously. "Perhaps I should tell you about the Gods… Whoever you are."

"My name's Koopsicle! Didn't I tell you that?"

"Well... That last thing you mentioned is making me suspicious..." Dark Toad trailed, glaring at Koopsicle. "Do you have anything to say to us?"

"...Crud. I'm in a pickle here." Giving up, Koopsicle was surrounded in purple smoke, revealing himself to be none other than Doopliss. Pennington took a look at him and was pleasantly surprised.

"What now? You look just like that one person back in the Excess Express!" Pennington exclaimed. "What was it, now? Hrrmmm... Yes! It was something related to a sticky explosion!"

"Also, your acting was mediocre," Dark Toad scoffed. "Next time, try to be less suspicious."

"Great... I thought my plan to spy on Chopper and sabotage the boat would work!" Doopliss scowled. "But you had to ruin it! ...I guess I have no choice but to make a run for it!"

Doopliss had gotten off his chair and immediately made a run for it back to his room.

"Hrmmm… Interesting… So we have someone who was planning on sabotaging this boat..." Pennington trailed. "This is rather unsettling..."

"But he's gone, so there's no point in worrying," Dark Toad deadpanned.

"Indeed, dear Dark Toad."

While Pennington and Dark Toad spoke, Kirby, Shadower, Mario and Sonic were at their table waiting to get their food. They saw a couple of plates coming to their table. One had chili dogs, another a Max Tomato, the next one with pasta and the last one with a Jelly Ultra.

"Here you go! Enjoy!" the Waitress said cheerfully, putting the plates down. Afterward, she quickly ran into the kitchen.

"She was off in a hurry..." Shadower trailed.

"Poyo? (Who cares! It's food time!)" Kirby cheered, gorging down on his Max Tomato. Sonic had started to eat his chili dog as well, eager to eat one of his favorite foods.

"Ah, pasta… My favorite. I don't-a know why I'm-a having it for breakfast, but it's still-a good stuff!" Mario was about to eat his pasta, but he noticed Sonic suddenly looked a little constipated.

"Urgh… I don't know why, but I feel as though I need to go to the bathroom BADLY." Sonic winced. "I was just fine before, but now I seriously have to GO! Mario! The keys! NOW!

Mario looked at his pasta and he sniffed it. "Mama mia! What's-a that horrible smell? This-a doesn't smell like pasta!" After shoving his pasta away, he gave Sonic the keys, and he suddenly went off.

Kirby suddenly looked green, unlike Sonic. "Poyo… (I'm not feeling so good… I need to find a bathroom!)"

He had bolted off too, going into a public bathroom to exhale what he had eaten. Pennington had watched the two run off with a raised eyebrow.

"Hrrrrrrmmmmmm? This smells like a case to me. I can definitely smell it." Pennington remarked, literally smelling the 'case'. However, what he smelled was not what he expected. "…No, that smells like…CONJUICE?! I mean… Yes! There's Conjuice in the food. My dear assistant, **Flyer**! We have another case!"

"Oh, great… Not another case." Chopper groaned. "Can't I eat some food?"

"Not now, my dear **Flyer**. The food can wait later. This case is an emergency!" Pennington declared.

"OK..." Chopper frowned, getting up from he chair to follow Pennington. However, he felt someone tap his arm, so he turned to see Vivian.

"I'll come with you," Vivian decided.

"Oh... OK, then!" Chopper and Vivian followed Pennington to Chef Chimi.

"'Ello there, sirs and ma'am!" Chef Chimi greeted. "What would you like me to brew for you? …Excuse me, I meant to say 'do' and not 'brew'! My apologies…"

Pennington walked over to him and looked at him through his magnify glass, which Vivian noticed in confusion.

"What is he doing?" Vivian asked, only receiving a shrug from Chopper.

"Hrrrrrmmmmm..." Pennington stopped looking at Chef Chimi through the magnify glass and stepped back a little, pondering. "I see… Do you realize that there have been two people who had some problems after eating your food? Have you put…Conjuice in the food you cook? Don't you know how detrimental that stuff is to people such as hedgehogs and pink puffballs?"

"What? Conjuice? I would never put that kind of stuff in people's food!" the chef objected. "Are you accusing me of spicing it up with that?! I don't even own Conjuice!"

"Hrmmm…" Pennington began to walk back in forth, pondering in the process. "So you say that you've never had any Conjuice with you…yet the chefs are the ones that put the toppings on food. This is getting very… Hold on! _I've got it!_"

"What did you get?" Chopper asked, tilting his head.

"**Flyer**!" the detective exclaimed, turning to him. "I have a question to ask you… Did you, by any chance, see anyone put Conjuice in the food? Perhaps it can lead us somewhere…"

"Ummmmm... I don't think so..." he replied, now starting to ponder. Vivian tapped him on the arm again and pointed to some green dust leading to the kitchen. "Hey! What's that over there?"

Chopper bent down and looked at the green dust. He touched it and let it go back onto the floor. Pennington took a look at it with his magnify glass.

"I see… My dear **Flyer**! Perhaps you can find the criminal by following that trail! Do not fail me now…" Pennington ordered.

Chopper sighed and followed the trail to the kitchen, with Vivian following behind. They found a wooden table with a knife sticking on it and also a cabinet that was banging.

"I think the suspect might be in here, Chopper. We should hide in the shadows just in case." Vivian suggested.

"Yeah... That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Chopper agreed. Vivian grabbed a hold of him and went into the shadows to wait. Though they didn't catch anyone entering the room, they did hear a voice coming from the cabinet now.

_"Is someone here? Get me out of this cabinet! PLEASE! I've been trapped in here for three hours!" _

Vivian brought Chopper up from the shadows in order to approach the cabinet, but they noticed the knife on the table was gone. That's where the trail of Conjuice ended, apparently. They ignored that for now and unlocked the cabinet. The Waitress had come out, appearing very exhausted.

"Whew! I'm… I'm out of that cabinet! Thank GOODNESS!" the Waitress huffed. "I mean, someone seriously has a problem with me… Whose idea was it to lock me in that cabinet anyway?"

"What happened? Were you locked in there this whole time?" Chopper asked. "But we saw you serving food to people!"

"Well, I was getting ready for work until I was thrown into this cabinet. I don't know who it was, but she suddenly changed into a shape like me. That's all I can remember… But now my hair is all ruined, and my jewelry is so out of place! Some people just don't understand how difficult it is to be a waitress!"

"Wait... If the Conjuice led us here, then where's the fake Waitress?" Vivian asked.

"Hello, there! It's been a while, hasn't it? Mimimimimimi!"

Chopper turned around and saw the fake Waitress giving them an evil smirk. Not only that, but the knife was also in her hand as well. Before saying another word, she suddenly transformed into her real form and was wearing a light blue dress with a little purse around her arm.

"Mimi? How did YOU get here?" Chopper gasped, he and Vivian getting in a fighting stance.

"Aren't you surprised to see me here? You honestly thought I would think you were gone after that battle against the Rubee Colossus? I had a feeling that thing would fail miserably. Sorry, but I gotta put you down! And how else?" Mimi grinned, approaching them with the knife's sharp end pointing directly at them.

"Wh-What are you going to do with that knife?" Chopper asked, somewhat scared of the knife in her hands.

"What am I going to do? Something I should've done a long time ago... Mimimimi! And don't think I'll leave your friend out of their either! She'll be next!" Mimi came a little closer, but Chopper quickly took action and threw an ice ball to freeze the knife and her hand. "Ouchie! That hurts! Now my arm is frozen, you big meanie!"

"All right! I think it's time to expose you for your crimes!" Chopper declared, he and Vivian bringing the shape-shifter out of the kitchen and over to Pennington and Chef Chimi. "Here you go, guys! The real culprit!"

"Ahhhh! **Flyer**, so you bring me another culprit!" Pennington noticed, approaching Mimi with his magnifying glass pointing at her. "So, it was you all along who was putting Conjuice in people's food, wasn't it?"

"Yes, I was the one who did it," Mimi confessed in an annoyed tone. "I was hoping I could get my revenge on that meanie for what he's done to me. But, it looks like my plan was foiled...again But that doesn't mean I'm done yet! This was just a little warm-up! I'll get you when you're on that island when you least expect it!"

Mimi instantly teleported out of the room with her ability, leaving Pennington and even Chopper dumbfounded.

"Now what was that she did?" Pennington gawked. "That makes this case a little more mysterious… Hmmmmm… What do you think, **Flyer**?"

"Can you please stop calling me Flyer?" Chopper groaned. "The real Flyer IS on this boat! In fact, I'll even bring you to him as proof!"

"Oh, that's not necessary, because I-" Pennington was suddenly interrupted when Bow appeared, grabbing Chopper by his antenna.

"It's 11:00, Chopper. You remember what that means, right?" Bow asked.

"Ow! Not my antenna!" Chopper winced, getting her hand off his antenna. "Yeah, yeah, I know..."

"Good," the Boo smirked, disappearing with him. The rest of the group was unsure how to react to this, especially Vivian. All she could do was return to the table with Scrub, Flyer, and Tamber.

* * *

**Bow's room-**

Chopper suddenly found himself in a dark room with a couple of mirrors and some pictures of ghosts. Obviously this room had belonged to Bow, since Boos usually enjoyed being in the dark.

"Bow? Where are you?" Chopper, asked, looking around the room.

"I'm right here," Bow answered, appearing right behind him. He quickly turned around to face her. "Listen, Chopper... The reason why I brought you here is that I need a little favor..."

"A favor? What do you need?"

"You see, my father had told me that he had someone who was willing to help me run the mansion back in Forever Forest, and he doesn't know that my mansion was destroyed... Also, this 'suitor' was supposed to report back to my father on how the mansion is going with me running it."

"But didn't you say the mansion was destroyed?"

"Yeah... Well, my father doesn't know about it, and if he hears about it, I might have to be forced to stay there. And let me tell you... Being around my father is not fun."

"OK... So where do I come in here?" Chopper wondered.

"Well, the thing is, if I come with a 'suitor', then it will be a lot easier to get my father to not send someone over to Forever Forest. He'll think that person's 'taking care' of me and will easily assume things are OK. ...And I'm guessing you have an idea of who will be the suitor."

"What's a suitor?"

"A suitor is someone who is interested in marrying someone else," Bow answered, though she cut him off before he could object. "But the idea is for you to pretend that you're going to be my husband. That way, he won't send anyone back with me, and it will help Bootler not get fired."

"He was going to fire Bootler?" Chopper gawked.

"Yeah. Out of a cannon and into the sun."

"Gosh, that sounds bad... I guess I really should help you. But don't pinch my cheeks or anything, because that won't make me happy!"

"Very well... Though, I can't promise you that." Bow noted. "But you will be doing a very good thing for not just me, but for all of my Boos. They're so loyal to me, and having to leave them all behind permanently will make me feel guilty..."

"Wait... If he's a ghost, then should I put on my Ghost ability just in case?" Chopper asked.

"Hmmmmmmmm... Actually that would not be a bad idea. In fact, I think that would strengthen my chances of staying back in Forever Forest. ...Or Boo Town."

"OK, I'm glad that I can help you...even though this idea doesn't sound right. Am I allowed to go now?"

"Yes, I suppose you can go now," Bow decided. "Just remember what I told you, all right?"

Chopper gave her a nod before heading out.

* * *

**770s hallway-**

"How-a long are you-a going to be in-a there, Sonic?" Mario asked, standing right outside of the bathroom door.

"Well... I don't know how long I'll be in here." Sonic answered. "Listen, bud, maybe you ought to go somewhere else?"

"Why? Is-a there a problem?"

"No, not really. ...Well, maybe a bit. No offense, but I don't feel too comfortable with you standing in front of the bathroom door, y'know? It's supposed to be a private area."

"Oh, I-a understand. I supposed I'll-a let you be." Mario stepped away from the bathroom door and decided to head back to his room. He caught sight of Vivian going into her room thanks to Bombette opening the door. He kept his eyes on her before the door had closed behind her.

_"I better keep an eye on her... That opportunity will soon come..."_

* * *

**Nighttime-**

Unfortunately, the group could not meet together in the afternoon due to the issues with Kirby and Sonic continuing. They had each gone their ways during that time, but when night fell, everything was back to normal. Everyone had gone to eat at Rainbows, with the exception of Chopper, who had promised to see Vivian during this time.

Since she wasn't here at the moment, Chopper had taken the time to gaze upon the stars.

"Man... Those stars look so cool at night..." Chopper remarked. "Too bad they only appear during the night..."

"Yeah, it's a shame..." Vivian agreed, appearing beside him, which caught him off guard. "Oh, I'm sorry, Chopper... I didn't mean to surprise you like that."

"It's OK," Chopper assured. "I wasn't too scared."

"Oh... Well, Thank you for spending some time with me, Chopper. I really appreciate it."

"Well, I had enough time during the night, so why not? Though, if this is something important, then why did you want to tell me this without the others around? I'm sure they'd want to hear this."

"Ummmmm... I think it's best if it was kept between you and I..." Vivian trailed, her face getting a bit red. "Look, Chopper... I've been trying to tell you this ever since I first joined you. And, um..."

Unfortunately, she didn't have time to say more, as something began to glow in Chopper's inventory. He took it out and saw the map glowing.

"What's going on with the Crystal Star?" Vivian asked, noticing the Crystal Star on the map glowing.

"I don't know... We're not even close to the Crystal Star, and yet it glows? Weird…" Chopper trailed, taking the time to look at the indigo Crystal Star. "Come to think of it, this star kinda looks like the Crystal Star we got in the Palace of Shadow. What was it called again? The Queen's Star? I wonder... Is this the King's Star?"

"Yes, that's the King's Star…" Vivian answered with a nod.

"Huh... Weird. I never thought there'd be a King's-" Chopper stopped and quickly turned to her. "Hold the phone... How did you know that it was called that?"

"Oh... Right..." Vivian trailed, removing her hat, but still covering her eyes. "Chopper... If I tell you this, will you not...you know, get mad?"

"Why would I get mad at you? After all the poor treatment Beldam gave you, I don't think it would be right to be a jerk to you."

"Oh, thanks, Chopper... You're so nice..." Vivian smiled, getting a little closer to him. Unfortunately, this had managed to reveal her eyes a bit, and once Chopper had caught sight of them, he was left stunned. "Chopper? Are you all right?"

Getting a look at his eyes, they appeared to be space-like, filled with many sorts of stars. Vivian had realized what this sort of thing meant and quickly turned away. "Oh, no! I'm so sorry, Chopper! I didn't mean for you to see them!"

"I feel so…sleepy," Chopper said in a drowsy voice.

"I didn't mean for my eyes to be revealed!" Vivian cried, keeping her eyes shielded from the pink curl of hair. "I just thought that due to it being dark, it wouldn't be such an issue, Chopper. ...Chopper?"

She turned around and noticed Chopper's eyes had closed, and he had fallen asleep. "Oh... I guess my eyes also have an effect that includes putting people to sleep... I wish this hadn't happened though... I guess I should tell him tomorrow..."

Vivian had felt her eyes slowly closing, but she tried her best not to fall asleep. However, the idea of leaving Chopper out here alone was not something she wanted to do, so eventually she gave in to staying here. She took one look at the sleeping Star Warrior and pondered over a little idea. At first, she was nervous, but she remembered doing this with Chopper before.

She leaned toward Chopper and gave him a small kiss on the cheek, then she lied her head on Chopper's lap. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

But, just as the previous night, they were not alone. On the upper level, Dark Toad had walked outside and looked up at the moon and stars. He then looked down and noticed Chopper and Vivian asleep.

"Hmph... So it appears that they're asleep here..." Dark Toad realized. "Well, that's no problem. But it's too bad for them that they won't be getting to Viti safely tomorrow."

A puff of dark smoke had surrounded Dark Toad, and walking out of it was Tipral. "I don't need this pitiful disguise anymore, especially when this boat will meet its doom! Farewell, Chopper! This is the last time you will be messing with us!"

Tipral had turned away and headed back inside to go to his room. _"By nine in the morning, the whole cruise will sink to the bottom of the ocean as soon as my Star Bomb explodes. Everyone else will go along with the ship, and in the end, there will only be one survivor to finish our goal."  
_

Tipral then disappeared in the shadows, never to be seen through the night.

* * *

**More mysteries, and a lot of strange things going on in this chapter. Unfortunately, this is the last chapter that contains mostly cruise material. We get to the action for the most part in the next chapter!  
**


	100. Day Three: Discoveries

_Good morning, cruise passengers! How did you sleep last night? This is your captain, speaking. This is the third day on the Rainbow Cruise. We should be at Viti in about two hours. If you want, you can take a look at the island from afar and see what awaits you! That is all._

Once morning had hit, the cruise had appeared to be calm as usual. Though the loudspeaker had gone off, no one was up early just yet. Outside, Chopper and Vivian remained asleep, but this time there was blanket on them. Most likely the captain found them there and put a blanket over them so they wouldn't get cold during the night.

"You have only one hour, Chopper…" Tipral trailed, appearing from the shadows. "Yes… Only one hour until you and this whole cruise go down! Try all you can, but there's no evacuating this boat. I already got rid of all the emergency rafts that are needed to evacuate. This is what happens when you try to foil our plans!"

As they slowly got up, he had made his exit. Chopper opened his eyes and noticed his surroundings.

"Wha… What? Wh-What am I doing outside? I don't remember sleeping outside…" Chopper moaned, rubbing his eyes a little. He noticed Vivian began to wake up and open her eyes. "And why is Vivian here too?"

"Good morning, Chopper. You do remember what happened last night, right?" Vivian asked, quickly getting her hat on.

"What do you mean? I can't remember what happened. And… Where did the blanket come from?" Chopper wondered, noticing the blanket on him. "I'm so confused!"

"Ummmm... It's OK, Chopper. Nothing bad happened last night. We were just spending some time together and we ended up falling asleep. Though, I think it might've been because of my eyes. I'm sorry that happened..."

"Wait... I think I remember now... I DID see your eyes, and I suddenly found myself sleeping! Geez... Why does that happen when I get a look at your eyes? Are they...magical?"

"They...sort of are," Vivian answered. "But I don't like using them because they remind me of their horrible uses so many centuries ago..."

"Oh... Well at least you're trying to do something good..."

"Yeah... Anyway, we should go have some breakfast. It's that time at the moment." Vivian grabbed Chopper and pulled him into the shadows as a means of getting to Rainbows a lot quicker. They emerged from the ground in the restaurant, where their friends were waiting.

"It's about time, Chopper! We've been waiting for a while for you guys!" Sonic grinned. "…Say, where were you anyway?"

"I...accidentally slept outside," Chopper sweat dropped.

"I hope you didn't freeze out there!"

"Strangely, I didn't... There was a blanket over me..."

"Ah, **Flyer**! I've been waiting for you!" Pennington exclaimed, approaching the group with a black note he had found in his hand.

"And... Who might you be?" Flyer asked. "And how did you know my name?"

"Err… I didn't mean to call you over, **Chopper**." Pennington apologized. "I was asking for **Flyer**. My apologies…"

"But… I AM Flyer. Chopper is over there!" Flyer shouted.

"No no no, my friend. Obviously I know what **Chopper** looks like! He is the one with the wings and the yellow body! That, and he's always playing the sidekick role."

"Sidekick role?"

"Dear **Flyer**, on the other hand... Now he is a true hero. He has those unique antennas and the ability to ingest something and take its ability! Yes... A rather interesting person, wouldn't you agree?"

"But that's not even correct! I am Flyer! I have the wings on my head! And I'm NOT a sidekick, OK?"

"Hrrmmmm…" Pennington trailed, taking a look at the black note. "Well, this note I found DOES say it's addressed to you, **Chopper**. But, let my dear assistant **Flyer **take care of this! He is, after all, the sleuth in here. Come here, my assistant!"

"Go ahead, _Flyer_…" Flyer sighed.

"OK then, _Chopper_…" Chopper replied as he walked over to Pennington and took the note.

_**Dear Chopper,**_

_**I'm sorry to say this, but this cruise will be going down in about an hour. Sorry if you thought you were going to make it out of here alive. THIS is where it ends for you! Have a safe trip! …At the bottom of the ocean!**_

"Whoa, nelly! This cruise is going down in an hour! This…is BAD! We need to GET OUT!" Chopper shouted, showing the paper to the others around him.

"What an interesting note..." Flyer said as he took a look at it. "Though... Do you think this note is telling the truth? I mean, this could be Tamber's doing."

"No, I didn't write that thing," Tamber noted.

"Hmmmmm... Well, looking at the writing on this thing, it obviously doesn't look like Tamber's. His writing is just..." Flyer paused trying to find the correct word. "...Messy. This, on the other hand, is creepy."

"Creepy like the Shadow Queen's," Vivian added.

"Indeed. But, if I'm correct, if this note is telling us the truth, then obviously it had come from our enemies. If we had to judge this from an enemy's writing, who would be a high suspicion?"

"Well, I was thinking it could be the Shadow Sirens or Shadow Brothers who sent this to us," Scrub answered. "…Or maybe… OK, I don't have any idea."

"Whoever it was, he he must not be too happy with you making it to Viti," Pennington deduced. "Unfortunately, he doesn't know that WE can evacuate this place no problem-o! Luckily, I know where we can to leave this place! Follow me, my dear **Flyer**!"

Chopper and his friends (including Goombella) followed Pennington out of the restaurant and went to the emergency boats, only to find them gone.

"Mama mia! The boats are-a gone! How are we-a supposed to get-a off this-a boat now?" Mario gasped.

"Hrrrmmmm... Another case, indeed..." Pennington trailed. "But what shall we call this? That is the question. Perhaps we should warn the captain about this... Come, **Flyer**! This way!"

Pennington had taken off, but Chopper did not follow him. "Great... So the only way to get out of this cruise is now gone..."

"Well... There's always swimming..." Shadower mentioned, but this did not bode well for a certain hedgehog.

"Uhhhh... Yeah, I'd rather not do that." Sonic objected. "We don't know how close we are to Viti, and I ain't takin' a risk in going in the water."

"Guys! Guys! I-a found something!" Mario shouted. Everyone turned in his direction and saw him pointing at two water bikes. They were hanging over a rope. Strangely enough, they hadn't seen those there before.

"Hey... Were those where the boats were supposed to be?" Chopper asked.

"Let's-a not ask questions so-a quickly! We-a need to get out-a here now! Just-a get on!" Mario shouted.

Deciding not to ask any more questions, everyone jumped onto the water bike, with Goombella going on the one Kirby and the others too like on a Warp Star with him. Pennington had come back to see if Chopper was here, but instead, he found the group on the water bikes. He decided to join Chopper on his water bike.

"Wait... Pennington?" Chopper gawked.

"So, this is why you didn't follow me, **Flyer**..." Pennington trailed.

"Ummmmm... I guess?"

"…What about all of the passengers on the cruise?" Shadower asked.

Chopper's antennas instantly sprung up in worry. "Oh, yeah... We can't leave those people to sink to the bottom of the ocean! ...But we don't have enough room to fit everyone on a water bike."

"Hmmmmm... I think I have a little idea!" Flyer declared, flying off the bike and back on the cruise with his scanner in hand. "Don't worry, guys! I know what I'm doing!"

He went off, leaving the group to wait for him.

* * *

**Fifteen minutes later-**

Flyer had finally returned with a few tools in his hand. He leaped off the cruise and landed on Chopper's water bike.

"What took you?" Chopper asked.

"I found a bomb located in the cruise, and thankfully, I managed to disable it," Flyer explained. "Now the people should get to Viti safely. So... With that out of the way, I guess we should go now."

"Poyo! (All right, let's go, Chopper!)" Kirby shouted.

They both detached their water bikes from the hook, and the bikes landed in the water. The water bikes got started and they started to over the water. Thankfully, they were going much faster than the cruise ship's speed.

"See, guys? We're getting to the island much faster!" Chopper smiled, making his water bike jump off the water. It had landed, causing some of the water to get in some of their faces, though Sonic was the only one who didn't seem to appreciate it.

"So much for being able to relax on that cruise..." Heartsy sighed. "I guess it's back to the usual action?"

"Well, Frankly said that Viti is a peaceful place," Goombella informed. "So I don't think we'll be stepping into much action so soon."

"But I don't think we're completely safe..." Flyer trailed. "That bomb was just one warning..."

"Yes, that's true. The next will be far worse." came a voice from behind. Chopper and Kirby's water bikes moved away from each other, and joining between them was a black water bike, with Tipral riding on it.

"What the… Who the heck is this guy?" Goombella asked. "He looks like he's copying your style, Chopper."

"I see you've managed to discover that bomb... Well, I still have another just for you!" Tipral held up a bomb with a star on it and threw it into the water. He quickly disappeared, and just then an explosion from the water sent them flying off their water bikes.

"Whooooooa! Why'd that jerk have to come here and cause some ruckus for us?!" Tamber complained.

"I don't know..." Shadower trailed, catching the water bike nearby so the others could land. The same thing happened with the other water bike, though Chopper had to catch Pennington, and Vivian had to help Sonic before he could fall in the water.

"Whoa... That was too close..." Sonic sighed. "So, that freak was the one responsible for trying to sink the cruise. Man, he's gone pretty low."

"I must say, that strange being looked just like you, **Flyer**," Pennington remarked. "Though, he looked somewhat of a faker to me... Perhaps he is stealing your identity?"

"No he's not..." Chopper groaned. "Let's just relax for now. We're getting to the island."

* * *

**Viti-**

Thankfully, it hadn't taken them long for them to reach the island. They had arrived in about seven minutes and parked their water bikes at the dock. A Lakitu with a brown hat happened to notice their arrival when they got onto the dock.

"Well, look what we got here! You guys are tourists, are you not?" the Lakitu asked.

"Tourists? Actually, we are detectives." Pennington corrected. "My name is Pennington, and this dear assistant of mine is **Flyer**. We're here to help the Gods solve some mysteries that they are trying to solve."

"Er… Yeah, I guess so. Well, welcome to Viti! This is the Island of the Gods, if you couldn't tell by the brochures. If you leave the docks, you might have the chance to see what's on this island. The exit's not too far from here!"

"Thanks!" Chopper smiled, heading over to the exit with his friends. They noticed that the Rainbow Cruise wasn't too far from arriving, too. But, there was no point in staying around, so they left the dock and had gotten a look at the huge landscape of Viti. Where they stood, there was a lot of dark green grass around the landscape, but they also noticed a huge hill with a passageway going up to the clouds.

"Wow, this sure is a nice place… Look at the huge landscape around us." Goombella gazed in awe at the snowy mountains, the casino beach area, and even the plains a little further away. "There's so much variety of these areas!"

"I gotta admit, I've never seen such an island in my life," Chopper smiled. "I mean, those islands around Unagi's Cave were cool, but this one tops them all. It's cooler than Clearno Island."

"Actually... No. Nothing tops Clearno Island." Tamber tried correcting, but it didn't seem to change Chopper's opinion.

Goombella walked up ahead and turned to everyone. "Well, guys… Since we're here on the island, I think this is where we part for right now. It's been fun while it lasted, but now I gotta do some research on this island. First off, thank you SO much for taking me here, Chopper. I really appreciate it. Secondly… Good luck finding that Crystal Star!"

"Don't mention it," Chopper replied.

With that, Goombella trotted on while everyone waved goodbye. She would've waved goodbye, but, of course, being a Goomba and all...

"So… Shall we get going? We've got A LOT to explore. I say we go see the Gods first. That's all we can do at the moment."

Everyone had agreed and headed toward the hill ahead. While they did that, some of them were smelling the fresh air, specifically Pennington.

"Ahhhh… I never knew a faraway island could have such fresh air…" Pennington sighed. "You know, **Flyer**, it was once said by the Gods that an ancient palace was once here, but it was sealed underground because of its dark power."

"Wait... Dark power?" Heartsy gawked.

"Yes... But that's all in the past."

_**"****Halt! Who are you people?!" **_

"Great, we just had to jinx it," Scrub gulped, his eyes widening in shock.

They suddenly saw a dark, gooey creature with white eyes rise up from the shadows. This demon had the ability to stretch its arms and attack with tentacles that could grow out of its body. It turns it they were called Shadoos.

"What the… Who the heck are YOU?" Chopper asked, getting in a fighting stance.

"You... You people look like the one who had once come here..." one Shadoo hissed, glaring at Chopper, Kirby, Mario, and Sonic. "Leave now! For you are not welcome here!"

"Stop! Don't come any closer…" Vivian pointed her finger at the gooey demons. They cringed in fear at the flames on her finger. But, when they realized who she was, they stopped cringing and bowed down to her.

_**"****I… I don't believe it… Vivian!" **_the shadow demons exclaimed. Vivian gasped and covered her mouth with one of her hands.

"Wait... You people know me?"

_**"You are the daughter of the Shadow Queen, and the one to be the next on the throne,"**_ the second Shadoo informed. _**"You had the perfect appearance unlike your siblings..."**_

_"…So that must be why Beldam has been treating me so bad," _Vivian thought._ "Even after the Shadow Queen was destroyed, she wasn't exactly too friendly with me. That explains why she calls me ugly too. Now I understand…"_

_**"It's very nice to see you're still fine, Vivian. Who are these little fools that you have with you? Are they your prisoners? We can gladly take care of them for you…" **_

_One of the Shadoos approached Chopper and poked his cheek, which didn't feel too comfortable to Chopper._

"Quit it!" Chopper shouted, slapping the demon's hand. It hissed and attempted to attack, only to get bonked on the head by Heartsy. One more hammer bash sent it sinking into the shadows.

"Try to hurt Choppy again, and the next one will be even more painful!" Heartsy warned. The other shadow demon tried to grab her, but she had knocked them back with her Hammerang. Chopper leaped in the air next and finished them off with his Jump attack.

"Phew... That takes care of them..." Chopper sighed in relief.

"So there are demons on this island? How mysterious…" Pennington trailed. "If we could find out where these demons are coming from and who they are… Perhaps this is a mystery the God wish us to solve! So, my dear assistant **Flyer**… Let's try to solve this little mystery, shall we? Off to the gods we shall!"

"…Are you talking to me or are you talking to 'Flyer' over there…" Flyer wondered, looking a bit irritated.

"Oh ho ho ho, **Chopper**... No need to get upset. You may be famous, but not as famous as the famed **Flyer**!"

"Can we just drop this? I want get to the Gods and ask about the King's Star. …At least, that's what I THINK it's called." Chopper said, taking off ahead. Everyone had followed behind, with Vivian following last.

"I don't understand... I've never seen those monsters, yet they recognize me..." Vivian trailed.

After four minutes, they managed to reach the top of the hill. At the hill's tip, the group saw a cloud that floated down before them. They could even hear the birds singing around here in a heavenly fashion.

"This is some gorgeous scenery!" Flyer smiled. "Wingel City is nothing compared to this!"

When the cloud was at their level, they got it and were taken up into the skies. When they had appeared above the clouds, they saw a huge yellow gate in their way. The floors on the clouds were a light yellow color and a rainbow could also be seen over the sky.

"It feels so…peaceful," Vivian smiled, clasping her hands together.

"Hrrmmm... So, this is why the clouds have been covering the skies in the first place..." Pennington remarked. "Very interesting..."

Chopper approached the gate and decided to see if there was anyone behind it. Thankfully, there were some cracks in the gate, so they could see what was behind, but not a whole lot. Nevertheless, he gave it a good knock to see if it caught anyone's attention.

"Hello? Anybody?" Heartsy shouted, walking over to the gate.

"_**We don't want any!**_"

"But... We're the good guys! We're here to help you guys!" Chopper cried out, though that didn't do much. "Uhhhhh... We're the pizza guys?"

The gate immediately opened, allowing everyone to enter.

"Wow, Contadre... What made you think that would work?" Scrub asked.

"I don't know. I just thought they liked pizza."

When they walked past the gate, it had closed behind them. They saw all of the many different palaces and also the giant fountain with a huge god-like statue. However, the water appeared to be coming out of its armpits.

"Uhhhh... Did you guys notice that the statue has water coming out of its armpit?" Heartsy asked, gawking at the statue.

"That looks awesome," Tamber grinned.

"So, where's the pizza?" a booming voice asked behind them. Everyone turned and saw a huge white god without a shirt, purple eyes, a white beard and a huge staff with a light blue diamond on it looking down at them. One thing for certain was that he was quite buff, and that he had some human-like features on the upper part of his body, while the lower portion was mostly covered with a lower section of a blue robe.

"Errrrr... We kinda lied." Chopper squeaked.

"Oh... Well, that stinks."

"Ah, so YOU'RE the King of Gods, aren't you? You must be…Heus!" Pennington deduced. "Greetings, king! I am Pennington, a detective that you requested. This here is my assistant **Flyer**, and also his friends such as **Luigi **and **Chopper**!"

"Hmmm… Let me take a look at everyone." Heus looked at everyone carefully, starting with Chopper. "Ah! I see who you are! No, this is NOT Flyer, but this is really _Chopper_! The Wingel is really _Flyer_ and the man with the mustache is actually _Mario_. Intriguing… You mistook these fines fellows as their sidekicks!"

"Well, it's about time someone recognizes me..." Flyer sighed.

"Now, let me get a look at the rest of you. Hmmmm…" Heus began to identify each and everyone in the group. "You must be…Kirby! Yes, I immediately recognize the pink fluffiness! You, sir… You're Sonic the Hedgehog, aren't you? So nice to see you. And you… You're that Bob-omb Bombette, yes? That ponytail you have is easily recognizable. You, white Yoshi… You're Scrub. I...don't really have much to say about you. The shadow person over there I know is Shadower. The reddish pink girl… I know she carries a hammer around, and that would have to be Heartsy. You, furry creature… You are Tamber, are you not? Though, you don't seem too important."

"Oh, yeah... Real funny. What're you going to say next? That I look like a tulip?" Tamber asked angrily.

"...No, but you do appear too hairy. You need to get a haircut."

Heus then brought his attention to Vivian and inspected her. She appeared a bit nervous at this point.

"Hmmmm… Why, you're…Vivian! Don't worry, my dear. I know that you're with Chopper and that you want to help save the universe. You're doing a good thing… Good luck with trying to save the world."

"Y-Yeah..." Vivian nodded nervously."OK, listen…" Chopper stepped. "The reason why we came here is because…"

"I know, I know. I know what you came for." Heus assured. "That would be the King's Star, right? I know where to find it."

"You do?" Everyone seemed to be in bright spirits at this point.

"...But, I have some bad news for you all. Many years ago, a palace used to be on Viti. However, when this place was destroyed, it sank underground, never to be seen again."

"So if the star's there... Oh, crud. We can't even get there." Chopper frowned.

"Oh ho ho ho ho! Don't have any doubt, my boy." Heus chuckled. "Let me show you something. Perhaps that will change your mind… Come!" Everyone followed Heus over to a broken mirror.

"It's a mirror," Bombette said.

"Not just any mirror. This is called the **Mirror of Viti**. You see, this mirror was the source of the palace being stable. With it shattered, the palace had went underground, never to be seen."

"So, what your saying is that if we can fix that mirror, that palace will reemerge?" Heartsy asked.

"Correct. There are seven shards altogether, and they are scattered around the island." Heus confirmed, taking out a small, dark chest. "Us gods would go down there to fix it, but the map that was used to find them was sealed in a chest by dark royalty. It is said that a person related to the dark one can open this chest.

"Ummm… Maybe I can give it a try." Vivian volunteered, taking the chest from Heus. When she opened it, she felt a dark power surround it when the chest opened up. "What's this dark mist around the chest? It feels…strangely familiar…"

Inside of the chest was a map, so she took it out and found a whole map of Viti. She noticed that there was a bright light coming from one location of the map.

"Ah, so you found a location! Vivian… You must go to that location and find the Mirror Shard there. Please, bring your friends with you if you must." Heus suggested. "I believe that's the only way you can restore the Mirror of Viti and bring the ancient palace up from underground."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

"Hey... That voice sounds familiar..." Chopper trailed, turning around to see Meta Knight and his two servants Sword and Blade standing on the roof of a light yellow building nearby. Meta Knight had a portion of his cape wrapped around him. "Meta Knight? What on earth are YOU doing here?"

Meta Knight took the time to jump down from the roof with his servants, and they landed in front of Vivian. She had slowly stepped away from the three.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but what you're doing is not good idea. Chopper, you remember when you opened the Thousand-Year Door, you almost let the great cataclysm take over the world?" Meta Knight asked.

"Yeah... Why? What's the problem?" Chopper asked.

"Well, I discovered a little something else..." Meta Knight pointed at Vivian with his sword. "This friend of your isn't to be trusted. She's been using you this whole time."

"Wait, what?!" Chopper quickly got in Meta Knight's way to defend Vivian. "After all she's done for us? Not a chance! I'm not going to let you hurt her!"

"He's not gettin' it, I'm afraid," Blade said.

"Typical Chopper... Sometimes you are too stubborn..." Meta Knight sighed. "Who do you believe more? A Shadow Siren whose background you don't know too much of, or someone who has tried to help you learn to fight and save the world?"

Chopper looked back at the saddened Vivian and then back at Meta Knight. "The reason why I helped her is because she was being treated poorly by her sisters. Heck, without her help or the others, I probably wouldn't have been able to defeat the Shadow Queen."

"Still you refuse to listen, Chopper? Very well... I suppose you can find out the truth for yourself... Sword, Blade, let's settle down here for now. I think we need to have a little talk with the Gods."

"Yes, sir!" Sword and Blade nodded, and the three of them went explored deeper in the area.

"So that is the legendary soldier Meta Knight?" Heus asked.

"Yeah," Chopper nodded.

"Ah, I remember his ancestor was a true warrior. I bet he's pleased to see him being just like him. But don't worry about him, Princess. You're the holder of the map, so you should be able to lead the way to where the location of the Mirror Shard is."

"And while you guys do that, I shall speak with **Kirby **and find out this whole mystery if this girl is indeed lying or not!" Pennington declared, making Kirby fall over in shock.

"Poyo… (Great, now Pennington thinks that he's me…)" groaned Kirby as he stood up.

"So, we-a need to find-a those-a Mirror Shards, right? Well, how's about-a we go and-a search for them?" Mario suggested.

Everyone agreed and left the heavenly skies and headed back to the island itself, though Chopper was still left confused about Mario speaking.

"I wonder... Has he always been this...loud?" Chopper thought, immediately bringing his attention to Vivian afterward. "So, which way does the map tell us to go?"

Vivian took a look at the map and saw that the Mirror Shard was to the west. "It looks like it's located west from here..."

"Then let's-a go!" Mario declared, following everyone to the left. They noticed a bunch of Shadoos were walking around the island now, to their surprise. Some tried to attack Chopper, but he and his friends took them down as usual. For stats, they had 40 HP, an Attack of 14 and a Defense of 3.

"There are more of these guys? Wow, how many of 'em are we gonna run into?" Sonic asked.

"Beats me… And Frankly said that this place was safe..." Chopper groaned. "Now we're running into monsters! We need to find the first Mirror Shard, and fast! Maybe that'll stop them!"

And so their long walk to the west of the island had continued.

* * *

**West part of Viti-**

After about fifteen minutes of walking, they had finally made it to their destination. What stood before them were the ruins of an old, collapsed town. There were very little remains left, and the only thing that appeared to be the least damaged was a statue of a human with no right arm and tilting on its side.

"A statue of a human? Weird..." Chopper trailed. "I don't think I've met that many humans..."

"Now, let's look at the map real quick," Vivian looked at the map carefully and checked to see where the first Mirror Shard would be. Chopper got a glimpse of the map too to help her out.

"Well, it says we're close to it…but I don't see it anywhere." Chopper noticed. While they studied the map, Tamber took a look at the statue and pondered.

"Hmmmmm… I don't like the look of this statue. I'm gonna smash it." Tamber punched the statue, but it only left a crack in it. "What? It didn't do much? Aw, come on!"

"Hmm... That's-a strange... It must-a be a strong statue." Mario commented.

Chopper gave Mario and confused look. "You know, Mario... You're never this loud. ...Are you Doopliss or Tipral in disguise?"

"What are you-a talking about? It's-a me, Mario!" Mario objected. "It's-a obvious that I can-a talk because I have-a been explaining things to-a you for-a while!"

"Huh... Well, you do make a point... You HAVE said a few things... Just...not as loudly as usual."

Suddenly, an idea struck the furball. "Ah-ha! I've got an idea! Sometimes using my brain isn't such a bad idea… Nah! Brawn will ALWAYS beat brains!" Tamber used his muscles to lift the statue and found a secret stairway going underground. He dropped the statue in a small lake nearby. Nobody cared too much about it anyway.

"An underground stairway? Strange… I wonder where this'll lead us." Sonic wondered.

They walked down the stairs, but they noticed that it was very dark, causing some of them to bump into each other. Vivian lit the room up a little with her fire and everyone could see what was around them. Standing in front of them were five different pathways.

"Whoa, what in the chili dogs? Five pathways?" Sonic gawked.

"If there are five pathways, I don't recommend going into one," Bombette suggested. "I mean, what if one of them leads into some kind of trap? At least one of us will find the right way, unlike the others…"

"That sounds a little crazy. There's no way I wanna die!" Scrub gaped. "I don't think I could even last long in the dark…"

"Uh, I don't think anyone's going to die," Chopper noted. "Though... I don't know if we should all take one pathway..."

"We should split up," Flyer suggested. "There will be five groups of two - though one group might need three people."

"If that's the case, then I know who I'm going with," Heartsy smiled, stepping next to Chopper.

"Actually, I would suggest Chopper and I go together," the Wingel decided. "No offense, but considering how you usually are around him... It might be difficult for Chopper to focus."

"Yeah!" Chopper agreed.

"I'll go with you two as well…" Vivian suggested.

"...OK, that's fine."

"Ugh... All right, fine." Heartsy groaned. "Well, I don't know who I'll go with..."

"I'll go with you if you want, Heartsy," Bombette stepped in.

The rest of the group had made their decision on who they would go with. Scrub and Tamber agreed to go through the first pathway, Kirby and Shadower went over to the fourth, Mario and Sonic took the third, Bombette and Heartsy took the fifth, and Chopper, Flyer, and Vivian took the second.

* * *

**First pathway-**

Scrub and Tamber were searching carefully through the tunnel. Unfortunately, despite searching as hard as they could, they couldn't find much. Well, for an obvious reason.

"I can't see a thing around here! How are we supposed to find the real way to go? This is dumb…" Scrub groaned.

"Well, let's see what we can find with the Master Star. I'm pretty sure something will come up." Tamber pulled the Master Star out, and its green color brightened the room a little. It even revealed the way forward.

Instead, they found a dead end.

"Oh, COME ON!" Tamber complained.

* * *

**Third pathway-**

"So, Mario… It was cool talkin' to each other back at the cruise," Sonic said, looking back at the plumber. "So, is it true that you beat your brother in an arm wrestling contest?"

"You bet! It was-a easy as pie!" Mario smiled. "He-a never saw it coming! He-a thought that he would-a beat me in that game! It was-a hilarious!"

"Heh heh… That sounds pretty funny." Sonic found a wall in front of him and also what appeared to be a skull. "Uhh… I don't think this skeleton is a good sign…" Then suddenly, both walls coming closer to them. "Uh oh... We gotta move!"

He grabbed Mario, and they quickly ran out before they were crushed.

* * *

**Fourth pathway-**

"Hmmmmm… I don't really see much around here, unfortunately." Shadower sighed, turning to Kirby. "I wish there was something interesting here, but I guess not. Should we turn back?"

"Poyo. (I don't think so. We still have more ways ahead.)" Kirby said, running on ahead. The only thing he found at the end of the hallway was a pile of bones and a Dried Shroom. He decided to eat it, but upon tasting it, he spit it out. "Blah! Poyo… (Nasty…)"

"Well, not much else we can do now, unfortunately," Shadower shrugged. "I think we should get going, what do you say?"

"Poyo, (OK,)" Kirby nodded, turning back with Shadower.

* * *

**Fifth pathway-**

"Gee... Maybe going with Chopper might've been a good idea..." Heartsy groaned, trying to find her way around the path. "I mean, at least he has something to light up the room."

"Well... I think I'm capable of that." Bombette reminded. "Though, my explosion wouldn't light up the room for that long..."

"Yeah, you're right. Vivian would've been some good help too. I guess I might as well feel my way around." the girl put her hands in front of her and tried to feel for anything. One thing that she felt was a crate, and on top of the crate was something that was shaped like a bottle. At least, that's what she believed it was.

"Hold on... I think I see a lantern!" Bombette ran over to the lantern and lit up her fuse in order to light it up. Heartsy had quickly put her fuse out to prevent herself from explosion. With that, Heartsy grabbed the lantern and put it over the crate to see what the bottle was. It appeared to be pink, with the words "Perfect Perfume" on it.

"Perfect Perfume? What the heck is this supposed to be?" Heartsy asked.

"You don't know what perfume is? It's that stuff that makes girl smell nice or something."

"I know what perfume is. But... I don't get why it's here."

"Well... Maybe Chopper would like the smell of that perfume."

"Uhhhhh... Neither of us have noses." Heartsy pointed out. "In fact, most of us lack noses."

"Oh... Right. So, should we turn back?" Bombette wondered. "And should we just leave that bottle?"

"I suppose," Heartsy decided, taking the perfume bottle. "And... Maybe I'll hold onto this. It's just weird for something like this to be in this place..."

* * *

**Second pathway-**

For Chopper, Vivian, and Flyer, they didn't find anything interesting around their area of the tunnel. It was the same, typical, dirty walls and ceilings of most underground places. However, when they reached the end, they had found a large amount of treasure, and not to mention a piece of a mirror.

"Hey, is that what I think it is?" Chopper asked.

"I believe so! I can't believe it was THAT easy…" Flyer realized. "And to think we'd find it where all of this treasure is."

"Should we take the treasure?"

"Uhhhh... I don't think we'd have a reason for keeping it, Chopper."

"Oh. I guess we might as well take the Mirror Shard.

Vivian grabbed the Mirror Shard and then they left, leaving the treasure behind, unaware of a picture of a king on top of most of the treasure.

* * *

**Outside-**

Everyone got back outside after taking their tunnels and had began to pant. Mario and Sonic, especially were panting the most.

"Wow, we sure went through a lot there..." Sonic huffed. "That was just… I don't know what to say, to be honest…"

"So, what-a did you guys-a find?" Mario asked.

"We found a dead end," Tamber pouted, crossing his arms. "There was nothing!"

"We found a Dried Shroom," Shadower mentioned.

"Poyo, (It was gross,)" Kirby added.

"We found a bottle of perfume," Heartsy mentioned, taking out the bottle called "Perfect Perfume". "We don't know what it was doing there, but I decided to take it just in case."

"Just in case of what?" Flyer wondered.

"Well... It's old, and usually old stuff is not usually good. It can be used as a weapon!"

"That sounds interesting," Chopper remarked. "OK… Now that that's out of the way… We have another Mirror Shard to find. Vivian, could you show the map?"

"It's pointing to some kind of town at the moment to the east," Vivian informed. "I guess that's where we gotta go next."

"All right, then! Let's move out!"

Everyone agreed and were off to the small town east of Viti.

* * *

**Sooooooooooo... A lot of interesting things happened in this chapter. And Pennington is still bad with names! Originally, I was going to put the second Mirror Shard in here, but I didn't want to drag this chapter on for too long. So, you'll see it next chapter!  
**


	101. Crazy Searches for Mirror Shards

**But, before I continue, the character, Dark Doom, is actually my friend's character (so he's owned by Maniacal Toaster, which he goes by on Deviant Art).**

* * *

It wasn't a long way to the town that the Mirror Shard was located. Just like last time, it had taken them fifteen minutes to get there. It was mostly white with a little bit of blue. The ocean could also be seen from the distance as well.

"Boy, that underground cave place sure felt like a death trap," Sonic remarked while juggling a blue Chaos Emerald. "Why would someone make it so that if you stepped somewhere, the walls would cave in and crush you? It's not like there was anything there…"

"Well, it wasn't a death trap for us," Heartsy replied. "All we got was perfume..."

"Well, I suppose that's-a better than caved in walls..." Mario trailed. "Now, let's-a see where the-a Mirror Shard could-a be found here."

Chopper went over to Vivian, and she showed him the map. "All right… So the Mirror Shard could be ANYWHERE in this town. It doesn't give a specific location, unfortunately. But we're not splitting up again, that's for sure."

"Might I suggest asking the people around?" Flyer mentioned.

"Yeah! That's not a bad idea! Let's go talk to some people!" Scrub agreed, starting off by asking a random Toad narby. Unfortunately, he knew nothing about the Mirror Shard.

"Well, that was a waste of time…" Shadower groaned.

"Did you guys say something about a Mirror Shard?" came a voice from behind them.

Turning around, they saw a fat Goomba with a brown mustache, a green hat with a pink feather on it and an orange body. One thing for certain was that he had the certain shopkeeper appearance.

"Who the heck are you?" Tamber asked rudely.

"My name is Goomshu, a shopkeeper here at Viti Town," Goomshu answered, ignoring Tamber's rudeness. "Need some Ultra Shrooms? I'm the Goomba to give you them! As long as you have enough coins, you'll be able to purchase them!"

"Well… OK, that's-a very nice of you." Mario replied.

"Hold on a moment… Are you THE Mario? Holy… You're a LEGEND around here!"

"Well, a lot of people tend-a say that."

"Indeed! Anyway, you people said you needed to find a Mirror Shard, right?" Goomshu asked, receving nods from everyone. "Well, I have a treat for you!" he walked over to a case he kept with him and opened it. A piece of a mirror was inside of it.

"No way..." Bombette gaped.

"Surprised? I thought so!" Goomshu chuckled. "This is something I've been holding onto for quite some time. I'm willing to hand this to you...if you do me a favor."

"Oh, no... You're going to make us pay for it, right?" Chopper frowned.

"Actually, no," Goomshu replied, closing the case and putting it away.

"Then... What do you want?" Heartsy asked.

"You see, I lost some red rings around the town while I was walking, and no matter how many times I searched, I couldn't find them anywhere. Since you seem to have a keen eye in searching for stuff, would you mind finding them for me? There are ten overall."

"Oh... Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to do that." Chopper shrugged. "We'll be back with them, we promise."

"Let's-a go, then!" Mario shouted.

With that, they took off and began to search the town for the red rings, allowing Goomshu to relax for now.

"Hmmmm… I think I ought to use this scanning device to find out if there are any red rings around here." Flyer decided, pulling out his light blue scanning device and started to scan the town.

"You're so lucky that you have such a cool device, Flyer," Scrub frowned. "If I had those devices and Contadre's fighting skills, I'd be the most unstoppable fighter in the Glitz Pit."

"Sorry, Scrub, but I couldn't trust you with these devices one bit. I don't know if I could even trust Chopper with-" Flyer paused when he was starting to pick up something in a blue jar near a restaurant. "I'm picking something up from this jar!"

"Well, time to do what most heroes do to get things out of jars!" Chopper grabbed the jar and threw it at the wall, breaking it and making a red ring fall out.

"HEY! DON'T BREAK MY JARS, YOU YOUNG WHIPPERSNAPPER!" an elderly dark blue Yoshi with a long, white beard yelled through a window. "THOSE COST A LOT OF MONEY!"

"Whoa, talk about an angry attitude… Let's ignore that old man and get moving." Sonic suggested as Chopper took the red ring and made a run for it with his friends. When they were safe, they continued to check all over town for more red rings. Flyer had scanned the red ring in order to see if there were more similar around.

"I'll go smash whatever those red rings are trapped in to get 'em out!" Tamber declared, rushing at every crate they had passed by in the town. He smashed them and had gotten four red rings out of it. "Sweet! I found some rings! Score one for Tamber and zero for the puffball! Or…whatever the heck you're supposed to be… Ha ha ha ha!

"You realize that zero for 'whatever the heck you're supposed to be' kind of counts as me as well, you know that?" Heartsy reminded, glaring at him.

"Pbbbtthh! If that's true, then I'm more than happy to insult you!" Tamber laughed.

"You're a jerk, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know," he replied, smashing more crates and jars they had passed by. Thankfully, the rest of them were hidden in jars, and they had gotten all ten as a result. It had also made many of the townspeople angry.

"You know, I thought people wouldn't be this upset over us breaking those jars and crates..." Chopper trailed. "Usually people don't make a big deal out of that."

"Where'd you get that idea from?" Shadower asked.

"Uhhhhh... From a game? Er... Anyway, let's go back to that Goomba."

They had eventually returned to see Goomshu again, who had been lying back on his chair. When he caught sight of them, he quickly sat up with an eager look.

"Welcome, customers! We have-" Goomshu paused, recognizing the group. "Oh, it's just you guys. So, have you brought me the red rings?"

Chopper took out his one red ring and Tamber dropped the other nine on his desk, leaving Goomshu to gape.

"Check mate, fatso. Give us the Mirror Shard." demanded Tamber.

Goomshu shrugged, took the red rings, and brought the case out. He handed Tamber the Mirror Shard, and he rudely swiped it from his hands. However, it was then taken from him by Vivian.

"Hey! That was mine!" Tamber complained.

"Great! We got another Mirror Shard! That's two out of the seven! All right, Vivian… Where's the next Mirror Shard at?" Chopper asked.

Vivian took out her map and found the next location. "We have to go northeast from this island. There's some huge cliff over there, if this map is correct. I guess we should go there at once."

Everyone nodded in agreement and set off toward the northeast, leaving the people of the town to go get some new jars and crates.

* * *

Near a large, gray field, there was a base that was mostly made of black with a purple trim on portions such as the doors and the roof. Guarding the entrance to the base were two, alien-like creatures with purple eyes, no mouths and a grayish black body with a bit of purple to them called Dark Creatures. These creatures also had three, pointy fingers and black and purple armor. They appeared to be around Sonic's height.

Inside the base was a bit different. It was a combination between a royal palace and an alien-like home, having a royal throne and even some organic veins attached to some parts of the walls. The rug leading to the throne had a symbol of purple eyes and a black moon crescent.

"Are you sure you want some Toad in your stew, Your Majesty?" a Dark Creature asked an anthropomorphic being with a black moon crescent on his head. He was wearing a black jacket and was holding a dark-looking gem. His gloves and shoes were also black. Though Dark Creature blood ran through his body, he had the appearance of a hedgehog.

"Of course I want I do," the Dark Creature king named Dark Doom hissed, giving his minion a glare. "It's probably the only decent thing for me to devour here."

"Ah, yes… My apologies, sir." the Dark Creature left, but quickly returned with a bowl of stew. "Here you go."

Dark took the bowl and tasted the stew with a black spoon.

"Ahhh… This is nice." Dark grinned. "Things are definitely looking good today. Maybe I should set up an attack on this island one day. Mobius was beginning to feel a little dull, so why not come here? That Gizoid came here and made himself an ARMY, so, why not do the same thing?"

"Why not attack the island today?" a Dark Soldier carrying an alien-like gun suggested.

Dark pondered for the moment. "Hmmmm… Perhaps, but not now. Shade is busy working on those weapons, and those are needed to complete our attack. Speaking of him… Where is that kid? I need to see him now."

"Of course, sir! I'll be back with him soon." the Dark Soldier nodded, leaving the room to go find Shade.

After three minutes, a small boy the size of Chopper and also the shape of him walked into the room. Like Dark, he was also a gray color, with black eyes, black gloves, and black shoes. But unlike Dark, he had wings that could appear upon flying. A big, black moon crescent-like blade rested on his head, and in the center was a glowing sun. His gloves even had a shining sun on them too.

"What do you want, brother?" Shade asked angrily.

"So, Shadow Doom, or rather, Shade, my so-called brother… I have a little something for you." Dark pulled out some blueprints and tossed them to Shade. "These are the blueprints to our new weapon, the 'Dark Cannon'. It will be a weapon that is fully capable of blowing up an entire island. I need you to make the weapon for us. You ARE the engineer…"

"THIS is what you called me in for? A weapon that will destroy an island?"

"Correct. It is important for conquering the world... Make it at once!"

"…Fine, I'll make your stupid little weapon…"

Shade gripped the blueprints and walked out of the room. Once he was out, he grit his teeth. "That fool… Treating me like I'm a slave…" Hissing, he crumpled the blueprints and tossed them in the trash to his side.

When there were no sign of Dark Creatures, a demented grin had appeared on his face. "Hee hee hee… Oh… I'll make sure when I get out of this place, I'll leave you with a little present! It'll be a way of telling you not to underestimate me..."

The half Dark Creature and half…whatever he was walked back into his room with a psychotic look on his face, waiting for his plan to finally take place.

* * *

**Northeast of Viti-**

"Well, here we are. This must be the huge cliff that the map was showing us. Boy, it sure is a big one…" Chopper stopped right by the edge of the cliff. Thankfully, it wasn't too steep, but nothing was down there. No grass, no trees, no bushes. No nothing. It was all barren.

"Wowza… That's a pretty steep cliff. I wouldn't wanna fall down there." Sonic said in surprise. "OK, let's get back to business. So we need to find the third Mirror Shard here… You guys have any ideas?"

Chopper looked carefully around. He noticed that there was something floating over the cliff. Something rather familiar. Getting a better look at it, it was revealed to be the Mirror Shard, but grabbing it was the main issue. Jumping would certainly not help.

"Great... That Mirror Shard's going to be difficult to catch..." Chopper groaned.

"I'll go get it," Flyer decided, flying over to the shard to grab it, only to receive a nasty shock. "Yeow! What was that? ...Wait, I see a sign here."

Flyer approached the sign and began to read it.

_To those who seeketh the Mirror Shard,_

_Thy hands shalt not grab the shard, but a pulling object may do the trick._

"Strange... We need an object than can pull things? I wonder what we could use..." Flyer pondered. Chopper had tried thinking as well, but then he noticed a yo-yo to the side of him.

"Hmmmmmm... I think that yo-yo can help me." Chopper pondered, inhaling the yo-yo. Upon swallowing it, he gained a gray backwards baseball cap on his head and a red yo-yo. "Great! Now I got the Yo-yo ability! Now THIS should come in handy!"

Chopper walked over to the Mirror Shard floating over the cliff and grabbed with the help of his yo-yo. The shock had no effect when it had finally gotten in his hands, most likely because the shard was no longer over the cliff.

"That was it? That had to be the easiest shard we've gotten!" Tamber complained. "Where's the challenge?!"

"Poyo... (Well, then I guess we can leave...)" Kirby decided. "Poyo? (I mean, what ELSE can we do here?)"

"Leaving so soon? What a shame..."

Everyone stopped in place when they saw a tree with boxing gloves landed behind him. Considering that Kirby was the closest to him, he whacked him and sent him flying near Chopper. They had all turned to face the tree boxer, Treenoon.

"What the heck? What is that thing?" Chopper gawked.

"Heh heh heh hoo hah! So you're the Star Warrior that His Majesty wanted me to take care of." Treenoon laughed, though he stopped when he saw a group in front of him. "...Wait, there's a whole group of you! Which one of you is the one named Chopper?"

"He's...gone that way," Heartsy answered, pointing to the cliff.

"Hmmmmmm... You know, now that I think about it, I was told this Chopper was described as being pale green with white gloves, two antennas, and green feet..." Treenoon trailed, his eyes slowly shifting to face Chopper. "And it appears there's someone who matches that description..."

"Errrr... You've got the wrong guy." Chopper objected, but that didn't seem to be working. "...OK, fine. What do you want?"

"I was given orders by King Dedede to eliminate you. And that's a job I plan on finishing!" Treenoon declared, charging toward Chopper and he knocked him back with a punch. He was sent flying toward the cliff, but Kirby used his inhale to get him back on the ground.

"Thanks, Kirby…" Chopper panted, jumping back over to the group and Treenoon. "OK, you tree! If you wanna fight, then I guess we don't have much of a choice..."

**Tattle: **_That's Treenoon. He must be a minion of King Dedede's. Strange… It says that he's a Demon Beast, just like those two guys you encountered on Clearno Island. Max HP is 220, Attack is 13, and Defense is 0. He'll do like what all boxers do: punch you and make sure you're beaten to a pulp. He's got a mega punch attack that can make you dizzy if you're not careful, and not to mention he likes to use some cheap tactics to win. Yeesh! I thought you're supposed to play fair in boxing?!  
_

"All right, it's time I tested out my yo-yo!" Chopper attacked Treenoon with his yo-yo, wrapping him up and then making him spin around upon release. He ended up becoming dizzy after Chopper's Yo-yo Spin attack, not to mention he took 8 damage as well.

"Well that looks like it's useful. Anyway, let's see how well this tree can handle my hammer!" Taking her hammer out, Heartsy approached Treenoon and slammed it on its head for 8 damage.

"Ungh... Take this!" Treenoon rushed at Chopper, and with one quick punch, he was knocked back from getting punched in the face.

After rubbing his cheek, Chopper flung his yo-yo at Treenoon. The attack sent him near the cliff's edge. Sonic smirked and knocked him off the cliff with a Spin Dash.

"GAH! NOOOOO!" yelled Treenoon as he fell to his doom. Sonic made a cocky pose and also waggled his finger in victory.

"Hah! Too easy!" Sonic grinned. That was, until Treenoon jumped back up and knocked Sonic back with a powerful punch that sent him flying back to his friends.

"Sorry, but I'm not leaving so soon. I'm much tougher than you think!" Treenoon taunted. Chopper sighed and threw a fireball straight towards him, causing him to severely burn. "Argh! Not fire! I can't stand it!"

Tamber made the next move, punching him with his fists and then performing an uppercut punch to bring him down to 168 HP. Treenoon clenched one of his fists and attempted to punch Chopper, but Shadower was the one to get hit instead by his punch, losing 13 HP in the process.

"Allow me to return the favor!" Shadower declared, bringing his arm back and letting a shadowy fist punch Treenoon and lower his defense by 4, despite not mattering too much. Chopper had flung his yo-yo at Treenoon afterward, bringing him down to 151 HP.

Treenoon shook himself and threw in a fast punch that knocked Kirby back. Though, it didn't stop Kirby from using his Inhale, because a yellow star was left behind from the punch.

"Ungh! Not bad, pink puffball..." Treenoon groaned, only to get scorched by Chopper's fireball. "You people are pretty tough... Never before have I run into a group of people that could challenge me like this."

"Well, we've always been a strong-" Chopper got cut off as soon as a punch struck him, knocking his Yo-yo ability away in the process. "Hey! No fair! I was in the middle of talking!"

"When we battle, there is never time for anything..."

Chopper groaned and delivered another fireball at Trenoon, while Vivian's Shade Fist made the burn last longer. She was lucky enough to guard the punch that had been hurled by Treenoon, while he ended up taking a bit of extra damage from being burned. Chopper's hammer was surrounded in fire energy as he brought it down on the tree boxer, which brought him down to 108 HP, but when Bombette exploded, he was down to 100.

"Wow, this guy can hardly fight! I mean, this fight is a piece of cake!" Scrub scoffed. Since Treenoon had heard that, he threw in a punch at Scrub, but he guarded it in time and gave him a smug look. "Pbbbbbth! You think a simple punch is going to take me down? Well, let's see if you like THIS!"

The small Yoshi fluttered over to Treenoon, and with eight Ground Pounds, he took 8 out of him.

"Nice work, Scrub! Now it's my turn!" Chopper went ahead and stomped on Treenoon, bringing him down to 83 HP. After he Superguarded Treenoon's punch, Chopper landed a Wall Jump and took 18 HP out of him.

"Argh... Very clever..." Treenoon grunted. "But how did you manage to stop that attack?"

"Well, he's-a fast and he can-a avoid some attacks with-a that speed! Do you-a know what you can't-a avoid? THIS!" Mario rushed toward Treenoon, and with one Super Jump, he took 10 HP out of him. Treenoon grumbled as he punched Mario with a fast punch, suffering from the burn as well. After Chopper's fireball and Flyer's Flying Attack, he began to pant.

"Guh… How is this possible?" Treenoon panted. "I'm much stronger than you people!"

"Or you just believed that," Bombette scoffed.

"Ungh... I need a better plan…" Treenoon rushed at Chopper and attempted to punch him. Though it was guarded, he did manage to take 12 out of him.

Chopper took out his hammer and brought it down on Treenoon with a Fire Smash. Tamber's Combo Punch also left him severely weakened, now at 15 HP.

Treenoon grunted and knocked Chopper back into Heartsy. She eventually helped him up so he could charge at Treenoon and land a jump on his head. Once he moved out of the way, Kirby gave Treenoon a smirk.

"Poyo! (Here it comes!)" Kirby began to perform his Cartwheel and rammed into Treenoon, knocking him to the ground and defeating him.

"Urrghh… _**NO!**_" Treenoon grunted, dropping 34 Star Points. Not only that, but Chopper also leveled up, which he used to upgrade his BP to 51. However, the celebration had not lasted very long, as Treenoon was enveloped by a dark mist.

"Hey, what is that?" Shadower asked, pointing at the demon beast. Everyone took notice too and saw the dark mist slowly fade away. Treenoon was nowhere in sight.

"Whoa, did he just…disappear through that darkness? Wow… That's strange." Chopper gawked. "But, he had said that he was with King Dedede... Where the heck did he manage to get something like that from?"

"Well, that will remain a mystery for now. All that matters is that we got the Mirror Shard, and now we need to find the next one." Flyer declared, turning to Vivian. "Vivian, would you do the honors of showing us the next one?"

"Of course," Vivian replied, taking out the map. She noticed that they didn't have to go too far this time. "This one's not too far. We just need to go a little north from here and we'll be at some mansion. It does look a little creepy, though…"

"Creepy mansions aren't going to stop us, though!" Sonic grinned. "We went through King Boo's Mansion, so I think we can get through this one!"

"Yeah... We can..." Flyer trailed with uncertainty.

"What's wrong, Flyer? Are you scared?" Chopper asked.

"No no... I'm fine. Let's just hope there's company there..."

"Oh... All right. Well, let's head out!" Chopper declared, heading north from where they were. Everyone else soon followed.

* * *

**Eight minutes later-**

As they continued their travels toward the mansion, they noticed the sky get a lot darker than usual. It seemed to resemble the nighttime sky.

"So, what do you think could be in that mansion?" Sonic asked. "More ghosts?"

"Well... I really hope there isn't, because I think I've had enough of..." Chopper stopped for a moment upon realizing something. "Wait... Bow told me that she was going to Viti to see her dad... I wonder if this could be it..."

"Bow?" Heartsy gawked, only realizing that she had seen her on the boat. "Oh, yeah! Her! Did she have anything interesting to say?"

From the sound of her voice, Chopper couldn't tell if she was suspicious or not. "Well... She wanted me to help her with something..."

Unfortunately, he hadn't had the time to explain when a ball of red energy had fired near them, creating a small explosion that knocked them back. Not only that, but they heard the sound of a high-pitched cackle as well. A all too familiar one at that.

"Oh, no… Don't tell me who I think it is…" Chopper groaned.

"What do you mean 'Don't tell me who I think it is'?" Flyer asked.

"I have fuuuuuuuury…" the voice sang.

Everyone looked up and saw Fawful floating down with the help of his Headgear. As usual, he had shown off his creepy grin and started cackling.

"So, we have the meeting again, Green Antenna!" Fawful cackled. "Fawful has been craving on his plan for more than three days! Unfortunately, you fink-rats will not have the seeing of my honey-gorging plan when you have KOing!"

"What the… Who's this nut job?" Tamber asked.

"Nuts? No, Fawful has no hunger for nuts. Just to conquer the world. However, it has the requiring of destroying you and the mustache that whom I hate hate _HAAAAAATE!_"

"So, you're-a asking for-a fight? Well, that isn't-a much of a big-a deal!" Mario smirked, stepping up and getting in his fighting stance.

"Whoa, Mario! Slow down there!" Chopper cut in, getting in Mario's way. "We just had a fight with Treenoon! You really expect us to defeat HIM? We don't have the time for a fight anyway, so I think we should just walk away from this battle."

"I have chortles! So you want to run away like the little piggy on the carriage? Fawful says NO! It's time for the sandwich to rain down on you! …With KETCHUP!"

"I like ketchup, but I'd rather not deal with someone as fawful as you!"

"...That was stupid," Tamber mumbled.

**Tattle: **_That's Fawful. He's the crazy little bean that…makes no sense at all. Max HP is 240, Attack is 13, and Defense is 1. He'll normally attack you with his blaster or some dark energy that he somehow got. I don't know WHERE he got it, but it says in my Tattle Log that he's got that ability. I'm still a little confused on why he calls you "Green Antenna". What a weirdo...  
_

Chopper saw Fawful was close to the ground, so ground attacks wouldn't be such a bad idea. He threw an electric ball at Fawful and electrocuted him. It only did 7 damage due to his obvious defense. Flyer flew over to Fawful and struck him with a Flying Attack. The beanish being gagged, but it didn't stop him from aiming his blaster at Flyer and shooting at him.

"Wow, where did he even get that gun?" Flyer asked. Mario shrugged before approaching Fawful and bringing his Ultra Hammer upon his head..

"Wow, I can't-a believe that this-a hammer can do-a more damage than it-a usually does!" Mario gawked as he looked at his hammer. Chopper brought his hammer down on Fawful as well, bringing him to 210 HP.

"Fink-rat! Take THIS!" Fawful shouted, his Headgear changing green. It fired a green orb of energy at Chopper, which exploded on impact and knocked him back a little. He got up and brushed himself before changing to his Needle ability. Chopper became a spiked ball and rammed into Fawful and taking 7 out of him.

"Ha! How do you like THAT?" Chopper scoffed, getting out of his needle ball and waggling his finger at Fawful.

"All right, lemme give you a hand, Chopper,," Shadower decided, throwing in a Shadow Punch at Fawful, lowering his defense by 4.

"Nyeah heh heh heh heh!" Fawful cackled as his Headgear turn red and fire a red orb of energy at Mario. He brought his arms up and defended himself from the attack.

"Whew… That was-a close one!" Mario huffed.

"Pbbbbbth! So what if he's got those moves? It'll end the same way as before! Watch this!" Sonic got in a ball and shot himself at Fawful with a Spin Dash. Chopper attacked with a Spin Jump afterward.

"I have fury! Let's see if you can take the mustard of doom!" Fawful exclaimed, firing a shot from his blaster at Sonic, which knocked him back and did 13 damage as well.

"Wow, this guy sure is a beanhead. I mean, what's with that creepy grin?!" Sonic exclaimed.

"I don't know…" Chopper shrugged, throwing an ice ball at Fawful afterward. He shivered at first, but then Vivian struck him with a Shade Fist and left him with a burn.

"_**I HAVE HOTNESS!**_" Fawful rushed toward Chopper and tackled him, dealing 13 damage. Chopper retaliated by striking him with his hammer.

"OK, this fight is going a little slow, but I think we should throw in some stronger moves," Chopper decided.

"Then I'll hit him with a Power Punch!" Tamber declared, walking over to Fawful, and with energy in his fist, he punched the little bean and knocked him far back with a Power Punch, bringing him to 140 HP.

Fawful got himself back up and used his Headgear to suck Tamber in. He struggled to get himself out, but Fawful let his Headgear spit him out and hit Chopper, dealing 13 damage to the both of them. Angered, Tamber charged at Fawful and struck him with a Combo Punch.

"Yeah! Enjoy the dirt ALL you want!" Tamber chuckled. Fawful spit the dirt the got in his mouth and he brushed his teeth. Everyone gawked at him in confusion.

"Hmmmmm…" Chopper pondered for the moment, and then an idea struck him. "Guys, maybe we should test out that new Crystal Star ability that we can use. It says it's called Rapid Spin."

"Well, we never tried it out... So go right ahead." Flyer replied.

"All right, then," Chopper summoned the Moon Star, and he and his friends jumped on it. The Great Being Watching Us just had to mash the A or B button five times before the Moon Star would spin around and hit Fawful, taking 24 HP out of him.

"_Huff… _I have pain… But Fawful's pain will soon be passed to you!" Fawful got back up and drew his blaster. He fired a shot at Chopper, but he guarded it with ease.

"Whew… That was too close." Chopper quickly shook himself and then threw a fireball at Fawful to leave another burn on him.

"He's pretty much halfway done, I believe, so we should get him down pretty soon," Bombette noted, leaving Fawful with 90 HP after her Bomb attack. Fawful continued to cackle and fired a red orb of energy from his Headgear at Heartsy. Her hammer let her guard the attack, but it still did a large amount my damage.

"I might as well make my move, then," Heartsy decided, bringing her hammer down on Fawful's head. Chopper went back to using his Needle ability and struck his opponent in his needle ball attack. Fawful quickly shook himself and changed his blaster to a laser sword, which he used to knock Chopper's ability away.

"What the… So he can use a laser sword too?" Flyer gawked. "How strange...

"Yeah, this is confusing," Chopper agreed after shaking himself. He switched to his Wheel ability and ran over Fawful with ease.

"Fawful is having the beating of his lifetime! …But the battle does not have finishing!" Fawful stated before Scrub used his Gulp ability on him and dealt 8 damage to him, bringing him to 59 HP.

"Come on, Fawful… You KNOW that this is over." Chopper noted. "You only got 59 HP left, for Pete's sake! You're going to lose."

"I have chortles!" Fawful retorted. "Fawful is laughing at you for your bragging! Try all you want, but your fury will NEVER match Fawful's!"

Fawful took out a helmet with pilot goggles on it and threw them directly at Chopper. However, rather than hit him, it ended up going into his mouth.

_"Wait... I didn't plan on that!"_ Chopper thought.

"Ummm… What was that all about?" Vivian asked.

"If Fawful cannot make you gorge from the outside, then Fawful shall make you gorge from the inside!" Fawful cackled. Unfortunately, his plan didn't work when Chopper gained a large silver jet plane helmet with a large jet engine on the back.

"Interesting… I got the Jet ability. I might as well test it out!" Chopper charged at Fawful and knocked him back. Flyer attacked him next, and he only had 42 HP left. Fawful changed his laser sword back to his blaster, and he shot Tamber with a laser, only to have him guard the attack.

"Pbbbbbbtth! That's not enough to take me down, y'know! Time I used another Power Punch!" Tamber grinned, knocking Fawful back with another huge punch before chuckling and taunting him.

"OK, Tamber… I think that's enough." Chopper stared, but Tamber kept chuckling. "WE GET IT!"

"Oh, fine, be a parry pooper." Tamber scoffed, not seeing the shot from Fawful's blaster hit him. He turned to him and clenched his fists in anger. "All right, that's it! See how you like THIS!"

Tamber picked up a large rock and he threw it at Fawful, leaving him crushed. When it got off him, Chopper approached him with his hammer and brought it down on him. In return, Fawful's Headgear struck him with a green blast.

Chopper created an electric ball and hurled it at Fawful, bringing him to 6 HP. Fawful volunteered to finish the job, so with one Flying attack, Fawful was knocked unconscious and dropped 36 Star Points for Chopper to receive.

"Whew… We did it, at long last…" Chopper sighed. "That fight was pretty annoying. But, now that we got that taken care of… Let's get back to going to the mansion."

"We're not too far from it," Flyer informed, noticing a mansion off in the distance.

"Then let us go!" Chopper declared, heading off to the mansion ahead. _"If Bow is in there... Oh, man... I don't know whether this is going to be a good favor or not..."_

* * *

**Inside the mansion-**

"Bow, I am very disappointed in you. You said you would come back here with a suitor, but you haven't!" a purple Boo with a wand, a top hat and a monocle looked at her daughter in disappointment inside the mansion. It was mainly decorated with a purple carpet, a couple of windows, and gray walls. Bow and her father, Boom, were in the main lobby, which consisted of a couch, a TV, and a staircase leading up to the next floor.

"I told you he would be here, Daddy. Just wait…" Bow assured.

"Very well, but he has ten minutes to come here," Boom informed. "After that, I'm done. I'll have to find you someone else instead, and he will check upon your mansion."

Bow groaned and looked away at the window. To her luck, she spotted Chopper and his friends coming their way.

"Hold on a second, I can see him coming!" Bow exclaimed.

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Let me go talk to him first." the female Boo phased through the wall and headed outside to meet with the group.

"Hey! It's-a Bow!" Mario exclaimed.

"Hello there, Mario. It's been... Wait, since when were you this loud?" Bow gawked. "Well, that's not what's important. You know why you're here, right, Chopper?"

"Actually... We were led here by some map leading to a Mirror Shard..." Chopper trailed.

"Really? Well... Maybe you can check out the mansion while you're in there."

"...OK," Chopper became Ghost Chopper and quickly phase into the wall. She followed through, leaving the others to gape.

"Wait... Where's he going?!" Tamber guffawed.

"Don't worry, Tamber... I think he's going after the Mirror Shard." Flyer assured.

When the two came back into the mansion, Boom had taken notice of Chopper and approached him.

"Hmmmm? So, you must be the one that Bow was talking about, right?" Boom asked.

"Yeah, that's me. I'm Chopper." Chopper answered, his eyes scanning the room. The thing that caught his attention the most was the Mirror Shard on the wall.

"I'm so glad you could make it, Chopper. I'm really glad you didn't come too late." Bow smiled, approaching him from the side and kissing his cheek, to his horror.

"Hmmmmmm..." Boom began to inspect Chopper for a moment. "Bow... I'm surprised you didn't pick someone that had much more...style."

"What do you mean?" Bow asked.

"It's just that... Those antennas... And he doesn't even look like a Boo! Normally I'd object to this being your suitor, but we do live in a time where Boos can make their own choices in life, so I am just going to have to respect it."

"Say…" Chopper started, pointing at the Mirror Shard on the wall. "That mirror item there… What is that?"

"That? Oh, that's just a shard I had found so many years ago. I consider it to be a family trophy. Why do you ask?"

"Well… You see, I kinda sorta need that thing..."

"Errmmm... My apologies, but I cannot just give out things like that to people I have first met, let alone someone my daughter is dating..."

Chopper tried to hold off on the last part of his sentence. "You see, I'm looking for something called a Crystal Star. If I don't get that shard, then I think this island could be in some serious trouble in the future."

"What now! Are you saying you're on some sort of quest?" Boom gawked.

"Yeah. I'm saving the world! ...Or universe."

"Well now! That is something interesting! Bow, why didn't you tell me he was a hero?"

"You never asked..." Bow trailed.

"Why, forget your stupid appearance!" Boom exclaimed, leaving Chopper a bit angered. "I like the idea of a hero! My daughter is always in need of someone who can protect her-"

"Really? You know I can handle myself." Bow groaned.

"And if you're going to save the world, then you must have a purpose for coming here too. However... I wanna see you in action."

"Wait... What? You mean like this?" Chopper had created a ball of ghostly energy and fired it at the wall. It phased through, but there was the sound of a scream, making Chopper's eyes widen. "Oops..."

"Ahhhh... Now that was spectacular. All right, I think that's enough proof. Here. Take this shard." Boom flew over to the Mirror Shard and gave it to Chopper. "And please... Keep it safe."

"Oh... Thanks! ...Though, I kinda have to go now. You know, I'm saving the world and all..."

"Yes, yes, I understand. You are allowed to go. As for you, Bow..." Boom slowly turned his attention to Bow. "I don't think I need to send someone to your mansion. I think you're good enough on your own."

"Really? Well thank you very much, Daddy." Bow smiled. "I really appreciate your help, Chopper. ...Chopper?"

Turning around, she noticed Chopper was already gone.

"It's OK, Bow," Boom assured. "He has a job to do... While we're here, perhaps I can entertain you with a little story of mine!"

"Oh, no..." Bow groaned.

* * *

Outside, Chopper had removed his Ghost ability and held the Mirror Shard up.

"Well that was easier than I thought," Chopper smiled. "I can't believe that Boo was so convinced. I thought he'd be more strict than that!"

"I guess some people are different," Shadower shrugged as Chopper gave the Mirror Shard to Vivian. "So... Where's the next Mirror Shard?"

Vivian had opened up the map and noticed the next one was located in a building by the beach. "The next shard is located near the dock..."

"Well, then this should be a little fun run," Sonic smirked. "Let's go!"

With that, they headed off toward Viti's coastline.


	102. Viti's Casino and Mountains

Meta Knight looked up at the sky as he sat on the roof of the Gods' Town. He was watching the town carefully, noticing a girl flying over the sky on her broomstick. A red, devilish imp was holding onto the broomstick's end, begging her to fly down.

"Hey, Sir Meta Knight! You seem so bored. Want me to show you some entertainment?" Sword Knight asked, holding two sticks in the palm of his hands with a plate on top of them. There was even a stick on his head as well. Though, from the looks of it, he wasn't doing a very good job.

"Sword! What the heck do you think you're doin'?!" Blade Knight exclaimed, causing Sword Knight to pause and make the plates shatter on the floor. "You idiot! Look what you've done to the silverware! You know how much we spent on that?"

"Ummmmmmm..."

"A whole lot! If you're goin' to act like a clown, then I'll have to set you up with a training program!"

Sword and Blade stopped when they heard Meta Knight chuckling. They stared at him in confusion until the Star Warrior stopped laughing and turned around.

"I'm sorry, that was just a little funny," Meta Knight said, stiffing a few chuckles.

"Wait... Since when did Sir Meta Knight laugh?" Sword gawked.

"I can have a sense of humor too, you know."

Sword and Blade looked confused, but they looked up to watch the girl on the broomstick fly over the,.

"You know, I wonder who that girl is. She kinda looks like a witch." Sword remarked, only to get punched in the arm. "Hey! Watch it!"

"We're not here to insult people!" Blade yelled.

"Both of you stop now!" Meta Knight snapped. "I was thinking of going to Heus at this moment, but seeing as that you two won't stop fighting, I feel like I have to keep babysitting you."

"We apologize, Sir Meta Knight," Blade said, he and Sword kneeling down in loyalty. "I was just trying to get Sword here to mature a little, but I see it's disappointing you, so I'm sorry."

"I apologize for my idiotic activity," Sword added. "Oh, I wish I could actually go with you to see Heus."

Meta Knight thought for a moment and nodded. With that, tThey all went down to see Heus, who was looking at a map.

"Ah, Meta Knight! I see you decided to come here." Heus greeted. "We're just keeping track of Chopper and his friends on the Mirror Shards. Don't worry, they're almost done with their quest. They'll have that King's Star in no time!"

Meta Knight looked down at the map. He noticed that they were heading to the south to a casino by the beach. "He already collected four of them so far? This is not good… If he gets those last three, it's all over…"

"What do you mean?" Sword asked.

"Chopper and his friends are obviously running into a trap... And it's all thanks to a certain someone who is working with them..."

"Wait... You mean that shadow girl?" Blade gawked.

"Yes... Yet Chopper chooses to defend her... If only I had been there to warn him from the beginning..."

"Well, do you know anything about that casino?"

"Yes. The person who runs that casino is named **Waldo**." Meta Knight explained. "He makes a lot of money thanks to that casino, and he's quite pleased. However, his name does give that feeling of mysteriousness, as many people try to look for him."

"Hmmm... That's kinda interesting." Blade commented. "But, how come you don't want Chopper to get those Crystal Stars. He needs to save the universe, doesn't he?"

"Yes, he does need to save the world. But those Crystal Stars aren't going to help him. In fact, it's going to make things worse. Let's just say I've witnessed the sight of these stars in the past..." Meta Knight trailed, soon walking off afterward.

"Wait up, Sir Meta Knight!" Sword and Blade Knight cried, following him out of the building before he could disappear. Heus only stood there dumbfounded. Even as a God, he had no idea what Meta Knight was talking about.

* * *

**Viti's Casino-**

"Go! Go! Go go Mike!" the audience cheered as a blue robot with two microphones on his head began to sing some karaoke on the stage in the casino.

"My name is Mike c'mon let's robo karaoke! ROCK THE MIC! ROCK THE MIC!" Mike sang through one of his two microphones. "Get up on the stage and sing a little ditty for me! ROCK THE MIC! ROCK THE MIC! Golly! You're not me, I'm a karaoke machine! ROCK THE MIC!"

"YEAH! GO MIKE!" the audience cheered.

"I got two mics on my head and you sing into me! ROCK THE MIC! ROCK THE MIC! Don't you wanna, don't you wanna, don't you wanna karaoke? ROCK THE MIC! ROCK THE MIC! Golly! You're not me! I'm a karaoke machine!"

"You're so awesome, Mike!"

"We love you!"

"Be my robot, PLEASE!"

"Sing sing SIIIIING!"

"You're the master of karaoke!"

"Omigosh! You're such an awesome singer!"

"EEEEEEEEEE!"

"BE MINE!"

"Oh, _**SHUT UP!**_" a Waddle Dee yelled from another room. "Can't you see I'm trying to look at my money here?! I can't do that when it's noisy as heck out there!" Waldo, a Waddle Dee with a red and white-striped hat with a red pom-pom on it was counting his money. One thing for certain was that he was filthy, stinkin' rich.

Oh, and he was quite difficult to find around the casino due to the many people around.

"Sigh… Business is looking good, but that robot needs to shut up out there." Waldo said, looking through his coins. On the wall beside him was what appeared to be a Mirror Shard. "I can't hear any noise if I'm going to be counting money."

* * *

**Outside-**

"So, the next Mirror Shard is in a casino?" Chopper wondered, looking off at the casino by the beach. "Well that sounds simple..."

"Except for the fact that some of us are not old enough to enter..." Flyer added.

"We could always get in there by going into the shadows," Vivian suggested.

"Why not just dig under there?" Tamber also suggested. "My hands are good diggin' tools!"

"No, Tamber. If we did that, I think it would look pretty obvious that we snuck through the casino." Flyer replied, shaking his head. "It's a bad idea on your part anyway."

"I'm going to see if we can find a way by getting in the front," Chopper decided, walking over to the entrance of Viti Casino. What got his attention was a familiar witch girl over by the entrance. This fifteen-year-old girl also had a red imp with her as well. "Hey... She looks just like that one weird girl I saw at the Nightclub Casino two years ago... What's she doing here?"

He decided not to get her attention and carefully reached a good distance from the entrance. A pig guard wearing a suit was guarding the entrance, and he happened to spot Ashley and Red.

"Err? Who're you?" the guard asked. "Listen, girl, this isn't a place fer young girls to be goin' around. I suggest you scram. An' take yer little demon thingy with ya!"

"Tsh… I don't need to listen to you." Ashley pulled out her wand and turned the guard into a frog. "All right, we can get in. Red, don't try to mess up the potion again. The correct ingredients should be in here."

"Don't worry, Ashley. I won't mess this up," Red assured, following his friend into the casino.

"Well... That makes things easy for us. We can go now!" Chopper smiled, entering the casino with his friends. After all, the guard could not do much as a frog!

When they got inside, they saw the carpet was a red color, and the walls were brown. They could also see a couple of slot machines and a stage where Mike the karaoke robot was performing.

"Go, go Mike!" the audience cheered as Mike was continuing his song. Nobody appeared to be tired of it, unless you count one person still sitting in his office covering his "ears".

"So… Now where could that Mirror Shard be? Got any suggestions, people?" Sonic asked. Vivian took a look at her map, and it seemed to be glowing when pointed to Waldo's office.

"It's in the office," Vivian floated over to the door and tried to open it. Unfortunately, it was locked. "Oh... I can't get this thing open."

"It's-a locked, isn't it? Well, I have-a suggestion we could-a try…" Mario started. "Why not-a get the person's attention by-a destroying a machine?"

"Hmmmm... If that means I can blow something up, then sure thing." Bombette agreed.

"Hey! I'm smashing some of these, too!" Tamber exclaimed.

Eventually everyone was forced to let Tamber smash some machines too, so both he and Bombette started to cause destruction amongst the slot machines. Many had been destroyed, and Mike and the audience had turned their attention to their destruction.

"Alert! Karaoke activity is being interrupted!" Mike stopped singing and extended his legs so he could get over the crowd. He found Chopper and his friends smashing the slot machines. "Problem discovered. Stop distraction immediately."

"Hey, wait! We're not trying to ruin your music!" Chopper cried, trying to pull him away from Bombette and Tamber. "We need to get a Mirror Shard through that one locked door!"

"Have you tried this?" Mike extended his arm over to the door and knocked on it. Waldo opened it with a sour look on his face and approached Mike with said look.

"WHAT? WHAT do you WANT? Can't you see I'm counting my coins?!" Waldo yelled, only to notice Chopper and his friends smashing the slot machines. Steam began to broil over his head. "My… My machines! Why did you destroy them? You know how much those cost?"

"Ummmmm... Not a lot?"

"Oh, it cost a lot! I bet this was your idea!" Waldo went up to Chopper and brought his fists up. "All right, get ready for a fight, you little scrub!"

"Scrub? Scrub's over there…" Chopper pointed to Scrub, who waved at Waldo. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to make him any happier.

"WHO CARES?! YOU'RE GOIN' DOWN, YOU LITTLE STAR WARRIOR!" Waldo. Chopper sighed and got in his fighting stance. They had taken it up on the stage where Mike was performing to make things more interesting.

**Tattle: **_That's Waldo. He's the Waddle Dee who runs Viti Casino. Max HP is 1, Attack is 1, and Defense is 0? Wow… This guy… I don't think he even knows how to fight. One hit and he's down. I wouldn't even consider this much of a battle!_

"That's his stats? Wow… Well, I guess I'll go a little soft on him." Chopper made a jump and with a single stomp, he dealt 4 damage to Waldo, defeating him and also being rewarded with 1 Star Point.

"_Bluuuuuuuuuuurgh…_" Waldo moaned, becoming unconscious. Chopper gave a thumbs up in victory, making the audience cheer.

"Yeah! He's beaten!"

"That guy was a jerk!"

Their cheering was eventually put to a halt when they heard a toilet flush, and a giant bug with two large pincers based off of a stag beetle came out of the bathroom. He suddenly noticed that Waldo was lying on the ground in defeat.

"W-Waldo?" Bugzzy stammered, walking up on the stage to see his friend on the ground. "N-No… He's…he's gone! I can't believe it… We were… We were best _friends_!"

"Ummmmm... I think he's just knocked out." Chopper peeped.

The large critter turned to Chopper with a death glare. "YOU! You're the one who did this to my friend, right? You know what happens when you mess with my friend? Now you're gonna get it!"

Before Bugzzy could make a move, something leaked from an air vent and got all over him. It was a green color, and it was even glowing.

"Uh oh… That can't be good." Shadower gulped. The audience gulped as well and immediately ran from the stage as Bugzzy grew bigger in size and a dark green color. His eyes had even become red in color.

"Red… You ruined it again."

"I'm so sorry, Ashley! It was an accident, I swear! Don't use me as an ingredient, PLEASE!"

The air vent had eventually broke off, and out came Ashley and Red. The former looked down at Bugzzy. "Oh, so that's where the potion went…"

He pulled out two large daggers that he's been carrying with him in case if he needed to fight.

"Well, look at this! I've become mutated! This should do nicely..." Bugzzy grinned, pulling out two large daggers. "Now you're gonna get it! YOU HEAR ME?! This is for Waldo!"

**Tattle: **_That's Bugzzy, who's presumed to be Waldo's best friend. That potion really made him change. I'm actually somewhat afraid of him… Max HP is 230, Attack is 13, and Defense is 0. He's try to attack you with those daggers or he'll even throw them at you! Also, watch out when he tries to grab you with those pincers. They don't look like they can do much, but he can THROW you at one of your partners. It still does the same damage, but it's best if you watch out for that attack._

"So, you're going to fight with a sword—er dagger?" Chopper asked, changing to his Sword ability. "Well, I might as well fight you with my sword as well! En garde!"

Chopper lunged at Bugzzy and attacked him with a jab from his sword, with the latter crying, "Ooh! That was painful!"

"Time to deliver more pain!" Tamber declared as he hit Bugzzy with his Combo Punch attack. It knocked the beetle back, but when he got back on the stage, he knocked Tamber back with one of his daggers.

"Whoa, I never knew his daggers could people back… Yikes…" Sonic remarked, quickly taking action by getting in his ball form and striking Bugzzy with a Spin Dash. Chopper ran Bugzzy and jabbed at him at least six time, dealing 12 damage to the large bug and bringing him to 190 HP.

Bugzzy threw one of his daggers at Chopper, which knocked him back near the edge of the stage. Despite this, he quickly got back up and struck Bugzzy again with a sword swing. The damage left from the attack angered him and made him charge directly at Chopper. However, Mario had come in an jumped on the mutant bug for 8 damage.

Bugzzy quickly shook his head and hit Mario with his two daggers, the latter guarding the attack. Tamber grinned and struck Bugzzy with another Combo Punch.

"Man, punching this guy feels so good!" Tamber proclaimed. "I don't know if it's just me, but I like crushing big bugs!"

"Wow... For a mutated bug, you sure aren't that tough." Chopper remarked as he struck Bugzzy with another sword slash.

"Oh, really? How about I drop the blades for now and show you something else?" Bugzzy decided, charging at Chopper. His pincers grabbed the small Star Warrior, and using his strength, he hurled him at Vivian, dealing 13 damage to them both. "Now THAT felt good!"

"Are you OK, Contadre?" Scrub asked while helping Chopper up. Chopper gave him an assuring nod and pointed his sword at Bugzzy.

"What? Oh no you don't…" Bugzzy brought his daggers up and blocked his attack. Chopper tried a couple of other times, but he failed to attack Bugzzy with his sword. "Ha ha! See? You can't do a thing!"

"Oh, yeah? What about this?" Chopper jumped over Bugzzy and slashed him in the back, making him yelp in pain. Since he was off guard, Heartsy smashed Bugzzy's head with her Hearty Hammer.

"Bluuuurg… How are a bunch of pansies getting me down quicker than someone who's bigger than me?" Bugzzy groaned, rubbing his head in pain. He noticed Mike and turned his attention to him. "Hey! You! Robot guy! Get some music playin'! I wanna listen to something while fighting these freaks!"

"Freaks? YOU'RE a freak, to be honest…" Heartsy objected, just when Mike was starting to sing Bugzzy grumbled and knocked Heartsy back with a kick, almost making her fall off the stage. Luckily, Chopper grabbed her before it was too late.

"Phew… That was a close one…" Chopper huffed, running back to Bugzzy before she could say anything. He swung his sword from a further range, and his Sword Beam struck the stag beetle.

"Wow, that was pretty cool! I never really saw much of the Sword Beam." Bombette said in surprise. She used her Bomb on Bugzzy next, covering him in soot. The stag beetle shook the soot off himself and kicked Bombette away when she landed in front of him from said explosion.

"Har har har har!" Bugzzy laughed, only to get hit by Chopper's sword and Flyer's Flying Attack, bringing him down to 104 HP.

Bugzzy threw a dagger at Flyer, dealing 13 damage to him. Afterward, he went over to Chopper to attack, but he was too slow and got struck by Chopper's sword.

"_**AGGHH! **_You… Oh, you're gonna pay for that…" Bugzzy grumbled, only to get hit by Scrub's Ground Pound.

Bugzzy whacked Scrub away with his arm, and then he brought his attention to back Chopper, only to get hit by Chopper's Sword Beam, followed by Vivian's Shade Fist, leaving a nasty burn on him. Being a bug, this did not go well for him. He walked over to Vivian and knocked her back with a kick. Before she could fall off the stage, Chopper forced himself to go back and help her.

"Thanks, Chopper…" Vivian sighed in relief.

"No problem," Chopper replied, turning back to Bugzzy, who took damage from being burned. He swung at him with his sword, and then Kirby attacked next with his Cartwheel.

"Grrrgh… Must…not…succumb…to burn…" Bugzzy closed his eyes tight as he ran toward Chopper. With one attack from his daggers, he knocked his Sword ability away from the Star Warrior.

"Uh oh… My Sword ability!" Chopper cried.

"Ha! How does it feel to be weaponless?!" Bugzzy laughed, which was interrupted by Chopper's hammer. Tamber followed up with a Power Punch that left Bugzzy with only 33 HP left.

"_Hoof… Hack… _I never thought you'd get me down like this. But this isn't over yet!" Bugzzy grabbed Chopper with his pincers and threw him at Flyer.

"Oof! Well, I guess there's proof that he's not giving up." Flyer huffed, shaking himself and attacking Bugzzy with a Flying Attack. As soon as Chopper stomped on him, he wasn't far from being defeated. He now only had 16 HP left.

Bugzzy attempted to attack once last time by grabbing Chopper again and throwing him at Heartsy, doing 13 damage to them both. Chopper managed to get himself back up and hurl a fireball at him, and then Heartsy finished him off with a hammer to the face.

"_Ooooooooog…_" Bugzzy moaned. He dropped 38 Star Points, and not to mention Chopper leveled up from the fight. He went with HP, so his HP went up to 90, along with having 85 FP and 51 BP.

Mike stopped singing, and he saw Chopper making a victory pose. Everyone had returned to the stage and cheered for him. Ashley applauded somewhat, but it wasn't very exciting, though Red's clapping was. For Bugzzy the effects on the potion had worn off, turning him back to his normal blue color.

"A phenomenal job has been done," Mike identified, seeing the group defeat Bugzzy. He scanned Chopper and found an interesting identification. "Character identified as the Great Contadre! Fame is off the charts on Viti..."

"Huh? Who are you?" Chopper asked.

"I am Mike, and I'm a karaoke king," Mike answered, shaking Chopper's hand. Scrub stepped up to shake his hand as well.

"And I'm his sidekick, Scrub!" Scrub declared.

"Wait, what? I thought I was..." Flyer paused, the feeling of being ignored in his mind. _"Are these people only aware of Chopper?"_

"Have you come here to challenge me in a karaoke contest?" Mike asked, handing one of his microphones on his head to Chopper.

"Ummm… I don't think I have time to sing, and it's not good either..." Chopper trailed. "Last time I tried that, people kinda...died or ran."

"That would be interesting to hear," Ashley deadpanned.

"Like you know anything about singing, you witch!" Tamber scoffed. Ashley's eyes turned red, and her hair had become white, along with it flowing upward. Everyone but Tamber noticed her change as she used her wand to turn the furball into a frog.

"He was asking for it!" Red grinned.

"Hey! Turn Tamber back to normal now!"

"And why should I?" Ashley questioned, her appearance turning back to normal.

"Because," Chopper began, making electric energy appear on his right hand and ice energy appearing on his left hand. "You might get hurt… I'm not afraid to hurt you, and even if you tried to turn me into a frog, my friend would back me up."

Ashley didn't appear intimidated by his power, but she decided to turn Tamber back to normal, only because keeping him transformed was pointless. "There. Are you happy now?"

"That's good," Chopper nodded. "

"Awwww... I wanted to keep him as a pet!" Red whined.

"Well... I guess now that that's over with, I should go get that Mirror Shard." Chopper was about to go to the office, but he saw a blue bandanna that Bugzzy dropped. He grabbed it and ate it. Suddenly, his skin became a dark green tint, with his shoes a darker green color, and not to mention a blue bandanna was now on his head. "Hey! It's the Suplex ability! Neat!"

Chopper went into Waldo's office and grabbed the Mirror Shard there. After that, he went back to Vivian to give it to her. With that, she took out the map to find the next Mirror Shard.

"The next Mirror Shard is located somewhere…to the north on the mountains," Vivian informed. "We should go over there at this moment. We should be careful, because it's snowy up there."

"Well my fur can resist such cold temperatures!" Tamber assured with a confident look. "Maybe you're all going to need my help here!"

There were cricket noises.

"Oh, come on!"

Everyone left Viti Casino and headed to the north of Viti. The word of snow made nearly everyone look forward to this trip.

* * *

**Fifteen minutes later-**

"Ugh! Why do we always keep returning to cold places?! We should've gotten jackets!" Scrub complained, shivering in the process as snowflakes fell on his nose.

"Shut up, Scrub," Tamber said harshly. "If you wanna be manly such as myself, then you're going to have to suck it up!"

"If by 'manly', you mean going out and flaunting your so-called 'masculinity'..." Heartsy deadpanned.

"...Nah, you don't understand my manliness. You're a chick."

"Well, I guess that's better than being egotistical."

"This isn't helping me get warmer..." Scrub interrupted.

"I think I'm gonna make things a little easier for me," Chopper decided, changing into his Ice ability so he wasn't cold. Unfortunately, his icy aura kinda made it colder around the others.

"Poyo… (I wish this story let me copy abilities...)" Kirby sighed.

After about a couple of minutes of going up the snowy mountains (along with complaints from a few people), they saw a large castle and a large pedestal where a chest sat.

"Hey, we're here already? Finally…" Sonic sighed in relief. "That was much easier than I thought!"

"Welcome, travelers!" a Toad wearing an icy crown, a blue robe including some jewelry greeted upon approaching them. "It's been such a long time since we've seen your kind of people here… My name is King Iclip!"

"You're King Iclip? That's-a strange name…" Mario commented.

"Oh ho ho ho ho! Yes, it is indeed a strange name!" Iclip laughed. "Now… I heard that travelers would be coming here to get the Mirror Shard, is that true?"

"Ummmmmm... Yeah, we did." Chopper nodded. "How did you know?"

"Well, we've been hearing about a group of people that would show up and get our Mirror Shard. Obviously it must be you guys."

"Yeah... That's us." Vivian nodded. "Do you know where it is?"

"Well… The Mirror Shard…is right in that chest you see up on the pedestal!" Iclip answered, pointing to said chest. "Just open it and you'll have your shard! Hooray!"

"Well, er, OK?" Chopper jumped up onto the pedestal and walked over to the chest. The others had joined them up on the stage to help him open it. They all smiled in delight to see what was in the chest...

…Except that the chest had disappeared, and in its place was a bomb. It exploded, causing everyone to let out a cry. However, when the explosion was gone, everyone noticed they were unharmed.

"What the…" Heartsy gawked.

"But… But… That explosion didn't turn you black with soot!" Iclip whined, his voice sounding a bit more girlish than usual. "Wha…? That… That should've done something to you! I've been totally ripped off!"

"Did his voice suddenly change?" Flyer asked.

Iclip teleported over to them in a strange fashion with an annoyed look on his face. "Ugh… That bomb REALLY should've done something, but I guess not… Well, no use in hiding now! _Mimimimimimimimimi!_"

"Oh, crud… Don't tell me who I think it is…" Chopper gulped. King Iclip was surrounded in purple smoke and – you guessed it. Mimi was standing there in front of him in a fur coat with her hood down.

"Who the heck is this weirdo?" Tamber asked.

"Surprise! I bet you weren't expecting ME to be here, did you? Aw, you can't find your precious Mirror Shard? I have it right here!" Mimi pulled out the sixth Mirror Shard piece, surprising most of the group.

"Is that so? Well, I suppose you wouldn't mind handing it over." Heartsy suggested.

"Not a chance! Especially after the trouble you've been causing for me!"

"Trouble? What did we do?" Chopper asked, causing Mimi's mouth to drop.

"You mean... You don't REMEMBER?!" Mimi exclaimed, now starting to fume.

"Uhhhhhh... No?"

"You had gotten in my way back on that floating island! You don't remember that Rubee Colossus I sent at you?!"

"Oh, yeah... I remember THAT." Chopper realized. "Anyway, we need that Mirror Shard, so could you please give it to us?"

"What a dummy! Didn't you hear me before? The answer is NO! Not until I get my revenge on you!"

"So... You're saying that after you get your revenge on us, you'll let us have it?"

"Mimimimi! Well, that depends on if you're still alive or not!" Mimi cackled, floating up and surrounding herself with a circle of Rubees. She fired one down on the stage by Chopper to prevent him from approaching her. "Now let's see you try to stop me!"

**Tattle: **_That's Mimi. She may look like an cute little girl, but to tell you the truth, she's actually an evil girl who uses her cute looks to make people think she's innocent! Max HP is 230, Attack is 13, and Defense is 0. She has herself surrounded in a bunch of Rubees, so stomping on her will be no good. Not to mention she has some Rubees she'll shoot on the ground to stop you from approaching her. I would suggest trying to throw them at her. Do you have anything that has to do with __**throwing**__?_

"Throwing, huh? Hmmmmm… Wait, I think my Suplex ability can let me throw things! I should give that a try!" Chopper became Suplex Chopper, and he grabbed the Rubee on the ground and threw it at her.

"Ouchie! How did you do that?" Mimi cried.

"He has his ways…" Heartsy spun her hammer and herself and managed to summon a pink cyclone that struck Mimi and her Rubees. Said Rubees circling around her had disappeared as well. Angered by this attack, Mimi fired a Rubee directly at Heartsy, taking 13 out of her.

"Let's try something else…" Chopper jumped up to Mimi, now that she didn't have those Rubees around her, and he performed a kick attack that knocked her to the ground, which allowed Heartsy to hit her with her hammer again.

Mimi growled as she threw a Fire Rubee at Chopper. He was lucky enough to grab the hot Rubee and throw it back at her to deal 8 damage to her instead. This was a lucky move on his part, especially since the Suplex ability had a countering ability for a Superguard.

"Whoa… I was able to counter that attack… That was TOO close." Chopper sighed, hitting Mimi with another kick attack. Vivian left a burn on her thanks to her Shade Fist.

"Ack! Stupid fire attack!" Mimi whined before she created a Rubee shield and then fired an Ice Rubee at Vivian. She had lost 13 HP in the process, but she had not succumbed to being frozen. Chopper grabbed the Ice Rubee that fell on the ground and threw it at Mimi and her shield, leaving her wide open for an attack.

"Well, that took-a care of her shield," Mario said, jumping on Mimi with his Jump attack and knocking her to the ground. Mimi pulled out a Fire Rubee this time and threw it at Mario, leaving a burn on him. She had taken damage fro, Vivian's burn, but that's when it wore off.

"Finally! I'm no longer scorched! Now you're gonna get it!" Mimi pulled out another Fire Rubee, but Chopper shrugged and tossed a fireball at her that left her with another burn.

"Well that takes care of that issue," Chopper shrugged.

"And now it's my turn to go up," Tamber smirked as he rushed over to Mimi and struck her with his Combo Punch.

"Ouchie! How dare you hurt a cute little girl?!" Mimi scowled as she threw an Electric Rubee at Tamber, only getting him angrier.

"OW! You annoying brat!"

"Well, at least she's not a spider..." Chopper trailed, remembering that form and shivering. Nevertheless, he jumped in the air and landed a Jump on Mimi. Sonic shot himself at Mimi afterward and knocked her off the stage with his Spin Dash.

"Nice one!" Mario applauded.

"Well, I'm one to do quite a lot," Sonic smirked, not being aware of Mimi regaining her focus and floating back up. A Rubee was fired down at Sonic, knocking him onto the ground. "Ugh... Sometimes, I feel like I don't pay too much attention to the enemy..."

"Relax, Sonic… You're not finished just yet" Shadower assured, twirling his finger before casting a bolt of shadowy lightning down on Mimi and her Rubee shield with his Shadow Smite. Chopper then knocked her to the ground with his Jump, leaving her with 102 HP.

"You meanie-heads!" Mimi cried. "This was supposed to be my time to shine, and now look at how far you've brought me down!"

"Well... The bad guys don't usually win..." Chopper trailed.

She floated up and swooped down at Chopper with her Rubee shield. This attack was deadlier than her Rubees, since it was able to take 15 HP out of him instead of 13, and that was certainly bad from what Chopper endured.

"Ouch! That was painful!" Chopper winced. "We really need to get rid of that shield!"

"Poyo! (I'll do it!)" Kirby declared, inhaling one of the Rubees and spat it out at Mimi and her other Rubees.

"Ah! That's a good idea!" Chopper went ahead and performed a Wall Jump to deal some extra damage to the weird, green girl. Mimi grumbled to herself before firing an Ice Rubee at Kirby. He found himself shivering and slightly whimpering.

"P-Poyo… (S-So… C-Cold…)" Kirby stammered.

Chopper looked back at Mimi, who began to giggle to herself. He decided to throw an ice ball at her, while Scrub landed a Ground Pound on the girl's head. Mimi angrily rubbed her head and went back in in the air to summon a shield of Ice Rubees.

"Since it's cold here, I think it'd be fitting for you dummies to freeze!" Mimi smirked, firing two Ice Rubees at Chopper and Scrub. Thankfully, it had not frozen them, which left them slightly relieved.

"Good thing we didn't freeze…" Scrub shivered.

"True… Now let's go bash this girl and get outta here with the Mirror Shard." Chopper grabbed an Ice Rubee on the ground and threw it at her, which got rid of the Rubee shield once again. Following up was Flyer, who struck her with his Flying Attack. Thankfully, he saw a Rubee coming her way and guarded it.

"Whew… That was too close." Flyer panted.

"You can say that," Chopper agreed. He brought Mimi to the ground with another jump, and then Bombette made the next attack with her Bomb, bringing her down to 26 HP.

"_Urk…_" Mimi huffed, looking up at Chopper with an angry look. She fired a Rubee at him, but he quickly guarded the attack.

"Well, since you're probably not going to just give up now, I might as well end this quickly," Chopper decided, hitting her with another Wall Jump to reduce her to 8 HP.

"And now for the finishing touch!" Heartsy declared, raising her hammer over her head. She charged at Mimi, and with a jump, she swung her hammer downward to pummel the green girl down. As a result, Chopper had gotten 38 Star Points, and he also leveled up. With that, he upgraded his FP to 90.

"Yeah! She's down!" Scrub cheered.

"You…" Mimi grumbled, trying to get herself up. "That really hurt! You bullies think it's cool to hit cute little girls?"

"No, but you were trying to hurt us," Flyer pointed out.

"You want your Mirror Shard? Go ahead! TAKE IT!" Mimi shouted, taking out the shard and throwing it directly at Chopper's face. Thankfully, he managed to catch it before it even made contact with his face. "I'm LEAVING!"

Mimi teleported off the mountains, allowing the heroes to relax for a brief moment, with Mario saying, "She has-a problems!"

"Yeah, tell me about it," Sonic agreed.

"Well... With this Mirror Shard, only one more remains!" Chopper smiled, tossing it to Vivian. "So, where's the last shard, Vivian?"

After taking the shard, Vivian took out the map and noticed the last Mirror Shard's location. She let out a small gasp.

"It's... I don't believe it..."

* * *

**Dark Creature Base-**

"SHADE! Come here at once!" Dark demanded, waiting impatiently for Shade. Eventually he came, but he looked far from happy.

"What do you wan_t_?" Shade asked with a glare.

"Explain why one of the Dark Creatures found THIS in the trash?" Dark pulled out a crumpled up piece of blue paper. It had the blueprints to the cannon that Shade was supposed to make.

"That? Oh, I didn't need that." Shade said bluntly.

"And why not?"

"Well, it's because I thought of something BETTER than that piece of garbage."

"Shade, you realize that we need that for our plan. We are planning on our attack, after all. A soldier had told me that three other enemies of mine have come here as well and are at the place where I intend on capturing first."

"Who are you talking about? That blue cat, yellow Chihuahua and red undead mouse...whatever he is?"

"Yes. Them. That blue cat in particular. Apparently he is a bit of a fan of the famed Sonic the Hedgehog..." Dark clenched a fist upon saying that name. "I've been waiting a long time to finally meet this hedgehog... He thinks he's the fastest thing alive. Well, speed isn't what's going to save him, especially if our cannon destroys Mobius!"

"I don't care so much about Mobius," Shade spat. "There's one person in particular I've been hearing more about. There's this pale green Star Warrior going around collecting the Crystal Stars. I've heard his name is Chopper..."

"I don't care about this Chopper, nor do I care about something called the Crystal Stars. It doesn't matter just as long as I find Sonic and eliminate him. That way, it'll be much easier to conquer Mobius." Dark stated, pondering afterward. "Now... If only I knew where he was... He was nowhere to be seen on Mobius..."

"So, you want to know where he is, then?"

"Who speaks?!" Dark demanded, scanning the room.

In front of him, Tipral had made his appearance with his arms crossed.

"What the… How'd YOU get in here?! GUARDS! SEIZE HIM!"

A couple of Dark Creatures tried to attack Tipral, but he disappeared and let them bump into each other, knocking them out instantly.

"How'd he do that?" Shade questioned.

"It's called teleportation. Something I'm skilled at." Tipral stated, his eyes meeting Shade. He noticed his appearance looked somewhat similar to Chopper, especially that round shape. "So there are more people out there resembling that fool?"

"Ugh... You know, I have more Dark Creatures to eliminate you." Dark informed. "So leave now or face their wrath."

"Then the same thing will happen to those aliens."

"...Fine. Why are you here?"

"If you wanna know where this Sonic you're looking for is going, you should go to that battlefield," Tipral suggested. "There's a Mirror Shard located there, which is something he and Chopper are looking for."

"You mean that battlefield? Good. I was planning on going there with my troops anyhow. Shade, you're going to stay here and get to work on that cannon."

"Yeah, about that..." Shade trailed, pulling out a blaster and pointing it at him. "I have no reason to be here anymore. I'm leaving."

"What do you mean?" Dark asked, only for his hand to get shot by the weapon. "AAACK! Why you little...!"

"You know, Dark... I never liked helping you out. All you do is keep me here and work on weapons. Well, perhaps I'm not that fond of that... So, I thought to myself, 'Why not just leave this guy and make my own army?' That idea sounded very interesting!"

"Grrrrrrr! You're not leaving this place at all!" Dark hissed, pulling out his gun. "You were made for a specific job, Shade! You know what happens when you disobey your leader!"

He was about to fire, but Shade was faster and shot his blaster out of his hand. He was going to shoot Tipral too, but he had teleported out of the room in time.

"Really… Did you think that I WANTED to help you this whole time? If that's true, then obviously you don't know that much about me..."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember those issues of a few Dark Creatures suddenly going missing? Because I sure do!" Shade grinned, his green, forked tongue sticking out from his mouth.

"Yeah... I remember there were some that had gone missing. I received reports that a lot of them appeared to be missing from your..." Dark paused, now suddenly realizing it. "You... Don't tell me that was you!"

"Hee hee... Congratulations! Now, if you'll excuse me... I have an army of my own to set up!" Shade declared, black wings appearing from his back and allowing him to fly out of the base. Dark picked up his gun to shoot at him, but it was too late. Instead, he placed his Dark Emerald on his wounded hand to heal it.

"Argh... That little brat... I swear I'm going to get him..." Dark hissed. "Well, there's no point in going after him now. My army can easily fight without his help. But for now, I should get started on preparing myself to conquer Viti..."

Dark had grabbed his blaster and Dark Emerald and headed to his room where all of his necessities were. If Tipral's words were true, then Sonic was obviously going to be heading to that battlefield, and he sure did not want to miss his opportunity in defeating him!

* * *

**There's that little Mike, Ashley and Red cameo! For those of you who don't know, they are from the WarioWare series.  
**

**...Wait, hold on a moment. Wasn't there a certain someone who was going to make his appearance here as well some chapters ago? Hmmmmmm... We shall see...**


	103. The Battle on Ash Field

**Important note: The characters Blade, Bang and Night also belong to my friend - the same one who owns Dark Doom.  
**

* * *

"So… The final Mirror Shard is somewhere on an empty field?" Chopper asked as everyone made their departure from the mountains.

"Yeah... But not just any field, but Ash Field." Vivian informed.

"Ash Field? What is that?" Bombette asked.

"It was where a town once stood many, many years ago..." Vivian explained. "It was actually a peaceful town filled with happiness and love. Well... That was, until an evil force had come in an destroyed the place..."

"Evil force?" Chopper gawked. "Like what?"

"I don't know... All I know is that the town was set on fire, and a giant fireball had destroyed the entire place, turning everything into ash..."

"Whoa... That sounds cool..." Scrub gaped. "Errr... I mean, that sounds dangerous."

"The place must be empty by now if it's still called Ash Field," Heartsy pondered.

"Well if it's an empty area, then that means it shouldn't be that difficult to get the Mirror Shard," Chopper smiled. "No enemies to deal with, if that's the case!"

"That sounds-a good to me," Mario agreed.

However, before everyone could make another step, they all heard the sound of what appeared to be thunder.

"Hey, did you guys hear that? It sounded like thunder…" Bombette turned around and saw lightning hit the ground at the top of the mountain that the castle was at. "Wait... Lightning too?!"

"Well, thunder is the sound made from an electric spark, and lightning is what you see from the spark," Flyer explained. "So both of those kind of go together..."

"But it feels so strange for a thunderstorm to occur here in a snowy area..." Heartsy trailed, slowly looking back at the peak. However, what she wasn't expecting was a large snowball to be rolling in their direction. "Uhhh... Guys! We should get out of here now!"

Everyone noticed the snowball and began to make a run for it. Unfortunately, poor Bombette found herself tumbling down, but it seemed to work in her favor, since she was moving a lot faster than most of the group. People such as Chopper and Mario tried to help those who couldn't move as fast go faster, while those who could fly kept themselves off the snowy slope.

When they had reached a flatter part of the mountain, Chopper looked over to the left and saw a river flowing down. The avalanche wasn't going down the river, luckily. Not to mention that there wasn't any snow over there.

"Guys, I think we should jump into that river," Chopper suggested.

Sonic's eyes shot wide open. "Are you kidding me? I'm not going in the water! I can't SWIM!"

"Oh yes you are!" Chopper objected, pushing Sonic into the river immediately. Everyone else leaped into the river as well to escape, with Chopper catching up to Bombette to toss her into the river.

"Whew… Now to jump into that river. I hope Sonic's not mad at me…" Chopper quickly jumped into the river, which was thankfully warm and not so deep. There was a big log that was flowing down the river that everyone had gotten on.

"Let me help you, Chopper," Flyer grabbed Chopper's hand and pulled him onto the log when he was near. "Whew! That was way too close!"

"Yeah... It's actually pretty coincidental that we found a log here." Heartsy smiled. "Not to mention the water's not too cold."

"Which is strange, considering that in colder areas, water is much colder..."

"Who cares? We're safe, and that's all that matters!" Tamber exclaimed. He noticed a couple of Cheep Cheeps jumping out of the water. He grabbed one and brought it over to Vivian. "Hey! Can you use your fire powers to cook this up?"

"Ummmmm... I'd rather not..." Vivian trailed.

"What?! Come on! I'm hungry!"

"We're not going to watch you eat a fish..." Shadower trailed.

"Fine..." Tamber sulked, throwing the fish into the water. However, the sound of a splash had not occurred too soon when something else had come out of the water. It was much larger, and it hardly looked like a fish. It seemed to resemble a tiger with a shark fin on its back. Even its roar resembled a tiger!

"A Tiger Shark? Really?" Heartsy asked with an unimpressed look on her face.

"Hey! So that's what Tiger Sharks look like!" Chopper gasped.

"Chopper, that's not what a tiger shark resembles..." Flyer trailed.

The beast roared and attempted to punch them. Thankfully, everyone had avoided its punch and took action by throwing everything they had against it. It didn't seem to flinch too much, but when Tamber jumped in the air and slammed his fists on its head, it seemed to sink back into the water.

"Heh heh heh! That thing couldn't even lay a hand on me!" Tamber grinned.

At this point, everyone noticed they were away from the mountains and that there was some land nearby. It didn't appear to be snowy at this point, so their shivering had stopped. They jumped off the log and took the time to relax for a little bit.

The grass around their area was a dull green with no trees. One thing for certain was that it was rather dull in this area.

"This is-a unsettling," Mario commented.

"Well... We've seen dull areas like this before." Chopper noted.

"I'm sure we're close to Ash Field at this point..." Vivian trailed.

"Then let's head out!" Chopper declared, now beginning to move onward. However, a familiar voice had filled the skies and stopped them on their tracks.

"_**GRRRARRGH!**_"

Looking up, Chopper noticed Bowser was just up ahead next to his Koopa Clown Car. Kammy Koopa was by his side, and a certain demon beast in a blue parka appeared to be with them too.

"Bowser?" Chopper gasped.

"Bowser? Who is he?" Tamber asked.

"Someone who doesn't like me very much..."

"I can't believe it took us THIS long to get here!" Bowser yelled, giving Lemmy a glare. "You said that we would beat Chopper to the punch! Well, where's the Crystal Star you said that's here?"

"Mmmmgggffh! (Well, I know that it's somewhere!)" Lemmy explained. "Mmmggffhh! Don't get mad at me so soon! You just need to be patient!)"

"I came here for that Crystal Star, and I'm gonna GET it! Those things are MINE!"

"Yes! You better not have wasted our precious time with a filthy lie, you insignificant thing, you..." Kammy grumbled, slowly turning and spotting Chopper and his friends. She pointed her wand and exclaimed, "Your Grumpiness! Over there! It's Chopper!"

"What? Chopper?" Bowser turned around and he spotted Chopper. "_**YOU!**_ Well… So you finally show your face to me, huh? It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Bowser…" Chopper trailed, getting in his fighting stance. Mario walked over to him and he also got in his as well.

"_**MARIO!**_ You too?!" the king of the Koopas roared. "…Hold on a minute. If both Chopper AND Mario's here… Gwa ha ha ha ha! Oh, I hit the jackpot! We have Chopper AND Mario here at the same time! For a second, I thought I'd have to search for either one of your in different places!"

"Well, that's-a good for the both of us, too!" Mario smirked. "Now we can-a both pummel you to the ground!"

Bowser's evil grin had changed to confusion. "Errr... What? You weren't that loud before..."

"Yes... Something is very strange..." Kammy pondered. "Perhaps all this time Mario's been having a little cold?"

"Nah! There's no way! I guess he couldn't stand being so silent for a long time!"

"Mmmmmmgffhhh? (Hey, while we're here, can you let me take one of those girls?)" Lemmy asked, just before Bowser jumped on him. Suddenly, the sound of a large pop had come from Lemmy.

"Oh, dear, Lord Bowser! You've destroyed him!" Kammy gasped. "On the other hand... I can still keep my place as Bowser's sidekick!"

"Whoops... Well, who cares about that?" Bowser shrugged, stepping away from the spot where Lemmy was destroyed. "I was going to get rid of him after I got my Crystal Star anyway! But first, I need to clean something up first!"

The rest of Chopper's group had gotten in fighting stances, but that didn't appear to intimidate Bowser.

"What? You guys thought you wouldn't see a Bowser battle return? Well tough luck! I'm here to ruin your day!"

"I'm sensing a battle coming up…" Shadower mumbled.

Bowser laughed evilly. "Gwa ha ha ha ha! It's about time I get some action in the sixteenth chapter, huh? This is just like old times, Chopper! Remember? Up in Star Haven? I'll make you suffer just like then!"

"Mario! Chopper! This is where our meetings will finally be put to an end! Nyeah heh har har!" Kammy cackled.

**Tattle: **_That's Bowser, the King of Koopas. Well, you OBVIOUSLY recognize this guy! Max HP is 250, Attack is 14, and Defense is 3. He'll attack with his dangerous fire breath that can burn you, or he'll even try to poison you with his poisonous bite! Watch out for that! He'll also throw in some flaming punches, or he might even get in his shell and charge at you. All I can say is…watch out for his attacks. They're pretty dangerous._

**Tattle: **_That's Kammy Koopa, Bowser's assistant. I don't know why she travels with him all the time, though. Max HP is 230, Attack is 12, and Defense is 0. Just like before, she'll attack you with all sorts of magic. I think it would be best to take her out first, because she can use magic to heal herself, as well as Bowser. I'm kinda surprised on how she's still up and ready to fight even as an old lady. Is this because she's been working out? ...Hey! I'm not assuming she's lost weight! Geez!  
_

Chopper thought for a moment, and he decided to use take out the Moon Star and use Rapid Spin on them both. After getting the gauge filled up by pressing A or B, the Moon Star hit the two, and they both took 24 damage.

"Argh... What the heck was that?" Bowser wheezed. "That kid didn't have that before!"

Vivian raised her finger, and in one second, Bowser and Kammy were engulfed in flames, leaving a burn on both of them, along with dealing 8 damage to them both. In anger, Bowser stomped over to Chopper and struck him and Vivian with his fire breath. Thankfully, they Superguarded the attack and took no damage. However, Kammy's magic attack was able to hurt Chopper.

"Ouch… Man, that magic attacks hurts!" Chopper shook himself before grabbing Bowser with his Suplex ability and tossing him on Kammy, which dealt 8 damage to Kammy and 5 to Bowser.

"This is-a going smooth!" Mario exclaimed as he stomped on Kammy's head. Bowser took action by jumping on Mario, preventing him from using any items in the process.

Kammy raised her wand and boosted Bowser's defense by 2 when it was her turn. Chopper decided to use his Ultra Glove ability to hurl ice balls at both Bowser and Kammy, dealing 8 damage to them both.

Shadower twirled his finger and hit both Bowser and Kammy with the attack, which took 3 HP out of Bowser and 8 from Kammy. On the plus side, it managed to lower Bowser's defense to 0. Thankfully, Bowser's HP was down to 200.

"That should take care of that issue," Shadower declared.

Bowser approached Chopper and attempted to bite him, only to have him get Superguarded by the attack, taking 1 damage. Kammy fired a magic attack at Flyer that managed to shrink him.

"What the… Why am I so small?" Flyer asked in a squeaky voice. Sonic picked him up with his finger and put him on the palm of his hand so no one would step on him.

"Relax, Flyer. You'll be back to normal soon." Sonic assured.

"I hope so... I don't like being small."

Chopper clenched his fist and used his Ultra Glove attack on them again. He used electric energy instead and left the two opponents electrocuted.

"Take THIS!" Tamber used his Quake attack to make the ground shake with his fists, which caused Bowser and Kammy to both get hit by the attack and take 11 damage.

"Ooof… Man, you do have a fight in you..." Bowser cringed. "But that's not going to help you here, Chopper!"

Bowser stomped over to Chopper and unleashed his fiery breath on him and Tamber, leaving a burn on both of them.

"Mweh heh heh heh!" Kammy cackled, raising her own attack by 2. "When we're done with them, we shall soon get Princess Peach back, and it'll be just like two years all over again!"

"Well, not if I can help it!" Chopper pulled his hammer out and began to spin it around. He rammed into Bowser and Kammy with it and was able to take a good 8 HP out of both of them. Vivian's Fiery Jinx was good enough to leave a burn on the two once again. Unfortunately, she was the one who Bowser jumped on, while Kirby was the one who got hit by Kammy's magic projectile.

"OK, Kammy is left with only 127 HP, and Bowser has 162. We can still do this…" Chopper took out the Island Star this time, since he had the right amount of Star Power, and the star unleashed its Earthquake on Bowser and Kammy. They ended up suffering 20 damage in the process.

"I suppose if we attack both of them, it'll be easier to take down Bowser when Kammy is down," Bombette deduced, taking 7 out of Bowser and 10 out of Kammy with her Bob-omb Blast. But that hardly seemed to do much against Bowser, as he was stretching and letting out an evil laugh.

"Gwaa ha ha ha ha! So what if you got me this far? I still haven't showed you all of my moves! Take THIS!" Bowser got in his shell and ran over Chopper, while Kammy attacked Scrub with her magic.

"Ugh... I'm not feeling too good... I gotta heal up." Chopper pulled out a Sweet Shroom and ate it to recover 100 HP and FP, while Flyer (now finally back to normal size) used his Disable ability to stop Kammy from using magic.

"Aaaaaack! What just happened? My magic! …It won't work?!" Kammy gaped, trying to shake her wand. "Lord Bowser! I am having difficulty making a move here!"

"Oh, shut up, Haggy! Who needs your wussy magic? I got all I need right here!" Bowser declared, punching Chopper with a fiery fist. To his dismay, the small Star Warrior managed to guard the attack.

"Well, Kammy can't do anything, so that gives us an advantage!" Chopper grabbed Bowser with his Suplex ability and threw him at Kammy, which dealt 5 damage to him without his defense boost that wore off, and 8 to Kammy.

"I think it's my turn to shine here!" Scrub declared, approaching Bowser and inhaling him with his Gulp attack. He spat him out at Kammy, the two taking 8 damage in the process. Now Bowser was down to 120 HP she was down to 80.

"Gwargh! That ability's really starting to annoy me! I'm going to knock it out of ya!" Bowser decided, walking up to Chopper and striking him with a fiery punch. This managed to knock his ability out in the process.

"Oh, crud… He got my ability…" Chopper gulped. He decided to use his Ultra Glove attack for the heck of it, which hit both of them, while Flyer used his Tornado attack to deal 9 to Kammy and 6 to Bowser.

"Grrrgh…" Bowser growled as he got in his shell and tossed himself at Chopper and Flyer. Kammy took the time to raise Bowser's defense by 2 now that she could make some moves.

"There you go, Your Evilness!" Kammy declared. "Your defense has rose back up to 5 again! You'll be unstoppable!"

"Ugh... I don't know if I have enough Star Power to use another Rapid Spin..." Chopper groaned. "I guess I should go with an Art Attack."

Chopper pulled out the Ruby Star and he began to start making a circle around the two. He was able to draw at least seven circles and deal 21 damage to them. Heartsy's Hammerang managed to reduce Kammy down to 34 HP.

"We almost got Kammy down! This will be over soon!" Chopper cheered, soon getting bit by Bowser and becoming poisoned. Kammy fired magic at him and he got hurt. He ended up taking damage from being poisoned as well. "Ugh... I feel terrible..."

Tamber stood up in front and struck the ground with his Quake. Chopper then followed up by using his Diamond Hammer to strike both Bowser and Kammy. This didn't stop Bowser from jumping on him and disabling his Hammer ability, while Kammy decided to use her magic to grow in size.

"Too bad that-a won't help you!" Mario declared, jumping on Kammy's head. Chopper hurled multiple ice balls at Bowser and Kammy next, and soon the old Magikoopa was lying on the ground.

"Forgive me, Your Angriness…" Kammy moaned. "There's nothing I can do for you anymore…"

"Crud! Now I gotta do this myself!" Bowser stomped on Mario while he could, but because his Defense was back to 3, Mario took this time to strike back with his hammer. Chopper threw in an ice ball and brought Bowser down to 45 HP. Since he was poisoned, Bowser decided to throw in a punch at him.

"Ugh... I hate being poisoned..." Chopper wheezed, taking damage from the poison. "Why does this effect have to last for nine turns?"

Vivian looked at Chopper with sadness upon seeing the pale look on his face. She wanted to help him. She really did. But there was nothing she knew that could help him. Then it suddenly hit her. The Diamond-Rank ability she had that could help him!

She floated over to Chopper, and using her ability, she gave Chopper a kiss thanks to her Soothing Kiss. Soon enough, his poison status was gone.

"Huh? I...feel better?" Chopper gawked, rubbing his cheek. "As gross as that was, I'm glad you helped me, Vivian!"

"I just wanted to return the favor..." Vivian trailed, watching as Chopper charged at Bowser and hit him with his Diamond Hammer.

"Ooof… Seriously! Today is just not my day!" Bowser complained, stomping on Chopper, which had failed due to being Superguarded, making him get reduced to 36 HP.

"NOW I'm ready to take you down, Bowser!" Chopper declared, watching Shadower hit him with a Shadow Punch. Followed up was his Jump.

"NO! This WON'T happen!" Bowser knocked Shadower back with his punch, but since he was left open, it allowed Sonic to use a Spin Dash to hit him in the stomach, and once Chopper stomped on him, he was down to 6 HP.

Bowser quickly shook his head and tried to punch Chopper again, but he was not so lucky. Chopper put his arms up and guarded the attack. At this point, it was all over for Bowser. Chopper was about to land the final blow with his hammer, until someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Say, Chopper… May I-a do the honors?" Mario asked.

"Sure, Mario! Go for it!" Chopper gave him the cue and Mario walked over to Bowser, finishing him with one blow from his hammer.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Bowser yelled, falling over on the ground and dropping 43 Star Points for Chopper. Luckily, he was able to gain a level, and on top of that, he raised his BP to 54.

"Whew! That was actually pretty tough." Sonic admitted.

"No… How did I get but butt handed to me by Mario..._AGAIN_?! Seriously… What is WRONG with me?" Bowser complained just before he fell into unconsciousness with Kammy.

"Well, that wraps it all up! We took down Bowser and Kammy!" Chopper sighed. "So... What next?"

"Hey, Contadre... I think I can see a bit of grayness up ahead!" Scrub pointed out, eyeing the gray field just up ahead.

"Considering that ash tends to be a bit grayish... Perhaps that is where Ash Field is!" Flyer deduced. "Shall we?"

Agreeing, everyone quickly headed on ahead to the gray and dull area.

* * *

Just as told, Ash Field was a large, empty field made up ash on the ground. It also felt slightly warm around them, too. Not only that, but there were large walls surrounding them as if they were standing in a gigantic crater. One thing for sure was that searching for a Mirror Shard here may not be as easy as they thought.

"So... This is Ash Field, huh? Looks pretty dull to me." Sonic remarked, rubbing the bottom of his nose with a finger. "Kinda surprised no one had made a town over this place..."

"Hey, did I just hear Sonic's voice? …It can't be!"

"Huh? Did someone just say my name?" Sonic gawked, whirling around to meet a blue cat garbed in a blue ninja outfit. On his back, he had a katana with a black and yellow-striped handle. The cat walked over to Sonic with a look of amazement, while Sonic looked confused.

"Dude! I can't believe I'm finally meeting the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog!" the fifteen year old cat gaped.

"So I got a fan?" Sonic gawked in surprised. "That's pretty cool! And who might you be?"

"Me? The name's Blade. Blade the Cat. I've been trained under my sensei to do...well, ninja stuff." Blade explained, extending his hand.

"So you're Blade, huh? Sounds like a cool name! It's a pleasure to meet ya!" Sonic grabbed Blade's hand and shook like a real hero.

"Hey, Blade! Who are these guys here?"

Blade turned around and saw his yellow Chihuahua friend, Bang, approaching them. He was wearing leather armor and had a couple of weapons he carried. This friend of Blade's was an odd one, because he always thought of himself as sort of a ladies man, despite his many failures of getting a girlfriend.

Another friend of Blade's was with him too, his name being Night. He was an undead mouse in black armor, and he carried an axe hammer – a weapon being half axe and half hammer. Night also works as a mercenary, but he does this job because he enjoys destroying things.

"Oh, yeah… I forgot about those two. Well, mostly Bang." Blade mentioned, which made Bang sulk. "But, enough about that. Who the heck are those other people over there?"

"My name? I'm Chopper!" Chopper answered.

"My name's Vivian," Vivian replied. Bang's mouth was agape, and he zipped over to the shadow girl with a grin on his face. He was perhaps a little TOO close to her.

"Heh-HEY! What do we have here?" Bang wondered, raising his eyebrows at her. "Say, now… You're one cute chick! I don't normally say that to many girls. So… What do you say we spend a little time together?"

"Oh, man, I like where this is going," Night smirked, waiting for the usual results.

"Ummmmm... Thanks, but I don't think I'm interested..." Vivian trailed.

"What? C'mon! I'm a hero, not a zero!" Bang complained.

"I think you're making her a bit uncomfortable," Chopper noted, seeing how uncomfortably close Bang was to Vivian.

"Hey! Don't ruin my style, kid! It's fine if you like her, but I'm scorin' here!"

"Huh? What? Since when did I say that?"

"Well, you're defending her!"

"But she's my friend!"

"Oh, man... I'm gonna like this." Tamber snickered.

"Yeah... Well, I better go help Bang before he gets into some serious trouble." Night decided, pulling Bang away from the Shadow Siren. "So... Why're you all here?"

"We're here to collect something called a Mirror Shard located here," Flyer explained.

"I hate to break it to you, but you all won't be doing anything so soon."

Everyone turned their attention to a certain half Dark Creature and half hedgehog standing in front of their way with his huge army of Dark Creatures. Most of them gawked, while Blade, Bang, and Night gave him a glare.

"What the… Who's this weirdo with the black moon crescent on his forehead?" Tamber asked.

"You will refer me as Dark Doom…" Dark spoke, giving a glare the group. He pulled his blaster out and aimed it at the heroes. The Dark Creatures behind him took their weapons out and did the same thing. Blade drew his katana, Bang took out two of his pistols, and Night took out his axe hammer.

"Dark… I knew you'd be here." Blade said. "In fact, that's actually why I came here anyway!

"Really? Well, how nice of you to join us today, Blade, Bang and Night!" Dark grinned, his eyes slowly meeting with Sonic's to give him a glare. "…But the real reason I'm here is because of you, Sonic!"

"What? Why are you here because of me?" Sonic gawked.

"Because…" Dark began, turning around. "I've always heard about the famous Sonic the Hedgehog. You apparently took down Dr. Robotnik many, many times throughout your adventures on Mobius. I also heard you had defeated foes that were unlike that scientist as well. It is because of you that my chance in conquering Mobius is slim!"

"Well... Sonic's not on Mobius, you know..." Chopper trailed.

"True, you are correct. However, there is still the Mobian army that I have to deal with, and despite not being as much of an issue as Sonic, they can still manage to hold off my army... But, with three of the toughest fighters in the army and the hedgehog here as well, I'd say that I can finally do what I've always wanted and destroy you all!"

"Huh... So you're another one of those freaks that wanna take over my world?" Sonic frowned, cracking his knuckles. "Hate to say it, but it's not going to be that easy. My friends are pretty tough as well. Heck, people like Knuckles or Shadow could probably wipe the floor with you guys!"

"Yes... You are correct. But you are my primary threat." Dark stated, slowly turning to face them again. "And like all primary threats, they must be destroyed!"

"Well, with wimpy guys like you, I don't think that should be as difficult," Chopper smirked.

"WIMPS?! Oh, we'll show you who's a wimp, wimp!" a Dark Creature growled, charging at Chopper with its purple, jagged blade. Blade, however, took action by defeating the alien with one katana swing.

"Whoa... That was pretty impressive." Heartsy gawked.

Dark looked down at his fallen comrade and grit his teeth. "Dark Creatures! ATTACK!"

All of the Dark Creatures charged at Chopper and his friends, and there was suddenly a huge clash. Blade continued to strike the Dark Creatures that came toward him, and Bang was successfully shooting away at Dark Creatures firing back at him. Heck, Chopper's friends were doing exceptionally well too. Heartsy's hammer was giving the aliens a good beating, and Tamber's Quake had managed to wipe out a lot of Dark Creatures.

"Stand back, guys! This could get a little ugly…" Night gripped his axe and swung it around to hit a couple of Dark Creatures, wiping a large group of them out.

"Grrrr!" Dark grit his teeth and fired a shot at Sonic. Being the fast hedgehog he was, he dodged the attack and hit Dark with a Homing Attack, knocking him to the ground.

"Heh heh! Too bad you're not fast like me, or you might be a match for me." Sonic attempted to make another attack on Dark, but he got up and grabbed Sonic by the arm. Using his martial arts skills, he threw him toward one of the walls.

"Sorry, Sonic... But it's not all about speed when it comes to fighting." Dark smirked, getting in a fighting stance. "It's also about timing your attacks right!"

Chopper knocked a Dark Creature back with his hammer and then jumped on another. He had landed near Vivian, who had managed to defeat a Dark Creature with her Shade Fist. Chopper happened to notice that the map she was carrying was glowing. She, too, had taken notice and took it out.

"The map! It's…glowing? That could be a sign…" Vivian trailed.

"We should try to find it. But first we need to get out of this mess." Chopper looked around the whole battle. Vivian, on the other hand, grabbed Chopper and pulled him into the shadows to make things easier. They reappeared away from the battle. The map was glowing a purple color this time, which was a bit odd.

"Now it's glowing a purple color. I think there's something strange…" Vivian looked down at the ground and put the map on the floor. "Maybe the shard is located underground..."

"Then we'll need Tamber to dig it!" Chopper declared. "Go bring him here, all right?"

"I'll do that," Vivian nodded and sank into the shadows. After about a minute, she was back with Tamber, who was far from happy to be here.

"All right, what the heck do you want?" Tamber asked angrily. "I was busy fighting back over there!"

"Well, we have a good reason. You see, the map is glowing purple, and if we're going to get the Mirror Shard, we need to look underground." Chopper explained, pointing to the ground.

"So, you want me to dig it up? OK, fine… I'll do it. Stand back." Tamber demanded. Chopper and Vivian stood back, while he began to dig into the ash.

After about five minutes, Tamber rose from the ash and held up the last Mirror Shard.

"Guess who's awesome?" Tamber smirked, tossing it to Vivian. They didn't have long to celebrate, as they saw Dark land on the ground near them. They looked on ahead and noticed Sonic get out of his ball form.

"Urgh… That annoying rodent…" Dark grumbled, just as Sonic jumped over to him with a waggling finger.

"Well! Looks like this is another victory for me!" Sonic smirked, getting ready to get into a ball again. However, the air around Ash Field had started to get colder. Sonic stopped his attack and started to shiver. Dark and even his army had shivered and were no longer fighting.

"Wh-What is this cold weather?!" Dark stuttered. "Isn't it s-supposed to be w-warm here?!"

While everyone was shivering from the cold weather, Vivian appeared to be the only one unaffected, to her surprise. Looking down at the Mirror Shard in her hands, she noticed a small note slip out of it. Vivian decided to give it a small read.

_To the founder of the last Mirror Shard,_

_If thou hast foundeth the last Mirror Shard, thou must returneth to the Palace of the Gods and put the seven pieces in the shattered mirror. If thou succeeds in doing so, the Ancient Shadow Palace wilt be awoken from its slumber._

"The Shadow Palace? So that's where the Crystal Star is... Chopper, we need to..." Vivian paused when she turned around and found everyone but herself frozen solid. "Oh, no..."

"Oh, yes! Mmmwee hee hee hee!" Turning around, Vivian saw Beldam standing before her. "Well well well... So you were the only one unaffected by my magic... I suppose that makes sense, considering that you've always been used to my ice magic."

"What did you do, sis?" Vivian demanded, slowly clenching her fists.

"Doing what needs to be done, obviously," Beldam replied. "Now, you can come over here and make this easy, or we need to do things the hard way..."

Vivian looked around and noticed the frozen Chopper nearby. She aimed her finger, and with her Fiery Jinx, she managed to thaw him out. Beldam frowned, remembering her control over fire and quickly retreated into the shadows before Chopper could spot her. Vivian turned around and noticed the eldest Shadow Siren's disappearance.

"What the heck just happened?" Chopper moaned, rubbing his eyes. It was then he saw everyone frozen. "Whoa! Everyone's frozen?"

"Yes... It was done by my sister..." Vivian trailed.

"Wait, your sister? But why?"

"Well, she was obviously trying to do a little something..."

Chopper turned around and saw Tipral standing on top of the frozen Dark Doom with his arms crossed. Both he and Vivian quickly got in their fighting stances.

"TIPRAL!"

Tipral jumped off of Dark and floated down to the ground. He slowly approached Chopper rather than charge at him.

"So, you finally got your last Mirror Shard. Congratulations, Chopper. Congratulations." Tipral slowly applauded. "However, that doesn't change anything... The plan is not yet complete."

"Plan? What plan?" Chopper gawked.

"Oh, it was a little something that would benefit me and the others... However, seeing as the plan has been a little faltered thanks to you being here, I guess I have to clean up the mess by eliminating you myself!" Tipral clenched his fists, and soon they were surrounded in purple star energy. "I hope you're prepared, Chopper! Because with the little help you have, this won't be so easy for you!"

**Tattle: **_That's Tipral, who else? I mean, you OBVIOUSLY know who he is! You've fought him more than four times! Max HP is 260, Attack is 14, and Defense is 0. He'll usually throw in some Star Spears or he might even freeze time itself. I mean, come on! You faced this guy enough times to know what kind of moves he has!  
_

"So... I guess if you want to fight me, then I guess I have no choice but to give you one..."

Chopper jumped up and landed a stomp on Tipral. He slightly cringed, but it only got worse when Vivian struck him with a Shade Fist. He quickly shook off the attack and threw a Star Spear straight at Chopper. As much as he wanted to hit Vivian with it, he knew he couldn't.

_"I'll get my chance later..."_

Chopper clenched one of his fists and created a fireball. He hurled it at Tipral and left a longer burn on him. Vivian had helped by striking him with another Shade Fist.

Tipral could not hold back in attacking her and grabbed her arm before she could retreated. Using all his strength, he had thrown her straight at Chopper and knocked both him and her on the ground.

_"Perhaps I can hurt her a little..."_

"Ugh… That was a little painful…" Chopper grumbled as he and Vivian got back up. He took this time to change to his Water ability and squirt water at Tipral to take 8 out of him. Vivian left a fiery punch on Tipral afterward. "Ha! How does it feel to get cooled down and heated up, Tipral?!"

Tipral did not respond with words, but he did teleport out of Chopper's sight, making him gulp.

"Uh oh… I think he's going to make a surprise attack on you, Chopper. I can feel it…" Vivian warned.

Chopper scanned the area around him, looking very carefully for Tipral. Unfortunately, this left him a bit distracted and a little off guard, allowing Tipral appear in front of him and land a Star Punch, knocking him forward. Chopper got up and glared at Tipral before attacking him with a Rainbow Spin.

"Gah!" Tipral cringed, clenching his fists in anger at Chopper. What he wasn't expecting was Vivian to strike him with her Shade Fist. He quickly snapped his finger and struck Chopper with Star Magic, but he was able to guard it and take less damage. "Hmph... All right, you seemed to have improved. I'll give you that."

"Well, we've been getting a lot stronger," Chopper pointed out. "So no wonder we're giving you a hard time."

Tipral ignored him and prepared for his next attack, but all he got was water in his face thanks to Chopper. Vivian, once again, struck him with another Shade Fist. Tipral decided to knock Chopper's Water ability away with a shadow ball, which did the trick.

"Why don't you fight me without the use of your Copy Abilities?" Tipral suggested. "That way, you're not relying on some stupid ability you're not normally good with."

"Fine..." Chopper trailed, taking his hammer out and bringing it down on Tipral's head.

"I suppose I'll use an item," Vivian decided, pulling out a Thwomp item, which did 14 damage to Tipral when he got crushed by it. In retaliation, Tipral fired a Star Spear at Vivian.

"Your items are not going to stop me," Tipral hissed, just before Chopper hit him with another Rainbow Spin. Once Vivian made her attack, Tipral raised clenched his fists and raised his attack up by 14.

"Great... This isn't... Wait, you're still here, Vivian!" Chopper realized, running straight at Tipral and jumping on his head. Vivian soon pulled him into the shadows just as Tipral unleashed his Star Blast. Thankfully, it did no damage to them, nor was anyone else harmed.

He was far from pleased when the two emerged from the shadows unharmed.

"Very clever... But that was just luck! How about you get a taste of my Star Rain!" Tipral yelled, raising his arm to summon his attack. However, he soon found himself get hit in the head by a certain plumber who landed near the group.

"Mario? You thawed out!" Chopper gaped.

"Yup! That's-a what I did! I'm-a here for you now!" Mario assured, turning to Tipral with a glare.

Tipral glared back as well, but then he noticed Mario give him another look. He gave a nod to the plumber, leaving Chopper confused. Nevertheless, he stomped on Tipral, while Mario brought his hammer down on him afterward. Chopper's confusion was eventually stopped when Tipral struck the plumber with a Star Spear.

"Are you OK, Mario?" Chopper asked.

"Yes... I'm-a fine..." Mario assured, quickly shaking his head and then using a Jump attack on Tipral next. Chopper added his Spin Jump to dish out 12 damage, leaving Tipral with 98 HP.

"Hmph! So you managed to push me this far… Not bad, Chopper. But I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." Tipral said before teleporting and hitting Chopper with another Star Punch. He was about to throw in another attack, but Chopper's Rainbow spin got to him first. "Oof! All right, so you're much better than I thought..."

After Vivian hit him with a Shade Fist, Tipral threw a Star Spear at Chopper. He threw another one, but Chopper managed to inhale it and spit it back at him. This set him flying toward the frozen Dark, along with leaving a crack in his icy prison.

"Hmmmm…" Tipral pondered before he grabbed Dark. When Vivian attacked him, he used Dark as a shield. This ended up at least thawing off the ice on his head.

"Wha…? What's going on? Tipral? Is that you?" Dark asked. Tipral grabbed him and began to use him as a weapon when Mario had finished jumping on him. "Tipral? What are you doing?!"

Tipral ignored Dark and swung him at Mario, knocking him back. Despite Dark's objections, Tipral did not listen and used him as a shield when Chopper fired an ice ball in his direction. As a result, Dark had become frozen. That didn't stop Chopper from freezing Tipral with another ice ball, though.

"Ha! That was easy!" Chopper celebrated - until Tipral managed to break out.

"Oh... That's not good..." Vivian sighed and left a burn on Tipral with her Shade Fist. With that, he was only down to 50 HP.

Tipral looked at Mario and tossed a shadow ball at him. He was knocked back by the attack, but strangely, he wasn't really affected by it. Chopper noticed him walk back to him with not much harm left on him.

"That's weird… That didn't hurt you." Chopper gawked.

"It's-a OK, Chopper! I can-a still fight! Just-a watch!" Mario pulled his Ultra Hammer out and smashed it on Tipral's head. Chopper shrugged and used his Wall Jump to bring Tipral down to 24 HP, to his relief.

Tipral raised his arms and attempted to freeze time, but he was unfortunate, because Chopper guarded the attack and then tossed an electric ball at him afterward.

"So you've learned the electric elemental hand attack? Interesting…" Tipral mused before getting hit by Mario's Jump, now being brought to 8 HP. "Guh… This isn't over yet!"

Tipral disappeared and used his Star Aura attack, making a star beam fire at Chopper. This attack managed to take 16 out of him, and boy did it hurt.

"Ugh... Well, the fight's not over yet..." Chopper charged at Tipral, and with one jump, he had finished off the dark being and received 47 Star Points as a result. Plus, he leveled up, allowing him to upgrade his HP to 95.

Despite not being worn out, Tipral was on the edge of collapsing. However, he still had the strength to look up at Chopper.

"Don't think it all ends here, Chopper..." Tipral wheezed. "Soon, everything will be according to plan, and you and your friends will fall!"

"I don't think so!" Chopper retorted. "I think it's you who's going to fall!"

"Keep thinking that, Chopper... But in the end, it will be us who's victorious." Tipral slowly pointed his finger at Vivian. "And you... You can't keep holding that little secret forever. You're eventually going to spill it out."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, so you don't know yet? The fact that this whole time you were just a pawn for your friend?"

"Who? Vivian?" Chopper gawked, soon giving Tipral a glare. "No way! Vivian would never do such a thing!"

"Well... Then perhaps you should try asking her, then..." Tipral trailed, soon falling on the floor unconscious. Chopper noticed something drop from his hands as well. It appeared to be a crystal ball with dark purple mist inside. Upon picking it up, the mist went crazy, making him quickly drop it.

"What IS that?!" Chopper gasped. "For some reason, it kinda hurt my hands, too..."

"We should probably thaw everyone else out..." Vivian suggested. Chopper agreed as well and started to help thaw his friends out with Vivian's help. Of course, they did not thaw out people such as Dark and his Dark Creatures.

After ten minutes, everything was normal.

"Whew! I can't believe we won this battle! That was just…wow!" Blade gaped, stretching his arms. "Well, I'd like to thank you for helping us, Chopper! You're not such a bad person as I thought you were!"

"…You thought I was bad?" Chopper gawked.

"Err… No! Forget what I just said! Anyway… We'd best take our leave right now. We're done here. Perhaps we'll see each other some other time?"

"Ummm… Maybe."

"That sounds like a plan! See ya, guys!" Blade, Bang and Night waved goodbye to Chopper and his friends, leaving them with the final Mirror Shard Chopper held up.

"I can't believe it... We finally got all the Mirror Shards!" Bombette cheered. "We can finally get the sixteenth Crystal Star!"

"Poyo! (And we'll finally be out of this place too!)" Kirby cheered.

Despite everyone being happy, Chopper couldn't help but think about what Tipral had just said earlier regarding Vivian. He also remembered Meta Knight saying something similar. It just seemed weird to him... There was even the fact that she knew the name of the King's Star too!

Eventually, he had to speak up, and now was the best time.

"Vivian..." Chopper trailed, turning to her with some uncertainty in his voice. "Could I ask you something, please?"

"What is it?" Vivian asked.

"About what Tipral had mentioned..." Chopper started, though he thought starting with that wasn't the best idea, as many others gave confused looks. "...No, about what Meta Knight said. Is what he was telling us true? Plus, how do you know about the King's Star and this whole area's history?"

Remembering what Meta Knight said, everyone had turned to face Vivian as well.

"Yeah... I remember that masked freak mentioning that!" Tamber realized. "Spill it!"

Vivian finally let out a sigh, glad to have finally gotten this out. "Guys... I've been meaning to tell you this for a long time, ever since I've joined with you, Chopper. You're all in danger..."

"In danger? What do you mean?" Chopper asked.

"There is someone out there that knows of you all... And he is planning on destroying you. He is an even greater threat than the Shadow Queen herself..."

"What? Well... Then if he's trying to stop us, then we can beat him! If he's stronger than the Shadow Queen, he shouldn't be that much of an issue!"

"Chopper, please... You can't beat him. He way too powerful to stop... And one of the things he is also trying to do is bring the Shadow Queen back to life..." Vivian trailed. "My sisters and Tipral were trying to bring the Shadow Queen back to life... But now they've found another way to do so."

"What do you mean?" Scrub asked.

"My sisters and I all had a job a thousand years ago. Beldam was supposed search for a pure maiden to help bring the Shadow Queen back to life. Peach was meant to be the one who was supposed to be possessed after she found out that she was able to open the chest. Beldam also believed that the leftover spirit of the Shadow Queen could still possess her, which is why Peach was kidnapped again."

"Wait... Are you saying that you knew this the whole time?" Chopper gawked.

"Let her finish, Chopper." Heartsy told him, slowly turning back at Vivian. "So… If that was Beldam's job, then what was Marilyn's?"

"Her job? She was supposed to find an alien race to find the Crystal Stars. She was the one that told us that Grodus was going to go back on the hunt for the Crystal Stars. We thought that we could trick Grodus into helping us bring back our queen…again."

"That's interesting… How come I never knew about this?" Shadower wondered. "Then again... I was never with the Shadow Queen, to be honest."

"So, if that was Marilyn's job, then what was YOUR job?" Chopper asked.

"My job? Well, I was told by the Shadow King to curse the four heroes. However, the Shadow Queen wanted me to find the Crystal Stars as well. So… I had to cope with both of those assignments. It could be because they thought I had much more potential for the job.

"Oh..." Chopper trailed, only for his eyes to widen. "…Did you just say Shadow _King_?"

"Y-Yes… There is a Shadow King. He...is the one who is out to get you all." Vivian said nervously, her eyes shifting around, particularly at someone in red.

Chopper began to remember what that spirit had said before. _"So there WAS a Shadow King after all!"_

"I know I had to continue my assignment on getting the Crystal Stars when Beldam told me we were going to bring the Shadow Queen back to life."

"Though, I was the one who ended up with it," Chopper said, looking at the Magical Map.

"Yeah... So, I thought maybe I could try to get the holder of the map to get the Crystal Stars and..." Vivian stopped, realizing she had spilled something out.

Everyone looked at her in shock, especially Chopper.

"Wait... Are you saying that this whole time... You were using us to get all the Crystal Stars to help the Shadow King and Queen?" Chopper gasped, unable to comprehend the reveal.

"Wait! Chopper! You don't understand… I…"

"This whole time, you knew we were going to be led to our demise?" Flyer gaped. "And you were just going along with it?"

"Please, guys! It's just that..." Vivian paused, unsure of how to explain this. It wasn't because she couldn't find a way to defend herself, but she knew it was all true. She lowered her head in defeat and sniffled. "Y-Yes... It's true... I only joined you guys in order to get the Crystal Stars easily according to my job... But when I joined you guys, something had completely changed in me."

"I'm sorry, but it's difficult to forgive you at this point..." Heartsy trailed, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "You knew we would be caught in a serious situation, but you didn't bother telling us."

"Please! I didn't mean for this to-"

Unfortunately, nobody seemed to be listening to her at this point. Many of them had slowly began to turn away and make their exit out of Ash Field one by one.

Only Chopper had stayed behind, but only because he was stunned from Vivian's confession. From what she saw, he was on the verge of crying.

"Chopper... Please... I'm really sorry..." Vivian trailed through tears, though her words didn't appear to change his stunned expression.

It wasn't until he felt someone's hand on his shoulder when he slowly turned around. He saw Sonic give him a slow nod, and he nodded back and began to follow him out of Ash Field. He slowly took one glance at Vivian before finally making his way out.

This left Vivian all alone to cry.

"I feel so bad… I've hurt all my friends' feelings..." Vivian sniffled. "I knew I shouldn't have said such a thing…"

"There, there, Vivian... Don't start crying soon..."

Turning around, Vivian noticed Mario patting her on the shoulder. Not only that, but Tipral had gotten up as well, replenishing his energy with the help of an Ultimate Shroom.

"Mario? Wh-What are you still doing here?" Vivian asked.

"Oh, come on... You already know who I am!" Mario grinned.

"Yes... You're right..."

"I can't believe the others were foolish to believe I was Mario. I mean, seriously? They thought I was just becoming louder? HA! Anyway, it's such a shame all your friends had to turn on you... They are correct. They will die soon..."

"Though, I'd personally like to end Chopper's life..." Tipral muttered, picking up the crystal ball. "So, this crystal ball... You probably know who it is by now, right?"

"Yes... That's the Shadow Queen..." Vivian confirmed.

"I believe you know that we are planning to bring back my precious wife, right?" Mario reminded. "However... I do not believe who we said would be the vessel."

"Wait... Vessel?"

"That's right! Thankfully, we have the vessel right in front of us!"

"Wait... What?" Vivian gasped, covering her mouth.

"Ah, yes... I believe we should've informed you about who my wife would possess..." Mario trailed, his arms now behind his back as he began to walk back and forth in front of the Shadow Siren. "You see... While possessing one with a pure heart would help give the queen a new body, we didn't realize that possessing a shadow being would make her much stronger and capable of controlling her powers. When we asked her who she wished to possess, she obviously chose you."

"But... Why me?"

"Who was it that she wanted to become the next queen if she were to ever retire? Both Beldam and Marilyn had a couple of...issues. You, on the other hand, had just what my wife wanted! I mean, think about what she could do with those fire powers! You were able to destroy this whole area with a giant fireball and turn it into this field! She could possibly wipe out all life on this very planet!"

"N-No... This isn't what I wanted to happen!" Vivian gasped, aiming her finger at Mario.

"Oh, come on, now... Would you truly want to hurt me? Especially since I'm possessing one of your friend's bodies!"

Vivian had just realized this and slowly lowered her finger.

"That's much better. We can make this a lot easier if you obey my command."

Vivian had tried escaping through the shadows, but he felt two beings grab her arms. Looking behind her, she found Mysterious and Purple grinning in delight.

"Don't worry, my king! We got her just where we want her!" Mysterious assured.

"No! Please! Let go of me!" Vivian yelled. "I didn't want it to be this way! Not after what happened before..."

Seeing the tears running down her face made Tipral cringe. "Argh! Someone please stop her crying!"

"You're absolutely right, Tipral," Mario agreed. "We cannot have this girl screaming out. It'll most likely bring some attention..."

"What are you talking about? There's no one around here!" Mysterious exclaimed.

"Mysterious! Do you really want to defy me?!"

Mysterious immediately froze in fear and looked at Mario in horror. "O-OK, my king... Purple, shut her up!"

Purple obeyed and covered her mouth, preventing her from crying out. Of course, she tried to fight back against their hold, but it was not enough.

"Excellent!" Mario grinned. "Now, Tipral... You know what you have to do."

Tipral obeyed and brought the crystal ball to Vivian. The shadowy mist from inside began to leave the crystal ball and slowly head for her body. Her eyes widened in shock, but they had immediately closed when the mist had finally entered.

Her struggle stopped, and what appeared from her eyes was pure evil.

* * *

**This...is definitely one of the longer chapters of the story, and it's definitely one I do like, especially the later part. I mean, it has a lot of important stuff!  
**

**Yeah, you guys remember those moments when Vivian was trying to tell Chopper something? Well... Yeah, there we go. And, yeah... I'm sure most people had an idea that it wasn't really Mario...**

**What will come up next? Find out in the next chapter, of course. :P**


	104. The Shadow Palace Rises

"I can't believe this whole time Vivian was just leading us into a death trap..." Flyer trailed, all nine heroes finally back on the grass on Viti. They were slowly making their way up the hill to the Palace of Gods.

Heartsy noticed the upset Chopper and tried to cheer him up. "Chopper, no need to be so upset. We're always here for you..."

"Thanks... But, it's just that... After all the things I did to help her, this whole time I was being used to just get her the Crystal Stars..." Chopper trailed. "I was even worried about her being sick back in the Illusion Forest!"

"Well... Maybe a trip back to the Palace of the Gods might make us feel better." Shadower suggested.

"Hold on..." Bombette paused. "How do we know you're not using us to get the Crystal Stars?"

"If that's what you want to think, then fine. But I never heard of the Crystal Stars until Mysterious gave us the idea of helping Grodus out. I had no part in doing something similar..."

"Well, I'm fine with that," Sonic said. "Though, leaving Vivian out like that is kinda harsh for us, don't you think?"

"We all think the same thing..." Flyer trailed. "But we can't really trust her now because of what we just found out... Anyway, we should be going back to the Palace of the Gods right now."

They had finally reached the Palace of the Gods and got to the shattered mirror they had seen last time they were here. Heus, Meta Knight, his two servants, and Pennington were there as well.

"Ah! I see you've returned! Welcome back, Chopper and Co.!" Heus welcomed. "How are you nine doing?"

"Well, we're... Wait, nine?" Chopper looked back at his group and started to count them. Obviously Vivian was not in the group, but he noticed another person missing. "Wait... Where's Mario?"

"Poyo, (I didn't see him leave us,)" Kirby shrugged.

"But... Where could he have gone?" Flyer gaped.

"Oh, no... Now we're missing Mario as well..." Chopper sighed, looking down at the floor. Meta Knight took notice of Chopper's expression and approached him.

"So... You finally found out the truth." Meta Knight said.

Chopper slowly gave him a nod.

"I'm sorry you had to find out about this..." the masked warrior trailed, turning away from him. "Perhaps because you considered her a friend for a long time is what made you want to defend her."

"Hey, can you lay off him for a bit?" Heartsy defended. "I mean, we're all sad to hear about the truth, but rubbing it in our faces isn't going to work!"

"I understand how you all feel, considering I have personally had a few friends in many battles years ago that had betrayed me and the Star Warriors. So, I do apologize for what I tried to tell you, but it was only done to prevent you from falling into a trap."

"Yeah... We know now." Chopper nodded. "We have all the Mirror Shards with us."

"Hmmmmm? So you do?" Heus gawked, looking at the Mirror Shards floating in Chopper's hands. "So... This shall bring the palace back up, then."

"Yeah... And my guess is that that 'trap' is somewhere in there."

"And you're all planning on bringing this palace back up from the ground?"

Everyone gave him a nod in response.

"I see... You are all such brave heroes to walk into this trap... I will not stop you."

"We're not going to walk into the trap. We're going to stop it." Chopper stated, raising his arms in front of the shattered mirror. All seven pieces began to float upward and into the mirror.

"Hrmmm… So with all seven Mirror Shards, something mysterious could happen! I must watch this moment!" Pennington declared, watching the Mirror of Viti finally form back.

When the pieces all combined, a bright light emitted from it. The mirror shot a beam of light down from the sky by a location near the hill leading to the Palace of the Gods a little west. Everyone noticed darkness surround that part of the area.

Along with that, the island and even the area where they stood began to violently shake.

"Contadre! Look!" Scrub pointed to the are covered in darkness, and they all saw a palace rising up from the ground. It was dark at first, but after it completely rose, it changed to a silver color. The windows appeared to look dark, though.

"The palace has finally been brought back," Heus warned. "And in there is the Crystal Stars... I must warn you all… If you enter that palace, I'm afraid there's no turning back."

Chopper clenched his fists and looked up at him. "We're still going in there. That's where the Crystal Star is, and it's our job to get it back."

"Very well then... But before you go, I must give you this." Heus pulled out a silver flute and let it float into Chopper's hands. "This is the God's Flute. If there is a ginormous force in there, I would recommend you play this and call me. Perhaps with my power, I can give you what you need. But, beware... This device can only be used once."

"Thank you," Chopper smiled, taking the God's Flute from Heus. "Well... I guess we're all set."

"I think it's time I took my leave as well," Meta Knight decided. "I have no reason to be here any longer. Come, my servants. We must return to Dream Land."

With that, Meta Knight and his servants took off, leaving the rest of the group to remain.

"Well, how about we go check out that palace?" Sonic suggested. "The Crystal Star's in there, after all!"

"OK," Chopper nodded. He turned his attention back to Heus. "Heus, if Mario comes here, can you tell him we'll be at that palace?"

"Understood, Chopper. I will make sure he gets the message." Heus assured. "And... I'm very sorry about Vivian... I wish this was something I had known about, but alas, it was not meant to be..."

The group slowly gave him a nod, and then they were off to the surface.

* * *

**Surface-**

After five minutes, Chopper and his friends had managed to get to the palace standing before them. Thankfully, they did some training while they were on the ground too, so Chopper was lucky enough to get his HP and FP to 100 and his BP to 60.

But the size of the palace... Boy was it a big one.

"Wow… This place is huge!" Bombette gaped. "And... Wait, does the door say the name 'Shadow Palace' on it?"

"Poyo! (Sounds an awful lot like the Palace of Shadow!)" Kirby recalled.

"Well, we might as well make our way in there," Chopper declared, approaching the stairway to the door.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you…"

Everyone stopped and turned around to see a silver Bandit in a brown cowboy hat and a Goomba wearing a pilot's helmet.

"Who the heck are you?" Chopper asked. Tidos looked at the sketch he had and then at Chopper. A smirk had appeared on his face.

"Well well! So yer the one after all! A pleasure to meetcha, Chopper!"

"Wait... How do you know him?" Heartsy gawked.

"How I know him ain't any of yer business, toots," Tidos replied, making Heartsy look at him with disdain. "All that matters here is that I've got a job to take you down."

Tidos took off his hat, revealing his spiky, silver hair that was pointing in the direction he faced. There were green stripes on his hair as well.

"Dude... I'd like a hairstyle like that!" Scrub gaped.

"Since when do Bandits even have hair on their costumes?" Bombette gawked.

"The name's Tidos. I'm one of the most skilled bounty hunters on Viti." Tidos grinned.

"Yup! This is Boss! And you got a price on your head!" Leon declared.

"Shush, Leon! Stay out of this." Tidos snapped, turning back to Chopper. "This Beldam said that you were quite a menace. You don't look so menacin'… Well, she'd reward me with 800 coins if I captured ya.

"Remember, Boss… You want to bring him back to her ALIVE."

"Quiet, Leon! Of course I know that. Now go find somewhere safe so you don't get yer butt blown up. Yer butt is probably worth more than yer arms anyway."

"Boss... I have no arms..."

"Oh. Right. Just stay out of the way."

"Got it, Boss!" Leon hid behind one of the bushes, while Tidos pulled out a futuristic pistol and aimed it at Chopper.

"More futuristic weapons..." Chopper groaned. "Why are there so many people with them?"

"Well, 'cause it helps me get the job done!" Tidos smirked. "Now, let's see how tough ya really are!"

**Tattle: **_That's Tidos, a deadly bounty hunter that comes from Viti Town. Max HP is 270, Attack is 14, and Defense is 0. He'll usually attack you with that pistol he's holding or he might try to use some close-range attacks. Overall, there's not much else to him… So much for being the deadliest bounty hunter on Viti… Yeesh! You'd think he wouldn't be that tough, considering he's a Bandit!  
_

"So, you wanna see how tough I am? Well, I'll show you!" Chopper pulled his hammer out and brought it down on Tidos. Sonic got in his ball form and struck the bounty hunter with his Spin Dash next.

Tidos quickly shook his head and fired a green shot from his pistol at Chopper. He brought his fists up and guarded the attack before landing a Power Bounce on his head.

"What? What do you think you're doing?!" Tidos exclaimed, cringing from every hit.

"I'm Power Bouncing you, of course!" Chopper finished his fourteenth stomp and jumped off of him, letting Tamber land a Combo Punch on him. Tidos cringed in pain from Tamber's punch, but he was able to fight back by landing a punch on Tamber.

"Augh! That punch hurt! All right, I'm giving you a big one" Tamber growled, readying a Power Punch. After Chopper hit Tidos with a Wall Jump, Tamber threw the punch at him and sent him flying near Leon.

"Boss! Are you OK?" Leon asked.

"Yes, I'm fine…" Tidos moaned as get got up. "I guess that Beldam wasn't bluffin'. This should be an interestin' challenge!"

Tidos approached Chopper and grabbed his arm just before he could attack and threw him to the ground. He prepared to land his feet on the boy, until he felt Heartsy's hammer hit him in the head.

"All right, Choppy! He's all yours now!"

"Uh… Thank you?" Chopper got up and tossed a fireball at Tidos, leaving a burn on him as well. In response, Tidos leaped in the air and dove at Chopper feet-first and knocked him to the ground.

"What? You're already givin' up?" Tidos asked.

"No, not yet," Chopper replied, getting up and tossing an electric ball at Tidos. Bombette blew up in front of the bounty hunter afterward. Tidos tried shooting at Chopper, but he Superguarded it and avoided taking damage. After Tidos was hurt by the burn, it wore off.

"Good... Now I don't have to deal with some dang burn." Tidos grinned.

Kirby took action and attacked him with his Cartwheel, while Chopper did 12 to Tidos with his Spin Jump. Tidos groaned in anger and fired a charged shot in between Chopper and Kirby. The shot had exploded and hit the two in the process. Thankfully, both managed to guard it.

"Yeesh... I never thought he could do that..." Chopper winced, lowering his arms. He conjured up an electric ball and threw it at Tidos. Surprisingly, it left him paralyzed.

"Urgh… I can't move!" Tidos cringed, attempting to move his arms and feet.

"Awesome!" Scrub smirked, and he landed a Ground Pound on Tidos. Since he couldn't move, Shadower used his Shadow Punch on him, while Chopper attacked with a Spin Jump.

Tidos still couldn't move, but after Chopper's Spin Jump and Tamber's Combo Punch, he was able to move again. Only this time, he fired at Tamber instead of Chopper.

"Apparently you're the one that can deal the most damage..." Tidos trailed, his eyes meeting Tamber's. "I suppose I should try to get you out of the way first to make this easier for me."

Tamber got ready to land a punch, but Flyer beat him to it and struck him with his Flying Attack, while Chopper brought his hammer down on Tidos. He was left with only 61 HP at this point..

"Gah… I'm gettin' down so easily? How?" Tidos gaped.

"You've probably just been underestimating us, that's all..." Chopper shrugged.

"Yes, you may be right... But it ain't over yet!" Tidos grabbed Flyer and threw him at Chopper, knocking the two back.

Chopper and Flyer got up, the latter hitting Tidos with a Wall Jump. After Tamber struck the bounty hunter with a Combo Punch, he was down to 32 HP.

"Urgh… This isn't over yet!" Tidos grunted, firing a shot at Tamber, which ended up missing. This allowed Chopper to stomp on him and Heartsy to hit him with her Hearty Hammer.

"Boss! You can still do this!" Leon exclaimed.

Getting annoyed, Tidos approached Leon and grabbed a hold of the Goomba. Despite the objections from his comrade, he ignored them and threw him at Chopper. He succeeded in hitting him, but that didn't seem to KO him.

"No... This can't be..." Tidos gaped.

Sonic got in his ball form and hit Tidos with his Spin Dash, and then Chopper finished the fight with a jump, receiving 50 Star Points and a level up. This time, he upgraded his HP to 105.

"Ugh... I don't believe it!" Tidos cried, now limping at this point. "How am I supposed to get my 800 coins now when I got beaten by a kid?! Look... Maybe we can make a li'l deal... There can be some way fer me to make some money!"

"Well... You were working with Beldam, and she's not much of a friendly person... Do you even know what I'm doing?"

"No.."

"I'm trying to save the universe!" Chopper exclaimed. "And there's something in that palace that I need to help save the world. Plus, there's also something in there that might be a big danger to this whole place, too..."

"What? That witch never mentioned that!" Tidos growled. "Argh! I swear when I find her I'm goin' to..."

"You can leave that all to us," Sonic assured. "We're experts in saving the world anyway!"

"Fine... I suppose there's not much else left to do at this point. Come, Leon. We're goin' home."

"Right, Boss!" Leon obeyed, following his leader away from the Shadow Palace. With that, the rest of the heroes had walked up the small stairway and stood in front of the purple door. Just by looking at it, they could feel a dark presence from behind.

"All right... This is it... The Shadow Palace." Chopper gulped, slowly reaching for the knob. "I don't think we can wait to find Mario at this point... There's going to be something in there, and we have to stop it together."

"Open the door, Contadre! I'm not scared!" Scrub declared, giving a brave look.

Nodding, Chopper slowly opened the door, and they all found a dark vortex standing before the. Thankfully, it had disappeared in a couple of second, allowing them to enter a strangely familiar-looking room to a few of the heroes.

"Whoa, it looks a lot different from the inside than from the outside," Flyer gaped.

"Hey... This room looks like one of those room from the Palace of Shadow!" Chopper gasped, walking into the palace along with everyone else, and the door shut behind them. The whole room suddenly changed, having an eerie, purple sky and a black floor. Along the pathway, there were bottomless pits hinted by a purple glow below.

"Yeesh... Talk about freaky." Sonic commented.

"Poyo… (It's strange how it changed from the Palace of Shadow into…this...)" Kirby shivered.

"Well, it's not gonna stop me! We can get through this place no sweat!" Tamber assured, giving a confident look, though it didn't sound that confident.

Chopper walked across the pathway to the door up ahead. As they traveled, they heard evil laughter echo from the eerie sky. It was enough to give everyone the chills.

"Eeeeuuugh… I don't like it here." Chopper frowned, finally reaching the door. Things got even stranger when they found the next room to be an exact replica of the room before the throne room. The one where they had battled Grodus in the Palace of Shadow.

"Wait a second... We've been in this room before! Back in the Palace of Shadow!" Heartsy gaped.

"Geez... Is this place trying to mess with our minds?" Shadower wondered.

"Well, I've never seen this room in my life," Sonic shrugged, heading to the door up ahead. A Save Block and Heart Block were waiting for them there, so Chopper hit them both before walking into the next room.

This room was another exact replica, but they noticed that the upper walls were already torn off, revealing the purplish, dark sky they saw before. The throne from before was even sitting there still.

"Ugh, this room really IS freaky! I don't like it here!" Bombette cringed.

"Poyo! (Well I've seen worse!)" Kirby noted, making his way up the stairs first. Everyone joined him, but they found nothing on the throne.

"All right… So we're here. Now what?" Sonic asked.

"I remember there was a secret passage the throne was blocking," Chopper recalled. "I think we need to move it aside."

_**"I'm afraid I cannot let you do that..."  
**_

Chopper gasped as he saw a familiar figure rising up from the shadows. It was Vivian, but her appearance looked much different. Her soft, pink hair was now lavender, and her hat was replaced with a large crown. Her eyes appeared red and evil.

"Vivian? What… What are you doing here?" Heartsy gaped, appalled by her appearance.

"_**Muh huh huh huh huh… Oh, I'm not your dear little friend." **_Vivian smirked._** "Well, she WAS your friend. Do you not recognize my voice?"**_

Upon realizing it, Chopper gasped.

"You're...the Shadow Queen!" Chopper deduced.

"The Shadow what?" Tamber questioned.

"The Shadow Queen. She's a demon that tried to cover the world in darkness." Flyer explained. "It looks like she's possessing Vivian... But I don't know why..."

_**"****I'm afraid it was a part of her job. She was meant to be my next vessel if I were ever to be destroyed again. She is basically a pawn for BOTH of us! Muh huh huh huh…and you thought she was using you this whole time!"**_

"Wait... What do you mean? You're telling me she was being forced to do this task?"

"_**Of course! My husband made dear Vivian do the work, or else she would suffer a terrible consequence, such as eliminating you all. I thank you for all the help, Chopper.  
**_

"So... She wasn't telling us about the Shadow King to protect us?" Chopper gasped.

_**"Muh huh huh huh... Absolutely. But unfortunately, it looks like things did not turn out the way she wanted... And now she has given up her body just for me!"**_ Vivian cackled. _**"Anyway, I need to thank you, Chopper...** **Opening the entrance to the Shadow Palace just for me! I should repay you for your kind act!"  
**_

"Don't listen to her, Chopper. It's just a trick!" warned Flyer.

_**"****For helping me this whole way, I might consider giving you a chance to live. That is, if you agree to become my servant."  
**_

"No way!" Chopper retorted. "I wouldn't be THAT stupid to join you..."

_**"****I see… So you defy me again. Very well… Then I guess I have no choice but to put you out of your misery..."  
**_

"We beat you before, so I bet we could beat you again!" Chopper smirked.

_**"****I'd like to see you try!"**_

**Tattle: **_Omigosh! Has Vivian been possessed by the Shadow Queen?! It can't be! This is…HORRIBLE! H-Her Max HP is 150, Attack is 8, but it will rise as her HP goes down, and Defense is 0… I'm sorry, Chopper. I'm just…too freaked out right now._

"All right, then! Let's settle this once and for all!" Chopper brought his fists up…but he suddenly stopped in his tracts as he looked at Vivian. "I... I don't know if I can do it... I don't want to hurt Vivian."

_**"See? Now this is one of the few reasons why I possessed your friend."**_ Vivian grinned. _**"You don't have what it takes!"**_

"Chopper! Get a hold of yourself! This isn't Vivian! This is the Shadow Queen!" Flyer exclaimed.

Chopper then remembered when he had fought against Peach when she was possessed by the Shadow Queen. She wasn't left injured in the process either. Realizing that, he put a more determined look on his face and jumped on Vivian. Though, it wasn't something he enjoyed. Flyer had struck her next with his Flying Attack.

_**"****Taste my power, mortals!" **_Vivian's eyes began to glow, and she struck everyone with a lightning spell. To their surprise it didn't do as much damage as usual.

"Hey... She may be possessing Vivian, but she isn't that strong for us now..." Shadower realized.

"Then I'm going in!" Scrub declared, fluttering over Vivian and hitting her with a Ground Pound. Chopper took his hammer out and struck her with it afterward.

Vivian grumbled to herself and raised her finger to hit everyone with a Fiery Jinx. They guarded it, preventing them from getting burned. Chopper threw an ice ball, and then Kirby's Cartwheel struck her next. Once she used another lightning spell on them, though, she had done 9 damage instead.

"Wow… So her power DID get stronger… That's not good." Chopper quickly shook himself and attacked her with a Spin Jump, with Heartsy following up with her Hearty Hammer.

_**"****Grrgh… No… I won't let myself go down so soon…" **_Vivian grumbled, seeing she ha 81 HP left.

"Well well! I guess this will be a lot easier than I thought.

Vivian glared at Sonic and she zapped him instead of Chopper, which caused him to attack her with a Spring Jump, taking 16 out of her.

"Hey! Leave my friends alone!" Chopper yelled, with Bombette striking her with her Bomb next. Vivian went into the shadows and struck Chopper with a Shade Fist, leaving him with a burn.

Chopper pondered, but he decided to throw in another Spin Jump on Vivian before Sonic hit her with another Spin Dash. She was already left with 36 HP.

_**"****No… It can't be… Only 30 HP? How?"**_

"Because you're still the same as before," Chopper smirked.

Vivian growled and tried to zap Chopper. Unfortunately, for her, he Superguarded the attack and brought his hammer down on her. She was reduced to 20 HP after Shadower had hit her with a Shadow Punch.

_**"****You won't bring me down!" **_Vivian yelled as she attempted to transform into her shadow form after hitting them with a Fiery Jinx. Tamber managed to interrupt her move with a Combo Punch, leaving her wide open for an attack. Chopper's Jump brought Vivian down to 1 HP, leaving her very weak.

Vivian struggled to make a move, but being in peril about this point, she felt her power slowly beginning to weaken.

"Argh... No... My power... It's...leaving me..."

Chopper looked down at Vivian and noticed her hair changing back and forth between pink and lavender, the latter seeming to win at this point. He thought of making another move, but he was unsure whether or not that would help.

"Vivian... If you can hear me… I just wanna say that we're sorry... We didn't know you were trying to keep a secret for us in order to keep us safe... I... I still consider you as a friend. You've been there for us the whole time. Don't think what you've done is bad. You're still really nice..."

Vivian slowly looked up at Chopper, her hair still changing between colors. However, her eyes quickly glowed red as she raised her arms.

"Heads up, Chopper!" Shadower shouted.

_**"****DIE!" **_Vivian yelled, attempting to strike him with her spell. However, something suddenly flashed from within her body. _**"N-No... Impossible! I thought this was permanent?!"**_

"Huh? What's going on?" Flyer gawked.

The flash got even bigger, and Vivian couldn't take it any longer. She let out a scream, and out came the dark purple mist that couldn't handle her body. Her lavender hair had changed to a soft pink, and her crown was replaced with a red and white-striped hat. She fell over unconscious, while the dark mist escaped through the throne ahead.

Seeing it was safe, everyone walked over to Vivian, with Chopper holding her slightly up.

"Vivian! Are you all right?" Chopper asked. "Are you still here?"

Vivian let out a small moan and slowly opened her eyes. She noticed her friends looking down at her, making her a bit surprised. "G-Guys…? What are you doing here? I thought you didn't want to see me anymore?"

"It's all right, Vivian... We found something out. You were being forced to do your job and were just trying to protect us."

"You know?"

"Yeah. I think we should be sorry for what we did to you." Flyer said with a guilty look on his face. Everyone else seemed a bit guilty.

"You mean you still want me in your group?" Vivian gasped.

"Of course," Heartsy nodded. "You're our friend!"

"And friends stick together," Chopper added.

"Thank you, guys…" Vivian smiled, giving Chopper a hug, though he appeared a little uncomfortable from it.

"Whew… We finally got that out of the way." Sonic sighed. "But I still don't understand where Mario is..."

"Yeah, I wanna know too," Chopper agreed, no longer in Vivian's hug. "I hope nothing bad happened to him.

_**"YOU FOOLS!" **_a dark voice exclaimed, startling everyone. _**"How?! HOW? How did the possession of Vivian FAIL?!"**_

"What the… Who's speaking?" Chopper asked.

_**"****I'm the one that holds your precious King's Star, mortals! You've all been a pain in my backside for too long! I was hoping for my wife to come back, but then it gets foiled by you, Chopper!"**_

"So, YOU'RE the Shadow King! Where are you?!"

_**"****If you want to see me, then come into my chamber. We'll finally put an end to this once and for all!"**_

The throne was suddenly moved aside and a dark and narrow pathway was revealed to be behind it.

"Guys, we better go. It looks like we know where that Shadow King is…" Chopper trailed, running down the pathway and down the stairs. He found an Ultimate Shroom, a Sweet Punch and also a Save Block and Heart Block. Since he had leveled up from the previous fight, now having 105 FP, he ignored the Heart Block and hit the Save Block instead.

"This is just like the way to the Shadow Queen's chamber too," Shadower noticed.

"Poyo! (Well I bet this Shadow King is much stronger!)" Kirby noted.

"Whether he is stronger or not is not what matters," Chopper said. "What really matters is that we beat him! Let's go!"

Chopper opened the door, and everyone headed on through, ready to take down the evil Shadow King once and for all.

* * *

**So, with this chapter, Chopper has fought three of his partners so far.  
**

**With all the buildup to this fight, I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to the boss chapter, which is coming up next!**


	105. Shadow King: The King of Darkness

Chopper stepped foot into the Shadow King's lair and noticed how much different it was to the Shadow Queen's. Not only was there the dark purple sky, but there was dark purple rocky floor with a rigid bridge leading to a throne with two statues in the shape of demon-like hands. The throne itself was a gray color, but it was surrounded in dark mist. Down below in the pit was a light purple glow.

_**"****Welcome Chopper… Welcome to my lair!" **_

Chopper saw a familiar face sitting on the throne. That mustache... Those overalls... And even that mustache!

"Mario?! What on earth are you doing here?!" Chopper asked, appearing shocked. "And why do you look so…different?"

Despite being Mario, his appearance did not look as similar. His cap and his overalls were a black color, while his face was pale. As the group crossed the bridge, he gave them all evil grins.

_**"****Oh, I'm not Mario… Ever since you boarded the Rainbow Cruise when night came on the first day, I've never been Mario. Since when does that Italian plumber SPEAK? You're all fools believing my pathetic excuse!"  
**_

"Where is the real Mario?!" Chopper exclaimed, clenching his fists.

_**"Oh, don't worry. His body is here, but his mind is probably sleeping deep within his consciousness!"**_ Shadow Mario explained. _**"And this whole time, you never knew the Shadow King was standing by your side!"**_

"So… You've been possessing Mario this whole time we were on Viti?" Heartsy gasped.

_**"****Of course! And everything was going according to plan…until you ruined it, Chopper!" **_Shadow Mario hissed, glaring at Chopper._** "I was looking forward to seeing my lovely wife rise! But then you went into the Palace of Shadow and destroyed her. This is what's left of her now, you stupid little kid!"**_

Shadow Mario held the palm of his hand out and a purple mist floated on it. _**"This is what is left of her thanks to you. I was going to have Vivian be possessed by her, according to my plan, but even then, you ruined my plan!"  
**_

"Well, then maybe if she's going to possess someone and attack someone, maybe she should've been aware of how much stronger we got," Chopper suggested.

"My king!"

The Shadow Sirens and Brothers both rose from the shadows, while Doopliss jumped down onto the ground and Tipral teleported into the room. Tipral took out the crystal ball, which the Shadow Queen's misty spirit quickly went into.

"It's such an honor to see you here, my king!" Beldam complimented. "It's been…such a long time since we last saw you!"

"I'm honored to see you looking more evil than usual," Mysterious added.

_**"****Ah, yes… Beldam… It's been such a long time as well. As for you, Mysterious and Purple… You've done your duties rightfully. I am pleased…" **_Shadow Mario slowly looked at Chopper and his friends with a glare._** "Well, I would be pleased if there weren't these fools standing before me!"  
**_

The heroes got in a fighting stance, but that didn't seem to faze Shadow Mario that much.

_**"You really think you have what it takes to beat me? You all must have a death wish..."**_

"We don't think we can beat you. We know we can." Chopper replied, not showing any fear.

"You might want to be careful, guys..." Vivian trailed. "The Shadow King is much stronger than you realize..."

_**"I'd listen to Vivian if I were you..."**_ Shadow Mario grinned. _**"She is probably the only one in your group who's seen my power. Well, other than that traitor Shadower, of course."**_

"Well, it doesn't matter whether or not we've seen it. You're goin' down!" Sonic declared.

_**"****So you still wish to fight me? Very well... Avenging the destruction of my wife will be pleasant! I'll destroy you just as I tried to destroy your ancestor, Chopper!"  
**_

"Ancestor?" Chopper gawked.

_**"****Yes. Ancestor. I can tell you look a bit similar to him, aside from the yellow eyes and blonde hair he had. It was he and a five others who had defeated both my human and shadow form, making me resort to possessing a body."  
**_

"Wait, you were a human before?" Bombette gawked.

_**"****Yes, I was once a human being, just like Mario and Princess Peach. I was raised by my father to destroy what stood before me. I enjoyed eliminating everyone and everything. Unfortunately, it came to an end when Chopper's ancestors and his group of friends turned me into a shadowy mist, just as you see my fair queen in her crystal ball..."**_

"Hey, my ancestor took you down! Ha HA!" Chopper taunted.

_**"****SILENCE!" **_Shadow Mario roared, startling mostly everyone._** "I've learned from my past mistakes! This time, it'll be me who stands triumphant this time! I'd love it if it were your ancestor I was destroying, but you are a perfect substitute for him, Chopper."  
**_

"Well, we'll see what happens when you get taken down by us! You're going to pay for possessing our friend, too!"

_**"Oh, how adorable! You want to help your Italian friend! How thoughtful of you. Maybe when you're at the brink of death, I'll go into your body and slowly drain the life out of you!"  
**_

"I'm sorry, but that's not going to happen," Vivian said. "Chopper, I promised that I would help you, and that's a promise that I'm going to keep. Even if I have to kill my own king."

_**"****Excellent! I'll be happy to get rid of a no-good traitor as well!" **_Shadow Mario added._** "Now, then… Enough chit-chatting! It's time you were punished for your mistakes, mortals!" **_

**Tattle: **_I… I can't believe it. Mario…is POSSESSED?! This is…HORRIBLE! And all this time on the Rainbow Cruise, he was the Shadow King, fooling us into thinking he could talk! H-His Max HP is 300, Attack is 15, and Defense is 1. He'll use Mario's normal attacks, and also some of his own attacks. I don't know what else to say… It feels wrong to attack Mario. But, you have to do SOMETHING!  
_

_**"You know, Chopper... Seeing as I am possessing Mario's body, you wouldn't want to hurt your dear friend would you?"**_

"I'm not falling for that one," Chopper retorted, taking his hammer out and bringing it down on the possessed plumber. Shadow Mario cringed, but it only got worse when he was left with a burn thanks to Vivian's Shade Fist.

Shadow Mario shrugged off the burn raised his arms up to fire a dark ice beam at Chopper. He managed to guard it and only take 14 damage. This wasn't too much of a big deal for Shadow Mario, though he was far from happy when Chopper hit him with his Rainbow Spin.

"Time for me to make a move!" Scrub smirked as he walked over to Shadow Mario and inhaled him with his Gulp ability and then spat him out, taking 8 out of him. The possessed plumber's eyes flashed red as Scrub was struck by lightning.

"Poyo! (I think he has elemental attacks! Watch out, guys!)" warned Kirby.

_**"As you can see... I have much more variety of magic unlike my lovely wife... No offense intended to her, of course."**_ Shadow Mario said, getting ready to cast another spell. Kirby interrupted his attack with a Cartwheel. _**"Argh! Why you little!"**_

Shadow Mario raised his arms, and a dark ball of energy formed above him. He threw it at Chopper, knocking him back. He almost fell off the rigid bridge, but Flyer was able to grab him at the last moment.

"Don't worry, buddy! I got you!" Flyer assured, pulling his friend up.

_**"****What?! What is this?!" **_Shadow Mario gawked. _**"Grrr! You're lucky your friends are here to help you!"**_

"Well I'm glad I have real friends!" Chopper replied, striking Shadow Mario with an electric ball.

"This looks a lot easier than I thought," Shadower realized, hitting Shadow Mario with his Shadow Punch, lowering his defense in the process.

_**"****Oh, I'm just getting started, Shadower. Let's see how you like this!" **_Shadow Mario pointed his finger at Shadower and he was scorched by a Fiery Jinx.

"Wh-Where did you learn Fiery Jinx?" Vivian gasped.

_**"****Isn't it obvious, Vivian? You've inherited it from me, just like your sisters inherited some of my magic powers. Consider yourself lucky that you got my fire magic. That's my strongest one…"**_

"Urgh… I never knew that…" Shadower moaned, taking damage from the burn left on him. However, Shadow Mario's defense was at 0, allowing Chopper to attack with a jump and Bombette to blow up in front of the plumber.

Shadow Mario grumbled as he cast a blizzard. Chopper was able to guard it, but Kirby and Shadower became frozen solid.

"Kirby! Shadower!" Chopper turned around to Shadow Mario with an angry look.

_**"Oh, I'm sorry... I was trying to aim at you, but it looks like like I got those two instead,"**_ Shadow Mario shrugged. _**"How tragic..."**_

Chopper charged toward him and hit him with a Rainbow Spin. Upon flinching, he didn't see Heartsy's hammer strike him in the face.

Shadow Mario growled and summoned Dead Hands to grab Heartsy. She tried to strike the hands with her hammer to let her go, but it didn't seem to work. The hands pulled Heartsy into the shadows, and when she emerged, she took 18 damage and was left horrified.

"I couldn't see a THING down there!" Heartsy shivered.

Chopper looked back to Shadow Mario with a glare and threw a fireball at him, leaving him to be engulfed in flames. "That's for hurting my friend!"

"And this is for Mario!" Sonic added, getting in a ball and shooting himself at Shadow Mario with his Spin Dash, knocking him back to his throne, leaving the Shadow Sirens shocked.

"My king!"

"Guhhh!"

_**"****It's just a mere scratch**_**_," _**Shadow Mario assured, getting up and not appearing too fazed by the attack.**_ "However, seeing as it did do some damage to me, the hedgehog won't be let off so easily."  
_**

Shadow Mario's eyes flashed red, and a bolt of lightning struck Sonic. It was so strong, that it managed to throw him back to the edge of the floor.

"Whoa!" Sonic cried, nearly falling off. Thankfully, Chopper and Flyer managed to help pull him back up. "Whew... Thanks, guys... I thought I was a goner for a second…"

"At least you weren't... Now, let's get back to fighting this king..." Chopper turned back to Shadow Mario and tossed an ice ball at him. Flyer followed up with a Flying Attack, though it had made Shadow Mario fire a dark ball of energy at him, dealing 15 damage.

"Yeesh... Chopper, maybe we were a bit _too_ overconfident..." Flyer noted. "I mean, he only has 179 HP left, and he's dealing some serious damage to us..."

"That's not stopping us. We just need to use some stronger moves." Chopper said, taking out his hammer and striking Shadow Mario with a Power Smash.

"Here, let me give you hand," Tamber suggested, charging at Shadow Mario, and with three punches, the king was down to 160 HP.

Shadow Mario didn't waste his time and fired an ice beam at Tamber. To his relief, he managed to guard the attack and prevent himself from being frozen.

"Ha! I bet a puffball couldn't do-"

"Tamber Not now!" Chopper interrupted, using his hammer again to bring it down on Shadow Mario's head. Vivian then hit him with her Shade Fist, and at this point, Shadow Mario was starting to feel somewhat exhausted. He used his power to throw everyone back with a strong force.

_**"****You don't appear to be as weak as I thought you were, Chopper… I have to say, I'm impressed. It takes a lot to bring me this far."  
**_

"Yeah, maybe because you're weak," Heartsy noted.

_**"Ah... Now there's a problem with you people. You assume this is my real power. Fortunately for me, you are dead wrong. Perhaps now is the time for me to assume my true form and show you the true power of the Shadow King!"**_

With that, Shadow Mario slowly began to lift off the ground.

"What…is he doing?" Chopper gawked.

_**"****Hah hah hah hah! Oh, you'll see, my green little friend!" **_Shadow Mario began to disappear, and a shadow form appeared before everyone. The Shadow King himself was much bigger than the Shadow Queen, with a larger crown and a black, large mustache. Unlike her, though, he was an indigo color, just like the star on his crown. His eyes were a light purple color and looked pretty intimidating. Two hands appeared before him as well.

"He looks like the Shadow Queen, but bigger!" Scrub noted.

_**"****Ah, at long last... I am finally myself again!" **_the Shadow King grinned, receiving surprised looks from everyone. _**"Ah, yes... I can see you're all surprised. THIS is what a true Shadow King looks like! This is quite a treat, considering that I normally don't transform into this. Unfortunately, this'll be the last thing you ever see!"  
**_

The Shadow King used both of his hands to absorb 15 HP from Chopper, while he used his magic to zap Vivian with lightning. He already recovered 30 HP in one turn!

"Hey! That's not fair!" Chopper complained. Unfortunately, his complaints only made the king laugh.

_**"****I'm sorry... I believe my hands slipped for a moment."**_ the Shadow King cackled. "Oh, yes... I forgot to mention... In this form, your attempts to attack me are futile!"

"I highly doubt that," Chopper replied tossing an electric ball at the Shadow King. To his surprise, the attack appeared to do nothing to him. "Huh? That should've hurt him!"

"Let me try," Vivian used her Fiery Jinx, but that didn't hurt him either. And that attack could pierce defense!

_**"Is that all you can muster? So foolish...****" **_the Shadow King smacked Scrub (who was already thawed out along with Shadower) and Kirby with his two hands while he zapped Sonic with a lightning attack as well.

Chopper tried another attack, but it was fruitless. Flyer even tried his Flying Attack on him, and that didn't work either.

_**"****Hah hah hah hah! Look at you! You can't do a thing! Have a little more of my power!" **_the Shadow King cackled, attacking Chopper, Flyer and Tamber with his hands and dark magic.

"Grrrrrrr!" Tamber growled, punching the Shadow King with all he had. Chopper tried hitting him with a fireball, but as usual, it did nothing. "Argh! Nothing's working!"

_**"Hmmmm… You people are very stubborn, refusing to go down so easily." **_the Shadow King remarked._** "So, do you want to see something terrifying?"  
**_

"That depends on what your definition of terrifying is," Flyer replied.

_**"Very well, then... I'll show you something terrifying! Arise, my Dead Hands!**_

Dead Hands were summoned, but they had went into the shadows. To the heroes' shock, the Dead Hands had appeared in the audience and pulled them into the shadows. Just like the Shadow Queen, the Shadow King had recovered all of his HP.

"You monster!" Sonic gaped. "That's just low!"

_**"****Ah, much better!" **_the Shadow King sighed._** "I've recovered all the damage you've done to me. Things should go much smoother, especially at full strength!"  
**_

"This is bad… I… I don't know what to do…" Chopper trailed, now terrified of the Shadow King. Upon realizing there was not much they could do, everyone else felt their hearts racing.

"Heh heh! So, how does it feel to taste defeat, Chopper?" Mysterious cackled.

"This is payback for all the troubles you've caused for us!" Beldam added, awaiting the end of the heroes.

_**"Hah hah hah! Look at you pitiful heroes! You're all so terrified of me now! Well, I suppose I should finally put you out of your misery."**_ the Shadow King started to create a small, dark vortex and looked down at them. _**"****So… Do you all have any last words before I send you into the darkest of realms?"**_

Chopper looked puzzled, unsure of what to say. However, suddenly something popped into his head back at the Palace of the Gods.

_"Wait... Didn't Heus give me a flute?"_ Chopper thought. _"But doesn't it only have one use? Well... I guess it's worth a shot..."_

_**"Well? Do I have to wait? Because I'm not a very patient demon..."**_ the Shadow King noted.

"Well, uh... Maybe I can play a little song for you instead?" Chopper suggested, taking out the God's Flute.

_**"****What? You wish to play me a little song? Hmmmmm... Well, a song does not sound too bad. It'll be the last thing you hear before your demise!"  
**_

"Chopper, what are you…?" Flyer gawked, only to be silenced by Chopper.

"All right... Here it goes." Chopper gulped, blowing into the flute. However, to his amazement, it began to play a little song without him pressing any notes. A rainbow-like glow emitted from the flute as well.

Hearing the song, the Shadow King immediately recognized the song.

_**"****Wait a second... That's no ordinary flute! That's the God's Flute! Where on earth did you get that?"  
**_

The tune Chopper played spread across all of Viti. Places such as Viti Town, Boom's mansion, the casino, the cold mountains and even Ash Field had the music throughout the atmosphere. More importantly, Heus had heard the sound of his call.

_**"You insignificant fool!"**_ the Shadow King hissed. _**"Do you have any idea what you've just done?"**_

"I...made a call to Heus," Chopper answered, lowering the flute.

_**"Grrrrrrr! That's it! You are history!"**_ the Shadow King raised a finger and created dark energy. _**"I should've just destroyed you and your friends from the start!"**_

The Shadow King fired at will, and the group quickly covered their faces and closed their eyes. They did not feel any pain whatsoever. Confused, they opened their eyes and saw Heus standing in front of them, the dark projectile caught in his hand.

"Well, now... So you decide to finally show your face." Heus frowned, crushing the projectile in his hand and transforming it into a blue scent.

_**"Heus... I'm not too surprised to see you. After all, it was you who shattered the Mirror of Viti to keep my secret chamber sealed underground."**_ the Shadow King recalled. _**"Though I find it ironic that you helped these people bring it back!"**_

"That's because you have a little something these people need," Heus replied. "And for the record, I knew these heroes wouldn't be able to defeat you in your shadow form, so I gave them the God's Flute to make the battle a little more fair."

_**"Fair?!"**_ the Shadow King gawked. His confused look changed to laughter. _**"Bah hah hah! Do you have any idea who I am, Heus? I am the Shadow King! And by my book, I can do as I please!"**_

The Shadow King created a bolt of shadow energy and hurled it in Heus's direction. The King of Gods let out a small yawn and put his in front of him to stop the projectile. He created a blue energy sphere out of it and fired it back at the Shadow King. It appeared to be very effected, as a bright flash emitted from him.

"Whoa... That was amazing!" Bombette gaped.

_**"****Wh-What?! What's going on?!"**_ the Shadow King cringed, another white flash appeared from him. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain, as if a glass barrier surrounding him was shattered. _**"Argh! What is this sort of pain?!"  
**_

"I destroyed your barrier," Heus answered, smirking with his arms crossed.

_**"That's all you did? Fool... I still have enough power to destroy you, Heus!"**_

"Now now... I never said I was going to fight you personally. These brave heroes, on the other hand, will be the ones to finish you."

"They have become weakened, while I have become fully revitalized. What makes you think that they will emerge victorious?"

With a wave of a finger, all of the injuries left of the heroes were completely healed off, fully restoring their HP, FP, and Star Power. Not only that, but Chopper was surrounded by a green light. When it was gone, Chopper donned his green, floppy hat and the golden sword Galaxia in his hand.

"There you go, everyone. With this, you are capable of hurting the Shadow King once again." Heus informed. "However, this is all I will help you with. This is your fight. But, I do have faith in you all. For now, farewell, and put an end to this wrathful king!"

With that, Heus disappeared in a column of light. The Shadow King hissed and narrows his eyes angrily at Chopper and Co.

_**"You were lucky, Chopper. If it weren't for that God's Flute, you would all be suffering in the darkest of realms!"  
**_

"Well, you're right, I am pretty lucky," Chopper smirked, pointing Galaxia at the Shadow King. "But now it makes things fairer for both of us!"

_**"So it does..."**_ the Shadow King looked at the blade Chopper held. _**"That sword... It looks familiar... But that will not stop you from meeting your impending doom! You will all fall to the full power of the Shadow King!"**_

"All right, then... You asked for it!"

**Tattle: **_That's the Shadow King. Whoa… He's THE definition of scary! At least, in my own eyes. Max HP is 300, Attack is 15, and Defense is 2. He'll try to attack you by using his hands, and not to mention an elemental attack he has! The Shadow King will even boost his attack and defense up by 4, so watch out! I also need to warn you that he'll raise his attack up by 15 if he has a chance, so you should use Vivian's Veil to avoid that attack. Trust me, it's DEADLY! Other than that, I have faith in you, Chopper. Beat him, and the Shadow King will be no more.  
_

Chopper rushed toward the Shadow King, and with one slash at his chest, a white light emitted from him. It caused the king to let out a big scream while clutching his chest.

_**"****Argh! No... do you realize what you've just done?!" **_the Shadow King screamed, the light getting brighter and larger. A sharp pain came from his body when a familiar figure had managed to jump out from his chest and land in front of the heroes, tipping his red cap to them.

"MARIO!"

Mario: Where are we?

"We're...fighting the Shadow King," Chopper explained, pointing at said king. Mario turned to face the king, who glared at the plumber.

_**"You... The only reason why I possessed you was because you were a nice vessel for me."**_ the Shadow King hissed. _**"But seeing as you are standing before me, I will have fun destroying you! After all, you were the one to turn my wife into a shadowy mist in the first place!"**_

"And I helped him out," Vivian pointed out, raising a finger and scorching the Shadow King, along with his hands. They had 8 HP, so her Fiery Jinx managed to do away with them.

_**"Ah, yes... Another reason why having my queen possess you... Considering you helped fight against her twice, having her take your body was an excellent idea."**_

"Well I'm done with you, Shadow King," Vivian stated. "I'd rather stay with a group of people that are nice and friendly than those that use threats to make me help you."

_**"Very well, then! I will make sure you go first!"**_ the Shadow King roared, his eyes flashing red as Vivian was struck by a lightning attack. She managed to guard it and prevent herself from being paralyzed. Afterward, he regenerated he hands.

"I'll take out the hands, and someone else can help hurt the Shadow King" Chopper suggested, jumping in the air and firing a Galaxia Sword Beam at the Shadow King and his hands. They were destroyed, while he managed to deal 8 damage to the king.

Mario: Time for payback!

Mario tipped his hat and landed a Super Jump on the Shadow King. The king gave him a glare. _**"When I'm through with Chopper and Vivian, I'll make sure you're next in line..."**_

Using his powers, the Shadow King summoned Dead Hands to grab Mario and pull him into the shadows in the same manner as they did with Heartsy. When Mario emerged, he had suffered 18 damage.

Mario: Mama mia...

"I feel your pain, Mario..." Heartsy sympathized.

The Shadow King brought his attention to Chopper and opened his mouth. A fireball hit him and did 15 to him. Chopper groaned and fired another Sword Beam to destroy the Dead Hands and deal 8 more to the Shadow King. Shadower then lowered his defense with a Shadow Punch.

_**"Perhaps it's time I showed you my most powerful attack,"**_ the Shadow King grinned, his hands regenerating. He began to charge up some power by raising his Attack by 15. "This should severely injure you all."

Chopper decided to Power Bounce the Shadow King just to get a little damage done on him by stomping on him sixteen times and bringing him down to 231 HP. Vivian then grabbed everyone and hid in the shadows. The Shadow King unleashed his dark, explosive wave. Because the heroes were in the shadows, they avoided getting hurt and emerged.

However, that didn't stop the Shadow King from smacking Scrub and Bombette with his hands and firing an ice beam that Sonic managed to guard.

Bombette's fuse lit up as she approached the Shadow King and his hands. Her Bob-omb Blast managed to take 8 out of him and destroy his hands. Chopper followed up by swinging his sword at him.

_**"****Take THIS!" **_the Shadow King fired a dark ball of energy from his mouth at Chopper, knocking him back. He was lucky enough to grab onto the bridge's edge and get back up. Sonic had managed to hit the Shadow King and his hands with his Sonic Wind, dealing 8 damage to him.

"Man, this guy can take some serious damage," Sonic remarked, moving aside when Chopper struck the Shadow King with his Galaxia Drill, bringing him to 201 HP.

_**"****Perhaps I should bring this battle up a notch…" **_the Shadow King pondered before summoning a dark vortex. _**"Let us get back to what I was planning on doing before..."  
**_

The vortex began to suck Chopper in, but he took action by sticking his sword onto the rocky floor. Though the current did still cause harm to him, he only took 6 damage in the end.

"That was close..." Chopper sighed, firing a Sword Beam at the Shadow King and his hands, destroying them. Kirby floated above him next and crushed him with his Stone ability. Upon turning back to normal, though, he was struck by the Shadow King's dark fire.

Tamber punched the ground to destroy the Shadow King's hands thanks to his Quake. This gave Chopper the opportunity to strike him with Galaxia, bringing him to 168 HP.

Dead Hands rose up from the shadows by the Shadow King as he roared, _**"Go, my Dead Hands! Get them!"**_

The Dead Hands charged directly at the group and managed to hit them three times, dealing a total of 18 damage. To top that off, the Shadow King rose his Attack and Defense up by 4.

"Uh oh… This isn't good." Chopper gulped.

_**"****Hah hah hah hah! This is the perfect opportunity for me to use this ability." **_the Shadow King grinned.

"Oh... Well, that's not stopping us from defeating you." Chopper swung his sword and hit him with another Sword Beam. It did manage to destroy his hands, but with the Shadow King, he only did 2 damage. "Oh... That's not good..."

"Well, I think I can give you a hand," Flyer flew over to the Shadow King and struck him with his Flying Attack, taking 9 out of him. The Shadow King grumbled as he regenerated his hands and smacked Vivian and Heartsy with them, while he shot a dark ball of energy at Tamber.

After Chopper used another Sword Beam, he saw the Bingo chart with two Shine Sprites. He hit the third one, which landed on a Shine Sprite. Everyone's HP and FP recovered, and not to mention the audience all came back and filled up every seat.

"Hey! That was really nice!" Chopper smiled. The first thing Shadower did was lower his defense with a Shadow Punch, bringing his defense to 2. Chopper fired a Sword Beam and left him with 145 HP. "We're halfway there, guys!"

In anger, the Shadow King summoned Dead Hands to pull Chopper into the shadows. Each attack they landed on him, he was able to guard it and only take 15 damage in the end upon emerging. He even guarded the Shadow King's ice beam as well. Bombette destroyed the Dead Hands with her Bob-omb Blast, while Chopper attacked the Shadow King with his Galaxia Drill.

_**"Heh heh heh... Perhaps I should absorb some of your HP?"**_ the Shadow King smirked, summoning his two hands to absorb HP from Vivian and Mario. To his shock, they were able to Superguard it. He opened his mouth and blew a poisonous mist on them, but they managed to Superguard that too. _**"What? How was that even possible?!"**_

To top it off, his Attack and Defense boost wore off as well.

"Whew! That's good for us! Now let's just lower your defense a bit so it'll be a lot easier for us!" Chopper smirked, using a Soft Stomp on the Shadow King to lower his defense, while Heartsy used her Hearty Cyclone to spin in a pink cyclone and deal 8 damage to the king and his hands.

The Shadow King summoned his Dead Hands to pull Chopper into the shadows to attack. Just like before, Chopper guarded his attacks in the shadows and emerged with his guard up.

"Well now! Looks like this could be a lot easier than we expected!" Sonic smirked. That, unfortunately, led him to being zapped. Chopper retaliated against the king by hitting him with his Wall Jump.

"Since his defense is down, lemme give ya a hand!" Scrub fluttered in mid-air and went above the Shadow King. With eight Ground Pounds, he brought him down to 91 HP.

_**"****Argh... Taste my power!" **_the Shadow King raised his finger up and hit Chopper with a Fiery Jinx, leaving him with a burn.

"Ow..." Chopper trailed, shaking off the attack and using his Sword Beam to deal 10 damage to the Shadow King and his hands. The more he looked at the sword, the more he was starting to get an idea of what it was.

_**"****That sword… I feel like I recognize it from somewhere..." **_the Shadow King winced, taking more damage from Vivian's Shade Fist. **_"It reminds me of that sword used a thousand years ago..."_**

The Shadow King's hands reappeared before he zapped Vivian with an ice beam, but she brought her fists up and guarded the attack. She raised a finger and hit the king and his hands with her Fiery Jinx.

"Go ahead, Chopper. Make your move!" Vivian noted.

"Ummm… OK!" Chopper gripped Galaxia and slashed at the Shadow King's chest. He found a small light scar on his body that seemed to anger him.

_**"****You horrid little boy! I'll make you suffer" **_the Shadow King grabbed Chopper and attempted to squeeze the life out of him. He pointed at Vivian and zapped her with lighting.

"Don't worry, puffball! I'm here to save ya!" Tamber declared, raising his fists and slamming them onto the ground. His Quake managed to take 11 out of the king and destroy his hands, setting him free.

"Thanks, Tamber!" Chopper spun around and swung at the Shadow King again to deal 6 damage, bringing his HP to 39.

_**"****No… It… It cannot be…" **_the Shadow King moaned. He summoned his Dead Hands to cause more havoc by making them charge into his friends. Thankfully, they put their guard up to protect themselves. The Shadow King followed up by zapping Mario.

Chopper used another Sword Beam on the Shadow King to get rid of the hands, and with Mario's Hammer, he was down to 23 HP.

The Shadow King began to go all out and raised his Attack power by 15 after he regenerated his hands. Just as before, Chopper destroyed his hands and hurt him with a Sword Beam, while Vivian used her Veil to hide everyone in the shadows.

His powerful dark blast was unleashed, but he was irritated by their dodging. Regardless, he took the opportunity to smack Vivian and Mario with his hands, while he fired a dark ball of energy from his mouth at Chopper.

"Listen, Shadow King... You can give up now." Chopper suggested. "Just like the Shadow Queen, you're failing this battle!"

"I will never give up until all of you are taken care of!" the Shadow King hissed. "Convincing me will do nothing to help you!"

"Then... We have no other choice but to finish you..." Vivian trailed, raising a finger and striking him with a Fiery Jinx. At this point, a normal hammer or sword swing would be enough to finish him off, and he was starting to realize it.

_**"****Urk… No… I don't understand... Even with all this power, you fools are able to bring me down this far?"**_

"Hey, maybe it's because you just like to suggest that you are," Sonic noted. "There's always baddies that act just like you. Honestly, you're nothing special."

_**"Argh! I am the Shadow King! I am above you all!"**_

"Well... I guess not anymore." Chopper said, raising Galaxia. "It's time to finish this."

He rushed toward the Shadow King with all his might and jumped in the air. He drove Galaxia into the king's chest, causing a large light to envelop within the demon's body.

_**"This sword... Now I remember it now..."**_ the Shadow King trailed weakly. **_"Your ancestor... He used this same exact sword on me... It was what destroyed me. I guess it was fate for his descendant to use this same exact sword against me."_**

"I guess so," Chopper replied, landing front of the Shadow King, the sword still stuck in his body. "But, at least you'll be able to join the Shadow Queen."

However, despite the situation the Shadow King was in, he was starting to laugh. Everyone cocked their heads with suspicious looks._**  
**_

"Hey! What's so funny?! You're beaten!" Scrub pointed out.

"Yes... You are correct. I am beaten." the Shadow King agreed, his evil grin not leaving his face. "But while I may be destroyed once again, you are all still going to die in the end!"

"Wait, what?" Vivian gawked.

"The time will eventually come, and the darkness will rain down upon the universe. And then everything will be hopeless for you all. Besides... There is someone else out there that is ten times as strong as me. When you finally meet him, he will obliterate you all!"

"He? What are you talking about?" Chopper gaped.

"When he destroys you and your precious worlds, it will be I who has the last laugh!"

The Shadow King continued to cackle as his indigo body was enveloped entirely by light. He had exploded, causing Galaxia to disintegrate and Chopper to be sent flying back, knocking his ability away in the process. Thankfully, his friends had managed to catch him before he could fall into the abyss behind them.

As for the Shadow Sirens and Shadow Brothers, they had quickly made their escape. Doopliss ran past the heroes to leave the Shadow Palace, but Tipral was knocked back from the explosion. He had dropped the crystal ball and quickly teleported before he could fall into the abyss.

All that was left from the explosion was an indigo Crystal Star and an indigo mist. The latter was all too familiar to Mario.

It tried to make an escape, but Heus appeared in time, scooped up the crystal ball, and trapped the mist in it with the Shadow Queen's spirit. Waving his hand, the darkness inside had quickly faded away, being replaced with a sparkly blue liquid.

"There we go. You won't be getting out of that now." Heus smirked, staring at the crystal ball. "Enjoy your life with your queen in there for all eternity."

"What did you do?" Vivian asked.

"Well… I used my power to expel all the evil inside and turn it into this liquid substance." Heus explained, showing them the crystal ball. "With that, we no longer have to deal with these two troublemakers."

"So... They're gone for good?"

"Absolutely."

Everyone sighed in relief.

"But… What about the Shadow Sirens and Brothers? They already escaped!" Chopper mentioned. "And what was the Shadow King saying about this person destroying us? Who was he talking about?"

"Hmmm… Well, unfortunately, I cannot help you with those questions. If I had known what was going on, I'd tell you."

"And what about Galaxia? Was that the real one?"

"No. Just a duplicate."

"Oh, thank goodness."

"Ummmmm... Guys?" Vivian spoke, making everyone's eyes turn to her. "I just want to thank you for being there for me, even when I had ended up confessing the truth. You people are actually some of the greatest friends I've ever had."

"Well, we're sorry for what you had to go through," Flyer said. "Honestly, I kinda wish we were there to help you when you were about to get possessed by the Shadow Queen."

"Yeah... But with the Shadow King gone, I feel like I have no need to worry about him... I don't know what's going on with my sisters, but I know no one will be bugging me."

"That's great!" Chopper smiled. "You shouldn't have to worry about worrying! It's always nice to relax and...other stuff!"

Vivian gave him a smile and couldn't resist giving him a hug. "You, especially, managed to help me, Chopper..."

"Uhhh... Help me, guys?" Chopper squeaked, feeling uncomfortable from the hug. She eventually let go of him and remembered the King's Star. She picked it up and held it in front of Chopper.

"Here, Chopper. We need this."

Chopper gave her a nod and took it from her hands. The star began to circle around him until it hovered over his head, and cheerfully, he held it up.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 17! And Chopper learned the special move Dark Super Chopper!**

"…Huh? Dark Super Chopper?" Chopper gawked.

**END OF CHAPTER**

_Thanks to Chopper and his friends, the threat of the Shadow King and Queen had finally been relinquished. With sixteen Crystal Stars left, their quest was not too far from ending. However, with the Shadow King gone, were things truly peaceful? Not to mention the fact that the Shadow Sirens and Brothers escaped. Will they still be a threat to our heroes? And what about Grodus and Gemerl? Despite two demons out of the way, they still had much more to worry about.  
_

* * *

**Ash Field-**

"Gah… Why did I come to this blasted place?" Shade groaned, scanning Ash Field. There was no sign of Dark and his army, and it was a bit hot as well. "I searched the others places for something, but just like here, there is nothing."

Shade noticed that there were a couple of chunks of ice around the area, which was strange. After all, this place was pretty warm...

"Well, the first thing I need to do is start and army. But to do that, I need something… Something that will help me become even stronger than Dark! You always need power to lead an army!"

As he continued to walk, he ended up tripping and falling over on the ash.

"What the…!" Shade got up and was about to get angry, but he saw a book with a dark mist surrounding it. He picked it up and saw that it was labeled, "Book of Dark Magic."

He opened it and finally had an insidious grin on his face upon skimming through a couple of pages.

"Hee hee hee... I think this might come in handy!"

* * *

**Well, what a boss fight this was! A pretty long one at that! I think it was a good way to end off the second act of this story. That means only one more act remains...  
**

**So what will be in store for the last remaining chapters of the story? Well, you'll see.**


	106. Chapter 16 Interlude

Grodus stood before the ruins of Rogueport Sewers where the Thousand-Year Door was. Lord Crump and the X-Naut, Johnson, were by his side. The leader appeared to be looking through the glass sphere on his scepter, where the three could see Chopper holding the King's Star.

"That Chopper… So he managed to get that Crystal Star the Shadow King holds..." Grodus trailed. "I have to thank you for that. He would've been a major nuisance if he had gotten in my way. Thankfully, I don't need him to accomplish my goals."

"Sir, are you sure we should be around here?" Johnson asked. "I mean, remember what happened last time..."

"Relax, Johnson. That demon behind the door is already gone. And with the Shadow King destroyed, I don't have to deal with him. I have to say, Chopper has actually helped me by doing this."

"Well, what about the Shadow Sirens and Brothers?" Lord Crump mentioned.

"Them? I know that those minions are not as big of a threat with the Shadow King and Queen gone. I might be even stronger than them!" Grodus grinned. "Though... Even if the king and queen are gone, I don't think they're giving up so easily. "

"Perhaps I should start researching the next Crystal Star?" Johnson suggested, pulling out his laptop.

"Yes, you go and do that, Johnson. We still have some stars to..." Grodus paused, noticing some footprints near the large door. "What's this?"

"Whoa, where ya going, Grodus?" Lord Crump asked, noticing the X-Naut leader walk in front of the Thousand-Year Door. He looked down at the footprints and opened the door. The footprints appeared to be inside the Palace of Shadow.

"Well now... It appears someone else is settling in this place..." Grodus pondered. "Those feet don't resemble a Toad's or Koopa's. They looked more like a robot's foot to me..."

"Uhhh... What the heck are you talking about?"

"You know, Lord Crump... I was always wondering something. There's that one robot that is after the Crystal Stars as well. Thinking about it more, I've never met him in person."

"Oh, I get it! You wanna go pay him a visit? Lemme come with you!"

"No, Lord Crump. Not yet... First, I want to see if this Gemerl is here. I'd prefer to wait here and see if a certain robot ends up coming out of the door to find a Crystal Star. Once he goes inside, then I will follow him."

"Wait... What about me?" Lord Crump gawked.

"I want you to go help Johnson look for a Crystal Star. If you find one, alert me and bring the rest of our army there. We will not let Chopper get to it so easily..."

"Oh... Well, all right, then. And with that... Pow! I'm gone!"

Lord Crump took off with Johnson, while Grodus conjured up a spell that shrouded himself from anyone who dared to come to this area.

"By disposing of this robot, I'll have one less enemy to deal with... Then you're next, Chopper!"

* * *

**Viti, near Ash Field-**

"Urgh... That was terrible..." Bowser groaned, now back up from his defeat against Chopper and his friends. "We finally set our eyes on Chopper and Mario, and we end up losing! ...And my head still hurts!"

"Your Dizziness, shall I get some ice for you?" Kammy asked.

"No way! I don't need no stinkin' ice! I'm a big Koopa, just to let you know!"

"My apologies, Lord Bowser..." Kammy replied, looking around the area. "Great... Chopper and his sniveling friends are most likely gone! We must've been out for too long!"

"If that's the case, then Chopper must've gotten that Crystal Star! ARRGHH! I HATE that kid!" Having enough, Bowser pushed Kammy out of the way and got onto his Koopa Clown Car. "We're leaving this island, so get to it, Haggy!"

Kammy got on her broomstick and followed her leader off the island and over the water. "Your Evilness!"

"What now?!" Bowser groaned, glaring at the old Magikoopa.

"When was the last time you checked the fuel supply on your Koopa Clown Car?"

"Fuel? Pbbbbbbth! This thing has a propeller! There's no need for fuel for something like this!"

"But the fuel is what keeps the propeller going!"

"Wait, what?" Just then, Bowser heard the sound of his propeller slowing down. Looking down, he noticed it was no longer moving. "Wait a minute... Oh, crud..."

"You never changed the fuel supply, did you..." Kammy trailed, narrowing her eyes at Bowser with disappointment.

"I have minions to do that thing."

"What surprises me is that you're still in mid-"

At that moment, the Koopa Clown Car flipped upside down, along with Bowser, and both began to plummet into the ocean below.

"_**AAARRGGHH!**_"

Kammy cringed once Bowser and his vehicle splashed into the water. "Oh, dear... Well, I wish I could help, but I don't wish to get this old robe wet."

She took off, heading back to Rogueport.

* * *

Bowser opened his eyes and saw himself lying on the ocean floor, and beside him was his crashed Koopa Clown Car. A couple of Cheep Cheeps and Bloopers were roaming around, along with some X-Nauts and Phis dropping from the sky above.

Being Bowser, he wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Ready to roll!" Bowser declared, now starting to swim. He opened his mouth and breathed fire near some Cheep Cheeps and Bloopers, burning them to a crisp. "Bwa ha ha ha! It feels so good to breathe fire underwater!"

A Phi tried charging at him, but it was no match for his fire breath, leading it to explode. Not even the X-Nauts managed to hit him.

"Gwa ha ha ha ha! I've never had this much fun since I went into Rogueport Sewers!" Bowser cackled, hitting a yellow block and devouring some meat to grow bigger. "And hello meat! THIS is what I'm talking about!"

Bowser crushed all the Bloopers in his way and grabbed another piece of meat, making him bigger and invincible. This allowed him to plow through all the blocks in his way until he reached the flagpole in the end. Because he was big, he ended up stepping on the castle.

* * *

**Rogueport Harbor-  
**

"Gwaf…urgh…" Bowser groaned, getting himself out of the water. A couple of sailors getting ready to go on their boats recognized him and bolted, fearing the Koopa king. "Ugh... Why do I always have the worst luck? Today is not my day!"

"Ah! Your Sogginess! There you are!" Kammy cried, flying down to meet Bowser. "So how did you get back here so quickly?"

"...By swimming."

"Oh, wow! I never knew you were such a strong swimmer! You wouldn't believe what I saw while heading here! There was this beautiful cruise heading straight for Viti! It had so many things you could do, such as suntanning, food, and a pool-"

"I swear, Kammy... You mention anything related to water, I'm going to..."

"You should've been there to see it! The ocean was absolutely gorge-"

"_**GWWARGH!**_"

Bowser charged straight at Kammy, but he found himself tripping and falling on the old Magikoopa instead.

"I swear, I'm going to make sure I get my hands on at least ONE Crystal Star..." Bowser grumbled, too exhausted to get up.

* * *

**Castle Dedede-**

"Ah... Now THIS is a chair!" King Dedede grinned, sitting on a throne that supported a massage and feeding button. "Escargon, why didn't you get me one of these before? Too lazy?"

"No, Your Majesty…" Escargon sighed. "_...Though, I bet with this chair, you're going to gain some weight..._"

"What was that?" King Dedede asked, looking far from pleased.

"I was just saying how nice it would be if you got some other contents added to that throne!"

"Oh... I agree with that. Now, let's see how that demon beast is doing with the job." King Dedede pressed another button, and the TV monitor came out from the ceiling.

_"Good day to you, Your Majesty,"_ the Tartara greeted. _"What brings you here?"_

"I want some status updates on that Demon Beast pronto!" the king demanded angrily. "I haven't heard any news from the Demon Beast in a while! Did he get the job done?!"

_"Unfortunately, we haven't heard an news from Tree... Wait, what?"_ the Tartara gawked, turning to another that appeared to speak to it. After a few mumbles, the fiery dragon lizard brought its attention back to the king. _"We've just received news about Treenoon. Unfortunately... He failed."_

"Shocking..." Escargon mumbled sarcastically.

_"And unfortunately, we've also received news of the Shadow King being destroyed."_

"The Shadow what?" King Dedede gawked.

_"Shadow King. He was going to eliminate those heroes, but it looks like he failed, sadly. No matter, even with him gone, we shall still thrive as a business! Speaking of that, let's get to some business issues."_ the Tartara pulled out a chart and showed the amount to King Dedede. _"You still haven't paid us for the previous Demon Beasts, Your Majesty."_

"Yeah, yeah, I know... You don't have to tell me a million times."

_"Oh, but telling you is important. We've been constantly telling you of the terrible consequences. Believe me, we Tartaras will not tolerate thieves."_

"Yeah, yeah..." King Dedede trailed, rolling his eyes. "Look, I will get you the money. I promise!"

"Your Majesty! Come quick! I just spotted something!" Escargon took King Dedede over to the window. He gave him some binoculars to take a look at what was going on near Cappy Town.

"This better be important, Escargon," King Dedede hissed. "I was doing some important business!"

"Take a look at Fumu. You see what she's doing?"

King Dedede looked at Fumu, who was holding a book with a drawing of herself with a jump rope. She flipped the pages and it showed the picture jumping, like it was animated.

"Hey, that looks cool!" King Dedede remarked. "Though, isn't that something we've seen before?"

"Well, when I got a glimpse of it, an idea suddenly popped into my head," Escargon said, pulling the king in close. "You know, sometimes making an anime can help lead us to getting some money."

"But isn't their pay awful?"

"Errrr... Yeah, but you can still make money off of it. We could broadcast an anime all over the universe, and that could probably help make us enough Deden to pay them off!"

"And you really believe this will work?" King Dedede asked, giving his assistant an uncertain look. "You remember what happened last time, right?"

"Well... They say that later in life, you tend to improve on certain things. Plus, Tartara Co. could probably help fund it!"

_"What are you two bickering about?" _the Tartara asked._  
_

King Dedede slowly turned to the Tartara, still looking uncertain. However, he tried to remain calm and bold. "I have a little idea... Perhaps you can help us fund a little anime that we were interested in making."

_"An anime? Getting that much money would require it to be broadcasted throughout the universe."_

"Exactly," Escargon noted.

_"Hmmmmmm... Very well. Just make sure it doesn't involve the usual things you see in anime."_

"Like what?" King Dedede gawked.

_"...Just don't make it stupid. Also, do you have a crew to help you? Because if you want to make an anime, you can't do it on your own."_

"Oh, we'll get our crew…" King Dedede assured, rubbing his hands with a big grin on his face.

* * *

**?-**

Upon exploring around Rogueport, Gemerl had come across a hidden little area. It contained a green rug in the center of the room and also a couple of weights and a treadmill.

"So, those Phis apparently told me there's a Crystal Star located in here," Gemerl recalled, remembering what the Phis had told him. To his surprise, he spotted a golden Crystal Star on the wall. "Ah! There it is! Just what I came for!"

He walked over to the Crystal Star and tried to pry if off the wall. Unfortunately, it wouldn't even come off. "What? How come it won't come off? ...Wait, is this thing attached to a belt? Ugh... I guess I have to do things the hard way.

Gemerl's hands changed to what appeared to be a blue laser sword. He placed it near the belt and prepared to cut it off.

"Freeze, you metal chump!"

Gemerl's laser sword disappeared as he turned to face the yellow chicken facing him.

"What? And you are…?"

"Harharharharharharhar! Don't tell me you don't know the famous Rawk Hawk! I'm the biggest fighter in the Glitz Pit! EVERYONE knows me!" Rawk Hawk grinned, flexing his muscles and pointing at the monitor. "Hey, you little punk-weasels! Don't think you forgot about me so soon! Especially these muscles and Rawkness!"

"Yeah, well I don't have a clue on who you are. I don't come from this world." Gemerl stated.

"Hmph! That was impressive! You were able to clear my Secret Training Facility! Not too shabby!"

"Your Secret Training Facility?" Gemerl gawked, pausing for a moment to ponder. "…You're talking about the mushrooms and X-Nauts I blasted, right?"

"Yeah! Those were them! You're pretty good..." Rawk Hawk trailed. "'Course, good don't count for squat in this biz, robot! My champ's belt is…mine!"

"A weak yellow chicken like yourself taking me on? As if." Gemerl scoffed. "You probably couldn't stand a chance against me."

"Weak… Chicken… Wait, WHAT?! Well, tell me something: you ever see a weakling…_**DO THIS**_?"

Rawk Hawk tried to slide under Gemerl in an attempt to attack, but he simply avoided the attack by hovering up with his jetpack. A simple jump was all he needed to make the Rawk fall.

"Pain."

"That was it? That was all you had? Pathetic..." Gemerl groaned, only to hear something shatter. He quickly whirled around and noticed the Crystal Star on the belt break. "No! The star! ...Wait a second, the Crystal Star I had seemed much more durable than this."

"Yeah..._ugh_... It was...fake..." Rawk Hawk groaned.

Gemerl turned to Rawk Hawk with a glare. "Then where is the real one?"

"You…_ow_…want the real one? The Great…_urk_…Contadre…has it… _Oh, my aching hair_… Feel…the…Rawk…"

"Contadre? I don't know any Contadre." Gemerl replied. "So, I guess those Phis were only bluffing. Great... So much for finding a Crystal Star."

He lifted himself off the ground and began to slowly fly out of the room past the exhausted Rawk Hawk.

"_Urg_… Feel…the Rawk…tin can…"

* * *

**Viti, Palace of the Gods-**

"I thank you for your hard work, Chopper and Co.," Heus thanked. "Not only did you manage to restore the Mirror of Viti, but you also saved Viti from the threats of the Shadow King.! I'm proud of you…and I'm sure Meta Knight is too."

"What are you planning on doing with that crystal ball?" Vivian asked.

"This?" Heus looked over at the crystal ball in his hands. "Well... I think I'll leave it in your hands." With that, he dropped the crystal ball in her hands.

"Me? But why would you give it to me?"

"Those two can't do a thing in there, so you can keep it as a souvenir. Besides, I have no use for it. I don't think any of the gods want to see something like this..."

"Oh... Well thank you."

"I guess we should get going," Flyer suggested. "After all, we do need to place that Crystal Star in its place."

Mario: Yeah, we should do that!

"Well, I will not stop you heroes," Heus assured. "If you ever wish to come back here, you are free to do so."

"We'll keep that in mind," Sonic nodded. "C'mon, guys! I'll race ya back to the surface!"

Sonic was the first to take off, with the rest following behind. Along the way, Vivian looked down at the crystal ball in her hands and looked at the blue liquid inside. It looked very beautiful. Much better than that smoky mist, that's for sure.

They had eventually made their exit from the palace and were now back on the surface. Right by Viti's harbor, they saw Goombella waiting for them.

"Hey, guys! You have NO idea what I've found throughout this island!" Goombella exclaimed.

"We've found a lot, too," Scrub said. "We beat the Shadow King!"

"...Yeah, I know that."

"Wait... How?"

"Uh, HELLO? Don't you see me with the Tattle book out?! I mean, geez! It would be pretty obvious that I go around tattling the mini-bosses and bosses you face each chapter! ...Whoops, I think I said too much."

"OK... I guess we're off?" Chopper wondered, getting ready to whistle.

"Poyo! (I'm ready to go!)" Kirby nodded, summoning his Warp Star. Chopper had done the same and leaped onto it.

"Hey, can I come with you guys?" Goombella asked. "I mean, I just need you to drop me back at Rogueport, that's all."

"All right, that's fine," Chopper nodded, allowing Goombella to join them. She decided to go onto Kirby's Warp Star before they took off. It hadn't taken them long for them to reach Rogueport and drop her off. After that, they were back in space, heading back to Pop Star.

"Well... That took a lot less time than the cruise." Shadower remarked.

"This is why I wanted to take the Warp Star," Chopper pointed out. "The cruise... Well... I don't know what to say about it..."

"Awesome?" Scrub corrected.

"Stupid?" Tamber asked, appearing uninterested in this conversation.

"Well I liked it," Heartsy remarked. "It was a nice change of pace compared to what we normally do."

"Maybe we'll get more of an opportunity to relax next time?" Bombette pondered.

"Poyo! (I think I see Pop Star up ahead!)" Kirby announced, interrupting the conversation. They all took a look and saw the planet getting much bigger as they approached it.

* * *

**Hatty Town-**

The first thing they did was land in front of the Mayor's house in Hatty Town. They were about to knock on his door, but he was already outside, looking more worried than usual.

"Oh, Chopper! There you are!" the Mayor cried, approaching the group. "I've been waiting for you!"

"Waiting for me? What's wrong?" Chopper asked, noticing the sweat coming from the yellow Cappy.

"You should take a look at this," the Mayor pulled out a letter that resembled the black letter from before. It also had the red handwriting too. "This one appears to be addressed to you."

Taking the letter, Chopper began to read through it.

_**Dear Chopper of Planet Clara,**_

_**I have to commend you for your efforts. You managed to defeat both the Shadow King and Queen! For a small, antenna freak, you and your friends are much stronger than I thought. However, that does not mean you're all safe and sound! My dark power is slowly coming your way, and it'll devour everything in its path and transform it into unlike anything you've seen before. You may have sixteen Crystal Stars in your hand, but do you have enough time to get them? **_

"I bet that guy who wrote you that other letter wrote this one too!" Chopper deduced.

"I know. I guess time is slowly running out..." the Mayor trailed. "Please, Chopper. You MUST get the remaining four Crystal Stars! They're our only hope in stopping this darkness!"

"That's what we plan on doing!" Chopper declared. "Come on, guys! We got another Crystal Star to find!"

Everyone agreed and made their exit out of Hatty Town. This time, they decided to head to the Fountain of Dreams on foot. It wasn't like it was a far way to go anyway. However, they noticed over by another pathway leading to Green Greens, it didn't look as green as usual.

"Poyo? (What's up with Green Greens?)" Kirby gawked.

"I don't know... It wasn't like that before..." Chopper trailed. "Then again, I don't think I've been there before..."

"Perhaps it's a different time of the season?" Flyer wondered, working on a gadget. Heartsy noticed the gadget, and it looked awfully familiar.

"Hey, isn't that the invention you're making to help Fumu? How is it?" Heartsy asked.

"It's actually nearly complete!" the Wingel smiled. "I think it won't take me very long to get this thing done! And with that, Fumu will finally be free of that collar!"

"I could've handled tearing that thing off," Tamber mentioned.

"The problem with that is that you might hurt Fumu," Heartsy pointed out.

"Whatever..."

Eventually they reached the Fountain of Dreams, and Chopper held the King's Star above him. They knew the same scenario would occur and took a look at the map when Chopper finally got a glimpse of the next location.

It showed a pink Crystal Star right on a yellow star that looked all too familiar to Chopper.

"Hey... A pink Crystal Star is located on a yellow star." Chopper noticed.

"Poyo! (The Crystal Star is located here!)" Kirby gasped.

"Let's see what Professor Frankly has to say about this! We should also mention the Shadow King, too."

* * *

**Frankly's house-**

"Whuh-Whuh-WHAAAAAT?!" Frankly gasped. "You're telling me you ended up meeting the Shadow King on Viti?!"

"Yeah! And you said that the place was completely harmless!" Tamber pointed out. "And what do we run into? Monsters and demons!"

"Well, I must apologize for that... I've always been hearing about how nice it was to go there. Apparently you arrived at an unlucky moment... But the good news is that you defeated the Shadow King, and he's finally gone!"

"He's gone, but there's still an issue with that darkness..." Chopper trailed, showing Frankly the letter. "Take a look at this!"

"Hmmmmm..." Frankly took the letter from him and began to read it carefully. When he finished, he placed it on the table. "This is most troublesome... So apparently the Shadow King and Queen are not the ones behind this travesty..."

"If only..." Shadower sighed. "We were actually led to believe that they were possibly the ones behind this issue! Looks like there's a bigger baddy out there."

"And the Shadow King said that this guy was ten times as strong as him!" Chopper recalled. "Man... That kinda frightens me..."

"We should not worry too much about that when we have the Crystal Stars," Frankly mentioned. "So, apparently, the map is showing a pink star on a yellow planet shaped like a star. And you say this is Pop Star?"

"Poyo! (Yeah! I easily recognize it!)" Kirby nodded.

"Well, whether this is Pop Star or not, this is one star I feel you can easily get on your own. After all, you've been to this place before, correct?"

"Of course," Chopper nodded.

"That's great! Perhaps this will be an easy one for you to get?"

"Poyo... (Well, I'm not so sure...)" Kirby trailed. "Poyo... (That Crystal Star could be located ANYWHERE on Pop Star...)"

"It doesn't matter where it is, Kirby. We're still getting it." Chopper declared.

"Poyo. (I know that.)"

"If you people plan on going, then I wish you luck. Perhaps you can find me a little something there? I'd be interested in seeing what Pop Star holds."

Mario: We'll keep that in mind.

They made their exit from Frankly's house, but before they could go, they saw Merlon standing in front of his house. He approached them when he spotted them.

"Ah, Chopper! Perfect timing!" Merlon spoke. "Please, come to my house immediately! I need to speak to you about something important!"

Shrugging, Chopper and his friends followed Merlon into his house. He looked like he was eager to say something.

"Listen well, Chopper, for I have discovered something that may help you..." Merlon started, clearing his throat. "I've done a lot of research on the types of ranks a being can achieve through the power of Shine Sprites or Upgrade Blocks. There's the usual ranks: Super-Rank, Ultra-Rank, and finally Diamond-Rank. However, while looking through my shelves, I recently discovered something incredible."

"Incredible? Like what?" Chopper asked.

"It is possible that one can _exceed_ from Diamond-Rank to Master-Rank! However, to get something like this is no easy task. One would need something sparkled with the power of the King of Gods to make this happen. Unfortunately, I do not carry such an orb... Perhaps you might have an idea..."

"'Sparkled with the power of the King of Gods'..." Vivian quoted, taking out the crystal ball and inspecting it. "What about this?"

Merlon took the ball from her and inspected it as well. He studied it very closely, taking notice of the blue sparkle and liquid. When he finished, he replaced the Diamond Orb with it.

"This... This is it..." Merlon gasped. "The one and only Master Orb! I never thought I'd actually have a chance to get my hands on it! ...You are willing to give it to me, right?"

"I guess so," Vivian nodded.

"Excellent! In return, I shall allow you to upgrade your friends up to Master-Rank! They will finally reach their fullest potential and even become stronger in battle!"

"Seriously?! Oh, man, that's SWEET!" Scrub cheered.

"So... Shall I upgrade your friends, Chopper?" Merlon asked.

"Of course!" Chopper nodded, tossing his Shine Sprites to the shaman.

"Thank you. Now... We shall begin!"

Using his magic, Merlon began to bring all of Chopper's friends to Master-Rank.

Vivian's HP went up to 150, and she learned the move Fire Wall, which allows her to attack all enemies with a wall of fire. It could deal up to 12 damage, along with piercing defense.

Scrub's HP went up to 130 and he learned the move Mega Egg, allowing him to deal 12 damage to an enemy and pierce their defense with a giant egg.

Kirby's HP went up to 140 and he learned the move Final Cutter. This could allow him to deal 12 damage to all enemies on the field.

Shadower's HP went up to 170 and he learned the move Shadow Blast, which allows him to unleash a huge blast upon all enemies. It ignores defense and flips some enemies over as well.

Bombette's HP went up to 180 and her strong attack was Explosion, being able to deal 14 damage to all enemies on the battle.

Heartsy's HP went up to 150. She gained the ability Sweet Kiss, allowing her and Chopper to recover 60 HP by kissing him. The downside, however, was that it consumed a lot of FP.

Mario's HP went up to 180, and he learned the ability called Cape Mario. With it, he gains the Cape ability and can deflect projectiles with his cape. He can also attack normally and pierce through their defense.

Sonic's HP also went up to 180, and he learned Super Sonic. With all seven Chaos Emeralds, he could transform into Super Sonic and blaze through enemies with his attacks. It is only limited for a couple of turns, but he is also invincible in this form.

Flyer's HP went up to 150, and he learned the move Hurricane. This move would allow him to summon the Hurricane, with Chopper using the machine gun to fire at enemies. It resembles Art Attack in a way, but it costs 15 FP to use.

Tamber's HP went up to 200, and he learned the move Master Star Fist. With it, he can deal double the damage to every single enemy on the field, ignoring their defense as well. However, to use this move, Tamber would have to charge up the attack.

"Sweet... I've got my Master Star Fist!" Tamber grinned.

"Yes... You should all be fully capable of taking down the biggest of threats." Merlon assured. "This is all I can help you with, Chopper. Just know that with your friends on your side, you can win this."

"Thanks, Merlon," Chopper smiled, waving goodbye as they left his house. "Well... Looks like you're all Master-Rank!"

"Yeah! And I can actually become Super Sonic!" Sonic smirked.

"I can't wait to test my new ability on you," Heartsy said, leaning closer to Chopper. He quickly backed away and summoned his Warp Star.

"OK... I guess we're off!" Chopper declared, jumping on it. Kirby summoned his, and the eleven took off for Pop Star once again.

* * *

**Well, there's the newest rank: the Master-Rank. This is a new rank introduced, unlike in Paper Chopper. Also, unlike that story, there's still four more chapters left here.**

**Next up: Chopper and his friends start a chapter NOT located around Rogueport!**


	107. The Start of a New Anime

**CHAPTER 17**

**-The Star and the Warrior-**

"Ah... It feels so nice to be back here." Chopper smiled, flying his way over to Hatty Town. "I mean, being in Dream Land for an entire chapter? Neat!"

"Since Kirby knows about this world the most, I guess he'll be providing assistance to us," Flyer said, looking over at Kirby. While he did that, he was looking at his invention to see if there was anything not right. "And hopefully I can give this to Fumu..."

Seeing the look on his face, Chopper tried to snap him out of it, and I mean literally. "Flyer! Don't think of that, please! It's bad bad BAD!"

Flyer decided to ignore Chopper and focus on his gadget once again. Kirby's Warp Star had flown over to Cappy Town like last time, but Kirby had said that they'd go look there. Chopper and the rest would go search in Hatty Town.

When Chopper flew over by the woods, a mysterious figure had spotted them. She gave the boy on the star a glare while pulling out a weapon It could change to a bazooka, a machine gun, a flamethrower, and even a sword.

"So, you're back again? This time, you're not getting away so easily." Aiming her weapon, she changed to bazooka mode and aimed it at the Warp Star. "It's payback time!"

A missile fired from her weapon, it homing in on Chopper's Warp Star. Chopper quickly caught the whizzing sound of the missile and turned to face it.

"Wait... What's that?" Chopper gawked.

"Wait... Uh oh... That's not good." Bombette gulped.

The missile hit its target, causing the Warp Star to start crashing. Chopper gripped onto it with all he could as he braced for impact directly into the woods.

Before Chopper could catch who fired the missile, the mysterious figure went back into the woods.

* * *

Unfortunately, Kirby and his group on his Warp Star did not hear the crash, so they had continued their way to Cappy Town regardless.

"Poyo! (It feels great to be back home again!)" Kirby cheered, spinning around happily. "Poyo! (And it's even better that a Crystal Star is here!)"

"Well, at least Kirby's happy. I kinda wish we can understand him, though." Shadower said. Upon hearing that, Kirby got out a pencil and paper. "Wait... Did he have that this whole time?"

"Oh, I see what he's gonna do! Since Contadre's not around, Kirby's going to write his words down!" Scrub noticed.

Kirby gave him a nod.

"If we're going back to that town, can we NOT go into that restaurant?" Tamber suggested. "Not only was I breathing fire, but that food stunk!"

Mario: I'm fine with that.

They noticed a couple of Waddle Dees walking into town with some nails, a poster and hammers. They were putting up the poster in the center of the town where the tree was. All of the Cappies walked out of their houses to see what the noise was.

"What's going on?"

"What's with the poster?"

"Why did you wake me up at this time? I'm so tired!"

"I'm hungry."

"Where's my pizza?"

"Attention, everyone!" the Waddle Doo holding a sword shouted. All of the Cappies stopped talking and turned their attention to him. "Now, if you could all form a straight line, you can sign up for an anime that we're going to be making at Castle Dedede. So… Just try to…"

All of the Cappies rushed over to the poster, knocking the Waddle Doo away. It was labeled as, "Wanted! Cartoon Staffs! DDD Production".

"They're recruiting an anime staff?" Mr. Curio questioned, the Cappy with a gray beard and the brown jacket.

"Didn't Dedede do something like this before?" Chef Kawasaki questioned.

Mayor Len rubbed his cheek. "Well... Now that I think about it... I do remember something like that."

"If I could remember, Dedede made us constantly work on an anime before, and we barely had any sleep..."

"Hmmmmm... Well, I'm not so sure whether we should do this or not..." Mayor Len pondered.

"Well, I don't think we've been out for a while..." Chief Borun trailed, pulling on his gray mustache.

"Oh, my aching hairs..." the Waddle Doo groaned, slowly getting up. "Dedede promises you a nice salary in return for your animations. Each of you shall receive a million Deden if it becomes successful."

"One million Deden? That's incredible!" Mayor Len gasped. "Just think of what Cappy Town could do with all of that money!"

"This could be worth making an anime after all!" Chief Borun grinned.

"So, you are all interested in signing up?" the Waddle Doo asked, seeing many people eager to join in. "Well, you must go to Castle Dedede. There are some Waddle Dees that are waiting there for signatures on a couple of contracts. Just try to make a straight li-"

Everyone rushed toward Castle Dedede, cutting off the Waddle Doo. Thankfully, this time nobody stepped on him in the process.

"Hmmmmmm... How strange..." Shadower trailed, getting a glimpse of the event above the town.

* * *

**Near the woods-**

"Ugh… That was painful…" Chopper moaned, slowly getting up. He looked around and noticed Green Greens up ahead. It still looked as purple when he got here earlier. However, his eyes quickly shifted over to two eyes hiding behind the woods. "Ummmm... Hello?"

"Why is Green Greens suddenly changing? It's so…weird." Chopper looked at the trees in the woods and saw two eyes. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure who it was.

"After all the troubles, I've finally got you," the figure stated angrily. "And now I can finally avenge my brother and help my father!"

"Huh? Avenge? What are you talking about?"

Unfortunately, his question was answered with a few bullets being fired in his direction. He gasped and started to run, avoiding the projectiles. He eventually found a rock for him to speed behind, and thankfully there was no firing coming from that direction.

Two minutes had passed, and not a single shot was fired, nor was there any footsteps. Chopper cautiously looked behind him and scanned the woods nearby. Nobody appeared to be firing, and there were no eyes in the woods either.

"Phew... That was a close one." Chopper sighed. "But who was that? It sounded nothing like Beldam or Mimi!"

He quickly froze when he heard the sound of footsteps. _"Crud... I think I spoke too soon!"_

The footsteps got louder each second. Obviously the figure was heading his way, and he was going to be toast! Running would obviously leave him spotted. Not sure what else to do, he quickly covered his eyes, hoping for the worst to end.

"Hi, Choppy!"

He opened his eyes and felt someone poking his head. Looking up, he noticed a familiar reddish hot pink-haired girl leaning on the rock, smiling down at him.

"Heartsy?" Chopper gawked. "Were you shooting at me?!"

"Wait, what?" Now it was Heartsy's turn to gawk. "Why would I shoot you? I just heard someone's voice coming from behind the rock, so I came here to investigate."

"Really? _So that was someone else then..._" Chopper frowned.

"I don't know about you, but it was pretty cute how you looked so cowardly."

"I'm not a coward!" the Star Warrior snapped, quickly standing up.

"Whoa... Settle down, Chopper. Don't you get a joke."

"Oh... Sorry. Well... Do you know where the others are? I didn't see them when they crashed."

Heartsy frowned and slowly shook her head. Chopper's eyes widened.

"You mean they're...lost?"

"I don't know. I didn't find them..."

"Well, we should find them then," Chopper suggested, jumping away from the rock to search around. They didn't get much time to search, as they were met with a familiar yellow girl who had come to investigate the crash.

"Chopper? Heartsy? Is that you?" Fumu gasped.

"Oh, hey, Fumu!" Chopper greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here to investigate the crash. I assume it was from you?"

"Well, we actually crashed," Heartsy explained. "I don't know what it was, but it was definitely no accident, that's for sure."

Chopper, meanwhile, stared at Fumu for moment, specifically her eyes. For some reason, something was awfully familiar about them. This did not go unnoticed by Fumu.

"Chopper? What's wrong?" Fumu asked.

"Fumu... Were you, by chance, shooting at me?" Chopper asked.

"Wait, what? Why would I do that? I don't carry any weapons!"

"Well... Your eyes look a little similar..." Chopper studied her eyes a little more, but then he remember the eyes the figure had were not as found. "Wait... No... It wasn't you. Then, who WAS shooting at me?"

Before he could ponder any further, the three heard the sound of moaning. Not too far ahead was Flyer, who was lying on his back while wrapping his arms around his gadget.

"Hey, that's your friend, Flyer!" Fumu noticed. "He looks like he needs help!"

The three hurried over to Flyer and were about to help him up. However, Heartsy quickly pulled Chopper away, confusing him.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Chopper gaped.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Heartsy assured, giving him a smile. She gestured Fumu to go help Flyer up, so she held her hand in front of him when he opened his eyes.

"Here, Flyer. Let me give you a hand." Fumu suggested.

Flyer's eyes shot wide opened upon seeing the girl. He was unsure what to say, but he grabbed her hand and let him get pulled up. His blush was too difficult for him to hide, and Fumu had noticed it.

"…Are you all right?"

"Err... Yeah, I'm OK!" Flyer nodded. "Well... It's good that you're here and all... Because, uh... I have this to give you!"

Flyer held out his gadget to Fumu, who looked back at her uncomfortable collar.

"So, you really believe this will get my collar off?" Fumu asked.

"Well, it's worth a try," the Wingel replied, attaching his gadget to Fumu's collar. She closed her eyes tight, willing to hold off any pain she could receive. She heard a snapping sound, but did not feel any pain. Instead, she felt something break off her. Opening her eyes, Fumu spotted the collar on the floor, split into two.

"The collar... It's broken!"

"Success!" Flyer smiled. "I can't believe it worked!"

"Hey! Now Fumu's free!" Chopper smiled.

"Yeah, I really appreciate the help," Fumu smiled. "You really are good with mechanics!"

"Th-Thank you," Flyer replied, his face getting redder.

"...Are you OK?"

"Oh, he's fine," Chopper assured. "I think he's just like that because he likes you. ...Oops!"

"Chopper!" Flyer cried.

"Wait, what?" Fumu gawked, her face turning a slight shade of red.

"Uhh… I'm saying he's happy that he's glad to help you!" Chopper corrected.

"No you didn't," Heartsy said. "Flyer likes you, Fumu."

"Heartsy! No! Don't do this to him!"

"Is this true?" Fumu asked, turning to the nervous Flyer.

"Ummmmmm… Yeah." Flyer sighed, knowing he couldn't give it up forever. "There's just something about you that sparks my interest. I've heard a few things about you, such as you being intelligent and helpful."

"Really? Well... You're not too bad either, I guess..." Fumu blushed. "I mean, you helped me get that collar off, and you seem pretty nice... And it's not like you're incapable of being on land like someone else..."

"Huh? Who are you talking about?" Chopper wondered.

"Uhhh... It's nothing."

"Well, if you need help with this relationship, I think I'll provide the assistance you need," Heartsy declared, as if she was a professor. "...Er, well in what I know, of course."

"I suppose I should introduce my parents to you, Flyer," Fumu suggested.

"Hold on, what about the others?" Chopper reminded. "Vivian, Bombette, and Sonic were on the Warp Star with us! We need to find them!"

"Maybe they'll be at Hatty Town," Heartsy hoped. "That would be the logical place to go..."

Agreeing, the four made their way to Hatty Town.

* * *

**Hatty Town-**

Upon reaching Hatty Town, they were surprised to see two familiar figures. King Dedede and Escargon were speaking, but through a megaphone.

"Attention everyone! We are in need of people to work on an anime for us!" King Dedede announced, with Escargon snatching the megaphone from him.

"You will each be paid a million Deden for your services!" Escargon added, making many Cappies become interested. "To sign up, please go to Castle Dedede!"

Chopper was the first to approach them, giving them and angry look while pointing at them. "You guys! What are you doing?"

"Well, if it isn't Chopper! We've been waiting for you!" Escargon smirked. "I suppose you're interested in making an anime, right?"

"Anime? What's an anime?" Chopper wondered. "Is it those shows with those weird people?"

"Weird?"

"Who cares? I think you'll be pretty interested!" King Dedede grinned, gesturing Escargon to get the sack.

"But I'm not! I'm trying to look for-" a brown sack covered his sight, muffling his voice out. He struggled to break out, but Escargon held the end of the sack tightly to prevent his escape. This did not go unnoticed by Flyer, Heartsy, and Fumu.

"Hey! Let him go!" Heartsy demanded, bringing her hammer out.

"As if! Like your little hammer is a match for me!" King Dedede chuckled. The aftermath of his chuckling consisted of a hammer hitting him in the head, leaving him dazed. "Ow..."

"Maybe if you three decide to be a little more cooperative, then we won't put you in sacks either!" Escargon suggested. He struggled to keep the sack still due to the squirming. "Eh, Your Majesty… A little help?"

King Dedede quickly shook himself and hit the sack with his hammer, knocking Chopper out.

"Now... Do us a little favor and follow us." Escargon suggested.

"Especially you, Fumu," King Dedede grinned, taking out the remote. "You wouldn't want to be left in a shock!"

However, Escargon was the first to notice something different about her. "Ummmm... Your Majesty... It's missing."

"What is?"

"The collar!"

"WHAT?!" the loudness of King Dedede's voice was enough to draw them back. "Argh! ...Well, I'll worry about that later. You three want Chopper back so badly? Then follow us!"

The three sighed, knowing they probably couldn't argue over them and followed.

* * *

**Ten minutes later-**

People from Hatty and Cappy Town were all in front of Castle Dedede. Except now, there was a small building with King Dedede's face plastered on the top. It had "Dedede Studios" labeled below the picture. People such as Scrub, Kirby, Shadower, Mario and Tamber were in the back.

"Any person participating in anime production will be paid one million Deden and be happy about it. No more, no less." Escargon explained through the megaphone.

King Dedede swiped the megaphone from Escargon. "If you're good at making stories...drawing pictures...adding color or voice acting, then gather 'round! If you have any questions, please raise your hand!"

The Mayor of Hatty Town was the first to raise his hand.

"Eh? What's your question?" the king asked.

"Well, I was wondering what's in the sack," the Mayor wondered. King Dedede looked at the sack that Chopper was in and sweat dropped. The sack was even sweat dropping.

"Err… There's nothing in there! Now, if you would all be kind enough to sign up, we'll get started!" King Dedede stated. With that, everyone rushed over to sign up.

Mario: I'd rather not do this...

"Yeah, I mean an anime?! That sounds stupid!" Scrub remarked.

* * *

**An office in Dedede Studios-**

King Dedede laughed on his black chair at the desk in the office before placing his hands on said desk. This office, compared to the rest of his castle rooms, had blue walls and a shiny, light blue floor.

"Thank you all for signing up! I appreciate it!" King Dedede grinned. "Just to make things clear, I will be the producer of the anime!"

"Producer? And what are you supposed to do?" Heartsy asked, crossing her arms. "And who's supposed to be paying for this?"

"Oh, don't worry, we have all of that under control," Escargon replied smugly.

"And just to make sure things go as how I plan, Escargon will be the supervisor!" King Dedede declared, facing Escargon angrily.

"You mean me?" the escargot assistant gawked, pointing at himself. "But… Why?"

"No time for questions, Escargon," King Dedede replied harshly. "We are starting right away!"

"So... What are we doing?" the Mayor asked.

King Dedede groaned. _"These guys are stupider than I thought..."_

"We should probably set up a planning conference to get some ideas," Fumu suggested.

"Ermmmm... Yes! Everyone to the planning room!" King Dedede ordered, picking Escargon up from his eye stalks and heading to the planning room.

* * *

**Planning room-**

The planning room was surprisingly not as big as the office they were in, but there was a large rectangular table, some chairs, and a chalk board. Many Cappies were in the room, and Chopper was too, except he was tied up to the chair unlike the others. Next to him were Flyer and Heartsy.

"Why am I the only one tied up?" Chopper asked.

"Because we can't risk you running out of here," Escargon answered.

"So, if we're going to make an anime, we need to decide on what our target audience will be, the budget, the story, and the main characters," Fumu explained while a small, yellow bird named Tokkori was writing numbers on the chalkboard using his beak. When she finished, she sat next to Flyer, the two exchanging smiles.

"I already have an idea," King Dedede declared, pulling out a piece of paper. "The hero of the story is the ally of justice, DedeDork…I mean DeFatso…"

"Ummmm... Your Majesty..." Escargon whispered, checking the paper. "I don't think that's the right paper..."

"What?! Then who replaced it?!"

Chopper couldn't help but burst in laughter. "DedeDork and DeFatso?! Ha ha ha!"

To shut him up, Escargon pulled out a red bandanna and covered Chopper's mouth, leaving his voice muffled.

"Let's get back to business," King Dedede declared. "The hero of justice is NOT DedeDork or DeFatso! I refer to him as DededeMan!"

"You can't be serious..." Bun groaned.

"It's not supposed to be me, though," the king pointed out, showing a poorly drawn picture of what appeared to be himself.

"I can clearly see the difference..." Heartsy deadpanned.

"Such a weird character won't work as a hero," Fumu sighed.

"Mmmggffhh!" Chopper shouted through his muffled voice.

"Weird?! He's the hero of justice! So many people would look up to him!" King Dedede complained.

"It still won't work," Fumu pointed out.

"Oh, really? Then what's your idea?"

"Just let me think," Fumu took out a pen and a piece of paper. As she pondered, she was starting to draw a picture. "Let's see… Cute but strong...and also heroic. Kind of like Chopper!"

She finished her drawing and showed the picture to everyone.

"Well, I like the idea," Heartsy agreed. "If you need any ideas on Chopper's personality or what he likes, then just let me know!"

"Wait... Why you?" Bun asked.

"You need to know this stuff when you're in love with someone," the girl replied, giving Chopper a sweet smile, hearts appearing over her head. He began to sweat uncomfortably while attempting to scoot away from her.

"I vote that Fumu can be the character designer!" Mr. Curio suggested, and many others agreed.

"Hey... Yeah! I'm all for that!" Flyer agreed.

"Thanks, Flyer," Fumu said. "However, characters don't do us much good unless we have a good scenario."

"Mmmmmggffhh?" Chopper questioned, tilting his head.

"The script for the story," Flyer answered.

"Fumu! You'll write the scenario! And you with the wings over there will help you!" Escargon decided. However, he couldn't speak any further when King Dedede grabbed him by his eye stalk and pulled him close.

"I want you to write it so I look good," King Dedede whispered.

"Don't worry. We'll switch it out later" Escargon explained. "And is it all right if I let Fumu be my assistant?"

Unfortunately, Fumu overheard the conversation and glared at them.

"I'm your assistant?!"

Now free from his king's grasps, Escargon turned to Fumu angrily. "The assistant's job is to help out. If it's not written by tomorrow, then you're getting the death penalty!"

"Death penalty? That's just not right!" Flyer protested.

"And that goes for you too, wing-head!"

"Hold on, Eacargon!" King Dedede shouted, grabbing his assistant again. "We need these fools to make the anime for us! If we give out the punishment, there won't be an anime, and no anime equals...a terrible consequence."

"You're… You're right. I think we shouldn't try to do that." Escargon gulped, slowly turning back to Fumu. "Just get it done by tomorrow! We have a deadline to meet!"

* * *

**Later that night-**

In the Cabinet's home area of Castle Dedede, Fumu was trying to think of a script in the living room. Flyer and Heartsy were giving her a hand. Meanwhile, Chopper and Bun were eating, along with Fumu and Bun's parents, Parm and Memu.

Parm was more of a lemon yellow color unlike Fumu, and he wore a purple outfit that sported an orange bow-tie. He had brown pants, but he didn't appear to have legs or feet. He also had a lavender mustache, and the sides of his hair were curled up.

Memu was a darker shade of yellow compared to Parm, and she had green earrings, pink eyeshadow and lipstick. She also wore a lavender dress and an orange bandanna tied around her neck. Memu also carried a pink fan around at times, too.

Their home area was also very nice, too. Unlike Castle Dedede, the room had pink walls and a reddish pink carpet. The windows contained some plants, and there were hot pink couches with a typewriter on the brown table. Flyer, Heartsy, and Fumu were sitting on that couch.

"Who ever thought that writing a scenario would be so tough?" Fumu sighed, crumpling up a piece of paper and tossing it into the trash bin.

"I sure didn't..." Flyer mumbled, the typewriter in his lap.

"I guess this is what happens when our time is limited..." Heartsy groaned.

"Chopper, you don't really have the 'hero' look after all," Fumu said, turning her head to Chopper at the table.

"Hero look? What is a hero supposed to look like?" Chopper asked.

"Well... I'm not so sure myself... Though I did wonder about that once."

"Fumu, you're not going to eat?" Memu asked.

"...I could eat your food if you don't want it," Chopper noted.

"You can have it if you want, Chopper. I'm not that hungry..." Fumu trailed.

Smiling, Chopper opened his mouth and inhaled her food in an instant. "Yummy! Too bad Kirby's not here to have an eating contest with me! ...Speaking of Kirby, I wonder where he and the others are."

"I saw them this afternoon," Bun spoke up.

"Really? Where?!"

"They were at the back of the group of people outside of Castle Dedede. Though, I think they ended up leaving. I don't know where they went, but I did see some figures going to Kirby's house."

"So they're going there! Well, that must mean they're safe." Chopper let out a sigh. "...If only I knew about the location of Vivian, Bombette, and Sonic... I hope they're safe, too."

"I hope so too," Flyer said, trying to think. "Gah! Why is making a scenario so hard for me?"

"I never thought making an anime would be difficult," Memu remarked.

"Well, maybe you should try to make the hero fight," Parm suggested, lowering his white mug. The three working had turned to Fumu's father. "A lot of dramas have something to do with a fight. And if you're trying to think of a plot, you could always base off your ideas from past experiences."

"You mean... Like the quest for the Crystal Stars?" Chopper asked. "Hey! That sounds like a cool idea!"

"Of course! Why didn't we think of that sooner?" Flyer realized. "We could just base this anime off our quest in getting the twenty Crystal Stars!"

"But the thing is, most of us don't know how it started, and we don't even know how it's going to end," Heartsy noted.

"Why not just make it up?" Chopper suggested, leaping over to the three. "Plus, I remember what was going on throughout our adventure! I started it all! ...Plus, if we get the Mayor, we can see if he has anything to add!"

"Yeah! This could actually help us!" Flyer smiled, writing down the ideas.

"Maybe we can get a scenario done after all," Fumu said, also writing down the ideas.

Parm had walked over to the four as well, rolling up his sleeves. "Here, I'll lend you a hand as well. I can help you with some battles!"

And so the five began to work together on writing a scenario. In fact, they had spent most of the night doing this. In the end, however, they were done with it in a couple of hours, and not to mention exhausted.

* * *

**Morning-**

"Whew! We finally did it! The scenario is complete!" Flyer announced, holding up the papers in his hand. He and Chopper were the only ones awake at the moment, while Heartsy and Fumu were asleep on the couch, too tired to continue working.

"Yeah, it's a good thing it's over with," Chopper said, looking over at the sleeping girls. "Which reminds me... Is it nap time yet?"

"It's morning, Chopper."

Unfortunately, they were not aware of the door slowly opening, with a straw aiming directly at Chopper. Behind the door, Escargon snickered as he took out a small, chewed up piece of paper and stuck it in the straw. Grinning, he fired the spitball at Chopper.

"Hold on, I think I dropped something," Chopper got off the couch and bent over to pick up a paper he dropped. The spitball missed, but instead, it ended up hitting Flyer. When he stood up, he noticed the spitball. "Gee, Flyer... I never knew you had a thing for putting a disgusting gray ball on your head."

Flyer groaned annoyingly, getting the spitball off his forehead. While that happened, Heartsy and Fumu woke up and spotted the finished scenario.

"Is the scenario finished?" Fumu asked.

"Yup! All of it!" Chopper declared.

The door suddenly slammed open, with Escargon holding a megaphone.

"Rise and shine, you twerps! It's time to get to work!" Escargon shouted.

Chopper noticed the spitball Flyer disposed of and stuffed it in Escargon's megaphone.

"Five more minutes, OK?" Chopper suggested.

Annoyed, Escargon slammed the door in front of the Star Warrior.


	108. Paper King Dedede: The Crystal Stars

"Ugh… My head hurts. I don't know what happened…" Vivian slowly got up and found herself out on an open field with purple grass surrounding her. Looking around, she noticed some people missing. "Where are the others?"

She turned her head to see if there was anyone around, but all she found was a pink lump and blue quills sticking from the ground. Vivian didn't pay attention to them, but then she quickly realized that those two were Bombette and Sonic.

"Bombette! Sonic!" Vivian gasped, floating over to them. "Are you guys all right?"

Thankfully, the two woke up sooner than Vivian thought and noticed it was dawn.

"Whoa… Where the heck are we?" Sonic asked, slowly getting up. "And how long have we been here?"

"Where is everyone else, too?" Bombette added, getting up as well.

"I'm not sure... I don't see Chopper in sight." Vivian replied, looking around. "I don't see the Warp Star either... I just wonder how we ended up crashing."

Bombette scanned the area around her, but then she noticed some green grass over by a hill ahead.

"Look over there!" Bombette shouted. The green grass was slowly changing to purple, and the trees were becoming darker. "What's happening to the grass?"

"We should go check that place out," Sonic suggested. "Maybe we can find Chopper and the others over there?"

They agreed and searched over by where the green grass was, but what they ended up finding instead was a cave. A cave with a slippery slope.

And Sonic was unfortunate to slip into the cave.

* * *

**Planning room-**

"And so, though Chopper is nearly losing the battle against the great evil, he eventually defeats it and saves the world," Fumu concluded, reading from her paper. "And that's the end."

Most of the Cappies seemed to approve of it and clap. King Dedede, however, was crossing his arms and pouting.

"You have to put up with it for now," Escargon assured.

"But the hero is supposed to be me!" King Dedede complained.

"We'll remake it afterward."

"Well, next is the storyboard," Fumu announced, walking over to the pictures with Chopper against the great being, some of his friends, and a couple of Crystal Stars. "And then we get to the climax. The enemy will makes its attack, and then Chopper and his friends fight."

"And I guess it goes into that?" Chopper asked, pointing to a picture of him against the evil being standing before him. It looked more like an evil, black blob with yellow eyes.

"Correct."

"Ahh... Now I understand the story more." King Dedede said, swinging his arm and hitting Escargon on accident.

"There's the animation, too," Fumu mentioned. "Doing the animation can be a tough job, and it takes a lot of work to complete it."

"That can easily be done," Escargon assured with a grin. "We may have many talentless people here, but they do have the patience to get it done!"

* * *

**Drawing room-**

The drawing room was much larger than the office and planning room, sporting many desks for people to work on drawings. Each desk had a lamp shining down on the paper to make it easier to see the drawings. While the blue walls resembled the previous rooms, the floor was red in color instead.

Many Cappies were creating the drawings needed for the animation. Chopper and Heartsy were also working on them as well, despite the objections. The only ones who didn't appear to be drawing were Flyer, Fumu, Bun, King Dedede, and Escargon. On the wall behind them were pictures of Chopper, his friends, and King Dedede, along with some other villains like Grodus and Gemerl.

"This character chart should give you an idea of which person looks like who," Escargon explained, pointing at King Dedede's picture. "And this one is of His Majesty."

"Excellent! With this many people, it should be done in no time!" King Dedede grinned.

He decided to take a look at the drawings they were making, starting with Chief Borun. The king nodded in delight and was about to walk over to the next Cappy, but he quickly stepped back and got a better look at the drawing.

And let me tell you... King Dedede was far from happy.

He walked over to Chief Borun and he nodded in delight while he continued to draw a picture of him. He walked over to another, but he quickly came back to his drawing after realizing what in the world he was drawing.

"What is this?!" King Dedede exclaimed, taking the paper from Chief Borun.

"Why, it's you, your Majesty! Isn't it glorious?" Chief Borun said in delight, despite the drawing being horrendous in quality. At least, in King Dedede's opinion.

King Dedede's face turned red with anger, and he tore the paper to shreds and stepped on it like a spoiled child.

"Calm down, your Majesty. Remember your temper!" Escargon reminded. "And besides, he's a policemen. Of course his art will be bad."

"Everyone. Show me how much your picture of, uh…DededeMan looks like the one on the character chart." Fumu suggested, soon seeing everyone hold up their papers.

"Oh, dear..." Flyer trailed, looking puzzled at the pictures.

"I have confidence in this," Mayor Len announced, showing the king his work of art.

"What is this?" King Dedede gaped, swiping it away, along with the others that were shown to him each time one showed him theirs.

"I finally drew it!" Hohhe exclaimed, showing his poorly made picture as well.

"Is this even a living thing?"

"Is this no good?" Tago asked.

"It's a monstrosity!"

"What do you think of mine?" Moso asked.

"Terrifying!" King Dedede cried, swiping it away. However, they were nowhere near as bad as Chef Kawasaki's.

"How about this?" Chef Kawasaki asked, showing King Dedede his drawing. It was only a poorly made picture of King Dedede's head, which was the size of the paper.

"Hey! How about this?" Chopper asked, showing King Dedede his picture. The king would gaped, but his expression was more confused than terrified.

"Wait... This isn't me! This is good!"

"Oh, yeah... I guess I was hungry." the Star Warrior shrugged. All King Dedede could do was fall over on his back and faint. Chopper looked at the picture of food on his drawing and attempted to eat the paper, but Heartsy shook her head, gesturing him not to.

"Well, they all have zero talent, Fumu," Flyer sighed as he sweat dropped.

"This is more serious than I expected," Fumu mumbled.

"Fumu. Do something about this!" Escargon demanded, quickly approaching her.

"You're the supervisor!"

"You're my assistant! You must correct every picture! And that goes for the same thing as the wing-head!"

"You expect us to supervise the drawing?! That's insane!" Flyer gaped.

* * *

**Later, at night-**

Unfortunately, during the night, everyone was still drawing in the art room, including Fumu and Flyer. The two were less than thrilled to be working.

As they worked, Tokkori was putting some folders in the shelf right where Fumu was working.

"Whew… That's out of the way." Tokkori sighed. "Hey, Fumu! Are you done yet?"

"Tokkori?! What are you doing here?" Fumu asked.

"They asked me to work in production. I'm supposed to prod the lazy staff into working."

"Then it's your fault that we have this delay!" Flyer grumbled, pulling out a drawing of Chopper. "We both have to deal with these miserable drawings, so you shouldn't be complaining the most!"

* * *

**Color room-**

"This is where the color work is done," Escargon explained, showing King Dedede the coloring room. It was just like the drawing room, except now people were working with paint. The king noticed some Memu painting a picture of Chopper and gaped.

"Interesting… Hey, wait a second… They're coloring Chopper and not me!" King Dedede guffawed.

"Don't worry! We'll exchange them afterwards, so please be patient!" Escargon whispered.

Hana, the wife of Mayor Len, who wore a green necklace and a navy blue hat, turned to an old Cappy with gray hair named Sato, asking, "What color is Chopper?"

"He's over there," Sato replied, looking over at Chopper. "Though... If I had to say, he's probably green."

"He looks a bit more white to me, though..." Hana trailed.

"Choppy's pale green," Heartsy corrected, pointing at the correct paint.

* * *

**Background room-**

"This is where the backgrounds are painted," Escargon introduced, showing King Dedede a room with brown shelves and a couple of paintings on the wall ahead of them. Chopper had run into the room as well to get a look at the paintings.

Chef Kawasaki and a Cappy with hair on his sides curving upward, large, gray eyebrows and a mustache, glasses, and a doctor's outfit named Yabui was working on the backgrounds. However, when he was getting the correct paint out, he noticed there wasn't enough.

"Kawasaki, we don't have enough paint," Yubui noted.

"Oh, don't worry about that! I've got that covered!" Kawasaki assured, putting two bottles on the table. However, it didn't exactly look like paint bottles.

"But that's ketchup and mayonnaise..."

"Some of these backgrounds look pretty tasty!" King Dedede remarked, looking at a background scribbled in red and yellow paint.

"Really?" Chopper jumped up to the scribbled painting, but Escargon grabbed him at the last second.

"That's not for you!" Escargon shouted, kicking him out of the room with ease.

* * *

**Framework room-**

The framework room had darker walls, and it was much smaller in size. The only thing there was a table that took pictures of the cells to create an animation.

Up on a ladder, another shopkeeper named Genu, who was much shorter and wider in size compared to Tago, was working on the camera. His outfit was somewhat similar to Tago's, having orange overalls and a red hat with an exclamation point on it. Mr. Curio, however, had the job of taking a picture of each frame.

When Gengu finished adjusting the camera, he climbed down the ladder and announced, "The camera's fully adjusted!"

"Thank you, Gengu," Mr. Curio said, placing a picture of Chopper on the background of Music Kingdom. "See how this becomes one picture?"

"I'll do it," King Dedede shoved Mr. Curio out of the way and pressed the white button on the machine, creating a frame and laughing afterward.

"Thank you, your Majesty! Now, let's get the next cell…" Mr. Curio took the next picture from Gengu and placed it in the background picture. However, Chopper decided that he would press the button and pressed it just as Mr. Curio's hand was adjusting the cell.

"That's not good!" Gengu noticed.

"My hand was filmed in there!" Mr. Curio cried.

King Dedede and Escargon grinned as they left the room and walked through the hallway.

"Heh heh heh! With all this work being done, we don't have to worry about doing it ourselves!" Escargon snickered.

"And all because they believe they're getting a million Deden!" King Dedede smirked.

"Wait... You aren't planning on giving them that much?"

"As if!"

"Well... At least you're being honest!" Escargon laughed, putting an arm on his shoulder, believing he would laugh. However, King Dedede only shoved him off.

"We still need to get the film put together," King Dedede reminded.

"That's where the editing is being done," Escargon showed King Dedede the editing room, where Heartsy and Fumu were working. It was a dark room, having a table with a filming device. The two girls held a few cuts in their hands, while they had a cut running on the machine. The animation shown was Chopper walking through Boggly Woods with Vivian, Scrub, and Kirby.

"Here's the next cut," Fumu said, giving Heartsy the cut. However, there was something that didn't look right.

"Wait... There's no color to it..." Heartsy noticed.

"There aren't any colors to it because the animators are behind schedule. Sorry about that."

"Well, then you two should know what to do," King Dedede snickered, walking away from the doorway and leaving the two girls irritated.

* * *

**Much later-**

"Hurry up. Hurry hurry!" King Dedede whispered outside of Dedede Studios.

"Yeah! Hurry up!" Escargon added.

Two Waddle Dees with small folders followed King Dedede and Escargon into the building. They went into the drawing room, where most of the Cappies, including Flyer and Fumu, were asleep. Not even the sounds of the king, his assistant, and his two minions woke them up.

"Here are the finished pictures," Escargon grabbed the folders from the shelf and took one drawing of Chopper out.

"That looks like something Chopper drew," King Dedede noticed, seeing some food surrounding him.

"With that, we do like this…" Escargon grabbed the folders and gave them to the two Waddle Dee, who took off. "…then say 'goodbye', and…" Picking up other folders he had, Escargon placed them in the shelf. "...we switch in the ones we prepared beforehand. With that, it makes His Majesty the hero of the story."

"Heh heh heh! That's what I like to hear!" the king chuckled.

* * *

**Castle Dedede, throne room-**

_"Your Majesty, the anime is almost complete, correct?" _the Tartara asked.

"Not yet," King Dedede replied with his arms crossed.

"We have to delay it," Escargon informed.

"Delay the broadcast."

_"I'm afraid I cannot do that, Dedede," _the Tartara replied._ "See, by delaying the broadcast, you'll be breaking our contract."  
_

_"_Contract? For what?!"

_"We have a contract that requires you to get the anime done on time if you were planning on trying to get us our money through this anime. By delaying it, you're breaking our contract."_

"So? Then what do I have to do?"

_"Well for starters, you have to pay us 990 billion Deden,"_ the Tartara sneered. _"That, and the money you owe us from purchasing those demon beasts."_

"WHAT?!" King Dedede gaped, falling on his back. He eventually got up and angrily looked at his TV monitor. "There's no way we have that money!"

_"Well, then… That means the broadcast will be in accordance with the arrangement. It's either that, or you give us the money immediately."  
_

"Oh, fine… I guess we don't have much of a choice..."

* * *

**Dedede Studios's Office-**

"What was that?!" Fumu gaped. "The broadcast is the morning of the day after tomorrow?!"

"But that's impossible!" the Mayor cried, now having bags under his eyes, just like many others. "We don't have that much time!"

"I guess you'll just have to work through the night," Escargon suggested smugly.

"We've already worked for three nights straight!" Kawasaki cried.

"Animators have rights too, you know!" Chief Borun protested.

"Is that so?" King Dedede got up from his chair and slammed his hands on his desk. "All of you keep your mouths SHUT! This country is an absolute dictatorship! Those who dare to oppose will be punished severely!"

* * *

**Drawing room-**

Unfortunately, for someone like Chopper, he too had become exhausted from the work he was drawing and ended up falling asleep. However, when one's sleeping on the job...

"Wake up, pipsqueak!" Tokkori yelled, hitting him with his feet and waking him up. Just like Chopper, he had bags under his eyes. "We've only got five more hours until this stuff's televised! So get back to work!"

"But I'm really tired..." Chopper groaned. "Can't I get some sleep?"

"I'm supposed to get your lazy butts off! If we don't get work done, there's going to be some serious issues!"

"But rest is important..."

"I don't remember the last time I got sleep," Heartsy yawned, rubbing her eyes. Not only were her eyes similar to mostly everyone else, but her hair was frizzled up as well.

They all worked for so many hours, as if the clock was moving faster every second they were drawing. This had continued all night, and a few Cappies had ended up falling asleep, only to be woken up by Tokkori. While Chopper worked, he wondered how things were going for his friends. Perhaps they were safe?

* * *

**Nearly dawn-**

When many hours passed, King Dedede and Escargon entered the drawing room to see what was going on. The blinds were closed, and as usual, people were working.

"Is everyone all right?" King Dedede asked.

"Your Majesty… Are you worried about our health?" the Mayor asked.

"Not in the slightest," King Dedede grinned, pulling out his hammer. "I'm just here to wake you up if you're sleeping."

Escargon walked over to the blinds and checked outside. The bright light made him squint, but he could obviously see the sun. "Your Majesty, it's nearly dawn."

"What?! Then there's no way that this anime is going to be finished!" Flyer gasped.

"We've only got twenty more minutes until the broadcast!" King Dedede yelled.

"Well then look at this chart!" the Wingel showed him the chart and the poor progress that had been done.

"Prepare the broadcast anyway! It's better than nothing!"

* * *

**Castle Dedede-**

_"Your Majesty, is the new anime series completed? " _the Tartara asked.

"Of course it is," King Dedede answered, sitting on his throne. Though his voice didn't sound too confident.

_"Excellent! We'll broadcast it around throughout the universe! Perhaps this anime will actually make us more than you even owe us, Dedede. We must thank you for this idea." _

"Well, I'm glad to help," King Dedede chuckled as got up from his throne. "The masterpiece series…starts now!"

"Wait..." Escargon paused, looking at the schedule. "The broadcast is at 7:30 A.M.? Who gets up at that time?"

King Dedede looked at Escargon, and with a single punch, he knocked him onto the floor.

* * *

**7:30 A.M.-**

It was now morning in Dream Land, and many Cappies in both Cappy Town and Hatty Town were getting ready to watch the broadcast. Many families and even the criminal Doron in his cell was watching.

_"This is Channel DDD!" _announced Escargon, recorded from the first time they made television available.

As for the more important characters, they were in the voice casting room, where there were a couple of microphones for someone to record their voice. There was a glass window where three Waddle Dees were in control of the volume.

Standing in front of the microphones were Chopper, Heartsy, Flyer, Fumu, Bun, and even Meta Knight. They held a book containing the script and stood in front of a big screen.

King Dedede and Escargon had entered the room quickly, as if they were in a hurry.

"We'll make due. We're putting the voices in without any rehearsal!" King Dedede decided.

"No way! That's absurd!" protested Fumu.

"Everyone! Play the roles of yourselves! And whoever is not here…someone try to imitate their voice!"

"Failure is not allowed!" Escargon added.

"It's starting!" Bun pointed up to the screen.

"The opening is finished!" Chef Kawasaki cried, running through the hallway with the opening cut. He placed it on the camera and turned it on. A countdown starting from ten commenced.

When it started, the first thing that they noticed was that the opening first showed Chopper being bonked in the head by King Dedede's hammer. Everyone was left agape, especially since the anime was labeled, "Paper King Dedede: The Crystal Stars".

"Wait... What's Dedede doing as the main character?" Heartsy asked. "He must've changed it to suit him!"

"And we succeeded," Escargon said proudly, while King Dedede laughed.

"The commercial film's done!" Chef Kawasaki announced, carrying it to the camera. Luckily, he was able to get there just on time before the opening was over.

_"This program is sponsored by Tartara Co., and Dedede Inc..."_

More Cappies came in with two cuts. One was labeled A, and the other was labeled B. They put the one labeled A in first, and it began to show the whole slide, starting with King Dedede in his bed.

"It's me!" King Dedede laughed.

"Shhhh! Your voice is broadcasting, Your Majesty!" Escargon shushed, handed him a script. Though, he couldn't help but look at the poorly made animation. It looked like it was drawn by a five-year-old. "That character isn't drawn smoothly,"

"Blame the character designers for that," the king whispered.

"That, and the drawing supervisor was terrible too."

"Mayor, get ready for your part," Fumu suggested.

"Errmmmm… This is a rather…strange script." the Mayor said, looking at his script. "Don't worry, Fumu. I'm ready to do my part."

"Doing post recording without any rehearsal… This is most unwise." Meta Knight commented.

"Well, we have no other choice," Fumu responded. "We have to do our best."

The animation showed King Dedede sleeping in his bed until his communicator began to go off. This triggered him to jump up from his bed and hit the ceiling. Chopper couldn't help but slowly shake his head.

"This isn't even the real thing! What really happened was-" Chopper was quickly pushed out of the way by King Dedede's weight, who soon opened his book to read the script.

"'What is it now, Mayor? You practically threw me out of bed!'" King Dedede exclaimed through the microphone. The Mayor turned to his script and he went over to the microphone to say his part.

"'I apologize for waking you up, your Majesty. But, this is a big emergency!" the Mayor explained. "'You need to come to Hatty Town! And fast! I have some very…well, I have some important news to tell you!'"

"All righty! I'm on it! C'mon, Escargon! We need to go to Hatty Town to see what's all the hubbub." King Dedede declared, grabbing his hammer and heading to Hatty Town with Escargon.

"'No worries, your Majesty! I'm right behind you! You're an ally of justice until the end!'" Escargon exclaimed through his script, soon getting pushed out of the way by the king.

"'All right, Mayor! What do you need from us?'"

"'Oh, it's horrible! I just received this letter, and it states that if all of the twenty Crystal Stars aren't collected, then the entire universe will be destroyed by some strange darkness! I don't know where, but I heard it's bad!'" the Mayor explained. "...Am I doing it right?"

"'People of Hatty Town! Stop right there! I am Chopper, the evil demon that will soon demolish all! Hand over your food and nobody gets hurt!'" Chopper exclaimed through his script, looking at himself in the animation with disdain. "Wait... Why am I evil?"

"'Stop right there, Chopper! I won't let you harm anyone!'" King Dedede shouted. However, Chopper came charging at him, and now King Dedede was getting chased around by the Star Warrior. "'Help me!'"

Suddenly, the scene changed to the Music Kingdom, with Escargon speaking to King Dedede.

"'Your Majesty Dedede. Good morning.'" Escargon greeted.

"'Escargon. You look well.'" King Dedede said.

"Your Majesty, you're always so cool.'"

"'You are just splendid.'"

"'His Majesty looks so cool.'"

"'Your facial hair is incredible.'"

"Wow... These lines are just as bad as the lines in the story!" Chopper remarked, receiving looks from the others. "What?"

"And it also feels like a filler scene," Flyer whispered.

"'Your Majesty, there is the great evil,'" Escargon alarmed, pointing at Chopper, who began to zap all of the Toads and Cappies with his powers. Mayor Len and Chief Borun got a line too, but it only involved them screaming from their demise.

King Dedede pushed the two out of the way and got to his part, which then took place in the Shadow King's lair. It all went fast, almost too fast.

"'I will finish off that evil king!'" King Dedede declared.

"'If his righteous Majesty comes, our problems will be solved,'" Escargon said.

"'That is right. Now let me show my power.'"

"It will surely be astounding. You will win for sure.'"

"'I always fight for the sake of justice.'" King Dedede laughed.

"This is dumb..." Chopper whispered.

"They've been standing around and just talking without moving at all for a while," Fumu whispered.

"It's difficult to make movement, so they decided to be lazy by having mostly idle chitchat," Flyer explained.

"Talk about poor quality..." Heartsy trailed. "Though what about the camera work?"

"It only moves to fool you," Flyer assured her. "It's a fraud."

"Is a lot of anime like this?" Chopper asked.

"Well... Considering that they might usually have three or even five episodes of a fight and simply standing, I'd say yes..."

Escargon overheard their conversation and he whispered to them. "Well, we didn't have enough time or money, so there was nothing we could do about it."

Back to the anime, Chopper spat out a fireball toward King Dedede, in which Escargon shouted, "'Look out, your Majesty! Inhale it!'"

"Wait... Isn't that usually my line?" Fumu gawked.

"'Ha ha ha ha! A simple inhale won't save you, Dedede!'" Chopper laughed, sweat dropping after he spoke his line.

King Dedede inhaled the fireball and he became…

"'Yes! That is Fire Dedede…'" Meta Knight shouted. However, he didn't feel pleased about his line and slowly shook his head. "…That did not sound good enough…"

But that wasn't the only problem.

"The picture doesn't have any color!" Escargon gawked.

"Where's the background?" King Dedede asked.

"There was no time!" Chef Kawasaki cried.

"It doesn't matter. We'll cover it with the strength of our performances."

"We can't make our voices fit when it's just outlines!" Escargon cried.

King Dedede turned to everyone else. "Voice actors have to fit their voices in no matter how hard it is!"

"I guess we just have to improvise! Something we're good at!"

"Ugh... All right..." Chopper groaned, looking back at his script. "'You may have the Fire ability, but I can still stop you!'"

"'Sorry, Chopper, but I can't allow you to rule the world!" King Dedede stated. "It's time to bring out my special weapon: the Warp Star!'"

King Dedede made a sharp whistle and summoned the Warp Star.

"Hey! The Warp Star!" Chopper gasped, only to get silenced by Escargon.

"It's his Majesty's line now, so shut up!" Escargon whispered.

"Hey, you know this illustration doesn't look too bad," King Dedede remarked, watching his anime self jump onto the Warp Star.

"You should've added in some shouting while jumping onto the Warp Star," Escargon advised..

"You can't tell me what to do!" King Dedede growled, grabbing his hammer and bashed his assistant in the head with it.

"Ahem… 'Say your prayers, Chopper!' …Ooh! That sounded good!" King Dedede watched himself charge toward Chopper. That is, until everyone suddenly changed to poorly-made green drawings.

"Huh? What's this?!" King Dedede exclaimed.

"Oh, my… Those illustrations are WAY poorly done…" Escargon gawked.

"Hey! Those look like mine!" Chopper smiled, noticing the pictures of himself and the food surrounding him.

"Uh oh… I think those are the pictures Chopper drew…" Flyer whispered.

"Oh, now it's done for…" Fumu sighed.

"Well, at least they look cute," Heartsy defended, liking the pictures. Probably because it was made by Chopper.

King Dedede sighed and fell on his butt. "There's no way we can make a profit from this!"

"All that trouble for nothing!" Escargon cried.

Eventually the cut had began to work so poorly that the cells in each cut began to burn up and get destroyed, putting an end to Paper King Dedede: The Crystal Stars once and for all.

* * *

**Castle Dedede, throne room-**

_"What kind of anime was that?!" _the Tartara roared._ "All of the sponsoring have led us to losing MORE money! Your anime was so horrible, that the audience rating was 0.001%!"_

"It was Chopper's fault," King Dedede grumbled.

_"Whether he did it or not, your anime was a failure. According to the contact, your anime was to be successful, which it was not. You owe us the money, Dedede."  
_

At this point, King Dedede had enough and gave the Tartara an angry look.

"And why should I pay you back? You nearly ripped me off each time I purchased a demon beast! They were supposed to eliminate Chopper! And guess what? Each and every one of them failed! You guys are completely useless!"

_"You bought the demon beasts. There was nothing in the contract that had to do with whether these monsters failed or not."_

"Forget the contract!" King Dedede yelled, taking out the contract and tearing it up just in the same way as the drawings before. "I'm done with you guys!"

_"Hmph... I'm not too surprised to see you do this."_ the Tartara remarked. _"However, that will prove to be your biggest mistake, Dedede."  
_

"Actually, I think I'm making the right choice here."

_"You refused to pay us back, and soon you are going to regret it."_

"I won't be regretting this," King Dedede pressed a red button and Tartara Corporations was deleted from his network. Afterward, he leaned back on his throne and laughed. "Ah, finally! We're rid of those guys for good! No more having to deal with debts!"

"Your Majesty… I don't think that was such a good idea…" Escargon trailed. "Remember the terrible consequences that thing mentioned before?"

"They were obviously bluffing. I mean, businesses always tend to do that kind of stuff to get people to buy their stuff or not mess with them! It's a total scam!"

"Well... Those guys were obviously monstrous, though..." the escargot trailed, though considering the king deleted them from his network, he decided to brush it aside. "So, what about Chopper? What do you have planned for him?"

"Hmmmmm... Now that I think about it, we still need to take care of him!" King Dedede realized. "He ruined my anime and my chance of getting money, so I guess it's a good idea to give him what's coming! And this time, without the help of those Tartaras?"

"So... No Demon Beasts?"

"You remember the saying of when you want to get rid of something you do it yourself? Well... That's just what I was thinking!"

"But what about the previous times?"

"Oh, this time it will be different. I have a secret weapon in store for him, and I plan on using it back at Mt. Dedede!"

"You mean that old fortress?"

"You betcha!" King Dedede nodded, swinging an arm and hitting Escargon on accident. "And I don't plan on making it easy for Chopper to get there. I've set up a machine in that fortress to turn a lot of the grass purple and strengthen the creatures there! He will struggle big time! But if he succeeds, my hammer will do him in real good!"

"Wait... Your hammer?" Escargon sighed while rubbing his head. "The last time you attacked Chopper with your hammer, it failed."

"Not this hammer, you buffoon! I'm talking about another one! Perhaps I should show it to you."

King Dedede walked over to his secret closet that not even Escargon was allowed to touch and opened it. When Escargon got a glimpse of the object inside, his mouth dropped.

"Impressive, right? This'll crush Chopper and those pesky friends of his!

"You know, Your Majesty... This thing might just do the trick after all." Escargon grinned evilly.

Both villains began to laugh evilly, feeling very confident in their new idea.

* * *

**If you couldn't tell, this and the previous chapter is based off the episode in the Kirby anime where they literally make an anime...which turns out to be a failure. It's probably one of my favorite episodes from the show because of how the anime within the anime kinda makes fun of some other anime out there.  
**

**Thankfully, this chapter is far from over, as the action begins to start in the next chapter!**


	109. A Journey Through Dream Land

King Dedede went into the hallway with Escargon and hurried over to Cabinet's home area. "Come on, Escargon! Move faster! We don't have much time! We have to get to Mt. Dedede as fast as possible!"

"Calm down, your Majesty! It's only 2 o'clock in the morning. We have PLENTY of time…" Escargon informed, finally reaching the door.

Thankfully, King Dedede had a skeleton key with him, so he didn't have to bust the door open with his hammer. Going in quietly is what they wanted to do anyway. All they found was Chopper sleeping on the couch with Heartsy on his lap (though he was unaware of that), and Flyer on another couch with Fumu. He saw that they were holding hands.

"Well, it's quiet, so we might need to be a little careful," Escargon walked over to Chopper, giving him a glare. "You know, it's funny... This is probably going to be the last time he ever sleeps!"

"Heh heh heh! He doesn't know what he's in for!" King Dedede quietly laughed. "Now, get me some paper, Escargon!"

"Paper? What for?" Escargon asked.

"What for? What do you think we came in here for? We're going to get Chopper to come to us, right? Giving him a letter will help us big time!"

"Wait... You mean we're no kidnapping that girl?"

"You mean the one who hit me with her hammer? That'd be too difficult for me." King Dedede said, taking out a pen to write on the paper. "Now just let me write this paper! So, don't distract me!"

As King Dedede continued to write the letter, Escargon's eyes shot wide open when he saw a mysterious figure fly past the open window.

"Y-Y-Y-Your M-M-Majesty! Th-The window!"

"What now?" King Dedede asked angrily.

"Th-There was s-s-s-something out th-there!"

King Dedede put down the paper and decided to see for himself. He found nothing.

"Oh, nice try, Escargon. You'll have to do better than that." King Dedede grumbled, getting back to his paper. However, that was stopped when an undead cackling echoed in the room, causing the two's eyes to widen, especially when a figure was getting closer to the window.

"Hee hee hee hee hee! Well, so THIS is where Chopper's staying at, huh? Excellent! I came at the right time!"

King Dedede and Escargon immediately bolted, though the figure didn't seem to care. He looked down at Chopper with his disturbing eyes.

"Well, let's see… I could just destroy him now, but there would be no fun in that. No... I want to destroy him when he sets his eyes on the Dream Star! Maybe just for fun, I'll take someone with me!" the figure decided to choose between Heartsy, Flyer, and Fumu. He knew the two former would put up more of a fight, but his eyes eventually met Fumu. "Hmmmmm... I've never seen this one before... How about I take her instead? Hee hee hee!"

Using his magic, the figure caught Fumu in a magical barrier, and he also left a note for Chopper. He decided to fly off to Kirby's house, where Scrub, Kirby, Shadower, Mario, and Tamber were staying.

"Let's not forget about that pink puffball, too," the figure hissed, opening his mouth. "This may not destroy him, but I know it might keep Chopper away from his friends!"

A laser fired from his mouth, and it struck Kirby's house. Along with the house, five figures were sent flying from Dream Land and far on Pop Star.

"Ahh... That felt good! It looks like my work here is done! Wait until those heroes get a glimpse of me! They're in for a shock!"

Having done his job, the mysterious figure disappeared through the night and went to the other side of Pop Star.

* * *

**Next day-  
**

"Mmmmmm... Pizza and apples..." Chopper mumbled happily, slowly waking up. However, he noticed a certain girl lying her head on his lap and gasped. "Eek! Flyer! Help me!"

Eventually Heartsy got up and got up, noticing the scared expression on Chopper's face. "Good morning, Choppy! How did you sleep?"

"I slept fine...until I found you on my l-lap!"

"Well my sleep was fantastic," Heartsy answered, getting close to the scared and red Chopper. "Are you turning red, Choppy? That's so cute!"

She was about to kiss him, but Chopper quickly put his arms in front of him and tried pushing her away. "Flyer! I need some help!"

Flyer had managed to get up and yawn. "Well... That was a good night of sleep! So, what are we doing next, Fumu? ...Fumu?"

He turned to where Fumu was, only to notice she was gone. Heartsy had noticed the same thing and stopped trying to kiss Chopper.

"Wait... Where did Fumu go?" Heartsy gawked. "Did she leave her room?"

Before Chopper could search, he found two letters on the table. "Hey... What are those?"

Chopper picked up the closest one and started to read it.

_Dear Chopper,_

_It's all your fault that my anime was a complete failure! You have no idea how angry I am at you! However... Then I remembered that I still have a score to settle with you. Chopper! I challenge you to a battle up in Mt. Dedede! And this time, I'm not holding back. I'm going to use my most powerful weapon against you! Trust me, you're in for a surprise!  
_

_Your enemy,_

_King Dedede._

"King Dedede wants to fight me? OK... Well that doesn't sound too bad." Chopper shrugged, putting the note to the side. "Now… Let's take a look at the other one!"

He picked up the next letter, but this time his calm look changed to a puzzled one.

_Dear Chopper,_

_Guess what? I'm back! And this time, I'm serious! I also happen to know where the Crystal Star is, the Dream Star! Not only that, I've separated your friends far from each other to keep you from finding them! And just as another treat, I decided to take one of your friends! You wanna see her and the Crystal Star? Then come to the other side of Pop Star to face me! That is, if you can get past all the dangerous monsters there!  
_

_Hee hee hee hee! Like I'd ever tell you who I am!_

"Oh, boy… This isn't good…" Chopper gulped. "I think this monster who wrote the letter took Fumu..."

"What? My sister's been kidnapped? No way!" Bun gawked, overhearing the conversation. Flyer appeared shocked, but his expression quickly turned to a more determined.

"We're going to the other side of Pop Star, Chopper," Flyer declared, standing up. "Fumu is in serious trouble, and that monster has the Crystal Star. We're getting them both back."

"Well I'm in," Heartsy agreed, putting her hand on the table. "Who's with me?"

Flyer put his hand on top of hers, and then Chopper joined his hand in.

"Yeah! We're going to do this!" Chopper decided. "We'll take down King Dedede and help save Fumu! If this monster wants a fight, then we'll give him one! Don't worry, Bun, we'll get your sister back safe and sound!"

"Thanks..." Bun nodded. "In the meantime, I guess I should try to pretend that my parents think she's outside. They'd flip if they heard her get kidnapped!"

"All right! Let's head off!" With that, Chopper began to run out of the castle, with Heartsy and Flyer following behind. They decided to head in the direction of Green Greens.

"Good luck, guys… You're going to need it." Bun said, waving goodbye from out the window as their figures started to get smaller by the moment.

* * *

**Stage 1: Green Greens (Purple Plants)**

When they entered the purple grassland, the first thing they noticed was a strange bird creature. This immediately caught Chopper's attention.

"Hey! There's a bird!" Chopper began to chase the bird through the purple grass, but he was unfortunate enough to get chased by a couple of other birds that caught his attention. Heartsy and Flyer ended up face palming.

After getting away from the birds, they found some steep ledges up ahead. Not even Chopper could get past them. However, Flyer's flying was able to help, so he grabbed Chopper and Heartsy and flew them up the steep ledges.

"Look at those Bronto Burts… They have beaks now?" Chopper gawked. Though, they weren't Bronto Burts, but Koozers. Unlike Bronto Burts, They were dark purple and sported bug-like wings just like those enemies.

Other enemies include a Perot, which had a clown-like face and is in purple garment, along with Sword Knights. Compared to Meta Knight's servant, these Sword Knights were purple.

After clearing the way, Flyer dropped Chopper and Heartsy by a little doorway by a dome-shaped structure. They walked in to find some ladders going down to the bottom of the tunnel. They were able to take down some Sword Knights that tried swinging at them.

"It's a good thing I had you guys upgraded," Chopper smiled. "I mean, this would've been a lot harder without that upgrade."

"Yeah, using the Hurricane in battle will be pretty interesting," Flyer said, following Chopper out of the room and outside to another field.

"Whoa, look at those Waddle Dee," Heartsy pointed to the Waddle Dees holding spears. "Let's try to be aware of them."

"Well, using your hammer wouldn't be too much of a problem," Chopper said, taking out his hammer and spinning it around as he moved toward the Waddle Dees, knocking them all away.

Heartsy followed him and whacked a couple of Waddle Dees away with her Hearty Hammer. However, there were a couple of far gaps that not even Chopper could jump across.

"I guess you can give me a hand here, Heartsy," Chopper said, soon feeling her hammer throw him across the other side of the gap. "There we go!"

"That's great an all, but how do I get across?" Heartsy asked.

"I'll assist you," Flyer assured, grabbing Heartsy's arm and flying her across the gap and dropped her by Chopper. Luckily, they also came across a Warp Star. "A Warp Star? Here?"

"I think these kind take you to places. Let's find out!" Chopper grabbed the Warp Star, along with Heartsy and Flyer, and it took them into the woods, where they found an elephant creature called Phan Phan waiting for them there. It only had two legs, but that trunk that it had was good with throwing things around.

"What an interesting specimen," Flyer remarked, the three getting off the Warp Star. Phan Phan quickly rolled in a ball toward them, but they got out of the way.

"It looks like it wants a fight," Chopper said, changing to his Fighting ability. "Well, I guess we oughta do it!"

"But should we really be hurting a creature like this?" Heartsy asked, quickly dodging Phan Phan's trunk. "...OK, it's attacking us, so we don't have much of a choice."

Chopper started off the fight by taking 8 out of Phan Phan with a Vulcan Jab. Heartsy brought her hammer on its head next. With her recent upgrade, she was able to deal 10 damage.

Phan Phan rolled up in a ball again and grabbed Chopper. With him in its trunk, it tossed him at Flyer, taking 12 out of them both.

"OK, that seriously hurt," Flyer moaned, getting up and using his Flying Attack on it. Chopper threw in another Vulcan Jab afterward.

Luckily, Phan Phan ended up missing, allowing Chopper to strike it with his Wall Jump. Heartsy defeated the elephant creature with one last hammer strike. It dropped 12 Star Points and an Ultimate Shroom. Despite being defeated, they thankfully left it in a KO'd state.

"It'll probably get up pretty soon, so we should keep going," Chopper removed his Fighter ability and walked over to the tree containing a doorway. They looked inside to find a ladder leading up to the top of the tree's interior.

Chopper heard a voice coming from the outside of the tree at the top. In fact, he heard some punches, too. The voice sounded awfully familiar to him, though. The three made their way up to the top of the tree and headed outside to run into a large tree with a face.

Not only that, but a brown, furry figure was punching at it.

"Come on, you wimpy tree! I can take ya on!" Tamber taunted, continuously punching at the tree. The tree reacted by dropping an apple on Tamber's head, leaving him dazed.

The tree, known as Whispy Woods, looked a lot different than what he usually looked like. His leaves were usually green, but they were more of a purple color than a green. In fact, some of the apples were purple too. This version was known as Whispy X.

"Tamber!" Chopper rushed to his aid and whacked Whispy X with his hammer, taking 8 out of him. The tree cringed, but he took action by summoning an apple to fall on Chopper.

"Oh, great... It's the puffball, the nerd, and that squeaky chick." Tamber groaned. "Nice of you to show up..."

"Yeah, it's nice to see you too, furry tulip," Heartsy interjected.

"HEY! Don't call me a tulip!"

"Can we just fight this thing?" Chopper asked. While Tamber calmed down, the Star Warrior saw how much HP Whispy X had. He had 150 HP with an Attack of 12, and a Defense of 0. Both his and Tamber's attack brought him down to 130 HP, though.

Chopper conjured up an ice ball and hurled it at Whispy X. Tamber decided to throw in another Combo Punch, dealing 12 damage.

"Heh heh... I can do so much more damage compared to you guys..." Tamber snickered.

Whispy X summoned a couple of apples that fell on Chopper and Tamber. Heartsy held her hammer up to guard them, but Flyer ended up getting hit by one.

Chopper decided to use a Fire Smash on Dark Whispy, which left a burn on him, while Heartsy bashed the tree with her hammer, leaving him with only 92 HP.

"This thing really isn't that difficult..." Heartsy trailed.

"Does this guy even say anything?" Chopper asked. He saw an inch worm covered in static electricity fall down and shock him. "…I'd take that as a no, I guess…"

Chopper stomped on Whispy X, followed up by Tamber's punch. He cringed when he was hit in the head by another apple.

"Ugh! I hate apples!" Tamber complained.

"Well I like them," Chopper retorted, firing an electric ball at Whispy X. Tamber decided to throw in a Power Punch to deal some extra damage. "All right, so he has 48 HP left. This will be over before we know it!"

After Superguarding one of Whispy X's purple apples, Chopper charged at him and attacked with his Rainbow Spin. Flyer's Flying Attack brought the tree down to 30.

"Wow, I almost feel bad for the tree..." Flyer remarked. "Though, he did attack us first."

"Actually, we saw Tamber attacking the thing," Heartsy reminded. "If anyone should be guilty, it's him."

Tamber was about to insult her, but Whispy X began to blow out some air. This threw everyone into each other, dealing 12 damage to them, strangely.

"What the… That was weird." Heartsy said.

"Well... I guess we might as well wrap this up." Chopper jumped off of a wall and landed on Whispy X with his Wall Jump ability. Tamber finished the job off with one punch, leaving Whispy X to whimper and shed a tear.

Chopper had gotten 21 Star Points and also a level up from the fight. He decided to upgrade his HP to 110, leaving him with 105 FP and 63 BP - due to his level up against the Shadow King, of course.

With Whispy X's defeat, a new pathway had been unlocked, leading them out of Green Greens. Out in the distance, they saw a castle.

"A castle? Could that be where King Dedede is?" Chopper wondered.

"If that's the case, then this was much easier than we thought," Flyer remarked. "Well, let's go find out."

They headed out toward the castle ahead. Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly what they thought it would be, as the castle belonged to two others.

* * *

**Stage 2: Castle Lololo (Relinquishing Castle)**

When they had gotten closer to the castle, they ended up coming across another river. However, its width was too big for either Heartsy or Flyer to get him across. Instead, Chopper searched around his surrounding area. He took notice of a King Dedede statue near the river.

"Think you can smash that or lift it, Tamber?" Chopper asked.

"Yeah, sure," Tamber grumbled as he grabbed the statue and was able to lift it up. "So, should I throw it or should I put it down somewhere else?"

"Uhhh... You do what you want, I guess."

Smiling, Tamber threw it into the river, revealing a blue ! switch underneath.

"Ah, there's the switch!" Heartsy exclaimed, getting her hammer out to strike it. A bridge was built in the same manner like dominos, allowing them to cross. They crossed the bridge, only to find another puzzle. There was a gate blocking the way to the castle called Castle Lololo.

"This place isn't King Dedede's Castle," Flyer noticed, reading the sign. "It says it's called Castle Lololo."

"Oh... Well, I guess this isn't it then." Chopper found a dark blue orb standing near them. With an electric ball, the gate to Castle Lololo opened up. Everyone headed into the castle and noticed the purple brick interior and large windows showing the rest of Dream Land. It looked like a typical castle, that's for sure.

In front of them, however, stood three pathways. There was a top, middle, and bottom path to take.

"Oh, great... A puzzle." Tamber groaned.

"I suppose we should split up," Flyer decided. "I'll take the top pathway, Tamber can take the bottom one, and Chopper and Heartsy can take the middle one."

"Wait... What?" Chopper gasped, fearing what's to be expected.

"And why do I have to take the bottom path?" Tamber asked angrily.

"Guys... No time for questions. Just do as I say..." Flyer groaned.

Choosing not to say anything else, they quickly split up and took their path.

* * *

**Upper path-**

For Flyer, the first thing he noticed was that the room he stood in was moving upward, with a couple of Gordos moving sideways. Not only that, but strange, ghost-like creatures with their tongues hanging from their mouths called Boolers were flying around.

"Those are some interesting-looking creatures," Flyer remarked. "But I don't have time to be studying those things. Now... Let's see what I have to do here..."

He took off in the air, dodging the moving Gordos. He kept his arm cannon ready for any of the Boolers that tried to chase him. He only need to fire at two and paralyze them, to his relief.

When he finally reached the top of the room, he entered the doorway outside on a thin platform. Some round creatures covered in bandages with a red eye underneath called Mumbies were chasing him - only when they were behind him, of course.

"I think I see the doorway just up ahead," Flyer noticed, deciding to give his wings a rest and run straight for the doorway leading back inside. "I may not be fast, but that's not stopping me!"

Before the Mumbies could reach him, he jumped into the doorway, safe from harm.

* * *

**Middle path-**

For Chopper, it was rather simple for him. Just a couple of Spear Dees and some Boolers flying around. They were easy to take care of, especially with someone else giving him a hand.

"You know, I always liked the idea of splitting up with just you," Heartsy smiled, knocking away a Booler with her hammer. "I wanted to get that opportunity back at Viti, but I guess I get the chance now."

"Oh... OK." Chopper said, unsure of what else to say before inhaling a Spear Dee and spitting it out. He ran on ahead and found a couple of small platforms leading up to a door. "Wait... This is it?"

"I guess so," she replied, following him through the doorway. However, it didn't appear to be over yet, as they were met with a small staircase leading downward, as well as some other platforms that appeared unreachable. A floating masked enemy that had a calm side and evil side called a Two Face ambushed them, but Heartsy's hammer did away with it. "If you ever get hurt, I can always heal you."

"Wait, really? How- Wait, are you talking about that new ability you have?"

"Well... Duh. Then again, it costs too much FP to use. Well, not this!" Heartsy blew a kiss at Chopper, using her Refreshing Love to slowly recover some HP. As usual, Chopper felt like gagging, but he was too distracted by the Two Faces, so he quickly ran ahead and found a doorway. With that, they headed on through.

* * *

**Lower pathway-**

"Ugh... Why do I have to put up with this?" Tamber groaned, swimming his way through the room mostly filled with water. A few Gordos were blocking some paths, but he ignored them and reached the bottom pathway in the room to reach the doorway. This eventually led him outside with a large wall in his way, along with some firing cannons.

However, this was no difficult feat for Tamber. He attached his fists to the wall and started to climb, ignoring the cannons firing. In fact, he punched a cannonball back at one of the cannons!

"That'll shut it up," Tamber grumbled, reaching the top of the wall. He found a doorway off in the distance on a platform leading back in the castle. Once again, not a problem for him. His fur allowed him to glide, so he jumped off, spread his arms and legs out, and glided his way to the door and entered it back inside. "Ha HA! That place was no match for me!"

Unfortunately, that was all he had to say when two figures ended up falling on him.

"What the heck?! Get off me!" Tamber yelled, pushing the two figures off. He soon found out who they were. "Hey! What're you two doing here?"

"We landed here," Heartsy replied. "We didn't plan on falling on you."

"Hey, guys!" Flyer called out, flying down to meet with the others. "I guess we all met up here, right?"

"Looks like it. That was pretty easy to get through! Now we just have this room..." Chopper trailed, looking at the room, which had a couple of Rainbow Blocks and Electric Blocks. However, there was one hidden chest Tamber found.

"Hold on, puffball! There's a hidden chest right here!" Tamber announced. Just after Chopper smashed the blocks, he opened the chest and found a Mushroom with yellow stars on it.

"What the… What in the world is this?" Chopper questioned.

"It says that it's called a **Star Shroom**." Flyer answered, scanning it with his device. "It says it can recover 150 HP."

"Oh, cool! This should help!"

With that out of the way, they went to the next room, which had a small, sphere-shaped plum figure with eyes and brown gloves and shoes in the flat room.

"Huh? Uh oh… Don't tell me you're already here! Well… Looks like _someone _has to stop you… So, I guess I'll do it." the person known as Lololo X grabbed a green cubic object and tossed it at Chopper, knocking him back.

"Looks like that's Lololo X," Flyer noticed. "I can see that he only has 80 HP, so this might not take long."

"Oh, well that'll be easy for us!" Chopper performed a stylish flip as he stomped on Lololo X. Tamber followed up with a punch that brought him down to 60 HP.

"Ooooog… OK, so you're pretty tough... But you won't stop this!" Lololo X threw a Gordo at Chopper, which did 14 damage to him.

"Ow! That hurt a lot more than that green cube!" Chopper quickly shook his head and looked back at Lololo. "Well, let's see how you like this!"

He tossed a fireball at Lololo X, leaving a severe burn on him. After Tamber's punch, the bluish purple...whatever he is was down to 40 HP.

"Pbbbtthh! This thing's pathetic!" Tamber laughed.

Annoyed, Lololo X tossed a green cube at Tamber, but he ended up Superguarding the attack, to his dismay. This allowed Chopper to use a Power Smash, followed up with a Flying Attack from Flyer.

"Well, looks like you're going down!" Chopper smirked. Lololo sweat dropped and he stepped back.

"Crud... I can't do this alone..." Lololo X gulped, slowly turning away and making a run for it. "Lalala! Wait for me!"

"Hey! That thing's gettin' away!" Tamber gaped.

"Who's this Lalala he mentioned" Heartsy wondered.

Despite the questioning, everyone chased after the blue guy, but when they walked into the next room, he was already at the end of the room, standing right in front of the lever. He wasted no time and pulled it down, revealing two statues of King Dedede and a large Shadow Boo called an Atomic Shadow Boo.

"Wait... A Boo in Dream Land?" Chopper gawked. Another Atomic Boo appeared, but it was a purple color with yellow eyes. It appeared to be an Atomic Dark Boo, while the next Boo that appeared was an Atomic Boo.

"Oh, great! We have three of them!" Tamber groaned.

According to their stats, the Atomic Shadow Boo had 160 HP, an Attack of 15 and a Defense of 0. The Atomic Dark Boo had 120 HP, an Attack of 12, and a Defense of 0. The Atomic Boo had already been tattled before, so they knew its stats.

"Oh... Well... This is nice..." Chopper trailed.

"We might as well get this out of the way," Flyer shrugged.

The battle commenced, and the four had ended up facing with all three from strongest to weakest. Thankfully, they managed to get rid of them after twenty minutes, allowing them progress onward through the door ahead. To their disappointment, there was no sign of Lololo X anywhere.

"Hey... Where'd that thing go?" Tamber wondered. "Don't tell me he decided to be a coward!"

They found one platform high above them that was even too high for Flyer to reach, but there was a small block, along with a large one that could move by hitting the small one. It resembled those moving blocks in the Palace of Shadow, only these had stars on them. Since there was a pathway ahead with two Spear Dees, they took that way and were taken to a much larger room, with many different doorways.

"Uhhhh... This looks confusing..." Chopper trailed, walking to the doorway in front of him. It had led him to another one on a platform to the upper left. "Oh, so it's a maze!"

The others followed him to the platform and found another platform up ahead. A Gordo was in the way, moving vertically. When the coast was clear, Heartsy swung her hammer and sent Chopper flying to the platform and to the doorway. They were eventually led outside to a small staircase leading to a Save Block.

Obviously, Lololo would be up ahead, so they wasted no time and headed through the doorway, leading them into a boxed room. A familiar figure was waiting for him, but there was also another figure similar to him. She was more of a dark orange and had lavender gloves and shoes in contrast to Lololo X. However, she sported a red bow as well.

"Huh... So there's another one..." Chopper trailed.

"So, are these the ones you were talking about, bro?" the figure named Lalala X asked.

"Yeah, they're the ones!" her brother replied, pulling out a green cube. "You ready to take 'em, sis?"

"Of course!" Lalala X nodded, taking out a Gordo.

"OK... I guess we should try to attack them both, seeing as they both have 80 HP..." Chopper trailed.

"I'm in for that!" Tamber smirked.

"Well, let's see how they like this!" Chopper began to hurl electric balls at the two enemies, taking 8 out of them both. Heartsy went up next, hurling her hammer like a boomerang at them and quickly catching it and it came back to her.

"All right, let's do this!" Lololo X threw a green cube at Tamber, while Lalala threw a Gordo at Heartsy, the latter dealing much more damage.

"I hope you liked that!" Lalala X scoffed.

"Well, let's hope you enjoy this," Flyer smirked, using his Tornado to hit both Lololo and Lalala X. Chopper followed up with his Diamond Hammer, bringing them down to 44 HP.

The two grabbed some green cubes and hurled them at Chopper, who brought his arms up to guard the attack. He used his ultra Gloves to hurl ice balls at them, and then Tamber used his Quake to take 12 out of them.

"Argh! Only 24 HP left? You're kidding me!" Lololo X gaped. "OK, sis! Let's get 'em with more Gordos!"

"Right on, bro!" Lalala X agreed, holding up a Gordo. She threw it at Flyer, while Lololo X threw his Gordo at Tamber.

"OK... I guess we should end this quickly," Chopper suggested, summoning the Moon Star. "This should take them out!"

With the Rapid Spin, the Moon Star managed to strike Lololo and Lalala X, easily defeating them and making them fall. With the 19 Star Points, Chopper gained a level and upgraded his FP to 110.

"That was way too easy," Tamber remarked. "They were easier than that tree!"

"Well... At least I gained a level." Chopper mentioned. "If there's going to be a lot of fights, then it's an easy opportunity for me to level up!"

With that out of the way, they spotted the exit out of the castle up ahead. Everyone became excited and made their way out. However, what they saw outside were a few palm tress and more purple land. Only this time, they got a view of the water as well.

* * *

**Stage 3: Float Island (Illusion Islands)**

"So, there's going to be swimming involved? Well that doesn't sound bad." Tamber said, taking notice of the pink lump in the water. "Maybe we can use that to cross the water!"

Tamber jumped on the bump, only to have a pink puffball with a snorkel rise from the water. "Poyo?"

"WHOA!" Tamber yelped, falling in the water. Kirby stood there, laughing at the furball.

"Kirby? Is that you?" Chopper gasped in joy. "What are you doing here?"

Kirby, too, was excited to see Chopper, but he knew he had to tell him what happened. At least, what he knew.

"Poyo, (Well, I was sleeping in my house with the others, but then there was this sudden explosion that sent us all flying,)" Kirby explained. "Poyo. (And I somehow landed here.)"

"Do you know where the others are?"

Kirby slowly shook his head sadly.

"Oh... That's not good... Also, what is up with the purple grass we've been seeing? This place was usually green, right?"

"Poyo... (Yeah. I don't know what's going on...)"

Tamber had eventually come up from the surface, looking angry as usual. He tried grabbing Kirby, but he dove into the water and under the large rock standing in their way. There, he found a cave. Everyone else followed him to the cave, which had a light blue interior with some starfish on the rocks. Above them were some coconuts that began to fall.

They barely avoided getting hurt by the explosive coconuts before reaching the end of the path ahead. However, there was a pool of water above them, but it required some wall jumping.

"Ooh! I think I can do this!" Chopper jumped on the wall and performed his Wall Jump to get to the water above to find a red Blooper. The others got up with ease, but Flyer had to help Heartsy get up there. They reached some more land upon getting to the surface and found another ledge. This time, Flyer was able to get them up there and to a doorway leading back outside.

"I'm getting sick of this purple here," Tamber groaned, seeing the purple leaves on the pine trees. However, that wasn't the problem, as

"These gaps are a bit too far for me to reach. I think I'll use my Wing ability for this!" Chopper changed to his Wing ability, leaving Tamber gawking.

"What kind of power is that?"

"Ummmm... A helpful one?" sighed Chopper. He began to fly over the obstacles in the water such as the Bloopers and cannons. There were a few grassy platforms he landed on so he wasn't flying all the time. Everyone reached a large grassy platform with explosive coconuts they were aware of as well. At the end, they found a doorway leading into another cave.

The cave consisted of mostly spikes, blue rock creatures with purple feet called Rockies, and brown rock creatures with grumpy faces called Grumples. They could turn invisible and surprise them.

They found a long drop that led them straight into a Rocky a Grumple, but they managed to do away with them and come across a high ledge above them at the end of the path. A coconut had fallen on Tamber, leaving him stunned. Chopper ignored that, feeling that Tamber would be fine, and used his Wall Jump to get up there.

Another drop led them surrounded by spikes, but there was another platform they could reach thanks to Heartsy's hammer. A stone was blocking their way, unfortunately, but Tamber easily smashed it, leading them to a doorway back outside.

"Poyo? (So, why exactly are you here, Chopper?)" Kirby asked as they headed outside, finding a ship in front of them.

"Well, King Dedede wants to face off against me, and Fumu's missing, and I got a letter saying someone who has the Crystal Star took her," Chopper explained. The shocked look on Kirby's face made it seem obvious to everyone. "Yeah... It's pretty shocking."

"Hey, Chopper! Is that you?"

Chopper stopped and saw Shadower waiting by the Warp Star, waving at him.

"Shadower!" Chopper gasped.

"Yup, that's me," Shadower confirmed, going over to his friends. "Where've you guys been?"

"Making an anime..." Heartsy muttered.

"Well... That must've been fun." the Shadow Brother looked behind Chopper and noticed how small the group was. "Wait... Where are the others?"

"We don't know where Vivian, Bombette, and Sonic are..." Chopper frowned. "Do you know where Scrub and Mario are, though?"

"No... But, maybe we can find them together? The last time I remembered seeing them was when we were at Kirby's house. Then BAM! Something hits the house, and we're sent flying."

"Maybe this Warp Star can help us get to them?" Chopper wondered, jumping on the Warp Star. The others joined him, and they were taken up to the clouds. There, they found a blimp with a cannon on the bottom.

"Wait... A blimp?" Heartsy gawked.

"It's called Kaboola," Flyer said, scanning it with his scanning device. "Though, it doesn't seem that powerful... It only has about 130 HP and an Attack of 13. No defense. It says Kaboola's a she, though."

Chopper took one look at the faceless blimp. "...How is it a she?"

"Beats me."

Chopper removed his Wing ability and changed to Bomb. He pulled a bomb out and threw it at Kaboola, while Kirby turned into a stone and crushed the blimp. She took action by firing a cannonball at the two, dealing 13 damage to them both.

Strangely enough, when Chopper hit her with a Wall Jump, and then Shadower struck her with a Shadow Punch, Kaboola fired a ninja star from her cannon to the floor and fired a cannonball at Chopper. He guarded it, making the cannonball land right by the ninja star.

"Poyo? (Kaboola's a ninja now?)" Kirby gawked.

Chopper pondered for a moment, staring at the ninja star and cannonball. A thought struck his mind as he removed his ability and inhaled both. when this happened, he gained a ninja hood, a bandanna with crossbones on it, and also an eye patch. His skin still had that pale purple tint to it, along with his gloves and shoes being a darker purple like his ninja ability.

"Yes! I knew it!" Chopper cheered. "I've gotten the Ninja-Pirate ability!"

"...What?" Heartsy gawked.

"That's weird..." Shadower remarked.

Since he had wasted a turn, Tamber decided to pick up a rock and throw it at Kaboola, since ground attacks wouldn't work. This had brought her to 70 HP already, but it didn't stop her from shooting at Tamber.

"Puffball... Get rid of this thing." Tamber muttered.

"All right," Chopper threw an explosive kunai at Kaboola, and then Heartsy used her Hearty Throw to take 10 out of her. Her cannonball was Superguarded by Flyer, which he decided to hit with his Flying Attack. The Moon Star's Rapid Spin helped bring her down to 36 HP.

Kaboola fired two cannonballs, which hit both Chopper and Kirby, but that didn't stop Chopper from using a Spin Jump and Kirby from hitting her with his Stone. After she fired a cannonball, Chopper fired one shuriken, and Shadower's Shadow Punch made the blimp explode, giving Chopper 15 Star Points.

"That...was very easy," Shadower realized, looking at his fist. "Yeesh... This Master-Rank has really made us much stronger than before!"

"That's what we were saying before," Heartsy noted. "Well... Since Kaboola's out of the way, shall we move on?"

"Definitely," Chopper agreed, running on through the clouds to see what was up ahead. The others soon quickly followed, sensing from the far distance a fortress on a tall mountain.

* * *

**If you couldn't tell, this is based off the game from Kirby Super Star Ultra called "Revenge of the King". However, the huge difference here than in that game is that there is no Castle Lololo. I decided to add that here, but I called it "Relinquishing Castle", kind of like how they gave different names for the other places.  
**

**The Ninja-Pirate ability... Yeah, it speaks for itself.**


	110. Revenge of the King

**Stage 4: Bubbly Clouds (Crash Clouds)**

Upon making a big leap off the cloudy pathway they stood on, Chopper started to skydive down to a cloud with a Rainbow Block below. This cloud was much darker in color, and the sky appeared greenish in color with a couple of diamonds and spheres as well.

"Yeesh... Even the sky is not its normal color now." Flyer noticed, taking notice of the sky.

"Maybe Dedede is up to this," Chopper deduced, smashing the Rainbow Block to find a chest. He found a yellow drink called Star Juice. "150 FP? Wow... This sounds pretty helpful!"

Afterward, they began to press on, finding some cloudy platforms to jump on, along with a cannon firing some projectiles from below. Some golden knights with red gloves called Sir Kibbles were throwing their cutter blades, but they easily did away with them and allowed Flyer to fly Chopper up to a ledge where the door was.

However, just as he was about to enter the door, Chopper ended up tripping on something that looked pale blue.

"Hey! Watch where you're going you..." the figure stood up, realizing who he just saw. "Con... Contadre? Is that you?! What're you doing here?"

"Going after the Crystal Star and King Dedede," Chopper answered, standing up.

"Oh, cool!" Scrub smirked, only to notice something strange about the group. "Hey... There's some people missing. Where are they?"

"We don't know... We're trying to look for them. Hopefully they're all right."

With Scrub now back on their team, the group entered through the doorway and onto a thick cloud. There were also some lavender and orange-checkered platforms they could jump onto, too. However, this time, there was a green, floating apple called a Mad Apple, along with an orange, limbless creature with cat-like ears called a Scarfy.

"Whoa... Those Mad Apples and Scarfies will become pretty freaky if you try inhaling them." Flyer warned. "So whatever you do... Don't inhale them!"

"Well, I can always do this!" Chopper tossed explosive kunais at the Mad Apples and Scarfies, making them explode instantly. "And I'm liking this ability!"

He jumped off the clouds and landed on the solid platforms, quickly jumping over a cannon standing in his way. The others followed, soon finding Chopper stop at a small gap with two platforms just up ahead. Scrub knew what he had to do and let Chopper get on his back so he could get to each platform.

When they got on a large, solid platform, they all raced to the doorway ahead.

Walking through the door, they found a Chilly making icicles fall from the sky, but they easily avoided them and chose to walk past the snowman. A Sir Kibbles, however, stood in their way and fired a cutter blade, but Chopper opened his mouth, and out came a cannon.

"What the heck is that?" Tamber gawked.

A cannonball came out, striking the Sir Kibbles and destroying it.

"That was pretty easy," Heartsy remarked.

"I know," Chopper agreed, jumping onto a cloud and falling between two of them to go to an area with a bunch of clouds acting like walls and ceilings. "Looks like I need my Wall Jump for this."

"You do that. I, on the other hand, will climb them." Tamber declared as he climbed up the clouds like any sort of way. When they got onto a larger cloudy platform, they saw a floating eye with four brownish purple circles around him waiting for them. It had a bluish purple eyelid and a red eye.

"Poyo? (Kracko Jr.?)" Kirby gawked.

"Kracko what?" Chopper asked, turning to the eye. "I know of Kracko, but not Kracko Jr..."

"It's Kracko Jr. X," Flyer informed through his scanner. "He's got 120 HP, an Attack of 12 and a Defense of 0."

"All right, then let's get this show on the road!" Chopper made a jump on Kracko Jr. X, while Scrub hit him with a Ground Pound, taking 10 out of him.

"Aw, yeah! I'm already loving this power boost!" Scrub grinned.

Kracko Jr. X dropped a bomb down on Chopper, which surprised him. After all, floating eyeballs were not known to drop bombs on people...

Chopper fired a cannonball at Kracko Jr. X, followed up with Shadower's Shadow Punch. Kracko Jr. X swooped down at Shadower to hit him, but he managed to put his guard up to take less damage. This gave Chopper the chance to throw a kunai at Kracko Jr. X.

"This is a very intriguing-looking creature..." Flyer remarked, hitting it with a Flying Attack. "I mean, a floating eyeball with the ability to drop bombs and such? How does it manage to do that?"

"Beats me," Chopper replied, Superguarding Kracko Jr. X's bomb. He jumped in the air and hit the eye with a Rainbow Spin. With Kirby's Cartwheel, Kracko Jr. X was down to 48 HP. "You know... I kinda wish I could deal more damage, too..."

"Maybe you'll get a chance eventually, Choppy," Heartsy assured.

Kracko Jr. X hovered over Kirby and dropped a Waddle Doo on him. Kirby managed to bring up his guard to take less damage, while Chopper hit the eye with a cannonball, followed up by Heartsy's Hearty Throw.

"Heads up, Scrub! Watch out for the bomb!" Chopper shouted, noticing Kracko Jr. X fly above Scrub. The Yoshi managed to Superguard a bomb and deliver a Ground Pound to the eye.

"Don't worry, Contadre! I saw him comin'!" Scrub assured.

"Oh... Well that's good." Chopper jumped on Kracko Jr. X, bringing him down to 12 HP. That didn't stop him from charging into Chopper and taking 12 out of him. Tamber finished Kracko Jr. X off with a rock he threw at him, causing the eye to explode.

"Heh heh! You can thank me later, puffball." Tamber said smugly.

With Kracko Jr. X defeated, a Warp Star appeared before them, and they grabbed a hold of it to take off. It brought them to a small pool of water with a couple of large Electric Blocks around. Chopper obviously knew what to do and used his Diamond Gloves on the Electric Blocks. There were some blocks ahead with a moon crescent shape inside, but they couldn't be destroyed and acted more like an obstacle than something that could be destroyed.

Eventually, they reached the end of the path and found a large wall in their way. However, it did appear to be grayish in color, giving Shadower an idea.

"Hmmmm… Perhaps my invisibility can help us here!" Shadower made Chopper invisible, and he phased through the wall and got to the door. Shadower helped the others through, and they entered the door into a small tunnel with blocks on the ceiling and floor.

To their surprise, they found a certain red plumber here as well.

"Mario!" Chopper gasped, running over to the plumber. When he spotted them, he ran over to the group to greet them.

Mario: Guys!

"Oh, man! Awesome! All of the people who shared the same Warp Star as us is back together!" Scrub grinned.

Mario: I've been trying to get out of this tunnel, but I can't find a way out!

"Hmmmm... Let's try looking around." Heartsy suggested, searching around the tunnel. Eventually they found a crack that they could get through by slipping in sideways. They jumped over a small pit and found a high platform.

"Sorry, Chopper, but I might tire out too soon if I try to fly us that high," Flyer said.

However, what they did notice was a small, star-shaped bolt on the ground that wasn't screwed in correctly. But with Chopper and Mario working together, they managed to spin and get it back in place, creating a platform below the one with the door. This allowed flyer to fly them up to that platform and then the doorway.

When they walked into the next area, they found out a couple of purple and blue clouds in the background, as well as a night-time sky. There were some platforms above them, but the largest one was at the top of the area, and it appeared almost too high.

"Flyer, you're probably going to have to fly us," Chopper noted.

Groaning, Flyer began to fly Chopper up one platform at a time. And he was far from happy to do it.

Eventually, they succeeded in reaching the top while avoiding some firing cannonballs. Flyer was annoyed, since no one had really given him any thanks for doing the job. Regardless of that, they headed through the door into a more open area, but they were alone.

Kracko Jr. X was already waiting for them.

"Wait, I thought I destroyed this thing?!" Tamber gawked, only for Kracko Jr. X to transform. The small circles surrounding him ended up forming into a brownish purple cloud. Not only that, but he was covered in black and silver-striped spikes.

"He just went from Jr. to the real deal," Chopper said, recognizing Kracko's appearance. "Though, Kracko was more whitish on color I think.

**Tattle: **_That's Kracko X. I don't know much about him, but I know he's just a cloud. Max HP is 240, Attack is 13, and Defense is 0. He'll attack you with this beam move or using a lightning bolt. I think those attacks are gnarly, but that's just me. Do you know what else is bad? Those spikes prevent you from touching him! Plus, with him being up on the air, there's no way you can hit him with ground attacks. I wish there was SOME way you can defeat him… Don't you have something that won't involve you touching him?  
_

"Ummmm... OK, this isn't good. Wait... Maybe I can use my Stone ability this time?" Chopper changed to his Stone ability and fell on top of Kracko X as a statue. He dealt 8 damage to him, while Shadower's Shadow Punch did 10

Kracko X swooped down to hit Chopper, but he managed to guard it and strike back with another stone attack. Kirby decided to use his Stone ability and deal 12 damage.

"Heads up, Flyer!" Scrub warned, right before Flyer saw Kracko X fire a beam towards him. He yelped and ducked, successfully avoiding the attack. "Yeesh... He was lucky!"

Chopper decided to change to his Beam ability and hit Kracko X with an energy whip, while Scrub created a huge egg and hit him with his Mega Egg. This did cause him to get struck by a lightning bolt.

"Yeouch! That caught me by surprise!" Scrub winced.

"It looked pretty shocking to me," Chopper remarked, receiving the usual groans from the group. Regardless, he charged up a beam attack and fired his Wave Beam at Kracko X. Flyer pulled out his arm cannon and fired a blast at the cloud with his Shocker afterward.

Kracko X looked down at Kirby and swooped down to hit him, delivering a terrible shock to the pink puffball.

"It really stinks that he has to have spikes while being in the air," Flyer remarked. "My Flying Attack can't do a thing against him."

"Poyo, (Last time I remember, he could be hurt with the Hi-Jump ability,)" Kirby recalled.

"Really? I wanna test it out!" Chopper removed his Beam ability and changed to his Hi-Jump ability. One huge jump was able to hit Kracko X and deal 8 damage. "Hey, it did work!"

Mario thought for a moment and jumped after thinking of what to do. He pulled out a feather and changed to Cape Mario. When Kracko X noticed this, he decided to swoop down and electrocute Mario...

…Only to have himself get hit by Mario's cape with an instant Superguard. This allowed Mario to deal 12 damage by spinning his cape at him.

"Wow! That was neat!" Chopper gaped, turning his attention to Kracko X and hitting him hit with his Hi-Jump. Mario swooped up to the cloud and hit him, not being affected by the spikes covering him.

Kracko X tried to attack Mario again, but his attack failed, and he suffered 12 damage. Chopper smirked and tossed an ice ball at him while Mario hit him with his swoop attack again.

Mario: This cape is very helpful!

The cloud looked down at Chopper and attacked him instead, causing him to flinch. Chopper fought back with his Hi-Jump, with Mario hitting him with his cape. Unfortunately, he noticed his cape was about to wear off, so when Kracko X charged at Heartsy, he jumped in and countered the attack, dealing 12 to the cloud.

"Whoa... That was surprisingly close." Heartsy noticed. "Thanks for the help, Mario!"

Mario gave her an assuring nod, but he sighed when his cape wore off. This left Chopper to use another Hi-Jump attack, followed by Heartsy's Hearty Throw, which left Kracko X with 38 HP.

Kracko X hovered above Chopper and began to fire blue projectiles down at him. It managed to deal 13 damage and knock away his Hi-Jump ability. Chopper was annoyed, but not too annoyed. He created a fireball and threw it at Kracko X. Flyer used his Shocker next, bringing him to 19 HP thanks to the burn left on the cloud.

"We've almost got this!" Shadower informed, Superguarding Kracko X's lightning bolt. With that, Chopper tossed an electric ball, and then Kirby fell on Kracko X as a Stone. With that last attack, the clouds on Kracko X began to disappear, and he had exploded.

"All right! I leveled up again!" Chopper cheered, upgrading his BP to 63. The clouds around them cleared, and they got a glimpse of a tall mountain. On it was a lonely castle with two angry eyes.

"So... Is that it?" Tamber asked.

"Poyo! (That's Mt. Dedede all right!)" Kirby confirmed. "Poyo! (Let's head over there!)"

Chopper nodded, and both of them summoned their Warp Stars. Everyone got on either star and took off toward Mt. Dedede.

* * *

**Stage 5: Mt. Dedede Sky**

"I can't believe King Dedede is in that fortress ahead," Chopper said. "If he wants me to give him a beating, then I guess we don't have much of a choice."

"I sure want to give him a beating," Tamber stated.

As they traveled toward Mt. Dedede, cannonballs were being fired at them. Guarding Mt. Dedede was another blimp. However, this one was a lot different compared to Kaboola. She had eyes with eyelashes and a big grin.

"Poyo! (Uh oh! It's Kabula!)" Kirby cried.

Unfortunately, Kabula had managed to hit Chopper's Warp Star, causing it to crash downward. Chopper, Heartsy, and Flyer had started to fall in the process.

"Oh, geez! We never get a break!" Chopper cried.

However, Flyer had other plans. He reached for a metallic cube he carried and tossed it upward, summoning his plane. He flew up to the pilot's seat and took control of the plane, swooping down to save Chopper and Heartsy. Chopper managed to land on the turret, while Heartsy landed behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Wah! Too close! Too close!"

"If I let go of you, then I'm probably going to fall," Heartsy said, not sounding too pleased.

Chopper was about to speak up, but she was right. Instead, he turned his attention back to Kabula.

"Well, if you're in our way, I guess we gotta take you out!" Chopper took control of the turret and fired shots at Kabula. They seemed to do some decent damage, but it didn't appear to make her flinch. She started to fire Gordos and projectiles at them.

"Get ready, guys! I'm about to do a barrel roll!" Flyer declared, making the Hurricane perform a horizontal rotation to avoid the oncoming Gordos.

When the plane was back into position, Chopper started to fire, but he also noticed the others pitching in. Scrub was throwing eggs, Kirby was spitting some projectiles, Shadower was throwing some Shadow Punches, Mario was bashing Kabula with his hammer, and Tamber was throwing in some punches. However, Kabula paid no attention to them and opened her nose to fire missiles at the Hurricane.

"Heads up! There's missiles coming our way!" Heartsy warned.

"That's pretty simple to avoid!" Flyer performed another barrel roll. and the Hurricane avoided the attack. Chopper began firing at Kabula again until he noticed steam coming from her.

"Hey, Flyer, do you have missiles?" Chopper asked.

"Well... Yeah..."

"Why not use them?"

Flyer shrugged and pressed a red button on his panel. Two missiles fired from the Hurricane and hit the blimp, making it burst into flames. Kabula slowly began to fall from the skies and explode from the results. With her out of the way, Chopper summoned another Warp Star, and he and Heartsy jumped onto it. Flyer put his Hurricane away and got on the Warp Star as well.

"Poyo! (Next stop: Mt. Dedede!)" Kirby exclaimed.

* * *

**Final Stage: The Revenge**

Chopper made his way through the fortress and jumped off the Warp Star with the rest of his friends. The inside of the castle was a red color with white walls and pillars right next to the walls. There were a couple of windows around providing a view of the sky.

However, they didn't come in unnoticed. Escargon was the first one to notice them through the camera.

"Bad news, Your Majesty," Escargon started with a gulp. "Kabula was defeated, and now Chopper and his friends are here..."

"What?! Are you telling me that Chopper is coming here now?!" King Dedede gaped. "Oh, geez... I didn't expect him to be here so soon!"

"Relax, your Majesty! You must stay calm! We're not going to go anywhere if you're going to get angry!"

"R-Right… Yes, you're right, Escargon… Well… Here's what we do! Chopper will be OURS!"

Chopper and his friends walked into the door ahead to find some Waddle Dees holding spears. There were jail bars blocking their way to the door to their north. However, they could go sideways, allowing them to slip in between the bars. However, the door they needed to get to was up on a high ledge, and it was way too high for Flyer to reach. However, there was a horizontal pole on the ceiling, and where Chopper stood, there was a small star mark.

"Ah! It's been a while since I've used this move!" Chopper remarked, launching upward with a Spring Jump. He landed right by the door and used his inhaling to bring everyone up to him. They entered the next room, only to find the end of the room with the number one labeled on it. There was also a large crack on the bottom of the wall, indicating that it was possible to slip under.

When they slipped under, they were facing a large Rainbow Block in the way. However, that wasn't all...

"All right, let's test him first! Go, my servants!" King Dedede shouted.

Appearing in front of the heroes was a circular, gray ticktock clock with a blue trim on his body, white gloves, orange feet, and a thick mustache and eyebrows. Mr. Tick Tock began to create a force field of sound. However, the group was unaffected, as they had stood back. They all ganged up and easily defeated the enemy.

"Uh oh… They had an easy time…" Escargon gulped.

"Argh! Unbelievable! Gah! We'll see how he likes the next one, then!" King Dedede said angrily as he watched Chopper use his Diamond Hammer to smash through the Rainbow Block to get to the next room.

Chopper noticed the next room had a large pool below them and a couple of floating platforms in front of them. They weren't moving, but some were at a distance from one another. There were some that had a large gap, while there were some that didn't. The first gap was rather large.

"Don't worry, I'll handle this," Heartsy assured, whacking Chopper onto the platform ahead with her hammer. She got Scrub over there so he could help him cross over the next gap, which was closer in range.

After crossing the gaps, they entered the next room and encountered a large wheel with a green eyelid called a Grand Wheelie. King Dedede and Escargon snickered, feeling confident in the Grand Wheelie's skills. But, just like Mr. Tick Tock, it was defeated, and they had just caught sight of it.

"Unthinkable! He beat that one too?! Escargon! This is, without a doubt, all YOUR fault!" King Dedede pulled his hammer out and struck his assistant, leaving a bump on his head.

"Great King Please settle down!" cried a Waddle Dee. "We still have a chance at defeating Chopper! …Just as long as he doesn't find that secret treasure, we should be fine."

"You idiot! You know that Chopper can hear what we're saying!" Escargon yelled, recovering from the lump on his head. "…At least we didn't say that it's hidden behind a wall! Heh heh heh! He'll never look through there!"

His snickering bad been put to a stop when King Dedede bonked him in the head a second time.

"You just spilled it all out, you buffoon!" King Dedede yelled. "Those idiots can hear us, you know! Now Chopper's gonna find my secret stash!"

"So Dedede's got a secret stash? Well that'll be interesting to see!" Chopper said as he walked into the next room to find a huge wall in their way. "Oh... Well, I guess there's no going this way."

However, there was a little flap on the wall nearby. Kirby gladly inhale the flap off, revealing a doorway with a small room. In the center was a wooden X.

"I'll go see what's down there," Chopper decided. "Don't go anywhere, OK?"

He jumped and performed a Spin Jump to break the wooden X. The fall, however, was surprisingly deep. When he landed, Chopper was astonished by what was around him. The room was covered in gold and lit up by some torches on the walls. He noticed he was sitting on top of a large chest with a peace sign similar to the one of his robe on it.

"Whoa... This room looks neat!"

Chopper looked up, noticing how high the exit was from where he stood. There were no springs to help him get back either.

With nothing else to do, Chopper got off the chest and opened it. A pair of new shoes came out, but they were sparkling, unlike the other shoes he got. He held them up in surprise.

**You got the Master Shoes!**

Just as usual, Chopper was transported out of the room and into a tutorial area. Toadette was there, waiting for them.

"Hi, Chopper! It's been a while, hasn't it?" Toadette greeted. "I can't believe you finally got the Master Shoes! They're the newest kind available, and they're quite masterful!"

"Master Shoes? So these are new..." Chopper trailed, looking down at the shoes he wore. "So... What do they do?"

"Well, thanks to those shoes, you can move at a great speed, and you can learn the Gravity Jump! You'll also move at your normal speed while you're underwater or up in space. Your jumping is also significantly better."

"That sounds cool! But what's the Gravity Jump?"

"If you want to use the Gravity Jump, just jump and hold the A button after landing on the ground, kind of like what you would do with your Spring Jump. Only, this time, don't move the control stick. Your feet will start to glow yellow. If you let go, you'll make a large jump in the air! It's great! Also, if you end up jumping and pressing A before you perform a Spin Jump, you'll perform a Gravity Slam, which is an incredible attack that can crash through some tough floors! It's even useful in battle, too!"

Chopper began to test this ability out, though with no walls in sight, he had to cancel it out pretty quickly.

"Before you let go of the A button, you can move the control stick in any direction," Toadette explained. "By doing that, you'll jump onto a wall or ceiling and will be able to walk around on it! Pretty neat, huh?"

"Yeah, it sounds cool," Chopper agreed.

"Well, that's all I have to tell you about the Master Shoes. Hope you have fun using those!"

Toadette ran off, and Chopper was back in the secret room. Deciding to test his shoes out, Chopper used his Gravity Jump to jump up to the previous room he was in. Everyone looked at him in shock as he jumped out and landed on the floor.

"What the heck was that all about?" Tamber gawked.

"I got some new shoes that might help us!" Chopper answered.

"Really? Show us, then!" Scrub demanded.

"All right!" Chopper's feet began to glow as he instantly jumped onto the wall, like the gravity suddenly changed. "You see? Now I'm on the wall!"

"Whoa... It's like you're defying gravity..." Flyer gaped. "How is that even possible?!"

Despite their questions, they were able to get over the large wall and to the other side. Apparently a large Electric Block was in the way, but Chopper used his Diamond Gloves to destroy it, revealing the next door. With that, they entered another room, with Phan Phan waiting for them.

"Third one's the charm! Get him, Phan Phan!" King Dedede shouted.

"Well, looks like I can test out how powerful my jumps are!" Chopper smiled, jumping in the air and hitting Phan Phan. Before they knew it, they managed to defeat the elephant creature.

"Your Majesty! He beat Phan Phan too, I'm afraid!" Escargon cried.

"Grr! Not even Phan Phan stood a chance..." King Dedede grumbled. "Don't let him move any further!"

"Yes, your Highness!" cried a Waddle Dee.

They ran into the next room to find a big switch and a gate blocking the way to the door. Plus, it was way too high for them to reach as well. Chopper used his Gravity Jump to attach to the ceiling and land on the switch in order to use his Gravity Slam. Striking the switch caused the gate to open up and allow them to proceed onward.

Once again, they were in another similar-looking room. This time, two brown lions with manes made of fire, along with the ends of their tails were waiting for them.

"Enough, Chopper! Face Twin Fire Lions!" King Dedede shouted.

"Go get him!" Escargon cheered.

"I know just what to do here!" Chopper smirked, changing to his Water ability. He fired water at both Fire Lions and easily defeated them. King Dedede and his assistant were left agape.

"Oh no! Your Majesty! He… He beat our strongest troops we have!" Escargon cried.

"Ack! Can't ANYONE beat that kid?!" King Dedede exclaimed.

Chopper removed his Water ability before moving into the next room, where he and his friends defeated all the Waddle Dees that charged at him.

"Your Majesty! Chopper's getting close!" Escargon exclaimed nervously. "W-What do we do now?!"

_"_…_We're done for… Only one option…" _King Dedede thought, looking over at his assistant.

"Why are you looking at me like that, your Majesty?"

"Looks like it's your turn."

"B-But… Your Majesty! I can't fight as well as you!" Escargon gaped, ignoring Chopper and his friends getting closer to their destination.

King Dedede was ready to get angry at his assistant, but for once he lowered his hammer and closed his eyes. "Fine... I'll let you go. You can be spared."

Escargon was surprised by this reaction. However, to go against his king like this was not something he liked to do.

_"He may have constantly used me as a punching bag, but dang it! I can't be disloyal to him! If it weren't for him, I'd probably be out in the harsh world!"_ Escargon thought, giving King Dedede a determined look. "I'll go hold him off, Your Majesty. You get prepared yourself in case I fail."

"All right," the king nodded, giving Escargon the cue to go out. His sidekick grabbed his weapons, such as his spear and spiked balls and headed into the room Chopper and his friends were running through. Coincidentally, they had already reached him, surprising the escargot.

"Wah! You're already here?!" Escargon gaped.

"What are you doing here?" Chopper asked.

"…I'm here to stop you!" he declared, aiming his spear at the group. "It's payback time for what you've done to me!"

"Well, it's payback for forcing us to make an anime for a couple of days with little sleep!" Heartsy added, getting her hammer out.

**Tattle: **_That's Escargon, King Dedede's secretary. He's extremely loyal to his king, just so you know. Max HP is 260, Attack is 13, and Defense is 0. He'll attack you by throwing spiked balls at you. They can paralyze, poison, burn, or even freeze you! He can even offer himself some food that he can use to recover HP! I guess he's being serious this time. Despite the treatment he got from his king, it takes a lot to still be loyal to him.  
_

"Well, let's get started, then," Chopper started by jumping on Escargon, dealing 10 damage thanks to his Master Shoes. Heartsy attacked next, hitting Escargon with her hammer. He'd laugh at it, but he was in the middle of a fight. He charged at Chopper, but the Star Warrior ducked to avoid it. Unfortunately, Flyer ended up getting hit instead, leaving him annoyed again.

What made it worse was that no one asked if he was all right. Nevertheless, after Chopper jumped on King Dedede's sidekick, he hit him with a Flying Attack.

"Oh, man... I've already taken 40 damage already!" Escargon grit his teeth and tossed a flaming spiked ball at Chopper. Luckily, he raised his arms to prevent himself from getting burnt.

After Chopper and Scrub attacked him, he was down to 200 HP.

Escargon winced, clutching his spear and throwing it at Scrub, who Superguarded the attack. Tamber punched him afterward, and Chopper used a Spin Jump to take 15 HP out of him.

"Hey, my Spin Jump is pretty useful as well!" Chopper remarked.

Escargon grumbled and he threw a spiky ice ball at Chopper. It hit him, but he didn't get frozen, luckily. But, he managed to jump on him, along with Mario, bringing him to 153 HP.

"Urgh… This isn't finished!" he yelled as he threw an electric spike ball at Heartsy. Her hammer allowed her to guard the attack. Shadower attacked with his Shadow Punch, and then Chopper hit him with Power Smash

Escargon slugged his way to Chopper and threw a bomb at him. This was where he decided to test out his new Gravity Jump. He leaped high in the air and delivered some serious damage to Escargon, taking 30 out of him overall.

"Whoa... That was powerful." Tamber gaped while punching Escargon to 91 HP.

"I can't fail His Majesty so soon! Take this, Star Warrior!" Escargon pulled out an ice bomb and threw it at Chopper. He Superguarded the attack and delivered another stomp on him.

"Sorry, Escargon, but that's not going to help you," Chopper apologized as Mario jumped on the escargot.

Mario: Maybe you should give up?

"Not a chance!" Escargon retorted, hitting Mario with an electric bomb. Chopper and Kirby made their moves, hitting him with a jump and a Cartwheel. That didn't stop Escargon to hurting Kirby with a bomb. Once Chopper hit him with a Gravity Punch, Tamber's punch drained him to 9 HP.

"_Huff… Huff…_ I swore that I would protect His Majesty, and that is what I will do!" Escargon threw a bomb at Chopper and dealt 13 damage to him. Unfortunately, he met his defeat as Chopper jumped on him, dropping 23 Star Points. He soon fell unconscious.

"Well... That takes care of him for now." Chopper sighed. "He'll probably get up soon."

"Unless…" Tamber grinned smugly, taking out some salt.

"We're not putting salt on him!" Heartsy scolded.

Before Tamber could talk back, Escargon slowly stood up, appearing bruised from the fight.

"_Cough…wheeze… _Your Majesty! Wait for meeeeeeeee!" Escargon cried, fleeing from Chopper and escaped through the door ahead. A Save Block and Heart Block appeared there as well. However, what also appeared around them was some fog.

"What's with the fog?" Chopper asked.

Mario: I'm not sure...

Chopper struck both blocks and approached the door, where it appeared to be the foggiest. They entered through the doorway into a dark room. The only thing they could see around them was an electric cage they were now in.

"Wait... What's with the cage?" Scrub gawked.

"Something's fishy..." Chopper trailed.

"You finally made it here, Chopper… Arm yourself at once!"

Chopper took out his Diamond Hammer and held it in front of him. With that, the lights turned on, and they discovered they were in a wrestling arena. The floor had King Dedede's face on it when they looked down at it. Despite being a wrestling arena, there was no audience. Only the exhausted Escargon sat in the audience, now having some bandages on himself.

"Good. I've been waiting a long time for this… Our grudge will be settled at last…"

King Dedede jumped into the arena, but this time he was wearing an iron mask with small, yellow horns protruding from it. He was also carrying a mechanized hammer with sparks emitting from it.

"Meet my powerful secret weapon… The brand-new Dedede Hammer! I saved this just for this battle, Chopper! This time, I'm not holding back!"

"If that's all you've got, then it's going to take a lot more to take us on!" Chopper declared, getting in a fighting stance.

**Tattle: **_That's King Dedede, but this time in a mask, so he's named Masked Dedede. That hammer he's holding looks GNARLY! Max HP is 300, Attack is 15, and Defense is 3. His hammer can send a big shockwave your way if he strikes the ground… Second, he can open the face of the hammer and fire missiles at you… Third, he can spin his hammer around… And fourth… He can shoot flames from his hammer! Wow, I think this guy seriously means business! That mask of his most likely makes him stronger... With those sparks coming from his hammer, he's capable of paralyzing you and your friends. Be careful, Chopper... Dedede's not holding back this time.  
_

Chopper quickly took action by raising his hammer and striking Masked Dedede with his Power Smash. With Shadower's Shadow Punch, the king's defense was down to 0.

"That should be a good way to start this battle out," Shadower stated.

Masked Dedede simply smirked and gripped his hammer. He approached Shadower with it and brought it down on him, leaving him paralyzed.

"Unngghhh! I...can't...move...!" Shadower cringed.

"Heh heh heh heh! See? That's the mighty power of this bad boy!" Masked Dedede chuckled.

"Yeah, but your defense is down, so hurting you will be a snap!" Chopper stomped on Masked Dedede, taking 10 HP away from him, while Kirby hit him with his Cartwheel for another 10.

"Remember this, Chopper?" Masked Dedede raised his mask and inhaled him like a vacuum. He spat him out and sent him flying at Heartsy, making them both suffer 15 damage.

Chopper quickly stood back up and immediately started to spin his hammer at Masked Dedede for 8 damage. Flyer's Flying Attack helped bring the king down to 248 HP.

Masked Dedede stood his hammer up and allowed the face of it to open. Flames burst from the hammer and scorched the heroes. He grinned in satisfaction, but when he noticed them guard the attack, he looked at them in disdain.

"You may have guarded that, but you can't protect yourself that easily from its attacks!" Masked Dedede yelled. "This thing is a beast! It's skilled at clobberin' people like you!"

Chopper quickly jumped in the air and hit Masked Dedede with his Spin Jump, dealing 6 damage. With Scrub's Gulp, the king was down to 232 HP.

"Grrrrr! Take this!" Masked Dedede jumped up and landed on Tamber, flattening him in the process. When he got off him, Tamber growled and threw a fist at him. Chopper followed up with his Hammer Throw and dealt 8 damage.

"This guy's hardly a challenge!" Tamber scoffed.

"Oh, yeah? Well, let's see how you like this!" Masked Dedede began to spin his hammer, which could 4 damage each time someone got hit. Luckily, Chopper guarded all five hits and only suffered 15 damage.

"Whew! That was one strong attack... At least I made it through that." Chopper panted. He threw his hammer at Masked Dedede again, and Heartsy struck him with her hammer as well, bringing him to 200 HP.

When Masked Dedede struck Tamber with his hammer, Tamber threw in a punch to his stomach. "Hey, puffball! Lower this guy's defense, all right?!"

"Oh, all right…" Chopper sighed and attacked Masked Dedede with a Soft Stomp. Although it did 4 damage, it lowered his defense to 0. Masked Dedede didn't care, though. He fired a missile from his hammer at Chopper – but with a Superguard, he avoided the missile and it exploded when it hit the cage. This, thankfully, broke the cage.

"Your Majesty! Be careful with those missiles!" Escargon warned. "You could've blown this whole place up!"

"Shut up, Escargon! I'm trying to take down Chopper here!" Masked Dedede retorted. He brought his hammer up to attack, but he was interrupted by Chopper's jump and Tamber's punch.

"Your Majesty! The flamethrower! Use the flamethrower!"

"Oh, fine, Escargon! I'll use the stupid flamethrower!" Masked Dedede stood his hammer up and opened its face. The hammer unleashed its flamethrower on Chopper and his friends, leaving a burn on them that could do 2 damage each turn.

"Heh heh! That'll heat things up a bit!" Escargon smirked.

"Why does everyone have to make puns now?" Chopper groaned. "That's MY thing!"

"And clobbering you is MY thing!" Masked Dedede replied. "And it works a lot better than stupid puns!"

"That is, if you can actually do it," Chopper said, jumping on Masked Dedede. Mario also joined in and jumped on the king's head. Masked Dedede swung his hammer at Mario and left him paralyzed. He was about to attack again, but Flyer managed to get him away just in time.

"Argh! I had him!"

"Sorry..." Chopper trailed.

"What I don't get is how a puffball of all things is managing to bring me down this far!"

"I know! Puffballs are just so annoying!" Tamber agreed.

Chopper gave him an annoyed look, but his attention was brought back to Masked Dedede. After hitting him with a Spin Jump, Tamber struck him with another Combo Punch. This made the king strike Tamber with his hammer and leave him paralyzed.

"Argh! You little...!"

"Heh heh! That should take care of you." Masked Dedede smirked. Chopper decided to hit him with a Power Smash, and then Kirby's Cartwheel helped bring him down to 102. Sadly, with his defense back to normal, he didn't do the full 10 damage.

"Crud… I'm left with 102 HP! I'm not feeling good…" Masked Dedede wheezed, only to regain his attention and stand firmly. "What? I'm not giving up so easily! I'm still unstoppable!"

"Poyo! (That explains why I've beaten him so many times!)" Kirby smiled.

Masked Dedede struck the ground with his hammer, creating a shockwave that hit Chopper and his friends, dealing 15 damage. Feeling low on HP, Chopper ate an Ultimate Punch to recover 100 HP and FP. Afterward, Flyer landed a Flying Attack on their opponent.

Masked Dedede inhaled Chopper and spat him at Shadower. He fought back by throwing a Shadow Punch, and then followed by that was Chopper's jump.

The masked penguin smirked and approached Chopper. However, he ended up tripping and falling on top of the pale green puffball. Kirby helped knock him away with a Cartwheel to find Chopper flattened. The pink puffball got a bicycle pump to unflatten him and get him to stand up. Despite that strange scenario, Chopper jumped on Masked Dedede and took 10 out of him.

Checking his HP bar, Masked Dedede felt less confident when he had 55 HP left. It didn't become any better when he heard Escargon cheering for him like some sort of cheerleader.

"Your Majesty! Don't give up! I'm still rooting for you!" Escargon cheered.

He was about to yell at him, but then he remembered he wanted someone to at least be rooting him on.

"Yeah, Escargon! Keep cheering for me!" Masked Dedede grinned. "I'll take down Chopper in no time!"

"You wish," Heartsy scoffed. "You're nearly beaten!"

Annoyed by the remark, he began to spin his hammer at the group to deal 20 damage to them. He then laughed at them, but he was quickly hit by Chopper's Hammer Throw.

"Oi... Maybe you should go a little easier on us..." Tamber said in a dazed tone.

"Not this time! I told you, I'm going all out!" Masked Dedede yelled, raising his hammer to attack. Flyer quickly flew in and struck the king with a Flying Attack. He quickly stood his hammer up and let its face open so a missile could fire. It managed to hit Chopper and send him flying back, but the recovered Mario caught him and put him down.

"Thanks, Mario... Now..." Chopper looked back at Masked Dedede. "If you're going all out, then I might as well do it!"

"Go ahead! Show it to me!"

Chopper smirked and jumped in the air, hitting Masked Dedede with his Gravity Jump. He managed to deal 24 damage, and with Tamber recovered from the paralysis, he punched him to bring him to 4 HP.

"Urgh… _Cough…wheeze…huff…_ All right... I'll admit, that was pretty good..." Masked Dedede wheezed, raising his hammer. "But that's not going to stop me!"

He charged at Chopper and created a shockwave that was sent toward the heroes. They managed to Superguard it, to his surprise.

"Oh, geez..."

"All right, Dedede! This is where it ends!" Chopper gripped his hammer, and with his Diamond Hammer technique, he managed to strike Masked Dedede and crack his mask in half, making it fall to the ground.

"_**Uuuuwwaaaaaaaaahhhhh!**_"

His hammer attack hit him so hard that it sent him crashing through the fortress's roof and nearly away from Dream Land.

"_**Your Majesty!**_" Escargon cried, rushing into the ring to look up at the hole in the ceiling. His gaze quickly turned to Chopper. "Hey! Chopper! Hit me too! I'm not leaving His Majesty all out on his own!"

Though he was reluctant, he decided to do the same thing with Escargon. Unlike King Dedede, he was more used to getting hit by a hammer, so Chopper's hammer swing did not make him scream as much as the king. A hole had been created beside King Dedede's, and just like him, he was sent flying out as well.

"Poyo, (Well, there they go,)" Kirby said.

"Let's hope we never see those freaks again," Scrub hoped. "I'm getting tired of having to deal with them!"

"Hey, what's that over there?" Shadower wondered, pointing to a machine with purple smoke coming out of it. Everyone jumped out of the ring and got a better look at it. When they looked out the window, they noticed some purple smoke turning some of the green grass purple.

"So THAT'S what was making the grass all purple!" Heartsy exclaimed. "So... We're going to smash it?"

"I'm in," Tamber grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Time to bust up a machine!"

Mario: ...Or, we can turn it off.

"Wait, what?"

Mario flicked the off switch, causing the machine to stop running. They looked out again, but there was not much change.

"I'm guessing it'll eventually wear off over time," Flyer deduced.

"Well, while that happens, we should get going," Chopper suggested, heading out through the exit ahead. This time, it was leading to some more grassland just beyond Mt. Dedede. They all hoped they would eventually find their three missing friends.

* * *

**Barren wasteland below Mt. Dedede-**

"I can't believe it," King Dedede sighed, slowly walking away from Mt. Dedede as the sun started to set. "All this time, I've been working so hard to stop Chopper and get the Crystal Stars. And just like every time, they get foiled. "Why do all of my plans have to fail? Every time I tried to steal food, Kirby would come and defeat me. What did I do to deserve this?"

"Your Majesty!"

"Your Highness!"

King Dedede turned his head and saw Escargon and a couple of Waddle Dees following him.

"What are you all doing here?" King Dedede asked. "Can't you see your king has failed you all?"

"Your Majesty… Even if our plans have failed, my opinion on you hasn't gotten worse." Escargon assured.

"Yeah! We're here with you until the very end!" a Waddle Dee spoke.

"_Sniff… _Are you guys speaking the truth?" King Dedede sniffed, receiving nods from them all. "Thank you…Escargon…and minions."

"Let's go back home," Escargon suggested, walking beside the king. "...And perhaps I can give you some advice on how to improve your plans."

King Dedede's sad expression turned to one of anger as he looked at his sidekick. "...What?"

"Well, for starters, trying to get help from a company you hardly heard about was not a good idea... Second, if you were going to crush Chopper, you should've tried to focus on trying to improve your skills rather than lazily sitting on the throne eating food that'll eventually get you fa-"

_**POW!**_

Escargon found himself dazed and with a bump on his head after feeling a familiar object hit his head.

"How DARE you criticize my ways, Escargon?!" King Dedede roared.

"Waiwaiwait, Your Majesty! Please listen!" Escargon pleaded. "I was just trying to help-"

King Dedede's hammer barely missed Escargon when he tried swinging it again. Rather than continue speaking, the lavender escargot quickly turned and fled for his life.

"Get back here, Escargon!" King Dedede yelled, holding his hammer in the air as he chased his sidekick. "I'm not done with you yet!"

The Waddle Dees watched as King Dedede chased Escargon back to Dream Land once again, knowing the usual results. With that, they quickly began to follow after them.

Some things just don't change in the end...


	111. Ambush in the Cavern

As the group finally left Dedede's fortress, they noticed the sun was starting to set. Not only that, but they started to see the purple slowly changing back to green on the grass. Everyone appeared happy, especially Kirby.

"Poyo! (Everything's turning back to normal!)" Kirby cheered.

"Very, very nice," Chopper said, liking the green return. "I guess it was King Dedede who was responsible for that! Now all that's left is to find our friends and get the Crystal Star. That should be no problem, especially with Kirby here!"

"Poyo... (Ummmm... There's a bit of a problem... I've never been past here...)"

"Wait, you didn't?"

"Poyo. (No. I usually don't travel to the other side of Pop Star. If that's where the star is, I can't help you here.)"

"Oh... Well, that's bad." Chopper frowned. "Then... This might be tougher than I thought. Let's just start by searching around."

With that, they began to search around the area for important clues. There were no enemies in sight, which was a nice touch. Some tried searching from the trees, but still nothing. It wasn't until they reached the next area where they found something interesting. A cave with a little bit of water was right in the middle of the grassland.

Curious about it, they decided to approach it. From what they could see, it looked like a couple of people had slid down the slippery slope.

"It looks like there were people here," Scrub noticed. "You think it could be our friends, Contadre?"

"Well... Uhh... I guess it's worth checking out?" Chopper shrugged, jumping into the cave. Sadly, he didn't think it would be too slippery, and he ended up slipping and sliding down the cave. Scrub jumped in after him, with the others following next.

When the slide ended, they ended up coming across an old, stone door. It appeared to have some markings of some stars on it. Chopper tried opening it, but it wouldn't budge.

"This door's not opening," Chopper said as he continued pushing.

"I don't think pushing will do any good," Shadower said. "Nor does it look like it can be pulled. Maybe we can lift it?"

"Then allow me," Tamber stepped in confidently, pushing the pale green puffball out of the way. He reached for the bottom of the door and began to lift it up. This strategy seemed to be working, since the door itself was being moved. When he was lifting it higher, they started to hear the sounds of a waterfall.

"That waterfall sound is making me interested in seeing what's behind there," Scrub remarked.

"Almost got it… Just a little bit more…!" Before he knew it, Tamber successfully lifted the door and allowed everyone to go through. What they found was a beautiful cavern with crystals on the ceiling and crystal clear water below. A waterfall appeared just above the pond.

"Wow! This place looks incredible!" Heartsy gaped, getting a nice view of the scene. She then wrapped her arms around Chopper's. "Doesn't this place seem pretty romantic?"

Chopper quickly got her arms off his and stepped away from her. "Well... I think I've seen better."

They decided to explore the cave by walking down the bridge leading lower in the area. The bridge wasn't too sturdy, so they were very cautious. There was a second bridge as well, and that led to the bottom of the cave.

When they finally made it to the bottom, the first thing they noticed was a gray door that felt out of place to the brownish, rocky walls and floor. There appeared to be three empty openings on it. One was of a star, the other was the moon crescent, and the last was a sun.

"Aw, come on! We can't do a thing about this!" Scrub grumbled, trying to open the door. "Hey, Flyer! Check it out, will ya?"

Though he didn't appreciate the rudeness, Flyer flew over to the door and examined the openings.

"Hmmmm… It looks like we need to find an object that matches these three shapes." Flyer stated. "I suppose if we were to open this entryway, we will need to find them. Hopefully they're around here..."

"OK, that doesn't sound too hard," Chopper said, turning to Tamber. "Right, Tamber?"

"Wait, what? Why are you asking me?" Tamber gawked.

"Well... You're kind of a treasure hunter..."

"No I'm not! I just dig for objects! Like this!" he started to dig through the rock with ease, but he stopped when he spotted something. "Huh? What is this stupid thing?"

He jumped out of the small hole and held a blue moon crescent stone.

"Hey! You found one of them!" Chopper cheered.

"Chopper? Is that you?"

Chopper's antennas sprung up as he turned around to see a little campfire. There at the campfire was Vivian, Bombette, and Sonic, and they were trying to keep the fire warm.

"Guys! You're safe!" Chopper smiled, running over to them. The others spotted them and ran over to them as well. "You have no idea how much I missed you guys!"

"I missed you too," Vivian smiled. "We thought we'd be trapped down here, but it's great that you came down here."

"You guys couldn't escape?" Scrub gawked.

"We tried, but we couldn't get through the door," Bombette explained. "Even going into the shadows didn't help either!"

Mario: Well that's a bummer...

"So what have you guys been doing while we were trapped down here for a couple of days?" Sonic asked.

"Well... We were making an anime..." Chopper trailed, not sounding too excited with that, but he eventually smiled with the next sentence. "And then we took down King Dedede while he was in a mask!"

"Seriously? Aw! It would've been cool to see it!"

"It was just the usual..." Shadower stated. "But I'm sure we won't have to deal with him again."

"So what about the Crystal Star?" Vivian asked, bringing up the most important topic. "Do you know where it is?"

Sadly, they all shook their heads, disappointing the three.

"Well, since you guys found us, you think we can get outta here?" Sonic asked.

"Nope. Can't." Tamber stated, landing by the group. They quickly turned their heads to Tamber with a gawk.

"We can't? What do you mean?" Shadower questioned.

"It's blocked, and I couldn't even lift it. But I got these." Tamber pulled two stones in the shape of a sun and star.

"Huh? So did you find these while we were talking?" Chopper asked.

"Yeah. Your talking bored me, so I went treasure huntin'! And man, did I find something good! See, this is why puffballs are bad at treasure hunting!"

Chopper chose to ignore him and walked over to the door with the others. Tamber put the other two stones in its empty space, and the door began to glow for a moment until it began to open.

Standing through the doorway was a massive, underground jungle with many trees on the floor and a large staircase to the other side of the large area leading out. In the center of the large jungle was a brownish temple. They looked up to see that there was a rocky ceiling with a few stalactites hanging. However, it was difficult to see because of the green fog making some things translucent.

"Whoa! Now this is impressive!" Sonic remarked with a grin. "This doesn't even look like a cave!"

"But where are we?" Scrub asked.

"This place is unknown at the moment," Flyer explained, checking his Fumu Locator.

"Oh... Well that's bad." Chopper frowned. "Though, I can see another staircase across from this area. Maybe we should go check it out?"

"Well DUH!" Tamber shouted. "Thanks for the obvious!"

They proceeded down the staircase before them, getting closer to the trees and green grass and dirty below. Unfortunately, they were not aware of a figure that had revealed itself from behind one of the rocks in the cavern.

Reaching the jungle itself, they noticed how empty and silent it felt. They didn't hear the sound of any living creatures roaming this jungle. It made it so much easier to explore, but it also made things a little dull as well.

"Yeah... This place is kinda boring." Scrub stated. "Where's the action?!"

"It appears to be an empty jungle," Flyer deduced. "My guess is that creatures cannot survive in an underground cavern."

"No one cares," Tamber interrupted. "Me, especially. I'm sure the others don't either."

"Thanks..."

As they continued their travel, Shadower stopped and blinked. He slowly turned his head in the opposite direction cautiously. Heartsy seemed to notice him like this first.

"Hey, Shadower, what's wrong?" Heartsy asked.

"I'm sensing something... But I can't tell what it is..." Shadower trailed. "I think we're being followed..."

"Followed? There's someone else here?"

"Yes... Be cautious, Heartsy..." Shadower looked over by Chopper. His eyes widened upon seeing a missile being fired his way. "CHOPPER! LOOK OUT!

"Huh?" Chopper looked behind him and saw a missile coming his way. However, Shadower quickly took action by throwing a shadow wave in the shape of a hand his way to make him avoid the missile. It ended up hitting a tree and knocking it over.

Mario: What was that?!

"Guys, we should probably get going!" Heartsy suggested, running over to them with Shadower. "We're not safe here!"

Another missile came firing their way, but this time they saw it coming and easily avoided the shot. However, there was a large amount of smoke created, blinding the group and forcing them to cough.

"What's going on?" Chopper wheezed.

"This time, you're not getting away from me!"

He tried to open his eyes, but the only thing he could see was a figure standing in front of him. The shape of the figure reminded Chopper of Fumu, but there was a bit of a difference. He could see what appeared to be long hair rather than braided.

When the smoke finally clear, the group saw a white girl wearing a green bandanna, an orange jumpsuit, brown boosts, gloves with two brownish yellow, oval-ish jewels on each, and a green plate that covered both her chest and her shoulders, with a yellow line running up and down the middle. She also appeared to have rosy pink cheeks as well. In her hand was a silver weapon capable of changing into a sword, flamethrower, rocket launcher, machine gun, and grappling hook.

"Whoa... She reminds me of that annoying yellow girl." Tamber said, slowly approaching the girl. "Hey, look. We have some important business to-"

"Don't move!" the white alien girl warned, aiming at Tamber. He slowly returned to the group sheepishly.

"Who are you?" Chopper asked.

"I am Silica," she introduced, aiming her weapon directly at Chopper's head. "I'm here to put an end to you once and for all."

Chopper's curious look quickly changed to a serious one as he got in a fighting stance. Silica didn't appear too fazed by it.

"Yes... You're him all right. You're Chopper. Those antennas are pretty obvious."

"Just hold on a second..." Heartsy stepped in. "Do you know her, Chopper?"

"No... I don't..." Chopper trailed. "In fact, I don't know what she wants with me."

"You should very well know what you've done! It's all your fault that I have no family! You and your father!" Silica yelled.

"Ooh... Looks like the puffball's not so heroic after all..." Tamber trailed.

"No family? What do you mean?" Chopper asked, lowering his guard.

"Fine... I might as well explain the whole thing." Silica groaned, lowering her weapon. "Our fathers were both Star Warriors and worked together as a team. They were also best friends. Yeah, the names 'Toalune' and 'Nomad' were always together when it came to two people fighting together."

"Our dads worked together as a team? That's interesting..."

"Yes, it sounds interesting, but that's not all. One day, something terrible had happened, and our fathers ended up battling with each other. Your father was victorious, while mine was slain. Hearing of those news nearly broke my heart..."

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Chopper trailed.

Silica returned her angry stare at Chopper and aimed her weapon at him as well. "I was planning on going to Mondrao to avenge my father, but that failed after I discovered the planet was destroyed."

"Wait... So you're here to destroy me instead? But I had nothing to do with your daddy dying..."

"I'm done yet," Silica hissed. "It only got worse from there when I found out my older brother had died as well. And it just so happens that you were responsible for his death."

"Huh? Your brother died because of me?"

"Of course! You don't remember the name Kumakan, right?"

That name suddenly struck his mind as Chopper let out a gasp. "He's your brother?"

"That's correct," Silica growled. "Do you understand how it feels to be the only one in my family left?!"

"But... I'm also the only one in my family left..." Chopper replied. "And Kumakan... He... He was the sole reason why I ended up saving Clara. He wanted me to succeed in stopping Maquano, and he also wanted me to put an end to him as well..."

"Don't think your petty excuses will help you here!" Silica shouted, changing her weapon into a flamethrower. "Now you must pay!"

A burst of fire shot out from her weapon, making Chopper yelp and flee as fast as he could. The others managed to get away, except for Tamber, who was covered in soot from the results. Silica nearly gaped at Chopper's speed, which helped Tamber follow the others.

"How…does he do that? I've never seen a Star Warrior that could run that fast!" Silica said in surprise. Before thinking further, she quickly got out of her trance. "No... I have to avenge my brother!"

Silica changed to her machine gun and started to fire in the direction Chopper was going. Sadly, her shots didn't appear to hit anyone.

"Argh! Where did he go…?" Silica grumbled, running further into the jungle with her weapon ready to fire. "Come out, Chopper! Don't be a coward! Come out and face me!"

* * *

**Center of the jungle-**

With Silica away from the group, Chopper stopped by the large temple and started to pant. He looked behind him just to make sure she wasn't there. To his relief, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Great... Now there's someone who's trying to get in the way..." Chopper sighed. "I'm not sure what we should do."

"What about the usual thing we do to people who attack us?" Scrub suggested, punching and kicking the air. "Maybe she'll back down!"

"But she's not evil, and that wouldn't be right..." Vivian objected. "I think it's best to just hide..."

"Well, this fog around us might help us to our advantage," Bombette noted. "It'll give us some cover! But we should probably keep moving before-"

As if she jinxed it, a grappling hook came flying their way and attached to the temple walls. Everyone got out of the way as Silica managed to get onto one of the temple's ledges and aim her weapon at Chopper.

"Enough running, Chopper! If you're really a Star Warrior like I've been told, then you'd actually step up and fight me!"

"Hold on a moment! Don't shoot!" Tamber cried. He quickly stepped away from everyone. "OK! Now you can shoot!"

"Tamber! What the heck?!" Chopper gaped. "You're not helping!"

"Exactly! It's every man for themselves!"

"Huh... That's strange..." Shadower remarked. "For a moment, I thought Tamber would actually be the brave one and save us all from an attack."

"Wait, really?" Tamber gawked. His confused look suddenly turned to one of confidence as he went back to the group. "I mean, yeah! That's me, all right! You know what? I know how to handle this situation better than a puffball! So stand back, 'cause I don't want you to get in the way of this ripped and sweet guy!"

Everyone let out silent groans as Tamber climbed up to the ledge Silica stood. "So, how about you do us a favor and buzz off like-"

A warning shot had been fired, and it had barely hit Tamber's foot when he flinched.

"Look, if you don't want to get yourself hurt, then I'd recommend staying out of the way," Silica suggested. "Chopper is my only target."

"Oh... Right. The puffball's all yours, I suppose!" Tamber quickly took off, gliding from the other side of the temple. Silica grinned, aiming her weapon at Chopper. ...Or rather, at where Chopper once was.

"What?! He's gone?!" Silica gaped, seeing an empty space where Chopper and his friends were. "Great... I lost him!"

In anger, she threw her weapon onto the floor and grit her teeth. "I nearly had him too! I guess he's good at getting away... But that won't help him in the end if he isn't a match for me."

The sound of splashing water regained her attention. Silica grinned, picked up her weapon, and began to run in the direction of where the water was coming from.

* * *

With Silica gone at the moment, everyone decided to take a short break at the lake. Kirby, specifically, was swimming around in the water cheerfully. Chopper was sitting by the water, looking at a reflection at himself.

"What's wrong, Choppy?" Heartsy asked, approaching the unhappy Star Warrior.

"Well... It's just that... I kinda feel sorry for this girl." Chopper answered. "The fact that I was responsible for leaving her with no family kind of hurts me..."

"But you said that he wanted you to, well, you know..."

"I know, but I didn't believe there was someone else that'd be hurt by this either!"

"Well, I'm sure this alien girl is just misunderstood, that's all," Scrub stepped in. "I mean, we can just try to speak to her and things will be-"

The sound of a missile fired, and it had managed to hit Chopper. It sent him flying into the water right beside Kirby.

"Perfect..." Silica smirked, hiding behind a bush. Everyone took notice of her and quickly had their guard up.

"What's your problem?" Sonic asked. "Attacking someone behind their back is NOT cool!"

"You know what else isn't cool? Murdering someone!"

"Look, all of this is unnecessary!" Heartsy explained, keeping her hammer close. "We should at least try to negotiate!"

"I'm sorry, but you cannot reason with me," Silica stated. "I'm doing what needs to be done."

Heartsy gripped her hammer tightly, prepared to fight. But there was one thing that seemed to bother her. Something about her face seemed familiar.

"Is there something wrong?" Flyer asked.

"I don't know why... But her face almost reminds me of someone who had rescued me when Mondrao was destroyed..." Heartsy trailed. "In fact, she almost looks just like her a bit... Except she was more lavender."

"That was my mother, Garlude," Silica stated. "Unfortunately, she had suffered the same fate when she risked her life to help Meta Knight reclaim Galaxia."

"Whoa... My mind has been blown!" Scrub gaped. "Not only did this girl's brother die by Contadre, but now her mother rescued Heartsy?"

"Ungh..." Everyone brought their attention to an exhausted Chopper who had gotten back on land thanks to Kirby. He was a little bruised up due to the missile, though. "Thanks, Kirby..."

"Listen, all of you... I want you to stay out of this. Chopper's the only one I'm after." Silica approached Chopper and resumed aiming her weapon at him. "Why won't you fight me? Are you just too weak?"

She didn't get a response, so she switched to her blade and raised it. "I'm sorry, but justice is justice, Chopper!"

Using all her might, Silica thrust her arms downward, but she felt something stop her. She saw Heartsy blocking her blade with her hammer.

"Didn't I tell you to keep out of this?" Silica asked, successfully pushing the girl back.

"Well I'm not going to let you hurt him!" Heartsy cried, struggling to hold her back.

"Heartsy! Leave it to us!" Sonic declared, he and Mario stepping up. "Why don't you get Chopper to safety?"

Though reluctant, Heartsy agreed and managed to throw Silica back and get Chopper up with Kirby's help. Flyer provided assistance too, using his flight to fly him over to the staircase not too far ahead.

"No! You're not getting away!" Silica cried, changing to her missile launcher and aiming at Chopper. But, she suddenly felt her weapon get hot, forcing her to release it and hold her hands in pain. "Argh! No!"

Vivian lowered her finger and proceeded to follow the rest of the group. Mario and Sonic followed next, and Bombette was the last one left in the group. She let off an explosion to make it more difficult to see, allowing for an easier escape. Silica tried grabbing for her weapon, but it was still too hot for her. However, she was not going to let that stop her, so he resisted the pain and ran in the direction Bombette went.

Unfortunately, she was too late when she reached the top of the staircase. The entryway had already been sealed off, and firing a missile at it didn't do any good.

"No... NO!" Silica screamed, throwing her weapon in front of her. "I can't believe it! I was so close!"

Though she was angry over missing her chance at finally avenging his brother, Silica remained calm and had a more determined look on her face.

"It's no big deal... I should be able to get him next time."

* * *

**Behind the door-**

Tamber had checked to make sure the door was completely shut before turning back to the others. "All right... I don't think she can get us now."

"Good. We should hopefully be safe here." Shadower sighed. "You know, Tamber... I haven't given you enough credit. Your distraction actually helped us. It's kinda surprising, considering what you've said to Chopper."

"Well... Well...!" Tamber stammered, clenching his fists in nervousness. He regained his confidence and smirked. "Well... I'm just trying to prove how much better I am to the stinkin' puffball!"

"How's Chopper doing?" Flyer asked, looking over at Kirby and Heartsy. They frowned when they looked at the hurt Chopper. "Oh, no..."

Thankfully, Chopper was not out just yet. However, the injury had left him low on HP.

"Oh, man... She really was out to get me..." Chopper wheezed, trying his best not to fall unconscious.

"Oh, I wish I could do something to help..." Heartsy trailed with sadness in her voice.

It was fortunate that she remembered one of her abilities she had unlocked. In fact, it was something she wanted to use this whole time, too! Using her new ability, she gave Chopper a kiss on the cheek, making them both recover 60 HP. It just so happened to get Chopper back on his feet.

"Ack! She did it again!" Chopper cried, wiping his face.

"Yup... Chopper's back." Shadower said.

"Yes! I finally got to use that ability!" Heartsy fist pumped. "...Though, it did kinda cost a lot of FP to use."

"Sounds like a dumb ability!" Tamber laughed.

"Ugh... Well, at least we are safe... Right?" Chopper asked.

Meanwhile, Mario had noticed a bright light coming up ahead through the small, narrow path. He got everyone's attention as he pointed in the direction.

"Poyo! (Hey! We might be getting out of here!)" Kirby cheered.

They ran toward the bright light to come across a brighter area with the ground being made of marble. It had a pale blue and violet-checkered design on it. There were a couple of pillars around and even some green grass.

"We're...not in the cave any more?" Chopper gaped.

"Don't get your hopes up too soon," Shadower noted, pointing up at the ceiling. Indeed, it looked just like the jungle area they were in. "Though... I wonder how there can be light here..."

"It says we're in a place called Quartz Garden…" Flyer trailed, taking out his Fumu Locator.

"Quartz Garden? This place doesn't look quartzy to me…" Bombette deadpanned.

"But it's a garden..." Scrub trailed. "Weird..."

Vivian approached a gate that was just up ahead, but it had a lock. She looked up and noticed some platforms above, along with a ladder nearby.

"The way ahead is locked, so I'm guessing the key is somewhere above us," Vivian deduced.

"Then let's go get it!" Scrub declared, climbing up the ladder.

"Boy... I don't know why, but Scrub's sounding kinda like you, Chop." Sonic remarked, looking at the Star Warrior.

"Well... I guess so..." Chopper trailed. "I kinda saved him, after all... Anyway, I'm going."

Chopper grabbed onto the ladder and began to climb his way up, the others following him. Thankfully, it was pretty easy to jump onto the platforms, thanks to his improved jumping. However, a few of Meta Knight's minions from the Halbred, Meta Knights, were roaming around this area and attempting to attack them. Just as most enemies, they went down pretty easily.

After reaching one of the higher platforms, Chopper noticed that the platform above them was too high to reach. But with his Gravity Jump, he managed to launch himself so he would be upside down, and then he quickly changed it so he would land on the top platform. Unfortunately, he was grabbed by two Meta Knights. Specifically, a Mace Knight wearing purple armor and a Trident Knight with purple armor, red shoes and a yellow moon crescent on its forehead.

"Well, if it isn't Chopper!" the Mace Knight spoke. "Hey, remember when you attacked the Halberd? Yeah, good times..."

"But Dream Land was in trouble then," Chopper noted.

"For you, that is," the Trident Knight corrected. "I say it's payback time!"

"Well, we'll see if you succeed when I kick your butts!" Chopper got in his fighting stance, but not before Flyer came up, along with Vivian and Tamber.

"Looks like we've got some company," the Mace Knight said. "This could be fun."

It was revealed that the Trident Knight had 42 HP, an Attack of 13, and a Defense of 1. The Mace Knight had 44 HP, an Attack of 14 and a Defense on 0.

"All right, let's get started, shall we?" Chopper started by jumping on the Mace Knight, with Vivian using her Shade Fist to leave a burn on it.

"Ack! I got this terrible burn left on me! I don't know how long I'm gonna last…" the Mace Knight winced as it tossed its spiked ball at Chopper. He guarded that attack and Superguarded the fork thrown at him.

"All right, now let's get serious," Chopper used a Spin Jump on the Mace Knight, and after Tamber's Quake attack, it had been defeated.

"Crud... Mace Knight's down... But I'm not finished!" the Trident Knight threw its trident at Tamber, taking 13 out of him. Chopper landed a jump on it, while Tamber threw in another Combo Punch.

Chopper successfully Superguarded another gold trident, and to finish things off, he simply delivered one last jump, making the two Meta Knights drop 10 Star Points.

"Well, looks like we took care of that," Chopper walked past the two defeated Meta Knights and found a red switch with a star on it. "Hmmmm... Well, I guess I should use a Gravity Slam on this!"

Chopper jumped on top of the button and used his Gravity Slam to make a key appear in front of the gate. However, before going there, he found a doorway nearby as well. Taking that doorway led the group into a black room with a starry sky, while they stood on a star-like floor. Some more Meta Knights were in there, and defeating them revealed a chest containing a Star Shroom.

"A Star Shroom? Yummy! Don't mind if I do!"

* * *

**Back at the gate-**

When the heroes returned to the gate, Chopper picked up the key and unlocked the gate. This led them to another area, only there was no marble floor. Instead, it was replaced with some green grass. There was also a pool of water around the area as well, with a Waddle Dee going fishing - despite lacking fish.

There was a switch nearby, but kicking it didn't seem to do much. Chopper checked in the water to see what was the problem, and upon reaching the bottom, he found a large Rainbow Block. Thankfully, his movement in the water was improved, so using his Diamond Hammer technique was much easier for him.

Chopper jumped out of the water and hit the switch this time. The pool of water began to start flowing through an underwater tunnel. Everyone followed him down, with Sonic forced to go down thanks to Mario making him. Reaching the water's bottom, a current started to carry them all through a tunnel.

The tunnel eventually took them into a pond where a waterfall was. Sonic immediately jumped out and began to pant. Everyone else jumped out and noticed the ruins of a temple up ahead and a small staircase going to a door.

"So... There's a temple within a cavern?" Scrub questioned. "How does that work?"

"Beats me," Chopper shrugged, making his way through the small garden and to the door. On their way, someone took notice of a rainbow above them. Flyer would've questioned how it was possible, but chose not to. Reaching the door, they noticed a picture of two hands, three eyes, and a mouth.

"What a strange picture to be on a door..." Bombette trailed. "Kind of ugly too."

"I'd hate to be whoever used to be that!" Tamber snickered, kicking the door open into a small room. Replacing the green grass was a tan and light blue-checkered stone floor. The walls were also a light brown and had some strange, unknown writing on it. A Save Block and Heart Block were around too. However, just like in Mt. Dedede, they found fog surrounding them.

"Ugh... This fog again?" Heartsy groaned. "I thought we'd be done with seeing this annoying fog?"

Chopper sighed in relief as he hit the Heart Block, now fully recovering his HP and FP. The others were ready as well, and they entered the doorway ahead into a rather familiar room.

"Uh… Guys? Do you think this room feels familiar?" Chopper asked, getting a sense of déjà vu.

"Yeah, this room is familiar…" Vivian agreed. "It's just like that one room where we fought that being with those stone hands..."

"Who dares enter my lair?!"

Three eyes and several light blue jewels appeared in the dark background. The eyes looked around the room and spotted Chopper and his friends.

"Who are you people, and why have you disturbed my rest?!"

"We just want to go to that door ahead," Chopper answered, pointing to said door.

"And wake up the great **Wham Bam Jewel**?! Unacceptable!"

Two bright purple nostrils and orange lips appeared with two bottom fangs sticking out. Fists resembling Wham Bam Rock's appeared, but they were made of diamond instead. This...whatever he is wore a ton of extravagant jewelry and a common crown encrusted with jewels.

"Hey... He looks like that one picture on that door!" Tamber realized, bursting into laughter. "Bah ha ha ha! You're so hideous!"

"You won't be leaving this place alive!" Wham Bam Jewel roared.

**Tattle: **_That's Wham Bam Jewel. He must be a stronger version of Wham Bam Rock. Max HP is 320, Attack is 15, and Defense is 2. He'll normally attack you with those fists just like Wham Bam Rock, but this time he's got a stronger punch. Plus, he can shoot lasers! Watch out for those tiki bombs too. Those things can leave a burn on you. It says here that he has been in slumber for thousands of years, and no one has ever entered his lair... Well, until you guys showed up.  
_

Chopper started by stomping on Wham Bam Jewel's fist, only dealing 6 damage to him. Tamber's Power Punch, on the other hand, managed to deal 12 damage.

"Ha! I can deal more damage than you guys!" Tamber scoffed.

"We know," Bombette groaned. Meanwhile, Wham Bam Jewel brought his fist up and struck Chopper upon slamming it, taking 15 out of him.

"So how does it feel to be flattened like a pancake?" Wham Bam Jewel cackled as he raised his fist.

"Well, I know it's happened before a couple of times," Chopper remarked, pulling his hammer out. "I think I know how to take care of you!"

Chopper threw his hammer at Wham Bam Jewel, which successfully pierced through his defense. Before he could lose it, he jumped in the air to grab his hammer. Vivian left a burn on Wham Bam Jewel thanks to her Shade Fist, but she ended up getting struck by one of the diamond fists.

As Wham Bam Jewel cackled, Chopper glared at the...whatever he was and changed to his Wing ability. With a single swoop, the crowned being cringed.

"Gah! You pest! You're acting just like a fly!" Wham Bam Jewel scoffed. Chopper smirked as he nodded, giving Mario the cue to use his Super Jump on the king's fist, taking 10 out of him. Unfortunately for Chopper, Wham Bam Jewel grabbed him and threw him at Mario.

Mario: Mama mia...

As Chopper got up, Wham Bam Jewel found himself getting hit by Scrub's Mega Egg, losing 12 HP in the process.

"Bull's-eye!" Scrub smirked as Chopper jumped on Wham Bam Jewel's fist, bringing him down to 250 HP. Wham Bam Jewel grit his teeth as he threw his fist at Scrub, knocking him back. "Augh! That seriously hurt!"

Chopper quickly sprang into action and hit Wham Bam Jewel with a Feather Swoop, dealing 8 damage. With Shadower's punch, this brought his defense to 0. Because of that, Wham Bam Jewel brought his hand over Shadower and dropped a tiki bomb on him, leaving a severe burn on him.

"I have an idea!" Chopper used a Soft Stomp on Wham Bam Jewel to keep his defense down even longer, and dealing 10 damage to him as well. Kirby performed a Cartwheel on Wham Bam Jewel next. "Well, this will be finished a lot quicker!"

Angered by his low defense, Wham Bam Jewel brought the palm of his hand down on Chopper, flattening him and knocking his ability. However, Chopper quickly got up and changed to his Cutter ability instead. He grabbed his cutter blade and threw it at the king's hand for 8 damage.

With Wham Bam Jewel's hand on the ground, Heartsy raised her hammer and brought it down on the hand for 10 damage.

"Curse you all! You will all pay!" Wham Bam Jewel snapped his finger, and a couple of rocks came down on everyone, taking a good 12 out of everyone after they guarded a few. "Haw haw! So how does it feel?"

"Ehhh... The usual." Sonic replied.

"What?!"

Chopper leaped in the air and jumped on Wham Bam Jewel's hand, followed up with Bombette's Bomb. He winced, but he managed to shrug it aside and aim his finger like a gun at

"Take THIS!" Wham Bam Jewel aimed his finger at Chopper and he began to charge up a laser. It fired and hit Chopper spot on, but he ended up guarding it and taking 16 damage instead. "Hmmmm... Not bad, but even with that guard, you were still severely hurt!"

"Well, let's see how you deal with this!" Chopper launched up to great heights and came down on Wham Bam Jewel's fist. With his Gravity Jump, he chipped 30 HP out of him. Tamber's punch brought him more than halfway defeated.

"You'll regret that, foolish Star Warrior! You WON'T take me down!" Wham Bam Jewel fired a blast from his finger at him, knocking him all the way to the wall and getting rid of his Cutter ability. Not only that, but his defense had been restored.

"Oh, come on! Dang it..." Chopper groaned, getting in a fighting stance. He would've made a move if he didn't feel someone's lips touch his cheek. "Eek! Gross!"

"Oh, relax! I was just healing you!" Heartsy assured, giving him a sweet smile. "You needed it anyway."

Chopper stepped nervously away from her and threw his hammer at Wham Bam Jewel. With Flyer's Flying Attack, Wham Bam Jewel was down to 116 HP.

"Grrrrrrrr!" Wham Bam Jewel made two of his fingers walk on the ground, and he flicked his finger at Heartsy. She got knocked back, but she managed to get up all right. Chopper changed to his Ice ability and jumped in the air to spin around and breathe ice. Sadly, his Ice Sprinkle had only done 6 damage.

Bombette's fuse lit up as she walked over to the king's fist and blew up before Wham Bam Jewel fired a laser at Mario. He managed to guard it with ease. Afterward, Shadower lowered his defense using his Shadow Punch, and Chopper took 10 out of him with another jump.

Wham Bam Jewel brought his fist down on Chopper, but he successfully Superguarded the attack and took no damage, angering the king. With a Spring Jump that dealt 20 damage and Tamber's Power Punch, Wham Bam Jewel was not looking too good.

"ARRRRRRRRRRGH! I'm already down to 50 HP! This is just great!" Wham Bam Jewel roared. In anger, he flicked his finger at Kirby and sent him to the wall. Chopper's Hammer Throw and Vivian's Shade Fist only made it worse for him, even if he managed to punch Chopper.

"Just a few more attacks and he's done for!" Chopper threw his hammer at him again, followed by Tamber's punch. Wham Bam Jewel nearly sneered at them and slammed his fists on Chopper in rage. Unfortunately, his hands ended up becoming frozen due to Chopper's Ice Breath.

"Ack! Not my fists!" Wham Bam Jewel cried. "You… You horrid people! You aren't planning on DESTROYING me, are you?!"

"Hey, look, you started it," Sonic reminded.

Seeing as no one else was making a move, Mario stepped up and delivered the final blow with his Super Jump. Wham Bam Jewel's eyes widened as his mouth dropped open in pain.

"_**YAAAAAAGGHH!**_"

After a couple of explosions, Wham Bam Jewel was no more. Chopper gained a level after getting 52 Star Points, and he raised his HP to 115 after he raised his BP to 66 earlier.

"Whew… We did it…" Chopper sighed. "That guy was kind of annoying..."

"Poyo... (I hope he's the last annoying enemy we run into...)" Kirby panted.

"All I wanna do is get out of this cave," Scrub grumbled. "I'm getting sick of it."

"Well, time to check and see where that door ahead leads us," Flyer suggested, running over to the door. Chopper removed his Ice ability and followed with his friends. Surprisingly, the door led them into a green, cave-like room that did not fit the other areas in the cavern. Then again, this whole cavern was pretty unfitting in the first place...

However, what surprised them was the elevator in front of them.

"Neat! Maybe this'll take us out!" Sonic grinned, entering the elevator. The others joined him, and it began to quickly make its ascension.

"Whew! Well this is a relief..." Chopper sighed. "I just hope we don't run into Silica again..."

What they didn't expect, however, was the door they closed to be split in half by a laser coming from Silica's weapon.

* * *

**For those of you who don't know who Silica is, she is from the 60th episode in the Kirby anime. Her name's Sirica in the English version, but just like the others, I'm referring to her original name.**

**Kind of like how the previous three chapters were based off Revenge of the King, this one was based around The Great Cave Offensive. ...Except here, there's no treasure to be found, and no alien that's trying to blast them. **


	112. Knights in the Woods

"Ugh… My head..." Fumu slowly opened her eyes and sat up. She was shocked to see no sight of the couch she was sleeping on or a comfortable room. Instead, she found a distorting sky and a couple of separated pentagon-shaped rainbow tiles below her. "Wait... What's going on? Where am I?"

She stood up and started to walk around. Despite her movements, there didn't appear to be anything of importance around. It all looked the same!

"Chopper? Flyer? Heartsy?" Fumu shouted, hoping to hear another voice. "HELLO?! ANYBODY!"

She did hear another voice. But... It wasn't what she was expecting...

"Hee hee hee hee hee hee! Well, so you wake up at last!"

She turned around and gaped at the figure floating before her.

"What in the world?!" Fumu gasped. "What are you supposed to be?!"

"Who I am is no one of importance to you. All that matters is that I get Chopper and his friends to come here so we can put an end to this. Of course, luring them here wouldn't be that easy, so I decided to snatch you and this."

The mysterious figure pulled out a pink Crystal Star. Fumu got a glance at it and remembered something just like it - only in a different color.

"A Crystal Star... How'd you get that?" Fumu asked.

"I was lucky enough to find it located in some woods not too far from here," the figure explained. "With it, Chopper is sure to arrive here, so don't worry about whether they arrive or not. What you SHOULD be worrying about is whether they come out alive..."

"Hold on... Are you a demon beast? Or are you one of those monsters King Dedede was speaking to on that monitor?"

"Demon beast? I am no such thing!" the figure replied, almost sounding disgusted. "And I don't know those other monsters you're talking about. I am a whole other league of my own!"

"Oh... So you're just another opponent Chopper defeated? Not surprised..." Fumu trailed, crossing her arms. "Now can you tell me where I am?"

"You are on the other side of Pop Star at this very moment! Hee hee hee… That's right. You're pretty far from home. And don't even think about trying to escape. You're not going to get anywhere by walking through this endless realm."

Fumu groaned and sat down, unfortunate enough to be stuck in a place like this. She made sure she was facing away from this figure. To her, that figure was too hideous to look at.

_"I just hope they make it here quickly..."_

* * *

A small, dome-like building's door had opened up, with Tamber holding it above him. The rest managed to get off the elevator and quickly ran out of the small building before Tamber could put it down.

"Whew... That takes care of that." Tamber grinned. "That door didn't stand a chance!"

"And I can feel the fresh air around me," Scrub added, only to realize his surroundings. "Hey! We're back outside!"

Indeed they were. The wind blew to their side, and they were standing on dark green grass. Looking up, they saw the nighttime sky. The first thing Flyer did was taking out his Fumu Locator.

Everyone rushed out of the door and he got out himself afterwards. They looked down at the grass to find it a darker green color than before. But, they suddenly realized why it was like that: it's nighttime in this area.

"Apparently, we're by a place called Dreamy Woods, a place on the other side of Dream Land," Flyer informed.

"Really? That was fast." Chopper commented. "And that means we'll get to the Crystal Star in no time!"

"But what about that white alien girl?" Scrub mentioned. "We still have to worry about her!"

"Oh, relax! That door will keep her outta our way!" Tamber assured. "I mean, it's not like she's THIS desperate in trying to take out the puffball!"

"But that weapon of hers could probably blow through the floor!" Heartsy noted.

Upon realizing that, they decided to move down the hill up ahead. There weren't that many trees around, but those that they found only had a few coins. Nevertheless, it would come in handy.

"The faster we go, the less likely we'll run into Silica," Sonic reminded.

"But wouldn't it be better to put her in her place?" Bombette asked. "We can't be running forever!"

"It doesn't feel right, though..." Chopper trailed. "Fighting a misunderstood person? That's just not me..."

When they had reached Dreamy Woods, the first thing that happened was Chopper slipping and falling over on the floor. A few others ended up slipping as well. Those that didn't looked down at the floor and noticed it was covered in ice.

"Oh, boy... The grass is covered in ice." Shadower noted. "Great..."

"Poyo, (This actually reminds me of Rainbow Resort,)" Kirby said.

Chopper slowly got up and looked around his surroundings. The area they stood in was square-shaped, but it had three ways to go: up, left, and right. They checked the way to the right, but all there were a couple of Meta Knights there and nothing else.

"OK... I guess we're in some sort of maze."

"Help! Somebody help me!"

Everyone's attention was brought to a bird-like voice in the corner of the area. An Axe Knight wearing a skull-like mask and horns on its helmet and also a Trident Knight had a small, green bird corned.

"So, you know the way out of the woods, correct?" the Axe Knight asked. "Well, I think you'd be quite helpful."

"And we're not taking no for an answer," the Trident Knight added, pointing its trident at the bird.

"I'm sorry, but forcing me to help you? I don't help scoundrels!" the bird shouted. "So buzz off!"

"Look, we don't want to do this the hard way..." the Axe Knight warned. "Sir Meta Knight wouldn't be pleased if we ended up hurting a little birdie."

Before the Axe Knight could make a move, it was taken out by Chopper, who jumped on its heck.

"Whoa! What the heck was that?!" the Trident Knight turned around to find Chopper landing. "Hey! What's the big idea, punk? Are you trying to make a fight here? Well, challenge accepted!"

The Trident Knight was about to throw its trident, but Vivian stepped in and used her Fiery Jinx to defeat the Meta Knight.

"That takes care of them," Vivian said, lowering her finger. "Though, I hope they turn out to be OK..."

"Wh-What? Are those foul creatures gone?" the green bird asked, seeing the two Meta Knights gone. He looked surprised to see Chopper and his friends. "Whoa, I didn't expect to be saved by a puffball…"

"You're telling me," Tamber whispered, receiving a smack from Heartsy. "HEY!"

"I'm only joking... Sheesh!" the bird groaned as he brushed himself. "Anyway, the name's Lafari. I'm a magical bird that can do, well, magical things, such as revealing the way out of this dump. Though, I don't use my magic for strangers, mind you."

"Well, we would certainly like to find a way out of these woods and to the Crystal Star," Vivian informed.

"Crystal Star? The heck is that?" Lafari asked. Chopper took out the map and showed him the Crystal Star located on Pop Star. "Holy guacamole! You're treasure hunters? Oh, boy! I never knew that I would get to meet treasure hunters! This makes my day!"

"Ummmm... Thanks?" Chopper replied, unsure of what else to say as Lafari flew up to him.

"I may not know who you clowns are, but I certainly know a few things about that treasure you're looking for! I can sorta help you out!"

Mario: Sorta?

"Yeah... Here's the catch: I can't leave these woods. My magic is bound by these woods, so leaving will strip me of those powers permanently."

"Oh, isn't that just great?" Tamber groaned.

"Well, if you don't stop being such a big baby over it, I'll help you get out of these woods," Lafari flew over to the left direction and turned to the heroes. "Follow me, now!"

When they reached the first area they started in, they took the left path and found a wet floor instead. There was also a tree stump in the left corner as well. Lafari was flying over that stump.

"All right, normally I don't let strangers in my home, but I'll make an exception... You! Green one! C'mere!"

Chopper got on the stump as Lafari told him, and he landed on his head. He spouted out some weird rabble that suddenly caused the two to shrink and fall into the hole of the stump.

"Whoa! Chopper shrunk!" Sonic gaped.

Chopper landed on a bouncy mushroom, which prevented him from getting hurt. After jumping off, he looked around the house. There was a stove, a table, and most of all, a bed with a feather on it. Plus, there was a picture of a yellow bird.

"Hey, that bird reminds me of someone from Dream Land," Chopper noticed. "I think I saw him when I was trying to help make an anime."

"You mean Tokkori? He's my brother." Lafari said. "What an annoying little bird he turned out to be..."

"Wait... So you don't like him?"

"Errr... He may be obnoxious, but deep down, he can be a good brother. He just doesn't like to show off like that... Anyway, if you'll excuse me..." Lafari flew over to his closet and searched thoroughly. "Ah! Here we go! This is it!"

Lafari pulled out a blue orb and dropped it in the palm of Chopper's hand.

"What's this?" Chopper asked.

"This is the Orb of Sense! This thing will begin to blink depending on where you are. If it blinks faster, you know you'll be going the right way."

"Really? Well, I'm sure this will be helpful! Thanks!"

"Well, I'm still going to come with you," Lafari said, making Chopper gawk. "What? I need that thing back, and if I just stayed here, I don't think I'd get my orb back! Now get on that mushroom! We're getting out of here!"

Chopper jumped back on the mushroom and bounced out of the stump. Lafari had flown on him and used his magic to return to normal size.

"Back already? How was it?" Bombette asked.

"I got an orb from the strange bird," Chopper noted, showing off the orb.

"I'm ranked number one when it comes to strange birds!" Lafari bragged. "So if you find any other strange birds, make sure you tell them of me!"

"Yeah... We'll keep that in mind..." Shadower trailed. "So why are you traveling with us?"

"To make sure my orb comes back to me, obviously. Plus, there may be a few other stumps that might require my magic. Anyway, onward, strangers!"

They headed back to the area ahead and took the right pathway - the exact one where they found Lafari. Chopper noticed the orb was blinking faster to the northern pathway. As they traveled, Lafari remained on Chopper's antennas, but he didn't look too impressed.

"These antennas are so thin! Why don't you do something about them and get some real hair?" Lafari suggested. "That's the only way you're going to get girls! And also, look at those arms! C'mon, hit the gym for once and buff up those arms!"

"Not a chance!" Chopper retorted. "I like how my arms look, and I need these antennas to sense oncoming danger!"

"Suit yourself..."

Chopper took the left pathway and then to the northern one. There was a bush in the corner that revealed a Star Shroom. He smiled, picking it up and wishing to taste the delicious-looking mushroom. Well, until he was slapped by Lafari's wing.

"Hey! Puffball! Stop staring at that mushroom and pay attention!" Lafari nagged, motioning to the orb. "The orb is pointing to the right!"

Taking the right pathway, they kept themselves steady on the icy floor and noticed the orb was blinking mostly to the north. Unfortunately, it was blocked by a rock with a crack in it.

"I think you know what to do here," Bombette said, wishing not to say the obvious. Chopper picked her up and threw her at the rock, destroying it and allowing them to progress.

"So... How far in these woods?" Heartsy asked.

"Pretty far, especially for a freak like yourself," Lafari mocked, despite her not understanding what he meant. "Then again, you all look like weirdos to me..."

"Except me," Tamber declared, though the only response he got was a laugh from the green bird. He pouted and followed the group onward.

Their little journey in the woods continued, and everyone was starting to get sick of it. Not only did they struggle to walk through the icy grass, but a few Meta Knights had stopped them in their tracks. While they fought, Lafari decided to stay back and relax.

"Keep it up, guys. You're doing great." Lafari said, not paying too much attention to the fight. The fight didn't last long, and the bird was far from happy when he had to get back up and follow the heroes onward. To them, each area felt like more of the same.

"Yeesh... I kinda wish we were out of these woods already." Sonic sighed. "Especially since running around here would be a bit more difficult with the turns we've been making."

"I feel like taking a break," Bombette said.

"What? Don't tell me you guys are tired!" Lafari guffawed. "I help you, and you decide to relax already! We're not the far anyway!"

"Wait, really?" Chopper gawked.

"Duh! So why don't you get your butts moving then?"

Despite being annoyed, they were glad to know that they were nearing the end of the woods. Chopper found the orb to be blinking to the right, and upon entering that area, they only found one single pathway leading ahead. Right next to them was a Save Block, which Chopper happily hit.

"So... Is this the way out?" Shadower asked.

"Heck no!" Lafari replied. "But it'll lead us closer out!"

"All right... That sounds fine." Chopper approached the pathway, but two figures had landed in front, blocking his way out. "Wait... Sword and Blade? What're you doing here?"

"Sorry, Chopper, but we can't let you pass," Sword said.

"What? Why not?"

"Sword! Blade! Stand your ground!" Meta Knight ordered, dropping in front of Chopper. His two servants obeyed and stepped out of the way.

"Meta Knight? I didn't expect you to be here..." Chopper trailed.

"I heard the news of you defeating the Shadow King and Queen for good... I commend you for your efforts, but unfortunately, they are not the greatest threat."

"That's something the Shadow King kinda warned us... Plus, we got a letter."

"I see... So you know of this already." Meta Knight turned away from him. "Then why do you still collect the Crystal Stars if you know of this threat?"

"Oh, come on! This again?" Scrub groaned. "Look, masked dude! We're trying to save the UNIVERSE here! Something you don't seem to be doing!"

"That's true... In fact, I even tried taking over Pop Star myself, but that failed thanks to you all. Perhaps Pop Star would've been a much better place if I was in control of it..."

"Listen here, bucko!" Lafari stepped in, flying in Meta Knight's face. "We don't have time for your fancy speeches! I'm trying to get these people out of these woods!"

Meta Knight moved the bird out of the way and turned to the group. "Anyway, the reason why I've come here in the first place is to stop you all. You've already collected sixteen Crystal Stars, and collecting any more is too dangerous. I wish it didn't come to this..."

"Wait... Are you seriously going to try to...?" Bombette gawked.

"No. I am sparing you all. I only wish to destroy the Crystal Stars. It's the only way it will save you all."

"That's not going to happen!" Chopper shouted, changing to his Sword ability. "We've come this far, and we can't risk you trying to do such a thing."

"Wait, Chopper... Should we really fight him?" Vivian asked. "I mean, we still have Silica going after us..."

"I'm glad you're willing to accept this battle, Chopper," Meta Knight said. "You've most likely improved from your fight against the Shadow King. I am interested to see what you can throw at me. So no holding back!"

**Tattle: **_That's Meta Knight. He's one of the strongest Star Warriors that I know of so far... Max HP is 310, Attack is 15, and Defense is 1. He'll strike you with Galaxia, his sword, and he'll even throw in some Sword Beams. Just be careful when he goes in a tornado and attacks you. Watch out for his Mach Tornado as well. That is, by far, his strongest attack. Also, considering that his mask broke off in half before, does he have a room filled with multiple masks?  
_

Chopper made the first move, jumping toward Meta Knight and swinging his sword at him. Meta Knight cringed, but he endured the hit pretty well, along with Vivian's Shade Fist.

"Hmmmm... Yes, I can see how much stronger you've gotten. I like that, especially when fighting my opponents." Meta Knight remarked, swinging his sword at Chopper.

"Ow!" Chopper cried.

"A true warrior does not cry when he gets hit," Meta Knight belittled. "You should've known that by now..."

"You'll be the one crying when we're done with you!" Scrub taunted, using his Gulp to take 10 out of him. Chopper attacked Meta Knight with his sword next, the force of it being strong enough to knock him back by Sword and Blade.

"Are you all right, Sir Meta Knight?" Blade asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Meta Knight assured as he attacked Chopper with Galaxia. He retaliated by swinging back at the masked warrior. However, there was thing that was bothering him.

"I wonder... Why do you always wear that mask?" Chopper asked, jumping back.

"That is none of your concern," Meta Knight replied, getting struck by Heartsy's Hearty Hammer afterward. When she moved out of the way, Meta Knight fired a Sword Beam directed at Chopper.

Chopper held his weapon in front of him and guarded it, taking 14 damage. Chopper managed to also throw in a Sword Beam, with Flyer adding in his Flying Attack, bringing him to 241 HP.

Meta Knight quickly shook himself and managed to leap in the air and thrust his sword down at Chopper. Unfortunately, this left him open for Chopper to hit him with a D-Down Slash. Bombette had attacked him next, and that was when he found Chopper's partners to be an issue. He used the flat part of his sword to knock Bombette away.

"Oh, so now you're fighting us now!" Bombette smirked. "Now this is interesting!"

"You know, that's something I'd actually say," Sonic remarked in surprise. Meanwhile, Chopper had let out a battle cry as he performed his Spinning Sword on Meta Knight, soon following up with Mario's Super Jump.

"Let's see you handle this," Meta Knight suggested, spinning his body and flying toward Chopper. He Superguarded it, making the masked warrior take 1 point of damage.

"Ha HA! That worked out nicely!" Chopper smiled as he jumped up to Meta Knight and sent him flying to the tree with a single sword swing. Sonic then struck him with a Spin Dash, though he had accidentally knocked the tree over.

"Good going. You're messing with nature." Lafari complained.

"Whoops! I didn't mean to get rid of the tree…" gulped Sonic.

Meta Knight quickly sprang into action and disappeared using his cape and struck Chopper out of surprise.

"Whoa! I didn't see that coming!" Chopper gaped.

"That's because my Dimensional Cape is a bit unpredictable..." Meta Knight explained. He ended up getting his defense lowered to 0 when Shadower hit him with a shadowy fist. Chopper followed up with a Spinning Sword and took 10 out of him. At this point, he was down to 168 HP.

"If this is how you're going to continue fighting, then you should just give up!" Bombette suggested.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that," Meta Knight replied. "Besides, I still have a couple of tricks up my sleeve."

Meta Knight had approached Chopper, but rather than swing at him, he struck him with a couple of sword jabs, dealing 4 damage each time five times in total. Chopper guarded each, taking 15 damage.

Despite being surprised by this move, Chopper was not going to go down without a fight. He jumped in the air and hit Meta Knight with his Jump. Following up was Kirby's Cartwheel, which made Meta Knight skid across the slippery grass. Sword and Blade tried to help stop him, but they ended up slipping.

"Sword... Blade... I appreciate the help, but I do not wish for you to intervene." Meta Knight suggested. "Especially with my next attack. You could get caught in it..."

"Our apologies, Sir Meta Knight," Blade said, pulling Sword out of the way immediately. Meta Knight started to spin in a tornado and managed to charge at everyone and deal 15 damage to them.

"Ack! This guy's really getting annoying!" Tamber grumbled, getting up and attacking Meta Knight with his Combo Punch. Chopper landed another Jump, but right when he did that, Meta Knight performed a loop that managed to strike the Star Warrior for 15 more damage.

Chopper grumbled and hit Meta Knight with a normal sword swing. With Flyer's Flying Attack, he was down to 112 HP.

"Perhaps now is the time for me to use my Mach Tornado..." Meta Knight pondered, pointing his sword to the floor as he raised it. His sword started to glow, and his Attack power was doubled.

"Crud… Well, this isn't good. Plus, I need to heal..." Chopper pulled out an Ultimate Punch and ate it to recover 100 HP and FP. Vivian grabbed then pulled everyone in the shadows to hide. That was when Meta Knight stabbed the grass and summoned his giant tornado. Thanks to Vivian's Veil, no one had taken damage.

Unfortunately, since the heroes emerged from the shadows, this made them waste a turn and allowed Meta Knight to swing Galaxia at Chopper.

"Your strategy is not bad, I'll admit..." Meta Knight commented, raising his sword. However, Chopper's sword swing didn't help him, and neither did Vivian's Shade Fist, as he was now down to 96 HP. Meta Knight cringed and fired a Sword Beam directly at Vivian. Thankfully, Chopper managed to guard the attack himself.

"Heh... So the kid managed to help one of his friends... Not too bad..." Blade remarked.

"Ehhh... I've seen better." Sword muttered.

"Quiet down, soldier! I'm trying to listen to what's gonna happen! Go play with your action figures of Meta Knight and Nightmare!"

"…How do you know I play with action figures? _You good-for-nothing eavesdropper_!"

"What was that, soldier?"

"Err… Nothing!"

After that little fiasco, Chopper charged at Meta Knight and swung at him, and then Tamber punched him. Meta Knight quickly jabbed at Chopper afterward and managed to deal 18 damage this time. But, it didn't stop Chopper from using a D-Down Slash on him, followed by Scrub's Mega Egg.

"Ungh…" Meta Knight grunted, kneeling down and wheezing in pain. He looked up at Chopper, his eyes turning red with anger. "This is not over yet, Chopper!"

Chopper was left surprised by the anger in Meta Knight's voice. It didn't help that he disappeared with his cape and struck him using his Dimensional Cape ability. Everyone could definitely see that things were getting a little serious. They quickly took action, with Shadower throwing in a Shadow Punch, and Chopper jumping on the knight.

"He's only got 36 HP left... We should have him down soon..." Chopper trailed. Unfortunately, he hadn't been paying attention to Meta Knight, which gave him the opportunity to strike Chopper.

"You should've been paying more attention," Meta Knight advised. "Never let your guard down!"

After Chopper's jump and Kirby's Cartwheel, Meta Knight started to realize that chances of winning were pretty slim. But even still, he had one last trick up his sleeve.

"Give up Meta Knight!" Chopper demanded. "You're beat!"

"Not yet..." Meta Knight muttered, stabbing the ground and summoning a Mach Tornado. Everyone was caught in it and were sent flying. One of Chopper's Crystal Stars had dropped, and seeing it made Meta Knight jump up to it with his sword ready to slice it.

"No!"

Meta Knight swung at it with full force, leaving the heroes all agape. A Crystal Star... Something they had worked so hard to get... It was gone.

At least, that's what they believed.

To their surprise, the Crystal Star had not been sliced, and Meta Knight himself was surprised by these results.

"The Crystal Star... It's still there!" Chopper gasped.

"But how?" Meta Knight gawked. "Are these things unbreakable?"

Because he was left off guard, it proved to be a big mistake for him. Sonic had quickly sprung in and hit him with a Spin Dash, leaving him completely vulnerable to an attack. Chopper saw this opportunity and dove at Meta Knight. One sword swing was enough, as the Mach Tornado had faded, and everyone had landed, with Chopper catching the Crystal Star. Meta Knight, on the other hand, crashed into a tree.

Meta Knight had dropped 43 Star Points, granting Chopper a level up and allowing him to upgrade his FP to 115. When they landed, Blade and Sword immediately ran to their master.

"Sir Meta Knight! Are you all right?"

Meta Knight let out a moan as his masked cracked in half a broke off. He opened his eyes and noticed his mask was off. Without saying a word, he got up and teleported out with his cape.

"Uh… Wait for us, Sir Meta Knight!" Sword shouted, he and Blade making their exit as well.

They all stood in silence, until they heard a familiar laugh.

"That masked guy is a puffball!" Tamber laughed. "Oh, man! I can't even take him seriously now!"

"You never take anything seriously," Flyer pointed out.

"Yes, you are right."

Just before they could celebrate, though, Chopper felt a wing slap him in the face. Ironically, this had removed his Sword ability.

"Hey! What the heck was that for?!" Chopper exclaimed.

"Less talking, more getting out of these woods!" Lafari yelled.

"Ugh... Fine... It's not like anything could go wrong at this point."

Suddenly, a laser had been fired, but it barely managed to hit Chopper. In shock, everyone turned to see Silica on a tree, aiming her weapon directly at Chopper.

"Silica!"

"How the heck did you manage to get past that door?" Scrub asked.

"My weapon's installed with a laser. It's capable of cutting through stuff such as stone." Silica explained, narrowing her eyes at Chopper. "And don't think about escaping... That won't save you."

"Aw, you gotta be KIDDING me!" Lafari groaned, flying up to the alien. "Listen here, alien girl! We don't have time to be playing hide 'n' go seek! Let us move in peace, thank you very much…"

"I suggest you move it, beak-face."

"BEAK-FACE?! Why, I never!" Lafari quickly flew back to the others. "Listen, puffball! We need to get out of here right NOW! We don't have time to deal with this girl or anything!"

"All right..." Chopper nodded, turning back to Silica. "Listen, we don't have time to chat! We have to get going immediately!"

"Oh no you don't!" Silica yelled, firing her machine gun. Her shots had missed due to them escaping quickly. Chopper continued to follow the correct way, completely ignoring the ice physics of this place. Everyone else was filled with more energy too and were worried.

"Man, that girl's crazy!" Scrub gaped. "She's so desperate!"

"There's no way we're going to lose Silica like this! We need something that'll hide us." Flyer shouted, seeing Silica chasing after them by jumping from tree to tree. "We need to come up with an idea!"

"Hold on a second, I can turn us all invisible!" Shadower suggested, though he ended up smacking his forehead afterward. "…Why didn't I think of this before?"

"Because the author didn't think of it in the first place?" Chopper wondered.

"...Maybe."

With that, Shadower managed to turn everyone transparent, shielding them from Silica's sight.

"What the… Where'd they go?" Silica asked, scanning the area. "Great… Just when I found Chopper, I lose him AGAIN! He's probably hiding around these woods now..."

Annoyed, Silica decided to search in another direction. When they thought it was safe, everyone became visible again.

"Phew... That was a close one." Bombette sighed. "Hopefully she goes back the wrong way..."

Mario: That could actually help us a bit...

"Hey! No time for chit-chat!" Lafari shouted. "The exit's just up ahead!"

To their surprise, they found a light blue gate just up ahead leading out of the woods. Everyone smiled and ran over to the gate. Though it was still icy, it was nice to finally get out of these woods.

"Oh, yeah... Watch out for those Chillies out there." Lafari suggested. "Especially with this icy grass, it'll be pretty cold."

"Well, we faced the horrors of ice physics before," Chopper assured. "I'm sure this won't be anything special!"

"Dude... I swear it feels like you are hardly making any sense here." Scrub remarked.

As Chopper opened the gate, Lafari had stepped away from the gate, knowing the obvious. They had all turned to him when he gained their attention by clearing his throat.

"Well, guys… This is goodbye. It's been a great time and all, but I cannot travel with you any further." Lafari said. "But, before I leave, could I have that orb back?"

"Of course!" Chopper pulled the blue orb out and tossed it to Lafari. Unfortunately, due to its weight, it fell on the green bird, crushing him underneath. Chopper gave him an apologetic look as he got it off him.

"You… You… How could you simply throw it to me like THAT?!" the magical bird growled. "You know what? You need to grow a brain, kid! And maybe then you'll understand why I'm kicking you out of my woods!"

Lafari had sent Chopper and his friends flying out of the gate and out of the woods. Though it was nice to finally be out, it could've been done in a more polite way. Regardless, they got up and made their exit without looking back.

As they left, they heard Lafari ramble on in the same manner as an old man.


	113. The Strongest Warrior in the Galaxy

"Yeesh... What a jerk that Lafari was, kicking us out like that." Chopper mumbled, slowly treading through the hills that were before them. The night sky had started to make them tired, and unfortunately, it had started to slow them down as well.

"Why do I feel so tired?" Flyer yawned, looking up at the sky. "It's like this place has some sort of affect on me... Taking slumber now wouldn't help, though..."

As they continued their walk past a few Chillies on the way, they took notice of a large tree with many blue and pink leaves. Since it caught their interest, they went up to it to check it out. Upon reaching the hill, they saw off in the distance a small little area made of blue rock with a few sections having pointy edges. Past that appeared to be a large amount of dark fog.

"I don't know why, but I feel like we're getting pretty close now..." Chopper yawned, taking a look at the rocky altar and the fog.

"You know, guys... I'm getting a little tired." Scrub mentioned, letting out a yawn. "Think we can just sleep by this tree?"

"But... We're so close." Shadower mentioned, being the least tired of the group. "Why sleep now when we can get this over with?"

"Look, I know we're close, but how are we supposed to easily fight when we're not in good shape?" Bombette groaned, plopping onto the icy grass. "Look, I say rest now, then we'll get the star later. ...And if any of you dare to wake me, I swear I'll explode right in your face."

She closed her eyes, and soon she was drifting into sleep. Everyone chose to keep away from her, fearing what would happen.

"Well, one person's already asleep. I guess we don't have much of a choice..." Chopper shrugged, sitting down by the tree. "I'm feeling tired too, so I don't mind some sleep."

Soon, the eleven started to slowly fall asleep thanks to the sounds of the twinkling stars and the night sky. Unfortunately, this prevented them from notice a shadow flying over to the tree. A figure had landed on the branch and stared down at them with his reddish pink eyes.

This figure was revealed to be a round shape just like that of Chopper, Kirby, and Meta Knight, only slightly bigger. He also wore a mask just like Meta Knight, only his has both a horizontal and vertical opening. Two, yellow horns appeared to protrude from the top of the mask. His body was also hot pink, and he wore whitish-platinum armor such as pauldrons and shoes that do not fully cover his feet. He also has feathered wings and carried a powerful pink lance and a white shield with a pink cross on it.

"So... It appears my opponents are near..." the masked warrior trailed, looking down at Chopper specifically. "Hmph... He does not appear to be much of a threat. They say he and these people traveling with him are some of the strongest warriors, but all I see are weaklings that are no match for the great **Galacta Knight**."

Galacta Knight noticed a familiar pink puffball as well. "What's this? He's here as well? I thought this would be the last time I'd ever see him, but I guess I was wrong. Maybe these people will actually defeat me. They're not going to get past that rocky altar if they can't defeat me."

He swung his lance, and an apple had fallen. Galacta Knight easily sliced it in half and let it fall in front of Chopper.

"However, I must warn you... Aside from that pink puffball, there has only been one person that managed to defeat me. I will make sure the same thing does not happen against you people."

After spreading his wings, Galacta Knight flew off to the altar ahead, leaving a couple of white feathers behind.

* * *

**Two hours later-  
**

With two hours out of the way, the group had started to wake up and stretch. They looked up to see daylight, but they were disappointed.

"It's...still nighttime..." Flyer trailed.

Chopper looked down in front of him and noticed a slice apple. Smiling, he picked one of the pieces up and dropped it in his mouth. Kirby had snatched the other and ate it.

"Poyo! (It's always nice to eat some food when you wake up!)" Kirby said happily.

"Whew!" Sonic sighed, stretching his arms and legs. "OK, I think I'm ready to go!"

"All right! time to get the Crystal Star!" Chopper smiled, ready to take off.

"Not yet!" Silica yelled, landing in front of the group with her weapon aimed as usual.

"Oh, come on..." Shadower groaned. "Again?!"

"I had a feeling you managed to get yourselves out of those woods..." Silica smirked, remaining confident. "But I think I should thank you for that. I suppose you didn't get along too well with that bird, considering that he helped me get out of those woods."

Mario: What?

"Now we can finally put an end to this, Chopper. That is, unless you choose to run from me again. I'll give you a ten second head start!"

Chopper continued to look horrified, unsure of what to do. However, the horrified look turned to a more determined look as he remained still.

"You've got five seconds left," Silica reminded.

"Forget those seconds. I'm not going anywhere." Chopper decided. "If you want to fight me, then fine."

"Are you sure, Chopper?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah," Chopper nodded, turning back to Silica. "I don't want to seriously hurt you, but if this will get you to stop trying to hunt us down, then I don't have much of a choice."

Though Silica was surprised by this declaration, she was actually pleased. "So you finally decide to face me? Good. Now this is more like it! It'll be a lot easier to avenge my brother now!"

"And don't expect me to hold back. I'll fight you just like how I fight my enemies!"

"Then let us do this!"

**Tattle: **_That's Silica. She's a strange white alien girl that's said to be a Star Warrior. Huh... Well that's interesting. Max HP is 320, Attack is 15, and Defense is 0. She'll usually attack you with a flamethrower, a machine gun, a missile, a sword, or a laser. Though she may not be an evil being, don't try to let your guard down. She is pretty tough! That weapon of hers, especially, makes her powerful. Though, I wonder where it even came from? Regardless, let's just hope she'll stop trying to eliminate you after this fight..."  
_

"Go ahead, Chopper. Show me what you can do." Silica challenged.

"All right, I will!" Chopper smirked, leaping in the air and jumping on Silica, performing a stylish move in the process. The amount of damage done to her left her surprised. This left her open for Bombette to hit her with a Bomb attack.

Silica wasted no time in her attack. She changed to her flamethrower and scorched Chopper with it, leaving a burn on him. Chopper quickly shook the soot off of him and landed another jump, with Vivian using her Shade Fist afterward. Silica had taken notice of Vivian's apologetic look before retreating back to her friends.

Annoyed, Silica raised her weapon and fired a grappling hook at the tree. With it, she swung back and brought her feet in front of her to attack Chopper. He guarded it, only taking 14 damage.

"If those are your only attacks, then you're no match for me," Silica said confidently.

"But I'm not showing you everything I've got," Chopper noted. "But I can show you right now."

"Hit me with your best shot!"

"All right..." Chopper clenched his fists as his feet were surrounded in a yellow glow. He jumped high in the air and landed on Silica with his Gravity Jump. It was able to bump her into the tree, leaving her to rub her head in pain. Sonic took the opportunity to hit her with a Spin Dash, but she had fired a missile to strike him and knock him back.

"OK... So you aren't that weak..." Silica panted. "This should be interesting..."

"You're not too bad yourself," Chopper replied.

"Compliments aren't going to change my mind on destroying you, Chopper!"

Chopper frowned, but decided to not let it bother him. He took his hammer out and hit Silica with his Power Smash. Kirby then delivered a Cartwheel, taking another 10 out of her. This had already brought her down to 218 HP, and she was not too pleased.

Silica fired a missile straight at Chopper, but she was surprised to see him Superguard it and take no damage. "What the... What was that?"

"I Superguarded it," Chopper answered. "That prevents me from taking any damage."

"I'd say you made the wrong choice by fighting us," Heartsy noted.

"Wrong choice? Not a chance!" Silica yelled. "I'm doing this for my brother! My father! My whole family! This battle will not end until one of us is down!"

That last sentence did not make Chopper feel too happy.

"But I don't want to bring you down..." Chopper trailed.

"Then I guess we'll be able to tell who's going down..." Silica trailed.

Chopper frowned and conjured up an electric ball. He threw it and dealt 8 damage when it made contact. Tamber charged next, hitting her with a Combo Punch. Silica fired a missile that managed to blow Tamber away to find Chopper. She noticed he was missing.

"Where did he go now?"

"Up here!"

Silica looked up and saw Chopper land on her head using his feet. It left her in a daze, allowing Flyer to strike her with a Flying Attack next. She felt a bruise on her face and cringed. Getting up, Silica fired a missile at Chopper, but he ducked, causing it to hit Flyer instead.

Once again, Chopper didn't pay too much attention to what happened and jumped on Silica again. Flyer grumbled to himself and hit her with another Flying Attack, leaving her with 156 HP.

Silica changed to her machine gun this time and fired rapidly at Chopper. Her attack succeeded, and Chopper had suffered 15 damage as a result. Seeing the bruises left from the attack made Silica pleased.

Chopper got back at Silica with his Diamond Glove attack, firing a charged electric ball at her. Shadower's Shadow Punch left her panting heavily.

"I don't know how you've managed to bring me down this far, but it's not over yet," Silica groaned, looking down at the floor. "I still have one other trick up my sleeve."

Silica took out a few floating mirrors and fired a laser at one of them. The laser reflected off each mirror and fired at Chopper and his friends. To their relief, they were able to Superguard it.

Three other mirrors appeared and she used a laser from her weapon to fire at Chopper and his friends. They were lucky to Superguard the attack, or else they would've taken A LOT of damage.

"Hmmmm... Those mirrors... I wonder if I could inhale them?" Chopper pondered, looking at the closest mirror. He inhaled it, and upon swallowing it, he got a wand with the crystal on the top, a red and teal dual-toned jester hat, and his skin became a white tint with his shoes and gloves turning gray.

"Pbbbth! You look like a clown!" Tamber laughed, while Mario reduce Silica to 126 HP with his Jump.

"No! It's the Mirror ability!" Chopper corrected, looking up at his wand.

"You just copied an ability? How was that even possible?" Silica gaped. "…Well, it doesn't matter now. I'll probably shrug it off later."

Silica changed to her sword and swung at Chopper. He ended up guarding it, but thanks to the Mirror ability, he was able to take 13 damage instead due to its barrier. Silica looked surprised, but she was caught off guard once Chopper hit her with a Gravity Jump.

"Take this!" Heartsy gripped her Hearty Hammer and brought it down on Silica's head. When she tried swinging at her again, Silica used her sword to block it and knock her away. Chopper took this opportunity to run up to her and split into two, which managed to hurt her and deal 10 damage.

"Man, that ability's weird!" Scrub remarked, attacking her next with a Ground Pound, bringing her down to 66 HP.

Silica brought her attention back to Chopper, who attacked with her flamethrower. But, her HP went down quickly as soon as Chopper performed another Gravity Jump on her. With Vivian's Shade Fist, she was down to 26 HP.

"No… I can't lose just yet..." Silica coughed. "I can't fail my brother so soon..."

She let out a battle cry and fired a laser at the mirrors and at Chopper and his friends. It struck them and managed to deal 17 damage. However, with Chopper's Jump and Tamber's punch, the only thing she could do was scorch them with her flamethrower. The burn left by Vivian had reduced her to 2 HP.

Silica went to his knees, having very little energy to fight back. She was all bruised up, and it hurt just to feel the pain. Chopper was a bit exhausted as well, having a couple of bruises as well. Speaking of Chopper, he was approaching her right now.

Seeing as she couldn't do anything, Silica lowered her head and closed her eyes tight. But to her surprise, she didn't feel anything strike her. When she looked up, Chopper had removed his ability.

"What are you doing?" Silica asked, looking surprised. "You're not going to finish this fight?"

"No," Chopper replied. "Why should I? You're not my enemy. But could you listen to me?"

Having no choice, Silica sighed. "All right... Fine."

"When I first did this whole hero job, I didn't really want to do it at first. The only thing motivating me into doing this was to get revenge against Maquano, but your brother actually helped me. He tried to help me control the powers I possessed to make me who I am today. So I was really frightened when he wanted me to... Well, you know."

"But why did you do it? Did you have any idea of what harm you'd be doing to others?"

"He wanted me to do it because he said... He said he wanted me to set him free." Chopper answered. "He said something about doing something terrible. Something that he felt would let his family down, I think... And I think the whole setting him free thing was also because if I had lost, Maquano would eliminate him, and he wouldn't be able to rest in peace. So, he wanted me to do it instead..."

Being much calmer now, Silica started to understand. "OK... I think I'm starting to understand."

"He gave me his own weapon too. Though, I don't have it with me at the moment... But he told me that only those who have the power to use it can wield it."

"I see..." Silica trailed. "I suppose I misjudged you..."

"So is everything good between us?" Chopper asked, offering a hand to help her up. Silica looked at the hand for a moment, but eventually she smiled and grabbed it. With that, the battle was over, and Chopper had leveled up, upgrading his BP to 69.

"But there's one thing I don't understand..." Silica trailed as she was helped up. "What made your father fight mine?"

"I suppose I can answer that question." Looking up, everyone found Meta Knight jumping off the tree branch and landing by the group. "I have to say... That was quite an interesting battle."

"What are you doing here?" Silica asked.

"Well, I overheard a bird trying to give you directions out of the woods, and when he mentioned Chopper, I had to see what this was all about."

"Did you know anything about my brother?"

"Not much... But I did know he was there, and I had a feeling he would be able to help Chopper out. The rest, I believe you managed to talk about. As for what happened to your father, Silica... I do know what happened with the issues between Toalune and Nomad."

"You do? How?

"I was once with those two when we fought against Nightmare. Unfortunately, Nightmare had a major part in causing this conflict. He captured Nomad, and he was turned into a demon beast. Unfortunately, it was Toalune that had to face him, and when he defeated him, he soon realized who it was and had broken down crying. It was just like what happened to Knuckle Joe's father, unfortunately..."

"So... That's why..." Silica trailed, turning to Chopper. "Chopper, I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you. I hope you're not too hurt by my actions."

"It's all right, I forgive you," Chopper assured. "I personally don't like to carry grudges."

"Thanks, Chopper. I guess feel much better now." Silica smiled. Unfortunately, the time to relax was not over when she noticed a pink beam going for Chopper. "Look out!"

Before Chopper could react, Silica dove in and pushed her out of the way, taking the hit instead. She let out a cry of pain as she fell over on the ground, nearly falling unconscious.

"Silica!"

They all noticed some feathers falling from the tree, and when they looked up, they saw a figure staring down at them with its reddish pink eyes. It appeared to be pointing to the rocky altar up ahead, and then it flew off.

"Who was that?" Vivian asked.

"I don't know... I couldn't see who that was..." Shadower answered. "But that's not important. Silica's hurt!"

Chopper and Meta Knight helped Silica stand up, though she was not looking too good. Her eyes were nearly closing at this point.

"We need to get Silica some help right away," Meta Knight suggested. "As much as I oppose this, you need to get her to the Crystal Star. The Dream Star has enough power to heal off these serious wounds."

"Wait... Couldn't a Mushroom or something work, though?" Chopper asked.

"I would suggest that... But that blast was no ordinary one. It can leave someone completely exhausted and unable to fight back. Even if we healed her, she wouldn't be able to move that easily. The Dream Star has an ability that allows one to heal off status ailments."

"That sounds cool... I mean, how do you know this?" Now Chopper was getting a little suspicious.

"This is no time for questions, Chopper. We need to get moving."

With that, Chopper and Meta Knight helped Silica go down the icy hill and over to the altar. They began to notice the fog surrounding them as they got closer. Chopper had hit the Save Block on his way as well.

"Poyo? (Why does this fog make me believe there's something dangerous up ahead?)" Kirby wondered.

When they stepped on the rocky blue altar, that's when things were getting stranger. The icy grass surrounding them had vanished, and to them, it looked as if they were standing on a platform in the middle of space.

"What's up with this?" Tamber asked.

Flyer studied the area around him and tried to come up with a conclusion. Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to speak, because Silica started to cough.

"What is this place?" Silica wheezed.

"So you have arrived... Just as I expected..." Galacta Knight trailed, landing in front of the group. Most of the group gawked, looking at him and then Meta Knight, especially the mask. They then noticed the hot pink body he had and looked at Kirby.

"Galacta Knight…" Meta Knight trailed, giving him a glare.

"So, we meet again, Meta Knight... Normally, I would take this opportunity to face you, but you are not the one who I wish to face." Galacta Knight pointed his lance over at Chopper and his friends. "Those people... They are the ones I shall face."

"Wait... Why us?" Bombette questioned.

"I sense great power in you all... I've heard of the many things you've done, defeating two shadow demons that tried to endanger the world. You even managed to put up a fight against him as well..." Galacta Knight pointed at Meta Knight. "Seeing someone who can even match up to me is nothing great for me. ...Which is why I must defeat you at this moment."

"You think our power is dangerous to you?" Chopper asked.

"Correct."

"Or... You can just let us through..."

"That's not going to happen," Galacta Knight stated. "Though I was hoping to rid you back at that tree, defeating you would not be as satisfying. I'm planning to get a better taste of victory against you eleven!"

Mario: Fine... We'll fight.

"Excellent… Now we shall see who the better warrior is!"

"Meta Knight, I would suggest you find a safe place with Silica. I think this is going to get ugly…" Chopper suggested. Meta Knight nodded and went behind a rock with Silica. The rest got in their fighting stances.

"All right, Galacta Knight! Let's see what you got!" Chopper declared, changing to his sword ability and pointing the blade at him.

**Tattle: **_That's Galacta Knight. It's said that he's 'The Strongest Warrior in the Galaxy'. …He doesn't look too threatening. Wait a second… These stats tell me his Max HP is 340, his Attack is 16, and his Defense is 3. OK, yeah, sometimes looks can be deceiving. Anyway, Galacta Knight can fire a laser that rotates around the room, and he might also come flying straight at you. To me, he seems to have a lot of moves that are a little similar to Meta Knight's, but a lot stronger. In fact, some people say he's one of the toughest Kirby bosses out there! ...Wait, what?  
_

"He's got an Attack of 16?! Oh, boy... This could be tough..." Regardless, Chopper ran up to Galacta Knight and struck him with a swoop from his sword, taking only a measly 5 out of him.

"You call that a sword strike? And here I thought you were powerful." Galacta Knight scoffed. That was, until Flying hit him with a Flying Attack, which dealt 10 damage.

Galacta Knight charged straight at Chopper with his lance, but he ended up ducking, and unfortunately, Flyer was right behind him. You can probably guess what happened.

"OK, why am I always getting hit so often?" Flyer asked angrily, getting back at Galacta Knight with another Flying Attack.

"Calm down, Flyer… It was probably an accident…" Chopper assured, though that didn't seem to be helping him. Regardless, he used his Spinning Sword on Galacta Knight to deal 7 damage.

Galacta Knight flew up in the air and brought his lance down in front of Chopper, knocking him back toward Mario, who managed to catch him. Bombette rushed in and blew up in front of the warrior afterward.

"Thanks, Mario…" Chopper quickly shook himself and he jumped toward Galacta Knight with another sword swing.

"Your fighting skills are rather horrendous!" Galacta Knight informed. "You don't fight like a true warrior."

"Does it really matter?" Sonic asked. "We fight to win, not to be like warriors!"

"Hmmm... Very well, I suppose I can show you how a real warrior fights." Galacta Knight raised his lance and flew quickly at Chopper, jabbing him a couple of times with his weapon and taking 18 out of him.

"Ow! That wasn't even fair!" Chopper winced. "Aren't real warriors or whatever supposed to, well... Play fair?"**_  
_**

Galacta Knight ignored his question and charged at him again. But Chopper was prepared this time, bringing his sword up and countering him with his Diamond Gloves and taking 7 out of him. He then got burned by Vivian's Shade Fist, leaving him slightly cringing.

The masked warrior raised his lance to fire a laser upward. It soon began to rotate around the area. When it got near Chopper, he managed to Superguard it.

"So you dodged it... Nothing too special." Galacta Knight stated.

"Well... I think it's special." Chopper replied, jumping toward him and striking him with a D-Down Slash. Galacta Knight was knocked toward one of the rocky spikes, but he swung his lance and cut off its point, making it fall off the platform.

"Where did that piece of the rock go?" Sonic asked, noticing it disappeared. But he shrugged it off and attacked Galacta Knight with a Spin Dash, leaving him with 280 HP.

"Well, we got him down to 280 HP, so this shouldn't be too bad!" Scrub grinned.

"I'm afraid that isn't going to save you," Galacta Knight said, swinging his lance onto the floor to summon a wave of fire energy. It came directly at the eleven, and they brought their guard up to take less damage. Chopper leaped in afterward to swing at Galacta Knight, while Scrub laid a giant egg and threw it at him.

"Man, I LOVE this ability! It's awesome!" Scrub smirked, soon getting struck by the opponent's lance.

"Say... How can you even lay a giant egg?" Bombette asked.

"Uhhh... I'm not so sure, exactly..."

"Perhaps you can discuss this later when you're in the afterlife," Galacta Knight suggested, putting their conversation to a halt.

They returned to fighting, with Heartsy swinging her hammer at Galacta Knight. Chopper gathered energy in his sword next and fired a Sword Beam. Galacta Knight was actually a bit surprised.

"The Sword Beam? Hmmm... That move's a bit difficult to use." Galacta Knight. "Though, I have mastered that technique far more easily than you."

Galacta Knight swung his sword and fired a pink Sword Beam directly at Chopper. He managed to Superguard it, which surprised him as well. He turned his attention back to Chopper, but he had already leaped in the air and hit his head with a Gravity Jump. Kirby followed up by using his Final Cutter, allowing him to swing his blade upward and then down, creating a cutting wave of energy that dealt 12 damage.

He decided to jump back and glide toward Kirby. When he was close, he swung his lance and knocked Kirby away near the edge of the platform. Thankfully, Sonic was there to give him a hand.

"Heads up! I've got ya!" Sonic assured.

"Poyo! (Thank you!)" Kirby sighed, now safe from falling. He decided to attack again and used a Cartwheel this time. Chopper followed up by using his hammer, bringing Galacta Knight to 199 HP.

_"I'm not going to give up so soon... Especially to a kid..."_ Galacta Knight thought. He raised his lance, and suddenly, fire geysers emerged. "Burn, fools!"

"'Burn, fools'? Really? Is that the best you could come up wi-" Chopper suddenly felt the flames scorch him and his friends, covering them in soot. "Ow..."

Chopper changed to his Mirror ability and fired a mirror shard straight at Galacta Knight. Mario had equipped his Cape ability and managed to deflect the warrior's attack when he tried to hit Chopper. Shadower lowered his defense with a Shadow Punch, and Chopper dealt 10 damage to Galacta Knight with his jump.

Galacta Knight went after Chopper again, but Mario stepped in again and deflected his attack, dealing 12 more damage.

"That cape... How is he able to block my attacks so easily with it?" Galacta Knight muttered. "Well, it won't matter in the end. Their lives will be over before they know it."

As soon as Chopper jumped on him, and then Tamber struck him with a Power Punch, he started to spin around in a tornado and come flying toward Chopper. When he was caught in it, Chopper's Mirror ability had been knocked away.

Regardless of that, Chopper decided to use his Ice Stomp to deal 7 damage, while Flyer's Flying Attack did 10. Galacta Knight had struck him with multiple jabs for that, though.

"Man, this guy's kinda hard when he's got 3 Defense…" Chopper groaned, hitting him with his hammer. Sonic's Spin Dash managed to bring him down to 100 HP.

"All right, he's only down to 100. This shouldn't be too bad." Sonic grinned, keeping some hope up.

Galacta Knight attempted to strike Chopper, but Mario deflected it with his Cape ability, knocking him back. Unfortunately, that ended up doing away with his cape. Regardless of that, Chopper switched to his Sword ability and attacked with a D-Down Slash. Bombette charged at him using her Bomb.

"So... You thought we were so bad at fighting before?" Chopper panted. "Well, take a look at your HP bar!"

"Yes, I will concede that you are strong. Unfortunately, I can no longer hold back." Galacta Knight held his shield in front of him and fired an orange blast. Chopper managed to guard it with his sword, but it had ended up breaking.

"What the... He broke my sword!" Chopper gaped.

Galacta Knight couldn't help but chuckle. "A lot of times people tend to break shields using a sword, but here, I used my shield's power to break your sword! How ironic..."

"If that was supposed to be a joke, it wasn't funny," Tamber scoffed.

"Chopper! Take my sword!" Meta Knight shouted, throwing Galaxia. Luckily, Chopper managed to catch it and smirk.

"Thanks, Meta Knight! Now this is where it gets interesting!" Chopper rushed at Galacta Knight with a Multi-Slash attack, jabbing him twelve times to dish out 13 damage. Bombette exploded in front of Galacta Knight next, taking 7 more out of him.

"This would be a lot more enjoyable if he had no defense," Bombette muttered.

"You are starting to become a very annoying Star Warrior," Galacta Knight panted. "I think it's time I brought in my most powerful attack."

With that, Galacta Knight raised his lance and began to charge his attack.

"OK, that is so much like that masked guy!" Scrub scoffed. "I mean, is this guy some sort of rip-off of him?"

"He does look like it... Anyway, maybe I should, uhhhh..." Chopper pulled out a Star Shroom and ate it to recover 150 HP. Vivian then pulled everyone into the shadows for safety. Galacta Knight unleashed his powerful attack, and it resembled Meta Knight's Mach Tornado.

"That should've taken you down…" Galacta Knight grinned. However, he noticed that they weren't even there. "Wait, what?"

Vivian brought Chopper and his friends up from the shadows, who all appeared relieved. In anger, Galacta Knight gripped his shield and fired another orange projectile at Chopper, knocking him back.

"Ugh... I hate it when the enemy gets to attack after we hit him." Chopper muttered as Shadower hit Galacta Knight with a Shadow Punch. "Anyway... Spinning Sword!"

Chopper spun his sword in the same manner as a drill and hit Galacta Knight, taking 10 out of him.

"You're doing well, Chopper. Just stay on guard in case if he makes another attack." Meta Knight suggested.

"All right, I will," Chopper watched for Galacta Knight to come back at him. With no time to spare, he raised Galaxia to guard the attack. Afterward, Chopper struck Galacta Knight with another Sword Beam, followed up with Vivian's Shade Fist. "Wow! He's already down to 16 HP.

"This cannot be..." Galacta Knight trailed. "I will not lose so soon!"

He raised his lance and stepped back before charging directly at Chopper. He Superguarded the attack, managing to deal 1 point of damage to him. With Flyer's Flying Attack, he was now down to 4 HP.

Galacta Knight had barely any time to react, as Chopper's sword swing had managed to make him fall over exhausted and defeated. Chopper claimed a level from gaining 54 Star Points, and he upgraded his HP to 120.

"Phew… Finally… We did it!" Chopper sighed, removing his ability, no longer needing it. He then tossed Galaxia back to Meta Knight.

"Good. I'm pleased to see that you and the others managed to defeat Galacta Knight." Meta Knight applauded, though his eyes shifted over to Silica. "Unfortunately, we still have more important manners to attend to."

"All right," Chopper nodded, helping Silica up with Meta Knight. "Let's get you over there, Silica."

When Mario looked over at Galacta Knight, he slowly saw him get back up. He alerted everyone, but he was not fast enough.

"I'm not through with you yet!" Galacta Knight yelled, charging directly at Chopper first. However, Meta Knight managed to take action and block his lance using his sword.

"Whoa..." Scrub gaped, seeing the two swing and block at each other until they were starting to push each other back with their weapons.

"What are you doing?" Galacta Knight asked. "Move out of the way this instant!"

"No. You faced them and lost. If you're going to face anyone now, I will be your opponent."

"Hmmmmm... Very well. I'll accept this duel."

"Everyone, listen carefully..." Meta Knight started, shifting his eyes to the group. "I will try to hold Galacta Knight off. You focus on finding that Crystal Star to help her."

"Are you sure you can handle this?" Shadower asked.

"Yes. I will be fine. You have something more important to take care of."

"All right... I guess we should go." Chopper said, letting out a sigh. "Can any of you help me with Silica?"

Vivian volunteered and got Silica's right arm. With that, they passed the two masked warriors and over to the walkway ahead. To their surprise, when they walked off the rocky platform, the sky and grass had reappeared and showed them the way to the dark fog ahead.

"Whoa... That was cool." Scrub remarked, noticing the two figures no longer in the rocky platform. "Wait... Where'd they go?"

"They must not appear when you're not standing on that platform..." Vivian guessed.

Deciding to not let it bother them, they hurried onward.

With Meta Knight and Galacta Knight, though, they were both knocked back. However, they managed to quickly get back on their feet.

"I can't waste my time with you any longer," Meta Knight stated, raising his sword upward. "I have to finish this now!"

Smirking, Galacta Knight began to charge up an attack as well. "Well then... This attack should be the deciding factor over who shall become victorious!"

Both Mach Tornadoes were fired, and both had collided with each other. The last thing both of them could see was a bright explosion.

* * *

**Yeah, if you couldn't tell by Chapter 17 alone, there are a lot more battles. It would make a lot more sense, considering that this is meant to be the harder part of the adventure. ...But there was a cool fight against Galacta Knight, though!  
**

**Now all that's left for this chapter is the boss fight coming up next!**


	114. Marx Soul: Mini Boss to Boss

When they finally reached the dark, there were a few enemies along the way they had run into, such as Chillies and a few Meta Knights. These battles have helped upgrade his HP and FP to 130, and his BP to 78.

"You know... You don't have to do this for me..." Silica wheezed.

"You saved me from getting seriously hurt, though," Chopper reminded. "It's only right for me to help get you back to good shape!"

"But..."

"You're not going to stop us from continuing onward."

Silica decided to remain silent as Chopper and Vivian held her arms and carried her to a portal they spotted. It appeared dark purple and surprisingly out of place in this area.

"What is that thing?" Bombette asked.

"It looks like some sort of portal..." Shadower guessed. "But what's it doing here?"

Chopper took out the map and noticed it had a much brighter glow when pointed at the portal. "Hey! The Crystal Star is located in here!"

"Great! And Fumu will also be free as well!" Heartsy added, looking over at Flyer. "Isn't it great, Flyer? We'll finally get Fumu back!"

However, she noticed Flyer didn't look like he was in the best mood.

"Are you all right, Flyer? I mean, we'll be finding Fumu..."

"I think it's best if I was left alone..." Flyer suggested, a hint of annoyance and anger in his voice. To him, this was good news, but it was hard for him to smile at this point.

"OK," Heartsy shrugged, walking over to Chopper. "I think something's up with Flyer..."

"Really?" Chopper turned around to face Flyer. He appeared to be looking down at the floor, but when his eyes met Chopper's he didn't exactly give him a happy look. "Oh... I don't know what's bugging him. We'll save that for a bit later."

Chopper hit the Save Block in the area, since he did not require a Heart Block at the moment. Unfortunately, since Silica was not a party member, using a Heart Block would not do much.

"How's Silica doing?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know..." Vivian trailed. "It's hard to tell if she's really alive or not."

"D-Don't worry about me..." Silica moaned. "I can still hold my own for a while."

"Well, that's good to hear," Sonic nodded. "Just let us know when you're not feeling too good, OK?"

Silica gave him a nod back in return, and with that, the heroes dove into the portal before them, choosing not to waste time.

* * *

**?-**

When they came out of the portal, the first thing they noticed was the strange, distorted sky and the hexagon-shaped tiles in many colors below their feet.

"This place looks so weird..." Bombette remarked. "It's like we're in some sort of void!"

"Poyo... (But it feels sort of familiar to me...)" Kirby trailed.

"This is kinda creepy, though..." Chopper trailed.

"Yeah, a lot creepier than that Shadow Palace, that's for sure," Scrub agreed. "I can't wait to get out of here!"

"How far do you think this place goes?" Sonic wondered.

Mario: It looks like it could be endless...

"Flyer! Chopper!"

Chopper's antennas sprung up when he saw Fumu up ahead, running in their direction. When Flyer spotted her, his mood had changed, and he was the first one to run over to Fumu.

"Fumu! You're OK!" Flyer cried, the two exchanging hugs.

"Wait... Did I miss something here?" Scrub asked. "Why're they hugging?"

After their hug, Fumu became serious. "Look... I know you've come a long way here, but it's not a good idea to be here. You're in serious danger."

"Oh, here we go again..." Tamber groaned. "Is this going to be like on that one island?"

"Not now, Tamber!" Heartsy shushed, turning back to Fumu. "What's wrong?"

"Look, there's no time. Let's just get out of here immediately!" Fumu suggested. "He could be anywhere!"

"Yes... I could be anywhere, specifically here!" another voice cackled, catching everyone's attention. "So you've finally arrived! I've been waiting for this moment ever since I was sent crashing into Nova!"

"What? Nova?" Chopper gawked, being on the alert. "Why does that sound so familiar to me?"

"You don't remember your good friend, Marx?"

"Marx?!"

Marx made his appearance before them, but his appearance was a whole lot different. His wings were now dark pink, and he had three claws on instead of two. The glowing hearts on his wings were now bright blue, and his eyes were much more menacing. The pompoms that are on his hat were spiky and larger, the ends of his shoes were pointy, and he had an elongated tongue hanging from his mouth with larger fangs. Marx was also wearing a tarnished necklace made from pieces of Nova, replacing the bow tie he had before. The colors on his hat were now dark magenta on the left, and sky blue on the right. He had also grown bigger in size, and his voice sounded distorted too.

Everyone stared at him, completely surprised by his new appearance.

"Hee hee hee... Surprised to see how much I've changed? I guess this is what happens when you absorb the remains of Nova! Personally, I dig it! Now you are standing before **Marx Soul**!"

"Marx Soul? That's a weird name…" Bombette remarked.

"Well, he does look a bit zombified to me..." Shadower trailed.

"I can't stand that tongue, though," Heartsy cringed, trying to prevent herself from seeing the tongue from this monstrosity.

"Now, everyone... You have come here for the Crystal Star, correct?" Marx Soul asked, receiving nods from the group. He pulled out a pink, sparkling Crystal Star. "Yes, you see... I happened to find it somewhere around here."

"We need that immediately," Chopper demanded. "One of our friends is badly hurt!"

"And I should care why? I only took this thing so I could lure you in here! And I guess it happened to succeed... So, if you want it so badly, then you'll have to fight me for it!"

"Well, if it gives us a chance to get rid of you once and for all, then I guess we don't have much of a choice," Chopper sighed, turning to Fumu. "Fumu, can you and Silica try to get to a safe place? I don't know if this is going to end well..."

Fumu gave a nod and took Silica from Chopper and Vivian. She began to carry her away from the battlefield until she knew Silica would be out of harm's way.

"So... Are you ready to put an end to this?" Marx Soul asked.

"Poyo! (Yeah! We're ready to kick your butt!)" Kirby shouted.

"All right! I'm going to enjoy this... Hee hee hee..."

**Tattle: **_EEEEK! What IS that thing?! ...Oh, it says he's Marx Soul. He's...absorbed the powers from Nova and has become much more powerful. Max HP is 360, Attack is 16, and Defense is 2. He fights like he usually does, but this time those cacti will have red roses that can poison you. He can even transform into small little paint pellets in blue or purple colors that can either burn or freeze you. Marx Soul also has the ability to split into a blue and lavender comet. The lavender one means it'll be the first one, with the blue one coming up second. Ugh... It's just so painful to get a look at this ugly boss...  
_

"Hmmmm... Well, I can't use a hammer on him, so I'll just have to jump on him," Chopper began to stretch his arms and feet out before he leaped in the air and jumped on Marx Soul, dealing 6 damage.

Kirby floated up to Marx Soul and struck him with his Cartwheel, taking 8 out of him. However, their opponent didn't seem too fazed. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it.

"Excellent! This is just what I wanted! Allow me to reward you!" Marx Soul opened his mouth, and out came an ice bomb that dropped on Kirby, freezing him.

"Kirby!" Chopper gasped. He turned back to Marx Soul with an angry gaze. "You're going to pay for freezing my friend!"

"Go right ahead!"

Chopper pulled out his hammer and threw it at Marx Soul, leaving him a little dizzy for a couple of seconds. When he shook out of his daze, Sonic jumped in the air and struck him with a Homing Attack, landing on the ground with style afterward.

"With the upgrades we got, this guy is hardly a match for us!" Sonic smirked.

Marx Soul growled and planted a couple of seeds on the ground. Cacti has risen where Chopper stood, and he hadn't even seen it coming. Cacti with roses grew from where Sonic stood. As a result, he had gotten poisoned.

"Yes, that should keep him out the way," Marx Soul grinned, his eyes meeting Chopper's. "And you're next!"

"Not a chance!" Chopper conjured up an electric ball and hurled it at him. To his surprised, he managed to paralyze the jester. "Whoa, I didn't know I would pull that off… Bosses don't generally get paralyzed!"

"Yeah, that's pretty interesting. Now, if you'll excuse me…" Scrub laid a giant egg and picked it up. "…I have a freak to attack!"

Scrub tossed his Mega Egg at Marx Soul, and because he couldn't make another attack, Chopper happily struck him with another jump attack. When Bombette managed to hit him with her Bomb Throw, Marx Soul was down to 298 HP.

"I'm already this far down? How…delightful!" Marx Soul grinned as he hovered down to the floor and fired four white cutter blades at Chopper. He brought his fists up to defend himself from the deadly attack. And with that turn over, Kirby had been thawed out as well.

"OK... Well, I'll admit you're tough, but I'd say that Galacta Knight was a lot tougher." Chopper remarked. Though that didn't seem to please Marx Soul, seeing him get a little mad was a bit funny. He changed to his Mirror ability and fired a mirror shard at the jester.

"Wait... So what is the point of that ability?" Tamber asked.

"Well... It shoots...mirrors?" Chopper wondered. "They probably break, and that'll give enemies seven years of bad luck!"

"Really? That sounds awesome!"

"Only if those myths were actually true," Heartsy cut in. "Well, anyway, I guess I should attack this...whatever he is."

She approached Marx Soul and brought her hammer down on him. Despite being the last one he got hit by, he ignored her and turned his attention to Chopper. Opening his mouth, he fired a purple blast at Chopper, knocking him back to where Flyer was.

"Flyer... Think you can give us a hand?" Chopper asked.

"Fine..." Flyer grumbled, lifting himself off the ground and letting his feet strike Marx Soul's face to deal 10 damage. Fumu had noticed his mood and was rather surprised.

"Has something bad happened to Flyer?" Fumu asked, getting a little closer to the battle.

"I don't know... He was just fine before... Now he's just not happy with me..." Chopper replied. "This is just not like him..."

He quickly stood up, and with his hammer in hand, he threw it at Marx and dealt 8 damage. He quickly reclaimed it afterward.

"Take this!" Marx Soul opened his mouth again and fired a small beam, but Chopper managed to guard it with ease and only take 14 damage.

When Shadower struck him with a Shadow Punch, Chopper decided to use a Spring Jump and deal 20 damage to Marx Soul afterward. Now being down to 240 HP, Marx Soul was getting irritated.

"I don't understand! I've become a lot more powerful, yet you're all still dishing out damage to me!" Marx Soul yelled. "This power was supposed to help me defeat you, not get myself beaten!"

"Uhhhh... Hello? We've become incredibly awesome!" Tamber announced. "Well, except for the puffball..."

"I can hurt him with a jump, you know!" Chopper yelled.

Marx Soul had ignored their talking and began to raise his Attack power by 16. "Well, let's see you all try to take on a powerful laser attack!"

"I think we can handle it! We're MEN!" Tamber declared. "Except for-"

"Can you stop with-" Chopper paused for a moment, realizing what Tamber had just yet. "Actually, I'm not a man, nor do I ever want to be."

"Errr... Yeah. Anyway... Taste a Power Punch, you ugly...bat...thingy!" Tamber jumped in Marx Soul's direction, his fist surrounded in green energy. His Power Punch was strong enough to send Marx Soul flying far back within the distorted void of emptiness. "Ha HA! That showed you!"

"Nice work, Tamber. Now it's my turn!" Chopper stomped on Marx Soul with a Spin Jump and took 15 out of him. Unfortunately, because Marx Soul had raised his attack, he was able to make his powerful move. He fired a large laser from his mouth, and Chopper and his friends were caught in it. Thankfully, Fumu and Silica were not in the range of the laser and did not get hurt.

"Ungh... Guys... Hang in there..." Silica panted.

"This is fun! REALLY fun!" Marx Soul cheered. Chopper, slightly panting, fired a mirror shard at him to deal 6 damage, while Vivian used her Shade Fist to burn him. "Argh! I think I know just what to do!"

Marx Soul dropped another ice bomb on Vivian, but she saw it coming and guarded it when it exploded. To her luck, she did not freeze.

"What? You didn't freeze? ...I suppose you were lucky. But not next time!"

"That is, if you get the chance..." Vivian trailed.

Chopper used his clone attack to make two duplicates of himself, hitting Marx Soul with those them and dealing 8 damage. Mario tipped his hat and followed up with a Super Jump, leaving him with 178 HP.

Mario: We're halfway there!

"Hmmmm... All right, I suppose I'll have to resort to one to this." Marx Soul transformed into what appeared to be globs of paint, and he flew upward. Paint balls started to rain down upon the group, and everyone was guarding them. Unfortunately, Chopper missed guarding one purple one, and he was poisoned.

"Ugh... I don't feel so good..." Chopper groaned, taking damage from being poisoned, pleasing Marx Soul when he turned back into himself.

"Oh, Chopper… You were always a pain on my side ever since we first met! But, it looks like that poison will do away with you instead."

"I'm not going down so soon..." Chopper groaned, changing to his Plasma ability. He fired a Plasma Needle at Marx Soul, only dealing 6 damage. "Ugh... This poison is making it difficult for me to fight."

"Just hang in there, Contadre," Scrub said, laying a giant egg and throwing it at Marx Soul.

"So the poison worked nicely! Now finishing you off will be a snap!" Marx Soul charged into Chopper, managing to deal 16 damage to him. "So, are you going to give up now?"

"No... We have a mission to finish." Chopper declared, taking damage from being poisoned.

"I'll try to help..." Vivian trailed, recovering Chopper from the poison thanks to her Soothing Kiss. He felt the effects of the poison wear off, leaving him surprised and grossed out at the same time. However, he'd save that issue for later and struck Marx Soul with a Rainbow Spin. Noticing him feeling much better, he was shocked.

"What in the…! Shouldn't you be poisoned?" Marx Soul gaped.

"Well, I was, but someone gave me a hand!" Chopper answered, quickly wiping his cheek. _"Gross..."_

"Argh! Fine, I guess we'll have to do this the hard way!" Marx Soul growled angrily. He transformed again, but this time into two comets. The purple comet had attacked Chopper and dealt 16 damage to him, while the other comet attacked Scrub.

"What the heck was that?!" Scrub winced, just as Marx Soul reformed into himself.

"Wasn't that such a spectacular show?" Marx Soul grinned, only to get struck by Shadower's Shadow Punch and then Chopper's Gravity Jump, leaving him at 114 HP. Annoyed, he fired multiple arrows in their direction, dealing 18 damage in total.

"Hmmmm..." Sonic pondered, looking down at the blue Chaos Emerald in his hands. "I wonder if I should really...?"

"What's up, Sonic?" Bombette asked.

"I'm trying to decide whether I should use this form or not..."

Chopper had run up to Marx Soul and jumped on his head to deal 10 damage. That was when Sonic made the decision and used the seven Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Sonic.

"Whoa... Is Sonic suddenly glowing and yellow?" Scrub gawked.

"That's Super Sonic to you," Super Sonic smirked, giving a thumbs up. "It's about time I tested out this ability! ...Though, it's kinda limited."

Marx Soul swooped down to attack Chopper, but Super Sonic flew in and managed to block the attack. In return, Marx Soul had taken 12 damage in the process. Add a Homing Attack to that, and he dealt 12 more damage. This had brought him down to 90 HP.

"Ha! How'd you like that?" Super Sonic taunted.

"That should be helpful," Chopper remarked, jumping on Marx Soul. He retaliated by dealing 20 damage to them all with his arrows. Well, except for Super Sonic, of course. With that, Chopper changed to his Ninja-Pirate ability, and he threw a shuriken bomb at his foe, dealing 8 damage.

"Whoa, what kind of attack was that?" Bombette asked.

"I have the Ninja-Pirate ability."

"I... What?"

Flyer ignored them and left Marx Soul with only 66 HP after his Flying Attack. Marx Soul was angered, and he charged into them again. Super Sonic stepped in and managed to block the attack and deal 12 damage to him.

"Argh! I'm not finished yet!" Marx Soul yelled.

"Well, of course you're not," Super Sonic scoffed. "But you'll be finished pretty soon!"

Marx Soul was about to talk back, but Chopper had thrown a kunai bomb in his direction, which only exploded upon contact. Tamber had dug underground and appeared under Marx Soul, managing to leap in the air and punch him and bring him to 36 HP.

_"This is not possible... I shouldn't have become so overconfident!"_ Marx Soul thought, glaring down at his foes angrily. _"I've got to weaken them!"_

Marx Soul fired a pink blast from his mouth at Chopper, knocking his ability away. "Hee hee... Without that ability, this fight should be much easier! Plus, that blue guy is finally back to normal!"

Indeed he was correct. Sonic had finally turned back to normal, and he appeared a bit disappointed.

"Crud... Too bad I can only use this ability once per battle..." Sonic grumbled.

"But Marx is nearly defeated at this point," Chopper reminded. "He's got 36 HP!"

"And you're not looking too good yourself either!" Marx Soul grinned. "Face it, a couple of more hits will do you in!"

Now Chopper was losing a bit of confidence, making Marx Soul feel much better. But then Chopper remembered his stronger attacks and decided to throw in a Spring Jump. With Vivian's Shade Fist, he was now down to 12 HP.

"No... Already you've brought me down this far?" Marx Soul gaped.

"You can do it, guys! You're almost there!" Fumu cried.

"Finish them for me," Silica smirked.

But despite all this, Marx Soul cackled. He dove into the floor, disappearing before their eyes. Everyone looked around to see where he was, but they couldn't find him. However, when Mario looked below him, he noticed a large shadow.

Mario: Guys! Beneath you!

Marx Soul had come out of the ground and knocked everyone back. Many started to become exhausted from the fight, and Chopper started cringing.

"How does it feel?" Marx Soul laughed.

"Do you even realize that you're pretty much beat?" Chopper moaned.

"Hee hee! I don't care anymore! As long as I get to see you suffer! I'm just fine!"

Mario had leaped in the air and jumped on Marx Soul's head, reducing him to 5 HP. Chopper made the next move and performed a flip in the air upon jumping. With those two jumps, Marx Soul had began to taste defeat. ...Again.

"Urgh… Hee…hee…hee…" Marx Soul cackled slowly, explosions emitting from him as Chopper landed. There were a couple of bright flashes in the room, as Marx Soul was enveloped in a bright light.

"What's happening to him?" Tamber asked.

"We'll see soon..." Shadower trailed.

At that point, Marx Soul began to let out the most ear-piercing scream they had ever heard as his entire body split into two. When they touched the floor, they exploded, eliminating any source of Marx's body and spirit once and for all. Hopefully, for good.

With that battle over, Chopper had received 65 Star Points and earned another level up. ...Again. With that, he upgraded his HP to 135.

When the explosions were gone, a pink Crystal Star had landed on the floor, right by Fumu and Silica. The former picked up the Crystal Star and placed it near Silica. With that, its powers began to heal off Silica's injuries and exhaustiveness.

"My injuries... They're gone!" Silica gaped, slowly standing up. She moved her arms and feet around, and then she fired her weapon at the floor. "I don't believe it... I feel better than ever!"

"I'm glad the star did the trick," Chopper smiled, he and his friends approaching them. Silica turned to them with a smile as well.

"Thank you guys... And sorry for the trouble I've caused."

"Hey, don't sweat it!" Sonic assured. "This is something we always do! We're...sorta trained for this!"

"Are you all right, Fumu?" Flyer asked, approaching her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Fumu assured. "Thankfully, that monster didn't harm me. How did you know I was taken anyway?"

"We found a note. Though, the Crystal Star kinda made us go over to you in the first place." Chopper explained, though that didn't seem to make Fumu happy. "...But we were going to save you, of course!"

"Well, I'm just glad you're all right," Flyer said, keeping his attention on her.

"It was thanks to you and the others that I'm safe," Fumu smiled, he and Flyer giving a hug.

"Wait... Is that nerd that girl's girlfriend?" Tamber gawked. "How come he gets to have a girlfriend and not me? I'm far more better-looking than him!"

"No offense, Tamber, but you might wanna get an attitude adjustment," Sonic suggested.

"Why you...!" Tamber looked over at Silica, and suddenly an idea struck him. "Hey, white alien chick! Maybe we can be-"

"I'd rather not," Silica cut off, keeping her weapon aimed at him for safety.

"Argh... Puffball, just get the Crystal Star already."

"All right, Tamber. Calm down." Chopper sighed, walking over to the Crystal Star, which happened to be in Silica's hands.

"Here, you earned this," Silica said, holding it in front of him.

With a nod, Chopper touched the Crystal Star, and it began to circle around him. He held it up proudly as a pink glow emitted around him.

"Finally! We got it!" Chopper cheered. "…But why does it have to be pink?"

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 18! And Chopper learned the special move Sweet Dreams!**

**END OF CHAPTER!**

_Chopper has finally acquired the seventeenth Crystal Star after eliminating the revived Marx Soul and getting rid of evil roaming Pop Star. Not only that, Fumu has finally been saved. Chopper is finally getting getting closer to saving the universe from the evil darkness approaching. But, while he and his friends were celebrating, a couple of other villains were creating schemes in order to fulfill their desires of acquiring the remaining Crystal Stars. What will be of Chopper when he meets his enemies again?_

* * *

**And with that, Chapter 17 is finally complete. This chapter had a whole load of references from other Kirby games (mainly Kirby Super Star Ultra) and even the anime. Thing may have gotten a bit intense in this chapter, but it's going to get a lot more intense in the later chapters. **

**Next up: Two villains finally meet one another, and Chopper and his friends discover where the next Crystal Star is. Chopper also wonders what is going on with Flyer as well.**


	115. Chapter 17 Interlude

Lord Crump and the remaining X-Nauts walked over to the building in Rogueport Sewers that they had been using for a long time to reach Rogueport or to return to their base. They had recently discovered the location of another Crystal Star.

"Wait... So you're saying there's a Crystal Star located in here?" Lord Crump asked.

"No, Lord Crump," Johnson groaned. "The Crystal Star is located on another planet. It's located on a planet called **Clara**."

"But that's..."

"A girl's name, yes. Anyway, I've done a bit of research on the planet, and I found some interesting news."

"What? And what's so interesting about this planet, other than the fact that there's a Crystal Star located there?" Lord Crump asked, appearing very uninterested.

"I discovered that it is Chopper's home planet."

"Oh, yeah... That sounds like great... Wait, what?" Lord Crump grabbed Johnson and held him up. "What did you just say?!"

"Chopper lives on that planet."

"Awesome!" he grinned, letting go of Johnson. "I gotta tell Grodus of this right away! When he finds out that I discovered that the Crystal Star's on Chopper's home planet, he's going to be pleased! I'll be able to keep my position even longer! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!"

"But Lord Crump, I-"

"Shhhh! Not now, Johnson! I'm in the middle of contacting Grodus!" Lord Crump shushed, taking out his holographic communicator. Grodus appeared on it, and he appeared to be in the same position as before.

_"What is it, Lord Crump?"_

"Grodus... You're not going to believe what I just found."

"Lord Crump, you didn't-"

"Hey! Buzz off!" Lord Crump shouted, shoving Johnson away. "I'm trying to take the credit here!"

_"What was that, Lord Crump?"_ Grodus gawked.

"Errr... Nothing! I just wanted to tell you that I found the next location of a Crystal Star!"

_"What? Then I demand that you tell me at once!"_

"It's located on a planet called Clara," Lord Crump answered. "And that's not even the best part! That's Chopper's home planet!"

_"Chopper's home planet?"_ Grodus gawked. Suddenly, an evil grin formed on his face. _"Gaaack ack ack ack! Now THAT is rather interesting... We can just take the Crystal Star, and when we're done, we can destroy the planet in the process! That will make Chopper miserable for sure!"_

"What? Really? Man, that sounds awesome! ...Er, I mean, that's just what I was thinking!"

_"Lord Crump, I require your assistance for this job. Go get the Master X-Nauts to help out."_

"Right! Come on out, Master X-Nauts!" Lord Crump made a sharp whistle, and a large army of new X-Nauts had arrived. They were wearing black armor and carried assault rifles much like X-Naut Hunters. However, they also wore scouters to detect their foes or locations.

"Didja call us, dude?" one Master X-Naut asked.

"Heck yeah! We're going to Chopper's home planet to wreck it and get the Crystal Star!" Lord Crump declared. "So, what're you going to do, Grodus?"

"Don't worry, I will meet you guys there. I still have to wait for that scrap metal to show up." Grodus mentioned. "But, Lord Crump... I must warn you... We do not have many X-Nauts left. Those Master X-Nauts are one of the last groups of our army next. You must make sure they don't get defeated just like the ones in the New X-Naut Fortress."

"I can do that no problem. What? You don't trust me?"

"Well, considering how you handled the army last-" Grodus paused, his eyes shifting somewhere else where he was. "Actually, never mind that for now. You and those X-Nauts should head to this Clara planet immediately and start searching for the Crystal Star. Understand?"

"Roger, Grodus! And with that… Pow! I'm gone!" Lord Crump declared, setting the coordinates for planet Clara. "All right, X-Nauts! Let's get a move on!"

The X-Naut army obeyed, following Lord Crump into the teleporter. Johnson was the last to enter, grumbling to himself as he had been transported out of Rogueport Sewers.

* * *

**Rogueport-**

Many people around the western side of Rogueport had began to flee as a certain Koopa king began to stomp his way through. It had appeared that Bowser had gotten over the events of what happened when leaving Viti and was back on his search for the Crystal Stars.

"All right, Haggy... So you're telling me there's bound to be someone around this junkyard that knows a thing about the Crystal Stars, right?" Bowser asked.

Kammy Koopa had flown beside Bowser, relieved that Bowser had gotten over the previous situation. "Yes, I'm sure of it! How do you think that brat and that mustached fool managed to get to the Crystal Stars?"

"Wait, doesn't that map tell them where each star is?"

"Yes, yes... But when they both came to Rogueport, they were bound to be confused as to where to go!" Kammy explained. "Obviously there's someone here that has been assisting them!"

"OK, OK... I think I getcha. Now we just gotta find the guy and make him talk! They're bound to talk when they see my size! Gwa ha ha ha!"

"They will beg for mercy, Your Heaviness!"

Bowser began to explore the western area around Rogueport. He hadn't really found anything special, but the only thing that caught his attention was a Pianta standing in front of Pianta Parlor.

"Da New Boss told me to guard dis..." the Pianta stopped to look up at the size of Bowser. "O-OK... You look kinda big...and tough... But I've been workin' with the mafia...and... _**RUN FOR IT!**_"

The Pianta bolted, leaving Bowser to grumble to himself about how cowardly he was. Despite this, he ignored the cowards around him and headed to the center of Rogueport. He noticed the wooden structure in the center where a rope was hanging from.

"Say, Kammy... What is that rope on that structure supposed to be?" Bowser asked.

"It's been said that throughout the centuries, when this town was built over the one below us, they created this as a means to punish criminals for terrible crimes."

"Sounds pretty dumb. I'd rather they replace it with a statue of me instead! Then this place whole be a whole lot interesting!"

"Yes, that would be true," Kammy agreed. "You are the greatest, after all."

"Yeah, yeah... Let's just hope there'd be someone to tell us about the Crystal Stars..." Bowser grumbled, making his way around Rogueport's plaza. A mouse coming out of the Lovely Howz of Badges had spotted him and was pleasantly surprised.

"My, my... So Bowser's back in Rogueport?" the badge manager remarked. "Perhaps he is looking for that handsome piece of cheese. Now this is something I must see."

She donned her thief costume and quickly hopped onto the roofs to see what he was up to.

Bowser had reached the eastern side of Rogueport, causing a few Bandits and Goombas to flee for their lives. Bowser laughed at them and continued to walk until someone had walked out of Professor Frankly's house.

"All right, Professor Frankly! I'll get to it right away!" Goombella declared, making her way to the plaza. Unfortunately, she was put to a halt when she spotted Bowser. "Wait a second... Bowser?! What're you doing here?!"

"Huh? Hey, wait a minute... You look just like that Goomba who help Mario give me a beating five months ago!" Bowser realized, giving her a glare. "So, you decided to headbonk me again, did you?"

"What? Not a chance! I have no time to deal with you and your ugly face again!"

"Now look here, missy!" Kammy stepped in. "You may have beaten us before, but that was because you had Mario's help! Now what could you do to us on your own, huh?"

"On her own? Personally, I'd beg to differ." Ms. Mowz stepped in, landing next to Goombella.

"Ms. Mowz? What're you doing here?" Goombella asked.

"Well, I was running the Lovely Howz of Badges, but then I spotted these two. I was curious as to what they were doing, so I came here. So, what brings you back here, Bowser?"

"That's none of your business, ya squeaky mouse," Bowser answered harshly.

"Wait, Bowser!" Kammy whispered. "Perhaps we could ask these two something about the Crystal Stars! After all, they had traveled with Mario before..."

"Oh, right!" he turned back to the two girls. "Actually, now that I think about it, I could use your help! You wouldn't happen to know where you got information on the Crystal Stars, right?"

"Pbbbbth! Like we'd ever tell you that!" Goombella scoffed.

"And why are these Crystal Stars so important to you?" Ms. Mowz asked.

"Uhhh... Isn't it obvious?" Bowser slack-jawed. "I'm trying to rule the universe here!"

"What is all that babbling going on outside of my house?" Frankly asked, walking out of his house. He spotted Bowser arguing with Goombella and Ms. Mowz. "Hrrmmm... Now who might you be?"

"How could you not know the almighty Koopa King?!"

"I know of you... But I didn't know what you looked like... Anyway, why are you babbling outside of my house? Can't you do that someplace else?"

"We request some information on the Crystal Stars!" Kammy demanded, flying over to face Frankly. "You seem awfully suspicious! Perhaps you could tell us about these stars!"

"The Crystal Stars?" Frankly pondered.

"Frankly... Don't tell them..." Goombella warned.

"Well, I could tell them, but it wouldn't get them anywhere," Frankly assured, turning back to Bowser and Kammy. "To find a location of a Crystal Star, one would usually go to the ruins of the Thousand-Year Door on a pedestal. However, with the new ones around, you can only find a location of one if you go to the Fountain of Dreams."

"And what is this Fountain of Dreams?" Kammy asked.

"Unfortunately, it's located on another world."

"Wait... Are you serious?!" Bowser gaped. "You mean I gotta go to a whole other world just to find out how to get to a Crystal Star?!"

"I believe so... Pop Star is the place to go."

"Oh, my... I never thought that we'd ever have to go to someplace so...distant." Kammy gasped. "Your Viciousness... What ideas do you have?"

"I... I don't know!" Bowser cried. "How am I supposed to get to a Crystal Star on another world?! DARN IT!"

* * *

**Pop Star, rocky altar-**

The battle between Meta Knight and Galacta Knight had continued their battle, exchanging blow to blow with each other. However, neither of them weren't able to land at least a decent hit. Both were very fast and quick to react against an opponent's attack.

However, it was then that Galacta Knight had made a big mistake and tried to perform a powerful swing. Meta Knight swung at him and delivered the final blow, causing his opponent to get knocked onto the floor.

Meta Knight was about to approach his opponent, but Galacta Knight had gotten up and quickly flew off. With that, he put Galaxia away and stepped off the rocky platform, making the sky turn back to normal.

"Hmph... I guess he decided to fly off." Meta Knight remarked. "I'll be back to defeat him when he returns to Pop Star again."

He looked back at where the dark fog was. ...Or rather, where it once was. It had disappeared, indicating that the evil within the fog was finally gone.

"So Chopper got the Dream Star... That must mean that Silica has been healed. That's good. But that means only three Crystal Stars remain. If Chopper gets those last three, there's going to be a lot of trouble!"

"Sir Meta Knight!"

Meta Knight turned around to find his two servants, Sword and Blade Knight. They were panting and exhausted from the run they took.

"Sir! We've been looking for you for HOURS! What happened?" Sword asked.

"It's a bit of a long story," Meta Knight answered, wrapping his cape around himself. "Let's just say I ran into a certain warrior..."

"You... You don't mean...?" Blade gaped.

"Yes. That one. Unfortunately, he ended up flying off. Still, he could come back anytime to face me again."

"Well, Captain Vul wanted to deliver some important news," Sword informed. "Something about the Halberd."

Hearing the word "Halberd" had quickly gained his attention. "So... The Halberd's been fully repaired?"

"Well, almost," Blade answered. "And when it's finally complete, we can finally get back to trying to take over Dream Land, right?"

"Hmmmmmm... I feel that we have something much more important to take care of..." Meta Knight trailed. "Do you know that Chopper has only three more stars left?"

"What? Very interesting..." Blade trailed, drawing his sword. "If you want, we can both stop Chopper."

"No. We need to make sure the Halberd is ready to go. There is one Crystal Star that's far out there, and it is by far the most dangerous... It's powers are greater than both the Queen's and King's Star combined. The Dark Star is our biggest priority."

"Dark Star? So... That's the one you were worried about the most..." Sword trailed.

"Yes. It is that star which is responsible for causing havoc among the universe. If it is united with the nineteen others, we will be doomed..."

"Then we should go immediately!" Blade declared, turning to Sword. "Sword, let's not let Sir Meta Knight down. We gotta help him get a hold of this star!"

"Good. I might need you two to help me..." Meta Knight trailed, opening his wings. "The Halberd should be just near the Rainbow Coral Reef."

"Of course, sir... But I think we should also mention something..." Sword trailed nervously. "Captain Vul also mentioned that there were these weird, dark beings with a single eye roaming in the ship. They can even transform to prevent people from progressing."

"This could be a problem... Let us go."

With that, Meta Knight lifted himself off the ground, and Blade had grabbed a hold of one of his feet. Sword grabbed Blade's foot, and they then began to fly off.

* * *

**Palace of Shadow-**

Gemerl had returned to his throne room, annoyed over the previous events of finding a Crystal Star. "Those Phis... They should've checked the Crystal Star out first before telling me about it. ...Oh, why do I bother? Nothing would come out of it, just like what I did. ...But it's good to be back in this throne."

"Master Gemerl! You've returned!" a Phi shouted, approaching its leader. "So, I assume you have found a Crystal Star?"

"No, it was fake," Gemerl replied harshly. "Maybe you Phis should've studied it first before telling me."

"Oh... My apologies."

"Well, have any of you found the location of a Crystal Star?"

"Negative."

"Great... Well this is fine." Gemerl groaned. "You know... Thinking about it more, do you have any idea where Chopper is going? It's been a while since I met back at that beach."

"Negative."

"All right, then... Why don't you go find out then? I'm getting sick of being around here. I feel like I've gotten strong enough to take him on."

"As you command, Master Gemerl," the Phi obeyed, exiting the room. Gemerl was ready to relax until he saw said Phi get sent flying back in, incredible damaged. When it landed on the floor, it blew up.

"What the heck?!" Gemerl jumped up from his throne in anger. When he looked down the staircase, he spotted Grodus approaching him.

"So… You're that piece of scrap metal who's been running this whole army and trying to obtain the Crystal Stars..." Grodus trailed, his eyes narrowed angrily at the robot.

"And you must be the geek that's getting in my way. So we finally meet… This is interesting…" Gemerl grinned, slowly transforming one of his hands into a machine gun. "I'm guessing you came here to fight me, right?"

"Yes. Correct."

"Figures."

"What? You thought I came here just to stare at you? That'd be...ridiculous."

"So, are we just going to talk, or are we going to fight?" Gemerl asked, preparing to fire.

"As you wish," Grodus accepted, gripping his scepter and preparing for battle. Gemerl immediately fired, but the scepter was able to take the shots and not get harmed. Gemerl stopped firing and changed his machine gun back to his hand. While that happened, Grodus fired a lightning spell.

However, Gemerl was much faster, and he managed to use his jetpack to charge into Grodus and knock him to the wall.

"Urgh…" Grodus cringed, standing up and firing a blast from his scepter. Gemerl was thrown back by the shot, but he got up and started to scan Grodus. "Hmmmm? Just what are you doing?"

"I'm copying your ability!" Gemerl answered, firing a blast similar to Grodus from the palm of his hand. "Chopper's not the only one with an ability like this too, you know… Gah ha ha ha ha!"

Luckily, the X-Naut leader defended himself with his own scepter and managed to knock the attack at the wall, leaving a hole in it. He took this opportunity to damage Gemerl with one of his own lightning spells. However, Gemerl had also made a move and fired missiles at Grodus. Both of them had taken serious damage as a result.

"This isn't over yet!" Grodus pointed his scepter up and he fully recovered from the damage he took. Gemerl had also recovered from the damage he took as well. "I know how to make this go smoothly..."

Grodus summoned four Grodus X3s, which managed to protect himself. However, Gemerl was unfazed, and he threw a red shield to cover himself in a red barrier.

"I guess I wasn't the only one who came prepared," Gemerl smirked. "Now I just need to destroy you, and then I'll get back to trying to find the next location of a Crystal Star. After all, it'll help me become unstoppable and allow those living beings around to bow down to me and all robots!"

"And I intend to rule the-" Grodus paused, realizing what he just said. "Come again? You do not know where a Crystal Star is?"

"Not yet. I soon plan to, though."

"Gaaack ack ack ack! For a moment, I was actually worried! I guess there's not much of a reason to fight you at the moment!"

"What?" Gemerl fired missiles at the Grodus X3s and grabbed Grodus and lifted him off the air. "Tell me its location right now!"

"You think I'd be foolish enough to tell you where it is? I think not..."

"You'd be foolish to not tell me," Gemerl retorted. "I'm much stronger than you."

"Well, I can safely say that I'm much smarter..." Grodus grinned. "I wonder... If you're so fast, let's see you dodge this!"

Clenching his scepter, it began to glow green as he struck Gemerl's back with it. This caused him to be transported out of the room, much to his dismay.

"Gaaack ack ack ack! What a fool he was! This teleportation spell is much more useful than I thought! Now that robot will be lost in space forever! As for me... I need to head to Chopper's planet and get just what I want there! Then his planet will be history!"

Conjuring up the spell again, Grodus cast it upon himself, and he was teleported out of the Palace of Shadow.

* * *

**Pop Star-**

Thankfully, after claiming the Dream Star and defeating Marx Soul, they were able to leave the strange, void-like dimension and got on their Warp Stars. They immediately took off and were heading back to Dream Land.

"Whew! We finally did it! We got the Crystal Star on Pop Star!" Chopper sighed.

"You know, I can't believe we didn't use the Warp Star to go over here. Wouldn't that have been an easier way?" Shadower asked.

"Uhhhh... Errrr... Well, we wouldn't have found everyone if we took that Warp Star."

"Oh... Well, I guess you make a valid point."

Thankfully, their journey back to Dream Land did not take as long. They spotted familiar areas along the way, each place returning back to normal. The first thing that was done was dropping off Fumu and Silica, who had said goodbye to them before they took off toward the Fountain of Dreams.

"All right... Thankfully, reaching the Fountain of Dreams will not take as long as the other times." Chopper said.

When they reached the Fountain of Dreams, they wasted no time and let the Dream Star out when Chopper stood on the pedestal. Everyone watched as the seventeen Crystal Stars surrounded the fountain and then the Magical Map, which floated over Chopper's head.

"Hoo boy! I'm getting a little excited!" Scrub remarked.

"Poyo? (Where's the next Crystal Star?)" Kirby asked.

"Don't worry, I'm getting to it…" Chopper let the map float down to him before he started to look. He noticed that a planet appeared on the map with a pale green Crystal Star located there. The planet, however, looked familiar. "Wait... Isn't this my home planet?"

"Home planet?" Bombette gawked. "So the next star's located there?"

"You think we should go see Frankly about this?" Sonic asked.

"Well, what else can we do? That's what we do every time." Chopper shrugged.

The rest couldn't argue with that, so they decided to make their exit back to Rogueport. Of course, they wanted to share some interesting stories with him as well.

* * *

**Frankly's house-**

"Very interesting... So you were forced to work on an anime back on Dream Land for King Dedede?" Frankly asked.

"Yeah... Well, technically, Choppy, Flyer, and I had to do it..." Heartsy explained. "But it failed, and we even got to beat down King Dedede."

"I see... And you say that the one holding the Dream Star was someone you had run into when you were finding the Moon Star?"

"Yeah, but we sure showed him!" Sonic grinned.

"And we found the next Crystal Star as well. Take a look!" Chopper put the map down on Professor Frankly's table so he could take a look.

"Hrrmmmm… Interesting…" Frankly remarked, finished studying the map. "It says here that the Crystal Star is located on a whole different planet."

"Yeah. It's called Clara, and I live there."

"Really? How interesting! I always wondered where your home was. After all, you've never mentioned where you lived."

"Yeah... Sorry about that." Chopper sweat dropped. "But, I know that we can use the teleporter to go to my planet."

"We can use that teleporter in Rogueport Sewers, since it's the closest one," Shadower suggested.

"Right... You know, I find it rather interesting that the previous Crystal Star and this one are not located around Rogueport. I wish I could help you with this one, but I believe you have more experience with your home planet."

"Don't be so down on yourself, Frankly! We're still going to come back to you to show you where the next Crystal Star is!" Heartsy assured.

"Yes, I believe you're correct. Well, off you go, then! You might want to be careful, though... I've recently heard some news that there have been some planets engulfed in darkness."

"Wait... What?!" Chopper gaped.

"I wish I was lying, but alas... Apparently this darkness is coming closer as we speak. I'd reckon you start going immediately."

"Frankly's right," Shadower agreed. "We need to get going!"

"Let's head down to Rogueport Sewers," Vivian suggested.

* * *

**Rogueport Sewers, at the teleporter-**

Being back in Rogueport Sewers, they had entered the area where there were a couple of people roaming around such as Dazzle. They headed to the furthest building to the left and opened the door into the small teleporter room.

Mario: Ah, this room...

"Yeah, I think we can use this to get to my planet," Chopper said. "At least I know how to use these things!"

When they approached the small monitor to determine the location to go, they noticed it was already set for Clara.

"Hey... This looks like it's already been used!" Scrub gaped.

Tamber noticed a bandolier on the floor as well in the shape of an X. "Well, I found this..."

"Let me see that," Chopper grabbed the bandolier and looked at it. "Hey... This looks like those things the X-Nauts wear... Why is this... Aw, crud! The X-Nauts must know about the Crystal Star!"

"X-Nauts? Ugh... I thought we'd be done with them..." Vivian sighed.

"Well, considering that Grodus managed to escape back in that fortress, it would be obvious that he's still at it again," Shadower recalled.

"It's not safe if he's on my planet!" Chopper gasped. "He'll probably try to destroy it! We need to go immediately!"

Chopper activated the teleported and jumped into it, with the rest following behind.

* * *

**Hey, remember Chapter 15 in Paper Chopper? That took place on Clara, right? Well... Yeah, it did. But here, there's a bit of a twist this time...  
**

**I also can't believe it took this long for Grodus and Gemerl to finally meet. You'd think it would happen earlier, but it didn't. :P  
**


	116. Returning to Clara

**CHAPTER 18**

**-Return to Planet Clara-**

Tipral stood on a large vine in the upper section of a giant jungle, staring down at what was below. He never thought the day where he would be on Chopper's home planet. It wasn't anything he liked. Then again, he didn't really like anything.

"Chopper and his pesky friends are a lot more powerful than I thought," Tipral remarked, feeling the wind blow through his antennas. "They've successfully destroyed both my parents. ...Or at least, that's what they told me. Though I'm angry over the loss of my parents, at least they aren't going to be bossing me around."

Tipral took out a small picture he held with him. It was very old and brown in color, and it showed him and what appeared to be a small, human girl.

"I can't believe it's been so long since those putrid events of what made me this. Whatever. I'm through with this." Tipral crushed the picture in his hand and put it away. "I'm pretty sure Chopper should be coming here soon. Despite his improvements, I'm not going to make it easy for him and his friends to get the Clara Star."

"What are you doing talking to yourself?" Beldam asked, emerging from the shadows. "We have a job to complete!"

Without a word, Tipral teleported from the upper jungle. Beldam grinned approvingly as she sunk back into the shadows.

* * *

**Lower jungle-**

Chopper walked out of the teleporter building, stretched his arms, and felt the fresh air of his home planet return to him. Many were surprised by the jungle's size. The trees were nearly seven times the size as a tree back in the other worlds.

"Ah… It feels great to be back home!" Chopper smiled. "And I enjoy the fresh air of my planet as well!"

"Well, it's definitely fresh air," Sonic agreed, sniffing the air. "I like it! Though, this jungle makes us look like ants!"

"Contadre, how come you never told us about your planet?" Scrub asked.

"Ummm... You never asked?" Chopper sweat dropped.

Honestly, Flyer couldn't care less about being here at this point. Especially with the mood he was in. However, there was one thing that he noticed when he looked up, and he was left surprised.

"Guys... I suggest you take a look at the sky…" Flyer suggested, pointing up at the sky. Everyone looked up as well and noticed the approaching darkness.

"The darkness… It's close to my planet!" Chopper gasped. "No... I don't believe it..."

"Oh my gosh... This is terrible..." Vivian trailed. "That means we're very limited on finding the Crystal Star."

Mario: Then we should start moving.

Everyone agreed and started to get a move on through the giant jungle. They decided to go past the teleporter and go on ahead, since it was most likely the Crystal Star was located in that direction.

"Nice jungle ya got here, puffball!" Tamber commented. "You must enjoy being so small here!"

"Well... There's nothing that bothers me, so I don't have an issue..." Chopper trailed.

"I'd prefer to be much bigger."

"Eat some fatty food, and you'll definitely get bigger," Bombette assured.

"I meant grow bigger in _size_!"

As they continued their travel, Chopper's antennas started to twitch. "Hey... I think I'm hearing some voices ahead..."

When they reached a more open section of the jungle, they found two X-Nauts and Lord Crump by a giant block. However, it was no Rainbow Block. This one was black and sported purple eyes. It had a purple trim, and it was a lot bigger than a large Rainbow Block.

"That's one weird block..." Chopper trailed. "Can you tell us what it is, Flyer?"

"Fine..." Flyer sighed as he pulled out his scanner and scanned the block from a distance. "It's called a Dark Block."

"Anything else?"

Unfortunately, that's when Flyer ended up ignoring him. He was confused, but he brought his attention back to Lord Crump and the two X-Nauts, who were trying to destroy the block.

"Dang… Nothing is working against this block." Johnson groaned, giving the block another kick. "The Crystal Star is most likely this way."

"That's because you don't got the muscle like **I** do! I'm gonna give you the ol' Crump-a-bomb! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!" Lord Crump chuckled stupidly as he began to flex his muscles. "All right, block! _**IT'S GO TIME!**_"

Lord Crump charged straight at it and used his body slam on the Dark Block, but it resulted in him crashing into it headfirst. Johnson and the other X-Naut were snickering in the background.

"Nice one, dude!" the X-Naut laughed.

"H-Hey! Shut up, you!" Lord Crump grumbled, moving away from the Dark Block. "OK, so what if I didn't break this block? I still got some other stuff that can take it down! …Like my new X-Tank that we got!"

"Oh, yeah... That..."

"Let's go get it and destroy this thing!"

"I don't think so, Lord Crump..." Johnson trailed, studying the block. "This block is called a Dark Block. It's made of Dark Matter, once of the most powerful materials in the universe. I don't think we'll be able to break this thing. Our only option at this point is to give-"

"_**NO! **_We're not giving up now!" Lord Crump cut off. "Grodus wanted us to find that Crystal Star, and there's no way we're going to call it quits! You two! We're getting that X-Tank no matter WHAT!"

"Well, whatever you say, Lord Crump," the X-Naut shrugged. "Though, we'd better be quick. That darkness is getting pretty close."

"Yeah, that's true," Johnson agreed. "And... We could also just fly over this block. That'd be pretty easy."

"Lemme check if it's safe," Lord Crump pulled his blaster out and fired a shot above the Dark Block. Unfortunately, above the block, darkness engulfed the shot.

"Well... That sure worked."

"D'oh! Great, now Grodus is going to kill me if we don't have a Crystal Star. Plus, I might lose my job as second-in-command as well!"

"…Fine. If you want us to get the X-Tank, then we'll go get it." Johnson sighed.

Lord Crump did a fist pump as they walked away from the Dark Block. When they were gone, Chopper and the others approached the Dark Block and took a look at it.

"So, this block is made out of Dark Matter?" Chopper gawked. "…And did they say that it's the most powerful substance in the entire world?"

"Uhhhh... Maybe your hammer can break it?" Shadower suggested.

Chopper decided to give it a try, and he used his Diamond Hammer technique on the Dark Block. It hardly budged, and Chopper's hammer started to vibrate, along with his entire body.

"Ack! That didn't work! What now?" Chopper asked.

"What about the map?" Vivian suggested.

Chopper pulled out his Magical Map and everyone went around him to take a look at where the star was.

"Poyo. (Wait... It says the Crystal Star's to the west of the jungle.)" Kirby noticed.

"Well that's not too far! This should be pretty easy!" Chopper cheered, turning to the opposite direction. They all hurried that way, hoping that Grodus, Lord Crump, or the X-Nauts had not spotted it. "I'm surprised it's already this easy."

As they traveled, they couldn't help but feel that things were a little quiet. Too quiet...

"Yeesh... It's usually not this quiet around the jungle... Then again, this isn't that big battle two years ago."

"Big battle? There was a war here?" Scrub asked, looking disappointed. "Oh, come on! That would've been cool to be a part of!"

"Well... What was also shocking was that Flyer was being brainwashed during that time, he was leading the battle against us."

"Man, that's hardcore! Friend vs friend!"

"OK, that's enough," Flyer stated harshly, ignoring any questions asked.

Unfortunately, they didn't have much time to talk, as two Master X-Nauts were walking through the trail they were taking. Both Master X-Nauts gaped as soon as they spotted them, specifically Chopper.

"Whoa, dude! Look at THIS kid!" the first Master X-Naut gawked.

"Dude, that's Chopper!" the second yelled. "Y'know, the one searching for those Crystal Stars?"

"Well SORRY… But, anyway… Let's get him and his friends! That blue rat looks like someone we could use as a slave."

"Rat? For your information, I'm a hedgehog." Sonic said, getting in a ball and hitting both Master X-Nauts with a Spin Dash. They had 54 HP, an Attack of 15, and a Defense of 3. Not exactly easy...

Chopper brought his hammer down on on the first Master X-Naut, dealing 5 damage. Though, he wasn't exactly pleased with the damage done. "I wish I wasn't always doing 5 damage to these guys..."

Both Master X-Nauts pulled their weapons out and fired at Chopper and Sonic – in which they guarded against without any problems. Chopper decided to attack with a Gravity Jump, which ended up taking 24 out of the first Master X-Naut, followed by Heartsy's Hearty Hammer that did 7 damage.

After both Master X-Nauts attacked and missed, Chopper used his Ultra Gloves to strike both Master X-Nauts, and with Vivian's Fiery Jinx, the first one had been defeated. The second Master X-Naut was left with only 29 HP.

"Crud… I'm not going down so soon! Take this!" the Master X-Naut began to charge up a deadly blast and fired at Chopper, dealing 17 damage. Chopper took action by using his D-Down Jump. Shadower followed up with a Shadow Punch, causing the enemy's defense to be lowered. The Master X-Naut fired a shot at Shadower afterward.

"Yeah! BULLS-EYE!" the Master X-Naut shouted. Unfortunately, he got hit by Chopper's and Mario's jump, which resulted in him in being defeated. As a result, they got 12 Star Points.

Though they were defeated, the two Master X-Nauts stood up, appearing very exhausted from their fight. Rather than looking confident, they began to shake in fear as they slowly stepped away.

"Aw, man! These guys are a lot tougher than I thought!" the first Master X-Naut gaped.

"Wh-What should we do?"

"Well... There's always Plan B..."

"And what's that?"

"_**REEEEEEEETREEEEEEAT!**_"

The two Master X-Nauts fled from Chopper, but not without tripping.

"Man, you guys are total wimps! Plus, you run like a couple of little girls!" Sonic laughed, despite the others not. "...What? It was funny!"

"Anyway… Let's move along." Chopper pressed on ahead, continuing the trail that had led to his house.

"So, this is your house?" Bombette asked, staring at the giant mushroom house. "What a weird place to live in..."

Mario: It's much bigger than my house, though.

However, that wasn't what caught Chopper's attention the most. Moving on ahead, he spotted a large mountain nearby.

"Strange... Since when was there a mountain here?"

"No, there wasn't a mountain here before," Flyer stated.

"If the Crystal Star's behind here, then this could be a problem..." Chopper trailed, looking down at the map.

"No problem!" Tamber cracked his knuckles and walked over to the mountain. "Leave this up to me! I'm a 'Grade A Smasher' around here!"

He walked over to the mountain, and, after spinning his arm around, he punched the mountain. Everyone noticed that it hardly did a thing. To his anger, Tamber punched at it again, but to no avail.

"Come ooooooon! I need to smash this thing!"

"Just forget it. I wanna make sure it's located behind it." Chopper pulled the Magical Map out and looked at the Clara Star. To his dismay, it was behind the mountain. "Oh, come on! That's stupid!"

"What is?" Scrub asked.

"It's behind the mountain! This is just-" the Star Warrior paused as his antennas starting twitching. Turning around, he heard the sound of music coming from his house. "Wait... Why is there music in my house?"

Everyone followed Chopper back to his house, and getting much closer, they could see through the windows that the lights were on. Chopper decided to lean against the door and listen carefully.

_"Oh, come on! How come I'm not getting the stuff I want!"  
_

_"Bang! What are you doing?"  
_

_"I'm searching for pictures of hot chicks, but all I'm getting are actual chicks on fire!"_

_"Dude! Don't look up such insensitive things!"_

_"But this isn't what I was looking for!"_

"_Uhh… Blade? The show's about to begin!"_

Wasting no time, Chopper kicked the door open into his house. Surprisingly, he found Blade and Night sitting on his red sofa and Bang, who was sitting at a computer.

"What the…" Chopper gawked.

"…Whoa, are we in the wrong house?" Blade gawked. "I swore that this was Mobius for a second… Unless…you live here?"

"What are you doing in my house?" Chopper asked, walking over to the TV. They were apparently watching the Dayzeeflower Girls. "What's this?"

"I dunno. Something called the Dayzeeflower Girls." Night answered, stuffing some popcorn in his mouth.

"...Hey! That's my food he's eating! ...And that guy's on my computer!" he ran over to Bang, but he was both surprised and shocked. "Wait... You're actually using this thing? I never knew how to use it. But... Why are you looking up pictures of chicks on fire?"

Bang turned around and gaped when he saw Chopper facing him. "Geeuugh- Uh... Hello there! Er… What in Mobius are you doing here?"

"What in Clara are you doing here, though? Because I, for one, am looking for a Crystal Star on my planet."

"Crystal Star? What's that?" Blade asked, taking some popcorn as well. Vivian had sat on the sofa to watch some TV, along with Scrub, but what he saw was disappointing.

"Wait... You're watching a show about three girls? That sounds dumb!" Scrub pouted.

"It's pretty violent," Night informed.

"Oh... That sounds awesome!"

"Anyway... Maybe I think it's best we got outta here..." Bang trailed, slowly stepping away from the computer and attempting to make a run for it. However, Chopper noticed him and quickly blocked the door. "Hey! What're you doing?"

"Hey! You're not leaving so soon!" Chopper exclaimed, glaring at Bang. "You broke into my house!"

"Technically, the door was unlocked," Blade noted.

"Oh... Crud... Why do I always forget to do that?" Chopper groaned as he face palmed. "Well... You still went into my house without my say so! You're going to have to do something for us now!"

"If you want money, then we'll pay you back," the cat assured, taking out some rings.

"Uhhh... I don't think people use rings around here..." Sonic whispered.

"Well, you guys will have to help us get the Clara Star," Chopper suggested. "I mean, you guys can probably help us..."

"What? Oh, that doesn't sound bad! Going on a little adventure doesn't sound like a bad idea. ...Except when you have to deal with Bang." Blade said, leaning over to Chopper to whisper. "If you ever need a guinea pig, Bang can do the job well..."

"Hey! I heard that!" Bang yelled.

"Well it's true. Plus, it's hilarious."

"No it isn't!" the Chihuahua pouted.

"Hey, guys... Please don't fight in my house..." Chopper suggested, getting in the way between the two.

"Yeah! Go watch this stupid girl's show!" Tamber suggested.

"It's not a dumb girl's show, Tamber!" Heartsy scolded. "This show can be watched by anyone."

"Yeah. It's violent!"

"Exactly," she nodded, grabbing Chopper and sitting him next to her. "And I think it'll be fun to watch with you, Choppy..."

"Someone help me!" Chopper cried, shaking in fear of being near her.

"Oh, fine… I'll see what the show is about." Tamber groaned, sitting down by Night and taking a scoop of popcorn. It showed the Dayzeeflower Girls – Blayzee, Kayzee and Tayzee, beating the snot out of their enemy, Kojo Pete. His uninterested look turned to one of interest. "Hey! This ain't bad!"

"That green one sure know how to beat the snot out of these guys," Scrub remarked, watching Tayzee beat Kojo Pete down to a pulp.

"I've met them before..." Chopper trailed.

"You met them before?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah. I think Kayzee traveled with me and my friends. She was usually cheerful and had some weird doll with her. Plus, she had weird super powers!"

Night was about to reach for some more popcorn, but he noticed it was all gone. He looked over by Kirby, who had eaten the rest of the popcorn. "Dude... That was the rest of the popcorn!"

"Poyo! (And it was good!)" Kirby smiled.

"Great... I don't have any food to eat now..." the undead mouse groaned, turning back to the TV, but not without saying, "By the way, kid, there's a big chest in one of your rooms."

"A big chest? Errmm… I'll go check it out." Chopper jumped off of the sofa and he went into one of his other rooms to find the big chest. "Weird... I never saw this... Well, I better check what's inside.

Chopper opened the chest, and, to his amazement, he found a hammer with a glowing yellow star on both faces. The hammer was a blackish color with many stars depicted on it, and it also had a yellow handle.

"Whoa... This is such a cool hammer!" Chopper smiled, holding it up.

**You got the Master Hammer!**

As usual, he was transported to the practice room, and Toadette approached him.

"Hi, Chopper! It's me, Toadette! It's so great to see you!" Toadette squealed. "Anyway, congratulations on getting the Master Hammer! That's the strongest hammer out there!"

"Well, it does looks cool. So, what can I do with this hammer? Does it allow me to spin around while jumping in the air or something?"

"…You'll see! It will help you on your journey, that's for sure! Basically, if you quickly press the B button twice, you'll unleash a super-powerful hammer attack! It's so strong, it can smash the strongest blocks on all! Like this one!"

Toadette raised an arm and made two Dark Blocks fall from the sky. One small, and one big. The large one was much bigger than the other big blocks encountered before.

"These are Dark Blocks. They're made of Dark Matter – which is the second most powerful material in the universe. Luckily that hammer is made of Light Matter, which is much stronger than Dark Matter! A normal-sized block can easily be smashed with the hammer, but a large Dark Block requires you to use your Master Hammer technique. …Oh, and I forgot to mention something. You can use your new hammer in battle to pierce through defense and deal a TON of damage to a single enemy!"

Chopper looked at his hammer and he tested it on the small Dark Block. With one swing, the block was destroyed. He walked over to the other block, and his Master Hammer technique involved him charging up star energy in his hammer and swinging his hammer hammer upward. This had destroyed the large Dark Block entirely.

"Well, this is an awesome hammer!" Chopper smiled. "I can do ANYTHING with this, thanks to whoever put this in my house!"

"Have fun using it!" Toadette cheered. "It should definitely help you on your quest to find the remaining Crystal Stars!"

She walked off, transporting Chopper back into his house. He couldn't help but gaze at the space-like design on the hammer and the glowing stars on both faces.

"I really need to show this to my friends..." Chopper mumbled, walking back into the living room. Everyone noticed the happy expression on his face and appeared curious.

"You seem to be in a happy mood today, Chopper. What happened?" Vivian asked.

"Take a look at THIS!" Chopper showed everyone his new hammer. Many of them gaped and gazed at it in awe. "I found a big chest in my other living room and BAM! I find the Master Hammer in there!"

"The Master Hammer?" Bang looked at Chopper's Diamond Hammer he still had with him. "So, if you're going to be using that from now on, can I take that other hammer you got?"

"Sure, go ahead. I don't need it anymore." Chopper tossed his Diamond Hammer, but it ended up hitting Bang's head, causing him to fall over.

"Ow..."

"Well, let's see how much his IQ dropped after that," Blade said, looking down at Bang, not too surprised to see him get hurt.

"What's an IQ?" Chopper asked, turning to Flyer.

"It's nothing important," Flyer mumbled.

"Oh, OK..." Chopper trailed as he put his Master Hammer away. "Well, considering that we're not going to be going anywhere, I guess we should all stay here for the night?"

"That's one of the best offers you've ever given," Heartsy smiled, getting off the sofa. "And I call sleeping beside you."

"Pbbbtthh! That'll be funny." Blade snickered.

"Hey, is that a GameCube?" Night asked, taking notice of the device. "Why didn't you tell us about it?"

"But you didn't ask..." Chopper trailed, but he noticed Night's hands were covered in some dirt. "What's that on your hands?"

"My hands?" Night looked at his dirty hands. "Oh... Right! I was doing my job. Of course, my hands end up getting dirty in the process from... Well, death."

"Then don't use a controller! I don't want it dirty!" Chopper grabbed the first controller, while Scrub got one, Blade got one and Bang got the last one.

"Oh, come on! I wanted to play!" Tamber pouted.

Chopper turned the system on, and they started to play Super Smash Bros. Melee. When they got to the character menu, Chopper chose to play as Luigi, Scrub chose Yoshi (obviously), Blade chose Roy, and Bang chose Falco.

"All right, guys! You're about to get your butts handed to me!" Bang chuckled. As soon as they started, he was already beaten by Roy. "Are you KIDDING ME?! This is so stupid!"

"Bang, you don't have to act like a preschooler," Blade said. "Because that's only going to make yourself look stupid."

"But… But… Hey! I'm not stupid! I'm a good-looking guy that can get himself a girlfriend easily!"

"Yeah... Remind me when you managed to get one."

"Errr... Shut up!"

"Well, at least we know that there is someone dumber than the puffball," Tamber remarked.

"Is that all call me?" Chopper asked. "My name's Chopper."

"Yeah, whatever, puffball."

Being distracted, Scrub had managed to take him out of the match, making him frown.

"Ha! I beat you, Contadre!" Scrub cheered. "I'm so awesome!"

"Can I play?" Heartsy asked.

"Heck no!" Bang replied. "Girls don't play video games!"

"Uhhh... I do..."

"Just give her the controller..." Blade whispered.

"Wha? Why me?"

"Well, for starters, you were out first in the match. Second... You were asking for it when you made that remark."

"Well I'm not giving up my spot!" Bang scowled. "I wanna keep playing!"

That was then Blade tried to grab his controller and pull it out of Bang's grasps. He pulled away as well, causing the two to have a little tug-of-war. But then Blade kicked him in the shin, forcing Bang to let it go. Heartsy grabbed the controller and sat down.

Now Bang was crossing his arms and pouting like a child. "This is stupid..."

"Oh, grow up, Bang," Blade groaned.

"What? You do dumb things as well!"

"But I don't act like a five-year-old..."

Everyone chose the same character, except Heartsy had chosen to play as Zelda. Chopper believed he would win this one, but his was left agape when his character was the first one to get KO'd. In the end, Heartsy had won, and the others were gawking.

"The heck?" Blade gaped. "How'd I get beaten so easily?"

"Ha ha! You got beaten by a girl!" Bang laughed.

"Yeah, and I remember you were literally beaten by many girls."

"Well, this was a game I usually played a lot..." Heartsy shrugged. "Considering that there are many people that make fun of my name and appearance all the time."

"People make fun of your name?" Night asked. "I bet it doesn't sound too bad."

"It's Heartsy."

"Pbbbbbbth! What a stupid name!" Bang laughed.

"I take it back. That is bad." Night said, trying to hold in his laughter.

"Dude! Why didn't I laugh at this sooner?" Tamber questioned himself, joining in on the laughter.

"I don't know why, but he reminds me of one of those flowers," Bang remarked, pointing at Tamber. "A tulip?"

"HEY! I'M NOT A TULIP!"

Now they were laughing at Tamber, and he was the one looking annoyed.

"Man, isn't this pretty funny, Flyer?" Chopper asked, turning to his friend.

"Leave me alone, Chopper…" Flyer warned.

"Leave you alone? But you're my friend!"

"A friend? If you were a friend, you'd actually be more caring for me then."

Flyer walked away from him before Chopper could say another word. Flyer walked to the other room where the large chest was, stating that he'll sleep there alone.

"Geez... Someone's being cranky." Sonic remarked. "Who knows what's up with him?"

"I wish I knew..." Chopper sighed. "Something is seriously bothering him."

"Can we get back to playing this game?" Scrub asked.

"Actually, I'd say it's a bit late for that," Shadower noted, looking out the window. "We should probably get some sleep. Though... Where the heck will we sleep anyway?"

"I think I got something people can sleep in..." Chopper trailed, checking the closet. He had plenty of sleeping bags, so he threw them out, with one of them hitting Bang in the face and knocking him back. "Are they good enough?"

"Yeah, these should be just fine," Bombette assured, picking hers up. Bang was about to question how she was holding it, but Night shook his head at him.

Everyone had decided to call it a night and got in their sleeping bags to go to sleep. It hadn't taken long until everything was quiet...

* * *

**Three hours later-**

...Well, the silence could've remained...well, silent, but unfortunately, out hero had a hard time sleeping. Instead, he was watching a show on his TV at a low volume just to avoid waking the others up. The show he watched involved a lot of unnecessary censorship and poor editing.

"Geez... Why do I suddenly see smoke coming out of that guy's mouth?" Chopper wondered. "It's so weird..."

"Hey, Chopper."

Chopper looked over to his right and noticed Vivian wide awake. She sat next to him on the couch with a smile. "Ummm... So what are you doing awake?"

"Well, I couldn't sleep. Bang won't stop snoring, so I decided to watch some TV show that's really lame to force me into going to sleep."

"Wait, so you don't like this show?"

"No, but it helps me sleep."

"Oh..." Vivian trailed, twiddling with her thumbs. "Ummm... Chopper? Could I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"What do you think about me?"

"Oh, that's simple!" Chopper realized. "You're really nice and helpful! And you're a pretty good friend! ...Speaking of friends, did you see Flyer before? I don't know what's going on with him..."

"I don't know either..." Vivian trailed.

"He wasn't like this until after that fight with Marx Soul. Did Galacta Knight fire a spell at him or something?"

"Well, he didn't seem so exhausted. ...Maybe I'll go talk to him in the morning."

"All right. That sounds good!"

"Anyway... I want to know..." Vivian trailed nervously. "Do you like me?"

"Like you? Well duh! Didn't I tell you that you're my friend?"

Vivian's face started to become red, though Chopper wasn't that aware. "No... I mean..."

"You mean what?"

_"You need to be more confident!"_ Vivian thought. "Well... I mean, considering the help you've given me, and how much you've defended me against my sisters... I feel like you've made me grow a bit more... You make me happy when you're around."

"Well... You and the others make me happy when you're all around." Chopper mentioned. "Though, I don't know about Tamber... He's kind of a jerk..."

"Chopper, I do know you kissed Heartsy..."

"Huh? Wait, you mean at that boat?" Chopper's cheeks puffed up, almost as if he was about to hurl. "I didn't... Wait, how did you know about that?"

"Well... She's not good at keeping a secret, especially in her sleep."

"Flyer once told me that I sometimes talk in my sleep... Though, why are you telling me this?"

"Well... I wanted to know if you wanted to do that...with...me?"

Chopper's eyes widened in fear. "Ewww! That's gross! I barely survived the other one! You don't wanna know what would happen if I did something like that again!"

"Oh... All right... That's all right..." Vivian trailed, slowly looking away from him. She took off her hat and put it on her lap, revealing her sad eyes.

Chopper remained horrified by the idea, but he suddenly heard some sniffling coming from her. He suddenly felt the sense of guilt in his mind and tapped her arm. Unfortunately, he didn't get much of a response.

"Ummm... Vivian?"

"You don't have to worry about me, Chopper... I'm fine."

"I didn't mean to upset you or anything..." Chopper trailed, shaking nervously. "If it makes you feel better... I'll... I'll t-try to do th-that with y-you..."

Vivian stopped sniffling and turned to Chopper. "Are you sure?"

"Y-Yeah... I'll try it... _Though I'm not going to like it..._"

"All right. You might have to close your eyes, though."

Chopper did so and kept his eyes shut. Vivian leaned in close and gave him a kiss on the lips. Right when that happened, though, Chopper had instantly fell off the couch and onto the floor.

"_I think I just died..._" Chopper muttered before he finally fell asleep.

* * *

**Somewhere else in the jungle-**

"Mwa ha ha ha ha! So, this must be where that Chopper went, didn't he?" a familiar Koopa wearing white armor and carried a blaster and shield cackled. "For this is the place where he lives. Therefore, he should be around here, and being around here means he is close by!"

He had pulled out a small bomb with the words "Death Bomb" plastered all over the place. "This Death Bomb shall finally be the end of that boy! By being the end of him, he shall no longer exist, and when he no longer exists, I, Kojo Pete, shall finally be the ruler of this-"

Unfortunately, he didn't realize that his bomb's fuse had been lit up, and his blabbering gave the bomb enough time to explode. Kojo suddenly found himself flying in the air and away from the jungle.

"_**CURSES!**_"

* * *

**OK, that ending was kinda... Yeah, it speaks for itself. :P  
**

**If you're wondering how long Chapter 18 will be, expect the same amount of chapters as Chapter 15 in Paper Chopper. Only here, the length of the chapters might be a bit longer... And we also have Blade, Bang, and Night tagging in for the ride! This could get ugly...**


	117. Exploring the Jungle

When morning had finally come, Chopper slowly opened his eyes and noticed he was lying on the floor. He got up and rubbed his head, seeing that the others were in their sleeping bags, and Vivian was sleeping on the sofa without her hat on.

"Whoa... Why was I sleeping on the floor?" Chopper wondered as he rubbed his head. "Usually I don't do that..."

Vivian had gotten up next and noticed Chopper looking confused. "Hey, Chopper."

He turned to her, but with her eyes revealed, he felt completely stunned. She noticed this and put her hat back on, which managed to get him out of his trance.

"Sorry about that..."

"Do you know why was I sleeping on the floor?" Chopper asked.

"Well... You do know what happened last night, right?" Vivian wondered.

"I don't know..."

"Oh... All right... That's fine." the Shadow Siren replied, a bit saddened. They then heard someone from the other room get up. Chopper instantly remembered Flyer was sleeping in there, and he was going into the kitchen.

"...Hey, I remembered something from last night," Chopper realized. "Something about Flyer..."

"Oh, yeah! Maybe I should go talk to him." Vivian remembered, going into the shadows to appear in the kitchen. During that time, the others had started to get up.

* * *

In the kitchen, Flyer was opened one of the cabinets to find a box of cereal. The only thing available were Chopper-O's, so he took that and poured it into a bowl.

"Ugh... This is not going to be a great day..." Flyer groaned. "I wish there was something else in here not named 'Chopper'."

Vivian rose up from the shadows and floated over to Flyer. "Flyer, are you all right?"

"I'm fine..." Flyer assured, eating some cereal.

"But, um... Something does seem to be bothering you."

"I'm sorry, but you probably wouldn't understand my problem."

"Well, all I know is that you seem to have a bit of a problem with Chopper..." Vivian trailed. "Did something happen between you two?"

"No, it's not just Chopper. I'd say the others are to blame too." Flyer stated, looking away from her and continuing to eat his breakfast. "Just leave me be, all right?"

Vivian tried to get his attention again, but she was ignored. She frowned and left the room to return to Chopper. The look on her face definitely told him that something wasn't right.

"He said it wasn't just between you and him," Vivian noted. "I think he has the same issue with the others..."

"Oh... That's not good..." Chopper trailed.

"He doesn't even want to tell me what's wrong either."

"What? There's seriously something going on with him... I wish I knew, but right now, I think we need to get the others up."

Coincidentally, the others had started to wake up. Bang had gotten up first and looked down at Blade. He wasn't getting up any time soon, so he started to shake him to get him up.

"Five more minutes..." Blade grumbled, slowly opening his eyes to see Bang's face close to his. He ignored it for a moment, but when he suddenly realized who it was, his eyes shot wide open, and he comically kicked his friend off him. "Dude! Ever heard of personal space?!"

"I was just checking to see if you were awake or not!" Bang explained.

"Well don't have your face in front of mine! That's just WEIRD!"

"_Sorry!_"

"All right... I guess this means we're going to be getting out of this dump?" Tamber asked.

"Yeah, we'll be leaving this-" Chopper paused, realizing what Tamber had just said. "Hey! This place isn't a dump!"

"Anyway, what are our plans if we find anything dangerous?" Sonic asked.

"It's simple," Blade started. "We'll use Bang as bait so he'll be the one getting hit."

"Wait... Why him?"

"Because it worked in the past before, like the one time when he, Night, and I were stranded on this one planet."

"Hey! Don't I get a say in this?" Bang gaped.

"Nope."

Mario: Maybe we should vote?

"Fine. All in favor of using Bang as bait, raise your hands."

Most of the group had raised their hands.

"Any objections?"

Bang had raised his hand.

"Good! Looks like Bang's the bait." Blade declared.

"What?! You gotta be kidding me!"

"Too bad. Majority rules."

"Yeesh... What ever happened to the golden days where we got along?" Night wondered.

"Aside from this pointless arguing, what do you say we go to that block that was in the way?" Shadower suggested.

Everyone agreed and left the house. Tamber walked over to the large mountain to smash it, but that didn't do any good, nor did Chopper's hammer. They quickly made their way back to the large Dark Block instead. Thankfully, there were no signs of Lord Crump.

"Ha! That Crump guy probably couldn't handle this block!" Scrub scoffed. "We're totally going to get moving!"

"Time test out my new Master Hammer!" Chopper pulled his new hammer out and brought it back, a light glow now surrounding it. He swung upward, hitting the Dark Block and smashing it into smithereens. "Wow! Now that was cool!"

"That thing's a powerhouse!" Heartsy commented.

"This hammer is a lot better than Tamber's strength!" Bombette added, only to have Tamber make a face at her. "…No offense."

"Poyo? (So how can we get past that mountain?)" Kirby asked.

"Well... I'm hoping we'll find some kind of solution around here..." Chopper pondered. "So, ready to go?"

Everyone gave him a nod and followed him deeper into the jungle.

* * *

The pathway they were walking through had a lot of vines and trees surrounding them. Just like before, it was awfully quiet. However, they were still on the lookout.

"Yeesh... You'd expect a jungle to be a lot noisier than this." Heartsy remarked.

"It wasn't like this two years ago, that's for sure. Those villains I faced had tried teaming up to take me down."

Mario" Even Bowser?

"Yeah."

"Sounds interesting," Night said. "I wish I was there to help ya out. It would've been pretty fun."

There was bridge up ahead but it was being blocked by a Dark Block. Chopper simply smashed the thing with his hammer, and they pressed on. However, they came across a purple plant just across the bridge.

"Uhhh... Hey, guys... I hate to make us stop for a moment, but I think I gotta make a pit stop." Bang said, crossing his legs and shaking.

"Oh for Pete's sake... Why didn't you go before we went?" Blade groaned.

"Because I didn't have to go then!" Bang retorted, approaching the purple plant. "Now beat it! I don't want you guys watching me-AAAAAACCK!"

The purple plant suddenly became animate and chomped on Bang, only leaving his legs sticking out of the carnivorous plant. He began to struggle, with his legs flailing around.

"_GET ME OUTTA HERE!_"

"All right, calm down, Bang!" Blade pulled his katana out and cut off the plant's stem. This helped release Bang when its mouth opened. The yellow Chihuahua was covered in slime from the plant - something the others didn't find to pleasant.

"Ugh! That stuff looks gross!" Scrub gagged.

"Aw, man! This was my favorite leather armor!" Bang complained, trying to shake off the slime. At this point, they knew they should all be more alarmed.

"All right, we're moving along," Blade decided, kicking Bang to make him move on.

When they continued their journey through the jungle, they noticed a small leaf person pass by. Chopper immediately recognized the enemy, while Night drew his axe hammer.

"Yeah... This thing is probably an enemy." Night decided, raising his weapon to attack. However, another similar leaf creature called a Leafion grabbed the handle of his weapon and made him fall back. "What the..."

Another Leafion came into the scene, swinging on a vine. Instead, it latched onto Shadower's head and took off his hat, revealing his afro from underneath.

"Hey! Give me back my hat you pest!" Shadower used a Shadow Punch on the Leafion, knocking it to the ground. He then reclaimed his hat and put it back on. "Much better."

"Dude... I'd die for an afro." Bang commented.

"Well, you can get one when we're done with this mission."

A Leafion with a tiki mask landed in front of the group and began to use its hypnosis abilities on them. Unfortunately, they were not affected by it.

"Wait... How didn't my hypnosis not work?" the Leafion gawked. "Unless you people aren't..."

Bang gave the Leafion a good kick, knocking it further back. Unfortunately, this only got it angrier, and it started to call out for more Leafions to attack them.

"Nice one..." Blade sighed.

"Well at least I did you all a favor!" Bang frowned.

"...Actually, I think I'd side with Bang on this one," Chopper stated.

More Leafions came out and they charged at Chopper with their vine spears. When they jabbed at him with it, it didn't appear to be too effective. They tried a couple of more times, but they got the same results.

"Hey! Why don't our spears work?" one Leafion asked before Chopper swung his hammer at it. When Mario swung his hammer, the Leafions started to fear.

Mario: That takes care of them for now.

"I think up ahead there should be a grassy field," Chopper mentioned. "There's also a swamp, but I hate that area. It kinds of stinks..."

"That's understandable," Blade replied.

They crossed the next bridge and were soon out on a grassy field. There were a couple of small hills around, along with a large pond.

"Wow, what a pond," Heartsy remarked, seeing her reflection in the water. "It makes me wish there was at least a decent amount of water around where I live."

While the others simply stared at the water, Scrub was the first to dump his head in and take a drink of the water. "Guys! You gotta try this water out!"

Unfortunately, they had already stepped away from the lake and returned to the others who weren't there. Groaning, he headed over to the rest of the group.

Blade put his katana away and scanned the area around him. Up ahead, he noticed three vines acting like grind rails. "I suppose we should head that way."

"Into the swamp? Ick... I won't like this." Chopper sighed.

Meanwhile, Tamber had approached the pond and dove in, bringing everyone's attention to the water. He had returned in forty seconds shaking off any water on him.

"I noticed something down there!" Tamber announced. "There was a Dark Block blocking a cave in the water!"

"Really? I better check it out!" Chopper jumped into the water and swam to the bottom to find a Dark Block. He smashed it with his hammer to discover an underwater cave. Inside of the cave, Chopper found a rainbow Mushroom in a chest. He discovered that it was called a Master Shroom, and it could recover 200 HP. "Whoa! 200 HP?! This is going to be helpful!"

Afterward, he left the cave and returned to the others, showing everyone the Master Shroom. Tamber was about to take it, but Heartsy swung her hammer near him to get him to back away. They were interrupted once again, but this time by Night, who was tearing up another purple plant.

"Night? What are you doing?" Blade asked.

"What? We weren't doing anything, so I decided to kill something!" Night answered sheepishly. "This thing would've attacked us anyway, so..."

"OK, yeah... Good point." Bombette said, trying to stop him from continuing. "Well, we might as well go to the swamp."

"Bang, you know how to grind on vines, don't you?" Blade asked, eyeing Bang and pointing at the three vines.

"Wait... You want me to go first?" Bang gawked.

"Well, you do remember what we voted on before... I mean, you're probably the toughest and coolest one of us! You should be able to show us how amazing you are."

"Really? ...Uh, I mean, yeah! I'm definitely better than you all! I can also easily pick up chicks!" Bang exclaimed smugly, approaching the vines. "Now watch as I show you how to grind on a rail!"

Bang put his feet on the vines and proceeded to grind. Unfortunately, this had failed, and he ended up messing up nearly fell. Thankfully, the vines managed to save him, but he found the vine he was supposed to be grinding down in between his legs.

"OH, GEEZ! THIS SERIOUSLY HURTS!" Bang cried as he began to slide down the vine in that fashion.

"Wait... Why is he in pain?" Chopper asked.

"Because that's a painful area," Blade laughed. "I'll admit, I feel sorry for Bang, but that was HILARIOUS! He doesn't even know how to grind on a rail for all I care!"

Chopper jumped onto the vine next and started grinding down, along with Sonic, Blade and Night – who knew how to grind. Surprisingly, Heartsy knew how to grind on a rail as well.

"Wait... How can you be doing this?" Chopper gawked.

"I was taught how to do so by my grandpa," Heartsy answered. "Which means you can't get away from me on a rail!"

"Oh..."

When everyone reached the swamp area, they saw Bang lying on the ground, wincing in pain.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!" Bang cried, rolling on the floor like a two-year-old. "I can't even get up!"

"Bang, get up..." Blade sighed.

"But I can't!"

"Yes you can. Just stop complaining."

Eventually Bang stopped crying over it and managed to get himself up, not appearing to be in too much pain. He tried giving a more confident look, despite his early attitude.

"Good as new," Bang declared.

"Anyway... Back to business." Chopper suggested, turning to the murky water. "By the way, don't go in that water. It's just going to slow you down."

Chopper jumped onto a floating platform on the water up ahead and noticed a gap between two floating grassy platforms. Using Heartsy wouldn't help, since the range wasn't as far.

"OK, Scrub! I might need your help!"

"I'm on it!" Scrub jumped to the platform Chopper was on, and he let him get on his back in order to flutter over the gap. Scrub, however, noticed something strange about the reeds in the water. They appeared to be moving. "Uhhh... Contadre? Those reeds are moving... Is there something in this water?!"

When Chopper got off Scrub, he checked the reeds, but he didn't see any movement. "They don't appear to be moving..."

When Night got on the platform, he noticed a Leafion charged in his direction. A simple tap from his foot managed to knock it into the water.

"And that takes care of that," Night said proudly, only to notice the Leafion comically jump out of the water and yelp. "Wait... What?"

"What is it, Night?" Blade asked.

"That leaf thingy hat its butt bitten off. As if...there was something underneath."

"Whoa… I don't think Scrub was kidding about earlier..." Chopper trailed, his antennas sprung up in shock. He turned back to a tree nearby, where he saw a cane. "Hmmm… I wonder what this cane's for?"

He inhaled the cane and gained a black mask (or bandanna) that made his eyes appear white. He was also holding the cane he had found stuck on the tree.

"What ability is that?" Vivian asked.

"I don't know... I never had this ability before… I guess I'm Thief Chopper?" Chopper noticed a small vine in the shape of a hook that was hanging from a tree branch leading to a log. "Hmmmm... Maybe this cane thingy can help me get over there?"

Chopper made a jump over the murky water and grabbed the hook-shaped vine with his cane to swing over to the log. For the others, it wasn't that difficult, considering that there were others to provide help. Lucky them...

They noticed up ahead on another floating platform was a cloud. It resembled the clouds from Mario's world, having the happy look.

Mario: What's up with that cloud?

"I don't know... I guess we oughta check it out." Chopper decided.

"It'll be smooth sailing from here!" Bang declared.

As if he jinxed it, the head of a yellow and red creature resembling a Chinese dragon rose from the water, roaring loudly at them.

"That's what I was talking about!" Scrub cried. "That thing's massive!"

The monster charged in their direction, ready to devour them all with one bite. However, a shot was fired, and it was quickly scared off. Everyone looked over at Bang, who had his weapon ready to fire.

"Bang? Did you do that?" Chopper gawked.

"Yup! That was me all right!" Bang replied, looking very confident as he tried twirling his assault rifle. However, since it wasn't one-handed, he messed up, and the weapon fell on his foot. "Ow! My foot!"

"Well, you did a good job helping us out! ...Did you actually hurt it?"

"Beats me. I think I fired my weapon on accident."

Everyone instantly collapsed.

"So much for being the hero..." Shadower mumbled. "But aside from that, I guess we should get this log moving."

"Or rather, let's roll!" Chopper declared, receiving various groans from the others. They started to move the log over to the grassy platform ahead. When they got off, they inspected the cloud, just to make sure it wasn't an animate one or not. Scrub poked it, and its facial expression had not changed.

"So, is this thing real or not?" Scrub wondered.

Mario: The cloud behaves just like the ones back in the Mushroom Kingdom.

"Hmmmm... So, what would happen if we jumped onto this cloud then?" Chopper wondered.

Mario: Let's find out!

Mario made the first move and jumped on the cloud. The cloud had formed a shape on its head, and it resembled a spring, which launched Mario high in the air. Many were intrigued by this, and they had followed Mario into the air after they had jumped on the cloud.

Now all that awaited them was the upper part of the jungle.

* * *

**Five minutes later-**

When enough time had passed, they had all landed on a large vine pathway in the upper jungle. Many believed to be out of the jungle, but then Chopper told them they were still in the jungle, just in the next section.

"Poyo? (There's a lower and upper jungle here?)" Kirby gawked.

"Yeah, it's kind of weird, if you ask me..." Chopper trailed.

"Well, I guess that means it'll be straightforward from here," Blade deduced. Unfortunately, that didn't appear to be the case when Leafions carrying bow and arrows, spears, and even some blasters made their appearance. One Leafion shot a projectile from its blaster, and it nearly hit Sonic's shoe.

"Whoa! I'd never thought I'd see leaf people carrying deadly weapon!" Sonic gawked, not suspecting the shot to come his way.

Chopper knocked a couple of Leafions near him using his cane, while Night had managed to send many of them flying off the vine and down into the lower part of the jungle. Most likely they weren't going to be coming back up. However, that's when Chopper remembered he could hurl fireballs, so he threw them at a couple of Leafions to easily defeat them.

"Good thing I have fire on my side," Chopper sighed. "I mean, we still have Vivian, but two flames something works better as one."

"That is true," Vivian agreed.

"But strength always beats flames!" Tamber grinned, knocking two Leafions away with a single punch. Bang had managed to shoot at a couple of Leafions and knock them off the vines as well, and Blade defeated a couple with his katana.

"Man, these guys are kinda pathetic," Blade remarked. "Then again, they're leaves. They can't do a thing!"

They ended up stopping before a corkscrew-like pathway. Blade decided that it was a good idea to test out one of his teleporting abilities. Using his fingers, he made a sign with them, and he had disappeared, leaving smoke behind. He had appeared on a grassy platform on top of a vine, which was hanging from a tree branch.

"Ah! Now that was fun!" the ninja cat grinned.

"This should be fun to run through," Chopper declared, readying himself before he blasted through the corkscrew and landed on the grassy platforms. There appeared to be a Dark Block and Electric Block on two platforms. Up ahead, was another vine pathway, which Blade managed to get onto.

"Shouldn't you smash those blocks first?" Vivian asked. "There might be something in them."

Chopper decided to do so and smashed the Dark Block with his Master Hammer, and he threw an electric ball at the Electric Block. The Dark Block, surprisingly had a strange, rainbow-like drink. He picked it up and sensed a great scent coming from it. It was revealed to be Rainbow Juice, which could recover 200 FP.

"Oh, wow! This stuff looks pretty good! ...But I have to save it." Chopper mumbled, putting it away and taking the vine-like pathway ahead to a large tree.

"This stuff is GOOOOOOOD! I'd drink it, but I don't think it would solve anything. So, I'm not going to eat this. …Yet." Chopper put the item away and he pressed on ahead towards the large tree. There were a couple of more Leafions along the way, but they easily got rid of them. From these fights, Chopper had managed to level up and upgrade his FP to 135.

"Yeesh! This is just like fighting those Badniks back in Green Hill!" Sonic remarked, defeating a Leafion with a Spin Dash. Afterward, he performed a Spin Dash to speed through the loop ahead and reach the large tree. Chopper easily followed, going through the loop to reach the tree. The others, on the other hand, had a more difficult time, but they eventually reached the tree.

"What took you guys?" Sonic asked.

"You know we can't run insanely fast, right?" Bombette noted with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Anyway, so what is this tree?"

"It's the Elder Tree!" Chopper informed. "And it's huge!"

"Well that's pretty obvious," Bang said. "How about anything important?"

"Ummmmm... That's really it. ...Oh, and it's old."

"All right... I guess we should go in." Night suggested. Everyone agreed and headed into the Elder Tree. They looked up and saw the spiral pathway leading up to the top. There also appeared to be a few spider webs on the walls that they could use to climb up.

"Well, this is quite a tall tree," Shadower remarked. "So we need to climb this thing?"

"Climbing in my specialty!" Tamber smirked. "Stand aside and let me go first!"

"Yeah, let him go first," Bang agreed.

"...OK, fine. He can go first." Blade decided. "I mean, you kinda stink at climbing, and you'll only slow us down if you went first."

"Hey!"

They decided to walk around the circling vine pathway in the tree until they had reached the end and had to rely on climbing up the webs on the walls. This wasn't difficult. Well, for the exception of one.

"Geez... This will be fun." Bombette groaned. "How am I supposed to get up here?"

"Maybe Flyer can help out?" Chopper turned to Flyer, hoping for his assistance. "You think you could give Bombette a hand?"

"Sure, I can do that…" Flyer trailed as he grabbed Bombette and flew her to the top of the tree. With that, Chopper started to climb up the web and to the next vine pathway above him. Unfortunately, the spiders had not abandoned this place, and they creeping their way to Chopper. That was, until a shot was fired, and it had exploded into smoke.

"What the..." Chopper looked down to see Bang giving him an assuring look. "Oh! I see the idea! You can get rid of these spiders while we get a move on!"

"That's...actually something I wouldn't expect from Bang," Blade realized, looking down at Bang. "Hey, Bang! Keep at it! Shoot down any spiders that try to get us!"

Bang gave a thumbs up and started to shoot down more spiders that came their way. One had nearly caught Heartsy's foot, but she kicked it away and made it fall off on its own. But, just for the heck of it, Bang shot at it. When they reached the vine pathway, they circled around the tree and proceeded to climb higher. The last vine pathway had led them up to the top of the tree, where they could see a hole in the shape of a doorway leading back outside. Bombette and Flyer were waiting for them.

"You guys certainly took your sweet time," Bombette remarked.

"Well... We found spiders." Sonic shrugged. "So how is Bang supposed to get up here, considering that he hasn't even climbed up?"

"...Crud! We can't leave him behind either!" Blade realized. "He's the guinea pig, for crying out loud!"

"You should go get him up here, Flyer," Chopper suggested.

"OK, fine," Flyer groaned, making his way down to the bottom of the tree to pick up Bang. Unlike Bombette, he had more of a difficult time getting to the top because of Bang's weight. When they did reach the top, Bang panted and glared at the Wingel.

"Come on, man! You should've been helping me five minutes ago!" Bang scoffed.

"Just stop already," the Wingel silenced before walking out of the tree.

"Yeesh! What's with him?" Night asked. "Wasn't he, y'know, nice?"

"Yeah..." Chopper nodded. "But something's bugging him, and he's not even telling us..."

They walked out through the door-shaped hole and were finally back outside. They noticed another tree up ahead with a gray castle. Chopper obviously knew what that castle was, but there was something else that surprised him.

"A bridge? There wasn't one here last time..." Chopper trailed, noticing the bridge make its way up to the castle.

"I guess it makes this a lot easier for us then," Vivian said, making her way to the castle ahead. Everyone followed her until they reached the front entrance. It appeared to be wide open.

"Poyo? (Was this open the whole time?)" Kirby asked.

"I don't know..." Chopper pondered. "Maybe this place is...empty?"

"Then I have no problem with this!" Scrub smirked. "C'mon, Contadre! Let's head inside so we can... Wait, what are we trying to do?"

"We're trying to get to the Crystal Star."

"But the Crystal Star was over that mountain!"

"But it's way too high for us! I'm sure we can find something or someone around this planet to give us a hand."

"Oh... Fine, I'll go with it."

They entered the castle, and the first thing they saw were the gray, old tiles on the floor and the dark gray background. It looked just like a typical castle from a video game, particularly one of the castles Mario traveled through, according to what he said.

"This place looks pretty dull," Blade remarked.

"Just watch out for the-" Chopper was cut off when he heard Bang scream as he rocketed up in the air, not paying any attention to the lava that was nearby. He landed back by the group with smoke coming from his behind.

"YEOW!" Bang cried. "Why didn't anyone warn me about the lava?!"

"I was about to, but you did it anyway!"

"Just forget about it," Night suggested. "Let's just continue through this castle, OK? I hope there's something for me to obliterate!"

The rest jumped over the lava pit and continued their way through the room. There were more lava pits for them to leap across, but they were certainly no match for them. Some of them even required the use of Scrub and Heartsy, considering that the gap between them was too far for make a jump. As they got over the last lava pit, Chopper looked around to make sure any enemies were in sight.

That was not the case.

"Geez... This place wasn't like this two years ago." Chopper recalled. "It's like..."

Mario: A ghost town?

"Yeah... I guess so." Chopper pushed the door open into a room filled with purple fog. Nobody dared to even approach the fog, not even Bang.

"I don't know what the problem is here," Night said. "It's just fog."

"Well it's poisonous!" Bang yelled.

"Meh. Just watch what I do!" Night walked through the poison gas, appearing unaffected by it. He pulled the lever at the end of the room, and the poisonous fog was vanquished from the room. "See? What'd I tell you?"

"How weren't you affected by the poison?" Bombette questioned.

"Uhhh... Hello?! I'm undead here! Poison ain't gonna stop me!"

"Fair enough," Shadower said.

"Whether it was fair or not, we appreciate the help," Blade said as he rushed over to the next door, where he found a room with an elevator. "An elevator?"

"Yeah! We can just take this up to where we need to go!" Chopper informed, entering the elevator. When everyone joined in, they were all cramped in and very uncomfortable.

"Well this is great..." Tamber groaned. "We're all stuck together in this small elevator."

"Ugh... Bang... Could you check where the top floor is?" Blade asked.

"All right," Bang answered, being the closest one to the elevator buttons. He saw two buttons, one going up to the second floor, and the other going up to the third. He pressed the button to the third floor, but he noticed the button light up. "Hey... These button light up!"

"Bang, I swear if you try to do what I think you're doing, I'm going to..." But it was too late. Bang had already pressed the other button as well. "Dang it, Bang... This is just like the last time we were in an elevator..."

"What was that like?" Sonic asked.

"We were in an elevator with 431 floors. He pressed every button on there..." Blade let out a sigh upon reminiscing that horrible event. "We were stuck in the elevator for forty-five minutes..."

"Well, there's only three floors to this place," Chopper assured. "It won't take that long to get there."

* * *

**One moment later-**

The elevator door opened, and the twelve walked out, relieved to be out of the elevator. Most of them took the time to stretch their bodies as well.

"What a relief..." Tamber sighed. "I couldn't bear to be near that stinkin' puffball!"

"And I couldn't bear to hear Bang's stupidity..." Blade mumbled.

A Save Block and Heart Block happened to be in the room, and Chopper decided to strike them both to recover his stats and save his game. He looked over to the door ahead, recognizing the blackness to it, along with the red eyes and freaky mouth depicted on it as well.

"I wonder... Is that leaf king still here?" Chopper pondered, approaching the door. He opened it and walked into the room ahead. There was a bridge leading up to a terminal, and over by the room's corner was a leaf creature much bigger in size to a Leafion, having the pinkish purple eyes. He also sported a crown and legs made from bark.

"Nothing interesting has happened in so long..." the leaf king mumbled. "I haven't even found any sort of entertainment either. What am I doing here anyway?"

"So this place isn't all that empty," Blade mused. The leaf king, Trinado, heard the voice and brought his attention to the people across the bridge from where he stood.

"Chopper… I thought I heard your footsteps coming from the other room!" Trinado yelled, approaching the group.

When Chopper took a look at Trinado, he noticed he looked much duller than usual, along with being dirty as well. "Whoa... What in Clara happened to you, Trinado?"

"My minions have not showed up... Despite my calls, they didn't show up. How dare they defy me?"

"But what happened to the castle? It feels so deserted…" Vivian said.

"Ever since Lord Maquano disappeared, everything went wacky. We weren't given any orders, so there was not much we could do."

"So... Could you let us use that terminal over there?" Bang asked.

"Heck no!" Trinado yelled, trying to use his hypnosis on Bang. But, unfortunately, it didn't seem to work. "What? Why doesn't this work?! ...Wait, don't tell me. You're not an inhabitant from this planet, are you?"

"Uhhhh... No?"

"You know, thinking about it more, one of Lord Maquano's most important orders were to have you eliminated, Chopper," Trinado realized, drawing his two poison vine swords. "Perhaps now I will finally get my chance to eliminate you for good!"

"All right, fine. I guess we don't have much of a choice anyway." Chopper replied, getting in a fighting stance. "Blade, Bang, and Night... We'll take care of this, OK?"

"What? Aw, man..." Night pouted.

**Tattle: **_That's Trinado, the king of the leaf people on this planet. He looks like he hasn't been out in the sun for years. Yeesh... Max HP is 300, Attack is 15, and Defense is 0. He'll poison you if he managed to strike you with his swords. He'll also try to pull off one of his hypnotizing moves that'll let him take control of your partners. However, considering that you know about this guy more than me, I think I'm confident in you taking him down easily.  
_

Chopper started off the battle by running up to Trinado and hitting him in the face with his cane. Since Chopper had the Master Hammer, his attack was able to deal 10 damage.

"Ah... That was great." Chopper smiled.

Trinado was about to attack Chopper, but he didn't get the chance when Bombette exploded in his face to take 10 out of him. The leaf king growled as he leaped in the air and landed on Chopper. The attack managed to knock away his Thief ability.

"Great... There goes that ability. At least I have my hammer!" Chopper brought his hammer up as he walked over to Trinado and brought it down on him, dealing 10 more damage to him..

"What the heck? What kind of hammer is that?" questioned Trinado.

"It's my Master Hammer! And it's going to take you down!"

As Chopper began to twirl his new hammer, Bang looked at his Diamond Hammer and decided to twirl it around. Unfortunately, he was not as good with twirling things, and it ended up falling on his foot.

"Oh, man! Not the foot again!" Bang cried, holding his foot in pain.

"Dude, just stop trying to imitate people," Blade suggested. "It'll prevent you from getting seriously hurt."

"Less arguing, more fighting!" Tamber interrupted, running up to Trinado and landing a punch on him.

"I'm going to make sure none of you come out of here alive!" Trinado declared, swinging his sword at Tamber, poisoning him in the process.

"Ack! I'm poisoned! I need... No, wait, I'm not a puffball! I can handle this!" Tamber wheezed, getting hurt from the poison.

"You don't want help? All right…" Chopper trailed, stomping on Trinado's head. Admittedly, he felt a little bad for Tamber, but he was kind of asking for it. Following up with his jump was Scrub's Ground Pound.

Trinado threw one of his swords like a boomerang at Chopper. While he was easily capable of dodging the attack, it had ended up hitting Flyer instead. At this point, he was starting to fume.

"All right, I'm getting tired of this!" Flyer yelled, rushing at Trinado and hitting him with a Flying Attack. Chopper was pleasantly surprised by this, but he decided to turn his attention back to the fight and hit the leaf king with his hammer. Trinado shook himself and attacked Chopper with his sword. He managed to spin himself and Superguard the attack to prevent himself from getting hurt.

"Ack! Stupid little...whatever you are! How'd that miss?!" Trinado growled, while Chopper changed to his Cutter ability and threw a cutter blade at him. Kirby followed up with a Cartwheel, bringing him down to 198 HP.

"Poyo! (This guy is easy!)" Kirby exclaimed. "Poyo... (Though, I wish he wasn't in such bad shape..."

"Curse you, Chopper… I blame you for my minions not listening to me!" Trinado roared. "If Lord Maquano had not gone missing, I'd be in perfect condition! But no, it didn't turn out that way. You know how much I had to go through? First I get brainwashed, then I get thrown in a pit of poison by you, and then when I come out of the pit, I find out that Lord Maquano's gone! This is all your fault!"

"Sorry, but that amnesia thing was not my fault..." Chopper trailed.

"It doesn't matter!" Trinado retorted, poisoning Chopper with a simple sword swing.

"Ack! Not good…" Chopper coughed and took damage from the poison. He conjured up a fireball and threw it at Trinado. Afterward, Vivian used her Soothing Kiss to cure Chopper of the poison.

"Wait... What? You're kidding me..." Trinado groaned, swinging at Chopper. This time, he managed to guard it. "Crud..."

Chopper took the cutter blade off his cap and threw it at Trinado, taking 10 out of him. Heartsy added her Hearty Hammer to the mix, and she quickly guarded Trinado's sword swing.

"Let me show you one of my stronger attacks," Chopper suggested, springing into the air and landing on Trinado with his Gravity Jump. Sonic got in a ball and threw in a Spin Dash to bring Trinado down to 128 HP.

Trinado threw his sword in their direction, but it ended up missing on accident, hitting Bang instead. The yellow Chihuahua fell back on the ground while Blade and Night face palmed.

"Remind me why we're friends with him," Night said.

"Well, he's been a great help to us in the past, that's for sure," Blade recalled.

"Great… I hit the wrong guy…" Trinado groaned as he caught his sword. He was ready to attack, but he got hit by Chopper's cutter, followed by Shadower's Shadow Punch. "Actually… I have a better idea! I'll show you what I mean!"

Trinado's eyes began to fire a ray towards Shadower, and he began to hypnotize him with his ability. He pointed a finger at Chopper, commanding the shadow being to attack him. Shadower obeyed and threw a Shadow Punch at Chopper. However, it only did 10 damage, unlike Trinado's usual 15 points of damage.

Unfortunately, this attack had knocked Chopper's ability away.

"Ack… Well, it's not the end of the world…" Chopper quickly shook himself and changed to his Needle ability. He went over to Trinado and struck him with the spikes popping out of his cap. "All right, Mario! Go for it!"

Mario nodded and walked over to Trinado and struck him with his hammer to leave him with 87 HP.

"I hate you, Chopper… I really do…" Trinado grumbled as he fired a razor leaf directly at Chopper. It hit him directly, dealing 15 damage, but it didn't stop him from attacking him with more needles. Kirby hit him with another Cartwheel attack afterward.

He fired another razor leaf at Chopper, but unfortunately for him, it was Superguarded. When Chopper hit him with his hammer, and Vivian using her Shade Fist, he was down to 47 HP. Trinado used his hypnosis on Vivian this time, and commanding her to hit Chopper caused him to be left with a deadly burn. When she was no longer in control, she realized what she did and looked guilty.

"I'm… I'm so sorry, Chopper!" Vivian apologized..

"It's OK, Vivian... I'll be fine." Chopper assured, his Needle ability knocked away. He changed to his Mirror ability and fired a shard at Trinado. Flyer added in his Flying Attack as well.

"Urgh… Well, I guess this is what happens when you don't really do anything for a long time…" Trinado groaned. "Everything's been a huge mess ever since there was a big battle on this planet two years ago."

"Really? How much of a big mess?" Chopper asked.

"I'll never tell you!" Trinado roared, hitting Chopper with his sword, knocking his Mirror ability in the process. Because of that, Chopper resorted to using a Spin Jump to bring him down to 11 HP.

"I call finishing him!" Tamber declared, rushing over to Trinado, and with one punch, he knocked him off of the bridge.

"Ack! Curse you, Chopper! You… You made me fall into this pit! …AGAIN!" Trinado yelled, finally landing at the floor below the poisonous clouds. "_**WHEN I COME OUT OF HERE, YOU'LL BE SORRY!**_"

"That is, if you manage to beat us," Chopper said, upgrading his BP to 81 after getting some Star Points. With that out of the way, everyone went over to the terminal. "All right… Now that that's over with, we can get going with this thing! …I think we need to go to the desert, right?"

"I don't know," Blade shrugged. "You live on this planet. You're the expert."

"Right…" Chopper looked up at the terminal and at the buttons. "Crud… I don't remember how to work this thing! Ummmm... You think you can give us a hand?"

"No."

Chopper gawked, surprised to hear a response like that. "What? No?"

"That's right. I'm not helping you." Flyer replied angrily. "I'm not just some tool that you and your friends use to get things done!"

"Yeah!" Tamber agreed, though he noticed the Wingel glare at him. He immediately backed down.

"Wait... I don't understand... Tool?" Chopper gawked. "Are you saying that you've been angry this whole time because you think you're a tool to us?"

"That's preposterous!" Shadower gaped. "You're our friend!"

"Friend? Then how come every time an attack that hadn't intentionally hit me, people ignore it?" Flyer asked.

"Wait... I wasn't even aware that it was always you getting hurt!" Chopper gaped. "Plus... No one else tends to complain when they get hit. You can take care of yourself, right?"

"Or it sounds like I'm just here to only be used and nothing else. Even when I do something nowadays, no one's giving me any thanks for what I did! Face it, I don't think anyone cares."

"But Flyer! No one's been using you! You're one of the smartest people in this group!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm done," the Wingel declared, turning away from them and making his exit. "If you want to get things done, you're going to have to ask someone else."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm going home, somewhere where I won't have to deal with you guys."

"Flyer! Please!"

Flyer simply ignored him and slammed the door behind him.

"Wow… He sure has problems." Bang remarked. "That was jerkish."

"I can't believe it..." Chopper sighed, looking down at the floor. "Flyer's gone... Maybe what he said was true?"

"Don't try to let it get to you, Chopper..." Vivian trailed, hoping to at least make him feel better.

"Personally, I think Flyer's making too much of a big deal over this..." Heartsy trailed. "Though what he said about not getting any thanks for his work does make me feel a little guilty..."

"Well, we can't do much else now... I guess we'll have to move on without-" Chopper paused when he heard some buttons being pressed. Turning around, he spotted Bang pressing the buttons.

"Bang! Stop pressing those buttons!" Blade suggested. "You're going to mess this-"

When Bang pressed the final button, the teleporter was activated, leaving Blade and Night in surprise. Even the others were a bit surprised by this.

"Whoa… How did he do that?" Night asked.

"What? I just pressed buttons. That's all…" Bang shrugged, walking into the teleporter afterward.

"Typical Bang..." Blade groaned, he and Night following the dog into the teleported. Chopper and the others followed, knowing that they couldn't convince Flyer to come back to them.

Chopper just hoped nothing bad would happen to Flyer.

* * *

**Yeah, a lot of bad and good things have happened to Bang in this chapter... Especially with him getting hurt by various things. The vines, especially... Ouch.  
**


	118. Desert Ambush!

Flyer had walked out of the castle and was now over by the Elder Tree. He took a look at the castle from faraway. There was no turning back at this point. They were probably gone.

"All right... I finally did it..." Flyer sighed. "Chopper and his friends must be feeling guilty at this point. Unfortunately, apologizing isn't going to help get me back. I suppose I should get back to home now."

"Or, maybe you can come with us!"

Flyer looked at the ground to see Beldam rise from the ground. That grin of hers looked as if she had some evil scheme up her sleeves.

"Beldam? What are you doing here?" Flyer asked. "Look, there's no reason for you to go after me. I'm not with Chopper and his friends anymore, and I'm done traveling with them."

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! Oh, but I'm not here to fight!" Beldam assured. "While in the shadows, I listened to what you had to say in that castle. And, I can understand where you're coming from."

"Well finally! At least someone understands what I-" the Wingel paused, quickly giving the witch a glare. "Wait a second... I know what you're trying to pull. I'm not doing it. I just want to go home."

Flyer began to walk away, but Beldam sank into the shadows and rose up in front of him. "Oh, hear me out on this. You say you felt neglected by your group. I, on the other hand, had been neglected by my king and queen when that plug-ugly sister of mine came back. I was enraged, so I wanted to make her feel as miserable as possible."

"So that's why you disliked her then?"

"Correct. And... I also thought about finding a new member to join us. Personally, I think freak-in-a-sheet is not that useful when it comes to power. But you... I see something special in you! Not only do you have a lot of brains, but you have technology as well! I think with those aspects, you could be unstoppable!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in joining evil," Flyer said.

"But what about those who had neglected you?" Beldam asked. "I can see it in your eyes... You wish to get back at them, right?"

"No, I don't. I'm done with this."

Flyer continued to walk away, but Beldam stopped him in his tracks again and used her magic to show him an image of Chopper and his friends. They appeared to be laughing and happy.

_"You know, it was great that we got rid of Flyer!"_ Bombette exclaimed.

_"Who needs that no-good wing-head?"_ Shadower added.

_"It stinks I don't have anyone to take the hits for me,"_ Chopper said. _"Oh, well. He was useless anyway!"_

"Wait... What?" Flyer gaped, appalled by the image.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! That's right, Flyer! There's no guilt in them! They just saw you as a mere punching bag and tool!"

"I can't believe they would say something like that..." the Wingel trailed, his face turning to one of anger while clenching his fists.

"Listen, Flyer... I can help you get back at them. Alone, getting back at them will be difficult, but with my help, you can become even stronger than them!"

"All right, fine. I'll do it."

"Excellent choice, Flyer!" Beldam grinned. "You will not be disappointed.

Beldam grabbed Flyer's arm and brought him down into the shadows.

_"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! Excellent! Everything's going all according to my plan!"  
_

* * *

**Desert-**

The teleporter was lucky enough to take them to the next continent: the desert. It looked like a typical desert, having a couple of pyramids far in the distance and lots of sand. There was very little water as well. When everyone appeared, they were in mid-air. Chopper and his friends were lucky enough to land on their feet, while Bang was not as lucky.

"Well... We're in the desert." Chopper sighed. "I was never a big fan of this part of the planet."

"I have no problem with it," Heartsy said. "This shouldn't be THAT difficult."

"That depends on what you consider difficult," Blade said, trying to cover his face. "Ugh... I'm not a big fan of deserts. They really annoy me. Especially during a sandstorm..."

"Well, the only thing we can do a move on ahead," Chopper spoke up, pointing to the sandy hill going downward ahead. Everyone else decided to follow ahead.

"I wonder if Trinado was telling the truth. Is this place empty?" Shadower asked.

"Hmmmmm..." Chopper scanned the area. Hardly anything in their sight. However, there was one exception. There were two rock creatures that appeared to be sleeping. "Are those Rockos?"

"Rockos?" Bombette gawked. "What the heck are they?"

"Rock minions," the Star Warrior answered, approaching the two sleeping Rockos. One of them happened to wake up and spot him.

"Hold on a sec… I think I see two rock minions! Let's see how they are!" Chopper walked over to the two Rockos that were sleeping. These guys are just normal rock monsters that love to smash things.

"Huh…? What is pale green object doing here?" the Rocko asked. "You remind me of Chopper. …Too bad he gone now. He gone for two years…"

"These guys speak weird..." Night whispered.

"But I AM Chopper!" Chopper exclaimed, accidentally waking the other one up. "I didn't think you guys would be this dumb!"

Unfortunately, the Rockos took this as an insult, and they clenched their fists in anger. Chopper immediately gulped.

"Me no like it when insulted! Me thinks you should be squished!" the Rocko tried to bring its fists down on Chopper, but he managed to jump out of the way to dodge it. Night's hammer side of his weapon hit the Rocko, causing it to crumble into dust. Blade finished off the other Rocko by swinging his katana at it, giving a thumbs up upon finishing.

"And that takes care of them!" Blade smirked.

"Yeesh, you know how to handle that weapon. Who taught you how to use one anyway?" Sonic asked.

"Well, my sensai taught me! Not only that, but he taught me to-" Blade was cut off when he heard the sound of another Rocko coming toward him. But he was lucky enough to be saved by Bang. "OK, that was close..."

"Uhhh... You're welcome." Bang groaned.

The sound of crying caught Chopper's attention, and when he looked up ahead, he saw what appeared to be a little girl. He ran over to her and noticed she was wearing dirty clothing. She also wore a veal that covered her face, but he noticed her skin was a greenish color.

_"I don't know if this person's from this area..."_ Chopper thought. "Hey, are you OK?"

"I'm fine…" the little girl sniffled, turning to Chopper and his approaching friends. "I'm just…_sniff_… I'm just sad that no one wants to play with me!"

"Play with you? What the heck do you mean?" Scrub questioned.

"I was looking for some guests to stay at my house for some tea and pie, but the rock monsters don't want to!"

"Pie? That sounds yummy..." Chopper trailed, thinking of food.

"Could you and your friends please play with me?" the girl asked.

"I don't know..."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeease?" she asked again, softening her eyes.

"But... We really can't. We're trying to save the universe! Maybe you can find someone else to play with?"

Chopper and his friends walked on ahead to get back to business, but they heard the little girl cry louder. It was so loud, that many of them had to cover their ears.

"GEEZ! She's too loud!" Scrub cried. "What a big baby!"

"Well, it'll go away if we just walk away from her," Heartsy noted. "As much as I don't like to leave someone crying... We do have something important to do."

However, as they continued walking, the crying had not vanished. In fact, it was only getting louder from there. Many thought she had such a loud voice, but it wasn't the case when they stopped and turned around. The girl was still there, following them and crying loudly.

"She's not letting us walk away!" Tamber gaped.

"OK, fine! We'll play with you!" Chopper shouted, finally giving up. "Just stop crying!"

"YAAAAAAY! Come on! It's just this way!" the little girl grabbed Chopper by the antennas and dragged him over to her house. Everyone else followed the green girl over to the small, yellowish house not too far from them.

"Crud! We're going to be playing some dumb, girly games!" Scrub complained, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

Going inside, they noticed the interior of the house was filled with PINK. There was a small, pink couch, and there was a little table with a couple of chairs with some dolls on them.

"This is...strange..." Vivian trailed.

"It still looks bad..." Scrub grumbled, turning to Heartsy. "Hey, do you know anything about playing tea party or something?"

"I stopped playing it when I was four," Heartsy recalled. "Then again, that was when Mondrao was destroyed..."

The little girl had made everyone sit down on the small chairs, and they were far from happy. Bang, especially, was pouting like a little kid.

"This is so stupid!" Bang grumbled.

"Wait, aren't the manliest people able to handle pink?" Night asked.

"What? How come no one told me this? Well, then…" Bang took a deep breath, making his chest look buffed up. "I can handle the pink in this room! I'm a real man!"

"You are? Well, that's great!" the green girl smiled. "My name's Mima, and I'm just a lonely girl who lives out here in the desert."

"How long have you lived here?" Chopper asked.

"Oh, about a year or so..." Mima took out a pie and placed it in front of Bang. "Here you go, doggy!"

"'Doggy'?!" Bang gawked. "It's Bang! BANG!"

"OK, Bang, that's enough," Blade face palmed. Bang gave him a scowl before he started to eat the pie.

"Hey... This wasn't bad! I think I'd like another-" Bang paused, getting a bad feeling in his stomach. "Oh, geez... I don't feel so good."

"What's wrong?"

"Where's the bathroom? I need a bathroom!" Bang quickly stood up and rushed over to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

"Whoa… That must be one heck of a pie he just ate." Chopper remarked, a bit surprised. However, something suddenly sparked in his mind, as if he saw something familiar to that. "Wait... What was in the pie?"

"Well…" Mima paused, trying to think. "There was cream, apples…and…uh… I don't remember the other thing..."

"There's something else in that pie? Hmmmm..."

"What's wrong?"

"It's just that... I'm suddenly reminded of something back on the Rainbow Cruise. And the person who caused that was..." Chopper paused, taking a look at Mima. "Wait a second... You look just like-"

Seeing the disguise as pointless, Mima removed her veal, revealing herself to be Mimi. "Surprise! I bet you weren't expecting to see me here! I was hoping to torture you all, but I guess that didn't work as planned..."

"Torture us? Yeah, very funny..." Blade chuckled, drawing his weapon. "It's thirteen against one here! ...Well, I guess twelve if we're counting Bang out."

Before they could strike, Mimi created a boxed outline around herself and teleported out of their vicinity. How she managed to escape surprised many of them.

"What a weird girl..." Bombette trailed. "I guess we should get out of this house and try to chase her."

"Poyo, (Yeah, let's go,)" Kirby agreed, following everyone out of the house. Sadly, they didn't find any sight of the green girl.

"Great… She managed to get away from us..." Chopper sighed, walking away from the house. To his surprise, he spotted a yellow pipe up ahead. "Hey... What's that?"

At that moment, Bang came running out of the house, fully relieved. "All right, guys! What'd I miss?"

"Nothing special," Night answered. "Just some little girl who was pretty much evil."

"Oh, man! I should've been there! ...Hey, what's that ahead?"

"We were just about to go in there," Chopper said, rushing toward the pipe. He looked down it first, and then he gestured everyone to come over. With that, they went into the pipe and went underground.

* * *

**Underground-**

Coming out of the pipe, they noticed their surroundings resembled that of an underground area, having a dark background and a rockier floor, unlike the sand from above. Thankfully, everyone had managed to land safely on their feet.

"At least it's cooler here than outside," Shadower remarked, sighing in relief.

"Well... I suppose we should check and see where this takes us." Sonic suggested.

Chopper walked on ahead and noticed a little passageway being blocked by a large Dark Block. He smashed it with his Master Hammer technique and moved on with his friend.

"I never knew a Dark Block would be down here," Vivian remarked, the group reaching a couple of vertical platforms that were moving up and down.

"Jumping? …Well, I DO have the Master Shoes. My higher jumps will come in handy here." Chopper leaped high in the air thanks to his shoes and landed on a platform that took him to an upper ledge that held a Master Shroom. "Wow! Another Master Shroom! Today is my lucky day!"

He put the mushroom away and jumped back down to the lower area. The other had thankfully gotten past the platforms and had resumed their running. A couple of navy blue Goombas with red feet called Gloombas were roaming around. Many were surprised, considering that it was not common to see these type of enemies around.

"Wait... Why is it called a Gloomba?" Scrub asked.

"Maybe Flyer know-" Chopper paused, realizing his friend wasn't here. He slowly frowned and let out a sigh. "Gee, I sure miss Flyer..."

"Look, try not to be hard on yourself," Blade advised. "It's not the end of the world. Plus, I bet he'll get over it soon."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah! We're not like girls, who get a bit too emotional over some small things!"

Now that had made him receive glares from the girls. Well, mostly Bombette and Heartsy.

"What? You know it's true."

"...You know, I'm not going to bother with it." Heartsy stated, walking up to the pipe that was up ahead.

"Wow, you messed up this time, Blade," Bang grinned.

"Shut it, Bang," Blade retorted, running into the pipe. Everyone else shrugged and entered the pipe afterward.

* * *

**Jungle-**

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! Now we'll get that Crystal Star for sure! Thanks to my new X-Tank, there's no way that that Dark Block will get in our way this time!" Lord Crump laughed as a silver tank with a black X on the top began to travel through the jungle, leaving a trail behind.

"Everything seems to be in order, Lord Crump," confirmed Johnson. "We're ready to fire at the Dark Block when we arrive."

"Well, DUH! This is the X-Tank for crying out loud! It's unstoppable! Just watch this bad boy cause some havoc!" Lord Crump pushed a button, and the tank fired a green missile, which destroyed a couple of trees in their path. "See? It's a force of nature!"

"Yes, I will admit, it is a powerful machine."

"Now let's go find ourselves that Dark Block!" Lord Crump drove the X-Tank over to where the Dark Block was. However, something was missing in that area. "BUH HUH?! What in the world?!"

"Wait... The block is gone?" Johnson gawked. "That thing can stand up to anything! How is it gone?"

"Perhaps Chopper was involved in it?" the other X-Naut spoke up.

"If he was, then good for him! In fact, he did us a little favor by allowing us more freedom!" Lord Crump grinned. "We'll go find an area on this planet to set up a base, and we'll give Chopper what's coming! C'mon, Johnson! Let's beat this place!"

"As you wish, Lord Crump…" sighed Johnson, pressing a button to make the X-Tank fly in the air. With that, it flew off the continent.

* * *

**Desert surface-**

When they came out of the pipe, the first thing they noticed was a pyramid standing right in front of them.

"Hey, I remember this pyramid! It was when I found Kayzee!" Chopper recalled while he looked at his surroundings. "But it's pretty empty around here... There's no Rockos. I wonder if Stoneard is still around?"

"Stoneard? Who is he?" Sonic asked.

"He's a big, powerful rock monster. He's a bit slow, though."

"Heh! Then if he tries to pick a fight with us, it should be no problem!"

"I bet I could take this stone creature on," Night declared. "...But, I guess we're going into that pyramid, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. Let's go!" Chopper smashed the Dark Block in the way of the entrance and proceeded on into the pyramid with the others. The interior had quicksand in the inner part of the room, while the outer part, which they were on, was solid ground.

"It's just an empty pyramid..." Heartsy trailed, not looking too impressed. "This is kinda boring."

"Well, there's this sand here," Bang noted, approaching the quicksand. He was about to put his foot in it, but Blade kicked it away. "Hey! What gives?!"

"It's quicksand, you moron," Blade informed.

"How do you know?"

"Well... Maybe you should test it out."

Bang looked at the sand for a moment, but he chose to step away from it. Meanwhile, Vivian had looked up and noticed a doorway up on a ledge in the opposite direction.

"Getting up there doesn't seem so difficult," Vivian said.

"Yeah, who needs to go through this area when we can-" Chopper stopped when he heard a the sound of a ship flying by. "What was that?"

"Let me check," Vivian extended her little ghost tail to the exit and saw a black and purple ship flying over the desert. There were a couple of others following it as well. "I see… I see a couple of ships that are black and purple…"

"…Did you say black and purple?" Blade asked, raising an eyebrow. "Uh oh..."

"What do you mean, 'uh oh'?" Chopper asked.

"That color scheme matches Dark Doom's. He's here, and I think he's looking for something here."

"Dark Doom? Oh… That guy…" Sonic realizing, clenching his fists and smirking. "Well if he runs into us, we'll make sure to take care of him! But first, we need to get outta here."

They jumped on the platforms that led up to the exit, and Chopper used his Spring Jump to grab onto the pole leading there. However, moving was a bit difficult, considering that were were a couple of people grabbing onto his feet. Regardless, he tried continuing, and he eventually led go in front of the doorway. They wasted no time and bolted out.

* * *

**Outside of the pyramid-**

"Whew… I can't believe we made it out of there…" Bang sighed, shaking his head like a maraca to get any sand out.

"That place wasn't really much of a challenge, though," Night pointed out.

Before they could get moving, they noticed behind them, it appeared to be a bit darker than usual. They looked up at the sky and saw the darkness getting closer. Everyone gulped and ran toward a castle up ahead.

"I can't believe that the darkness is already getting closer! This is BAD…" Shadower gulped.

"Yeah... But at least we're getting closer to the next castle." Chopper said, noticing the castle up ahead. When they reached it, Chopper walked over to the front entrance and opened it. The interior appeared a bit old, but not resembling ruins, thankfully. "This is the castle all right... Though, I wonder if there's a shortcut."

Studying the tan room, he spotted a cracked wall to the left.

"Hey! I think I can destroy that!" Bombette scurried over to Chopper. "Do what you need to do, Chopper!"

Chopper picked Bombette up and threw her near the wall. When she blew it up, a room with an elevator was revealed to be behind.

"An elevator? This castle didn't have an elevator before..." Chopper trailed, approaching the elevator and opening it. "Well, that makes it easier for us then!"

There were about four buttons on the elevator rather than three. Obviously they pressed the button to the fourth floor. But, just like Trinado's Castle, the buttons lit up.

And of course, Bang was eager to press them.

"Oh, no... Not again!" Blade cried, trying to pull him away.

But it was too late...

* * *

**Three minutes later-**

When the elevator opened up, Bang had walked out with a black eye, with the others following behind. The room was small, and it only had a Save Block and Heart Block. Chopper hit both before approaching the black door ahead.

"Here we go guys! Let's head on in!" Chopper opened the door, and everyone proceeded into the room. Last time he remembered, Stoneard was not in this room two years ago.

Instead, he found...

"What the… Is that…Stoneard?" Chopper gaped, seeing a rock monster in blue rather than the typical brown.

"Huh? Stoneard hears voices!" the orange eyes of Stoneard opened as he looked ahead. He spotted Chopper and pounded his fists angrily. "You! You are…er…"

"I'm Chopper…"

"Chopper! Yes… You're…er…Chopper! Stoneard hasn't seen you in a while! Not in many years has Stoneard seen your face! …But seeing your face makes Stoneard ANGRY!"

"Was Stoneard originally like this?" Vivian asked.

"No... He was more brown than blue. But who the heck made him this?" Chopper wondered.

"That would be because of me! Mimimimimi!" Mimi cackled, appearing out of thin air beside Stoneard with a smirk.

"Oh! Who is that?" Bang asked.

"That's that girl who we met before," Blade answered. "Weren't you there for- Oh, wait, you weren't."

"Thanks to my help, I've made him much stronger than before!" Mimi smirked. "And now he's going to crush you! Can you do that, Stony?"

"Stoneard obey beautiful Mimi!" Stoneard answered, smashing the floor again. "Now Stoneard crush you all!"

"That is, unless we beat you first!" Chopper shouted, pulling his hammer out. "Let's go, Stoneard!"

**Tattle: **_That's Stoneard. He's some kind of weird rock monster that's made of…Rubees? That's weird… Max HP is 300, Attack is 15, and Defense is 2. He'll usually try to smash you with his fists. He may have some powerful moves, but he's pretty slow. Try to use your speed to your advantage. Though I should warn you, burning him will not work on him. He's made of rock, after all... Why he's made of Rubees is what confuses me. Oh well… All you gotta do is beat this guy and maybe you can get out of here. …Just as long as Mimi doesn't give him a hand, that is… I hope I didn't jinx that!_

Chopper raised his hammer above him and he threw it directly at Stoneard's face. Since it was a defense-piercing move, he managed to take 10 out of him. "It feels great to have moves that can deal some awesome damage."

"Oof! …That may be strong, but that won't do enough to Stoneard! Stoneard is too tough, thanks to cute girl!" Stoneard laughed.

"Oh, yeah? That depends on if you can handle this!" Tamber rushed over to Stoneard and punched him, causing the stone creature to wince in pain. "Ha! See? You can't handle this!"

"Grrrrrr!" Stoneard clenched his fists and knocked Tamber back with a powerful punch. He almost crashed into Chopper, but he moved out of the way just in time.

"Now who's next?" Stoneard asked, cracking his knuckles.

"I don't think any of my abilities are going to harm him…" Vivian trailed. "Goombella even said that burning him won't work."

"I'm sure you can at least hurt him," Chopper said as he struck Stoneard again with his hammer. Vivian shrugged and hit the rock monster with her Shade Fist. It did do 8 damage, but it didn't leave him with a burn.

"Ouch…" Stoneard said stupidly as he punched Vivian, knocking her back slightly. She rubbed her cheek where she was punch and let out a sigh.

"Hee hee! What's wrong, are you going to cry?" Mimi giggled.

"N-No... I'm fine..." the Shadow Siren assured, returning to the group.

"Bah ha ha! You are all... Uhhhh..."

"You're a wimp?" Shadower corrected.

"Yeah! I'm a wimp!"

"Wait..." Chopper paused. "But didn't he say..."

"Shhhhh!" Tamber cut in, covering Chopper's mouth.

"...HEY!" Stoneard yelled, realizing what he just said.

Chopper approached Stoneard just as he was pouting and whacked him with his hammer. Bombette lit her fuse up afterward and ran up to him, exploding in front of the large rock monster.

"Gah! Stoneard is ANGRY!" Stoneard growled, knocking Bombette back toward Chopper. Thankfully, he managed to stop her before she could tumble into the wall. He delivered a Hammer Throw at Stoneard afterward.

"Hmmm... Let's see if my Gulp will hurt him." Scrub brought his long tongue out and inhaled Stoneard successfully, doing 10 damage to him when he spat him out. "Whoa... It actually worked!"

Stoneard brought his attention to Chopper and began to charge at him. He managed to land a punch on his face, leaving a red mark. However, Heartsy was not pleased and swung her hammer on his head. This left the stone monster a little dazed, allowing Chopper to use his Hammer Throw and bring him down to 210 HP.

"Well, I guess Chopper was right about him being dumb..." Shadower trailed.

"Hey! Stoneard not dumb! You are!" Stoneard poorly retorted, getting into a ball and rolling his way. Shadower was crushed under his weight and left flattened like a piece of paper.

"Man, that's gotta hurt…" Sonic gawked, while Kirby got an air pump and used it to unflatten the Shadow Brother.

"Poyo! (Don't worry! I have this under control!)" Kirby assured, finishing his job as Shadower got back up.

Mario shrugged before he pulled his hammer out and smashed Stoneard's head. Chopper leaped in the air and landed a D-Down Jump on the rock monster.

"Argh! You guys still won't give up? Fine! Let's see how you like this!" Mimi fired an orange Rubee at Stoneard, but rather than hurting him, it transformed him to an orange color. "There! Now you're in for something interesting, you dummies! As long as he's on fire, you can't touch him! Mimimimimi!"

Stoneard got in a ball again and started to roll over everyone. Thankfully, they saw it coming and brought their guard up to prevent themselves from getting burned.

"This doesn't change anything. Watch what I can do!" Chopper changed to his Water ability and sprayed water on Stoneard. This managed to extinguish the flames on him. "All right! Go and get him, guys!"

Sonic gave him a nod, curled up in a ball, and threw himself at Stoneard. He made a pose as he got out of his ball form, only to feel some stone hands grab a hold of him.

"Uh oh..."

Blade, Bang, and Night watched as Sonic got thrown across the room by Stoneard. "Grar har har! You're so light, that Stoneard could throw you across ocean!"

"Yikes! I wouldn't want that!" Sonic gulped.

Chopper squirted more water at Stoneard, and with the help of Shadower, his defense was down to 0.

"Argh… Stoneard will SMASH you!" Stoneard brought his fists down on Shadower, attempting to flatten him. Thankfully, he Superguarded the attack and did 1 damage to him. Afterward, Stoneard's flames returned, which were easily put out by Chopper's water. After Kirby's Cartwheel, Stoneard was down to 139 HP.

"Poyo! (He's more than halfway finished!)" Kirby cheered, Superguarding Stoneard's jump. Chopper then landed a Gravity Jump that dealt 26 damage, and then Scrub's Gulp brought him to 102 HP.

"Yeah! Now this is some easy pickings!" Scrub smirked.

"Grrr! Stoneard won't give up yet!" Stoneard tried to punch Chopper, but he easily guarded it. Shadower quickly lowered his defense while he threw in a Gravity Jump on him to deal 30.

"Dummies! That's it!" Mimi changed Stoneard to his normal self and left. "You're on your own now, Stoneard! I can't do any more of this!"

"Mimi! Wait!" Stoneard cried, begging her to come back. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, and she had abandoned him. He was enraged, so he punched Chopper with his fists, taking 15 out of him. Chopper retaliated with a Gravity Jump, while Tamber threw in a Power Punch, bringing him down to 20 HP.

"Argh! Now Stoneard is getting weak! Stoneard HATES this!" Stoneard punched Chopper again, and this time, he knocked his ability away. "Now Stoneard make you suffer!"

"That is, unless we beat you first," Chopper said, hitting him with his hammer, followed up with Mario's hammer. This had left him with 4 HP.

"No... Stoneard must crush you..." Stoneard groaned, rolling into them and dealing another 15 damage. Regardless of that, he was nearly finished, and one more blow would do him in.

"So... Who wants to finish this off?" Chopper asked.

"I'll do it!" Scrub proclaimed, using his gulp to spit him out and leave him collapsed on the floor. "See? That was a cakewalk!"

After Chopper upgraded his HP to 140, everyone sighed in relief and lowered their guard.

"Whew! We finally did it!" Bang cheered. "I feel so proud…"

"Uhhh... I didn't see you out there." Sonic noted.

"True," Blade agreed.

"So… What now?" Scrub asked, receiving shrugs for an answer. "But... Aren't we supposed to go somewhere else or something?"

"We are... But there's nothing here." Chopper noticed. "Well, I guess we should just leave this castle."

However, just before they could turn around, Stoneard had managed to get himself up and let out a roar. This had got everyone's attention back to him, and they quickly got in fighting stances.

"Stoneard… Stoneard will THROW you out of here!" Stoneard yelled, stomping the floor angrily and causing it to shake. "Stoneard is ANGRY!"

"Whoa... What is this?" Bombette gawked.

Stoneard had jumped up and performed a ground pound on the floor. It was so powerful, that it managed to lift everyone off their feet and send them flying out of the castle, creating a hole in the process. In fact, it had managed to send them flying off the continent.

"…And Stoneard never wants to see you again!"

* * *

**Personally, I wouldn't say this chapter was anything special, but it did show some things such as Lord Crump taking off, and the return of Dark Doom and his Dark Creatures. Plus, I'm not a big fan of desert areas.**

**Now the next area, on the other hand... That might be a bit more interesting.**


	119. Oceans as Far as the Eye Can See

Beldam brought Flyer into a strange, dark area with a black and bluish sky, along with a couple of colors like pink, light blue and purple swirling around in the background. He was left in shock. He had never seen a place like this.

"What kind of place is this?" Flyer asked in shock, which Beldam could easily sense.

"Mmmmmwee hee hee hee! Well, Flyer… Are you amazed at our wonderful new home?" Beldam cackled. "This is the place where we shall help you become stronger.

"What do you mean by 'we'?" Flyer asked. He suddenly noticed four other shadows rise from the ground, as well as Doopliss and Tipral appearing. "Wait... They're here, too?"

"So, is this who we're going to help train to use our magic? Why him?" Mysterious asked.

"Don't you understand? This is Chopper's best friend we're talking about!" Beldam spat.

"Oh, really?" the Shadow Brother grinned and laughed evilly. "Well, this is interesting! Very, VERY interesting!"

"Interesting? How?" Flyer wondered.

"Yuk yuk yuk! That Slick's gonna get it now with you on our side!" Doopliss chuckled.

"Shut up, freak-in-a-sheet!" Beldam silenced. "Nobody wants to listen to you right now and you know it!"

Sighing, Doopliss decided to walk over to the corner. However, it wasn't before Tipral had grabbed his sheet and pulled him back.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Doopliss asked.

"I suggest you listen to me, or else I won't let you go so easily," Tipral warned, his eyes being enough to threaten Doopliss. "How do you know that we can trust this Wingel? It's easy to assume that he might easily betray us."

"Relax… He's not going to turn against us because he has some hatred of Chopper and his friends after being used by him." Beldam assured.

"Oh, really? So what's your plan, then?" the dark being asked, letting go of Doopliss and turning away. "He's only going to hold us back. You're being fools."

"Calm down, shadow-freak," Mysterious suggested. "With him on our side, we will finally defeat Chopper and his pathetic friends for good! Surely they will never go up against Flyer of all people!"

Tipral turned to Mysterious with angry narrowed eyes. "You are making a very big mistake..." the dark being approached Flyer with the same look. "Don't assume you're welcome here so easily. You aren't fully trusted by us, especially me."

"Think what you want, but that's not going to get me out of here," Flyer remarked. "You know, without me in their group, they can't do much with mechanics. Plus, I'm probably one of the smartest ones of their group. Maybe I'm smarter than you."

"That's a bold statement, wing-head," Tipral hissed, clenching a fist. "Unfortunately, you don't have a large amount of power to back that up. I could easily beat you here if I wanted. I could probably even beat Chopper myself if he didn't have the help of his friends!"

"I may not have your power, but my mechanical skills far surpass yours."

"I don't care about mechanics, then fine, you can stay here. But don't ask for my help. I'm not as easy-going as these other freaks..."

"Freaks?!" Beldam hissed, giving Tipral a glare. When he walked away, she regained her calmness and turned back to Flyer. "So, Flyer… Are you ready to begin your training?"

"Yes, I'm ready to begin. Give me my first assignment and I'll be ready." Flyer replied, giving them all a glare.

"Excellent," Mysterious grinned. "When we're done with your training, you will be as strong as that shadow-freak!"

* * *

**Over the ocean-**

Unfortunately, their flight over the sandy continent wasn't exactly thrilling. The quake Stoneard created had also hurt them a bit, and falling below would not be nice. However, they noticed that they were starting to leaving the desert area, and now they were flying over the ocean. Chopper had looked back and noticed the darkness following them had covered the desert.

"That darkness... It got to the desert..." Chopper frowned.

"I don't believe it…" Vivian trailed. "The deserts covered in darkness."

"Errr... What is this darkness, exactly?" Blade asked.

"It's something that's supposed to approach the universe and eventually destroy it," Chopper answered.

"So it's just called the darkness? Nothing else?"

"Well... It is darkness."

"But that's so...generic!"

"Well, regardless of that, at least we're going to be landing in water," Sonic assured, noticing that they were all descending. However, when he realized what he just said, his eyes widened. "Wait... Water?! Uh oh..."

Sonic tried to turn and comically run while in midair, but it didn't appear to do any good. Plus, with the way he was moving in the air, he couldn't do it.

"Wait... We're landing in water?" Blade gawked, giving a pouty expression. "Oh, great... I don't even like water!"

It wasn't long before they all landed in the water. Everyone but Sonic swam up to the surface and spat the salty water out of their mouths. The salt water was definitely not nice...

"Ugh! Stupid salt water..." Tamber grumbled.

"For once, I actually agree with you," Heartsy pointed out, shaking the water out of her hair. She noticed a certain hedgehog missing. "...Wait, where's Sonic?"

"I'll go get him, so I'll be right back!" Blade took in some hair and dove underwaterwater, where he saw Sonic sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Blade began to swim down as fast as he could to get Sonic like a speedy squid. Sonic struggled to move up, and it only got worse when he saw the timer appear above him.

Thankfully, Blade managed to get him on time and back to the surface. The blue hedgehog took in a large amount of air and sighed in relief.

"Oh, THANK YOU… I thought I was going to drown for a second… I'm RELIEVED!" Sonic sighed. When he looked up, he noticed some more Dark Ships flying by. "Wow… There are more Dark Creatures? Where are they heading?"

Chopper looked up and noticed more Dark Ships flying over them. He turned around and noticed a few ships get caught in the darkness slowly creeping behind them.

"Geez... I don't like this one bit..." Chopper shuddered.

"Uhhh... Perhaps we should just get a move on?" Shadower suggested. "We don't want to be caught in that..."

Everyone eventually agreed and started to make a move on, swimming further away from the darkness. Unfortunately, at this rate, it wouldn't do them much good.

"I think it would be easier to go underwater," Chopper decided, diving underwater and increasing his speed. Night shrugged and dove underwater too.

Chopper studied the water carefully, noticing a few fish swimming by. Nothing special. However, what did catch his attention were a couple of X-Nauts in scuba gear swimming underwater. Unlike the X-Nauts from before, they resembled Master X-Nauts. These guys were Master Scubas, the toughest Scuba X-Nauts out there.

"Whoa, dude! Look over there! Chopper's coming towards us!" the Master Scuba gaped, spotting Chopper nearby.

"Well we better do as Sir Grodus says and take him down!" the other suggested.

The first Master Scuba aimed his blaster at Chopper and began to fire. Chopper noticed the X-Naut firing and he avoided the attacks. He created an ice ball and fired it at the Master Scuba, instantly freezing him and making him float to the surface. Night smacked the other Master Scuba with the hammer side of his axe hammer.

"And that handles that," Night said proudly.

Eventually the others had decided to dive underwater and join the two to view the underwater beauty. A lot of jelly fish and coral reefs appeared around them, along with a few blue fish with sunglasses and green fins called Cool Fish.

When Bang had swam up to a Cool Fish, it had smacked him across the face with its back fin and swam off. The dog pouted as he followed, while Sonic had to keep coming back up for air with the help of Blade.

"Look at THAT, Chopper!" Vivian pointed to the beautiful view of many glowing jellyfish swimming. There was a large group of them moving in one specific area.

"Wow… I've never seen that many jellyfish in my entire life!" Chopper gaped, approaching the jelly fish. "How are there so many of these?!"

"This is boring..." Tamber grumbled. "I want to see something like a shark!"

Suddenly, the jelly fish began to swim off as a couple of robot sharks came in. They were mostly silver, having goggles resembling that of Grodus. They also had X's on the sides of their bodies. These were revealed to be X-Sharks, and when Tamber looked at them, he grinned.

"Oh, finally! Sharks!"

Mario: Those aren't sharks!

"Poyo! (They're robots!)" Kirby added.

Everyone got out of the way when the X-Shark tried to ram into them. Thankfully, it turning back took up a lot of time, allowing the heroes to easily get away from it.

"All right, so who has an idea on how to take that thing down?" Bombette asked.

Sonic gestured everyone to throw him toward the X-Shark. Blade shrugged and held onto him while he got in his ball form. Once the X-Shark came back toward them, Blade threw Sonic at it. He managed to pierce through the machine and destroy it. Chopper quickly swam after him and let him get some air at the surface.

"Ack! This isn't good!" the Master Scuba gulped, trying to think of a plan. He quickly pulled his blaster out and began to fire at Chopper. "Take this, Chopper! You're not leaving these waters alive!"

Mario sighed and swam over to the Master Scuba with his hammer out. With one whack from his hammer, he brought the X-Naut toward one of the jellyfish, giving him a nasty shock and defeating it.

"Good work, Mario!" Chopper applauded. Mario simply rubbed his neck and smiled until he saw a blue laser coming from behind them. Thankfully, it missed them.

"Whoa!" Blade gaped, another laser firing their way. This one missed as well, and it was revealed to be an X-Shark firing a laser from its mouth. "I've got this one."

Blade pulled his katana out and sliced the X-Shark in half with swing. The Master Scuba attempted to fight back, but lost when Chopper used a Rainbow Spin on him.

"Ha HA! Take that you…X-Naut guy! You are BEAT!" Chopper laughed. Unfortunately, his taunt was interrupted when he heard a timer. He turned around and noticed it was coming from Sonic, Blade, and Bang.

"Hold on a minute!" Chopper changed to Water Chopper and blew a couple of bubbles for them to inhale so they could get more air. "All right, let's try to move faster. I think you go faster underwater..."

The others gave him nods of agreement and began to follow him through the ocean.

* * *

**Ten minutes later-**

Sadly, throughout the time they swam, they had not found anything interesting. Eventually they had to come to a halt when Sonic, Blade, and Bang had the timer appear above them, while Chopper had to provide more air for them. Despite these troubles, they made some pretty good progress. However, there was one thing they managed to spot.

Sitting on a large pedestal at the ocean floor was a temple.

"A temple? I don't know if I've seen this..." Chopper trailed. "Let's check it out."

Mario: OK.

"And you know what's also weird? There's not any Mermaids or Mermen around. Usually they'd be swimming around here, but there aren't any here. The place even feels empty!"

"Yeah, I noticed that too," Shadower agreed. "Hardly a thing in sight."

"Hey, Choppy... What would you think if I was a Mermaid?" Heartsy asked sweetly, swimming to Chopper's side.

"Uhhh... I don't know. I don't know much about Mermaids..." Chopper trailed, making Heartsy sweat drop. "Anyway, you guys might need to hold your breath this time..."

Though those that couldn't breathe did not like this, they tried their best not to drown. When they reached closer to the temple, they headed inside.

* * *

**In the temple-**

"Whew! Finally! I can breath again!" Sonic began to take in a lot of air upon getting out of the water. Though the entrance to get inside was underwater, the rest was filled with air. The inside of the temple was a bit sandy with dark blue walls. It appeared to be very old, having a couple of broken pillars.

"This place doesn't look that interesting," Scrub remarked. "It's so old."

"So can we just leave here or what?" Tamber asked.

"I guess or what," Chopper answered, approaching the center of the room. There appeared to be a pedestal and a small, red button on it. Chopper decided to tap the button, revealing a being with an oval-shaped body, a round head, and gray armor. His helmet appeared to shield his face, with the only thing being revealed were his eyes.

"Poyo? (What's that?)" Kirby asked.

_"Hello there. If you are reading this, then the battle against Nightmare has probably ended,"_ the person, who appeared to be a Galaxy Soldier said. _"My name is Sir Lancelon, a Galaxy Soldier to Sir Arthur. I am one of the few people who have survived in the war against Nightmare, unlike many others... Unfortunately, I ended up coming across a greater threat."_

"This is interesting..." Shadower trailed. "And who is this Sir Arthur he spoke of?"

"Shhhh! I wanna listen!" Chopper shushed.

_"You see, while traveling through the cosmos, I came across something unusual. It appeared to resemble some sort of darkness, but I noticed it slowly grow bigger. Though it wasn't much, I fear that at a much bigger size, it will become dangerous to us all."_

"He's talking about that darkness that's coming our way..." Vivian gasped.

_"I've warned many others of this darkness, but alas, Galaxy Soldiers around did not believe me. Only Sir Arthur had wanted me to show him it, and even then, he did not appear to be too bothered by it. I thought this issue would get worse, but then I discovered something interesting. Something began to shoot out through space, and it resembled that of a crystallized star. I managed to find one and study it on a planet called Clara, and I discovered that it was no ordinary star. Such unlimited power was within it. It might have been powerful enough to eliminate Nightmare once and for all... Unfortunately, I didn't know how its power could finally be unleashed..."_

"He must be talking about the Crystal Stars," Bombette muttered.

"This is boring..." Bang mumbled, receiving a smack from Blade to shut him up.

_"If you are still listening to me, please try to stop this darkness! If there are more of them out there, collect them at all costs! And please... If you find something that could unleashed its full power, bring them there at all costs! You could very well save the universe..."_

The hologram of Sir Lancelon had turned off, and everyone had remained silent.

"Wow... So this darkness was created a long time ago..." Chopper trailed. "And it's already near us..."

"But hey! At least we know how to unleash the Crystal Star's powers!" Scrub mentioned.

"Yeah. Well, we might as well leave this place. ...I kinda wish Flyer were here to see this."

"Maybe we should stop worrying about him," Tamber suggested with a grin. "Maybe you can find a new best friend! Y'know, someone strong and cool!"

"I don't know... I don't think anyone can replace Flyer." Chopper said, making Tamber frown. He made his way to the exit of the temple, but he noticed a carving on the wall that he didn't see before. Getting a closer look, he saw what appeared to be himself. There was another carving facing the other, and it resembled Heartsy.

Both carvings appeared to be kissing each other on the lips, but Chopper was confused.

"Was this here before?" Chopper asked.

"I put it there," Heartsy answered, wrapping her arms around his one arm. "It's just a little something for people to remember."

"Eep! I don't like it!" Chopper instantly got out of her grip and ran over to the exit, leaving Heartsy annoyed again.

Everyone else began to walk out, with Bang being the last one to leave. But before he could leave, he was pelted in the head by a rock. He turned around to see who it was, but he didn't find anyone. Turning back, he got hit by another rock.

"OK, who the heck is throwing rocks at me?!" Bang roared, whirling around with his weapon ready. The only response he got was the silence of the room. Frowning, he made his exit back outside.

"I have chortles!" the green bean walked out from behind a pillar looked at the hologram. "I am having the excitement! The Green Antenna is closer than Fawful thought. Fawful's vengeance shall finally be craved!"

In no time flat, he made a dash out of the temple through another exit.

* * *

**On an island-**

"Whew! We're finally away from the deep, dreaded ocean…" Sonic sighed as Chopper helped him to the surface. No longer needing his Water ability, he removed it. The island he stepped on was easily recognizable.

"This is the same island where Yosho was with those girls," Chopper recalled.

"Did you say…girls?" Bang asked, his ears perking up. "Are you telling me there are hot babes on this island?"

"Ummmm..."

"All, right! Now we're getting somewhere!" Bang spun around like a tornado, and he was suddenly donning a bathing suit.

"Oh, no..." Blade groaned, face palming. "For the love of rings, don't do it, Bang..."

"No way! I wanna see what he does!" Tamber snickered, along with Night.

"This way, ladies!" Bang proclaimed, heading into the island.

"Ladies? But... I'm not a lady..." Chopper trailed.

"YEOW!"

Bang had began to run in the opposite direction, only this time, he was being chased by two Master X-Nauts. One had managed to shoot at his behind, making Bang yelp and jump in the air.

"Why are these guys here?!" Bang yelled, pulling out his weapon. That is, if he was still wearing his battle gear. "Oh, crud... I don't have my weapons on me."

"And this is why you shouldn't do stupid things," Blade pointed out.

Chopper had run up to the first Master X-Naut and delivered a stomp to its head. Sonic threw in his Sonic Wind and managed to deal harm to both X-Nauts and defeat them.

"Yeesh... Now we're seeing these guys here on the beach?" Chopper gawked. "This is insane!"

"Can we stay here on the beach, though?" Scrub asked.

"I'd like to...if there wasn't some darkness heading our way," Heartsy noted, pointing to the darkness behind them. "Besides, Sunset Hill is much better, personally. No offense, Choppy."

"Ummmm... That's all right."

"Then let's move!" Blade shouted, running as fast as he could on the beach section. "And Bang... Go put your gear back on."

"But... The chicks!" Bang stammered.

"Now!"

Groaning, the yellow Chihuahua spun again, but this time he was back in his leather armor. Thankfully, it was at the right time when two Master X-Nauts wearing jetpacks spotted them.

"Halt! You are not authorized to set foot in here!" warned the Master X-Naut.

"What? This is my home planet!" Chopper replied. "You're not welcome here!"

"Then I'm afraid you'll have to be blasted. Say your prayers, Chopper!"

"Not a chance!" Chopper tossed an electric ball at the Master X-Naut, making his jetpack stop working. He finished him off with his hammer. He threw another electric ball at the other Master X-Naut, defeating him as well.

"Well, that took care of that. So… Where to next?" Shadower asked. Chopper pointed to the dock up ahead, where there were a couple of surfboards.

"We can use those if you don't want to swim," Chopper explained. "I think we can use it to reach Steelfoot's hideout. He might have a ship to help us get to our next destination."

"Surfing? All right! Now THIS is what I'm talking about!" Sonic grabbed a blue surfboard with a smirk. "I'd definitely take this over swimming!"

Sonic tossed the surfboard into the water, and with style, he leaped off the dock and landed perfectly on the surfboard. The blue hedgehog grinned as he took off.

"Why does he always like to show off?" Bombette asked.

"Beats me. Let's just get these surfboards." Chopper got on a surfboard and took off. For some, they didn't even need a surfboard due to their abilities. However, Bombette had a harder time using a surfboard due to the lack of arms.

"You guys make this way too easy!" the pink Bob-omb yelled, struggling to keep balance.

"Just relax and stay balanced," Chopper suggested. "This is just like with Bruce..."

"Well, it's not my fault that I'm a cute Bob-omb! I can't balance with no arms! If I fall off, I swear I'm going to EXPLODE! YOU'LL BE…" Bombette paused and noticed she was doing just fine. "Wait... Never mind. This isn't that difficult."

"At least you're doing better than Bang," Night said, looking over at Bang, who was constantly falling off his board and getting back on.

For the rest of the group, surfing wasn't so difficult. Scrub was having a blast on his surfboard, and Sonic was showing off by doing a couple of tricks in the air. Heartsy tried to surf up to Chopper to kiss him, but she wasn't paying much attention to what was ahead, and she ended up crashing into a rock. Tamber laughed, while Vivian helped her up.

After everything was back in order, they spotted a hideout just up ahead.

"Hey, Chopper… Is that where we're supposed to go?" Blade asked.

"Yeah, that's it," Chopper confirmed. "Let's head over there, OK?"

And with that, they headed over to the hideout.

* * *

**Inside of the hideout-**

Everyone managed to make it into the hideout. There was a big entrance big enough for a ship to go into. It was a large docking bay that could fit about three ships inside. They decided to ditch the surfboards and get on land, where they shook off any water still on them.

"Now THAT was fun!" Sonic remarked. "So... This is supposed to be the base for the next baddy you faced before?"

"Well, something like that," Chopper answered, walked out of the room and into a hallway with bluish green walls. The hallway eventually led them to two pairs of stairs. One going up and one going down. He went up, just like the others. This led them into a room with a door just up ahead and a pool of water below.

"There's water even in this place?" Bombette asked.

"Well, this base is on the water..." Heartsy pointed out, following the group to the door ahead into a long hallway. There wasn't any security around, so they simply progressed up to the large door. This had led them into a much larger room with a table in the corner. There was another door nearby, which Chopper had entered. Unfortunately, he soon realized what it was when he noticed the hole just up ahead leading outside.

"Uh oh..." Chopper gulped.

"What do you mean 'uh oh'?" Blade asked.

"This is that room..."

"What room?" Shadower asked.

Chopper did not have long to speak, as the ground began to shake. They turned and saw a burst of water firing toward them. The water was strong enough to push them forward and into the hole in the floor ahead.

* * *

**Outside-**

"Yar har har! So, mateys… Are ye ready to sail the seas again like before?" a skeleton wearing a purple shirt, a pirate hat, an eye patch, and a gray jacket asked his fellow pirates. Another thing to note about this pirate was his peg leg on his right foot. It was made of steel.

"Yeah, cap'n! We're all ready!" one pirate replied.

"Arr! Good! It be a long time since we sailed the seven seas! Without that boy, we're free to do what we want!" Captain Steelfoot grinned, holding his cutlass up. However, when he heard something fall on the ship, he took notice of the water pouring onto the ship. "Mateys! There be something wrong with that faucet room..."

"What is it, cap'n?" another pirate asked.

"We don't have any crates we need here! Unless..." Steelfoot noticed a couple of figures lying on the ship. One, in particular, he recognized. "Chopper?! What… What are ye doin' here?!"

"Ugh... Wait... You're here?" Chopper gawked. "That's convenient..."

"I thought ye'd be outta this planet! What do ye want?"

"Well, maybe you should turn around and look at what's coming," Chopper suggested, pointing to the huge darkness behind them. Steelfoot took notice, and his jaw dropped.

"Are ye kiddin' me?! Mateys… We… We need to get away from that darkness!" demanded Steelfoot. All of the pirates obeyed and got themselves ready to take off.

"Actually, we'd like to go to the Poison Forest."

"Who said I'd be helpin' ye?" Steelfoot said, aiming his weapon at him. "Yer on my ship, boy! Plus, ye an' I have a bit of bad history! Like I'd help me enemy!"

"But we need to look for something important!" Bombette pointed out.

"An' I don't care! I'll make ye walk the plank, an' then you'll be caught in that darkness!"

"I guess we have no choice..." Chopper trailed, changing to his Pirate ability. "Let's settle this!"

"Heh heh... That's just what I wanted to see!" Steelfoot grinned.

**Tattle: **_That's Captain Steelfoot. He's a captain that sails the sea. Y'know, the usual stuff. ...Except he has a peg leg made of steel. Yikes... Max HP is 320, Attack is 15, and Defense is 1. He'll mostly attack you with his sword or his gun. He'll even try breathing ghostly flames on you if he ends up resorting to that. It says here that he lost his leg to a monster called the Undertoe. I don't know whether to find that name weird or hilarious.  
_

"Blade! Bang! Night! You guys take care of the other pirates. We'll handle Steelfoot!" Chopper pulled his cutlass out and swung at Steelfoot.

"We're on it! And then we can prove that ninjas are better than pirates!" Blade pulled his katana out and began to fight the pirates. Bang pulled his sniper rifle out and defeated the navigator, while Night switched to the axe part of his axe hammer and hit the other pirates.

"Ye think ye can win with just a cutlass? I'M pirate material here!" Steelfoot scoffed, only to be blown up by Bombette.

"Yer goin' down, matey!" Bombette exclaimed in a pirate accent. "...Was that how I once spoke?"

"That's nothin' like a REAL pirate! Yer a poor excuse fer a pirate!" Steelfoot growled, swinging his cutlass at Bombette and knocking her back. Unfortunately, this did not make her happy, and she exploded in front of Steelfoot again. Chopper, meanwhile, made a cannon come out of his mouth to fire a cannonball at Steelfoot.

"That thing looks so funny and stupid at the same time," Tamber snickered.

"Argh... You annoying little...!" Steelfoot groaned, fixing his hat. He aimed his pistol at Chopper and fired, doing 15 damage to the Star Warrior. "So, how did that feel?"

"Just like most attacks..." Chopper trailed. "But I'm not letting that stop me."

Chopper jumped toward Steelfoot with his cutlass and took 9 out of him with one swing. Shadower followed up with a Shadow Punch, lowering his defense to 0.

Steelfoot shot Shadower with his gun, which he managed to guard against. "Ack! So ye bring yer fists up an' ye guard it? What is the meaning of this?!"

"Well, it's called 'Guarding'. Ever thought of that, Steelfoot?" Chopper asked. Steelfoot looked confused, giving the Star Warrior an opportunity to strike him with a Gravity Jump. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting him to be off guard like that..."

Steelfoot cringed from the powerful attack, not seeing Bombette walk to him and strike him with another Bomb attack. This had ended up bringing him down to 226 HP.

"Hey! Why can't we have a turn?!" Tamber yelled.

"Maybe if you stopped complaining, you'd probably get a chance," Bombette said.

Tamber pouted, only before he ended up getting knocked back by Steelfoot's steel foot. "What? I was plannin' on hittin' Chopper, but this fool ends up gettin' in me way!"

"Ow! Hey!" Tamber rubbed the side of his head and started to steam with anger. "That's it! Now I'm mad! Taste my POWER PUNCH!"

Tamber began to store some energy in his fist, and when he rushed straight at Steelfoot, he delivered Power Punch. He managed to knock the captain by the mast of the ship with his head upside down. After Chopper struck him with his cutlass, he was now getting angry. Steelfoot grabbed his head and adjusted it so it was no longer upside down,

"Have some of THIS!" Steelfoot turned one of the cannons toward Tamber and fired a cannonball at him. It had hit him, making him take 15 damage. Chopper retaliated against Steelfoot and shot a cannonball at him, while Mario attacked him with his hammer.

Steelfoot aimed at Mario and fired, but unfortunately his attack was guarded. Not only that, but his minions were not having the best of luck either. They were losing pretty badly to Blade, Bang, and Night. When he took a look at them, he was hit by Chopper's cutlass and Kirby's Final Cutter, bringing him to 165 HP.

"Poyo! (This attack feels so satisfying when I use it!)" Kirby remarked.

"Urgh... I shouldn't let myself be so distracted so easily... Yer in fer it now, pinky!" Captain Steelfoot fired at Kirby and blew the smoke off it afterwards. "Too bad this weapon doesn't work as well in real life."

"What do you mean?" Chopper asked.

"This weapon would eliminate you if we were more realistic. Too bad that ain't the case."

"Oh… Well, I'm getting bored of this ability." Chopper decided to change to his Ninja-Pirate ability and pulled out a kunai knife. When he threw it at Steelfoot, it exploded upon impact. "You go next, Vivian!"

Vivian nodded and sank into the shadows and rose up in front of Captain Steelfoot. Her Shade Fist managed to leave a burn on him.

"Argh! Shiver me timbers! I've… I've been scorched!" Steelfoot gaped. He ran up to the cannon fired a cannonball straight at Vivian. She managed to Superguard it, leaving Steelfoot surprised. "Gah! They didn't work? Blasphemy!"

Steelfoot decided to go over to Chopper and swing at him, but Chopper easily dodged it and took out a cutlass to swing at him. Heartsy swung her hammer at him afterward to deal another 9 damage. Unfortunately, this led to her getting scorched by Steelfoot breathing ghostly flames on her. Chopper threw an explosive kunai at him, and when Scrub used his Gulp, he was down to 96 HP.

"Yarr! This isn't right! How are ye takin' me down like this?! ARGH!" Steelfoot kicked Chopper with his steel foot, which managed to deal 17 damage due to its power.

After realizing he did heavy damage to Chopper, Steelfoot decided to laugh, but when he got hurt from the burn effect, he stopped laughing. Thankfully, his burn had worn off, but it didn't stop Chopper and Sonic from attacking him, doing 19 damage altogether.

"You're going down!" Sonic smirked, pointing at Steelfoot.

"So... Ye can go into a ball, huh?" Steelfoot pondered with a grin. "Well, this gives me a little idea..."

He rushed at Sonic and used his steel foot to kick him, knocking him back to Chopper. Before he could attack them again, Bombette used her Bomb to take 9 out of him, and then Chopper got up and swung his cutlass at him, bringing him to 57 HP.

"Ha HA!" Blade threw the driver overboard and grabbed the wheel. "Chopper! I got the driver! Where do we need to go?"

"Ummmm... Northeast?" Chopper shrugged. "I think that's where that poison forest place is..."

Night climbed up to the mast of the ship and got out binoculars. Taking a look through them, he spotted the next continent. "Yeah! That's where it is, Blade!"

"OK, I'll head there now!"

"What have ye done to me crew?!" Steelfoot gaped, noticing his crew was all gone. "That's it! Yer all goin' to be sleepin' with the fishes!"

Opening his mouth, blue pupils formed in Steelfoot's eyes as he breathed a large amount of ghostly flames on the group, dealing 17 to them all. Not only that, but they were left with a nasty burn as well. Regardless, Chopper swung his cutlass at him, and Mario leaped in the air and hit him with his Super Jump.

Mario: Give up!"

"No way!" the captain roared swinging at Chopper with his weapon, but he ended up missing.

"You missed!" Chopper bragged as he slashed him with his cutlass, looking a little silly in the process.

"You little…!" Steelfoot attempted to swing at him, but since he was distracted, Bombette exploded in front of him, leaving the captain with 17 HP. Steelfoot took his anger out on Bombette and kicked her. This ended up leaving a dent on her, and she was not too pleased.

"You... What have you done to me?!" Bombette hissed.

"Yo ho ho! While I wish it could've done more, I'm not too disappointed!" Steelfoot laughed.

"You know, it's not easy for a Bob-omb to recover from a dent... And do you know what happens when a Bob-omb such as myself is left with a dent?"

"No, but I frankly do not care."

"Oh, you will care..." Bombette trailed, a mix between calmness and anger in her voice. "Chopper..."

"Yeah?"

"I suggest you attack him right now..."

"Wait... But-"

"Just do it before I explode!"

Not wanting to get her anger, Chopper zipped his lip and threw an explosive kunai at Steelfoot. With that, Bombette charged toward Steelfoot.

"You're going down, along with your ship!" Bombette roared.

"Wait! Don't bring the ship down, Bombette! We need it!" Vivian warned.

Realizing that, Bombette suddenly froze in place and turned to Vivian.

"Wait... Really?"

"Duh!" Blade shouted from the background. "Why do you think I'm trying to drive this ship?"

"Oh... Well, good thing I didn't explode at that moment." Bombette sighed, turning back to Steelfoot. "Now... Let's do this without blowing the ship up."

With one Bomb attack, Steelfoot had been defeated, and Chopper leveled up and upgraded his FP to 140. As they celebrated their victory, Steelfoot's body parts began to rain from the sky and into the water.

"ARGH!" Steelfoot yelled, his head landing on the ship. "Curse you, Chopper and you, pink Bob-omb! Look what you've done to me!"

"Oh shut up," Bombette said, kicking his head off the ship. "I was getting sick of him and his annoying accent."

"Whew! That takes care of that!" Chopper stretched as he removed his Ninja-Pirate ability. "Good job, guys! Especially you, Bombette. You could say that you ended the fight...with a bang!"

"...You know, I think I'm considering blowing up this ship."

"No, please don't!"

"Hey! We did something too! We took care of his crew!" Bang exclaimed. "We did a good job too!"

"Yeah, well, you really weren't fighting that much," Blade pointed out. "I wonder... Can this thing go any faster?"

"Yeah, we could probably do that with Flyer's hel-" Chopper paused, his expression changing back to a frown. "Right... Never mind."

Everyone decided to relax and get a nice view of the water as they traveled toward the forest up ahead. Unfortunately, little did they know that a crazy bean was latched onto the back of the ship.

"I have following!" Fawful cackled quietly, trying not to get the other's attention.

* * *

**Hey, look! It's Fawful! He's here as well!  
**

**Originally, the hologram scene in the temple was supposed to be something else, but I thought it would be a more interesting idea to have Sir Lancelon speak about the Crystal Stars and the darkness. Also, if you couldn't tell, Lancelon's name is pretty much based off Lancelot, since there's a Sir Arthur (who he follows, ironically).**


	120. The Poison Forest

Flyer was standing in the center of a circle in this strange, dark world, being surrounded by the Shadow Sirens and Brothers. He looked around him and then below, noticing a glowing outlined circle colored in pink.

"Now, Flyer… This little ritual will allow us to give some of our powers to you." Beldam explained. "We shadow beings have the ability to share powers to others, including non-shadow beings like yourself."

"You're going to give me all of your power?" Flyer gawked.

"No, not all of it. Besides, you won't need all of our powers to defeat Chopper and his poor excuse of friends."

"So you're going to do the easy way? That is not going to be helpful." Tipral said with folded arms. "It's be much easier to make him learn these things on his own."

"Oh, pipe down, shadow-freak!" Mysterious snapped. "You have no part in helping him, and therefore, you cannot tell us what to do!"

"Guuuh!" Marilyn grunted.

Tipral ignored him and walked away. Meanwhile, Purple had taken the book off the shelf and opened it to the right page. He looked through it for a brief moment before showing the writing to Mysterious.

"Thank you, Purple…" Mysterious said, eyeing the writing. "To get started, we all must place our hands on Flyer's head. We will then transfer some of our power into him, then he will gain those powers."

"Guhhhhhh…?" Marilyn grunted in confusion.

"Let us do this, Marilyn!" Beldam suggested.

Beldam, Marilyn, Mysterious, and Purple all placed their hand on Flyer's head, while he knelt on the floor.. Doopliss had done the same thing, but Beldam slapped his hand away.

"Hey! What's the big deal?" Doopliss asked.

"You don't have the same ability to transfer power into someone like us, freak-sheet," Beldam informed. "Plus, no one would want your transformation powers anyway!"

"Now… It should be any second!" Beldam assured. Flyer started to feel some cold energy flowing within him, along with earth, electric, and water energy. "Hmph… If only we had Vivian here, we would get a hold of some fire magic. Unfortunately, that is not the case..."

"Bah! Who really needs fire on our side?" Mysterious scoffed. "He has more than enough to help him!"

"Very well!" Beldam removed her hand from Flyer's head as he got up. He looked at his gloves and he saw sparks on his left hand and ice on his right. "So, it looks like we succeeded! How do you feel, Flyer?"

"This power... It feels incredible!" Flyer gaped, his expression turning to an evil grin. "This should be more than enough to help me defeat those fools..."

"Now we just need to teach you how to use your magic," Mysterious said. "And that is something we shall get to right away!"

* * *

**Near the Poison Forest-**

The travel to the poison forest had remained silent, especially when they looked behind them and stared at the darkness creeping their way. The darkness had now reached Steelfoot's hideout, which seemed to disappear within the darkness's shadows.

"My gosh... I can't believe Steelfoot is caught in that darkness just like Stoneard..." Chopper trailed. "Even if they weren't the friendliest out there, they don't deserve that kind of fate..."

Many others were horrified by the darkness's consumption as the wind started to blow to their sides.

"You know... Thinking about it, if Flyer's still on this planet..." Shadower started. "Is it possible that he had ended up...?"

"If he did... Oh, no..." Chopper frowned.

"There may be hope. Maybe he's not trapped in that darkness." Heartsy noted, though when she noticed the darkness get closer, she gulped. "Uhhh... How far are we to our next destination?"

"Not too far..." Blade trailed.

"Make it go faster, Blade!" Bang complained.

"You told me that last chapter!"

"Well... Uhhh... Make it go faster!"

Blade found a stick near his foot and threw it at Bang, knocking him to the floor. The dog slowly got up and mumbled a few things about Blade before looking at the water. He noticed it was starting to change from blue to a light purple.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm thirsty..." Bang sighed. "I'm gonna have a drink."

"Wait! Don't drink from there!" Chopper cried, pulling him away.

"Yes, I know it's salt water! I'm drinking it anyway!"

"But that water's poisonous!"

"It is? Whoa... Thanks for the heads-up, kid!" Bang sighed, sitting on the ship. Suddenly, he felt another feeling in his stomach. One all too familiar. "Oh, man... I'm not feeling good."

"What is it this time, Bang?" Blade asked.

"I gotta go again! Where's the poop deck?"

"Bang, poop decks are not for... Well, you know."

"Then what are they for? Huh?"

"They're for..." Blade paused, pondering for a moment. "Actually, I don't know what they're for either. I just know the name."

"Why don't you use a bathroom for a change?" Bombette suggested in an annoyed tone.

"OK! OK! Fine!" Bang rushed into the bathroom and took care of business. Blade continued his driving and had went into the forest. Unfortunately, that was when he, along with the others, felt the ship come to a halt.

"Bad news, guys... We can't keep moving." Blade noted, seeing the river's width was not wide enough. "We're going on foot from here."

"And I don't see how we can get off this ship either!" Scrub added, noticing that there was no bridge for them to use. "Got any ideas, Contadre?"

"Well... Hmmmm…" Chopper noticed that there was, coincidentally, a paper airplane panel on the ship. It appeared to lead onto the grass in this dark green forest. "Hey, look! A paper airplane panel! We haven't seen these in a while!"

"Paper airplane panel?" Night gawked, getting off the navigator's area. "The heck are you talking about?"

"This can help us get onto land!"

"Oh... Well, that sounds nice."

"All right... Let's see if I remember to use this..." Chopper jumped, causing him to transform into a paper airplane. His partners joined him, and with that, he began to glide off the ship, over the poison water, and onto land. Once he landed, he transformed back to normal. "That was actually fun!"

"Hey! What about us?!" Bang yelled. "We need to get off of here too!"

"Or we can just leave them..." Tamber muttered.

"After breaking into my house? No way!" Chopper objected before he searched around the area. He noticed a tree right beside him, so he whacked at it with his hammer to make a blue ! switch fall out. "Maybe this will do something?"

Chopper gave the switch a good kick, which triggered the ground to shake. Right by the ship, a couple of cardboard turtles rose up from the water.

"Nice! I bet that'll help 'em get across!" Scrub smirked.

Blade, Bang, and Night began to hop onto each turtle, making sure they didn't touch the water. Thankfully, none of them had touched the toxic waters and made it to the others. Unfortunately, during that moment, Chopper didn't notice an indigo, carnivorous plant with poisonous fangs appear behind him and lunge.

"Heads up, Chopper!" Blade drew his katana and slashed at the plant with one swing. The Poison Plant fell to the ground and disintegrated into smoke. Chopper took notice of it, and was relieved.

"Whoa… That was too close… Thanks, Blade." Chopper thanked until he began to cough, due to the poison in the air. Everyone else but Night began to cough too. "Oh, great… I almost forgot to mention the air around here is filled with poison. This is why I…_cough_…don't like this place!"

Chopper decided to go to the menu and check the "Description" for the area he was in. When he saw the place's description, he was not too pleased.

_This place is called Poison Forest. It is the home of many poison creatures…and the Tupans, some deadly minions of a girl named Princess Poisna, who rules the Poison Forest. Only they can stand the poison environment around here. Walking around here is so dangerous, that you will begin to __**lose HP every fifteen seconds**__ within this forest. The water here can make you __**lose**__** five HP every thirty seconds**__. Be VERY careful around here._

"Oh... This isn't good... I think this place is going to be very…" Chopper began coughing from the poison and lost 1 HP in the process. Everyone else lost 1 HP as well. At this point, they knew they couldn't stay here any longer.

"Guys! Let's not waste our time talking! We gotta get moving!" Sonic exclaimed, only for everyone to cough afterward.

"Ugh... This place is worse than my grandmother's house!" Bang grumbled. "I bet it'll be boring here..."

"Wait... Didn't that description mention someone named Princess Poisna?" Blade wondered. "I mean, she sounds like a chick..."

"You mean there's a hot chick waiting for me in this place?"

"Yeah," Night answered.

"Then you're doing me a great favor! Time to go rescue this princess!" Bang declared, running off first.

"But... Poisna is kinda human-like and evil..." Chopper trailed. "How will that work?"

"Beats me, but I bet it'll be funny!" Tamber snickered, only to lose 1 HP again. When the others lost their HP, they were forced to follow Bang ahead.

The dirt trail they took was nothing special. Many bushes, however, had surrounded them as they continued to move. They did notice some Master X-Nauts patrolling the forest. However, unlike them, they were wearing gas masks.

"Dang those gas masks! I hate it when they have to have those kinds of things while we have nothing!" Scrub wheezed, his voice being loud enough to catch the two Master X-Nauts' attention.

"Hey! There he is! Stop him!" the two Master X-Nauts began firing at Chopper. He jumped out of the way to dodge, but the poison made him cough and land on the ground. Because he was off guard, he ended up getting hit.

"This environment is so bad for us that we can barely do anything!" Shadower wheezed, hitting both of the Master X-Nauts with his Shadow Smite, making them get knocked back over by a bridge made of cardboard up ahead.

"Looks like we found a…_cough_…bridge up ahead." Sonic wheezed. "We should…_hack_…find out where it leads to…"

"Wait a second…" Chopper trailed, noticing something he wasn't wearing. "Why didn't I put the Feeling Fine and Feeling Fine P Badge on?"

"Feeling Fine Badge?" Tamber gawked.

"It helps us become immune to status effects like poison."

"And you didn't just put it on in the first place?! We're dying here, puffball!"

Despite Tamber's insults, Chopper equipped both Feeling Fine Badges. Suddenly, everyone stopped coughing, and they didn't appear to be affected by the poison around them.

"There we go!" Chopper sighed. "Much better."

"What about us?" Blade asked.

"Uhhh... Take the masks from those X-Nauts?"

"Good plan," Bang said, putting on a gas mask, along with Blade. They didn't appear to be getting hurt by the poison. "What about you, Night?"

"I'm undead, remember? I don't need a mask." Night reminded.

Unfortunately, they did not notice the Master X-Nauts that spotted them over by the bridge. This time, one of them shot lightning out of his gun toward Chopper. He inhaled the attack and spat it at the Master X-Naut, knocking it off the bridge into the water. The other X-Naut helped his comrade out and noticed he was coughing.

"Dude… What just happened to you? You're…all purple!" gaped the Master X-Naut.

"Wh-What?!" the second Master X-Naut looked at himself and noticed the purple. Then, suddenly, his eyes widened in pain. "Oh, geez! I'm no feeling too good!"

"Don't worry, buddy! I'll help you!" Unfortunately, it was too late. The Master X-Naut collapsed on the ground. "Buddy? Buddy? Oh… Oh no! I don't believe it… He's gone."

"Uhh... I'm not dead." the Master X-Naut said, getting back up.

"Buddy! You're OK!"

"Of course I am! The water doesn't really affect our suits!"

"Oh..."

Having enough, Night took out his axe hammer and proceeded to beat the two Master X-Nauts. They were knocked away from the bridge, and they started to flee for their lives.

"Aw, man... They ran." Night frowned.

"I'm just worried about touching that water..." Shadower trailed. "It does look dangerous..."

"Yeah, let's be careful while crossing this bridge," Chopper said as he carefully crossed the bridge. "I probably don't want to turn sideways... I'd fall into this water..."

"Poyo... (That's true...)" Kirby agreed. When Chopper had crossed the bridge, he was hit by a First Strike from a Master X-Naut.

"Gotcha!" the Master X-Naut took 15 out of him, but he met his demise when he got pummeled down by Chopper and Heartsy's hammers. He dropped 4 Star Points, a couple of Hearts and Flowers, and a Banana Shroom. The Star Warrior was more than happy to take the item.

"If only they made a Pizza Shroom..." Chopper sighed.

"Poyo, (I'd be fine with any food,)" Kirby said.

After going over the bridge, they found a small little river with a couple of cardboard turtles floating on it. Chopper jumped on the turtle and waited patiently for another pathway. It was when he saw a sign with a red exclamation mark that he jumped onto another floating turtle taking another pathway through the river.

It was long before everyone got off of the turtles and entered an area with floating platforms moving left and right on the poison water. To Mario, this reminded him of those areas in Mt. Lavalva that required platforming. Except here, it was poison water instead of lava.

Mario took a deep breath and made a big leap over the poison water and onto the platform that was floating away. To his relief, he successfully landed. There were also a couple of floating barrels on the water too when he reached the second platform.

Mario: It's all right! You guys can go!

Chopper shrugged and leaped onto the platforms and then onto one of the barrels. He looked over at the area's background, which had a waterfall and some poisonous clouds. For a moment, Chopper thought he saw something in there. He shuddered and jumped across the barrels and onto land near a pathway between two bushes.

To his surprise, Bang was already there.

Mario: How'd you get here?

"I found a shortcut," Bang answered proudly. Unfortunately, Blade ended up hearing, and he was less than pleased when he approached him.

"And... Why didn't you tell us this?" Blade asked.

"It's not my fault that you guys went on ahead already!" the dog yelled, quickly turning away from them. "Anyway, I found a large gap up ahead, and I couldn't get across."

Curious, Chopper decided to run on ahead and ended up stopping near the edge of a cliff. Looking down, he saw a wide, poisonous river, and a waterfall to his right. To the left, he saw the river leading out to the ocean. From this view, the water looked gorgeous.

"Wow… I love how the water looks." Vivian remarked.

"I've seen better," Tamber shrugged, while Chopper noticed a pathway across the gap.

"Er… I think there used to be a bridge here..." Chopper trailed. "But, it's gone now."

"What do you think happened to it?" Scrub asked, looking down at the large jump below. His eyes widened in fear. "Oh, boy… That's a LONG way down!"

"How are we supposed to get across?" Bombette asked.

"I don't know about you guys, but I know how I'm going to get across," Tamber said, gliding across the gap and landing safely, giving the others a smirk.

"Is there anything over there?" Shadower asked.

"Nope. Nor do I really care."

"What a jerk," Bang remarked, receiving a look from Blade and Night. "What?"

"Well, I don't think my hammer can make you cross this gap, Choppy..." Heartsy trailed, looking at the range of the gap. "Gee, I sure feel useless."

"I don't get why that chick keeps calling him by that name," Bang whispered from the side.

"Nobody cares, Bang," Blade mumbled.

"I think I might have an idea," Chopper said after a moment of pondering. "It might be a little dangerous, though… Or… We can go to the other plan!"

"Poyo? (And what would that be?)" Kirby asked.

"You can use your Inhale to find anything hidden around here."

Kirby shrugged and walked up to the front of the group to use his Inhale ability. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything around, so Kirby eventually stopped.

"Poyo... (Aw, man...)" Kirby pouted.

"Well, I guess it's Plan B," Chopper changed to his Wing ability and jumped off the cliff. Some were shocked at first, but they soon found Chopper flying. He reached the other side and found a blue ! switch behind a bush. "Hey! There was something here! You lied, Tamber!"

"Technically, I didn't search," Tamber answered, not appearing to care one bit. Chopper jumped on the switch, and a bridge was created. It opened out in the manner of opening a cardboard box.

"Well that takes care of the bridge!" Sonic grinned, running across the bridge with the others. Heartsy turned around and saw that the darkness was getting close to the forest.

"Oh, man… That darkness is catching up fast" Heartsy gaped. "Though, at least it hasn't reached the forest yet..."

They quickly moved onward, getting a glimpse of what appeared to be a forked road. There were two pathways, with literally a fork being in between them. Bang commented on the fork, but nobody seemed to care. Chopper led them to the left pathway, which would eventually lead them to their destination.

* * *

**Castle entrance-**

After five minutes of walking, they managed to make their way all the way to the entrance of the castle. The drawbridge was already down, which many. A poison scent could be smelt from the inside of the castle as well.

"What's that horrible smell?" Bombette asked.

"Poison..." Chopper trailed. "And it's pretty bad. I liked the casino place better anyway..."

"Casino?" Sonic gawked.

"Long story..." Chopper charged into the castle, reaching the first room. It had a long, red rug leading to the door ahead. It was mostly vacant, but the thing that caught their eyes the most were the jewels.

"Wow! We hit the jackpot!" Tamber grinned. "Let's take 'em!"

"But... They're not real..."

"Then what are they?"

Sighing, Chopper decided to spill the beans on what the jewels were. Many of them were left in shock.

"Whoa... I'd never think that was possible..." Scrub gaped. "You sure about this?"

"Yeah. She even admitted it to me."

"Hey, who's this picture of this girl here?" Night asked, seeing a girl with purple hair in two ponytails surrounded by a poison mist. She also had purple eyes, a purple robe with a green diamond in the center and purple, diamond-shaped earrings. Her face appeared more human-like compared to people like Trinado or Steelfoot.

"That's...Poisna."

"Is that the princess you were talking about, what's-your-face?" Bang asked, drooling at the picture. "Man, what a hottie!"

"Dude... Are you serious?" Blade asked, looking appalled.

"What? You got a problem with me being interested in her?"

"Bang... Do you see how much different you and her... Actually, I'm just going to stop there."

"Why?"

"Because you're impossible to reason with," Blade answered honestly, turning away from him.

They decided to put that topic aside and move onward. Unfortunately, even after traveling through a few hallways and up a few staircases, they still found no sign of any enemies. Only jewelry and pictures and statues of Poisna found, which Bang continued to drool over. It wasn't long until they reached the top floor leading up to the roof of the castle.

"Well... That was much easier than I thought." Chopper remarked, hitting the Save Block and Heart Block. He then approached the ladder and climbed to the ceiling where a latch was. "All right... I'm sure there's something up here."

After opening the latch, he and the others started to make their way up to the roof.

* * *

**Roof-**

"Ugh… I can't believe that the darkness is coming closer…" Poisna grumbled, watching the darkness reach the forest. "Plus, there's the fact that nothing interesting has happened for two years!"

She rested her hand on his cheek while putting her elbow on the roof's railing. Poisna looked down at the burnt down trees around an empty battlefield. "I wonder how those other annoying freaks are holding up. I hadn't seen them in a while. Then again, I think it's for the better."

Unfortunately, her peace and quiet was interrupted when she heard many figures walk onto the roof. Poisna whirled around, and her eyes widened in surprise at the one figure she easily noticed.

"Chopper?! What are YOU doing here?!" exclaimed Poisna.

"Wait... So is this the chick who was all over those walls?" Tamber asked.

"Yes..." Chopper whispered.

"Well, hello there, lady!" Bang zipped over to Poisna with a smug look. "So, you're the princess of this place, are you not? Well, your prince has arrived! The name's Prince Bang IV. I come from the Boomtastic family!"

"This is gonna be good," Night snickered, getting a bag of popcorn out.

"Why do I need a prince? I'm perfectly fine on my own." Poisna said, giving Bang an annoyed look. "Plus, look at yourself! You and I don't mix!"

"What? C'mon! We certainly do!" Bang guffawed.

"No. Jewels and I mix perfectly fine."

"Typical Poisna…" Chopper trailed.

"You think that's funny? Well then…" Poisna began, a smirk appearing on her face. "How would you like it if I sent you toward that dark sky?"

"Uhhh... I don't want that..." the Star Warrior noticed the catapult and ran to it. "Come on, guys! We can take this out of this forest!"

"Oh no you don't! I'll be the one that's getting out with this!" Poisna jumped in, trying to get on the catapult, but Chopper managed to throw her off. In the end, they ended up fighting over it. That was, until Chopper ended up turning the catapult to soot with a fireball unintentionally.

"Look what you did, Chopper… YOU BURNT MY CATAPULT!" Poisna grabbed Chopper and began to shake him violently.

"Hey! Get off of my Choppy!" Heartsy yelled, drawing her hammer and swinging it at Poisna. This managed to send him flying off the castle. Unfortunately, since she still held Chopper, he got sent flying off too.

"Ha ha ha!" Tamber laughed. "I wish I could replay that!"

Vivian quickly sank into the shadows to follow him, which left everyone else on the roof to look down. However, they ended up leaping off the roof to follow Chopper and Poisna.

* * *

Thankfully, the two were not too hurt from the fall, nor Heartsy's hammer. Poisna was the first to get up, and she continued to shake Chopper angrily.

"Ugh… You stupid little kid! You destroyed my catapult!" Poisna yelled, gritting her teeth.

"Hey! I didn't plan on doing that!" Chopper yelled back, dropping to the ground. "I just wanted to leave this place!"

"Oh, really? Well, I'm not letting you out so easily!" Poisna declared, summoning her silver staff. It appeared to have a purple jewel on the tip of the staff. "Getting rid of you will be the best thing in my life!"

**Tattle: **_That's Princess Poisna. She's supposedly the princess of this forest. Max HP is 330, Attack is 16, and Defense is 1. She'll normally try to hurt you with many poison abilities, but her Poison Bud attack might be a bit threatening. If she has them out, she can heal herself 40 HP each turn. That can be pretty annoying if you don't take care of those. If you have the Feeling Fine badge, then you don't need to worry about getting poisoned. That's the key to beating her. You hear me? The Feeling Fine badge!_

Chopper stretched a little before he struck Poisna using his Feather Gun on her, which was able to take 9 out of her. Poisna was about to make her move, but suddenly a shadow appeared by Chopper. Vivian emerged from the shadows beside him.

"Are you all right, Chopper?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Chopper assured. "Right now, we're fighting her. So... Yeah, you know what to do, right?"

Vivian understood and sank into the shadows and ended up emerging in front of Poisna to punch her with a fiery fist, burning her. Poisna nearly flinched, but it didn't stop her from shooting a purple beam at Chopper.

"I wonder... What's with you and purple?" Chopper wondered.

"That's none of your business. Bec—AAACK!" the burn status on Poisna took action and made her take 1 damage. Chopper shrugged before he charged straight at her with his Wing ability, knocking her onto the ashy ground.

"All right, Vivian! Go for it!" Chopper stepped out of the way so Vivian can attack her with another Shade Fist.

"You were lucky that time, Chopper!" Poisna grumbled as she got up. She fired another purple beam straight at him, knocking him back. However, he felt someone grab a hold of him before he could fall.

"It's all right! I got ya!" Blade assured.

"Whew! Thanks, Blade…" Chopper got up, only to notice his Wing ability was gone. "Crud... There goes my Wing ability. I guess it's hammer time, then."

Poisna gawked at him for a moment. "...What?"

The last thing she saw before getting in a daze was a hammer to her head. She angrily shook her head and attempted to blast him with her staff, but she felt another hammer hit her head. This time, it was Heartsy's.

"Well at least I managed to only get her this time," Heartsy sighed, lowering her hammer.

Poisna hissed at Heartsy and fired a bolt of purple lightning at her, but it didn't do any good. She managed to Superguard the attack, while Poisna got hurt by the burn status, which ended up wearing off.

"Say, Chopper… How about we use one of the Crystal Stars?" Sonic suggested. "We haven't used 'em in a while!"

"Yeah… You got a point there! I think we ought to use the Super Power Lift!" Chopper brought the Forest Star out and began to hit the red and blue arrows that appeared. He was able to raise their Attack by 6 and their Defense by 5. "There we go! Now we're ready to take Poisna down!"

"And with this power boost, this should go end quickly," Shadower smirked, attacking Poisna with his Shadow Punch, taking 15 out of her and lowering her defense to 0. Though he was pleased, he didn't see a purple beam coming his way.

_"This is just great…" _Poisna thought angrily._ "They raised their attack and defense… Now how am I supposed to take them down?"_

Chopper went with a simple jump, which was able to take 20 HP out of her. Tamber's Combo Punch managed to deal 18 damage, though he was annoyed that Chopper did more damage. But he was pleased to know that Poisna zapped Chopper instead. Of course, it had only done 10 damage due to the defense boost.

The ten-year-old landed another stomp on her due to its power. Scrub added in his Egg Throw as well, also taking 18 out of her as well.

"Yeah, you're right, Shadower! This IS too easy!" Scrub smirked. He brought his guard up and managed to endure Poisna's staff throw, only losing 9 HP. "You'll have to do better than that!"

"Grrr! I'm going to make you all pay!" Poisna hissed, now starting to fume.

"I was hoping this battle would be tough, but I guess our attacks are pretty tough for her to handle," Chopper said with disappointment as he hit Poisna with another jump. Mario also stomped on her as well, bringing her down to 131 HP.

"I guess I better do what I should've done before. Come on out, buds!" Poisna pulled out a couple of buds that immediately stuck to the ground. "Try all you want! These things can NEVER come off the ground! Attack me once and I'll heal!"

"Man... Why can't we just fight without healing abilities?" Chopper asked. What made things worse was that their Super Power Lift had worn off.

"Oh, look at that! You lost that power of yours too! I guess this should make things easier for me! Ha ha ha!"

"Oh, no... This isn't good..." Vivian trailed. "How will we get rid of those buds?"

"I can do that," Heartsy assured, getting her hammer ready. She used her Hearty Cyclone to spin around and create a pink cyclone on Poisna and the buds. The cyclone managed to pry them off the ground and hit Poisna.

"Wh-What?! H-How did you manage to stop them?!" Poisna gaped.

"Tornados are strong enough to pry off something like buds off the ground," Heartsy smirked. "OK, Choppy! Go get her!"

Chopper nodded and landed a Gravity Jump on Poisna, leaving her with 94 HP. She decided to strike Chopper with a toxic attack, firing poison energy directly at him. Unfortunately, her plan backfired, as he was not poisoned.

"Wait... Why didn't it work?" Poisna gawked.

"Feeling Fine Badge," Chopper answered quickly, hitting her with his hammer, being followed up by Bombette's Bomb.

"You should give up when you can," Bombette suggested. "The others refused, and they got their butts handed by us!"

"Yeah, give up so we can go out," Bang suggested.

"First off, not a chance. Second, in your dreams. And third..." Poisna grabbed Chopper and threw him at Bombette, knocking them onto the ground and leaving them dazed briefly.

"What about your dreams?"

Bang suddenly found himself in pain when Poisna fired an attack at his knee, making him fall down and clench his knee.

"Geez... Sometimes I feel bad for you." Blade remarked, helping his friend up. "Which in this case, I think I do."

"Who cares at the moment? We still need to take this freak down!" Tamber mentioned as he rushed over to her and punched her with his Combo Punch. Chopper landed a Power Smash on her afterward, bringing her down to 54 HP.

Poisna didn't dare to say anything. Though, she smirked when she noticed the amount of HP Chopper had left after she fired another purple beam at him.

"Perfect… Even from taking all that damage, you're still going to be done for! Heh heh heh!" Poisna cackled.

"Oh yeah? Well, watch this!" Chopper pulled out a Star Shroom, and after eating it, he recovered 150 HP. "Mmmmmmmm… Much better!"

"Chopper, try not to pay attention to the mushroom…" Sonic suggested. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to do much, so Sonic hit Poisna with a Spin Dash.

"Ugh… I can't go down just yet…" Poisna summoned a bush made of thorns to attack Sonic, taking 16 out of him. It didn't stop Chopper from hitting her with a hammer Vivian from using her Shade Fist, though. Poisna attacked Chopper with a bush this time. Luckily, his Superguard came into use, and he avoided the attack with ease.

"Ha HA! Now let's get to business!" Chopper pulled his hammer out again and smacked her with it. When Vivian attacked her with another Shade Fist, she was down to 8 HP.

"Urk! Fools…" Poisna blew a purple mist from her mouth toward Chopper and his friends. Though it managed to deal 6 damage, they were not poisoned. "Oh, come on!"

"Well... I guess one of you guys can deliver the final blow." Chopper decided. "Want to do the honors, Vivian?"

"Ummm… OK." Vivian sank into the shadows and rose up in front of Poisna. With one simple fiery punch, she was able to make the princess collapse.

"_Ooooooooooog…_" Poisna groaned, dropping enough Star Points for Chopper to level up. He decided to raise his BP all the way to 84. At that moment, Poisna now started to see star. "_Hnnnuurgh… I guess I'm done…_"

"Will she be all right?" Vivian asked, feeling a little guilty.

"I think she'll be fine, Vivian," Chopper assured. "But right now, we can't worry about her. We gotta get moving."

"Well… I guess your right." the Shadow Siren said, giving him a shy smile.

"Well, time to get our butts outta here," Bang suggested.

"Yeah, you're right, Bang. Let's not waste any time." Chopper agreed. "Luckily, I know a place where we can go! It's up north...but it's cold."

Nearly everyone let out a groan.

"That sounds like no problem for me!" Tamber assured smugly. "Luckily, my fur will keep me warm from the cold!"

When he opened his eyes, he saw that the others had already started to get moving. "HEY! Don't leave me here!"

Like an enraged echidna, Tamber started to chase after his "friends".


	121. Lord Crump's Secret Base

"Doo doo doo doo…" the Paratroopa postman wearing a light blue shell, who was donning a brown pilot's helmet and carried a postbag was singing as he flew around in the jungle looking for Chopper's house. "Man, I can't believe I'm actually going to be delivering a letter to Chopper! It's been like, two years since I've seen the little guy! I wonder how he's doing right now. Same goes for that friend of his."

He ended up spotting a giant mushroom house nearby, and he flew over to the house. "Hmmmmm... Could this be Chopper's house? It is the only one around here, after all..."

When he flew to the mailbox, he saw the name "Chopper" labeled on it. Smiling, he opened the mailbox and put in the letter.

"Mail call!"

He was hoping to see if a certain Star Warrior would come out, but to his surprise, he didn't. He decided to shout the same phrase again, but once again, nobody came out. Though this was not something a postman such as Parakarry would do, he decided to fly over to the window. Nobody appeared to be inside.

"Well… Looks like he isn't home." Parakarry frowned. "That's a shame... I really wanted to see him after all these years."

Unfortunately, he didn't notice three shadows rise from the ground. Two of them were obviously Beldam and Mysterious, but the third figure didn't appear to be Marilyn or Purple. In fact, this figure had wings on his head...

"This ability is very useful," Flyer remarked, surprised by this new power.

"So, Flyer... We shall begin by testing your magic out on something." Mysterious explained, eyeing Parakarry with a grin. "And thankfully, we've found someone we could test it on!"

"I think I recognize that guy..." Flyer trailed with a smirk. "But I don't care. Testing my magic on him will be interesting."

"Be my guest, Flyer. I'm sure you can pull it off after your training." Beldam grinned as Flyer began to use his magic. He was ready to fire a lightning spell at the postman.

"Well, I guess I might as well leave," Parakarry declared, walking away from the house. However, he took notice of Flyer and gasped. "Fl-Flyer? Is that really you?"**  
**

"Yes, it's me," Flyer answered bluntly.

"Boy, am I glad to see you," the Paratroopa sighed, flying over to him. "Say... Haven't you seen Chopper lately?"

"No, nor do I really care. I'm sure he's been caught in that darkness lingering over this planet."

For some reason, Parakarry looked at him suspiciously, noticing two figures behind him. "Say, Flyer... Who are those two figures over there?"

"Do me a favor and hold still," Flyer suggested, his hand becoming surrounded in sparks. "I need a target to test my magic."

"Target? What do you... Uh oh..." Parakarry gulped. "Don't tell me you..."

A bolt of lightning was fired, but it had barely hit Parakarry. He flinched and backed away from him.

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

"Because I don't get much respect from my so-called 'friends'!" Flyer barked. "At least these people here are giving me respect. They're helping me."

Parakarry looked back at Beldam and Mysterious, and then he looked back at him. "Flyer! I don't think they're actually trying to respect you! Aren't you a lot better than this?"

"You don't know them, so who are you to judge? Besides, they revealed a little something that did not make me happy... Now just hold still so I can zap you!"

"Yes, you better do what he says," Beldam agreed.

"Oh, man... I don't know what to do here..." Parakarry gulped. Eventually he decided to get in his shell and charge at Flyer, but that did no good when he made a shield that bounced him back.

"You're not going to hit me if you continue this," Flyer informed.

"Ugh... Well, I guess I don't have much of a choice..." Parakarry slowly backed away and flew off. "I gotta go find Chopper and warn him about Flyer!"

As he flew away, Flyer looked up at him, not doing a thing to stop him. This did not go well for the other two, though.

"Flyer! Why did you let him get away?!" Mysterious exclaimed. "You had him right there!"

"Oh, don't worry... I'll get him when I get Chopper and his friends." Flyer assured, turning to the two. "It will be much more satisfying that way!"

"Hmmmm... Fair enough." Beldam decided. "I suppose we'll have to go find something else to use as a target."

"That sounds good enough to me," Mysterious said. "Come, Flyer. Let us go back. We can find something else to help you train."

Beldam and Mysterious went back into their shadows. Flyer was about to do the same thing, but he looked back at Chopper's house. Approaching it, he couldn't help but feel something else in his mind, and it was starting to bother him.

_"I wonder... Is this what I should be doing?"_ Flyer thought. _"I mean... After what Chopper's done for me before..."_

Then he remembered the image Beldam showed him, and those thoughts quickly disappeared.

"No. I'm going to make them pay for making me a tool. I'm going to make them suffer."

Flyer immediately went into the shadows afterward.

* * *

**Snow area-**

Thankfully, the continent just up ahead was not that long of a walk. Not only that, but getting there did not require the use of flying or being launched in the air. There was a bridge for them to cross, but everyone was hardly thrilled to see a frozen wasteland ahead. Just entering the area made it start to snow and everyone to shiver.

"I can't believe we have to walk through this cold place!" Bang complained. "My feet are starting to kill me!"

"Can it, Bang," Blade snapped. "You're only making it worse."

Sadly, to Chopper, not much had changed around the area. It was just a usual, snowy area. There were a couple of candy canes sticking from the snow, but it was all old to him unlike six years ago. Still, he did like getting a glimpse of the sweets.

"Poyo! (Wow! I didn't know this place had fruit!)" Kirby gaped, noticing some giant apples rolling around in a circle.

"Too bad they don't respond to me," Chopper shrugged, making his way through the snow. Thankfully, there were no signs of enemies, so walking was a breeze. But, they did see some X-Naut Ships flying around the continent.

"Hmmmmmm… Chopper, don't you think that this is where the X-Nauts are staying?" Vivian asked. "Considering how many ships we've been seeing here..."

"I don't know..." Chopper trailed, looking at the ships. They appeared to be dropping Master X-Nauts from the distance. "Yeah, they may be staying here. But why here? Couldn't they have just gone to the lava area instead? That would've been simpler! That's where most baddies stay in!"

"I guess they like the cold environment," Sonic shrugged. "That, or they have some technology that works a lot better in a cold environment."

"Speaking of cold..." Chopper changed to his Ice ability happily. "That should help me!"

He skated around the snowy ground and stuck his tongue out to let the snowflakes land on his tongue. Heartsy stuck her tongue out too and let snowflakes land on her tongue.

"Eating snowflakes? That's stupid..." Tamber trailed.

"It's basically water," Heartsy noted. "So I don't see the problem."

Tamber stuck his tongue out to catch a snowflake. "Meh... It's still dumb."

"You think everything's dumb," Shadower remarked.

"Except for me and my Master Star."

Ignoring him, the group moved on and found some destroyed igloos up ahead. Many of them were left in surprise by the remains of this place, especially Chopper.

"Whoa... What happened here?!" Chopper gaped, walking up to one of the igloos. "This is not what I thought would be here!"

"It's like a bomb hit this place, Contadre!" Scrub added.

"A bomb hit the place? Wow… That's hardcore…" Bang gaped.

"Well, at least we weren't caught in this," Vivian commented.

Chopper pointed at the direction ahead past the igloos. "That's the direction we should go. ...I think."

"You better not be wrong..." Bombette sighed, rolling her eyes.

"That depends on what your definition of wrong is! Mwa ha ha ha ha!"

"The heck was that?" Night asked, looking up at the sky. Everyone looked up and saw a Koopa hover down in white armor, a white cape, and a large blaster that required both hands.

Mario: Who is he?

"So, once again we meet! It's been two years, hasn't it, Chopper?" the Koopa asked. Chopper looked at him for a little bit, but he only shook his head at him. "What?! How could you NOT remember me?! Remember? At Star Haven? Those accursed Dayzeeflower Girls? The City of Flowersville?"

"No... Not really." Chopper shrugged.

"What about that mayor that loved pickles?"

"...Oh, I remember him!"

"You gotta be kidding me! You should know who I am! For knowing who I am means that you know that I'm an enemy of yours!" the crazy Koopa began stomping the ground angrily. "I'm KOJO PETE! The one who shall conquer the world! But you don't remember me at all! And it is required that you do remember who I am! For it is easy for you to identify me! And identifying me gives you the idea of who I am! But you don't! Curses…"

"Ummm... Do you always go on like that?" Chopper asked. "And I bet you're here to fight me, right?"

"Yes! For fighting is what is required for me to destroy you! You are in the way along with those accursed Dayzeeflower Girls!" Kojo raised his blaster and aimed at Chopper. "Now I shall obliterate you into nothing! Chopper, prepare to meet your maker!"

"I don't have a maker!" Chopper retorted.

"What about your parents?" Shadower mentioned.

"Oh... Ummmm... They're my maker?"

"Now is not the time for talking! For talking will interrupt this battle, and this battle will be the one where I end you! Therefore, you shall finally be rid of fore-"

"Oh, can it, turtle-face!" Tamber interjected. "No one cares!"

**Tattle: **_That's Kojo Pete. He's some kind of weird Koopa in white armor. That's a little strange… Max HP is 310, Attack is 15, and Defense is 1. He can simply attack with that blaster in his hands. ...That's all it says here. There…really isn't anything else to say. It's…just a blaster. Nothing else. Though I will admit that the way he speaks really gets on my nerves. I don't know whether it's worse than that Fawful guy or not!  
_

"I had been planning on trying to rid of you back in that jungle with my bomb, but it just so happened to backfire on me..." Kojo trailed. "And it ended up sending me here... But, now that your here, I can finally finish my job! Mwa ha ha ha!"

"You were going to destroy us?" Chopper gaped. "You're a bad Koopa, Kojo Pete…"

"I know!" Kojo Pete said with a grin.

"Uhhhh... Of course he's bad." Blade said. "Just fight him, OK?"

Chopper shrugged and used his Ice Breath on Kojo Pete, leaving him shivering. Kirby followed up with his Cartwheel attack, taking 9 out of him.

"Argh! Now look what you did! I'm going to have to make you pay for that, you know… For paying means you must get what you deserve, you little pipsqueak! Take this!" Kojo fired a blue laser from his weapon at Chopper, dealing 15 damage. "Curses! My freezing did not work!"

"Well, I have the Ice ability on me. That's probably why."

"Or maybe because you're a puffball," Tamber added. Chopper gave him a glare after hitting Kojo with his hammer. Tamber didn't seem to care and delivered a punch to Kojo, bringing him to 272 HP.

"Foolish…whatever the heck you guys are!" Kojo yelled. "I'm just getting warmed up! For getting warmed up is…"

"Yeah, yeah… We heard you already." Chopper sighed.

Rather than continuing to speak, Kojo fired another shot at Chopper,covering him in soot. Chopper shook himself to get it off and ice skated toward him before he created an icy aura shaped like a hexagon around Kojo. From the result of this, he became frozen.

"Hey... It actually worked!" Chopper gaped.

"Woo-hoo! Now we can give him a taste of his own medicine!" Sonic got in a ball and hit Kojo Pete with a Spin Dash. This, however, had created a small crack on the ice. Chopper walked over to Kojo's frozen body and kicked him towards one of the trees. This resulted in the ice encasing Kojo to shatter, freeing him.

"Urgh… What just happened?" Kojo moaned, only to come to realization when he was hit by Vivian's Shade Fist and scorched in the process. "The fire! It buuuuurns! For burning me means that I will be on fire!"

"Just shut up already," Tamber said as he charged straight at him. However, this was Kojo's turn to attack, so he managed to fire a shot at Tamber, knocking him back to Chopper. He stepped aside and let Tamber hit the snowy ground.

"Mwa ha ha ha!" Kojo Pete cackled. "Did you really think freezing me would even-"

Chopper immediately interrupted him by hitting his head with his hammer. Heartsy decided to do the same thing as well, irritating Kojo even more upon seeing her.

"Argh! More little girls are trying to stop me? Curses… I cannot let this happen!" Kojo aimed at Heartsy and changed to a shot that could drain someone's powers before blasting her. Though it did manage to hurt her, he noticed she appeared the same. "What? My blaster should've drained you of that chemical stuff!"

"Chemical stuff? I have no idea what you're talking about." Heartsy gawked.

Chopper spewed more ice from his mouth at Kojo, hoping to at least freeze him. Sadly, that didn't seem to be the case.

"Aw! I wanted to freeze him again!" Chopper whined. "Well, I guess you can get him, Shadower."

"All right. I'll go right ahead." Shadower brought his fist back, and when he aimed it at Kojo, a shadowy fist struck the Koopa, knocking him back over to the tree and lowering his defense to 0, along with bringing his HP to 195.

"Urgh… That punch is threatening. And if it's threatening, then that means I must obliterate you!" Kojo declared, firing a at Shadower. He managed to duck and avoid the attack easily.

"Whew… That was close. All right, Chopper. Go ahead and attack him with a Gravity Jump. That'll do enough damage for sure." Shadower stepped out of the way and let Chopper soar up to great heights and land on Kojo with his attack.

"OOOF! Why you little…" Kojo growled, balling his hands into fists, but was quickly punched in the face by Tamber. To retaliate, Kojo swung his blaster at Tamber. "Mwa ha ha ha! It was a success!"

"Let's go, Scrub!" Chopper rushed toward Kojo and he began to circle around him with his speed. Kojo began to feel a little dizzy, but then he was struck by Chopper's Ice Sprinkle as he circled around him. After he did that, he left Kojo frozen. Scrub inhaled him with his Gulp and spat him out, making him slide over by the tree.

"Well, that leaves just one thing!" Chopper slightly kicked the frozen Kojo Pete toward the tree. The ice around him broke, and he was no longer frozen. But, he was sneezing. Bombette decided a Bomb attack would do nicely, so that was what she did.

"Urgh… I never knew this much pain would be so bad for me… Ugh… Now, what happened last time I was fighting that accursed boy?" Kojo Pete wondered. "Oh, yeah... You used that stupid star thing against me and sent me flying!"

"Oh, yeah..." Chopper remembered.

"Oh… That was the worst I've been through in my life." Kojo grumbled, putting his blaster away. "Very well. I guess I'll try something else. So, Chopper… Do you remember…my laser sword?!"

Kojo pulled out a red laser sword and began laughing like crazy. Chopper only yawned at his sword. "I've seen plenty of those.

"Argh! Well we'll see what happens when I use it against you! For using it will benefit me, and benefiting me means that I will have the upper hand and-"

"Just fight!"

Annoyed, Kojo swung at Chopper, though he had gotten hit by Chopper's Power Smash. Mario brought his hammer down on Kojo as well, reducing him to 96 HP.

"Curses… My HP is already down to… Oh, whatever." Kojo swung his laser sword at Chopper again, knocking him back toward Blade. Thankfully, he managed to catch him on time.

"It's OK, Chopper. I got ya!" Blade assured. "Now go kick that guy's butt for me, all right? I can't stand that speech."

"I'm on it," Chopper nodded, only for Blade to throw him at Kojo. He unleashed his icy breath on him to deal 9 damage. With Vivian's Shade Fist, he was burned once again.

"Grrrrrrrr! I'm not done yet! For not being done is the key to staying up! That is to say that I will never give up!" Kojo exclaimed, hitting Vivian with his laser sword. Kojo was about to laugh, but Chopper interrupted him by using a Spin Jump. With Kirby's Cartwheel, Kojo Pete was down to 56 HP.

"Poyo! (He's almost down!)" Kirby cheered, soon getting hit by his blaster. A yellow star was left behind, so Kirby inhaled it and spat it at the Koopa, while Chopper hit him with another Spin Jump. This time, Kojo swung his laser sword at Chopper.

"You know, thinking about it more... You remind me of this one guy..." Chopper pondered. "Except he was black instead of white..."

"This one guy? I do not look like anyone! I, Kojo Pete, am incredibly unique!"

Mario: Sure...

After Chopper hit Kojo with his Ice Storm, Mario bashed him in the head with his hammer again. Kojo targeted Mario this time and attacked him with his laser sword.

"Hmmmmm... Maybe I should use my Master Hammer technique?" Chopper suggested. "I mean, it can do a lot of damage!"

"Go for it," Sonic nodded. "He's only at 14 HP!"

"14 HP?!" Kojo Pete gaped, noticing his HP bar. "How could this have happened?! I was not this weak before! If I were to be weak, I would barely be mov-"

Having enough, Chopper walked up to Kojo and swung his hammer upward when it was glowing yellow. Soon enough, Kojo had been sent flying in the air once again.

"_**NOOOOOOOOO! CURSE YOU, CHOPPER AND YOUR ACCURSED FRIENDS! I SHALL RETUUUUUUUUUURN!**_"

As Chopper collected his Star Points and upgraded his HP to 145, everyone noticed a star shining in the sky.

"There goes that freak," Bombette said. "Good riddance."

"He went out in the same manner as before," Chopper realized, only to notice a piece of paper float onto the snowy ground. "Huh? What's that?"

Chopper picked up the piece of paper and began to read it. What surprised him was that it belonged to Kojo Pete.

_Dear Chopper,_

_I have created this letter just in case if I would ever be beaten. But I have to say this. For saying this will make you alarmed! Therefore, I must alarm you with my words! Mwa ha ha ha ha! Why am I laughing? Well, for me to laugh, I must have a plan! Thus, I'm saying that I'm not finished yet! I have more tricks up my sleeves? What are they? I am not telling you! For telling you them will make this explanation pointless! Thus, it will ruin my entire plan! This message is from and was written by,_

_Kojo Pete_

"Ummmm... So, he's not finished yet? But... We sent him flying into space." Chopper frowned, dropping the paper. "Well, this was kinda pointless..."

"You're going to leave it on the ground?" Blade asked.

Chopper raised a finger to answer, but two X-Ships noticed them and started to fire at them. Fortunately for the heroes, the shots missed, and the ships ended up flying into the darkness behind them.

_"Oh, crud… This isn't good! Abandon ship" _the two X-Pilots attempted to abandon their ships, but they were already too late. Once in the darkness, their ships lost control and exploded.

"Oh my gosh... They blew up!" Vivian gasped.

"Now we know that this darkness is much more dangerous than we thought," Sonic said. "And that's why we gotta get moving!"

"I sure wouldn't wanna be those guys…" Blade sighed, turning around to the others. However, they had already gone ahead. "Hey! Wait up, guys!"

Blade had managed to catch up to the others in no time, but at this point, there was not much they had found. They did find a frozen lake that Chopper decided to skate around, but it wasn't for very long, due to the darkness. It only got worse when it started to get foggy around their surroundings.

"Dang fog!" Night yelled.

"Hey! I take offense to that!" Bang frowned.

"I said_ fog_, not dog!" the undead mouse groaned. "I wish I could see through this."

"Yeah, it's hard to look around because of the fog," Sonic agreed. "I can barely see a thing here!"

"Allow me to help," Shadower declared as he used his vision to look around the area. He didn't see much around...with the exception of what appeared to be a base. "Whoa... I think I found something interesting."

Mario: What is it?

"It's... Well, I think you should see for yourself up ahead."

"OK. Let's go take a look!" Chopper ran off ahead, leaving a thin trail of ice as he traveled. This allowed everyone to slide on it, as well as give an idea of where he was going. But, of course, there are consequences...

"Geez... This is cold." Tamber shivered.

Bang tried to slide on the ice, but he ended up slipping and falling on his stomach. He soon found himself sliding on his stomach.

"Ack! Why does everything bad happen to me?!" Bang cried.

* * *

**The base-**

"So, I heard you were going to get promoted tomorrow," an X-Naut Guard told his other guard buddy.

"Yeah, I am!" the other X-Naut Guard nodded. "I helped Lord Crump fix the TV one day and BAM! I'm getting promoted! It's funny, considering that Lord Crump does not like me..."

The two X-Nauts were guarding the front entrance of the large, silver base. Unlike the X-Naut and New X-Naut Fortress, it didn't appear to be too big, especially from the outside.

The first X-Naut guard quickly turned his head when he heard a little something.

"What's up?" his buddy asked.

"I don't know... I thought I heard something..." the X-Naut Guard squinted and noticed a couple of silhouettes in the fog coming their way. "Heads up, dude! We've got some people coming our-"

Unfortunately, the X-Naut Guard did not get enough time to finish as two feet hit his head, knocking him out. A pair of brown boots hit the other X-Naut Guard, knocking him out.

Chopper and Mario landed in front of the door with proud looks on their faces. In front of them was a door, along with a scanner next to it. Chopper decided to poke it, and a blue light suddenly emitted from it.

_"Now scanning!" _

Chopper jumped a little in shock, having a feeling that he would need one of the X-Nauts. He picked up one of the KO'd X-Nauts and held him in front f the scanner. When the scanning was finished. a green circle appeared on a small screen.

"_Scanning complete. You may now enter." _

The front entrance opened, and Chopper felt proud.

"Yay! Now we can go in!" Chopper cheered, he and his friends taking a step inside. However, they were left in disappointment when they noticed that the room was not too technical. It was mostly silver with some poorly-made walls and sparks flowing from below the floor.

"This place looks pretty ugly," Heartsy scoffed.

"Yeah. I thought X-Nauts could design better than this? That base on the purple moon was so much better!"

"I'm sure I could smash this place up," Tamber looked at the sealed door up ahead. He managed to smash the door with only one punch. However, by doing that, it triggered an alarm.

A bunch of Yuxes came flying into the room. However, they were much different from the other Yuxes. They were black in color and had some purple on them too.

"Hey... Are those the A-Yuxes that those X-Nauts were talking about?" Chopper asked.

"You mean back at that New X-Naut Fortress?" Sonic wondered. "Come to think of it, I remember them saying something like that..."

"Gee, I'm surprised you remembered that," Tamber scoffed.

"I remember stuff, though!" Chopper cried. "What? Did you remember?"

"Well... Uhhh... Yeah! I did!"

"Anyway, they don't look too threatening!" Chopper stated, freezing a couple of them with his ice breath and kicking them into others, clearing the way. "It's all clear! Let's move!"

Chopper and his friends rushed out the door, ignoring the rest of the A-Yuxes. Unfortunately, one of them managed to hit Chopper with a black, ring-like projectile, and it had gotten rid of Chopper's Ice ability.

"Dang it..." Chopper sighed.

"Don't worry about it, Chopper. You can easily get it back, remember?" Sonic reminded.

"Oh... Right."

When they reached the end of this hallway, they found two Master X-Nauts guarding the door.

"Whoa… Chopper made it here already? Wow." the first Master X-Naut gaped.

"Well, what're we doing standing around?!" the other exclaimed. "Crump wants him, so let's get him!"

They opened fire on the group, but Mario and Sonic easily took care of the first X-Naut, and Kirby hit the other with a Cartwheel. Chopper approached that X-Naut and tossed a fireball at his feet to keep him still.

"Hey! What're you doing?!" the second Master X-Naut asked. "Let me go right now!"

"I need to ask you some questions," Chopper explained. "Why are you guys even here? Do you know something about the Crystal Star?"

"Errr... No, not at all! We don't know about the Crystal Star, nor are we going to destroy this planet! I'm not going to tell you that Grodus has some sort of secret weapon to destroy you guys!"

"Wait... What?" Chopper gasped. "Destroy my planet?"

"Err... Yes, we are!" the X-Naut answered, deciding to tell the truth. "Your planet will soon be history! And it's all thanks to Grodus's secret weapon that's so deadly that it could destroy planets like these! What're you going to do about it?"

Everyone could tell that Chopper was looking pretty angry. They noticed the dark steam coming from Chopper's hands, and that was trouble.

"Chopper! Don't!" Shadower warned, getting in his way. "Don't you remember what would happen?"

Realizing this, Chopper quickly calmed down, and the steam faded away. "Oh... I'm sorry about that..."

"Look, I don't blame you for getting angry, but you remember what happens when your anger goes too far, right?"

"Yeah..." Chopper nodded nervously, as if he had done something wrong. "Well, I guess we should move on. Maybe we'll find Grodus here."

"Not a chance," the Master X-Naut spoke. "He's not around here. Lord Crump, on the other hand, is! ...Wait, was I supposed to say that?"

"Then let's go after Lord Crump then. He's someone we need to crump anyway!"

They entered the door into a long, narrow hallway. Sadly, there were no enemies in sight for them to fight. There were a couple of windows for them to see the snow outside, but that was it.

"I can't see the end of this hallway," Blade said. "I guess we have some long ways to go."

"Well, then we'll have to be quick," Sonic declared, everyone running through the narrow hallway.

* * *

**Next room-**

Meanwhile, while the heroes were on a move-on, Lord Crump was preparing his entire army in one, square-shaped room. Compared to the other rooms, this one appeared more advanced, having a couple of teleporter panels to the side.

"All right, guys. You're here to help me take down Chopper." Lord Crump declared, turning to his army. "Surely with every one of you here, Chopper can't stop us! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!"

"Lord Crump, are you sure that having our entire army here?" Johnson asked. "Does Grodus even know about this?"

"Maaaaaaaaybe," Lord Crump sweat dropped, leading Johnson to face palm. "Hey! It's not my fault that Chopper's been such a pain! I never even managed to beat him ONCE! …Hopefully that'll change when my new project is done."

"New project?"

"Yeah, my new project! It's top secret, so I'm not telling you." Lord Crump heard the door suddenly burst open. Turning around, he noticed the door flying his way. He ducked, letting the door crash into a couple of X-Nauts. When he stood back up, Lord Crump noticed Tamber standing in the front, with Chopper jumping over to face him.

"All right, it's over, Crump!" Chopper declared. "Give us the Crystal Star, and we won't have to beat you down!"

"Crystal Star? I don't even have that thing!" Lord Crump objected, making the heroes sigh. "But, we WILL have it soon, and then we'll have eight with you out of the way!"

"Pbbbbbth! Like you can even stop us!" Tamber scoffed. "You're just the same old Lord Crump from before!"

"And why is your entire army here?" Vivian asked. "That doesn't sound like a great idea..."

"I told you…" Johnson mumbled.

"Hey! It's an incredible idea! Plus, I even came prepared! Just watch!" Lord Crump pulled out a remote and pressed a red button. A capsule fell on him and broke. Everyone soon saw him wearing purple and black armor with a large red cape and carrying a black blaster.

"What the heck?" Chopper gawked.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! You like what you see?"

"Not one bit," Heartsy answered.

"One of my biggest problems fighting against you was that I was easily vulnerable, and I never resorted to using other types of attacks like my Crump-a-bomb," Lord Crump explained, ignoring Heartsy. "So... I decided to give myself an awesome upgrade that'll make you cry for mercy!"

"Well, since you don't have the Crystal Star, maybe you can just let us get out of here?" Chopper suggested. "There's some darkness coming by, and we don't want it to get to us!"

"Not a chance! I've been preparing for this very moment! We're fighting. Right. NOW!" Lord Crump whistled, and all of his X-Nauts got in a fighting pose. Chopper let out a sigh, and he and his friends got in a fighting stance as well.

**Tattle: **_There's Lord Crump again. Looks like he means business this time! Max HP is 340, Attack is 16, and Defense is 2. Those X-Nauts have 50 HP and an Attack of 15, so you might wanna be careful with those guys too. Lord Crump will attack by using body slams or that blaster. If you defeat those X-Nauts, he'll just summon more. It says here he might even throw in some grenades. Wait… Grenades? Are those even legal?!  
_

"I think we have a good way of settling this, Crump!" Chopper changed to his Laser ability and shot a laser from his visor at Lord Crump. Bombette followed up with her Bomb, covering Lord Crump in soot. He shook himself to get the soot off and glared at his opponents.

"Not bad… Not bad at all. Now it's my turn to bring on the pain! X-Nauts! Attack!" Lord Crump gave the X-Nauts a signal to gang up on Chopper. A couple of them started by jumping on Chopper. Thankfully, he didn't take too much damage due to his guarding. "And now for my turn!" the X-Naut commander aimed at Chopper and fired a red laser at him, laughing in the process.

"If you think that's going to seriously hurt me, you're wrong," Chopper said, charging a green laser and taking 10 out of Lord Crump when it hit his body. "We've gotten hit by worse!"

"Oi!" Lord Crump winced, holding his stomach in pain. "OK, so you can deal a lot more damage. No big deal! I can do that too!"

"Well... I kinda noticed..."

"I guess I'll go next! Wish me luck, Contadre!" Scrub walked over to Lord Crump and used his Gulp to spit him at the army of X-Nauts.

"Lord Crump, I still don't think this is going to work out for us," Johnson pointed out. "We may outnumber them, but they still have a chance of defeating us..."

"Like I even care… We're still gonna win this! Go, X-Nauts!" Lord Crump ordered the X-Nauts to attack, and they ended up ganging on Chopper. Lord Crump, meanwhile, walked over to Scrub and body slammed him. "Huh huh! With this armor on, my body slam is even stronger!"

"And it also makes you look fatter," Scrub scoffed.

"What? Why you little...!" Before he could attack the Yoshi, Chopper fired a laser at him, and then Vivian punched him with a fiery fist, leaving him with a burn. "Oooog… All right, I had enough with the burns! Watch this!"

He aimed his blaster at Vivian and fired an ice shot. However, she ended up Superguarding it, making it hit the wall instead. The X-Nauts were about to attack Chopper, but they suddenly heard the sound of shouting.

"Hey, freaks! Over here!" Bang called out. They turned to him with confused looks. "If you want a real fighter, then come over her-"

The X-Nauts started to gang up on him, leaving him trapped underneath the pile. Lord Crump was annoyed by this, but his anger was suddenly cooled down when Chopper hit him with an Ice Stomp, leaving him shivering.

"That should cool him down a bit," Chopper stated.

"If you think your cold jump will stop me, then think again!" Lord Crump shouted, not seeing a blue hedgehog hit him in the face with a Spin Dash, bringing him down to 268 HP. This made the X-Nauts stop beating up Bang and grab their commander's attention.

"We gotta go help Lord Crump!" an X-Naut suggested, all of them leaving Bang beaten up before they ganged up on Sonic and proceeded to beat him. While that happened, Lord Crump hit the hedgehog with a body slam.

"Man… They sure don't like it when I attack their leader…" Sonic groaned, getting up and being left a little bruised up.

"Well at least your beating wasn't brutal!" Bang shouted, looking much worse than Sonic.

"Well, we can't really do much against these X-Nauts except for…" Chopper paused for a moment, an idea striking him. "Maybe I can try out my Master Hammer!"

Taking out his hammer, Chopper walked over to Lord Crump with his hammer glowing yellow. He swung it upward, suddenly knocking him into his minions, dealing 14 damage to them both, and causing a ruckus among Lord Crump and his minions. It got even worse when Mario hit Lord Crump with a Super Jump.

"Get that plumber!" Lord Crump ordered. The X-Nauts all mobbed Mario, stomping on him endlessly while Lord Crump knocked him back to the group with a kick. "See? With this strategy, you guys are going to lose! Buh! Buh! Buh huh hu-"

He would've continued his laughter, but Lord Crump was hit by another laser Chopper fired, and then hit in the head by Heartsy's hammer.

"That should get you to shut up," Heartsy smirked.

"Well, uh…er… ATTACK!" Lord Crump stepped back so the X-Nauts could mob Chopper and his friends. Unfortunately, none of their attacks appeared to hit them. "What is WRONG with you guys?! My grandma could do better than that!"

When they stepped away, Lord Crump body slammed Chopper, removing his Laser ability.

"Aw, man! I was hoping to hold onto that!" Chopper grumbled. "Oh, fine… I'll try something else."

Chopper decided to go with his Diamond Glove ability, in which he charged up an electric ball and fired at Lord Crump. Kirby threw in his Cartwheel, bringing him down to 209 HP.

"Man, you guys are HUGE pain in the neck!" Lord Crump remarked. "You should be turned into puddles of confetti by now! Bummer..."

Lord Crump pointed at Kirby, signaling the X-Nauts to gang up on him. After they gave him a beating, Lord Crump flattened him with his own behind. Thankfully, he managed to pull himself together and unflatten himself.

"Poyo? (Why do they always have to gang up on us?)" Kirby asked.

"I don't know what in the world you're saying, but I sure don't like it," Lord Crump said. "I don't like you either, Chopper."

"Well, I don't like you either," Chopper answered, bringing his hammer down on Lord Crump's head, while Shadower used his Shadow Smite to hit Lord Crump and his X-Nauts, lowering their defense as well.

"Why you no-good traitor…" Lord Crump aimed his blaster at Shadower and fired at him. The X-Nauts charged at him, but they tripped, falling on each other and leaving a pile of X-Nauts in front of him.

"Hey! What're you guys doing? GET UP!" demanded Lord Crump.

"I'm afraid we're getting a little exhausted, Lord Crump," panted one of the Master X-Nauts.

"Ugh… Fine. Get in the tower position, then." Lord Crump whistled, and the X-Nauts all formed into a tower. He decided to body slam Chopper, but his attack was easily guarded.

"With no defense on you, I think it's time for a Gravity Jump!" Chopper smiled as he launched to great heights and landed on Lord Crump's head to dish out 30 damage. Tamber punched him in the stomach afterward, bringing him to 151 HP.

Lord Crump, now starting to feel exhaustion, gave the X-Nauts a signal to pull out their blasters and fire at Chopper. They succeeded, while he aimed at Shadower and fired a shot at him. He also noticed his defense was fully restored.

"Hey… My defense is back up!" Lord Crump noticed. "Now you're goners! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!"

"Well, considering how well we've been doing, that's not likely," Chopper changed to his Thief ability and whacked Lord Crump with his cane. Bombette decided to test her Master-Rank move and use her Explosion, which knocked all the X-Nauts to the ground and also did 12 damage to Lord Crump as well.

"Man... That explosion was incredible!" Bombette gaped. "And it felt satisfying..."

"Ugh... You annoying Bob-omb!" Lord Crump fired at Bombette, since the X-Nauts were too dizzy to make a move. Chopper quickly swung his hammer at him, and then Vivian burned Lord Crump with her Shade Fist.

"Gah! I hate it when that girl leaves a burn on me!" Lord Crump looked at his blaster and then he aimed it at Vivian. "All right, traitor! Since you like to burn people, let's see how you deal with it!"

Lord Crump pulled the trigger, and a fiery laser shot out and hurt Vivian, leaving her with a burn. Lord Crump seemed satisfied when she took damage from the burn. Ironically, he had gotten hurt from the same thing.

"So we have a hot shadow chick now," Bang snickered, only to get bonked in the head by Blade.

"Dude, not now..." Blade mumbled as Chopper hit Lord Crump with his hammer, with Kirby hitting him with a Cartwheel.

"Wait... I'm at 98 HP already?! Crud! This isn't good!" Lord Crump turned back to his X-Nauts. "Hey! Form back up and attack Chopper!"

The X-Nauts got up and charged at Chopper. Their beating had left Chopper bruised and exhausted, but he still had enough energy to Superguard Lord Crump's laser.

"OK... I'll admit, you're pretty tough this time, Lord Crump... But I'm not giving up so soon." Chopper mumbled, smacking Lord Crump with his cane. Heartsy brought her hammer down on Lord Crump, and that hit had managed to ironically give him a new idea.

"X-Nauts! Line up side by side!" Lord Crump ordered, giving them the signal. They obeyed, and they also pulled their blasters out and charged up a shot. Lord Crump cackled as he charged his gun up too. "Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! This is the end, my friends!"

"Geez... This isn't good..." Chopper groaned. "We're pretty low on HP, and that attack could be powerful..."

"Well what about those Crystal Stars?!" Tamber shouted. "Like that King's Star or something!"

"No! Not that one! It's a bit dangerous..."

"What about the Dream Star?" Vivian suggested.

Chopper shrugged and pulled the Dream Star out. With this, he started his Sweet Dreams special move and began to throw some stars at the items falling down. In the end, Chopper and his partners managed to recover 112 HP and 98 FP. Vivian immediately pulled them all into the shadows before the X-Nauts and Lord Crump could fire.

"On my command… _**FIIIIRE!**_"

They fired, but they missed, much to Lord Crump's dismay. Once Chopper and his friends rose from the shadows, Lord Crump and the X-Nauts made their move on them. However, being healed made it easier for Chopper to give Lord Crump a beating with his hammer, followed by Shadower's Shadow Punch.

"Gah! Why do my ideas fail so much? Oh well… You know the drill, X-Nauts!" Lord Crump stepped back as the X-Nauts mobbed the group. Lord Crump came running toward Chopper afterward with a body slam.

...But, that failed when he Superguarded it.

"WHAT?! How did you Superguard that?!"

"Well, it's pretty easy to Superguard... Anyway..." Chopper leaped up to great heights as he used his Gravity Jump to dish away 30 HP from him. Tamber punched Lord Crump in the stomach to leave him with 21 HP.

"Argh! Why you little!" Lord Crump pointed at Chopper, and the X-Nauts ganged up on Chopper as usual like a stampede, knocking his ability away in the process. Lord Crump also gave him a body slam.

"You only have 21 HP, so I'm not too bothered with losing my ability," Chopper said while he brought his hammer down on Lord Crump. Once Mario struck him with his hammer, he was already down to 5 HP.

"Urk… Why is this happening to me…?" Lord Crump gasped. He fired at Chopper, and then he commanded his X-Nauts to attack. However, they were stopped when a missile had struck them, sending them flying.

"Whoa!"

"Mommy!"

"I'm flying!"

"Aw, crud…" Lord Crump sweat dropped, noticing his army lying on the ground unconscious. "Don't tell me you guys just wiped my entire X-Naut army away with an explosion…"

"Yup!" Bang smirked, holding a rocket launcher in his arms. "You should've been paying attention to us!"

"Hey! You weren't supposed to interfere with our fight! This is between me and these chumps!"

"Well, it doesn't matter anymore. You're finished!" Chopper smiled, taking his hammer out and throwing him back toward his army with his Ultra Hammer. This had awarded Chopper enough Star Points to level up and upgrade his FP to 145. "Woo-hoo! We won the fight!"

"Urgh... I'm not done yet..." Lord Crump grumbled, getting out of the X-Naut pile and approaching them. Johnson had also got out of the pile and approached them. Lord Crump proceeded to weakly aim his weapon at the group. "The fight's not over yet, chumps! In fact, I'm just getting started!"

At that moment, the base began to shake, knocking people off their feet.

"Wh-What's going on?!"

Johnson ran over to a window and noticed a dark sky approaching. "There's some sort of darkness up in the sky... It's causing this whole place to shake!"

"Wh-What?! Oh, no… That means my awesome base is going to get destroyed! No fair! And I was just going to beat Chopper! Buh huh huh..." Lord Crump cried.

"Well, we do have those teleporters..."

"Then what're we waiting for?!"

_"Lord Crump! I must speak with you!" _the X-Naut commander paused before he turned around. Appearing before him was a hologram of Grodus, noticing the X-Naut army on the floor. _"Why is my army lying on the ground? Care to explain, Lord Crump?  
_

"Well… Er…" Lord Crump sweat dropped, slowly pulling a coffee cup out of nowhere and covering the hologram of Grodus. "Forget you guys for now! I'm getting out of here!"

He quickly ran into the teleporter, with Johnson running in as well. Fortunately for them, they were able to make their escape.

"Oh, no… We can't stay in here any longer!" Chopper cried, running to the teleporter. Surprisingly, it was still active. "Quick! We can still use this!"

Quickly, everyone went into the teleporter and put in some random coordinates to make their escape. To their relief, they were transported off of the snow continent.

Unfortunately, the remaining X-Nauts were not so lucky...


	122. Fury on the Mountain

Grodus had been staying in Clara's jungle after he had finished his business with a certain Gizoid. While he had not made much contact with Lord Crump and the X-Nauts on the Crystal Stars when he first showed up, now was a good time to do so. Unfortunately, getting in contact did not seem to be working too well.

"Lord Crump! Lord Crump! I demand that you answer me at this minute!" Grodus exclaimed, trying to get Lord Crump to respond. Unfortunately, the signal was lost, much to his dismay. "Great… This is just great. The signal is lost. What ever happened might've cost my army. It looks like I have to find that Crystal Star on my own thanks to Lord Crump's idiocy. This is getting frustrating."

As Grodus traveled through the jungle, he had taken a look at how large the trees and plants were. Heck, even some of the grass was much bigger! He found this interesting, but he chose not to study it for obvious reasons. However, what caught his interest was the large mountain that appeared to be blocking the way. When he got closer, he felt it get a little hotter.

"Hmmmm... Perhaps this leads to a much hotter area..." Grodus deduced. "Perhaps...the Crystal Star is past this mountain? Hmmm... I can simply teleport past here to get the star... But I'll wait on that."

He decided to step away from it for now, but there was something else that caught Grodus's attention. There was a large mushroom resembling a house, complete with windows and a door. He approached the mailbox and noticed Chopper's name on it.

"So, this is the place where Chopper lives? How interesting..." Grodus also took notice of the two gravestones beside the house. He approached it and noticed the name "Mommy" and "Daddy" written on it with a sharpy. This had caught him slightly off guard. "Now this is surprising... This must be the grave of this boy's parents... Perhaps I should pay some respect for them."

He swung his scepter, and a lightning spell had struck both gravestones, splitting them in half.

"Yes... That should do nicely." Grodus stepped away from the destroyed gravestones and went over to the door. To his surprise, it was unlocked. "Looks like someone doesn't know when to lock their own doors."

He walked into the house to find a couple of sleeping bags. There was also a red sofa to the right. Grodus also noticed a picture on the table with Chopper and Flyer. There was even one that had him and a couple of other friends that he didn't recognize.

"This is not a bad-looking house," Grodus admitted. "But, after what he's done to my bases, it's fitting for me to return the favor."

Grodus charged up energy from his scepter and zapped the table, splitting it in half. He also left the sofa completely damaged, and the kitchen was nearly ruined as well.

"I see you are enjoying your moment of revenge, Grodus..."

Grodus turned around and spotted Beldam with her arms crossed. The X-Naut leader gave him a glare, while she still gave him that sinister grin.

"Well, if it isn't Beldam... I haven't seen you in quite a while..." Grodus trailed, approaching the Shadow Siren. "You know, Beldam, I've always wanted to obliterate you for trying to lure me into getting myself obliterated by the Shadow Queen... However, I've got more important business to take care of, such as finding the Crystal Star and then detonating this planet!"

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! It is such a pleasure to meet you as well, Grodus!" Beldam cackled. "But I must warn you... Getting that Crystal Star will not be so easy, as you have very limited time."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you ever looked up at the sky lately? Darkness is slowly approaching the lands on this planet. There will be no light to be seen here, and it is very dangerous to people who are not dark beings."

"I do not see any darkness in the sky. What are you implying?"

"There may not be much here, but where your minions are is a different story..."

"So that explains why I noticed a dark sky through the window while contacting Lord Crump..." Grodus trailed. "However, that isn't going to stop me from getting what I want."

"Do as you want, Grodus! I will not stop you!" Beldam assured.

"Well, we'll see if you live when I'm done with this planet. I have come up with a plan that will ensure that I will not only get that Crystal Star, but the ones Chopper has as well."

"So, you do not wish for my help in getting that star?"

"Don't even bother," Tipral suggested, tekeporting into the house. "I highly doubt he'll even want your help."

"Tipral… It's been a while since I've seen you." Grodus remarked, giving him a glare. "But, you are right about one thing. I do not need this witch's help. It could help me get a star, but I require them all! This is why I have my own plan set up. Especially with my Nuclear Fusion Core..."

"Nuclear Fusion Core? What is that?"

"You can figure out if you wish to watch me confront Chopper. Otherwise, I'm not going to spill the beans."

"That's fine. I don't care that much." Tipral stated, walking out of the house. "In the meantime, I have somewhere else to go."

"Somewhere else? Where are you heading?" Beldam asked.

"It's none of your concern."

Before Beldam could say another word, Tipral teleported out of the vicinity. She sighed and sank into the shadows afterward, leaving Grodus to grin while walking back to the mountain.

"Excellent! Now I just have to head to the Crystal Star, and when Chopper shows up, I will finally have my way!"

Cackling, he cast another teleportation spell and went past the mountain. As he traveled through the trail, he noticed another continent up ahead, only it appeared much hotter and a bit redder.

* * *

**Mountains-**

When the heroes had appeared, they noticed their surroundings contained mountains made of brown rock. These mountains happened to be pretty close to the clouds above as well.

"Hey… These are the mountains! This place was pretty interesting back then. It looks cool from midair!" Chopper smiled as he looked at the view, but then he stopped for a moment. "Wait a minute..."

Everyone else looked down, and before they knew it, they all started to fall. Thankfully, the landing was not too rough, and it hadn't lasted very long. However, Chopper noticed where they stood, there appeared to be some bear traps lying around.

"Hey... I remember these!"

"Wait... What are bear traps doing here?" Bombette asked.

"Bear trap? What bear trap?" Bang questioned as he got up. When he took a step, he suddenly found himself wincing. "What...did I just step into?"

"Well, it looks like you just stepped into the trap," Blade said, noticing Bang's leg caught in it. "I'd help you, but I don't have the skills for that. Night would make things worse."

"I'll take care of the trap if it makes you feel any better, Bang," Chopper changed to his Thief ability and managed to disable the trap. When Bang got out, he sighed in relief. Thankfully, his armor wasn't too damaged.

"I hope we see some kung fu or ninja stuff here," Scrub hoped.

"Well, I've seen some of that stuff here, but I don't see any here right now..."

"Maybe we'll find that stuff eventually?" Heartsy shrugged.

"Who cares? I just wanna go." Tamber said, walking on ahead to find a large boulder blocking the path in between two mountains. "Well, I guess I finally get a chance to do something!"

Tamber picked up the large boulder and threw it off the cliff proudly. "Just so you know, you should try to avoid falling."

Chopper walked over to the pathway between two mountains, feeling the shade over him. The others followed him through too, knowing that they were at least safe from falling. There weren't any enemies they encountered, but they were surprised by the lack of X-Nauts around.

"I'm guessing those remaining X-Nauts were in the snow area..." Vivian trailed. "It feels so sad that they had to be caught in that darkness."

"Yeah, I have to agree. I feel pity for those X-Nauts." Sonic said. "Sure, they're the bad guys, but doesn't mean they deserve to suffer.

"I think what's important is that we're safe," Night said. "We wouldn't want to be caught dead in that darkness - or deader, in my case."

"Is being deader even possible?" Bombette asked. Night could only give her a shrug. "Well, it's no big deal. Chopper, there are plenty of rocks around here that I can blow up. Let me know if you see anything."

"Ummm... I think we have a bigger problem." Chopper pointed to two Dark Creatures that were at a dead end. They appeared to be inspecting it.

"Are you sure that we should be here?" the first Dark Soldier asked. "It's not likely the star will be around here..."

"Well, this is better than the other areas that are covered in darkness," the second Dark Soldier replied, placing a bomb on the wall. "OK, take cover if you want to live!"

They both took cover behind two rocks as the wall exploded, revealing a cave. When they took a look at it, the first soldier grinned.

"A secret cave? Neat! I wonder where it leads to…" the soldier quickly ran into the cave, with its comrade following behind.

"We better follow those guys," Chopper suggested as he quietly followed the Dark Creatures into the cave. He and his friends saw a small pond and a ladder that led up to another area of the cave.

"Hmmmmm… I don't like it here. I say we turn back." the first Dark Creature suggested. This did not sound good to the heroes, as they were easily visible to them. Chopper's gasp had made the two Dark Creature's turn around, but Shadower thankfully made them all disappear.

"Say, Pete… Did you hear something?"

"No… Why are you asking me?"

"'Cause I thought I heard someone gasp for a minute. I wonder if it was...that marshmallow man?"

"Marshmallow man?"

"Yeah. I always wanted to shoot him and see if he explodes into marshmallows."

"That again?" the second Dark Soldier groaned. "You seriously need to stop thinking of those things. What's next? A clown that can juggle a giant plumber while balancing on a ball?"

"Errr..."

"Let's just get out of here."

The Dark Creatures made their exit, allowing the group to become visible once they were gone.

"Whew… That was a close one." Chopper sighed.

"Poyo! (Well, at least we found a ladder!)" Kirby skipped over to the ladder in joy and turned to everyone else. "Poyo! (Come on! Let's move!"

"Well, what's the harm?" Chopper shrugged before he grabbed onto the ladder and started climbing up with his friends. They found out that it led outside. They were up on the top of one mountain, but up ahead they could see another trail going to another.

"Geez... I feel like we're going to need to go from mountain to mountain! What a pain!" Scrub complained. While he did that, Chopper took a few steps forward and looked at the sky.

"What's wrong Chopper?" Vivian asked, floating over to him.

"I thought I saw something over there..." Chopper trailed, spotting something on the mountain ahead. "I'm going to go take a look."

The Star Warrior immediately took off, and running around the spiral passageway on the mountain to the top.

As Vivian watched Chopper take off, she sighed. _"Chopper may not be the bravest one out there, but at least he's very nice and caring... Especially considering what happened at Viti..."_

"Well, I guess we better go follow him," Sonic suggested, getting ready to take off. "I'll race the rest of you guys up there!"

Before anyone could answer, he was already off.

"Well I'm not going to leave Choppy without me by his side," Heartsy declared, running off. Eventually the rest began to follow up the mountain.

"Great! This is going to be so fun!" Bang groaned. "Hiking... Yeah, I sure love hiking!"

"Bang, I'm ready to put duct tape on your mouth if you don't shut up," Blade warned.

Bang instantly remained silent throughout the rest of the climb.

* * *

**Top of the mountain-**

When Chopper had finally reached the top of the mountain, he spotted a familiar figure in a red cloak looking at the view surrounding him. He was unsure whether to approach him or not, but the figure had already turned to face him.

"So, Fawful's enemy has the arriving? Fawful welcomes you!" Fawful greeted.

Chopper's mouth instantly dropped. "Wait... What are YOU doing here?!"

"Fawful doesn't need to give you answers! All will have the answering when I take over this world!"

"Take over this world? Well, that is if this place isn't covered in darkness..."

At that point, everyone had reached the top of the mountain and were met with the same surprise as Chopper.

Mario: Wait, Fawful?

"What's this freak doing here?" Bombette asked.

"He wants to take over this world..." Chopper trailed.

"Yes, the taking of this world is what Fawful desires! However, for taking over this world, I am requiring of taking you all out! Then Fawful shall cheer like happy bears with honey!"

"Yeesh! Can he speak normally for once?" Scrub groaned.

"I need no long speech before this battle, which will now be mighty as raining salad dressing over my land!" Fawful declared, drawing his blaster and pointing it at them. "Snack on my wrath, fink-rats!"

**Tattle: **_That's Fawful, the green bean. Oh, boy… This weirdo again. How many times are we going to encounter this freak? Max HP is 330, Attack is 16, and Defense is 1. Just like before, he'll attack you with that blaster and also his laser sword. I think he might have something else up his sleeves, though... It's just a weird gut feeling… Honestly, what more can I say about him? You faced this guy, like, three times before! This shouldn't be anything new!  
_

"All right, if it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get!" Chopper changed to his Suplex ability and charged straight at Fawful by grabbing him. He then slammed Fawful onto the rocky ground taking 9 out of him. Scrub struck him with his Mega Egg afterward.

Fawful grinned as he swung his laser sword at Scrub, since he was the one closest to him. The punk Yoshi cringed, being pushed back in the process.

"Don't worry, I'm all right," Scrub assured, stepping back to allow Chopper to hit Fawful with a diving kick, knocking him back.

"Fawful is having the beating!" Fawful squealed, pulling himself together. He aimed his blaster at Chopper, only to get hit by Sonic's Spin Dash. However, that did not stop him from shooting Sonic. "Fawful laughs at your blue face!"

"I'd say you have the more laughable face," Sonic mocked.

"What a nutty guy," Blade remarked.

"Fawful has no need for nuttiness," Fawful said.

"Geez... You're worse than that Kojo Pete guy!" Chopper sighed, hitting Fawful with a slide kick. This managed to knock him near the cliff's edge.

"I have falling! …Not!" Fawful moved back into the battle and jumped toward Vivian. Unfortunately for him, her fist had ended up hitting him instead, leaving him with a burn. "OUCH! HOTNESS! My fury has declined!"

"You'll be declining soon," Tamber scoffed.

Fawful pulled out his Headgear and lifted himself off the ground. Using its abilities, his Headgear started to suck Chopper in like a vacuum. He was caught in it, and he struggled to escape, but to no avail.

"Nyeah heh heh heh! Now you are sucked in a pile of gravy with unhealthy snacks that can fatten you up!" Fawful pressed a button on his Headgear, and it spat Chopper out at Tamber, dealing 16 damage to both of them.

"Get this puffball off me" Tamber yelled, pushing Chopper off him. The boy landed face-first, but he was quick to get up and jump on Fawful, making him land on the ground. Bombette exploded in front of him next, but at the cost of getting shot.

"All right! I'm using a Bob-omb Blast on this freak!" Bombette declared, lighting her fuse up again and creating a bigger explosion, taking 11 out of Fawful.

"But... We didn't need to use something like that..." Chopper trailed.

"She sure is hot-headed," Bang remarked.

"Well, anyway, back to beating up Fawful," Chopper charged at Fawful and grabbed him. He immediately punched him in the face to deal 9 damage. Fawful shot him with a green projectile from his Headgear afterward.

"Looks like I'm up," Shadower declared as he lowered Fawful's defense with a Shadow Punch. Fawful was going to strike again, but Chopper managed to land a kick on him. This had left him with 216 HP.

"Fink-rats!" Fawful's Headgear fired a green energy orb at Chopper. It managed to hit him and knock him back to the group. Thankfully, they were able to help him get himself back together.

"Time to show him how much stronger we've gotten," Chopper smirked, leaping up to great heights and stomping on Fawful with a Gravity Jump, taking 30 out of him. Tamber had struck Fawful with his Power Punch to deal 14 damage before Fawful managed to shoot him.

"Dang it! I'm going to get you for that!" Tamber charged straight at Fawful, but Chopper pulled him back.

"Why not let someone else get a shot at him?" Chopper suggested.

"Heck no!"

Groaning, Chopper grabbed Fawful and threw him onto the ground. The force of the attack had caused the ground to become a little cracked.

"I have injuries…" wheezed Fawful while he stood up, giving them that same, creepy smile. Tamber started to crack his knuckles while grinning, and he prepared to punch Fawful. However, Heartsy ended up beating him to it by throwing her hammer and bringing him to 153 HP.

"Argh! I was going to do that!" Tamber raged, stomping the ground like a child.

"Like Choppy said, let people get a turn to attack," Heartsy argued, picking her hammer up. Unfortunately, this gave Fawful the opportunity to fired a pink blast at her from his Headgear. This knocked her near the edge of the cliff, but Chopper grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

Blushing, Heartsy leaned forward to kiss him for an award, but Chopper had gotten back to the fight and hit Fawful with his hammer. As per usual, she got irritated.

"Rejected," Bang said, making her give him a glare.

Meanwhile, Kirby had successfully knocked Fawful off the mountain thanks to his Cartwheel, finishing him once and for all.

"Poyo! (Yes! He's done for!)" Kirby cheered.

"_**I HAVE FURY!**_"

Unsurprisingly, Fawful was not finished yet. His Headgear helped him return to the fight, and he fired a pink orb of energy at Kirby.

"Yeesh... He's pretty desperate in beating us." Sonic remarked.

"Fawful is not finished just yet," Fawful said, landing on the ground. "For I must get ready to rain fury on you fink-rats and your precious salads."

To shut him up, Chopper leaped in the air and hit him with a Gravity Jump, and then Mario used his Super Jump, leaving him with 105 HP.

"Well, we're not doing a bad job against him," Chopper mentioned. "We can beat him!"

Just then, he got hit by Fawful's laser sword, resulting him in getting annoyed and throwing his hammer to pierce through his defense. Heartsy brought her Hearty Hammer down on Fawful afterward. The trail of hearts left from the impact was something the beanish person noticed.

"Ack! The hearts burn Fawful's teeth like the overheating of Fawful's eyes!" Fawful cried, hitting her with his laser sword. She was knocked back again, but thankfully not off the cliff's edge like before. Chopper proceeded to grab Fawful and slam his head on the rocky floor, making one of his glasses slightly crack. He got up, not appearing to be too bothered by the damage. Sonic decided to take this opportunity to hit him with a Spin Dash.

"Now Fawful has cleaning! And you will be the mud that is washed away!" Fawful yelled, spinning himself and firing all over the place. One shot had managed to hit Chopper and knock away his Suplex ability.

"Dang it... Oh well. He only has 68 HP anyway." Chopper gripped his hammer and brought it down on Fawful's head. After Shadower hit him with a Shadow Punch, Fawful sucked him into his Headgear and spat him at Chopper. To his luck, he was able to guard it.

"Are you all right, Chopper?" Shadower asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm good as well."

"Good! Now then..." Chopper jumped over to Fawful and hit him with a Gravity Jump. Tamber punched the green guy and left him with 26 HP. "We're almost there!"

"Fink-rats! Fawful isn't done yet!" Fawful cackled as he swung at Chopper with his laser sword, but was then whacked in the face by Chopper's hammer. Vivian punched him with her fiery fists afterward.

While Fawful was left scorching, he immediately charged into Vivian and knocked her back slightly. However, before he could make his move on Chopper, he collapsed by Mario's hammer.

Mario: That takes care of him.

"Well, you sure saved my butt, Mario!" Chopper smiled, upgrading his BP to 87 after his level up. Turning back to Fawful, stars now began to circle his head.

"I…have…fury…" Fawful moaned.

"So... Do we just leave him here?" Heartsy asked.

"Well, what else can we do?" Shadower shrugged.

"Then... I guess we should keep going?" Chopper decided, walking over to the trail past Fawful. "This way, guys!"

Everyone quickly followed, but they were forced to take it a little slow, considering that the rocky path was very narrow. In fact, Kirby had almost fallen, but Night noticed this and saved him at the last moment.

"Poyo, (I didn't need your help, you know,)" Kirby noted.

"I...don't know what you just said, but I suppose you're welcome," Night shrugged, helping Kirby get back on the pathway. The pink puffball proceeded to return to the others. In the meantime, Blade was not having the easiest time either.

"Man, why does this area have to be so narrow?" Blade complained. "I never liked narrow walkways, especially at such heights..."

"Oh, put a sock in it, Blade," Bang said irritably.

"Someone once told me that, but where do people tell me to put the sock?" Chopper asked.

"Let's just forget about this whole conversation," Night suggested.

Coincidentally, this conversation had brought them to the end of the pathway. Now they were standing in front of a bigger mountain. Unlike the other, it was much bigger in size.

"Geez! I wonder how long it took to create this mountain..." Blade wondered.

"Maybe Flyer would know about it... If he were here..." Chopper sighed.

"He's probably come up with something... So, Contadre… Is there any fighting grounds around here?" Scrub asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"Well, there were some ninjas and kung fu guys around this place. I remember some areas being filled with a few gardens as well. Though, I don't think there are any around here."

"What? Seriously? C'mon! We need to find at least some!"

"I don't know about that right now... Especially since we have some other things we need to take care of first..." Chopper trailed. Suddenly, the sound of ships caught everyone's attention, and by looking up, they spotted Dark Ships flying into the clouds above them. "Wait... Are those Dark Creatures going where I think they're going?"

"What do you mean?" Bombette asked.

"I think they're up in the clouds... Meaning that their leader could be up there as well."

"That means we're getting close to Dark," Blade deduced. "If he finds us, we'll be ready to stop him!"

"I'm ready to stop him," Chopper declared, punching his open hand. "If he's at the top of this mountain, then I wouldn't be surprised!"

But before they could go up the mountain, Chopper found another cave entrance in front of them. It was dark, having a small puddle water in the corner and many stalactites on the ceiling. The cave was pretty small too, having only a Save Block and Heart Block. No hidden blocks were in here either, according to Shadower.

Regardless of that, Chopper struck both blocks, and they headed back outside to take the spiral pathway to the top of the mountain.

"Geez... This is going to be _so_ much fun..." Tamber groaned.

"Instead of complaining, why don't you be patient," Heartsy suggested.

"Nope."

"Well, then you're most likely going to be thrown off this cliff if you keep it up, kind of like a certain dog..." Blade trailed, eyeing the complaining dog.

"Ugh! Hiking stinks!" Bang complained.

* * *

**Mountain's peak-**

Despite the complaints from Bang, no one had bothered to throw either him or Tamber off the mountain and decided to deal with it. Thankfully, it had only taken them two minutes to reach the peak, and getting there, they saw it was flat instead of pointy. Looking up, the clouds were even closer than before.

"Whoa... Look at those clouds." Scrub gaped. "We're pretty high up!"

"Yeah... At this point, we shouldn't fall." Bombette suggested.

"This height's got nothing on what I had to go through," Sonic mentioned. "So I think we'll be fine! It's that Dark guy we should be worrying about."

However, instead of Dark and his troops being on the peak, there was only one figure, and he was facing away from them.

"I've been waiting for you, Chopper," Tipral stated, turning to face the group. They all immediately got in fighting stances.

"Tipral? What the heck are YOU doing here?!" Chopper asked.

"This dude looks just like Chopper!" Blade gaped.

"I guess he's got a copy?" Night gawked.

"This guy looks pretty cool," Bang commented. The two looked over at him. "What? I think he does! I mean, look at him!"

"You should obviously know why I'm here," Tipral said, pointing at himself. "I'm here to stop you."

"I never expected you to be here, though..." Chopper trailed. "We don't have time for this either... We need to find a Crystal Star."

"That's not going to stop me from fighting you," Tipral said, looking at the group. He noticed one in particular was missing. "I see your wing-headed friend isn't with you. How unfortunate... Did you two get in a little fight?"

"I...honestly don't know... There was something up with him, and he left. ...Wait, why are you asking me this?"

"Hmmmm... Well, perhaps I do know a thing or two about him..."

"What? You do?" Chopper quickly ran up to him with a glare. "What did you do to him?!"

Tipral had thrown a punch at him, making him stagger back and be left with a small, red bruise on his face.

"I didn't do anything to your friend!" Tipral hissed. "In fact, I couldn't care less about him! However, I think I have an idea of someone who can help you find him and get to the Crystal Star."

"Then tell us," Chopper suggested, rubbing his cheek.

"I'll tell you if you manage to beat me, or else you're not getting anything from me."

"...Fine. I guess we don't have much of a choice. But why are you helping us?"

"I'm not doing this to help you. I'm only doing what I think will work better for me." Tipral said, crossing his arms.

"For you? What do you-" Chopper quickly moved away when he found a Star Spear coming his way. It had managed to leave a big mark on the ground. "Hey! I wasn't done speaking!"

"I don't care whether you're speaking or not. Defeating you is what I intend to do!" Tipral snapped his finger, and a purple force field surrounded the area. "That should keep you all from fleeing... And it shall help me put an end to you all!"

**Tattle: **_That's Tipral, who's supposed to be a prototype of some "Ultimate Life Form" or something. I still don't get that... And he hasn't even done much to explain that to us... Max HP is 360, Attack is 17, and Defense is 0. Most of his abilities come from his Star powers, such as his Star Spear. His Star Blast is what you want to be careful of the most, as usual... He can shape-shift as well, but it's something that he doesn't bother to use too much...  
_

"All right, let's get started!" Chopper rushed toward Tipral and stomped on his head. Scrub followed up with a Ground Pound, taking 10 out of him as well.

"You know, with such a laughable defense, maybe this won't be so bad," Sonic remarked.

Tipral snapped his finger, and Chopper and Scrub were both struck by an explosion of magic in between them. Some of them, particularly Tamber, Blade, Bang, and Night, were surprised by this move.

"Did he just create an explosion with a snap of his finger?" Blade gawked.

"I wish I could do that..." Bang mumbled.

Chopper quickly shook the attack aside and brought his hammer down on Tipral. He attempted to attack him, but Chopper dodged the attack, allowing Heartsy to hit him with her own hammer.

"I can tell you've gotten a little stronger..." Tipral remarked, swinging his arm and firing a Star Spear at Heartsy. She was knocked back by the explosion, appearing a little exhausted.

"Well of course we did," Chopper replied.

"Still, don't think that's going to save you!"

Chopper merely ignored him and jumped on him. He quickly jumped away before Tipral could punch him, giving Sonic the opportunity to strike him with a Spin Dash.

"Perhaps I should also inform you about Dark Doom and his Dark Creatures..." Tipral trailed. "Apparently they have showed up on this planet as well."

"Yeah, we know about that," Bombette replied. "We saw their ships."

"You got a clue where they could be, shadow freak?" Sonic asked.

Upon hearing the name "shadow freak", Tipral's eyes glinted with rage, and he quickly teleported in front of Sonic and delivered a Star Punch that knocked him onto the floor. He teleported away from them as Sonic slowly got up, rubbing his head in pain.

"Yeesh... What's this guy's problem? Sure, I make my enemies mad, but they don't go punching me in response!"

"Well, Tipral is evil. ...And also a jerk." Chopper pointed out. "And like all bad guys, they have to be taken down!"

Despite the cheesiness in his words, Chopper turned back to Tipral and jumped on him, performing a stylish move in the process.

"Poyo! (I'm next!)" Kirby got in a cartwheel and he knocked Tipral back with said attack. In response, Tipral created a shadow ball and threw at Kirby, taking 17 out of him. With Chopper's hammer and Mario's jump, he was down to 260 HP.

Mario: We've got this!

Unfortunately, Tipral grabbed Mario and he teleported in front of Chopper. He was merciless in his attack, swinging the plumber at Chopper twice. Both of them ended up losing 19 HP in the process.

"Ow! Geez... What was that all about?" Chopper mumbled, getting Mario off him as Tipral let go of him. He proceeded to jump on his counterpart's head. Seeing no one else make a move, Shadower shrugged and hit Tipral with a Shadow Punch. Luckily, he managed to guard Tipral's Star Spear when he saw it coming his way.

"Whew… Thanks goodness I guarded that…" Shadower sighed.

Chopper performed a flip as he stomped on Tipral, pulling a stylish move again. Bombette was stylish in her Bomb attack, but Tipral had taken this opportunity to kick her into the barrier.

"Yeow!" Bombette cried, falling on the rocky floor.

"Are you OK, Bombette?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," the Bob-omb assured, standing up. "Go get him for me, all right?"

Vivian nodded and went into the shadows to approach Tipral. After hitting him with a Shade Fist, Chopper jumped on his enemy again.

"Argh... You're starting to become very annoying..." Tipral groaned, cringing from the burn. "Looks like I'm using my stronger attacks."

His eyes flashed, and time itself had become frozen. That's when Tipral began to attack with his Star Rain, which summoned star energy in the form on rain to hit them all and deal 19 damage. After his eyes flashed again, time flowed back to normal, and everyone was not feeling too good.

"I suddenly feel in pain..." Chopper wheezed. "But it didn't look like it!"

"That's what happened when I freeze time," Tipral explained. "It goes by quick, but you're suddenly in pain in a second."

To retaliate, Chopper decided to show off one of his strongest move by clenching his fists and waiting for his feet to glow yellow. Tipral watched as Chopper leaped high in the air and performed a powerful stomp on his head, managing to deal 30 damage to him. He was left in surprise, but it didn't end there. Tamber had charged at him and hit him with a Combo Punch.

"All right... I'll give you one thing, you do have some powerful moves... I didn't expect that tulip to be so strong either."

"I'm NOT a tulip!" Tamber yelled.

"Of course, my Star Blast is much more destructive than your one attack," Tipral stated, surrounding himself in a light purple glow and raising his attack by 17. Chopper seemed worried at first, but when he threw an electric ball at him, he found himself surprised when he became paralyzed. "What the... I can't move!"

"Heh heh! Nice work, Contadre! Now it's my turn!" Scrub smirked, fluttering above Tipral and hitting him with a Ground Pound. Since he was still stunned, Chopper and Heartsy decided to hit him with their hammers. Unfortunately, that was when the paralysis wore off.

"All right, so you managed to paralyze me, but that's not stopping me from using my attack!" Tipral yelled, unleashing his Star Blast upon the group. But he was unfortunate when the attack was Superguarded. "What? It missed?!"

"Ha ha! We were lucky on that!" Chopper laughed, he and Vivian striking the dark being with a jump and a fiery fist. Tipral took his anger out on Chopper, knocking him back and being caught by Bang at the last moment.

"I've got you, Chopper," Bang assured.

"Thanks. Can you throw me back to him?"

"OK," Bang threw him toward Tipral, where he stomped on his head, which followed up with Sonic's Spin Dash, bringing him down to 60 HP.

"Urgh… No… How is this possible?" mumbled Tipral. He disappeared and reappeared in front of Chopper to use his Star Pulse attack. This had knocked everyone away from him. Chopper resorted to using a Gravity Jump, and thanks to Tamber's Combo Punch, he was down to 20 HP.

"Honestly, this guy's way too overconfident," Sonic remarked. "He thinks he can beat us, but in the end, he gets his butt kicked by us just like the other villains."

"To be fair, I'm actually doing myself a favor if I lose this fight," Tipral mentioned, firing a Star Spear at Chopper, who proceeded to guard it. Kirby had left him with 10 HP thanks to his Cartwheel.

"Poyo! (Go for it, Chopper!)" Kirby cried.

"All right, I will!" Chopper walked over to Tipral, and with one whack from his hammer, he had defeated.

"Ugh… Not bad…" Tipral moaned as he collapsed. Chopper received enough Star Points for another level up, so he upgraded his HP to 150.

"Man... I'm seriously getting a lot of level ups," Chopper remarked. "It's like every time I fight a boss or mini-boss, I level up!"

Chopper soon found Tipral groaning. Looking at him, he noticed him slowly stand up, appearing limped and exhausted.

"Good… So, you managed to defeat me once again." Tipral wheezed. "So, you want to know who you can go to to get help?"

Chopper and the others replied with a simple nod.

"If you go up to the clouds, you will most likely find a shrine. There is an old angel that lives in the shrine named **Drambi**. He watches over this planet. You can consider him to be this planet's 'God'."

"He's a God? Well... That sounds interesting." Sonic remarked.

"Huh.. I've never heard of this guy before..." Chopper trailed. "So are you sure he can help us find both Flyer and the Crystal Stars?"

"Yes, I'm certain," Tipral assured. "He can find anything located on this planet. However, if he cannot find Flyer on this planet... Then that's your problem."

"All right... We'll go look for him. I guess that's our only option."

At that moment, a rainbow staircase had appeared from the clouds above, while sunlight had shined down on the mountain. Heavenly music could be heard as well.

"Ooh! Now THAT'S heavenly!" Bang gawked.

"Let's not waste any time," Chopper suggested, getting onto the staircase. "We have some important business to take care of!"

In no time at all, the group went higher up the staircase and into the heavens.


	123. A Battle Between Friends

Back in the dark realm, Beldam, Mysterious, and Doopliss were waiting patiently. The area they stood in was very small, not having any tables or furniture. The only thing that was there was a door they were facing.

Just then, they saw the door open, and out came Marilyn and Purple. Along with them was another figure.

"I suppose he's here now," Doopliss stated, noticing Flyer to be the other figure. However, he appeared much different than before. He was wearing a gray cloak that wrapped around his body, and his yellow, healthy face looked very pale. To Doopliss, he looked pretty intimidating.

"Ah... Flyer... It's so nice to see how much you've changed." Mysterious grinned, liking the new look of Flyer. "It seems that training has worked perfectly!"

"Yes. I'm quite pleased that you have done very well. MUCH better than certain others by other side…" Beldam trailed, turning to Doopliss. She gave him the nod, and he transformed into Vivian, and then to Shadower. "Yes… Those people are definite examples of traitors."

"No worries, you two. I will remain on your side," Flyer smirked. "I have no reason to return to those pitiful fools!"

Flyer looked over at Marilyn, who took out a hat that had gray and white stripes on it. Mysterious took it from her and held it in front of the Wingel.

"Now then… Once you put on this hat, you will complete your final step to becoming one of us." Mysterious explained. "However, you must realize that everyone you've known and loved are now your enemies. You will leave them all behind and destroy them all. Do you understand?"

Hearing that made Flyer look up in surprise. "Wait... Every single one of them?"

"Yes."

Flyer looked down for a moment, remaining silent. He started to think of all the people he cared for, specifically Fumu, his parents, and even Chopper and the others.

"Well? Are you going to answer?" Mysterious asked, appearing impatient.

"Are you...sure about this?" Flyer asked.

"Those are the rules of becoming one of us," Beldam snarled. "Remember what I showed you before, Flyer! Those fools do not care about you anymore! We are here to give you what you need!"

"I don't know... I mean, there are some people who understand me..."

Frowning, Beldam revealed another image, this time with Chopper and his friends up in the clouds. They seemed to be joking around, defeating a few enemies along the way._  
_

_"Gee, I wish Flyer were here..."_ Chopper trailed. _"He'd always take the hits for us!"_

_"Too bad he's not here to fix some stuff for us,"_ Tamber said. _"That's all that nerd is good for!"_

_"Even then, his mechanical skills are pretty bad, too!"_ Sonic added.

Beldam could see the anger in Flyer's eyes, and she started to grin. "Yes... See what these people are saying? You want revenge against them, right?"

"Yes..." Flyer declared. "I wish to get back at them!"

"Heh heh heh… Excellent." Mysterious smirked. "Now, then… Do you promise to obey our commands, and do you promise to use your powers only for us?"

"Yes."

"And will you forget your previous life?" Beldam asked.

"...I will."

Satisfied, Mysterious placed the hat on Flyer's head, hiding his gray wings and giving Flyer an evil sensation.

"Then… Flyer..." Beldam started, giving him a grin. "Welcome to the Shadow Sirens!"

* * *

**Up in the clouds-**

After making it up the top of the rainbow stairs, the group had caught sight of the clear, blue sky. Many rainbows could be seen around, giving them all a sense of peace.

"This place is so beautiful..." Vivian commented, enjoying the view of the sky. "I think I can even the stars from here."

"Poyo! (Hey! You're right! I can see some stars too!)" Kirby squealed. "Poyo! (I think I'll like it here!)"

"Yeah, I'll admit, this place is pretty cool," Blade agreed.

"It'll be nice going through here, especially since there isn't any water!" Sonic grinned.

"Plus, I see no sign of the darkness!" Chopper added, not seeing any sign of the darkness. Everyone appeared to be relieved.

"Chopper! Chopper!"

Looking up, everyone saw a Paratroopa carrying a mailbag flying down to them. Chopper, Bombette, and Mario easily recognized him.

Mario: It's Parakarry!

"Wait, Parakarry?" Bombette gawked.

"Hey, Parakarry!" Chopper greeted as Parakarry landed in front of them, appearing exhausted. "I haven't seen you in a while!"

"_Huff... Wheeze..._ There you are..." Parakarry panted. "You don't know how long I've been looking for you!"

"What's wrong, Parakarry?"

"Guys... You're in serious danger. And..." the Paratroopa stopped to remember. Unfortunately, it wasn't coming into his mind. "Aw, confound it! I don't remember what it was that was going after you!"

"Oh... That's not good..." Bombette trailed. "So, did you see any darkness around?"

"Yeah, I did as I was flying. Thankfully, that darkness has not reached the jungle." Parakarry explained, receiving a relieved sigh from Chopper. "Say, Chopper... Why are you still here anyway? You know about that darkness, right?"

"Yeah, we know about it... And it hasn't reached the jungle. What a relief..." Chopper sighed. "Well, we're here to collect something called a Crystal Star. We're going to see someone named Drambi about it."

"Interesting! ...Well, since I'm here and all, mind if I tag along for right now? I won't try to get in the way..."

"All right," Chopper nodded, not minding the postman coming with him.

"Great!" Parakarry smiled, taking a look at the group of friends Chopper had. "Hmmmmm… Well, you've definitely got an interesting group! I know at least two people here! Plus, being back here brings me back to two years ago. I wonder how everything's changed."

"I can see some ruins around here," Heartsy announced, noticing some ruins up ahead. She also looked down below. "And what's the land like below?"

"Well... I think we should discuss that later. For now, let's move on." Chopper walked on ahead toward the ruins. Everyone else followed him and spotted a couple of Dark Creatures searching through some of the ruins. They looked just like the Dark Soldiers back at the mountains. This time, however, there were three of them.

"Hmmmm... Well, nothing appears to be here. No sign of that star." the first Dark Soldier informed.

"Great... We spend all this time looking, and we don't find a sign of that star!" the second complained. "And it doesn't help that most of the other places are shrouded in some weird darkness!"

The third Dark Soldier, meanwhile, had decided to step away from the ruins. To its surprise, it ended up spotting Chopper and his friends nearby. The soldier quickly headed back to its comrades to inform them on the heroes.

"What? You're telling us that those guys we met at that island are here?" the first Dark Soldier asked.

"Yeah," the third soldier nodded. "I say we get 'em!"

"That's just what I was thinking," the second grinned. "Let's catch 'em!"

As the heroes looked around in the ruins, the three Dark Creatures had hid behind some of the broken walls in order to surprise them.

"So... How high are we, exactly?" Shadower asked.

"I'm not so sure..." Chopper shrugged. "I didn't pay too much attention to that. Though, I was kinda scared when I was this high for the first time..."

Before their conversation could continue, the three Dark Creatures ambushed them and started firing. Thankfully, they managed to avoid the shots on time before Night defeated one of the Dark Soldiers with his axe hammer. Sonic took care of the remaining Dark Soldiers using his Sonic Wind, and the one that had survived the attack got defeated by Mario's jump.

"Geez... That was surprising." Sonic remarked. "They just came out of nowhere!"

"Well, we better be ready for Dark when we find him," Blade suggested.

"Yeah… We might as well..." Chopper agreed, walking away from the ruins. He and the others continued their way onto the cloudy walkway, but they had stopped when they noticed a large gap between them and the cloud up ahead. Thankfully, there were a couple of bushes and trees around, only they were white.

"These bushes and trees look like as if they lost their color," Heartsy commented, noticing only a rainbow coming from the trees. "...Unless you count that."

"Wait... Something seems off with this tree." Shadower noticed, getting a closer look. "Is that a flap?"

A light bulb suddenly appeared over Kirby's head, and he started to inhale. The flap was revealed to be a piece of paper hiding a blue ! switch from behind. Chopper gave it a kick, and suddenly a rainbow had appeared that went over to the next cloud.

Mario: Is it safe to walk on?

"Uh huh!" Chopper nodded, standing on the rainbow and running to the other side. Surprised, the rest crossed the rainbow and continued their way through the cloudy walkway.

* * *

**Ten minutes later-**

"Man, this place is a lot more boring than I thought," Bang remarked. "Where are the cool stuff?"

"I agree... There should be a lot more here." Chopper mentioned. "It wasn't like this before... Then again, we're not at that tall tower around here."

"Tower?" Vivian wondered.

"It's a long story..."

Regardless, they started to continue their walk, but for Bang, he had stopped when he felt something behind him. He turned around and faced a figure aiming his blaster at him.

"Don't move," Dark warned, keeping the gun at Bang's head. The Chihuahua didn't bother to say a thing. "You know, Bang... It's kinda funny how your name is the sound that a gun makes when fired. One could say you might be going out with a bang."

Everyone had turned around and spotted Dark holding Bang hostage. Blade drew his katana, Night had his axe hammer ready, and the others got in a fighting stance.

"So we finally found you," Blade said, giving Dark a glare. "Let my friend go this instant!"

"Make a move, and your friend is history," Dark warned.

"What? Come on!" Bang complained. "I've been through enough, thank you very much!"

"You'll be history when we're through with you, Dark," Chopper declared. "You're outnumbered!"

"Oh, really?" Grinning, Dark snapped his finger, and his army of Dark Creatures and Dark Ships had appeared behind him, looking eager to fight. Everyone stared at them wide-eyed.

"Whoa... We're dealing with something big here." Sonic commented.

"I assume you people know of where the Crystal Star is, am I correct?" Dark asked.

"What do you want with the stars?" Vivian asked.

"Isn't it obvious? They will help me rule the world, obviously! With the unlimited power granted by them, everyone will bow down to the Dark Creatures."

"Fat chance," Sonic retorted. "And besides, we haven't found the Crystal Star."

"Oh, really? Interesting... Then I guess I have another reason to destroy you all then."

"Wait, why?" Chopper asked.

"To keep you from getting what belongs to me," Dark answered. He looked over at Bang and decided to push him back to the group. "Consider yourself lucky, Bang. But don't worry, I plan to get rid of you quite soon."

"That is, if you manage to defeat us," Chopper challenged.

"Then challenge accepted!"

"Careful, guys..." Night warned. "Dark is someone you don't want to mess with. He's pretty skilled up close and from a far range.""You're talking to a group of heroes that took down two evil demons!" Scrub smirked confidently. "This guy shouldn't be a problem!"

"Is that so? Then this fight should be interesting!" Dark grinned, aiming his blaster at the group.

**Tattle: **_That's Dark Doom. He's the leader – or king, whichever one you wanna say, of the Dark Creatures. That eye on his forehead looks so weird… Though it doesn't appear to be open. Max HP is 350, Attack is 17, and Defense is 1. He'll mostly attack you from far away, but he can also use martial arts. Also, beware of his ability to become dodgy. This guy plays smart, so you better watch out, Chopper._

"All right, so let's get started!" Chopper pulled his hammer out, and in no seconds flat, he bashed Dark's head swiftly. He scowled and attempted to fire, but Sonic was fast enough and hit him with a Spin Dash.

"You were lucky there… I could've had you at that moment... Oh, whatever." Dark pulled the trigger on his blaster and shot a purple projectile at Sonic, taking 17 out of him and knocking him back to the group. "Now, Dark Creatures! Attack them!"

The Dark Creatures immediately took action and charged. Many of the heroes were caught in the fight, leaving Chopper and Sonic to face off against Dark.

"Ah... This is just how I want things. ...Though, I'd prefer to only fight Sonic, but I guess I can't have everything."

"Yeah, you can't," Chopper replied, hitting Dark with his hammer again, with Sonic hitting him with another Spin Dash. This time, Dark targeted Chopper and grabbed a hold of Chopper's foot. Using his skills in martial arts, and easily threw him onto the cloud and took 17 out of him.

"You're much lighter than I anticipated," Dark smirked. "But I will concede that you're not as weak as I thought..."

Chopper equipped his Angel ability, and he aimed a single arrow at Dark. He fired, causing the Dark Creature leader to scream in pain. Along with that, Mario decided to step in and hit him with his hammer.

"Mario?" Chopper gawked.

Mario: Don't leave me out of this fight either!

Some of the Dark Creatures noticed Dark in pain and came over to help him. However, he stood up and gave them a signal to stand back.

"Stay out of this battle, my soldiers," Dark demanded.

"But Your Majesty, you were in-"

"I don't care. This is between me and these fools! You interfere, and I will punish you severely!"

The Dark Creatures quickly stepped away from the fight, knowing what kind of punishments he would give out. With that, Dark fired at Chopper in retaliation, knocking him on his back. That is, if he even has one...

Heartsy had noticed Chopper lying on the floor, and she quickly swung her hammer at Dark when he least expected it. She then went over to Chopper to help him up.

"Are you all right?" Heartsy asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," Chopper nodded. "Uhhh... Thanks?"

"You're welcome," she smiled, kissing his cheek before getting back to the fight. Chopper stood wide-eyed and disgusted, but then Sonic waved his hand in front of him to regain his attention. It took a while, but he managed to get him back to his senses.

"Gross! She kissed me!" Chopper complained.

"Yeesh... I thought I had some problems with Amy, but I think you've got it worse." Sonic sweat dropped.

"Not to interrupt your conversation, but we have a fight to continue," Dark hissed.

Chopper wiped his cheek and fired another arrow at Dark, making him cringe again. He fired at Chopper again, this time removing his Angel ability in the process. However, that did not stop Chopper from changing to his Beam ability and firing an orange beam whip at Dark.

"What the… First you were pale green, and now you're yellow?" Dark gawked. "Perhaps this is when you change to a different ability..."

"Yeah, he does," Bombette jumped in, exploding in front of Dark and covering him in soot, bringing him down to 260 HP.

Dark was not going to let Bombette go so quickly, so he grabbed her by the foot and threw her toward Chopper. He ducked just in time to avoid her, but she ended up crashing into a Dark Soldier, surprisingly defeating it in the process.

"Well… I didn't expect that…" Sonic quickly curled into another ball and hurled himself at Dark, hitting him with another Spin Dash. "All right, Chopper. Charge up a beam attack if you want!"

"Got it!" Chopper began to charge up energy from his wand, and after ten seconds, he fired an orange blast at Dark, taking 11 out of him instantly. Dark held his arm, but he managed to push himself up to shoot at Chopper. He ended up dodging the shot, which hit one of the Dark Creatures instead.

"Arrgh! You've gotta be kidding me!" Dark growled, gritting his teeth, revealing one of his fangs. They appeared rather intimidating to Chopper, but Sonic gave him an assuring nod to attack. Nodding, Chopper swung his wand and hit Dark with another beam whip. "This time, I'm not giving you a chance to hit me!"

Unfortunately, he didn't see a giant egg fall on him, dealing 12 damage.

"Bulls-eye!" Scrub cheered, jumping up and down happily. "That'll help ya, Contadre!"

Chopper smiled, but his attention was brought back to Dark. He had charged a shot from his blaster and fired at Chopper and Sonic. They barely had time to react, taking the full force of the attack and losing 19 HP in the process.

"Heh heh... That should work nicely..." Dark grinned, twirling his blaster.

Chopper quickly shook himself and immediately changed to his Mirror ability, where he fired a mirror shard at Dark. That was when Vivian had emerged in front of Dark and hit him with a Shade Fist. He tried to attack her, but she had already retreated, forcing him to jump toward Sonic and kick him, knocking him on the ground.

"Argh... That burn brought me down to 200 HP!" Dark hissed.

"Well, then prepare to taste defeat!" Sonic grinned, using his Sonic Speed on Chopper. This had granted him an opportunity to attack Dark twice. "Go for it, Chopper! Give him everything you've got!"

"All right!" Chopper nodded, approaching Dark and creating two clones that manged to strike him and deal 11 damage. He took out his hammer next and struck Dark with his Master Hammer, sending him flying back toward a couple of Dark Creatures.

"Your Majesty! Are you all right?" one Dark Creature asked, helping him up.

"Back off!" Dark yelled, slapping his minion's hand away. "I'm in the middle of a fight here!"

He began to run toward the two, and he started by thrusting his hand forward. Red, swirling energy in the shape of a crescent had fired out and hit the two. Chopper decided to toss an ice ball at Dark, and then Shadower hit him with a Shadow Punch, bringing his defense to 0. It didn't stop Dark from shooting Shadower, though.

"OK... I think I know what I'm going to do." Chopper decided, using his Soft Stomp to bring Dark's defense to 0.

"Thanks, Chopper!" Sonic curled up in a ball and rammed into Dark with a Spin Dash, bringing him down to 137 HP.

"You pests! You are starting to get on my nerves!" Dark growled, whacking Sonic with his gun instead of shooting him. Unfortunately, he never saw a Gravity Jump hit him in the head.

"Hi-YA!" Chopper smiled, jumping off Dark, while Tamber decided to jump in and hit Dark with a Power Punch.

"Ha ha! That felt good!" Tamber grinned, only for him to receive a kick from Dark. However, it did not stop him from getting hurt by one of Chopper's mirror shards. He winced in pain, while Sonic hit Dark with a Homing Attack and brought him down to 73 HP.

"Argh!" Dark, noticing the injuries left on him, shot Chopper again. "You're all going to pay!"

"I don't think so, Dark," Chopper replied, using another Gravity Jump to take another 30 out of him, while Sonic used a Spin Dash to bring him down to 33 HP. Once Dark fired that last shot at Sonic, his defense had been brought back to normal. Regardless, Chopper hit him with his hammer, and Mario jumped on the Dark Creature leader.

"Boy… This fight is getting a little extreme." Parakarry noticed.

"_Cough… _You know, you can give up right now if you want. I'm ready to throw in one of my deadliest weapons yet!" Dark smirked, slowly pulling out a black jewel.

"Hey, that looks like a Chaos Emerald!" Sonic noticed.

"This is the Dark Emerald! This was given to me by my father! With it, I will become three times as powerful as you! Prepare to finally meet your-"

Not caring in the slightest, Sonic ran up to Dark and gave the emerald a good kick, knocking it off the clouds.

"Problem solved!" Sonic smirked, jumping back to Chopper.

"ACK! NO! My emerald!" Dark gaped, watching it fall to the ground below. He looked up at Sonic with a look of anger. "You just sealed your fate..."

"You're telling us that when you have 16 HP left? Yeah, our fates are totally sealed." Sonic scoffed.

Before Dark could speak up, Chopper fired a mirror shard at him, and then Sonic delivered the final blow to Dark with a Spin Dash, making him collapse.

"You're finished!" Chopper smirked, upgrading his FP to 150 after a level up. He then turned to Sonic afterward. "Good thing you interrupted him at the last moment! We could've been toast!"

"Well, I always like doing that," Sonic said confidently, while Chopper removed his ability. Unfortunately, their battle did not appear to be over, as Dark had managed to slowly stand up and look at them with hatred in his eyes.

"Heads up, Contadre! He's still up!" Scrub alerted.

Turning around, Chopper gasped when he saw Dark pointing at them, giving a signal. "Dark Creatures... Eliminate every single one of them! Leave none alive!"

The Dark Creatures obeyed, and they started to charge at them. However, fate did not appear to be on Dark's side, as Blade, Bang, and Night immediately took action and started to attack them.

"What're you guys doing?" Tamber asked.

"Guys, don't bother with them," Blade said. "You've got somewhere else to go. We'll hold these guys off for now, all right!"

"Are you sure?" Chopper asked.

"Yeah, we got your back. Getting that Crystal Star is important. Besides, we've taken on many of these guys on our own."

"This isn't anything new to us," Night assured.

"Well… All right. Let's go, guys." Chopper fled from the battle with his friends, including Parakarry. They noticed a building up ahead. "That could possibly be it..."

They didn't bother looking back at the battle, knowing that it could slow them down. As they moved, Vivian had gone up beside Chopper.

"Do you think what Tipral said may be true?" Vivian asked.

"I hope so..." Chopper trailed. "Because if he was lying this whole time... I don't know what'd I do!"

"Give him a beating?" Tamber wondered.

"...Maybe?"

When they had finally reached the shrine. They noticed it appeared to be glittering and a pale yellow color. It wasn't that big of a shrine, but what was in front of them was gorgeous. There were a couple of trees around, along with a couple of rainbow-colored flowers.

Mario: I think this is it...

"Yeah. I hope that Drambi person is still there." Chopper walked up the stairs to the door, but Parakarry stopped at one of the trees and looked at the fruit.

"Hmmmm… I'm pretty sure I've seen these…" Parakarry trailed, looking at the red apple. "Eh… Why not? I AM sorta hungry."

Parakarry grabbed the red apple, and he bit into it. Everyone had turned around when they saw the Paratroopa grow in size.

"Holy cow! I sure have gained some weight!" Parakarry gaped. Thankfully, this effect was temporary, and he was soon back to normal. "Oh… It looks like I'm myself again."

"That's some weird fruit. Maybe I can have one." Tamber decided, grabbing a black apple and biting into it. However, he didn't feel any side effects, and he ended up spitting it out. "Eeeugh! This thing tastes horrible!"

"I'd like to eat some fruit too, but we need to go into the shrine this instant," Chopper informed, hitting the Save Block next to the entrance. Tamber had went up the stairs to join the group, who went into the door together.

The inside of the shrine, unlike the exterior, was golden in color. The room was not very big, but there was a throne and two pillars beside it with a glowing orb resting on top of both.

"This is it? There's barely anything in here!" Tamber complained.

"Hmmmm? Visitors have arrived?"

Sitting on the throne was an angelic being that was white, but had a large, gray beard that touched the ground. He also had large, gray eyebrows that made it difficult to see his eyes. Along with that, he had rainbow wings that were shaped like hearts.

"Hi there!" Chopper greeted, approaching the godly figure. "Are you, by any chance, Drambi?"

"Of course. That's my given name." Drambi confirmed, taking a look down at the boy. "I see you've finally shown up, Chopper. I had a feeling you'd be arriving..."

"Wait… How do you know his name?" Vivian asked.

"Well, my dear… I watch everything in this world. That means I have watched you travel throughout the planet when you first arrived. ...I suppose your arrival here means there is a serious issue going on..."

"Yeah..." Chopper nodded.

"Yes, I foresaw this. Fortunately, I can help you with your problems."

"Oh, I'm afraid none of that will be happening at this moment. Mmmmwee hee hee hee!"

"That voice... I know that voice!" Vivian gasped.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! So, you finally show up at long last, Chopper!"

The ugly witch, Beldam, rose from the shadows along with Marilyn. Doopliss jumped off one of the statues of Drambi, and Mysterious and Purple also rose from the shadows.

"Wait... You guys? What're you doing here?" Chopper asked.

"You guys aren't giving up yet, are you?" Sonic asked.

"Not a chance," Mysterious retorted. "On the other hand, we would like you introduce you to our newest member. Trust me, he's been looking forward to seeing you guys."

"New member?" Chopper gawked.

"Of course! Feel free to come out now!"

A figure had landed in front of them, wearing a gray cloak that covered most of his body and a yellow and gray-striped hat. When the figure finally showed his face, everyone was left in surprise.

"Flyer? Oh, thank goodness you're all right! I was hoping the darkness hadn't gotten to you! I feel revealed... So, who's the new-" Chopper paused, finally realizing what Beldam meant. "No... Flyer, don't tell me you joined them..."

"Correct," Flyer grinned, approaching the shocked heroes. "I've been getting sick of how you guys have been treating me, so I joined a group that would assist me and become much stronger. Now I can finally exact my revenge against you."

Everyone was left dead silent.

"Look at them! They're all too shocked to even say a word!" Mysterious grinned. "Flyer, go ahead and destroy them."

"Of course," Flyer nodded, turning back to the heroes with hatred in his eyes. "All of those times you've just been using me like a tool, and all those times you guys used me a shield for your enemies... They will finally be put away when I eradicate you all!"

"Flyer... Why them of all people?" Vivian asked. "They are the people who should be trusted the least!"

"What do you know about trust?"

"Because we've been on their side before," Shadower answered. "They're going to treat you the same way as we were! You'll just be their punching bag!"

"Flyer has proven to be a valiant ally," Beldam assured. "If anyone was going to be the punching bag, I'd say it would be the freak-in-a-sheet!"

"Wait... What?" Doopliss gawked.

"Flyer, please... Don't listen to them..." Vivian trailed. "We're your friends!"

"Yes, Flyer… Please listen to your friends." Drambi suggested. "Those shadow beings are scoundrels! They're only deceiving you!"

"Silence!" Flyer pointed at Drambi, summoning lightning to strike him, knocking him unconscious. "I don't need anyone's help! I've forgotten my old life!"

"Even Fumu?" Heartsy gasped.

"Everyone I've known and loved are now my enemies. You people standing in my way are my enemies! And like all enemies, they must be put to an end!"

Pointing a finger at the crowd, he had fired lightning at them. However, Parakarry had managed to push Chopper out of the way and take the lightning strike intended for him.

"Guys?" Chopper gasped, noticing them all unconscious.

"And then there was one," Beldam grinned. "Then again, I think this is much more fitting! Seeing two former friends battle out until the end. This will be interesting..."

"Flyer, please..." Chopper pleaded. "I don't want to fight you! You're my best friend!"

"Well you're not mine," Flyer said coldly, damaging Chopper mentally. "I'll take care of you, and then I can finally live a happy life!"

All Chopper could do was gulp nervously.

**Tattle: **_That's…OMIGOSH! I… I don't BELIEVE it! Flyer…is with those fiends?! This is unbearable! Max HP is 140, Attack is 17, and Defense is 0. Honestly... I don't know what to do here... It doesn't say what kind of attacks he can pull off! You're just going to have to tough it out, Chopper...  
_

Chopper stared back at Flyer, giving a more confident look. "Fine... If this is how you want it to be, then I guess that's how it's going to be..."

He raised his arm and prepared to fire a fireball at Flyer. However, looking at him, he stopped his attack and lowered his arm.

"I can't do it... I just don't have what it takes..." Chopper trailed with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Flyer didn't seem to care, so he pointed at Chopper and zapped him with lightning. Though it didn't knock him unconscious it did manage to badly damage him.

"Ack!" Chopper cried, but he still did not fight back. "Please, Flyer! Snap out of it!"

"'Snap out of it?' I CHOSE this path!" Flyer yelled, firing an ice beam at his ex-best friend. This froze his feet, preventing him from moving. Even then, Chopper did not bother to fight back.

"This is pathetic! Chopper can't even face against his own friend!" Mysterious cackled. "This will end quickly..."

"What's wrong, Chopper?" Flyer taunted, approaching the Star Warrior. "You can't fight back against me? I thought you were a hero?!"

Chopper did not respond, so Flyer prepared to scorch him with a fire spell. However, he soon noticed Chopper slowly mumble and look up at him.

"Flyer, please... You're not one of them..." Chopper mumbled. "There are so many people that care about you... I especially care about you..."

"I told you, I am forgetting everything from the past," Flyer stated coldly, scorching him with fire. This had melted the ice trapping Chopper, allowing him to freely move. Even then, he was still panting from exhaustion.

"Flyer... There was a reason why I, especially, wanted to help you stop Chillbi." Chopper started. "You're my best friend, and friends always look out for each other. Don't you remember how much fun we had?"

"Fun...?" the Wingel paused, now starting to ponder. This, however, did not go unnoticed by the others.

"What are you doing, Flyer? Get back to destroying Chopper!" Beldam ordered.

Flyer was broken out of his trance and gave a more serious look. "Right."

He summoned an earthquake, which was strong enough to knock the poor little Star Warrior off his feet.

"Oof!" Chopper moaned, slowly getting up, refusing to give up. "Fl-Flyer… Look, if you had anything to tell me before, you could've said it to me... I would've tried to at least help you... Heck, it was me who helped you and Fumu get together."

Flyer paused to ponder over those events, but when he remembered what he was told before, he shook off the trance again. "No, Chopper. Do I NEED to repeat myself over and over again?! All. Is. FORGOTTEN!"

He zapped Chopper, giving off satisfaction to the Shadow Sirens and Brothers.

_"I knew this was an excellent plan,"_ Beldam thought, rubbing her hands evilly.

When Chopper stood up again, tears starting to come down his face. "Flyer, why do you think I tried to help you free yourself when you were being brainwashed as Flyknightis?"

"Yuk yuk yuk! Aww… The little baby's crying! Well, serves ya right, Slick!" Doopliss chuckled.

"Shut up, freak-in-a-sheet!" Beldam shushed.

"Oh, right…"

"I better finish this," Flyer was ready to cast another spell.

"Flyer! Think about all of the fun times when we were destroying battleships with your plane! Don't you remember how much we enjoyed those?"

Flyer tried to resist thinking about those prior events, but those memories kept going into his head. He quickly shook his head, mentally telling himself that he was done with those events. Readying his lightning spell, he fired at Chopper.

However, Drambi had stepped in the way, taking the hit and falling once again.

"_Urk_… Flyer…" Drambi moaned. "Please... Don't…trust those fiends… They're…URK…are not your friends! None of those images Beldam showed you were true..."

Flyer looked down at Drambi, noticing the pain he was in. A hint of sympathy appeared on his face. Only a little.

"Your friends have been worried about you the whole time..." Drambi continued. "They've been worried about your safety."

"And what do you know about that?" Flyer asked harshly.

"I watch over all that's here... I can even listen to those on the planet as well..."

The anger had disappeared on his face as he noticed Drambi struggle to stand.

_"I never thought hurting people could be so…bad."_

"Flyer! Snap out of it! Destroy Chopper this instant!" Mysterious ordered. His voice eventually regained Flyer's attention, and he zapped Chopper. This time, Chopper couldn't get up.

At this point, Chopper hardly had much left to say.

"…I'm so sorry, my friends," Chopper apologized, turning to his unconscious friends. "And I'm sorry too, Flyer… If you were hurt by anything I've done to you in the past, then I'm truly sorry..." he continued to speak, sniffling and lowering his head. "Go ahead. I'm done. There's nothing I can do to stop you..."

Flyer looked down at him with disdain, but then he heard Drambi's moaning again.

"Flyer... When I first saw you come to this planet, I knew you and Chopper's friendship would last until the very end when I saw him save you from those fiends..." Drambi trailed. "

At that point, Flyer suddenly saw in image in his mind depicting a five-year-old Chopper rescuing him when he was three-years-old. He remembered that he was being bullied around by a couple of Darklings, but then Chopper had come in and saved him. That...was the start of their friendship.

Flyer began to tremble a little, remembering those thoughts. Now he started to think whether this was truly right or not.

"Flyer! Pay attention! Finish Chopper! NOW!" demanded Beldam.

"You MUST do it!" Mysterious reminded him.

Flyer looked at them and then back at the defenseless Chopper.

"Flyer... I just want to say that I want you to be happy..." Chopper trailed. "And if that means destroying me, then I guess I have no other choice..."

"…You would let me be happy even if I destroyed you?" Flyer gawked.

"Flyer... You know this isn't the right thing to do..." Drambi moaned. "Please take off the hat..."

"Flyer..." Beldam hissed. "Do I have to repeat myself again?!"

Flyer looked back down at Chopper and slowly pointed at him. Chopper looked up and saw the sparks coming from his finger. Closing his eyes, he prepared for the worst.

But he didn't feel lightning hit him. Opening his eyes, Chopper noticed Flyer's finger no longer flowing with sparks, and he had lowered his finger, looking down at the floor in remorse. He had also thrown his cloak to the side.

"No... I can't do it..." Flyer confessed. "I can't take hurting my own friend..."

Chopper looked at him in surprise as he approached him and held his hand out. Chopper decided to grab his hand, and he was pulled up.

"Flyer... Is that really you?" Chopper asked.

"Yeah. It's me." Flyer answered with a smile.

"What?! This… This isn't happening!" Both Beldam and Mysterious gaped.

"Guhhhhhh!" grunted Marilyn.

"Chopper, I'm sorry for any harm I've caused to you. Apparently I was only thinking of myself, while I paid no attention to what you guys were enduring."

"Well, I'm sorry if there was anything bugging you during those moments," Chopper replied. "Maybe we should start saying thank you to you for your help."

"No, it's me who should be truly sorry," Flyer replied. "I started to realize that the others don't receive much of a thanks when they did something for you, yet they weren't complaining. So... You think you can forgive me?"

"Yeah... I do." Chopper smiled, he and Flyer shaking each other's hand. Beldam and Mysterious were standing there, steaming with anger. When Chopper noticed them, he turned his attention to them. "But we still have these guys here..."

"Yeah, you're right," the Wingel turned to them. "Hey, maybe if we work together, we can defeat them!"

Beldam's angry look suddenly change to a grin. "Well... I must say that I'm not very surprised. I had a feeling it may come to this, so I'm afraid I have to take back what's mine."

Holding her hand out, the hat Flyer wore started to come off. That was when Flyer's pale face had returned back to its former color, and no sense of magic was flowing through his body.

"Wait... What happened to my powers?" Flyer gawked.

"When we put that hat on you, we made sure that your magic remained in there, just in case if something would go wrong, we could take it from you and get rid of your powers," Mysterious explained.

"We're sorry, Flyer, but it's for the better," Beldam added.

"Oh, crud..." Flyer trailed, watching the hat get closer. However, an idea suddenly popped in his head. "Hey, Chopper... Why don't you try inhaling it?"

"I'll give it a try," Chopper nodded, opening his mouth and inhaling the hat. Beldam gawked, seeing the hat move away from her and go into Chopper's mouth. He swallowed it and was now donning a hat with yellow green and white stripes. Surprised, Chopper pointed his finger, and lightning had fired near their enemies.

"Argh! You were lucky this time!" Mysterious hissed. "Everyone! Let's get out of here!"

Many of them made their escape, leaving Doopliss all alone.

"Aw, come on! This isn't fair!" Doopliss pouted as he escaped through the window.

Once they were gone, the two heard moaning coming from the others. They turned to see the rest of their friends getting up, though they did appear a bit injured from the previous attack.

"Guys! You're…all right!" Chopper cheered.

"Yeah, we are..." Sonic panted, noticing Flyer standing by Chopper's side. "Flyer? Does this mean that..."

"Yeah, I'm here," Flyer assured, though he appeared to have a guilty look on his face. "Guys... I really have to apologize for the trouble I've caused you. Looking back, what I said back at Trinado's Castle felt a bit selfish. ...Though, I will admit I didn't appreciate being interrupted all those times... But I don't think you guys meant to do that. So... Do you think we can probably forget this whole incident?"

"Yeah, I'd like to," Shadower agreed. "It's great to have you back."

"And... Maybe you shouldn't tell Fumu of what I did... It's probably for the better."

"You've got it," Heartsy nodded.

"Ugh… Well, it looks like you have finally come back to normal..." Drambi groaned, standing up and approaching the group. "Well done, everyone... I'm proud of you all."

"Look, I'm sorry if I harmed you in any way…" Flyer apologized.

"It's all right… I'm fine anyway. What matters is that you learned from your mistakes, and that you will never do something like that on your own."

"There's no way he will!" Scrub assured, slowly noticing the hat on Chopper. "By the way, Contadre... What's with the hat?"

"It's...a new ability, I guess," Chopper shrugged, looking up at his hat. "I'll call myself Magic Chopper!"

At that moment, Blade, Bang, and Night walked into the room, appearing battered and bruised.

"Whew… That sure was one heck of a fight!" Blade sighed.

"I'll say…" Bang agreed.

"Too bad Dark and his army got away..." Night pouted. "I would've loved destroying them at that minute.

"Wait, these guys are still with you?" Flyer whispered to Chopper.

"Well, we haven't found the Crystal Star yet. Speaking of that..." Chopper turned to Drambi. "We came to you because we are trying to look for the Crystal Star located here. You think you could give us a hand?"

"Of course I will. That's why you came here anyway. Just give me a moment..." Drambi began to focus for a little bit, and when his eyes flashed, it felt as if something exploded...but not really.

"What did you do?" Vivian asked.

"You shall see when you return to the jungle. This will help you get to the Crystal Star." Drambi took out a Black Key and handed it to Chopper. "...But, you are probably going to need this."

"A Black Key?" Chopper gawked, staring at the key. "Does this mean that...?"

"Trust me, you will get all the help you need. But first, I suppose I should transport you back to the jungle..." Drambi trailed, now casting a light blue spell. "However, you may want to be careful down there... For the darkness may be getting closer to the jungle..."

Mario: Uh oh...

"But for now... I wish you luck." Drambi finished, casting his spell upon the group and teleporting them back to the jungle.

* * *

**This chapter was definitely a lot more serious than the previous ones, that's for sure...**

**The whole battle between Chopper and Flyer probably could've been executed a little better, but I guess it turned out all right. It's good to have Flyer back, though.**

**With that, I guess that means the boss chapter is up next!**


	124. Grodus: A Boss in Fifteen Minutes

When everyone was taken back to the jungle area, it wasn't how it used to be before. The darkness had been getting closer from the direction where the mountain was. They stood right in between Chopper's house and the mountain.

"Whoa… Things are pretty hectic around here." Blade gaped. "…But, unfortunately, I think this is where we gotta cheese it. It was fun while it lasted!"

"Wait? What do you-" Chopper had turned around, only to see Blade, Bang, and Night bolt out of here. He frowned, but then he turned his attention to Parakarry. "I suppose you should get going."

"Hmmmmmm… Well, I do have some letters to deliver..." Parakarry trailed. "I hope you guys come out of here safely."

He turned away and started to fly off to the teleporter. Since they didn't get a chance to wave goodbye to the other three, everyone got their chance to wave goodbye to him.

"Well, now that they left… I guess it's time to figure out what we have to do." Flyer looked around by the mountain, but he noticed a Black Chest sitting on the ground next to a panel. "Wait... That chest looks awfully familiar."

"Yeah… It does! I suppose we should have a look at it." Chopper suggest, he and his friends walking over to the black chest. When they did approach it, however...

"Huh? Is someone here?" the Black Chest asked, now beginning to wiggle around. "Oh… So there ARE people here! Man, I didn't believe anyone would ever show up! …And then you guys arrive. You CAN hear me, right?"

"Yeah," Chopper nodded.

"Really? Oh, that's GREAT! If you can hear me, you're probably that legendary hero guy! ...And for some reason, you remind me of myself."

"Me?"

"Duh! Who do you think I was talking to?!" the Black Chest exclaimed. "Anyway, you remind me of myself, except you're not trapped in a box like me. Maybe you can do me a little favor? If you find a Black Key, then could you use it to get me out of this box? I've been trapped in here for nearly a millennium!"

"Well, we know you're probably going to curse us..." Chopper trailed.

"It's happened before," Vivian added.

"Wait... You guys seriously think I'm going to 'curse' you? Pbbbbbbbbth! That's preposterous! I would NEVER do that! I'd rather give you a blessing for freeing me from this doom!"

"That's what they all say…" Scrub groaned, rolling his eyes.

"No! I'm being serious!" the Black Chest cried. "I really WANT to be free from this chest so I can finally rest in peace! Don't you know how it feels to stay in here for so many years without seeing those you care about?!"

"Well, we kind of have no other choice…" Shadower trailed.

"…OK, if you guys change your mind or anything, just find that Black Key. It's not hard to miss! ...But seriously, I'd LOVE to get out of this chest."

"Well, we have the key right here," Chopper said, holding the key up. "I think this should take care of that chest."

"You… You have it?! Oh, sweet freedom!" the chest cheered as Chopper inserted the key into the lock, unlocking the chest. However, that's when things started going downhill. _**"****WHEE HEE HEE HEE HEE! FOOOOOOOOOOLS!**_"

The chest opened up, and Chopper was in another cursed background. He saw two yellow eyes and that jack-o-lantern mouth staring down at him in the background again.

"Well... Here we go..." Chopper trailed.

_**"Oh, man did I get you****! Did you really think I was going to help you?! Not a chance! Whee hee hee hee! ...Wait a moment, I AM going to help you! Just a little curse will be put on you for all your troubles! How does that make you feel?"  
**_

"Beats me... I've gone through this five times. It'll probably help me anyway."

_**"When this curse is struck upon you, you will be begging for mercy! You will be weaker than ever!" **_the curse explained, ignoring Chopper's words._** "And no worries. You don't need to pay for this curse! YOU. ARE. CURSED!"  
**_

A couple of bright flashes later, Chopper felt a new power within him.

_**"****Whee hee hee hee hee hee hee! There you go, sucker! I just threw in my extra-horrible-curse! Enjoy while it lasts, 'cause it'll stay with you FOREVER! **__**So, you wanna hear about this awful curse?"**_

"OK," Chopper shrugged.

_**"****Oh, you're going to hate it… Trust me! But… Ahem! To activate your curse, you'll need to find a panel with a piece of paper ripped in half. If you press the Y button on the panel, you will tear off anything that's in your way! Even giant mountains! Whee hee hee! Oh, I know how you feel… It must be hard for you to destroy something! Especially for a wuss like you!"**_

"Hey... I think this just solves a big issue we were having!"

_**"****Wait… What?! No! This… Oh, forget it. I was hoping, as the last curse, to make you suffer the worst. But, I guess not... Well, it's good to be free… Anyway… Farewell, you foolish mortal! Whee hee hee hee hee!"**_

The background changed back to normal and the curse crumpled up and disappeared into nothingness.

"So what was that all about?" Tamber asked.

"I was cursed," Chopper answered. "Well, I don't know if 'cursed' is the right word, but I did get something!"

"Show it to us, then!" demanded Bombette.

"All right, I'll give it a try," Chopper stood on the panel and tested out his new move. He had his hands facing the mountain in their way. When he squeezed his hands, it felt like he was grabbing a hold of the mountain. "What the..."

He pulled his arms back, and the mountain suddenly ripped off, surprising many of them. Behind the mountain was a trail.

"Did I seriously...?" Chopper gawked.

"You just tore off a mountain..." Flyer gaped. "I don't understand how such a scenario could be done."

"Who cares? That means the Crystal Star is ours!" Tamber grinned, approaching the trail. He suddenly felt much hotter than before. "Hey... Why does it suddenly feel hot?"

"I think I know why..." Chopper trailed, running on ahead in the direction of the darkness. Many were uncertain, but they decided to follow him.

* * *

**Three minutes later-**

As they walked through the trail, the group noticed that the grass was starting to change to black rock. The sky was also changing from blue to red as well. With the darkness near, they know it was not safe to be here. Even with Chopper's 180 HP, 180 FP, and 108 BP, it would not be enough to save him.

"This place is starting to give me the creeps…" Heartsy gulped.

"Yeah… This must lead to the lava area..." Chopper trailed, finding a bridge up ahead. Below that bridge was lava. At the other side, there appeared to be a platform with what appeared to be the X-Naut emblem plastered on it. Well, that's what they found when they had gotten on the platform.

"What's with the X-Naut thingy on the floor?" Tamber asked.

"That would be me," Grodus answered, standing in the opposite side. Everyone took notice of him and got in their fighting stances.

"Grodus!" Chopper exclaimed, giving the X-Naut leader a glare. "Where's the Crystal Star?"

"You mean this?" Grodus asked, holding a pale green Crystal Star above him. "Yes... I just so happened to find this, and I have finally acquired what I was looking for. It appears your travel around the planet did not help you get here first..."

"It wasn't all for nothing..."

"He's right," Flyer agreed. "We did get something out of that travel..."

"So you did..." Grodus trailed. "Thanks to you fools, I've lost my X-Naut army, and I cannot get into contact with Lord Crump. But no worries... My hunt for the Crystal Stars is not finished. Of course, I require the stars that you meddlesome fools hold."

"We're not giving you the Crystal Stars," Chopper declared.

"Hmmmm... We shall see about that." Using his staff, Grodus summoned a large bomb with a timer on it. There was also a keypad as well. "You see this? This is what I like to call a Nuclear Fusion Core. It's a special weapon designed by my minions that can create a devastating explosion, which is powerful enough to even obliterate planets! And I was thinking... Why not detonate this planet?"

"You wouldn't _DARE!_" Chopper cried.

"Oh, trust me... I have no problem detonating a planet, especially the one where my enemy lives. ...Unless..."

"Unless what?" Sonic asked.

"Unless... If you give me what I want: all of your Crystal Stars and the Magical Map!"

"Wait, what?" Chopper gasped.

"Yes! You will hand me what I require, or else your precious planet is history!" Grodus declared.

"Don't listen to him, puffball!" Tamber shouted. "This planet's doomed anyway! That darkness is practically coming this way!"

"You stay out of this, furball. This deal is between Chopper and I!"

Chopper frozen, unable to make a decision over whether to listen to Grodus or not. His friends all stared at him, worried over his choice.

"…All right, Grodus," Chopper sighed, lowering his head and closing his eyes. "You… You win."

"Wait... What?!" Tamber gaped.

"This planet is one of the only few things left I have... And to see it get destroyed, I don't know if I could bear it."

"Are you sure?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah…" Chopper frowned. "I'm sorry if you're all so disappointed."

"Gaaack ack ack ack! You made a wise choice, Chopper!" Grodus grinned with approval, holding his hand out. "Now... Hand them over."

Chopper pulled the map out first and approached Grodus. Many were left both shocked and disgusted, seeing Grodus take the map from him and hold it up.

"Ahh... Finally... The Magical Map is mine!" Grodus cackled, lowering his arms and looking back at Chopper. "Now then... Your Crystal Stars."

Frowning, Chopper held his arms up, and all seventeen Crystal Stars had appeared over his head. He held them in front of Grodus, who was eager to get his hands on them. Grodus held out his own arms and took the Crystal Stars into his possession.

...Well, that would've happened if a missile didn't come flying in Grodus's direction.

"What the…!" Grodus was knocked back by the explosion, dropping both the Magical Map and the Crystal Stars. Surprised, Chopper ran over to reclaim what was rightfully his while the smoke covered the area. When the smoke did clear, however, Chopper was met with a familiar face.

"Silica?" Chopper gasped, seeing the white alien girl giving him a smirk. "What're you doing here?!"

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm saving your butts!" Silica assured. "After you guys helped me out back on Pop Star, I thought it'd be a good idea to return the favor. ...Well, I could've done that earlier, but I couldn't find you guys until I met an old mushroom guy at a strange town."

"Does she mean Rogueport?" Vivian wondered.

Unfortunately, Silica didn't notice Grodus approach behind her and smack her aside with his scepter.

"You stupid girl!" Grodus hissed, approaching the heroes. "You all have sealed this planet's fate! The deal is off!"

Grodus grabbed the Nuclear Fusion Core and set it for fifteen minutes. "I'm going to destroy this planet, but not before destroying you first! And that is something I can do in five minutes!"

"Oh, no... This isn't good." Chopper gulped, watching Silica slowly get up. "Hey, Silica... Can you try to deactivate that machine?"

"I'll give it a try," Silica nodded, running over to the Nuclear Fusion Core. Grodus, on the other hand, didn't seem to care.

"Yes, let her try to deactivate it. That thing is very complicated to figure out if you're not a genius like myself. Now, then..." Grodus trailed, turning his attention back to the heroes. As for you all, you will know the true power of the X-Naut leader! This is where it ends for you!"

Four purple Grodus X3s appeared around Grodus, creating a circular, purple barrier. "Keep in mind... You've only got fifteen minutes to try to defeat me!"

**Tattle: **_That's Grodus, the supreme leader of the X-Nauts. He's serious this time, especially since he's trying to blow up your planet! …And not to mention you only have fifteen minutes to stop him! This isn't fair! Max HP is 380, Attack is 18, and Defense is 3. He'll strike you with many of his magic spells, and even those Grodus X3s can strike you. The Grodus X3s have 8 HP, an Attack of 12, and a Defense of 3. They're pretty annoying, but I'm sure you can take them down if you use some powerful moves. Watch out when Grodus tries to freeze time or use his deadly arcane blast against you. …Oh, great… I forgot to tell you that he can recover 80 HP when he's low on HP. How annoying!  
_

"We better get started immediately," Chopper declared, striking lightning down upon the Grodus X3s thanks to his Magic ability. They were destroyed, destroying Grodus's shield in the process. He was now open for an attack, which allowed Flyer to strike him with a Flying Attack, taking 10 out of him.

"Let's see how you handle against this," Grodus used the magic from his scepter to zap Chopper and all of his friends, taking 18 out of them. "Come back, my Grodus X3s!"

Two Grodus X3s appeared and surrounded him. However, Chopper simply zapped Grodus and his Grodus X3s with lightning, hitting him and also destroying his Grodus X3s. Mario tipped his hat as he walked over to Grodus and whacked him with his hammer afterward. Unfortunately, he got knocked back by his scepter upon being whacked by it.

"Despite your stronger power, it will not be enough to defeat me," Grodus declared while summoning two more Grodus X3s.

Chopper ignored him and summoned lightning down on Grodus and the Grodus X3s, destroying them.

"It's interesting how you're getting hit by an attack similar to yours," Chopper realized.

"I could say the same thing about you," Grodus retorted.

Tamber decided to cut the chit-chat and throw a punch at Grodus, but he stopped, feeling the intense temperature. "Ugh… I don't know what's worse… Being in the snow or being here."

"Yeah, it really does feel hot here," Scrub agreed, starting to sweat. This, however, did not stop Tamber, and he managed to throw his punch at Grodus. Unfortunately, they had noticed that fourteen

"Oh, man... Fourteen minutes left already..." Bombette gulped.

"Yes... Keep this up, and you're bound to fail!" Grodus grinned, sending a wave of fire at Chopper and his friends and taking 18 out of them all. "Luckily, I can use my teleportation spell to get out of here at the last minute!"

Chopper gave Grodus a frown as he struck him with more lightning, taking out his Grodus X3s again, while Sonic followed up with a Spin Dash, knocking Grodus near the edge of the platform. He used his staff to keep himself from falling, and then he summoned a spell to stop time. The group guarded it, preventing them from becoming frozen.

When he summoned two more Grodus X3s, Vivian used her Fiery Jinx to destroy them and burn Grodus. Chopper wanted to test another magic power he had, so he opened the palm of his hand in Grodus's direction and fired an ice beam at him, leaving him with 286 HP.

"OK... He's down to 286 HP." Chopper noticed. "Not bad... Not bad at all..."

"So… You think you can push me this far…" Grodus trailed. "Very well, then!"

Aiming his scepter at Tamber, he fired an ice beam in his direction, leaving him frozen solid.

"Uh oh... Tamber's frozen." Heartsy gulped.

"Well, considering the temperature here, it may not be so bad to be frozen," Flyer remarked. "Even still, an attack like that is quite harmful..."

"Yeah, probably," Chopper said, striking the two Grodus X3s with a lightning spell, while Shadower hit Grodus with his Shadow Punch, lowering his defense to 0.

"Gah! My defense! No matter… My Grodus X3s can surely help me with that. But, for now…" Grodus struck everyone with an arcane pulse from his scepter, managing to deal 20 damage to everyone.

"Youch! Now THAT was painful!" Chopper wheezed as two Grodus X3s surrounded Grodus. He looked over at Bombette as he pondered. "Bombette, you think you can destroy those?"

"Of course!" Bombette walked over to Grodus and the two Grodus X3s and used her Explosion to take them out and deal some heavy damage on Grodus.

"Argh!" Grodus cringed, now being covered in soot. Chopper smirked and struck him with a Gravity Jump afterward, taking 30 out of him. Unfortunately, that didn't stop Grodus from summoning a lightning at Chopper and his friends.

"Ow!" Chopper winced, getting knocked back by his friends. Grodus had taken a look back at the Nuclear Fusion Core and grinned.

"Well well well! You're running out of time, Chopper!" Grodus warned. "Only eleven minutes remain so far! Gaaack ack ack ack!"

"Oh, man... This isn't good... Hurry up, Silica!"

"Settle down! I'm trying to work this thing!" Silica shouted back, feeling uncertain over the machine. "Come on... How is this thing supposed to work?"

"You're better off not trying," Grodus noted. "That bomb is way too complicated for someone such as yourself!"

With him distracted for the moment, Chopper struck him and his Grodus X3s with lightning. Heartsy then followed up by swinging her hammer on Grodus's glass cranium, leaving him slightly dazed. However, he still managed to take the hit.

"Perhaps it's time I demonstrated one of my newer spells," Grodus decided, raising his scepter and watching it glow blue. He swung it directly at them, and suddenly a tidal wave had engulfed the group of heroes. Thankfully, this had managed to thaw Tamber out.

"Hey! I'm free! Oh, yeah!" Tamber grinned, getting ready to attack. However, Kirby beat him to it by inhaling a Grodus X3 and spitting it at Grodus, dealing 10 to him and also destroying the Grodus X3. Chopper had summoned more lightning to hit him and the other Grodus X3.

"Enough!" Grodus yelled, summoning a large wave of fire at everyone. Unfortunately, for him, they Superguarded the attack. "Great... Just what I wanted..."

"Ha HA! Stinks for you, Grodus!" Scrub taunted, attacking him with his Gulp. Chopper pointed at him and destroyed his Grodus X3s, along with dealing 10 damage to him.

"Man, you're getting chipped down like never before!" Chopper scoffed. "This lightning attack is really doing its job!"

"True... But there's still the timer... You only have nine minutes left, Chopper…" Grodus grinned, summoning an earthquake that struck everyone, along with knocking away Chopper's Magic ability.

"Great… Just what I needed…" Chopper decided to eat a Star Treat (a combination of a Star Shroom and Star Juice), which helped him recover 150 HP and FP. "Ahhhhh! So much better!"

Flyer decided to use his Hurricane Fire ability, summoning his plane to join the battle. Chopper manned the turret and fired rapidly at Grodus and the Grodus X3s, dealing 12 damage to him. Grodus attempted to freeze everyone with his time spell, but it failed once again.

"Bah! Forget it!" Grodus was ready to take another hit from Chopper, but Vivian's Fiery Jinx is what did it for him. When Chopper brought his hammer down on him, he was left with 139 HP. Though he was starting to feel exhausted, an idea had popped in his mind. "Say, Chopper... I have a special treat for you! Let's see you handle this!"

Grodus pointed his scepter up, and it fired a red laser at Chopper, knocking him back and leaving a bruise on his arm.

"Ow… I didn't expect that..." Chopper groaned, looking at the Nuclear Fusion Core He certainly did not like the time limit remaining. "Oh, geez! This isn't good!"

"I don't know how to figure this out, Chopper," Silica said, finally giving up. "I'm no expert on this."

"I'll try to help," Flyer decided, flying in to save the day. However, Grodus had fired an ice beam in his direction that barely hit him.

"Excuse me, but we are in the middle of a fight here," Grodus mentioned. "You can take care of that after this fight is over. That is, if you come out of this battle alive!"

"There's no way we're going to... Uhhh..." Chopper paused, unsure of what to say. However, one idea did pop into his mind. "Hey, Grodus! How about we show you the power of the Crystal Star we took from you?"

Chopper took out the Moon Star, and he jumped on it so it could grow to a much bigger star. It rapidly spun around and struck Grodus, dealing 24 damage and destroying his two Grodus X3s again. Grodus was left surprised, giving Flyer the chance to hit him with a Flying Attack while he was off guard.

"Fools… You realize that I'm just getting warmed up, don't you see?" Grodus asked while lava shot up from behind him.

"I don't," Tamber retorted, running up to him. Grodus simply fired a laser at him, sending him tumbling back to the others. "Argh! No fair!"

"I think I should put my Magic ability back on," Chopper decided, equipping his Magic ability and striking Grodus with more lightning. Flyer was able to hit him with another Flying Attack, bringing him down to 83. "You're almost finished, Grodus! Ready to give up?"

"Not a chance... Even if I lose, you may not escape this planet... So I win either way!" Grodus grinned, zapping Chopper and his friends with more lightning. Chopper fought back using the same spell, and then Shadower helped lower his defense with a Shadow Punch. He, along with the others, had gotten hurt by Grodus's Arcane Pulse afterward.

"You know, I think it's time I used my most powerful attack!" Tamber smirked, clenching his fists, which began to glow green. "Be prepared to feel the pain, X-Freak! The puffball saw this before, and now you're going to feel its pain!"

"Wait... Doesn't this attack need to be charged?" Flyer asked.

"I... Oh, dang it!"

Chopper shrugged and summoned more lightning to strike Grodus and bring him down to 55 HP.

"_Cough… _You will not stop me..." Grodus aimed a red laser at Chopper, taking 18 out of him. Despite that, Chopper managed to zap him with more lightning, and then Tamber thrust his arm forward, summoning a giant, green wave in the shape of a fist. This had left the glass orb on Grodus's scepter cracked.

"Ha ha ha! So, were you surprised?" Tamber grinned.

"Urgh… But… How?"

"Maybe because we're better than you?" Bombette scoffed.

In response, Grodus froze Bombette with an ice beam.

"This fight is nearly over. Look at yourself!" Chopper noted, taking note of the damage scepter. "You're finished!"

Chopper struck Grodus with another lightning attack, and when Mario used his hammer on him, the X-Naut leader was down to 4 HP. However, Grodus didn't appear worried.

"Hey... Shouldn't you be all worried or something?" Chopper asked.

"Why should I?" Grodus questioned as he held his scepter up. "Perhaps you've just forgotten my ability to recover HP..."

"Wait, what?"

His scepter began to glow greenish blue, and soon he managed to recover 80 HP.

"Gaaack ack ack! Much better!" Grodus cackled. "I can't say the same for you, though..."

"You gotta be kidding me!" Chopper gaped, giving Grodus a glare afterward. "All right, I'm not wasting any more time!"

He rushed toward Grodus and pointed at him, summoning lightning and destroying his Grodus X3s, along with hurting Grodus. Flyer had helped reduce Grodus to 64 HP using his Flying Attack.

"Perhaps I should hold nothing back at this point," Grodus declared, firing an Arcane Pulse at everyone, which had been guarded by them. That was when Chopper decided to fire an water spell that managed to cover Grodus in a tidal wave, destroying his Grodus X3s in the process and dealing 9 damage to him. Sonic got in a ball and hit him with a Spin Dash afterward.

"We're not going to let this freak win this fight!" Sonic exclaimed.

"I will make sure none of you are standing in the end," the X-Naut leader hissed, firing a lightning spell that struck everyone, knocking away Chopper's ability. He summoned two more Grodus X3s, but they were eventually destroyed by Vivian's Fiery Jinx, leaving him with another burn. Chopper proceeded to hit him with his hammer.

Once he hit the group with a wave of fire, he prepared to summon more Grodus X3s, but he noticed that none came out.

"What? I've run out of Grodus X3s? At a time like this?!"

"Well, then that means we get to have a fair fight!" Chopper stated.

"So be it..."

Chopper conjured up an electric ball and sent it hurling in Grodus's direction. Mario swung his hammer on Grodus's head, leaving him with 10 HP. This had managed to leave one of his goggles cracked as well. This did not stop him from firing an ice beam at Chopper, who proceeded to guard the attack. At this rate, both Grodus and the heroes were becoming exhausted.

"This… This isn't over yet." Grodus grunted, eyeing the Nuclear Fusion Core. "You only have two minutes left, you know…"

When everyone took a look at the bomb, their eyes widened in shock.

"That's...not good," Scrub gulped.

"We gotta finish him quickly!" Heartsy suggested.

Grodus slowly pointed his scepter up, which started to glow a lavender color. "This will surely finish you off for good... Then I can quickly make my escape with my possessions!"

"Chopper, I may have an idea," Flyer said, turning to him. "But it'll require the both of us."

"Really? What is it?" Chopper asked, turning to him. To make sure Grodus wouldn't listen in, the Wingel began to whisper his idea to Chopper. From the look on his face, he seemed to like it. "Hey! Maybe that might work!"

Flyer quickly drew his arm cannon, while Chopper began to conjure up an electric ball. Their friends watched in astonishment as they fired at each other, causing both projectiles to combine. It had grown much bigger and became a lighter green. With that, Chopper ran up to the projectile and kicked it, sending it flying in Grodus's direction.

Grodus cackled, now finished with his spell. He prepared to fire it, but he stopped when he saw the projectile coming his way. Unfortunately, there was not much time for him to react, and he ended up getting struck by the attack, leaving his cranium cracked and on his knees.

"Unh… You… You…" Grodus moaned, now defeated. With that, Chopper got to upgrade his HP to 185. Along with that, the Clara Star had dropped from his possession. "This… This isn't possible… Ungh… My army of X-Nauts… Gone. All because of you...and perhaps that idiot Lord Crump…"

"Not my fault that they got sucked into that darkness…" Chopper trailed.

Grodus noticed the time on the Nuclear Fusion Core and grinned. "Gaaack ack ack ack!" he cackled, slowly standing up. "You may have won this battle…but you are too late to save your own planet! So long for now, Chopper!"

Using his scepter, he managed to teleport and escape from the planet. Everyone looked at the Nuclear Fusion Core and noticed the thirty seconds left.

"Uh oh..." Bombette gulped.

"Thirty seconds left..." Silica trailed, trying her best to work on the keypad. "Yet I still can't get this to work!"

"Let me give it a try!" Flyer flew over to the time bomb and went to the keypad. He studied it for a moment and looked at the screen. "Hmmmm... OK, I think I might know how to work this."

Pressing specific buttons, the timer on the bomb stopped at five seconds. The screen turned off as well, leaving everyone relieved.

"Whoa... Is the bomb really...?" Scrub gawked.

"It looks like it's shut down," Silica noticed, smiling. "Well, at least the planet's safe."

"You at least gave it a try, Silica," Flyer noted. "I will give you some credit. ...Though, what you did was pretty risky."

"She managed to save us from handing over those stars," Chopper smiled.

"Well... There's no way I wanted you to fail on your quest." Silica replied, looking down at the star. "Speaking of quest... I believe there's something you need right now."

"Yeah, you're right!" Chopper nodded, approaching the Clara Star. Once he grabbed it, the star circled around him until he held it up high.

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 19! And Chopper learned the special move Planet Tide!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_With the X-Nauts finally out of the way for good, Chopper was able to collect the eighteenth Crystal Star, the Clara Star, from his home planet. Not only that, but he and his friends managed to earn back the trust of his best friend, Flyer! Unfortunately, even with Grodus out of the way, the threat of the Shadow Sirens and Brothers still remained. That, and it felt like there was still someone out there that was still out to get him. But the most important question was… What about the darkness?  
_

"Finally! We got the eighteenth Crystal Star!" Chopper cheered, putting away the star. "That means… There are only two more left. I can't believe we made it this far…"

"Yeah... It felt like our quest went on fast..." Vivian trailed.

Unfortunately, they were put to a halt by a violent tremor on the ground. People began to wonder what it was until the answer was right in front of them, getting closer by the second.

No, it wasn't that. It was…the darkness…which was already getting closer and closer.

"Aw, crud! We've wasted so much time fighting Grodus that we didn't pay attention to the darkness!" Tamber gaped, feeling the shaking get even more violent. "We gotta get outta here!"

"That's just what I was thinking!" Sonic agreed. "C'mon, Chop! Grab some of our friends and let's bolt!"

Nodding Chopper grabbed a few of his friends by their hands and began to make a run for it. Sonic did the same thing, easily catching up to him. They were relieved to have gotten across the bridge, because that was when it started to break off due to the darkness.

"At this rate, escaping might be very difficult!" Flyer cried.

"Then we gotta go faster!" Chopper declared, noticing the black rocks slowly change to green grass. Before they knew it, they were back in the jungle and running past Chopper's house. Looking back, he noticed the darkness reach his house. "No... My house..."

"Go faster, puffball! It's gaining up on us!" Tamber shouted.

Thankfully, their distance from the teleporter was not too far. It hadn't taken them too long to finally reach it and punch in the coordinates.

The last thing they saw before escaping was Clara being engulfed in darkness.


	125. Chapter 18 Interlude

"Yoiks!"

"Ack! Bowser!"

"Someone save me!"

A Goomba, a Doogan, and a Little Mouser in Rogueport fled as Bowser came stomping their way. He appeared very exhausted after searching all over the place in Rogueport. And the look on his face surely gave off a sense of annoyance.

"Grrrrmph… Hrrrgh… Bluh." Bowser grumbled. "I've got no Crystal Stars… I can't even get some good enough information… Searching around the entire area was… Well, it wasn't exactly glorious. WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?! If this keeps up, Chopper's gonna steal everything from my grasp!"

"Your Massiveness!"

Bowser turned around and looked up to see Kammy flying down to him.

"What do you want?" Bowser asked. "Can't you see I'm busy looking for some information on the Crystal Star?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you at a time like this, but I have great news! The Magikoopa scouts found a suspicious building underground! When they identified it, they told me that it could lead to the Crystal Stars!"

"What? Is that so? Good! Now things'll definitely turn around for me! First, I snatch those Crystal Stars from Chopper, and then I get back to kidnapping Princess Peach! Then the world's mine once again!"

"Yes, definitely, Your Wretchedness... However, there is a bit of a problem... The Hammer Bros. battalion is attempting to breach the building at the moment… But the area is impenetrable! They're scrapping tooth and nail in there!"

"What? Then direct me there! I'll blast us through! _I'm Bowser, baby!_"

Eager to find this building, Bowser followed Kammy into the sewers. Luigi and his partners had approached the area Bowser once was, but they were too late to spot him going into the pipe.

"Huh? I swear… I thought I heard someone for a minute." Luigi pondered. "I thought it sounded like Bowser..."

"I'm not too sure. Let's just forget about it." Screamy suggested.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point."

* * *

**Underground-**

"Ready to roll!" Bowser shouted, now stomping his way through an area that resembled his own castle. The gray tiles and the Firebars were surely enough to give him the idea. Along with that, there were gray Goombas called Groombas and some Phis patrolling the area. Bowser grinned as he stepped on a Groomba, flattening it like a pancake. "Hmmmm... I never thought this place would look so...familiar."

Bowser jumped over a pit of lava and he saw a Firebar in his way. He could've avoided it, but since he's Bowser, he had no problems destroying it with his fire breath. Afterward, he smashed a yellow block and he ate the piece of meat to grow bigger in size. Bowser then jumped onto a bridge made Dark Blocks. A couple of Phis were flying around, and Bowser knew how to handle them.

"Prepare to suffer!" Bowser attempted to burn one of the Phis to a crisp, but he was hit by one of them that charged at him, making him shrink back to normal. "You've got to be kidding me! That's no fair!"

Bowser burned the Phi, destroying it, and he jumped off the blocks onto solid ground to find another yellow block. He ate the meat inside and grew big again.

"Aw, yeah, baby! Back to being huge again!" Bowser stomped all of the Groombas in his way and he grabbed another piece of meat to grow huge once again. Being invincible once again, Bowser was pleased. However, on his way, he had spotted a couple of fireballs coming his way. "Wait... Why does that feel so familiar too?"

After avoiding the fireballs and jumping over another lava pit, he reached a bridge that reminded him of a bridge a long time go. Waiting on that bridge was a Master Phi shooting fireballs from its arm cannon.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me... OK, this is seriously reminding me of some bad times!"

"I suggest you turn back now," the Master Phi suggested. "This territory is already owned by Master-"

Bowser stepped on the Master Phi and crossed the bridge, finding a flagpole just up ahead. "Gwa ha ha ha! Not puny thing was no match for me! Now to get to that building!"

He knocked the flagpole away and even destroyed the castle due to his massive size. Regardless of that, he pressed onward.

* * *

**Down in Rogueport Sewers-**

"Incredible, Lord Bowser!" Kammy complimented. "Nothing stood in your way! You couldn't be more _super_!"

"Puh-lease! That place felt like I was back home, so I easily conquered that place!" Bowser declared, approaching a building that was in a town-like area of Rogueport Sewers. "Wait a second... Weren't we here before?"

"Hmmmmm... Now that I think about it, I believe so. I'd never think the location would be at a place we've passed by."

"Well who cares about that?" the Koopa king said, not caring too much what she had to say. "Let's see what's inside, Haggy!"

Bowser barged into the building, hoping to find something interesting. But to his surprise, it was empty. There was not much of interest located in the small, gray room.

"What? This is it? All those obstacles just for a cruddy room?!"

"Oh, dear... It seems those Magikoopas messed up big time..." Kammy mumbled.

"Hey! It's your fault that I had to go all this way to find an empty room!"

Kammy began to sweat, until she noticed something to the upper right corner. "But... Your Rudeness... What about that?"

Bowser looked over in the direction Kammy was pointing, and he spotted the teleporter. There was a red button, and a little map that displayed the location of each area to teleport.

"Huh? What's this?" Bowser gawked, looking at the panel above the red button, and then at the panel in the corner. "Hey, Kammy! Take a look at this!"

Kammy approached the objects and started to inspect them. "Hmmmmm... Could it be?"

"What is it?"

"Your Vileness, I believe this is the machine that can take you to different locations!"

"What? Hold on a sec!" Bowser pushed Kammy out of the way and pressed the arrows on the panel. One location on the panel showed a yellow star named Pop Star. "Pop Star... I feel like I heard that name from somewhere..."

"Lord Bowser... Didn't that professor in Rogueport mention a certain Pop Star?" Kammy wondered.

"...Oh, yeah! That geezer DID say something about that! Those are where those Crystal Stars need to go! Well if that's the case, then I'm going to pay this place a little visit! Gwa ha ha ha!"

Pressing the red button, the teleporter was activated, and he and Kammy were transported out of Rogueport Sewers.

* * *

**Space-**

"Ugh… What… What happened?" the Phi leader, Gemerl, moaned as he slowly got up. Unfortunately, the place where he was was not where he expected. "Wait... This doesn't look like the Palace of Shadow! What's going on?!"

He looked down below and noticed he was standing on an asteroid. Looking up, Gemerl spotted a black sky and many stars. Nearby appeared to be a large, yellow star with a few blue rings surrounding it.

"I don't understand what's going on… Am I in space? How did I get here?" Gemerl wondered, trying to rethink what happened. "Hold on... I think I remember. I was fighting that X-Naut leader, but then he used a teleportation spell on me."

In anger, he slammed his fist on the asteroid, creating a small hole. "I was SO close to destroying that X-Naut leader! I almost had a chance! But he just had to take the cowardly path!"

As he stood back up, he heard his communicator go off. Taking out his communicator, Gemerl saw that a Master Phi was contacting him.

_"Sir! We have big news and… Wait, where ARE you?"_

"Don't ask, soldier," Gemerl replied. "Just tell me the news."

_"All right… Well, you see, we got a location of one of the two Crystal Stars are." _

Now this got Gemerl's attention. "A Crystal Star? Give me the location this instant!"

_"Yes, sir!" _the Master Phi nodded, though it appeared to look uncertain._ "Though... There's a bit of a problem... We discovered that this star's...out in space. No specific locations in space. It just said space. At least, around a few galaxies, such as Gamble, Starland, and Nebuloc."  
_

"In space? Hmmmm... Interesting. Coincidentally, I was brought here." Gemerl said, now grinning. "Maybe I should thank that X-Naut leader. He just helped me get closer to a Crystal Star!"

_"Should I go gather up the troops?"_

"Yes. Do that, and gather them up around a yellow star with a couple of bluish rings surrounding it. That's where I happen to be at the moment."

_"Understood, sir!" _

With that, Gemerl turned off his communicator and flew off the asteroid. "So… If that means there is a Crystal Star here, then that means Chopper will be coming here. It certainly has been quite a while since I last saw him... This is the perfect opportunity to pull off my plan and rid of that Star Warrior for good!"

At that moment, he blasted away through the stars.

* * *

**Dream Land-**

Everyone was out of the teleporter and out on the grassy field of Dream Land. It was all over, and everyone was relieved and happy to be out of that mess.

Well, almost everyone.

"I can't believe Clara's actually gone… That was such a disaster…" Chopper sighed taking a deep breath.

"I know it must be hard for your planet to, well, you know..." Vivian trailed.

"It's all right. I'm going to try to not make a big deal out of it. We still have to go to the Fountain of Dreams and find the next Crystal Star."

"Good luck on your quest," Silica said, waving goodbye to them before taking off. The others decided it was a good idea to take off, so they made their way to the Fountain of Dreams. Thankfully, it was not too far off, so they were able to get there in a matter of time.

"Poyo, (You know what to do,)" Kirby said, as Chopper gave him a nod and jumped on the pedestal. He held the Crystal Star above him and watched it disappear from his hands.

When the procedure was finished, Chopper finally got his hands on the map to find its next location. However, something seemed...off.

"Wait… What?" Chopper gawked, looking puzzled at a pale yellow Crystal Star located on Dream Land. It was even coming their way. "What's up with this?"

Mario: The star's coming closer!

"That's...odd," Flyer remarked. "I never thought the Crystal Star would be so close..."

"Chopper! Chopper!"

Chopper's antennas sprung up when he heard the sound of a familiar voice coming his way. There were three figures coming their way, in fact.

"Hey... Isn't that Fumu?" Heartsy gawked, noticing Fumu, Bun, and the Mayor approach them. When Chopper looked at the map, he saw the star get even closer.

They had eventually stopped when they were finally close enough to the heroes. Bun had approached them first, taking a pale yellow Crystal Star out.

"Wait... That's...!" Chopper gaped.

"Yeah! It's a Crystal Star!" Bun smirked. "You'll never guess where I found it!"

"Where?" Scrub asked.

"Well, a friend of ours happened to discover it in the Rainbow Coral Reef," Fumu explained. "He wanted to give it to us."

"Actually, he wanted to give it to you as a gift," Bun corrected. "But technically, I saw it first."

"Wait... Gift?" Flyer gawked.

"They decided to show me the Crystal Star, and I instantly bolted over here with them to see if you were here," the Mayor added. "And, it looks like we got here in time! The map must've showed that star coming closer, right?"

"Yeah," Vivian nodded.

"Considering how bright this star is, we decided to call it the Light Star."

"Here, take it!" Bun grinned, tossing the star to Chopper. Just like before, it circled around him, and he held it up high.

**You got a Crystal Star! Now Chopper has learned the special move Pure Light!**

"Thanks, guys! Boy, I didn't know that this Crystal Star was so easy to get!" Chopper smiled.

"That means there's only one Crystal Star left..." Shadower trailed.

"Why don't you show us how you find the next Crystal Star?" Bun suggested.

Chopper gave him a nod, and he quickly jumped onto the pedestal again, this time with the Light Star in hand. It disappeared, and a blue light had appeared on the fountain, showing off the nineteen Crystal Stars. The three were even more surprised to see the Magical Map float above him and glow white. Soon, it let out a light pulse.

"It feels so amazing with the other Crystal Stars surrounding you..." the Mayor gaped.

"I can't believe this is the second-to-last time we'll ever see this…" Vivian mentioned.

"I know," Chopper agreed, waiting patiently as the Magical Map revealed the next Crystal Star. On the map, many stars were revealed in the space area, and it had changed from blue to black. With a sparkle, a black Crystal Star had appeared.

When Chopper finally got his hands on the map, he was left with even more shock.

"So the last Crystal Star is a black one..." Chopper trailed. "And the map shows that the star is located in space."

"Let me see," Flyer flew up to Chopper and studied at the map. "Oh, my... The map doesn't even give a specific location!"

"A black Crystal Star, you say? Intriguing..." the Mayor remarked.

"So, what do you do when you find a Crystal Star?" Bun asked.

"Well, we go see Professor Frankly," Chopper answered. "He's not from here, but he knows a lot of stuff! Especially on the Crystal Stars!"

"Really?" Fumu perked up, seemingly interested in hearing this professor. "Perhaps I'll get a chance to meet him."

"Maybe... But right now, we gotta get going. ...And I think we should also tell him what happened to my planet..."

Whistling, Chopper leaped onto his Warp Star with his friends, and they made their exit from Pop Star. Fumu, Bun, and the Mayor decided to make their exit as well.

* * *

**Frankly's house-**

"Wh-What?! You speak the truth?!" Frankly gasped, shocked by the news. "Your planet was engulfed by the darkness approaching the universe? ...So we are running low on time."

"You got any idea what happened when something gets engulfed by darkness?" Tamber asked.

"Well... Things do not exactly go well. When the darkness engulfs the land, the sky turns red. Legend says that everything slowly begins to change...and not for the better."

"So... That means Clara isn't destroyed?" Chopper asked.

"Thankfully, it is not," Frankly assured. "However, it... Hrrrmmmm... I'm not exactly sure. I did know of it before, but I guess the old brain tends to forget a few things..."

"Well, it's nice to know that the planet is not destroyed," Shadower sighed. "But, I'm still worried about what will happen..."

"Now, onto the topic about the Crystal Star. So, it appears the final Crystal Star is located in the depths of space."

"There's no specific location on the star either," Flyer added.

"Hrrmmm... Then searching for that star will be no easy task. However, I suppose that makes sense, considering that it is the final Crystal Star..."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to search around with the Warp Star," Chopper shrugged.

"Poyo... (Uhhh... I don't know about that...)" Kirby trailed, getting Chopper's attention. "Poyo... (The Warp Star can't handle every space area... It's just for places that are not too far for travel...)"

"So... That means the Warp Stars will not help us then? Crud... Well, considering the short travels we made in space, I guess it makes some sense... But how do we start searching?"

"What I would do is search for a ship that is capable of flying into space with no problem," Frankly suggested. "Perhaps Dream Land would have something like that..."

"I know it sounds risky..." Scrub trailed. "But what about that Meta Knight guy? He has a ship, right?"

"But he doesn't want us going after the Crystal Stars," Heartsy reminded.

"Well, I think we should at least give it a try," Chopper suggested. "I mean, he has helped us in the past before..."

"Hmmmm… Well, I guess you should go see this Meta Knight if there is no other way..." Frankly trailed. "I wish you luck on finding the Crystal Star, and I hope you come back safely!"

"Thanks, Frankly!" Chopper smiled, giving him a thumbs up as he and his friends left the house. Near the house was Luigi and his group of friends. "Hey, guys! It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah! It sure has!" Luigi agreed. "How's life been? Have you been taking good care of my bro, lately?"

"Uh huh!"

"Well, that's good! So… Where are you going off in a hurry?"

Mario: We need to go out into space.

"Space? Are you serious? That sounds dangerous." Luigi gawked. "You know, I once heard that if you shoot something powerful at a star, they say that you might get something special."

"Hmmmm... We'll keep that in mind." Chopper assured. "However, we gotta get going now. So… Bye, Luigi! …And friends!"

Chopper summoned his Warp Star and jumped on it, while Kirby summoned his and got on that. The heroes joined them both on their Warp Stars, and without hesitation, they headed back to Dream Land for the third time.

* * *

**I'm not gonna lie, but Chapter 19 is definitely a favorite of mine in this story. The beginning might be a pretty slow start, but it definitely gets better from there. Trust me.  
**

**So... Next time, we'll be having...a rather repetitive chapter. *shot***


	126. Traveling Around the World

**CHAPTER 19**

**-Chopper of the Stars-**

With Chopper's Warp Star, they had decided to make their landing at Hatty Town. Kirby's Warp Star, on the other hand, decided to fly by Castle Dedede. Thankfully, with Marx Soul gone, and King Dedede and Escargon not scheming, peace had finally returned to Dream Land.

"Man, why do we always go to an area where Contadre and the others AREN'T with us?" Scrub asked. "Why do you take us away from him and the others anyway?"

"Poyo, (I want to see what's going on with King Dedede,)" Kirby answered, flying the Warp Star to the throne room's window. They saw King Dedede eating a bunch of food, with a couple of Waddle Dee holding pots of Max Tomatoes. Something like that was very difficult for the pink puffball to resist.

"So, Your Majesty… Would you like anything else to eat?" Escargon asked while King Dedede gorged on his delicious treats like a wild boar.

"Heh heh heh…" King Dedede chortled after swallowing his last bite. "Well, how 'bout you tell those Waddle Dee to get me something good! Something that'll put those Max Tomatoes to shame!"

"Hmmmmmmmm…" Escargon pondered, a devious grin appearing on his face as he turned to one of the Waddle Dee chefs. "Psssssssst! Listen! I need you to do me a big favor! Find the hottest ingredients and put them in the delicacy! I want to see how he manages to handle something so spicy!"

The Waddle Dees nodded and left the throne room. Escargon couldn't help but snicker as he rubbed his hands evilly.

"That'll surely make you pay for the constant hammer swings you've given me..." Escargon muttered.

"What was that, Escargon?" King Dedede asked, appearing suspicious.

"Well... I just hope that your food is very enjoyable!" Escargon assured, turning to him with a grin.

"OK... But first, move it!" King Dedede pushed Escargon aside as he turned on the television. "You're blocking the way!"

"Whoa… So King Dedede is basically eating food all day instead of being like a dictator?" Shadower wondered. "Huh... I thought it'd be worse."

"I'd like to be a dictator one day," Tamber declared, receiving strange looks from the others. "What? I wanna rule some land and make people do what I want them to do! Especially to those puffballs!"

Mario: I don't like that one bit!

As King Dedede was changing the channels, Kirby couldn't help but stare at the food a bit more. Having a hard time resisting it, Kirby opening his mouth and inhaled the treats out of King Dedede's bowl.

"Poyo! (Delicious!)" Kirby cheered.

When King Dedede picked up a bone-in-cut from his bowl, he noticed a lot of empty space. Looking at the bowl, he saw nothing.

"Escargon!" King Dedede yelled. "Did you eat all of my food?!"

"What?! Of course not, Your Majesty!" Escargon objected, eyes widened. "You know I don't eat like a glutton such as your-"

Turning red, King Dedede got off his throne, took his hammer out, and began to swing at Escargon. "Hold still, Escargon!"

At that point, King Dedede started to chase his assistant around the room, leaving Kirby to giggle for a while until they decided to leave.

* * *

**Hatty Town-**

When Chopper and the the others landed in Hatty Town, there was something awfully different about it.

"Say… Where did everyone go?" Chopper asked, surprised by the emptiness. "I'm pretty sure that things are all right around Dream Land…"

"Yeah, something's fishy..." Flyer trailed. "Where's the Mayor? Shouldn't he be out here or anything?"

Their ponders were eventually interrupted by a loud voice coming from out of town. They checked it out, and what they found between both towns was a stage with the Mayor speaking. Cappies from both towns were sitting in chairs. Fumu, Bun, and their parents were there as well.

"Huh... Looks like something big is happening there." Sonic suggested. "I say we go check it out!"

The others nodded in agreement and went over to the stage to see what was going on. Apparently they had just come in on time for the Mayor to make a speech on a podium.

"My fellow Cappies…" the Mayor began. "Today is the day where us Cappies first came here many centuries ago! It's a great pleasure to honor our ancestors by celebrating our traditional holiday: Cappy Day!"

The audience began to applaud him while the group decided to approach him.

"What's going on here, Mayor?" Chopper asked. The Mayor took notice of him and decided to drag him onto the stage.

"Oh! I forgot to mention something, Cappies!" the Mayor added, putting Chopper in front of the podium, the others deciding to join. "As of now, Chopper has only one more Crystal Star to find!"

Everyone began to cheer as Chopper took a look at the microphone. "Well... Ummmm... I..."

"Go on, Chopper. Don't be shy."

Before Chopper could say a word, he looked up and saw a Warp Star coming his way. "Uhhhh... I'd like to talk, but I need to take cover!"

Chopper jumped out of the way as the Warp Star crashed onto the stage, destroying the podium. Kirby and the others had gotten off the star and noticed the damage they caused.

"Well... That...was awesome." Scrub commented.

"Errrr... I think it's time we went." Chopper decided, jumping off the stage. He walked over to Fumu and Bun and whispered, "Hey... Have you seen Meta Knight around."

"No, not for a while," Fumu replied. "We didn't even see his servants either."

"Oh... That's not good."

"Well, I thought I saw a couple of Meta-Knights going to the beach before..." Bun recalled. "Maybe you should check there?"

"Hey! That doesn't sound like a bad idea! Thanks!" Chopper quickly went over to his friends and suggested they go to the beach. They gave nods and started to follow him toward Dream Land's beach.

* * *

**The beach-**

After a five minute walk, they had finally reached Dream Land's beach and ocean. It was vast, and water itself was sparkling and clear. Everyone looked down at the water and saw their own reflections.

"This water's so clear… It's probably the nicest water I've ever seen!" Heartsy smiled. However, that smile had eventually gone away when she noticed a green fish quickly swim up to the surface in front of her.

"Oh, sweet Fumu! You've finally come back to see me!" the fish called Kine cheered. Heartsy's eyes shot wide open, and she stepped away from the water. When Kine opened his eyes, he realized it was not Fumu. "Wait… You're not Fumu. I'm sorry if I surprised you..."

"Fish can talk?" Bombette gawked.

"Why, many fish can speak! I'm not the only fish in the sea to speak the words of…whatever you guys are! Some of the fish in the Rainbow Coral Reef could speak to you! …But they haven't been there lately because of a giant ship."

"A giant ship?" Chopper gawked.

"Yeah... It had wings, and the front resembled a mask..."

"Then... Meta Knight is bound to be there..." Chopper trailed. "We gotta go there and find him so we ask him to take us to space!"

"Space? You mean… Up in the sky? Where those stars are? That kind of space?" Kine asked, with Chopper giving him a nod. "Wow… I always wondered what would be up there... Maybe someday..."

"Well, space can be very beautiful," Vivian added.

"You think you could take us to the Rainbow Coral Reef?" Shadower asked.

"Of course! Just follow me!" Kine declared, diving underwater.

"You heard him! Let's go!" Chopper jumped into the water, along with his friends. They didn't see Kine too far off, and they started to follow the fish.

Of course, they had some problems with a certain blue hedgehog along the way...

* * *

**Rainbow Coral Reef-**

After a few minutes, they had all reached the bottom of the ocean. From their view, the reef was absolutely beautiful. It reminded them of the rainbows that they saw when they were up in the sky on Chopper's home planet. Nearby was the Halberd.

"This is the Rainbow Coral Reef, my home," Kine explained as pointed his fin at the halberd. "That's the ship that's getting in the way. Maybe you convincing that warrior will get that ship out of here."

"That's exactly what we're going to do!" Chopper looked at Sonic, who looked like he was about to drown. "Yeah… We need to get going RIGHT NOW. Sonic looks like he's going to drown soon."

Everyone swam into the little opening in the halberd, which led them out of the water. They were brought into a metallic room with a pathway up ahead. However, there was a big problem. A large, block orb was in the way of the pathway, and it caught many of their attention.

"What the heck is this?" Chopper gawked, approaching it to take a better look at it. But when he got too close, an eye appeared on the dark orb, along with orange petals surrounding it.

"Poyo! (That's Dark Matter!)" Kirby gasped. "Poyo! (I didn't expect these guys to be here!)"

"Well, I know how to handle this!" Chopper took his hammer out and performed his Master Hammer technique on it. However, it didn't appear to even faze the creature. "Uh oh... That's not going to work...

"What? Bummer, man!" Scrub groaned. "So, what're we supposed to do? Sit here and wait for it to go away?"

Before Chopper could speak, he heard his Mailbox SP going off. "What the… Is my Mailbox SP going off? That thing hasn't gone off since the time Merlon called me into his house!"

"I didn't even know you had that thing," Tamber said.

Ignoring Tamber, Chopper opened his Mailbox SP and began to read the message.

_So, I heard you need to go up into space to find the final Crystal Star. If you wanna get the job done, then you'll need to heed my instructions! If you don't do them correctly, then you're out of luck. The first thing you're gonna have to do is go back to your home on Clara. There's a little something there.  
_

_From The Champ_

"This message is from someone named 'The Champ'," Chopper noted. "I wonder... Is Jolene sending me messages again?"

"What? Lemme see!" Scrub took a glance at the message Chopper received. "Whoa! It's just like in Glitzville! ...Except for the different ringtone. You think we should listen to this person?"

"I guess we don't have much of a choice... Though, I'm wondering if everything's all right there..."

"We don't have much of a choice. I think we should go there." Vivian decided. Chopper eventually agreed with her, and they all went back outside.

"So… Did you manage to talk to that knight person about moving that ship?" Kine asked. Mario explained to him about Dark Matter being in their way. "What? There's something called Dark Matter in the way?"

"Yeah," Chopper nodded. "But, then I got this message from 'The Champ'. The message told us to go to my home planet."

"Oh... Well, then good luck with that!"

After waving goodbye, they finally made their exit out of the ocean.

* * *

**Beach-**

"Whew! Finally! We're out of the water! Thank goodness!" Sonic sighed, doing a bit of stretches. "I hope we're not going back in the water..."

Mario: We probably are.

"...Dang it."

"So... We need to go back to my house..." Chopper trailed with a bit of worry in his voice. "I'm not so sure what to think right now..."

"Poyo, (Well, we might as well check it out,)" Kirby suggested.

They made their exit from the beach and headed to where the teleporter was. Tamber burst the door open with his fist and approached the panel. To his surprise, he saw that they could still go to the planet.

"Hey, puffball! Looks like we can still go to your planet!" Tamber called out.

"Really? Well... I guess we might as well go..." Chopper trailed.

He punched in the location, and then they entered the teleporter. What awaited them on Clara, they weren't so sure.

* * *

**Back on Clara-**

Once everyone walked out of the teleporter machine, they all remained silent, trying to hear what was around them. They didn't hear a thing.

"Gee… I don't know what to do... I feel a little too scared to go out there and see what's around." Chopper shivered, stepping away from the door and back to the teleporter. "I think it's best to get out of here..."

"No way, Choppy!" Heartsy grabbed Chopper's arm and she pulled him back over to the door. "We still have a Crystal Star to find! If this is the only way to get to space, then we have to do it! You'd do it for me, right?"

"No way!" the Star Warrior quickly got his arm out of Heartsy's grasps and stepped away from the door.

Mario sighed and decided to open the door himself. Everyone turned their attention to what was revealed behind it. All over the place were many dark ghosts, and the sky itself was a dark red. The grass was very dark, not appearing green, but black.

Nearly everyone's eyes widened, and they had stepped away from the door.

"Pbbbbbbbbbbth! You call this scary! This is nothing!" Tamber declared, he, Mario, and Sonic being the only ones near the door. "So, if you wusses wanna stay here, then go right ahead!"

"N-No... We better get going..." Chopper agreed, walking out of the room with the others. All they could mostly see around was lots of evil, but they tried their best to ignore it.

Eventually they reached Chopper's house. However, the main difference was that instead of the cap being red with white spots, it was black with red spots. His door was also black as well.

"Geez, this place is so EVIL! Heck, look at the sky!" Scrub exclaimed, pointing to the swirling, dark sky, as if there was a vortex.

"Let's not get too distracted, Scrub. We need to see what's in my house." Chopper opened the door, and was in for a shock when he saw his furniture alive with evil, glowing red eyes. They appeared to let out hisses at them.

Not only that, but a certain leaf king was there too. Instead of being green, he appeared blackish with red eyes.

_**"****Well, look what we have here!" **_Trinado grinned in a demented voice.** "It's been a while, hasn't it, Chopper? You see what happened to me? DO YOU?!" **

"Are... Are you actually Trinado?" Chopper stammered.

_**"****That's right! I have drastically changed, haven't I? Don't worry, your friends have changed, too! Come on out, guys!" **_Trinado whistled, and Stoneard, Captain Steelfoot, and Princess Poisna came out. They appeared black like Trinado and had red eyes.

_**"****Stoneard is angry that planet turn to this!" **_Stoneard growled.

_**"****However, that's not stoppin' us from destroyin' ye, matey!" **_Steelfoot chortled. _**"We even feel stronger than before!"**_

_**"And now i****t's payback time!" **_Poisna shouted.

They charged at him, but Chopper jumped out of the way and rushed upstairs into his room. The minions decided to charge at his friends instead, but Trinado was jumped on by Mario, Tamber managed to knock Stoneard back with a punch, Steelfoot had been hit by Sonic's Homing Attack, and Poisna had gotten hit in the face by Heartsy's Hearty Hammer. With that, they followed Chopper up to his room.

"Man, that was TOO close!" Chopper sighed in relief. He looked around the room and noticed a piece of paper near his bed. "Huh? What's that?"

"Looks like a piece of paper," Sonic answered.

"But I don't remember this being here..." the Star Warrior trailed, picking up the paper.

_Clue Number 1: So! You finally found my first clue… Not bad, kid. You have a LONG way ahead of you, just to let you know. This is the first clue out of…how many there are! And don't think you can abandon this search, because I'm watching you…_

Just in time, Chopper heard his Mailbox SP going off at the very moment he finished reading the clue. "Whoa… The message just came in after I finished reading this."

"That's disturbing..." Flyer trailed with a surprised expression.

Chopper took out his Mailbox SP and read the message.

_You did a pretty good job looking for that clue! It wasn't easy putting it there! …That's why I hired someone to put 'em all around somewhere! I know you probably want me to just tell you where I am, but NO! I want to make this a little challenging! Now… The next place you wanna go starts with a P. The next word has an M at it. 'Burg' is in the name of this town. Got that? _

_From The Champ_

"Hmmmmm… From the looks of that e-mail…" Vivian began as she looked at the message. "…It must mean that the next clue is located in Petal Meadows! It's in Petalburg!"

"Well, now we know where to go! …But, the thing is…" Chopper trailed, walking out of the room and to the stairs. "…Those goons are still here. How do we get past them?"

"We gave 'em a bit of a beating, so they should be unconscious," Scrub mentioned.

"Oh... Then that's good!"

Just as they headed downstairs, the four minions had started to get up. They spotted the group making their way out and proceeded to chase them. Well, until Chopper slammed the door in front of them, knocking them out once again.

"That was close! Now let's get out of here!" Chopper suggested, heading back to to the teleporter.

* * *

**Rogueport Sewers-**

The door to the teleporter building opened, and everyone came walking out. Chopper would've tripped on a paint bucket with a paintbrush in it, but an old Toad had stopped him.

"E-Excuse me, sonny…" an old Toad with orange spots on his cap standing next to one of the buildings mumbled. "C-Could you give me that paint bucket. My back is killing me… _Cough…hack…wheeze…_"

"Ummmmm... OK..." Chopper trailed, picking up the paint. "What do you need it for?"

"Well, sonny... I was called here to help repaint the bar." the old Toad explained.

Chopper couldn't help but feel guilty for the old Toad. He didn't look like he'd be able to get the job done so easily. Suddenly, an idea sparked his mind, and he ate the paintbrush. He had ended up gaining a backwards blue hat, and he also held a paintbrush with many different colors of paint on it.

"Say hello to Paint Chopper!"

"Huh? What are you doing, sonny?" the old Toad asked in curiosity. Chopper put his paintbrush in the paint bucket and began to swipe at the building with his paintbrush, painting it in many different colors.

"Ta-da! It's done!" Chopper smiled.

"Why... Thanks, sonny! ...Though, they told me that they wanted it painted blue and not in many different colors..."

"Oh..."

"Anyway, you said we need to go to Petal Meadows, right?" Shadower asked, getting back on topic. "Wasn't that Koopa named Koops there?"

"Yeah," Vivian nodded. "Let's head there."

And that they did, leaving the old Toad to stare at the colorful building. Regardless of the specific paint needed, he decided it was fine enough and left.

* * *

**Petal Meadows-**

Everyone simply walked past the Goombas that still roamed around Petal Meadows. They saw no reason to face them, and they were much stronger than them by now. Instead, their continued their merry way to Petalburg.

"Boy, this place hasn't changed one bit," Chopper remarked, not seeing any big contests or something. On the other hand, by the pond, he saw a note lying on the ground.

"Hey, guys!" Koops greeted, he and Koopie Koo being by the pond. "It's been quite a while hasn't it?"

Mario: Hi, Koops!

"Hey there!" Chopper greeted.

"So how was your little trip?" Koopie Koo asked.

Mario: We only have one more Crystal Star left.

"Really? Neat!" Koops commented. "So... Is the star around here, then?"

"No... We're trying to get to it, though." Vivian answered. "Someone named 'The Champ', hired someone to place a clue here. That's why we're here."

"This wouldn't happen to be it, would it?" Koopie Koo picked up the white paper from the ground and handed it to Vivian. "We noticed this on the ground, but we weren't sure whether to take it or not."

"That's all right," the Shadow Siren gave the paper to Chopper so he could check it out. The others circled around them as well.

_Clue Number 2: Ah… So you managed to find my next clue! Man, I didn't expect you to do it so easily! You're some kid! …But you're not as good as me! Unh! Yeah! Feel the… Wait, I shouldn't write that! Darn... I should've used a pencil for this. Anyway, good job on finding the clue, but you're not done yet!_

"Dang it... Really? That's just-" Chopper stopped when he heard his Mailbox SP going off. "…And then another e-mail comes in. Gee, I wonder what 'The Champ' has to say…"

Taking out his Mailbox SP, Chopper read the message.

_Nice going, man… But you still got a lot more than this. This is only the beginning. What you gotta do next is go to Toy Kingdom…or Music Kingdom. Whatever the heck it is… Trust me, it'll help you big time!  
_

_From The Champ_

"Music Kingdom or Toy Kingdom? What kind of places are THOSE? They sound like a kids' place!" Tamber scoffed.

"That's where I went to find the first Crystal Star..." Chopper trailed, feeling a sense of nostalgia. "Anyway, you two... We have to get going... See ya!"

Everyone waved goodbye to Koops and Koopie Koo as they left Petalburg. Both Chopper and Vivian knew a little shortcut that could take them into Toy Kingdom, which they took by going into the red pipe in Petal Meadows.

* * *

**Toy Kingdom-**

Everyone came out of the red pipe ,and they saw, to their amazement, the large kingdom. They stood in the area where Chopper and Vivian faced Beldam and Marilyn before, taking a glimpse of the many toys and balloons in the background.

"It's been so long since we've been here..." Vivian trailed, looking at the beautiful view. That blue sky was absolutely marvelous with the fireworks.

"Poyo! (I would've liked coming here before!)" Kirby smiled.

"This is so dumb," Tamber scoffed, walking over to the lift nearby. "Well I'm outta this dumb place!"

"I'd say this place is more intriguing than 'dumb'," Flyer stated.

"Well... Fine." Tamber pouted, crossing his arms.

"Geez, no need to be so sour, Tamber," Sonic said. "Maybe if you didn't act like the way you are now, I think people would learn to appreciate you more."

"...Yeah, I'd have to agree," Heartsy concurred.

"Aside from that, let's go check out Music Kingdom," Chopper suggested, jumping onto the lift. His partners joined him and ended up getting a much better view as they traveled.

"Well... This is quite a magical place." Shadower admitted.

* * *

**Music Kingdom-**

"All right, let me tell you this: if you let me bounce on the xylophones, I promise that I'll let you go out with my sister, all right?" a Music Note said to another.

"Yeah! I'm all for that!" the other Music Note smiled. When he looked up, he saw a lift coming down their way. "Uhhh... I think we gotta move..."

The Music Notes moved out of the way on time for the lift to land in between them. The heroes leaped off the lift and landed on the pink floor. They appeared to be around Music Town, from what Chopper saw.

"Heh! Isn't this the place where we first met, Chop?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, it is," Chopper nodded.

"That's interesting," Flyer remarked.

"Anyway, I guess the clue should be around here somewhere…" Chopper trailed as he looked around the area. He noticed the Rainbow Train at the train station above him. "Maybe...the Rainbow Train?"

Flyer noticed Chopper run off to the train station, above, and he told the rest to follow. When they reached the train, they headed inside into the pink room, where Chopper had first spotted the Crystal Star.

"This was the place where we first met, Chopper..." Vivian recalled.

"Uh huh. I can't believe that was over a hundred chapters ago." Chopper added.

"Maybe you might need to be saved by more Motobugs again?" Sonic recalled.

"...Probably not."

Vivian noticed a note on the ground and picked it up. She handed it to Chopper so he could see it for himself.

_Clue Number 3: Yeah, you found the third clue. There's not much to say here, punk! Deal with it!_

"OK..." Chopper trailed, his Mailbox SP going off. "Well, I know what to do..."

Annoyed, he began to read the message on his device.

_Well, well… You went to the train. Good work. Want a cookie? Thought so. The next place you'll want to go is someplace dark. And one thing for sure is that it's filled with a lot of ghosts.  
_

_From The Champ_

"Ghosts? Then we're probably going to Boo Town." Chopper deduced. "I'm sure Bow is there!"

"Oh, goody..." Heartsy mumbled sarcastically.

"Well, I guess it's backtracking time," Bombette sighed.

"Poyo, (Or, we could use the Warp Star,)" Kirby mentioned, walking out of the train and summoning his Warp Star. "Poyo! (It'll go much faster!)"

"That works! Let's get going!" Chopper walked out of the Rainbow Train and he summoned his Warp Star as well. They hopped on and they took off. However, Chopper couldn't help but look back at both Music and Toy Kingdom. "Well... I guess it's goodbye to that place... I wonder if we'll ever go back there."

* * *

**Boo Town-**

Once they landed in the town, Chopper did a cartwheel while getting off the Warp Star. However, he ended up failing horribly and landed on his head. Kirby had done a cartwheel and landed on his feet before shaking his head at Chopper.

"Well, this place has hardly changed," Shadower commented, not noticing much of a change.

"Chopper? Is that you?"

Turning around, Chopper noticed Bow flying his way with a smile.

"Hey, Bow," Chopper waved.

"I didn't expect you to be here, but I don't mind," Bow said, pinching Chopper's cheeks. "I almost missed doing this."

"OK, seriously, stop," Heartsy suggested, smacking Bow's stubby hand away.

"Oh… You again..." Bow said in an annoyed voice. "Look, pinky, I don't have time to be dealing with you, OK?"

"Ditto, sister," she replied, not liking the name Bow called her.

"If this is going to turn out how I think it's going to be..." Scrub trailed. "Who're you placing your bet on, Contadre?"

"What do you mean?" Chopper asked.

"My money goes on the ghost," Tamber declared.

"You guys are really going to place bets? That's so wrong." Flyer scolded. "We should be searching for a clue."

Mario: There's one up on a tree.

Kirby had floated up to grab it, and he tossed it to Chopper for him to open it.

_Clue Number 4: Well, you managed to find the clue. No big deal… But, MAN… That clue was HARD to put up! I almost thought I was going to break my back for a second! …Wait, I didn't even put it up there! __**Kibbler **__did that!_

"Kibbler? Who the heck is Kibbler?" Chopper asked in confusion.

"Looks like he was the one putting these clues around," Vivian said.

Chopper would've said another thing if his Mailbox SP didn't go off. Sighing, he took his Mailbox SP out and began to read the message.

_If you read the clue, you know I had a hard time putting it up there. Now, if ya want the next clue, you gotta go to a big tree. And there's absolutely NO color there. You hearin' me? NO COLOR!_

_From The Champ_

"No color? Well… I think I know where we have to go. Back to the Great Tree!" Chopper announced.

"OK, Heartsy, we gotta go," Shadower said, pulling her away from Bow by the hair.

"Youch! That hurts!" Heartsy winced.

"Sorry..."

Bow watched in disappointment as the crew had taken off on their Warp Stars. "Well... It's a shame I didn't get to see them for too long. But it's fine here, considering that we are no longer being terrorized by King Boo."

* * *

**The Great Tree-**

The entrance to the Great Tree opened up, and all eleven heroes came walking in. All of the Punies saw them return and immediately went over to him.

"I don't believe it! Chopper's back already?" one Puni gasped. "Have… Have you come here to play with us?"

"Well... Not exactly..." Chopper trailed, disappointing many. "But we're looking for a piece of paper here!"

"A note? I think I've seen one around here." Petuni recalled, picking up a piece of paper from a bush. "We just saw this today. It wasn't here yesterday."

"Poyo, (Then the clue came here during the night,)" Kirby deduced, taking the note and reading it.

_Clue Number 5: Already five clues? I seriously have no comment on this whatsoever… But, good job._

And then a message followed up from Chopper's Mailbox SP.

_Five clues already? You gotta be kidding me! But… That's not halfway, and I'm glad it's not. The next area you'd want to go is at an uh… It's at some kind of desert. And I'm sure you've NEVER been to a desert! Harharhar!_

_From The Champ_

"Did the Champ just say that we need to go to Desert Sands?" Chopper gawked.

"Desert Sands? Hey, I'm going back home!" Heartsy smiled. "I wonder how things have changed there?"

"Well, we might as well find out," Flyer suggested.

"You guys are going already? Aww... That stinks." Punio said in disappointment.

They said their goodbyes to the Punies before they took off to the desert.

* * *

**Desert Sands-**

"Dang it... Back to another dry area..." Scrub groaned.

"Say, isn't this the place where you met Heartsy, Chopper?" Sonic asked, looking around at Sand Town, specifically the school and the apartment building.

"Yeah. This is also the place where Gemerl apparently had a base, too." Chopper mentioned.

"Really? Huh. That's interesting."

"Well, if it isn't that hearty girl and the freaky antenna-headed kid!" the Shy Guy exclaimed, he and the female Bandit approaching them. "We thought we'd never see you! And you brought a couple of new freaks in too!"

"Freaks?! Who do you think you are?!" Bombette hissed, giving them a death glare.

"Now now... Let's not be so rude." Tamber stepped in. "Why don't we handle this like gentlemen?"

"I'm not a gentlemen..." the pink Bandit trailed.

"Yeah, sure. Now, do us a good favor and shoo, OK?"

"Why should we? I mean, do you know that that girl's name is Heartsy?"

"Yes, I do. I suggest you leave them alone, all right?"

"...Is Tamber actually standing up for us?" Shadower whispered.

"I never thought that'd be possible..." Flyer trailed.

"Please..." the female Bandit scoffed. "This is something we've always been doing since-"

Having enough, Heartsy took the bottle of perfume she had and threw it at the Bandit's face, leaving her dazed on the floor. She eventually got up and slowly started to back away. The Shy Guy decided to back off too.

"OK... Honestly, I think I'm done with this." the Shy Guy said, helping his friend walk away.

"That showed them," Heartsy smirked. "Plus, I wanted to get rid of that perfume anyway. ...But what did shock me is how you stood up for us, Tamber."

"I'm...actually surprised," Chopper added. "Why'd you do that?"

"Wha... Isn't it obvious?" Tamber gaped. "It's MY job to mock you guys! No way can I have some freaks making fun of you!"

"...So you didn't care about us, then?"

"Well... Errmmm..." Tamber trailed, rubbing the back of his head.

"It's all right, Tamber," Vivian assured. "It's not a bad thing, you know."

"Sh-Shut up!"

While Tamber began to fume, Heartsy noticed a piece of paper near one of the shops. She picked it up and showed it to the group.

_Clue Number 6: Harhar! I'm pretty sure he's not going to find this clue! I hid it in the sand! …But I should've put the whole thing under there. Wait, he's got it? Dang it… Well I did tell him to get it, so it doesn't really matter._

Chopper heard his Mailbox SP going off again and did the usual.

_So, you found my sixth clue? Not bad. Not bad at all. But, I'm sure you won't find the next one on a floating island!_

_From The Champ_

"We're going back to my island? Neat." Tamber smiled, joining Kirby on his Warp Star when they summoned them. "I just hope people aren't there..."

* * *

**Clearno Island-**

They happened to land on top of the temple where the group had fought Tamber. Though, it did feel different, with the Master Star no longer on its altar.

"Say, Tamber... There's one thing I'd like to know." Flyer started. "What ever happened to the rest of your kind?"

"They're gone," Tamber answered, sounding like he didn't care.

"You mean they...?"

"Beats me. They're not on this island anymore, that's for sure."

"Hmmmmm... Interesting... So why were you the only one left on this island?"

Tamber, appearing unsure at the moment, noticed a piece of paper on the altar. "Hey, would you look at that? Another clue!"

Flyer raised a finger to speak, but Tamber ignored him and picked up the clue. Chopper gave Flyer an assuring look before Tamber started reading the clue.

_Clue Number 7: I can't believe this piece of paper is going to be impossible to find! I always wanted to hide one that's tough to find! Wait… I think he DID find it! Uh oh… This is definitely bad news for the Ra—Whoa, I ain't giving my name out so easily!  
_

Chopper then got an e-mail from 'The Champ' again.

_Not bad. You went to the floating island above the sea. Good going. But how are you doing this so fast? Seriously? Meh, who cares about that? I bet you couldn't reach an island that contains the gods! Not likely!  
_

_From The Champ_

"So he want us to go to Viti?" Shadower sighed.

"We're practically going all over the place!" Bombette gaped.

"This is just like searching for General White..." Chopper groaned, jumping on his Warp Star, and they all took off to Viti.

* * *

**Viti, by the Shadow Palace-**

"Geez... Why did we have to stop here?" Scrub mumbled, shuddering at the palace before them. "This place still gives me the creeps!"

"Well, without the Shadow King, we should be fine," Vivian assured, searching around the area. "If the note is somewhere else... Ugh, that won't be any fun..."

"Hold up! I spotted something at the front door!" Sonic announced, pointing to the note.

"Oh! That's good!" Vivian grabbed the note and gave it to Chopper. "Here you go, Chopper!"

"Thanks," Chopper smiled, taking the note from Vivian, and he began to read the note.

_Clue Number 8: Wow… I know this palace looks kinda scary, but isn't this um… The Thousand-Year Door? It looks just like it... But, how would I know? I've never been there. But I think Gonzales was there, and even Contadre. ...I just hope this note doesn't give out my name at this point.  
_

"Errmmm... OK..." Chopper heard his Mailbox SP go off, and he took it out to read the message.

_Wow… I can't believe you're actually not scared to go into that…place! Well, we'll just see what happens when I tell you the next clue is in another dark area! Heh heh... Like I'd ever tell you it's located in place full of twilight! ...D'oh!  
_

_From The Champ_

"Well, to Twilight Town we go," Shadower declared, the group taking on on their Warp Stars.

* * *

**Twilight Town-**

"Man, we're back in Twilight Town..." Vivian trailed. "Hopefully everything's OK here."

"It doesn't look like there's anything dangerous here..." Sonic trailed, looking around. He spotted a tree with two birds, with one bird holding onto a piece of paper. "There's the next clue!"

"I'll get it," Shadower decided, going over to the tree. "Hey, little raven! Think you can give me that piece of paper you got there?"

The raven merely ignored him and pecked his hat. Annoyed, Shadower thought of a plan and pulled out a little caterpillar, which got the raven to drop the note.

"Thank you. And this is for you." the Shadow Brother tossed the caterpillar to the raven, while he picked up the paper and began to read it. "Geez… It's like this person's talking to himself now..."

_Clue Number 9: Man, it took me a while to give this clue to one of those birds! For some reason, it feels like they know what I am saying. Kinda weird though… But, I succeeded in giving it to the bird. Consider myself lucky…_

"How many clues are we going to be going through? It's getting annoying!" Chopper complained, only to hear his Mailbox SP going off. He knew what to expect as he read the message.

_You actually got that from the bird? You gotta be kidding me… Well, I guess the next place is at some kind of beach. I think it's pretty nice._

_From The Champ_

"Then we're off to Pudgy Island, then?" Bombette asked.

"Looks like it," Chopper said, summoning his Warp Star again so they could head to Pudgy Island.

* * *

**Pudgy Island-**

"So… I'll trade you one of my bandannas if you give me your shell." Bambo suggested to his friend, Kooplang.

"Are you serious? I'm not going to give my shell up! …But, if you let me throw you, I'll give you this piece of paper I just found!" Kooplang declared, holding a note up. However, it soon got swiped out of his grasps. "Huh? Where'd it go?"

He and Bambo looked up at the sky and noticed two Warp Stars flying off.

"Hey, was that Chopper?" Bambo asked.

"It looked an awful like like him, that's for sure..." Kooplang trailed.

"So... Got anything else to trade?"

"Nope."

As the group flew away from the island, Chopper opened up the note/

_Clue Number 10: Wow, I got ten clues done already. But, I gave this one to some Koopa. He'll give it to him I guess. Hopefully._

"Well that was pretty useless," Bombette stated, with Chopper getting another message.

_You must really want that item I have. If you want it, _I say you go someplace pretty far. ...If you know what I mean.

_From The Champ_

"Yeah, Fahr Outpost sure is a fahr place!" Chopper smiled, receiving annoying looks from everyone.

* * *

**Fahr Outpost-**

"Geez, this place is cold," Tamber stated as they landed on the ground in the outpost. "Why can't we be in a place warmer?"

"On a side note, the note is on the statue of that cannon," Bombette noted, her eyes shifting to the statue.

"Allow me to get it," Flyer said, flying up to the statue to grab the note. He then returned to his friends to show the note.

_Clue Number 11: So I saw these Bob-ombs, and they looked weird. Looks like they had no problem with this note being in that statue.  
_

…Which followed up with another message from The Champ.

_Not even the cold can destroy you? You're pretty tough. But, I don't want to actually destroy you. But, the next area you should head to is a pipe nearby._

_From The Champ_

Mario: That must be Snowy Mountain!

"Well, that's better than traveling across the world!" Chopper smiled, jumping into the pipe with his friends They had emerged in Snowy Mountain, though it only got colder from there.

"I-I think I'd like to g-go someplace w-warmer..." Heartsy shivered.

"I don't see the note anywhere..." Chopper trailed, scanning the area around him. However, it was Kirby who had spotted a note in the river.

"Poyo! (I see something in the river!)" Kirby announced, quickly diving in there to grab it. When he emerged, he found himself shivering. "P-Poyo... (S-So cold...)"

Aside from that, he read the note anyway.

_Clue Number 12: Wow… I HAD to go into an icy river. And it was COLD! Very, very cold! I wish I didn't put it in there! _

"All right, time to get the Mailbox SP out," Chopper pulled his Mailbox SP out just in time when he got the message. "I swear, I feel like we're being followed."

"I think the correct term you're looking for is 'stalked', Chopper," Flyer corrected.

_You went into the icy river? You must be insane! No wonder you were the champ of Glitzville… But, if you want to find the next clue, you might find it in a forest. One that is very difficult to get to.  
_

_From The Champ_

"Illusion Forest? Well... It'll be interesting to go back to that place." Sonic said.

* * *

**Illusion Forest, Flower Hills-**

Since Flower Hills was the only area that appeared to be the most open and not filled with trees, they had landed there. Those who had not witnessed this placed gazed at the flowers in awe.

"Was this the place where you found that flower, Chopper?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah, it was," Chopper nodded. "Though, it was kinda far..."

"And you found me surrounded by giant eggs," Scrub added.

"Found the note, Chopper!" Sonic interrupted, speeding over to him with the note. "Now, let's see what it has to say…"

_Clue Number 13: Thirteen is definitely an unlucky number. But not for me! This one was pretty easy for me to hide, so good for me!  
_

"Yup. More rambling."

Then came the e-mail…

"And that's my Mailbox SP calling for me!" Chopper pulled out his Mailbox SP and read the message again.

_Yeah, that one was easy to find. But I don't think the next one will be easy! You gotta go to someplace with a nice sunset. It has some hills also, which is nice._

_From The Champ_

Mario: That's Sunset Hill!

"I'm sure we're almost done with this," Chopper hoped, jumping on his Warp Star and taking off to Sunset Hill.

* * *

**Sunset Hill, the beach-**

When they decided to land somewhere in Sunset Hill, they had decided to land at the beach where they faced Gemerl for the Sun Star. They could get a glimpse of the Sun Temple up ahead. However, Sonic was paying more attention to the orange water and the waves.

"What a neat place," Sonic commented.

"I thought you didn't like water?" Chopper recalled.

"I don't," the hedgehog said, picking up a rock. "But I don't mind going to the beach! Especially when I can do this!" Sonic threw the rock, causing it to skip across the water and go a long distance.

Mario: Nice shot!

"I can do that too!" Chopper smiled, picking up a rock and throwing it. His had managed to skip at least twice, but it sank into the water. "Dang... So much for that."

Mario decided that he would do the same thing. However, he stepped on something, and he lifted his foot to reveal a note. He picked it up and told them that he found the note. Everyone quickly went over to him to check it out.

_Clue Number 14: I gotta admit, this beach looks pretty neat... I thought I saw a temple just up ahead too. I'd stay here, but, y'know, there's these notes.  
_

"OK, I don't get these clues anymore," Flyer sighed. "First they say that we need to listen to the instructions on it, and now it's just blabber."

"Well… I just hope it's not some kind of trap. That's for sure." Chopper heard his Mailbox SP going off, so he pulled it out and read the message.

_Sunset Hill was a nice place, but how did you find that so easily? Well, I guess I gotta tell you the next place. It appears to be up in the sky. And the buildings look fantastic there._

_From The Champ_

"Why, we're going back to Wingel City!" Flyer gasped. "This'll be a treat, despite the repetitiveness of these clues!"

"Errr... Yeah, you're right." Chopper agreed, he and the group getting on the Warp Star.

* * *

**Wingel City-**

They landed in the city and were delighted to see how peaceful it felt. With no Aliebits or Chilbi getting in the way, there was no possibility of there being any issues. That was, if King Bebe decided to not be a jerk again.

"Ahhh... It feels great to be home again." Flyer sighed, though his expression turned to one of worry. "Though... I'm a bit worried about how my mom feels. I mean, she never told me whether I could go on this adventure or not."

"Who cares? You're with us anyway." Tamber said. "So let's just find the stinkin' note already, OK?"

"Yes... You're right." Flyer looked around his surroundings, only to notice a note sticking out from a pole on a building. "I believe I've found the note!"

He opened the note and showed it to the rest.

_Clue Number 15: What a nice place! Seriously! I wish I lived in a place like this - if it weren't for my fighting career, that is.  
_

"Seriously! Why can't we get REAL clues?!" Tamber whined, Chopper's Mailbox SP go off soon after.

_The sky is pretty cool. But, say goodbye to it, 'cause the next clue is located in front of a large door! I dare you to get to it! Harharhar!  
_

_From The Champ_

"Does this person want us to go to the Thousand-Year Door?" Vivian gawked. "That's ridiculous! Why go there?"

"I'm not sure..." Chopper trailed. "Well, we can't just take the Warp Star there. We need to go into the sewers for that."

Chopper turned to the pipe, and with a leap, he went into the sewers.

* * *

**Ruins of the Thousand-Year Door-**

Everyone felt so exhausted upon their travel around the world. They had been to almost every single area, and they were all getting sick of it. Sonic, including, wanted to get to the action.

"Ugh... So here we area... Back at the Thousand-Year Door..." Chopper trailed, looking at the bright stars on the door.

"It's been a long time since we've opened that door…" Vivian trailed. "But with the Shadow King and Queen gone, I don't feel so nervous upon approaching the door."

"You think we should check inside?" Sonic asked.

"I'd rather not go back in there after what I saw," Scrub objected.

"For once, I have to agree," Bombette spoke.

"Pbbbbbbbth! All of you guys are wusses!" Tamber mocked, walking over to the door. "If you ladies wanna stand here, then go for it! I'll go in there myself!"

"We don't have to. I already found the note." Vivian said, picking up the note and opening it.

_Clue Number 16: End of the road, suckers! _

"End of the road? Great... Now what?!"

"What? Really?" Scrub gaped. "You gotta be kidding me! All that for nothing?!"

"If this is what I think it is..." Chopper mumbled. Before he could ramble, his Mailbox SP went off, so he opened it up to check the message. "What now?"

_All right. Listen here, punk! You've gone around the world, and I'm pretty sure you're worn out. This time, I'm being serious! If you want to get to that last Crystal Star, then come to Glitzville! I'm waiting there just for you!"  
_

_From The Champ_

"So... It says that we need to go to Glitzville to get what we want..." Chopper trailed. "If the champs' telling the truth, then I'm feeling much better!"

"Glitzville? Sweet! We're going to my favorite place!" Scrub cheered, running out of the ruins and heading back to the surface.

"Wait up, Scrub!" Chopper cried, he and his friends following the Yoshi to their destination.

* * *

**If you weren't a fan of this chapter, well, I can't blame you too much. It's probably more repetitive than the General White quest. On the other hand, there was some fun dialogue to put in here, such as the one with King Dedede and Escargon. ...And yes, Kine has a crush on Fumu (despite having a wife in Kirby's Dream Land 3).  
**

**But don't worry, for the next chapter will not be repetitive. ...And it probably won't be as long. That's where things get much more interesting.  
**


	127. Rawking Out Again

Getting to Glitzville was not too difficult, considering that they could use the Warp Star to get there. Many were interested in going there, while one in particular was stoked to be back here.

"Oh, boy! I can't believe we're finally back in Glitzville! This is SO cool!" Scrub said excitingly. "Say, Contadre… Why don't we go reserve a match for old time's sake?"

"That'd be cool and all... But, there are some more important things we need to do." Chopper reminded. "Though, seeing Jolene isn't a bad idea.

"Jolene? We haven't seen here in a while..." Vivian recalled. "Do you think she'll consider putting our spot back on the roster if we ever want to, well, fight again?"

"I'm pretty sure she would, 'cause we're the champs!" Scrub smirked. "Not even Rawk Hawk could take us down!"

"That sounds cool and all, but you do know we have to get that last Crystal Star," Sonic noted.

Defeated, Scrub pouted and followed his friends into the building ahead. Surprisingly, it didn't appear to be crowded. In fact, it was empty.

"Hopefully Grubba isn't back here again," Vivian hoped. "Though, I'm sure we could defeat him again..."

They walked over to the door to the main hallway, but as usual, it was being blocked by a Security guard.

"Hey, who're you, bub?" asked the Security guard. He got a good look at Chopper before realizing who he was. "…Whoops! I… I didn't mean to say that. My apologies, ex-Champion, the Great Contadre… You too, the Great Gonzales."

"We just want to speak to Jolene," Chopper said. "Well, that is, if she's still here."

"Yeah, she's here. Feel free to go see her." the Security guard stepped out of the way and opened the door. "Head on through the hallway and make a right. You'll see her office labeled, all right?"

"Thanks, dude! Now let's go see Jolene, Contadre!" Scrub suggested.

Chopper shrugged, and they walked through the hallway. They came across Jolene's office, and another Security guard was standing in the way. Chopper decided to give him all the details.

"What's that, bub? You wanna go see Ms. Jolene?" the Security guard stopped for a moment and looked at Chopper and Mario. "Hey... Weren't you two both champions before? Neat! Anyway, yeah, lemme step outta the way for ya."

The Security guard moved out of the way, allowing Chopper and his friends to enter the office.

"All right, Jolene! We're here to-" Scrub paused, seeing no sign of Jolene in the office. "What the heck? Where'd she go?"

"I'm afraid Ms. Jolene is out for the moment, so she cannot be here."

"Who's there?" Chopper asked.

A figure had landed on top of the desk, revealing himself to be a Sir Kibbles. However, there was a major difference between him and another Sir Kibbles. He was in silver armor and had purple feet and black gloves.

"Hey... Are you one of Jolene's assistants?"

"Nope. The name's Kibbler. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Wait... What happened to Jolene then?" Vivian asked. "What'd you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything. She kinda ran off on her own. Then again, she tends to do that a lot, so it's nothing new." Kibbler shrugged. "Anyway, I assume you're here because you got an e-mail sent to you, right?"

"Yeah, we... Wait, how do you know about it?" Chopper gawked. "Did you send those e-mails to us?"

"No, but I went all over the world to put those notes down," Kibbler answered, tossing 500 coins in his hand. "And it was well worth it!"

"Why didn't you just tell us to come here?" Scrub asked.

"That wasn't my idea. The one who wants you told me to do that. Speaking of that, follow me." Kibbler opened the door, and he walked over to the door leading to the arena. Everyone followed him out and met him there. "If you wanna get what you're looking for, head in here."

"OK," Chopper said, he and the others entering the arena. There were no signs of any fighters or audience around, and it was also pretty dark.

"This is definitely foreboding..." Flyer trailed. "And quiet..."

"Hello?! Is anyone there?!" Chopper called out, jumping onto the arena.

"Well, it's about time you show up, Contadre! I've been waiting for this time for quite a while!"

A spotlight came down, and on the other side of the arena, Rawk Hawk stood there, arms crossed and wearing his champ's belt.

"Rawk Hawk? I didn't expect to see you again..." Chopper trailed. "Did you give me all of those e-mails?"

"You're darn right I did!" Rawk Hawk grinned, taking out a Mailbox SP and tossing it in front of Chopper's feet. "I managed to find out how to use those doodle-hickeys and decided that I try to have a rematch against you! And it looks like it worked!"

"So you made us travel around the world for nothing? What was the point of that?"

"Oh, don't worry, punk! You didn't come here all for nothing! I have what you need! Hey! Koopinator! Show him the chest!" Rawk Hawk turned to his side, and another spotlight appeared off the arena. At first, they could only see two, glowing red eyes, but the spotlight revealed the Koopinator standing beside a large chest.

"It is right here, Rawk Hawk," the Koopinator assured. "You. Contadre. It has been a while..."

"See that chest, Contadre? That can solve your little problem. I managed to get a hold of those, and after Kibbles told me about you unable to progress, I decided I'd lure you here. Of course, I wanted to give you guys a little workout before we got started, which I happened to be doing as well."

"I think it would've been easier to just tell us to come here..." Bombette deadpanned.

"I'll give you a little deal, Contadre," Rawk Hawk started, ignoring Bombette. "I'll let you have what's in that chest, but only if you manage to beat me in a rematch!"

"What happens if I lose?" Chopper asked.

"If I win, then you must give up your name as champ, and I will be known as the 'True Champ'! There's only one room for the number one spot, and it's me, baby!" Rawk Hawk declared, pointing at the ceiling. "I've been training hard for this moment, and there's no way I'm going to let a shrimp beat me again!"

"All right, then," Chopper declared, equipping his Fighter ability and tightening his bandanna. "If you want a rematch against us, then I'll accept your challenge! Me and my friends and going to take you down!"

"Harharhar! That's just what I want to hear! All right, Kibbler! Announcement time!"

"Got it!" Kibbler answered, landing in between the fighters with a microphone. "All righty, folks! Here we go! On the left side of the arena… He's fast, he's cute, he wears a freakin' red bandanna… HEEEEEEERE'S THE GREAT CONTADRE!"

The only sound they heard were crickets chirping.

"AND… On the right… He's a chicken!"

"Hey!" Rawk Hawk yelled.

"Oh... Sorry." Kibbler apologized, quickly getting back to the action. "He RAWKS the whole house down, and not to mention he's a REAL champion… Give it up for… RAWK HAWK!"

The sound of a cheering audience could be heard, but they obviously saw Kibbler playing that sound from speakers.

"This is so fake..." Bombette groaned.

"Now, let's try to keep this clean, boys!" Kibbler advised, throwing the speakers aside. "You know the rules in the Glitz Pit! …Oops! There aren't any rules here! Go all out!"

"Heh heh! Now this is more like it!" Sonic grinned.

"Excellent! So… Get ready to… _**FIIIIIIIIIGHT!**_"

The sound of a gong being hit echoed, and the battle began. At this point, the fighters got in their fighting stances in preparation.

"So, we finally get to face off once and for all to determine who will be the true champion," Rawk Hawk said. "Well, this time, I'm not going to let you losers get in the way! Listen up, Contadre, 'cause I won't repeat myself again! I will reclaim my fame that had been taken from me by you, and I shall finally be the top dog!"

"Wait, how are you going to get people to believe you if there isn't an audience?" Vivian asked.

"Don't worry, I've got this all on tape," Kibbler said, now holding a camera and filming. "It'll be in top condition, too!"

"Yeah. This film'll be shown by everyone, and then everyone will see how much better I've become! Be warned, Contadre! I ain't holding anything back this time!"

"All right, then," Chopper replied, giving a smirk. "This might be fun!"

**Tattle: **_That's Rawk Hawk. He's the famous champion in the Glitz Pit…though I still think he's kind of a jerk. Max HP is 340, Attack is 16, and Defense is 1. He'll try attacking you with his new punches, kicks, and even his stomp attack. He's got the moves from before, but he's got PLENTY of new moves to help beat you. He can even counter some of your attacks if he tries to defend yourself, so don't try attacking him physically then! He was sorta meh before, but I think he's been doing some serious training…_

Chopper started off the fight by rushing toward Rawk Hawk and landing a punch on him. Tamber also hit Rawk Hawk with a punch as well, except his was much stronger.

"So, you think you got what it takes to beat me, huh? Well, we'll see about that!" Rawk Hawk grabbed Chopper and swung him around until he let him go. He ended up crashing into Flyer, leaving the two dazed.

"Ooh! Now THAT'S gotta hurt! The Star Warrior just got his butt handed to him by Rawk Hawk! Can he turn it around?" Kibbler watched as Chopper struck Rawk Hawk with a Vulcan Jab. "Oh! He throws in a Vulcan Jab right when the Rawk was gloating! What a move!"

"I guess we have someone commentating..." Vivian sighed and punched Rawk Hawk with her Shade Fist, leaving him with a burn.

"Oh! Did you see that? That's a chick you don't wanna mess with! Especially with those flames! It'll make you hot for sure!" Kibbler exclaimed, soon noticing Rawk Hawk drop kick Chopper. "Oh, what's this? Rawk Hawk managed to drop kick Contadre! Oh, and it was so painful as well! ...And now Contadre's going for-"

"Stop acting like one of those professional commentators at a wrestling match," Flyer shushed. "That stuff's fake anyway."

"Fake? You think these muscles are fake, chump?" Rawk Hawk asked, flexing his muscles and obviously offended.

"The only thing fake is your belt," Chopper said, delivering a kick to Rawk Hawk, followed by Shadower's Shadow Punch.

"Ooog… So you did get a little stronger..." Rawk Hawk mumbled, rubbing his head. "But the Rawk's gotten stronger too! With all the training I got at the gym, I managed to pull THIS off!"

Rawk Hawk took a couple of steps back and began to charge at them with his shoulder in front of him. He managed to hit all eleven of them and even jump back to the other side of the ring flawlessly.

Mario: That reminded me of one of Wario's attacks...

"OK, not bad..." Sonic commented, quickly shaking his head. "I bet you couldn't do this!"

Sonic got in a ball and rammed into Rawk Hawk with a Spin Dash. Chopper immediately followed up, rushing at the yellow chicken with a powerful Rising Break that managed to knock him back and bring him down to 260 HP.

"Now THAT'S a punch you don't want to get hit by!" Kibbler announced. "The Great Contadre's showing off some real moves there! He's going from cute to-"

"Stop with it already!" Heartsy interjected. "You're interrupting our battle!"

"_Sorry_..."

"Whew… You've got more moves than I thought, Contadre..." Rawk panted. "You're pretty good… But that won't beat me. How 'bout I start to RAAAAAWK this fight a little more?"

Rawk Hawk grabbed Chopper and performed a suplex on him, leaving him in another daze. "Harharharhar! Now that's a move I always wanted to pull off during this fight!"

"Well, at least you didn't decide to cheat..." Chopper mumbled, slowly getting up. "Of course, don't think you're going to beat us so easily!"

Chopper jumped toward Rawk Hawk and struck him with a Vulcan Jab. Vivian soon followed up by emerging from the shadows in front of the yellow chicken and hitting him with a Shade Fist. Rawk Hawk charged and performed a sliding kick attack that managed to hit Vivian, taking 16 out of her.

"Ooh! It looks like Rawk Hawk missed hitting Contadre and got the shadow chick instead!" Kibbler cringed.

"We get it already!" Tamber yelled angrily, while Chopper kicked Rawk Hawk, and Flyer hit him with a Flying Attack. Rawk Hawk decided to target Flyer and jumped in the air toward Flyer to throw his two feet at him.

"Harhar! How did you like that?" Rawk Hawk grinned.

"Not too bad... Though we faced stronger..." Flyer mumbled.

"What?"

"Well, it's true," Heartsy agreed, hitting Rawk Hawk with his hammer, with Chopper striking him with a Vulcan Jab afterward.

"Well... I still won't let that intimidate me!" Rawk Hawk jumped off the wall and rammed into Chopper, taking 18 out of him. "Man, pulling off these stunts is making me even more motivated into beating you!"

"OK... Maybe I was wrong about you..." Chopper trailed, unsure of what else to say, so he struck Rawk Hawk with a Vulcan Jab. "But that's not going to stop us!"

Bombette had approached Rawk Hawk, despite appearing unfazed by her. However, her Bomb had covered him in soot, making him throw in a punch and knock back the Bob-omb.

"Don't worry, I'm all right," Bombette assured, quickly shaking herself.

"Unh! Yeah!" Rawk Hawk exclaimed, flexing his muscles. "I still got it in me!"

"Instead of flaunting, perhaps we can get back to our scuffle?" Flyer suggested.

"Fine."

"Poyo! (My turn! My turn!)" Kirby declared happily, striking Rawk Hawk with a Cartwheel, which then followed up with another Rising Break, leaving him with 163 HP. Rawk Hawk decided to curl up in a ball and hit both Chopper and Kirby.

"Oh! He manages to pull off a-" Kibbler was grabbed by Scrub's tongue and turned him into a giant egg. That was when he hit Rawk Hawk with his Mega Egg and took 12 out of him. The result of the egg being broken made Kibbler fall off the arena by the Koopinator. "Ouch..."

"Whoa... That was a surprise, shrimp..." Rawk Hawk gawked, getting hit by Chopper's Vulcan Jab afterward. He decided to target Scrub and throw him across the ring. "Ah! Now that's better! Are you guys getting RAAAAAAAWKED already?"

"Dude, just shut up!" Scrub yelled, hitting Rawk Hawk with another Mega Egg, followed up by Chopper's Rising Break.

"You're not looking too good, Rawk Hawk," Chopper noted, seeing Rawk Hawk exhausted. "Ready to give up?"

"In your dreams, Contadre!" Rawk Hawk grumbled. He looked up at him with a glare, but then he saw Kibbler toss a chair into the ring. "What's this?"

"It's anyone's weapon in this fight!" Kibbler yelled. "But who will get it?"

"I never heard anything about using chairs to fight," the Koopinator said. "But there are no rule here."

"Exactly," Kibbler nodded, tossing another chair. "Here, kid! You can have one too!"

"No way!" Chopper retorted.

"What? Well, your loss..."

Rawk Hawk grinned as he picked up the chair and hit Chopper with it. This, however, made Chopper hit him with a Spring Jump. Add Flyer's Flying Attack, and the champ was down to 91 HP.

Rawk Hawk rubbed his face and then brought the chair down on Chopper's face, leaving a red bruise on his cheek. "How does that make you feel, Contadre?"

"Uhhhh... I don't know..." Chopper trailed, still wincing over the pain. Regardless of that, he hit Rawk Hawk with a Vulcan Jab. Tamber decided to go up next, rushing at Rawk Hawk with his fist glowing green. His Power Punch managed to take 13 out of him and deal some serious damage.

"Argh! Not bad, Contadre!" Rawk Hawk decided to toss the chair aside and perform a body slam on him. When he did get off, Chopper had hit him with his Gravity Jump, and thanks to Mario's hammer, Rawk Hawk was down to 32 HP. "Ugh… Why do I feel so exhausted...?"

"Maybe 'cause you're tasting defeat," Sonic grinned.

"What? Not a chance!" Rawk Hawk charged in Sonic's direction and managed to jump on him, dealing 16 damage. Chopper had fought back by using a Spin Jump to deal 12 damage, and with Scrub's Gulp, he was certainly tasting defeat very soon.

In fact, Kibbler even took notice of this.

"WHOA! Now look at THAT!" Kibbler gaped. "Contadre's already brought the yellow chicken down to 10 HP! Can he make one final blow?"

"All right, here it goes!" Chopper smiled, running toward Rawk Hawk. "Rising Break!"

The uppercut punch not only defeated Rawk Hawk, but the force of the punch had managed to send him flying upward, leaving a hole through the ceiling. At this point, everyone had gawked, seeing Rawk Hawk a mere ant in the sky.

"Uhhhh... I didn't mean to do that." Chopper sweat dropped.

"AAARRGH!" Rawk Hawk cried, now falling back into the ring. When he landed, he fell on his back, defeated. "No… All of this hard work… It went down the drain... I admit defeat, Contadre. You ARE the real champ…"

"Well, it looks like we got ourselves a winner! Give it up for…the GREEEEAT CONTAAAAADRE!" Kibbler raised his arm up in the air, expecting a bunch of people to be cheering. However, since there was no one around, it was all silent.

Chopper decided to break the silence by approaching Rawk Hawk and holding his hand out. "Are you all right?"

"Wait... Why're you helping me up?" Rawk Hawk asked.

"Well... This wasn't a serious fight or anything. It was all fun! Plus, I think it'd be nice to show some good sportsmanship!"

"Ugh... All right, thanks..." the yellow chicken grabbed his hand, and Chopper pulled him up. At least, that's what he thought he'd do. Unfortunately, due to his skinny arms, he required the help of the others to help Rawk Hawk stand up. "I don't understand… How did you…URK…still manage to defeat me after all that…BLUH…training I've done? I worked so hard until my arms were sore!"

"It's not all about winning in a fight," Chopper explained, though he felt he didn't word it correctly. "OK, maybe winning this was a bit important, but who cares about some true champ or whatever? Aren't we champions at something?"

"Yeah, we're all champs in the end," Sonic grinned. "I think it's more about doing your best. That's what I tend to do in a lot of competitions!"

"Hmmmmm... Maybe you're all right..." Rawk Hawk smiled. "Maybe from now on, ol' Rawk Hawk's not going to be thinking about the money, or the title. Naw, most fans and I just want to see what I can pull off! However, Contadre... Don't think I'm going to just give up on fighting you, 'cause I certainly want to be able to beat you and Gonzales! ...But maybe the next time, it'll be a friendlier competition!"

Mario: Oh, yes!

"Since you guys won the fight, you can have the chest. You deserve it."

Everyone smiled, happy to see Rawk Hawk change like this. ...With one exception, of course.

"Wh-What?! You're not going to go all aggressive on him?!" Kibbler gawked. "Oh, come on! This isn't what I was promised! ...Bah! Forget you and Chopper! I've got what I need, so I'm outta here!"

Kibbler bolted out of the Glitz Pit, leaving the others to blink.

"Well... At least we won't see that chump again." Scrub pointed out. "...Right?"

"Hey. Contadre." Koopinator said, bringing Chopper's attention to him. "I believe you should take the item in here now. You have some important business to take care of."

"Yeah, I do," Chopper agreed, removing his Fighter ability and jumping out of the ring to approach the chest. He opened it and found a new pair of white gloves with a light glow surrounding them. He gasped in delight as he held them up.

**You got the Master Gloves!**

"The Master Gloves! Awesome!" Chopper smiled, looking at the gloves that magically appeared on his hands. "This is great!"

As per usual, Toadette approached him when he was transported to a tutorial area.

"Hi there, Chopper! It's me again!" Toadette greeted cheerfully. "Congratulations on getting the Master Gloves! They can create quite a light show! Now you can use light energy!"

"Light energy? It's just like the Diamond Gloves I got two years ago..." Chopper trailed, noticing the yellow glow around them. "So, what can I do with them?"

"That's why I here!" she giggled. "With those gloves, you'll be able to fire a ball of light. Any dark enemies you encounter will be weak to this. Remember that, OK? Now… To use the Master Glove ability, you simply hold the B button like the Diamond Gloves. However, this time, you can charge longer to fire a larger one! Not only that, but you can fire light balls even faster with them! Just remember that a Light Block is what can be destroyed with them."

"Cool! Let me try it out!" Chopper charged up enough light energy to fire a large ball of energy. When a giant Light Block appeared before him, he created another large ball of light energy and threw it at it, destroying it.

"Great! You got it! …Oh, yeah! I forgot something! You can even use the Master Gloves in battle, too! That's how you can pierce through the defense of anything such as Dark Matter! It's also capable of blinding your foes and preventing them from attacking! Pretty neat, right?" Toadette smiled. Chopper nodded in agreement, but he noticed she looked a little sad.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"Ummmm… This is kind of sad… I think… I think this is the last time I'll ever get to see you, Chopper…" Toadette trailed, slowly backing away and trying to keep a smile on her face. "Definitely save the universe and collect the final Crystal Star. And… And be careful on your quest, OK?"

Before Chopper could respond, she started to turn away and run while crying.

"Oh... She must be really sad..." Chopper trailed, sadly waving goodbye as well. With that, he was taken back to the Glitz Pit, where the others noticed him waving.

"What's wrong, Chopper? Who were you waving to?" Vivian asked.

"I... Wait, huh?" Chopper gawked, looking at his surroundings. "Errr... I guess an old friend... Anyway, we should get going. We need to go to the Halberd!"

* * *

**Dream Land, in the Halberd-**

"Geez... That was no fun..." Sonic mumbled, shaking any water left on him and walking over to Dark Matter. "Well, it's still there."

"Yup, I see it. Sorry, Dark Matter…but you gotta go!" Chopper declared, tossing a light ball at it. At that point, light began to engulf Dark Matter, and it exploded into light.

"Ah! So it did work! Excellent! Now we can continue moving!" Flyer smiled.

Chopper gave a smile too as they approached the door up ahead leading to a few staircases. Taking those stairs led them into a room with silver, metal tiles and a big glass window giving them a view of the ocean.

"Wow. Now THAT'S a sight." Sonic commented, getting a view of the fish and the Rainbow Coral Reef.

"I've seen better," Tamber mumbled. He walked over to the door up ahead, and the others follow. Chopper already had full 185 HP and FP, so there was no need for the Heart Block. However, he did hit the Save Block just in case.

"Gee, I have a feeling there's something coming up..." Heartsy trailed.

"Well, we'll be able to conquer it no problem!" Chopper assured, running through the open door with his friends.

* * *

**Next room-**

Meta Knight stood on a high platform in the next room, staring at the view of the ocean before him with his caped wrapped around his body. This was something he liked to do while in his ship, whether it be in the sky or sea. Admittedly, he felt bad that his ship had to be over the Rainbow Coral Reef. It was one of the many beautiful areas of Dream Land's sea.

"Sir Meta Knight!" Sword Knight called out, approaching the platform. "We are ready for takeoff!"

"Good. We shan't waste any time in leaving. Getting that Dark Star is very important."

It was then that the door had opened, and revealed to be behind it were the eleven heroes. Blade had spotted them and looked up at his master.

"Sir Meta Knight! Trouble!" Blade Knight warned.

"I had a feeling you would show up, Chopper..." Meta Knight trailed, not even turning around. "You knew that it was only my ship that could help you reach the final Crystal Star."

"Meta Knight…" Chopper started, looking up at the caped warrior. "We need you to do us a little favor... We need-"

"Yes, I am aware of what you need, Chopper," Meta Knight sighed. "Even after the warnings I've given you, you still continue your quest. Why do you still continue?"

"Because there are a lot of people counting on us to protect the universe from this darkness. Heck, my planet got caught in that darkness, and you don't want to know what it's like there."

"Your planet was caught in that darkness... I see..." Meta Knight trailed, his eyes turning green. "Then that means the darkness is getting much closer... We may not have much time."

"Not much time? You mean it's over for us?" Tamber asked impatiently.

"Do you all still wish to search for the last Crystal Star? Regardless of what happens as a result?"

The heroes gave Meta Knight a nod.

"Very well. So it appears I cannot change your minds... You should keep in mind that the Dark Star is supposedly one of the most dangerous Crystal Stars, do you not?"

"We don't care how dangerous it is. We are going to get it, and it requires your ship." Chopper stated boldly.

"You know, Chopper... One of the reasons why I wanted to prepare the Halberd was to find the Dark Star and keep it from falling into your hands. However, I now realize that your map would eventually lead to me, so I could not escape from you forever..." Meta Knight slowly turned around to look down at the group. "So, I guess I have no choice but to help you..."

"Wait... Really?" Sword gawked. "I mean, after all this preparation?!"

"Are you sure?" Chopper asked.

"Yes. However, I only have one wish. I want us to battle one last time in order to see how much stronger you've become. Maybe then you could possibly..."

"Possibly what?"

"I will let you figure that out yourself. For now, draw your sword, Chopper. I want this fight to be our most memorable." Meta Knight drew Galaxia and looked down at his servants. "Sword! Blade! Tell the captain to prepare for liftoff! We are leaving Pop Star immediately."

"Yes, sir!" Sword and Blade saluted before making their exit. Before they knew it, the Halberd was starting to lift off the ocean floor.

"I will make sure I hold nothing back," Chopper smiled, equipping his Sword ability and aiming its point at Meta Knight. "We're ready to fight you!"

"Good. That's what I want to see." Meta Knight said, leaping off the platform and landing in front of the group. "Now show me what you've got!"

**Tattle: **_That's Meta Knight. He's a true warrior and is one of the strongest warrior in the galaxy. Max HP is 350, Attack is 17, and Defense is 2. He's got a couple of other moves up his sleeves now. He can stab the ground with his sword and make an electrical current shock you, or he might even shoot fireballs from Galaxia at you! Looks like he's pulling everything he's got at you now. Don't hold back either, Chopper! You can do this!  
_

"All right, time to test out my new powers!" Chopper smiled, opening the palm of his hand and firing a light ball at Meta Knight. This had actually left him in surprise after getting hit.

"Light energy? Hmph… Very interesting..." Meta Knight mused. "Finding light energy around these parts is rare. Especially one that can destroy Dark Matter."

Kirby decided to attack Meta Knight with his Cartwheel. However, he didn't have time to jump back, and he and the others were hit by Meta Knight's Electric Pulse when he stabbed the ground with Galaxia.

"Whoa… Talk about powerful…" Chopper gawked. He tried to keep that from bugging him and swung at Meta Knight with his sword. "Even if you've got some new moves, so have we!"

While Meta Knight tried to shake off the hit, Shadower had lowered his defense with his Shadow Punch. He decided to swing his sword at Chopper, but the young Star Warrior held his sword in front of him and guarded his attack. While not too surprising, Meta Knight prepared to attack again, but he stopped when the ground started to slightly shake.

"What's going on here?" Bombette asked.

Mario noticed that the Halberd was slowly ascending and coming out of the water. Meta Knight looked out the window for a split second before turning back to the group. However, he noticed Chopper was missing.

"Where did he...?" Looking up, Meta Knight saw Chopper's feet make contact with his head, dishing out 30 damage. Tamber had run up to him afterward and struck him with a Power Punch to deal 14. Meta Knight fired a Sword Beam at Tamber, which managed to take 19 out of him.

Chopper had swung his sword at him again, allowing Mario to take his hammer out and bash Meta Knight with it, bringing him down to 258 HP.

Mario: We've already dealt 92 damage to him!

"Ever since you beat me back in those woods, I decided to check on where I went wrong. I finally discovered the answer." Meta Knight said, swinging his sword and shooting a fireball in Chopper's direction, covering him in soot upon being scorched.

Chopper mumbled quietly as he shook off the soot and fired a light ball at Meta Knight. With Vivian's Shade Fist, Meta Knight was left with a burn, which came into effect when Meta Knight used his Galaxia Drill on Chopper, who ended up guarding it. Chopper then pierced through his defense with his D-Down Slash, causing Meta Knight to recoil afterward.

"I guess I'll help out!" Scrub stated, walking over to Meta Knight and attacking him with his Mega Egg.

"You haven't appeared to change that much..." Meta Knight trailed, flying in the air and summoning an electrical wave with his sword, paralyzing Shadower. "However, that does not mean that all is lost."

"Argh! I can't move!" Shadower winced.

"Whoa… That's bad." Flyer looked over at Meta Knight and struck him with a Flying Attack. With another D-Down Slash, they had Meta Knight down to 198 HP.

Meta Knight swung Galaxia again, and a Sword Beam fired at Chopper. Unfortunately, the Star Warrior hadn't seen it coming, causing him to tumble back upon getting hit.

"Ouch... This is starting to get annoying..." Chopper grumbled, swinging at Meta Knight with his sword. Mario's Super Jump helped deal 10 damage to him.

"The sky's getting darker and darker as we go up," Tamber noticed.

"That's because as you go up, you leave the planet's orbit," Flyer explained.

"Correct," Meta Knight nodded as he raised Galaxia up, which began to glow. "I suppose I should ready my Mach Tornado. I feel like now is the opportunity!"

"Oh, crud… I gotta take action." Chopper pulled out a Rainbow Master (Master Shroom and Rainbow Juice) and ate it to recover 200 HP and FP. "Ahhhh… That was good."

Vivian grabbed the group and pulled them into the shadows before Meta Knight unleashed his Mach Tornado, which had thankfully missed. Meta Knight didn't appear disappointed, as when the group emerged, he hit Chopper with a sword spin. Chopper decided to use his Spinning Sword on Meta Knight, while Kirby decided to use his Squishiness ability on Chopper, making him dodgy.

"Ooh! Thanks for this, Kirby!" Chopper smiled, deciding not to move as Meta Knight swung at him, which luckily missed. Thankfully, Shadower was no longer paralyzed, allowing him to lower Meta Knight's defense with a Shadow Punch. Chopper than leaped in the air and hit the masked warrior with a Gravity Jump.

Meta Knight quickly shook himself before going in a tornado and knocking Chopper back toward the wall. Thankfully, it was no Mach Tornado, which relieved Chopper.

"Man, you sure like to throw things at us…" wheezed Chopper as he used his Spin Jump on Meta Knight, with Bombette using her Bomb afterward. Meta Knight gripped Galaxia and swung another Sword Beam straight at Tamber. Tamber wanted to attack, but Heartsy beat him to the punch and hit Meta Knight with her hammer. Chopper then threw a light ball at Meta Knight to bring him down 90 HP.

Meta Knight shook off the damage he took and shot another fireball from Galaxia at Chopper. To his luck, the attack missed, but the dodgy effect had ended up wearing off. It didn't stop Chopper from hitting him with a D-Down Slash, followed by Flyer's Flying Attack.

"Impressive… You've managed to bring me down this far..." Meta Knight trailed, his eyes turning blue for a brief moment. He disappeared using his cape and struck Chopper upon appearing, knocking him to the floor.

"Too bad that Squishiness ability wore off..." Chopper mumbled, slowly standing up.

"Sir Meta Knight!" Sword Knight called out from the door. "We have just left Pop Star's atmosphere and are now up in the cosmos!"

Upon hearing that, everyone looked out the window and spotted a beautiful starry sky. It appeared black, with a pink beam in the background brightening the cosmos.

"Wow… It's beautiful!" Vivian smiled.

"We're still not done with our battle, mind you," Meta Knight reminded.

"Yeah, you're right," Chopper nodded, running up to Meta Knight and swinging his sword at him. Sonic had hit him with a Spin Dash, forcing Meta Knight to knock him back with a kick. However, once Chopper attacked with a light ball, and Mario used a Jump, Meta Knight was down to 40 HP.

"40 HP? So you've brought me this far down already..." Meta Knight trailed, swinging at Chopper, leaving red marks on his face. "If it weren't for your friends, this battle would be much tougher."

"So what? Teamwork is always a good thing!"

"Hmmmm... Yes, you are correct. Working together is important, after all."

He got back in his fighting position as Chopper swung his sword at him. Meta Knight tried to swing at him after he finished his attack, but he dodged and allowed Flyer to hit him with a Flying Attack. Despite Meta Knight hitting Chopper with a fireball, the Star Warrior appeared confident.

"This battle is ours," Chopper declared, piercing through Meta Knight's defense with a D-Down Slash, and, before they knew it, Meta Knight was down to 2 HP after Tamber punched him.

"Ungh... Excellent work, Chopper..." Meta Knight grunted, kneeling in exhaustion. "Perhaps now would be the time to end this fight..."

"I guess you're right," Chopper decided, removing his Sword ability. He had gained enough Star Points to upgrade his BP to 111, thankfully. "So, how was it?"

"You did good, Chopper... I must say, you and your friends have definitely improved. Perhaps you have what it takes..."

"What do you mean?" Bombette asked.

"Sir Meta Knight! Take some medicine!" Blade pulled out some medicine and tossed it to Meta Knight. He gladly accepted it, healing off his injuries and even offering it to the heroes. Once they took care of that, they gazed at the spectacle through the window.

"So… We finally made it. We're finally out in space..." Chopper trailed. "But… I don't know where to go! It's just space and that's it."

"We were planning on heading to **Star Path**," Meta Knight said, approaching Chopper with his cape wrapped around him. "There are some beings located there that might have an idea of where the Crystal Star is. ...However, I do fear that the way there may not be safe."

"Yeah, we're definitely picking up some evil signs throughout space," Blade mentioned. "Some familiar ones at that..."

"Correct, which is why you must be careful as you travel not only through Star Path, but many areas around."

"Oh..." Chopper trailed. "Well, you can just fly us there to make it easier, right?"

"Since you decided to come here, I think it is for the better that we bring the Halberd back to Dream Land."

"Wait, what?" Heartsy gawked.

"Hey, don't worry!" Sword assured. "We came up with something that could probably help you guys!"

* * *

**Ten minutes later-**

"Uhhhh... Is this safe?" Chopper asked, he and his friends stuck inside the Halberd's cannon.

"Don't worry, kid! We're experts when it comes to firing a cannon!" Sword assured.

"We'll make sure we fire you to your destination," Blade added.

"I hope so…"

"All right, we're ready to fire in three…two…one…_**FIRE!**_" Blade went inside the Halberd and pressed a red button. The cannon fired, sending the eleven heroes flying through space.

"_**WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!**_"

"Bye bye…" Sword waved as the group started to appear smaller. He and Blade decided to turn away, but Meta Knight watched them until they were no longer in his sight.

"Perhaps I should start alerting the others..." Meta Knight mumbled.

* * *

**So, it looks like in the next chapter, things really start to get intense. I mean, it's space. What else can I say about it?  
**


	128. The Beauty of Space

"_**EEEEEEEEP!**_"

Everyone let out a scream as they flew through the cosmos like a bullet. When they tried looking back, they noticed how much smaller Pop Star was getting, along with the Halberd.

Eventually they had come across a pathway consisting of green platforms ahead. There were green poles above and below the platforms, just in case if anyone were to accidentally fall off. They landed on those platforms, though some of them did not have that great of a landing...

"Ow! Son of a…er…pizza roll!" Tamber grumbled, landing on the pathway face-first.

Chopper slowly got up and looked at his surroundings. "Wow! This place looks cool! ...Though it doesn't look like a star path at all..."

"Well, it's better than no path," Bombette said.

Chopper noticed a barrel up ahead over by a wall, which had a red button on it. "Well, I guess there's an obstacle in our way. C'mon, Mario! Let's go get that switch!"

Mario nodded and followed Chopper over to the barrel. He brought his hammer down on Chopper so that he would go underground. However, he found himself under the platform, and he comically flailed his arms and feet around before grabbing underneath the platform.

"Eep... I don't like this..." Chopper gulped, looking down below him.

"Are you all right, Chopper?" Flyer asked.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine... I think I might have an idea." he started to monkey bar his way to where the barrel supposedly was. It appeared rather soft where the barrel was, allowing him to dig upward and get inside the barrel. "Phew! I'm safe!"

"Well, that's one way to get through that," Shadower commented as the barrel moved over to the wall. Mario jumped on top and hit the switch with his hammer. Before they knew it, paper flipped and a lift appeared next to the wall. When Chopper broke out of the barrel, he and Mario stepped on it, causing it to glow brightly.

"Wow... It's so beautiful." Flyer gaped, walking onto the lift with the others. It began to slowly ascend in the same manner as an elevator. "Also, you should remember that we can jump much higher due to the gravitational poles within outer space."

"They don't seem to be effecting me..." Chopper trailed. "Maybe Toadette was right about these shoes not affecting me in space..."

"You gotta be kidding me… The puffball gets all of the awesome stuff?! That's dumb!" Tamber raged, throwing another tantrum. Well, until he paused. "Wait, who is Toadette?"

"...A good friend, I suppose."

The lift made it up to the top, leading them to the pathway ahead. They saw a couple of other platforms floating slightly above. They were a glowing yellow color with a star symbol on them.

"Let's see what we got around here," Chopper took a few steps and looked at his surroundings. "I'm surprised that there aren't any enemies around here. Meta Knight did give us a warning..."

When they got to the two floating platforms, a dark mist appear above them. Everyone gave Chopper an irritated look, who gave them a sheepish smile.

An eye eventually appeared in the dark mist, along with orange petals surrounding the dark being. When Dark Matter had finally formed, it attempted to zap Chopper with black lightning, but he got out of the way.

"This one is definitely more hostile than the previous one we faced," Flyer commented. "I'd be wary if I were you, Chopper."

"Don't worry, Flyer!" Chopper assured, looking at Dark Matter. "I got this! My light power was able to defeat that other Dark Matter. I bet it'll work on this one too!"

Chopper saw that Dark Matter had 66 HP, an Attack of 16 and a Defense if 6. This had surprised Chopper, considering how dangerous these enemies could be. However, he then remembered those Rock Shells had a Defense of 8. Regardless of that, Chopper threw a light ball at Dark Matter, which appeared to be very effective, dealing 10 damage.

"It did full damage? How did... Wait, it's made of darkness! Of course light would be dangerous to it!"

"Exactly," Flyer replied, flying up to Dark Matter. He seemed to have a harder time moving due to the gravity. But, he managed to strike Dark Matter with a Flying Attack, piercing through its defense.

Dark Matter quickly swooped down toward Chopper, but when he Superguarded its attack, Dark Matter was knocked toward one of the star platforms that Chopper jumped on.

"Take this!" Chopper threw another light ball at Dark Matter and make it cringe. "Well, it really seems to hate the light."

"Maybe it'll hate fire as well!" Vivian wondered, striking Dark Matter with a Shade Fist. After Dark Matter zapped Vivian, Chopper tossed another light ball at the ball of darkness, which, of course, pierced through its defense.

"Y'know, it's better that we only have to deal with one Dark Matter. Then again, two of 'em would be no problem!" Sonic smirked, hitting the enemy with a Homing Attack - only to be hit by a black projectile Dark Matter fired.

"Ugh… I didn't see that coming." Sonic groaned as he quickly shook himself and looked back at Dark Matter. "But I'm not going to let that stop me!" Curling in a ball, he jumped and attacked Dark Matter with another Homing Attack.

"It stinks that you guys can only do about 4 damage to that…thing. But at least I have my light power." Chopper threw another light ball at Dark Matter, bringing its HP down to 18 HP. That's when Dark Matter fired orange petals at Chopper to deal 16 damage. Regardless, Chopper threw another light ball.

"I think I can finish this fight off," Tamber declared, attempting to punch Dark Matter. Unfortunately, he couldn't punch it because it was not low enough to the ground. "Dang it! Hey! Ball of darkness! Can you get down here so I can hit you?"

Dark Matter ignored Tamber and zapped him with another dark glob of energy, angering him even more. He tried to punch at Dark Matter again, but he still missed each time.

"Come oooooooon! Let me get yooooou!" Tamber whined as he continued to fail at punching Dark Matter. It decided to come down and fly out of the way when Tamber would try to punch it, just to get a reaction from him. "Stop messing with me!"

"Ugh... This is getting pointless." Bombette groaned. "Just get rid of it, Chopper."

"All right," Chopper tossed a light ball straight at Dark Matter, depleting all of its HP. A bright light had emitted from the enemy, and soon it exploded.

"Well, thank goodness that's over with," Flyer sighed in relief. "That thing was a nightmare... But the real question is, how'd this thing get here?"

"Beats me. Maybe we'll find out ahead..." Chopper noticed that the platforms began to move up and down now. "What the… What the heck's going on?"

When he jumped onto the platform, he found that it took him up to a little secret. Apparently, there was a bridge made of light that appeared when he saw a huge gap between the platform and another one to his left. A Light Block was standing in the way.

"Oh, I can take care of this!" he threw a light ball at the block, destroying it. A small, dome-like house made of light and star energy appeared underneath it. "Huh... Interesting..."

He heard the sound of wings behind him. Turning around, Chopper saw that Flyer was trying to get to him. However, with the gravity, he nearly flew past the platform, but Chopper was able to pull him back.

"Whew... Thanks, Chopper." Flyer thanked.

"What are you doing here?" Chopper asked, until he decided it was no big deal. "Oh, whatever. You can come with me if you want. Just be careful..."

They walked into the house to find a large, Dark Block. Using his hammer, Chopper performed his Master Hammer technique to break the block, making a green ! switch appeared on the ground.

"Hmmmmmm… I wonder what happens when I hit this…" Chopper kicked the switch, which triggered shaking to occur outside. From outside, a rainbow staircase had been created to lead to more platforms.

"Let's check outside," Flyer suggested, flying out of the house. Chopper was about to go, but he stopped for a minute and spotted a glowing yellow X on the ground. An idea popped in his mind, and he used his Gravity Slam to tear off a piece of hidden paper to reveal a chest.

"Ooh! What's in here?" Chopper opened the chest and found a glowing pale yellow Mushroom with white spots. "A Max Shroom? And it can recover all of my HP? Hooray!"

* * *

**Over by the stairs-**

"I can't really describe how beautiful space looks around here," Heartsy commented as she and the others waited for Chopper and Flyer's return.

"That rainbow staircase looks awesome, too!" Scrub added.

They spotted Chopper and Flyer making their return, and they too were shocked by the rainbow staircase.

"This place keeps getting cooler by the minute," Chopper smiled.

"Yes, it's quite intriguing," Flyer agreed.

"Poyo! (I want to see where this leads to!)" Kirby smiled, running on ahead.

"Yeah, I agree," Chopper nodded, walking up the rainbow stairs. Everyone soon followed, easily catching up to the two.

"You know, there's always something that's been bugging me..." Shadower trailed, catching the attention of the other's.

"What is it?" Bombette asked.

"Has any of you kept track on how our quest has been?"

"Well, I certainly could not," Flyer responded. "I believe I had joined you guys when you had acquired twelve Crystal Stars, correct?"

"I wasn't keeping track," Tamber stated. "But I'm sure the puffball has an idea."

"Errrr... I haven't been keeping track..." Chopper sweat dropped. "The only thing I know is that I started this adventure one week after my birthday..."

"Neat! You remember my birthday, right, Choppy?" Heartsy asked. He responded with a head shake, but she decided not to get annoyed. "It was on February 14th. You came to my third birthday party!"

"Oh... Yeah. I do remember that." Chopper frowned, remembering that day.

"Hey, maybe we oughta stop talking like this and keep moving!" Tamber yelled.

"We are close to the top, though," Sonic mentioned, seeing the top of the staircase. Once everyone got to the top, they spotted a couple of shooting stars fly downward. Not only that, but there were many different colored stars, ranging from blue, red, green and yellow.

"Gee whiz! There is so much around here!" Vivian smiled. "It makes me feel so...calm."

Mario: They look much better than Shooting Star Summit!

"Shooting Star Summit..." Heartsy trailed. "I guess there were a lot of shooting stars there, huh?"

"Yeah, there were," Chopper nodded. "Which...kinda explains the name of that place. Though, that place was easier, and this isn't. And challenge can sometimes be fun!"

"Yeah! A challenge is always better!" Sonic agreed. "If this place was easy, then where would the fun be in this adventure?"

"Uh huh," Chopper rushed on ahead into an area where the platforms were made of stars. Unfortunately, there didn't appear to be any enemies around. "Boy... It feels kinda lonely here with no enemies. ...Maybe it's for the better?"

"There's at least a Save Block, though," Flyer pointed to the Save Block over by the end of the area. "I'm guessing there's something big up ahead."

Chopper punched the Save Block from underneath and saved his game. With that, they pressed on to the next area to find a roundish area made of mostly stars. In the center was a gravestone.

"That gravestone... It almost makes me think of the gravestone near Star Haven..." Chopper trailed.

"Hmmmm? There was a gravestone there?" Flyer gawked.

"Yeah. We fought an optional boss there. Hopefully this isn't anything similar!"

Everyone walked over to the gravestone and took a good look at it. However, there was something off about it, and Heartsy was the first to notice._  
_

"Wait a moment..." Heartsy trailed, getting a closer look at the statue. "There's nothing written on here? Is this just an empty gravestone?"

"Why don't we dig to prove it?" Tamber suggested, rubbing his hands suspiciously.

"Tamber! That's disrespectful to the dead!" Flyer scolded. "I thought you were above that?"

"Hey, it's the only way to prove it!"

Before they could continue their arguing, something had risen from the gravestone and revealed itself to be Dark Matter.

"Uh oh... It's another Dark Matter!" Chopper gulped, jumping out of the way of the enemy's projectile. He immediately took action by creating a light ball and throwing it at Dark Matter, making it wince and deal 10 damage. Tamber noticed Dark Matter near the floor, so he managed to throw a punch before it could dodge.

"FINALLY! I got to punch that thing! Oh yeah!" Tamber fist pumped. Unfortunately he was the one to get struck by Dark Matter, which managed to anger him a lot. Actually, it left him fuming and throwing another tantrum.

"OK, seriously, grow up," Shadower groaned.

"I'm eleven, so there's no problem with that."

"Well you're older than Chopper, and you're being pretty immature..."

"Yeah. ...What he said." Chopper said after tossing another light ball at Dark Matter, dealing 10 more damage to it.

"I might as well make a move," Heartsy ran up to Dark Matter and slammed her hammer on top of it. This left Dark Matter slightly dazed, but it had also made it a bit unhappy. It fired a couple of orange petals at the girl, taking 16 out of her. It didn't stop her from using her Hearty Throw, though.

"Wait a second… I can use a new stomp attack! I should give it a try!" Chopper leaped toward Dark Matter and struck it with a Light Stomp, managing to take 10 more out of it. "Man, this is going to be pretty fun to use!"

When Chopper landed, he ducked when Dark Matter tried to swoop down and attack. Unfortunately, it only missed, allowing Chopper to hit it with a Light Smash.

"All right, Kirby! Finish the job!" Chopper shouted. Kirby nodded and floated over Dark Matter. With that, he turned into a stone, smashing Dark Matter, and making it explode into darkness.

"Oh, yeah! Now THAT was pretty cool!" Sonic stated while waggling his finger. "Another victory for us!"

Not only that, but there was another thing that had changed, specifically with the gravestone.

"Hey... There's writing on it now!" Vivian noticed. "Maybe that Dark Matter was... Well, I guess it's not a big issue now..."

"Let's check it out," Chopper suggested, he and the others approaching the gravestone.

_Here lies the great Star Warrior Nomad, husband of Garlude, father of Silica. _

_Nomad was a great Galaxy Soldier. He had helped fend off the many minions Nightmare had created, and he was also able to take down many Dark Matter as well. He and his best friend, Toalune, were great allies, and their teamwork alone had helped fend off Nightmare and his troops. ...Or that would've been the case if Nightmare had not captured him and forced him to work for him. It was then that Toalune and Nomad fought at this very spot, the latter being unfortunate to fall... For those who find this gravestone, please give a moment of silence to respect this brave warrior.  
_

"I guess this is where Silica's father fell..." Heartsy trailed. "Do you think we should give a moment of silence for him?"

"Yeah, I think so," Chopper nodded. "He deserves it."

There everyone stood, looking down at the gravestone in silence.

_"Seeing people arrive here? This is a surprise!" _came a voice from the gravestone.

Everyone jumped up a little, and then they looked up and saw a spirit of a warrior in blue armor and a purple cape. He didn't appear to have a helmet, revealing his light blue skin. He, however, did not appear to have a mustache like Toalune, but his eyes were purple.

"What the..." Chopper gaped, looking up at the ghost. "Are you...?"

_"Correct._ _I am Nomad, one of your father's best friends." _Nomad confirmed._ "...Though, unfortunately, it was he that had to put me down when I failed to resist Nightmare."_

"I'm really sorry about that..."_  
_

_"Don't be, my friend. It was my own fault. What I did was unacceptable, especially to a Galaxy Soldier. There was a reason why you and your mother had become Star Warriors."  
_

"Oh... Well, I guess I should also be sorry for what I had to do to your son."

_"Do not worry about him. In fact, he thanks you for that. If it weren't for him, you wouldn't be who you are today."_ Nomad reminded, while Chopper rubbed the back of his head. _"I suppose you all have met my daughter."_

"Yeah, we did," Scrub nodded. "Though she wasn't too friendly at first."

"We got things patched up," Shadower assured. "She's a good friend of ours!"

"Say... Why did you even come out of your grave anyway?" Flyer wondered.

_"I know that you're trying to find the Crystal Star out in space," _Nomad explained in a more serious tone. _"Unfortunately, find it will not be an easy task. However, I do believe there is something out there that can give you an idea."  
_

Mario: That's better than nothing.

_"You'll need to go find the Star Sprites. They are a group of round beings that roam around space. When I take a look at one, they usually remind me of those bomb creatures... Like the pink one with you."_

"Really? That's interesting..." Bombette trailed.

"Where can we find these Star Sprites?" Flyer asked.

_"If you keep moving past Star Path, you will hopefully find the Star Sprites," Nomad answered, pointing on ahead. "Thankfully, they are very welcoming of outsiders, considering that they tend to not have many visitors."  
_

"Well that sounds good!" Chopper smiled, only to remember something. "…Oh, and I'll tell Silica that you're doing fine as a...well, ghost?"

_"That would be very nice of you, Chopper," _Nomad replied with a grin. _"I hope to see my daughter one day in the future. I'm sure your parents wish to see you again too..."_

Chopper gave Nomad a nod and he waved goodbye to the Galaxy Soldier. With that, they started to press on.

"...Oh, and one more thing."

Everyone found themselves tripping onto the ground, stopping them in their tracks. They stood up and looked at Nomad, who sheepishly sweat dropped.

_"OK, I didn't mean to make you guys trips... But I'd suggest you be careful out here..."_ Nomad warned. _"There are many monsters such as Dark Matter roaming around. And I do sense a great evil throughout the cosmos. A familiar one at that..."_

"Familiar? What do you mean?" Vivian asked.

"No... It couldn't be him! Wasn't he wiped out by the pink puffball? ...Well, anyway, if you run into this evil, be careful."

With his last words, Nomad had faded away, leaving the heroes to wave goodbye to him. Of course, they decided to remember what he had said as the pressed on ahead. In the background, there appeared to be many floating asteroids, and on the green path, there appeared to be some pillars.

"Wow, what a sight," Sonic smiled.

"Yeah, I think so too," Chopper agreed, smiling as well. However, his smile disappeared when he saw at least three Master Phis land on the ground. "Wait... Phis? Uh oh..."

Luckily, the Phis didn't seem to notice them, so they kept quiet in order to keep the two Master Phis from noticing them.

"Hmmmmmm… I don't sense the Crystal Star around here." the first Master Phi said as it scanned the area. "It is likely that it is located somewhere else. So, let's—"

All of the sudden, a dark glob had flew into the Master Phi's body, causing it to malfunction and make sparks come out. It covered its face for a moment while letting out a robotic groan.

Then, it moved its arms off its face, revealing orange eyes and black pupils rather than its intimidating red eyes. Any form of red on the Phi was now replaced with orange.

"Wait... What is going on with this one?" the other Master Phi gawked, noticing the possessed Phi Matter aim its weapon at it.

"Looks like it's being possessed," the third Master Phi realized. "The best we can do at this point is get that...whatever that was out of its body."

Looking up, the Master Phis saw more Dark Matter flying in their direction.

"There's more of them! Fire at will!" the Master Phis started to fire shots at the Dark Matter. While some actually hurt the Dark Matters a bit, it didn't appear to be enough to stop them from continuously charging at them.

"It's no use! Nothing's working!" the same Master Phi exclaimed, getting struck by Dark Matter's projectile. When it fell, the dark being flew directly at it, but the Master Phi had raised its foot, kicking it away. "There's no way you're going to possess me you...whatever you are."

Unfortunately, it barely had enough time to react upon getting up. Dark Matter had zapped the Phi, leaving it stunned, and allowing it to possess the robot. The remaining Master Phi was unsure of what to say, but it, too, had gotten possessed by Dark Matter.

"Oh, man... Looks like Dark Matter got those Phis..." Chopper frowned.

Just then, another figure had appeared above the group of Dark Matter. Compared to them, this figure was much bigger. It appeared round and contained a red eye.

"Poyo? (Is that...Zero?)"

"Yeah! That is Zero!" Chopper realized.

"Who's Zero?" Vivian asked.

"Zero was once this small, innocent creature I met when I was four. Unfortunately, it got taken away, and Maquano turned it evil. ...Or, he said he brought it back to its original form..."

Zero looked down at the two Phi Matters the two Dark Matter possessed, and with a red, blood-like projectile, they were easily destroyed as the two dark beings exited their bodies. With that, the enemies made their exit, not paying attention to the heroes.

"Whoa! Did you guys SEE that?!" Scrub gaped. "Those things seriously did away with those Phis!"

"Poyo? (But how is Zero still alive?)" Kirby wondered. "Poyo! (I destroyed him!)"

"Maybe we'll figure out ahead," Chopper decided, running on ahead onto another starry pathway. This time, the path had many colors such as pink, blue, and red. There didn't appear to be much around, with the exception of a yellow ? block containing pale yellow juice called Max Juice.

"Another random item? Where do these keep coming from?" Tamber asked.

"Beats me, but I'm fine with it," the Star Warrior declared, picking up the juice. "And this stuff can recover all of my FP! Yay!"

"Hey, look over there," Sonic said, pointing up ahead. There appeared to be a round, orange being on what appeared to be roller skates with the ability to hover off the ground. He also wore a gray beret and had a curvy mustache. Along with that, his arms and legs resembled sticks, and his white hands were pretty big.

Mario: Who is that?

"Ah… Zis art… It iz so beautiful…like zee skies…" the painter said happily, painting his masterpiece. "Though, painting zee skies sometimes gets so boring... I always wished to draw a portrait of someone. A beautiful girl, especially! I wish to draw them like a princess!"

"What's with this guy?" Bombette whispered.

"Looks like he's a painter," Flyer deduced. "He must really enjoy his art!"

Just then, the painter, named Monsieur Paint, took notice of the group. "What's zis? People are here? And there are chéries here as well! Oh, zis is perfect timing for moi!"_  
_

"Hey, don't get the wrong idea," Heartsy warned, giving him a glare. "I'm ten years old!"

"Oh, no no no! If you think I would be flirting with vous. I am only interested in creating a masterpiece of a beautiful girl!"

"Uh… Not to interrupt you, but do you have any idea where to find the Star Sprites?" Chopper asked.

"Star Sprites? Hmmmmm... I know no such thing. I'm clearly more focus on my art."

"Then put your stupid art down and maybe give us a hand!" Tamber yelled.

Monsieur Paint paused, as if someone had just struck a vein. He remained with the same shocked expression for thirty seconds until he found himself steaming with anger.

"You... How dare you mock my glorious art!" Monsieur Paint yelled. "Zis is why I hate zee children so much! They are so loud and obnoxious! It's bad for moi!"

"Look, we didn't mean to-"

"_**SILENCE!**_" the painter shouted, silencing Chopper. "If zis is how you treat others, zen how about I give vous a taste of my glorious art?"

Ripping the paper off his sketchbook, he began to create another painting. This time, his paintbrush started to glow, and when he was finished, a painting of a Goomba had jumped out and landed in front of the heroes.

"Whoa! His paintings come to life?" Sonic gaped.

"Destroy zese people!" Monsieur Paint demanded.

"All right... I guess we'll just have to show him that we're not going to let this stop us." Chopper declared, tossing a fireball at the Goomba. With one strike from Heartsy's Hearty Hammer, the Goomba was defeated.

"Ack! Zis is bad! My glorious masterpiece was destroyed!" Monsieur Paint gaped.

"Masterpiece? That was stupid." Tamber mumbled.

"Zen maybe zis will change your opinion," the...whatever he was started to paint another picture. A being with a round head, an oval-shaped body, disembodied hands, red glowing eyes, and an antenna with a glowing red bulb on the top. To Chopper, it was all too familiar.

"It's a Darkling," Chopper stated.

"A Darkling? Looks kinda weird to me." Sonic remarked.

Regardless of what the others thought, Chopper tossed a light ball at the Darkling, with Sonic following up with a Spin Dash, leaving it at 10 HP. The Darkling painting fired a red spell at Chopper. He guarded it, and then he finished it with another light ball.

"Grrrrrrrr! Zis isn't over yet!" Monsieur Paint started to paint up three Paratroopas. One had a green shell, the second red, and the third blue. They all had 43 HP each with a Defense of 1.

"Hmmmmm… I got an idea!" Tamber appealed to the crowd first and then guarded the Paratroopa's attacks. "All right, puffball! I want you to knock them all to the ground, OK?"

"Umm… All right?" Chopper performed a Multibounce on all the Paratroopas, knocking them to the ground. Tamber's Quake flipped them over, dealing 12 damage and preventing them from getting up. "Oh! I see what you did, Tamber!"

"Yeah, I know I'm awesome."

Shrugging, Chopper took out his hammer and struck the Paratroopas with his Quake Hammer, taking 10 out of them all. Mario's Triple Jump brought them all down to 8 HP.

They all managed to get up, but they were quickly destroyed by Shadower's Shadow Smite.

"That takes care of them," Shadower smiled.

"Zis is MADNESS! How… How could zis be happening? GAH!" Monsieur Painted yelled, creating another picture furiously. This time it was one of Dark Matter, with only 56 HP, an Attack of 16 and a Defense of 4.

"Well, that one looks much weaker than the real deal," Shadower punched Dark Matter with a Shadow Punch, lowering its defense to 0 and allowing Chopper to strike with a Gravity Jump. It was already down to 20 HP.

The Dark Matter painting zapped Chopper with ink, which didn't do too much, because his Light Stomp brought it down to 10 HP. After Vivian's Shade Fist, the painting was finished.

"I see you are quite formidable in combat. However, I still have on trick up my sleeve!" Monsieur Paint grinned, getting ready to paint another picture. But, there was one big problem. "Wait... No more paint? Oh, dear... This iz bad!"

"I've got paint," Chopper smiled, changing to his Paint ability. "Of course, I'm not sharing any with you. I'd probably beat you anyway."

"If you are talking about a Duel of zee Art, then I accept your challenge!" Monsieur Paint stepped away from his paper and started to swing at Chopper. One simple swing from Chopper's paintbrush, however, knocked the artist unconscious. Because of that, he gained a level up and upgraded his HP to 190.

"That was...very anticlimactic," Flyer commented. "He went down in one hit!"

"Wow… I guess this paint is very effective…" Chopper trailed. "Oh well! Let's move on!"

They followed Chopper on ahead, but the only thing they spotted was no walkway. Instead, they found a yellow, starry grind rail.

"Hey, isn't that a grind rail?" Sonic gawked. "What's this doing here?"

"Beats me," Chopper shrugged.

"Back off!"

Nearby, everyone spotted a yellow, spherical-shaped person with brown feet and a glowing yellow star on her head flying away from at least two Dark Matter.

"What's going on here? There weren't these freaks here!" she gaped, looking back at the two enemies. "I guess the Star Sprites didn't know about them."

When the Star Sprite spotted Chopper and his group, she immediately went behind them.

"What the heck's going on?" Chopper asked.

"No time for chit-chat! Get rid of them for me!" the Star Sprite demanded.

"Uh… OK." Chopper tossed a light ball at the two Dark Matter and destroyed them with no problem. "There we go. Problem solved!"

"Good... No one had even warned me about those creatures." the Star Sprite sighed, facing the group. "By the way, my name's Starlow. I'm a Star Sprite that sometimes goes around here, especially to go see that gravestone. However, those dark freaks happened to show up..."

"Poyo? (You mean Dark Matter?)" Kirby corrected. Starlow was unsure of what to respond to that, but she decided to get a look at the whole group.

"Boy, you guys sure are weird..." Starlow trailed. "I've never seen people outside of Sprite City - which we don't see too often."

"Sprite City? Sounds like the name of some kind of drink..." Chopper pondered. "...Or a character model."

"What? Not at all! That's where the Star Sprite inhabit!" Starlow yelled, her face getting a bit red. Everyone gawked at her, and when she noticed, she calmed down. "…Sorry about that. I'm still a little ticked about those creatures... Anyway, is there a reason why you're here?"

"Well, we're looking for a Crystal Star. I think we were told to look for some Star Sprites. ...Hey, you're a Star Sprite! This was much easier than I thought!"

"A Crystal Star? We've been wondering if someone was actually looking for that... …Not that we're looking for it. But I do think I can help you get an idea of where to go! Just come to the city!"

"Sounds neat!" Sonic grinned. "Though, I don't think all of us are experts at rail grinding..."

"No problem! We Star Sprites can create roads!" Starlow smirked, the star on her head creating a road made of stars. "Follow this road, and you'll get to Sprite City!"

Most of the group had used the starry road to make their way to the city ahead. As for Chopper, Heartsy, and Sonic, they stepped onto the rail and began to make their way to Sprite City.

_"Let's just hope we get that Crystal Star quickly before those Phis do..."_ Chopper thought.

* * *

**So... We've got some Phis here, Dark Matter, Zero, and now Starlow makes an appearance? Yeesh, there sure is a lot of introductions in this chapter.  
**

**Monsieur Paint is actually based off Paint Roller from the Kirby games, but I wanted to add a little twist - hence why I gave him a lovely French accent. :P**


	129. Showdown With Dark Matter and Zero

When the group had finally arrived at their destination, the only thing standing in their way was a yellow gate with many stars on it. The lock was also star-shaped too.

"This is the gate to Sprite City," Starlow announced, facing the group. "Only Star Sprites have access to this gate. But, luckily, I can unlock this for you! Just watch!"

Starlow threw her yellow star at the lock, opening the gate and leaving the others gaping. "Come on! Don't worry about being an outsider. We don't mind them – unless you're evil."

Everyone followed Starlow into the city, getting a view of the tall buildings surrounding them. Many ranged from gray, blue, green, and even yellow colors. Each building had at least one star on them, and the tallest building had a large, yellow star on top.

"Is it Christmas already?" Chopper asked, taking a look at the large star.

"No, you dummy. That's the Star Tower. It's the tallest building in Sprite City." Starlow explained. However, no one appeared to be listening to her, as they were too busy gazing at the city. "Oh... Yeah, this place is pretty cool, and there's a lot of interesting things you can do, too."

"That sounds nice," Flyer spoke. "But our biggest priority at the moment is finding the Dark Star."

"Yeah, that's true. Though, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to..." At that point, most of the people had gone off, leaving Chopper to sweat drop. "…get some information."

"Oh, boy... This isn't good." the Wingel frowned.

"Great... They didn't even let me finish my sentence!"

"I'll stay with you, Chopper," Vivian said, one of the only ones to not have gone off.

"Oh... Thanks!"

"Well, the others can have fun if they want," Starlow stated. "Right now, we ought to go see Starlder. He'll give us a hand on that Crystal Star!"

"Starlder? What a weird name…" Chopper mumbled as he, Vivian, and Flyer followed Starlow through the city. As they continued on through the streets, there were a couple of Star Sprites ranging from blue, green, yellow, and red staring at the four on their way.

"Hi, Starlow!"

"Hey, take a look at those people! They look cool."

"That shadow girl looks pretty cute."

"Who's the kid with the wings?"

"What's the point of those antennas?"

"Wow… We're getting some comments here, aren't we?" Chopper sweat dropped. "It feels just like the City of Flowersville..."

Starlow had come to a stop when there were two ways to go this time: one to the left and the other to the right. The others wondered why she stopped, but she appeared to be too busy looking both ways.

"OK, let's see... Which way was it again?" Starlow pondered, trying to remember the right direction. It wasn't until she suddenly remembered and pointed to the right. "This way!"

Shrugging, the three followed Starlow to the right and passed by a few shops. There was one that appeared to supply fruit, which Scrub happened to be at, and there was one buffet restaurant that Kirby was at. When they passed those, they came across a purple building up ahead. It wasn't too big, but it looked big enough to support at least one person - or Star Sprite.

"Here it is! This is where Starlder lives." Starlow informed. "Make sure you give some respect to him. He may be old, but he's not frail and weak. That, and try not to do anything stupid..."

"Well, at least Tamber's not here," Chopper said, hitting the Save Block and then walking into the house with his friends.

* * *

**Chocolate Store-**

Near Starlder's house, Bombette and Heartsy had stopped by the chocolate store, which provided many forms of chocolate, such as dark chocolate, white chocolate, and even chocolate with nuts. More importantly, the chocolate came in different shapes.

"Oh, man... I never thought I'd ever see a chocolate store here..." Heartsy gaped, drooling over the many sorts of chocolate.

"What are you, in love with chocolate?" Bombette joked, making Heartsy give her an annoyed look.

"Yes, I just love to go around hugging chocolate. In fact, I would _love_ to marry it..."

"You know I was joking... Oh, whatever. You can go get some chocolate if you want."

"All right. ...Wait, you don't want any?" Heartsy asked.

"I don't have a mouth... How else am I supposed to have chocolate?" Bombette questioned.

"Oh. Fair enough." Heartsy entered the building with the pink Bob-omb. The tiles in the store were both brown and white, resembling the color of chocolate, just like the walls. The Star Sprite salesman was also a chocolate brown and had a mustache and a salesman hat.

"Why, hello there, missies! How are you doing today?" the salesclerk asked, his eyes shifting mostly to Bombette. "The name's Chocostar. I sell lots of chocolate here!"

"Uhh… Hello to you too?" Bombette gawked, noticing the look Chocostar gave her. "What's up with you?"

Meanwhile, Heartsy had checked her inventory for any coins. Unfortunately, she noticed she didn't have any coins. "Dang it! I don't even have money! I guess this is what it's like to be a partner of the main hero."

"Oh, don't worry, I have no problem providing chocolate for you. Of course, I'd want something in return from your friend." Chocostar informed, giving Bombette a flirty look. "Tell me, pink beauty, what's your name?"

"Errrr... Why?" Bombette asked.

"I just wanna know your name, that's all."

"OK... It's Bombette."

"Well, Bombette... You're perhaps the most beautiful thing I've laid my eyes on." Chocostar said in a cheesy, romantic tone that made even Heartsy cringe. "I am willing you give you free chocolate in exchange for a kiss. ...And maybe even a date."

"In your dreams!" Bombette gagged.

"Come on, Bombette. I wouldn't mind getting some free choc-"

"That's it. We're leaving." the Bob-omb declared, dragging Heartsy out of the store, leaving Chocostar to frown for a moment.

"...She'll be back. I know it." Chocostar said confidently.

* * *

**Streets-**

"Hey! Give me back my burrito!" Tamber yelled, chasing a blue Star Sprite kid around the streets. The kid appeared to be holding a burrito, and he stuck his tongue out at Tamber

"Nyah nyah! You can't catch me, slowpoke!" the Star Sprite taunted, flying up one of the buildings.

"Gah! Get back here you… You stupid thing!" Tamber growled, looking up at the kid angrily. "Argh! He took my burrito! I was in line before him! ...Even if I did cut. But I can't get up here without... Oh, wait, I can."

Attaching his fists to the building, he started to make his way up to the top of the building.

"I'm going to get you… And I'm going to make you pay for messing with me, just like I tried doing with that puffball and his friends before!"

As the Star Sprite flew, he looked down to laugh at Tamber's inability to keep up with him. His confident look, however, had changed to one of shock when he saw Tamber getting closer.

"Eep! He's actually catching up!" the kid gulped. It wasn't until he reached the top he was grabbed by the star by Tamber.

"You're not going anywhere, kid! Gimme back my burrito and no one gets hurt!" Tamber grinned as he held the kid tight. However, he didn't see any burrito in sight. "Hey... Where'd it go?"

"In my tummy."

"WHAT?! Dang it! I HATE you!"

In anger, the brown furball threw the Star Sprite off the building. Since Star Sprites could fly, this was not a major issue, and the kid managed to land safely. Tamber grumbled and started to glide off the building.

"Freaks... They think they can take what's rightfully mine."

* * *

**Over by binoculars-**

Back on the ground, Mario and Sonic had decided to go over to the binoculars in order to get a good view of outside the city. That, and maybe it could help them get an idea of where the final Crystal Star was.

"I hope Chopper doesn't mind us splitting for a bit," Sonic said, looking at the binoculars. "It says here that you need one coin to use this. ...Though, I only carry rings."

Mario: Allow me!

Mario pulled out a coin and put it in the coin slot. He decided to check what was outside of the city through them, and to his surprise, he saw a floating facility far ahead from the city.

"What is it, Mario? You found something?" Sonic asked. Mario offered Sonic a look through the binoculars, and he had spotted the facility. "Whoa… We need to tell the others about this! Maybe that could be where the Crystal Star is!"

Mario: Let's hope...

With that, they decided to search around the city to find the others, specifically Chopper.

* * *

**Starlder's house-**

"Hello yellow, Starlder!" Starlow shouted as they entered inside. It was a purple color with a staircase not too far up ahead. "There are some people who are really interested in seeing you!"

"Whuzzat? Who just entered my house?" an old fart that appeared violent in color slowly came down from the stairs. He had thick, gray eyebrows that covered his eyes, and a bushy, gray mustache. Unfortunately, going down the stairs took a while, due to being 104 years old.

"Oh, geez... These kind of old people..." Chopper mumbled.

After five minutes, Starlder managed to make his way to the group. "Errrr… Now… Who're you? I've never seen your face before, you yellow…whatever the heck you are."

"Wait, what?!" Starlow gawked, realizing Starlder was referring to her. "It's Starlow! STARLOW!"

"Oh... Starlow! My apologies... My brain isn't exactly working at this moment... What brings you here?"

"These three are looking for something called the Crystal Star. Considering your knowledge, we decided to come to you."

"These youngsters? Hmmmm..." Starlder took a good look at them. "Well, they do appear fit. But the question remains... Can they do it?"

"Do what?" Chopper asked.

"Well, I would say that I have the Crystal Star with me... But, I ended up losing that dang thing. Yes, I'm sure it's somewhere out there in space."

"How'd you lose it, though?" Vivian wondered.

"Well, you can blame that on those monsters out there! Particularly this one, big freak wrapped up in some cape. Lemme tell you! He was pretty freaky! He has a thing for nightmares, that's for sure!"

"Great... So we don't have much of an idea of where it is..." Flyer sighed. "I suppose our only chance would to be to search outside the city."

"With those monsters out there?!" Starlder gaped. "Well, if you're planning on leaving, close the gate on your way. We don't need monsters invading this place, nor do we even need them invading Starlite Galaxy."

"I'll keep that in mind," Starlow assured.

"Hrrmmm..." Starlder pondered. "You know, this brings me back to the old days when I was just like you fellows, going on adventures and getting all the ladies-"

"Hey! Chopper!"

The voice Chopper heard caught his attention, and turning around, he spotted Mario and Sonic running into the house. Mario had started panting, while Sonic looked like he was barely fazed.

"Mario? Sonic? Boy, am I glad to see you guys!" Chopper smiled.

"We've looked everywhere for you, but we were told you were here," Sonic explained. "Anyway, we found something interesting."

"You did? What was it?"

Mario started to explain what they had found through some binoculars. After his explanation was finished, Chopper, Vivian, and Flyer were surprised.

"You say there's a facility outside of this city?" Flyer turned to Starlow and Starlder. "Do you guys know of this facility?"

"Facility? Errrr… I'm not exactly sure…" Starlder trailed. Fortunately, his memory was beginning to come back, and light bulb had appeared over his head. "Oh! I DO remember! You see, there's a testing laboratory in the facility. That place is being powered up by some kind of mysterious dark object."

"That could be the Dark Star..." Vivian realized.

"You just need to take the Star Rail there," Starlow informed. "C'mon, I'll take you there! Just...gather up your friends, OK?"

"All right... Well, we better start looking..." Chopper sighed. "Let's just hope everyone's not too far."

* * *

**By the gate-**

Thankfully, most of the group had shown up at the other gate leading out of the city. The only people who had not shown up were Bombette, Heartsy, and Tamber. Many of them were growing impatient, especially Chopper.

"Come on… We don't have all day..." Chopper mumbled.

Tamber was the first to make it to the gate. His mouth was covered in chili, to Sonic's surprise.

"What's with the chili?" Sonic asked.

"Well… Uh… I had to, well… Some jerk stole my burrito, so I had to force him into giving me another. And thankfully, it worked." Tamber grinned, eyeing his fists.

"Don't tell me you hurt the kid..." Flyer trailed. "You should know that violence won't get you anywhere."

"Too bad it did."

"Maybe if you were more respectable, then maybe things wouldn't be so tough on you," Shadower informed, leaving Tamber to pout.

Up ahead, they took notice of two more familiar figures. One appeared to be annoyed, while the other sounded like she was convincing the first figure to go back. When they got closer, the group knew it was Bombette and Heartsy.

"Yeesh! Where were you guys?" Scrub asked.

"The chocolate store," Heartsy answered. "We could've gotten free chocolate, but-"

"We're done with this conversation," Bombette cut off, approaching the gate. "Let's get out of here so I don't have to go into this place again."

"Poyo? (What's with her?)" Kirby whispered.

"Let's just say we met this...guy," Heartsy whispered back.

"Looks like everyone's here," Starlow noticed, taking a look at the group. She turned to the gate and unlocked it. "All righty! Just make sure you're safe while on the Star Rail. There are a few obstacles that might get in your way."

"Wait... Not all of us can use the rail, though." Flyer reminded.

"Oh, right! Let me get to that!" Starlow used the star on her head to create a starry road for anyone who couldn't take the rail. "There you go! Now you're all set! ...Though, this road is only temporary, mind you."

"Don't worry about that," Sonic smirked. "We won't need to take up a lot of time for this!"

"All right. Good luck on your quest!" And with that, Starlow headed back into the city, closing and locking the gate in the process. Now only the eleven heroes remained, along with a facility up ahead.

"All right! We know what to do!" Chopper smiled, leaping onto the rail and taking off. Heartsy and Sonic had gotten on the rail as well and started to make their way. The rails were very bright and yellow, and a small trail of stars had been left from grinding on the rails instead of normal sparks.

"This is interesting," Heartsy commented, spotting the star sparks.

"I wonder if I could make these rails brighter with my light energy..." Chopper wondered, pointing a finger at the rails.

"Errrr... Probably not the best idea, considering that it could blind us all..."

"Bleh… This is a little boring to me…" Tamber groaned while he and the others walked on the pathway created. "How come they get to go faster while we have to go at a slower pace?"

"For once, I agree," Shadower said. "However, complaining about it isn't going to make it any faster."

"Fine. I've got my own plan." Rather than run on the pathway, he decided to start gliding, which helped him get closer to the ones on the rails. Flyer had decided to take flight and make it easier for him as well.

For Chopper, he had taken the time to enjoy the ride, especially since he got a view of the sky and the bright rail. Unfortunately, his view had not lasted very long when a group of Dark Matter came flying in his direction. He gaped and jumped on another grinding rail to avoid them.

"Uh oh... There's some Dark Matter here." Chopper warned.

"Dang... Well, so much for this being a smooth ride..." Sonic jumped on to another rail when one Dark Matter was coming straight at him. "But too bad these guys are too slow for me!"

The three continued to dodge the Dark Matter charging and firing projectiles at them. Some had tried to attack the others, but they had no problem getting away from them either. In fact, Tamber had managed to punch one while in midair still.

However, it wasn't until a Dark Matter in a larger size to the other ones had appeared. While it remained black and had a single eye, the petals surrounding its circular body were purple.

"Wait... It's Dark Matter, but with...purple petals?" Shadower gawked.

"I'm guessing this is a much stronger one," Bombette deduced. "The size gives it away..."

Dark Matter had flown in front of Chopper, suddenly transforming into a swordsman-like being with pointy, black hair, a gray cloak with a blue plate, and a single eye. Not only that, but a sword had materialized into its hand.

"Oh... Well this is new. Well, this could be interesting..." Chopper trailed.

**Tattle: **_That's Dark Matter. This one appears to resemble a swordsman rather than a freaky blob. Personally, I think it's for the better. Max HP is 120, Attack is 16, and Defense is 6. This thing will shoot dark globs of energy from its eye at you, or it will swing that sword too. It's definitely a lot stronger than the previous Dark Matter you've faced, so I'd be careful if I were you, Chopper..."  
_

"Oh, boy... A mini-boss with that kind of defense is not good." Chopper frowned as he aimed the palm of his hand at Dark Matter. "Well, at least my light energy can handle this!"

He fired a light ball at Dark Matter, resulting in the swordsman-like being wincing in pain. Flyer decided to make the next hit, flying toward Dark Matter and hitting it in the eye. Unfortunately, the Wingel did not see Dark Matter fire a small, dark laser from its eye in his direction, knocking him back.

"Are you all right?" Chopper asked.

"Don't worry. I'm fine." Flyer assured. "And... Try not to get worried over that, OK? I made too much of a big deal over that... Anyway, give that thing some of your light power!"

"I'm on it!" Chopper threw another ball of light energy at Dark Matter, taking another 10 out of the dark warrior, followed up by Sonic's Homing Attack, slightly knocking it back.

"Well, that didn't do too much... Dang." Sonic frowned, jumping onto another rail when Dark Matter tried to swing its sword at him. "You missed!"

"And that's a good thing," Chopper added, throwing another light ball at Dark Matter. Shadower decided to help out by hitting it with a Shadow Punch. Unfortunately, its defense was not down to 0, but at 1.

"Dang... I was hoping I'd reduce its defense to 0, but I don't think that's happening." Shadower sweat dropped. "Sorry about that, Chopper."

"It's all right. We can still at least deal some good damage." Chopper said before getting hit by Dark Matter's sword. He decided to take action by hitting Dark Matter with a Light Stomp, taking 10 out of it, while Scrub laid a Mega Egg and threw it at Dark Matter, bringing it down to 50 HP.

"Yeah! Now he's down to 50 HP!" Scrub grinned. "This is easy!"

"Well... We better end this quick, because the road is starting to disappear..." Bombette warned, looking behind her. Everyone had done that as well, and their eyes had widened in shock.

Mario: Uh oh...

After Dark Matter had fired a sword beam from its weapon, Chopper threw another light ball at it, knocking it slightly back and leaving it blind. With that this helped Vivian punch Dark Matter with her Shade Fist and leave a burn on it.

"Nice! With it blind, it can't make its move!" Sonic grinned.

"Yup," Chopper nodded, striking the dark being with another light ball after it took damage from being burned. "This is pretty easy! And that's not something we've said in a while!"

Dark Matter regained its sight after Mario had hit it with a Super Jump, and it fired a dark beam at Chopper. Bringing his arms up, he managed to guard the attack, and then he went back to hitting Dark Matter with another light ball, bringing it to 4 HP.

"Poyo! (I call finishing it off!)" Kirby called out, performing a Cartwheel. With that, Dark Matter had transformed back to its previous state and exploded, dropping Star Points and also giving Chopper a level up to raise his FP to 190.

"Well, that takes care of that," Chopper smiled, noticing something up ahead. "Hey, is that an asteroid?"

"Yeah, it is!" Sonic noticed. "And there's a sign!"

"Then it looks like we're getting closer," Flyer said.

Once they made it to the asteroid, Chopper jumped off the rail and hit the Save Block nearby. Unfortunately, at this point, they knew that they were going to be going back into danger territory.

"Looks like the starry path we took is gone," Vivian said, looking behind her to see the road fade away. "There's no going back now..."

"But look on the bright side! We're right in front of the facility!" Sonic smiled, pointing to said facility up ahead by a starry pathway.

Mario: Let's hope the Crystal Star's in there.

"Yeah, we got this in the bag!" Scrub fist pumped.

"Let's get a move on!" Chopper smiled, making his way toward the facility ahead. Unfortunately, he only had time to make at least three steps when a familiar white figure with a red eye had made its appearance in front of him. He found himself surprised as he quickly stepped back. "Oh, geez! Zero's here now..."

"So the leader decides to show his face once again?" Sonic smirked. "Well, then this should be interesting!"

Zero looked down at Chopper and the group with hatred in its eye. It fired a projectile made of red energy from around its eye, which the group luckily dodged in time and got in a fighting stance.

"All right, if you want to fight, then I guess we have no other choice..." Chopper trailed.

**Tattle: **_What in the world is THAT thing? …Well, it reads here that this thing is named Zero. Yeah. Very original… Max HP is 320, Attack is 17, and Defense is 1. This thing will usually fire red projectiles from around its eye, which I swear does not even belong in an E-rated game... Aside from that, Zero can summon some Dark Matter at you. However, these are much smaller than the previous ones you've fought, so don't worry about them. I've heard many rumors about this thing being creepy... But I'm not seeing it. Is it the eye?  
_

"320 HP? Wow. That's not as much as Rawk Hawk and Meta Knight. Maybe this might not be too hard…" Chopper aimed his hand at Zero and shot a light ball at the white spherical monster. Though it wasn't as effective as it was against Dark Matter, it did manage to make it cringe.

"Even if your light powers may not be as powerful against this thing, I do hypothesize that this fight may not be too difficult without it," Flyer informed as he flew over to Zero and struck him it with a Flying Attack. Particularly, the eye.

Zero had struck Chopper with a red glob of energy that it fired, nearly knocking him back. That did not stop him from approaching Zero and hitting it with his hammer. Sonic had gotten in a ball and hit Zero in the eye with a Spin Dash, performing a stylish move in the process.

"Ha! How'd you like tha-" Before Sonic could finish his breakdance, Zero had fired another red projectile, but this time at Sonic. He barely had time to guard it, and he was knocked back to the others. "Yeesh... Sometimes I wonder why I brag too much..."

"Maybe because you're too overconfident?" Shadower shrugged.

"Maaaaaaaybe... But that's what makes me me!"

"And it makes you pretty annoying," Tamber mentioned before he punched Zero in the eye. It quickly shut its eye in pain, but it was able to open again and give Tamber a glare. He proceeded to taunt it. Once Chopper hit Zero with his hammer, the enemy summoned a miniature Dark Matter to strike the brown furball. "Ow! Why'd it attack me?!"

"It's pretty obvious..." Vivian trailed.

"Anyway, let's try out my Paint ability," Chopper decided, changing to his Paint ability. He ran up to Zero and covered it in red paint, leaving it scorched, along with a burn. "Huh... So red paint can set enemies on fire? That's...neat!"

"Poyo! (I like that too!)" Kirby agreed, approaching Zero and using his Final Cutter to take 12 out of it and bring it to 242 HP. Zero turned to Kirby and summoned a small Dark Matter to fire at him. Kirby had managed to guard it and only take 16 damage instead.

"I don't know why, but I seriously do not like the look of this thing," Bombette remarked. "Goombella said something about those projectiles being like..."

"Ehhh... Who cares? It's not like it's a big deal." Chopper assured, hitting Zero with a Power Jump. It started to cringe once Heartsy's Hearty Hammer had managed to hurt it.

"Weird... Looks like Zero did not like my hammer..." Heartsy trailed.

"Poyo, (He especially got hurt by the Love-Love Stick,)" Kirby added.

Zero brought its attention to Chopper and, after narrowing its eye at him, it fired another red glob of energy at him. He guarded it and then tossed an ice ball at it. Mario stomped on Zero with a Super Jump afterward, performing a stylish move to gain some Star Power. Zero decided to try another move and flew over the group and into the background.

"What the heck is that thing doing?" Scrub asked.

When Zero faced the group, it started firing multiple red globs in their direction. Everyone brought their guard up, preparing to take the hits and only suffering 16 damage.

"OK... That was interesting..." Chopper trailed, looking at his paintbrush with a smirk. "Let's see how he likes white paint!"

When he painted Zero white, it didn't seem to make too much of a difference. After all, it was white. Regardless of that, it did 9 damage. Scrub's Mega Egg, however, managed to reduce Zero to 178 HP.

Zero closed its eye for a moment, and once it opened, it had flashed and created a red pulse attack that was able to not only paralyze Mario, but it also made Sonic fall asleep. Luckily for the others, they were not struck by any status effect.

"Poyo! (I can't believe it managed to do that to Mario and Sonic!)" Kirby gasped.

"It stinks that Zero isn't what it was before..." Chopper frowned, looking up at Zero and remembering an image of a small, happy being like him but in a smaller size. "But... I guess defeating it is for the better."

He whipped out his yellow paint and began to swung his brush at it. This painted Zero yellow, which was basically electrical paint. Unfortunately, it didn't paralyze their enemy. Chopper then looked over at Sonic.

"Can someone try to wake up Sonic?" Chopper asked, with Shadower nudging the hedgehog to wake him. Sadly there was no response. "Dang it! If only this wasn't turn-based..."

"Yeah... Anyway, I'm attacking." Heartsy stated, pulling her hammer out and bringing it down on Zero. Like before, Zero did not like the pain, and summoned many miniature Dark Matter at them. Luckily, they guarded them, and Shadower even managed to lower its defense with a Shadow Punch.

"Give it a good Gravity Jump on that...whatever it is, all right?" Shadower suggested.

"Good idea!" Chopper agreed, making a huge jump in the air. Since his shoes negated the gravity around them, he had no issues with the attack and did 30 damage to Zero. Of course, he couldn't help but look at the beautiful, starry sky. "Man... I can't help but look at the sky!"

Unfortunately, his distraction also led to Zero shooting a red glob at him.

"...I should really pay more attention."

Getting his paint ready, he started to paint Zero blue instead. It had a water-like effect, though it didn't seem to do too much to it. What was also nice was that Mario and Sonic were back into action.

"Nice! This is what I'm talkin' about!" Sonic smiled, hitting Zero with a Spin Dash. Even though Zero was only left with 101 HP, it wasn't going to stop it from fighting. It fired a red laser from its eye at Chopper, who managed to Superguard it and take no damage.

Mario: This is intense!

"Maybe it's 'bout time I performed a Homing Attack on this...thing," Sonic declared, striking Zero with said attack. Chopper looked at his paintbrush for a moment and then his hammer. He finally decided to throw his hammer at Zero and take 10 out of it - at the cost of getting hit by one of Zero's mini Dark Matters.

"Ack! Stupid Dark Matter things!" Chopper yelled, knocking it away before throwing another light ball. Kirby had followed up with his Final Cutter, bringing the enemy to 61 HP.

Zero's eye flashed again as it fired another red pulse at everyone. Everyone else but Chopper had guarded the attack, knocking his Paint ability, to his dismay.

"There goes your ability..." Bombette noticed.

"Yeah... But, it's almost over." Chopper reminded deciding to go with light energy, which took another 9 out of Zero.

"Yeah, you're right," Flyer agreed, striking Zero with a Flying Attack. Zero summoned more mini Dark Matters and fired them at group, which managed to hurt everyone. Chopper had thrown his hammer at their opponent, and once Tamber threw in a Power Punch, Zero was down to 19 HP.

"If we use a powerful attack next turn, we've got this!" Tamber grinned.

Despite this, Zero was not going to stop attacking. More red globs fired from around its eye and hit Chopper. While he shook that off, Bombette used her Bomb and reduced it to 10 HP.

"Go for it, Chopper," Bombette said.

"Right!" Chopper nodded, charging up a ball of light energy. "All right, Zero! This is for trying to destroy me!"

When the light ball struck Zero, a shining light had suddenly enveloped from inside it.

"All right! We did it! You're the MAN, Contadre!" Scrub cheered.

Unfortunately, their victory came to a halt when they looked back at Zero. Rather than exploding, Zero's body around its eye began to form red cracks, and then the eye had ended up tearing away from the body, leaving trails of red globs behind. Everyone was left agape when they saw the interior of Zero's body appear red before it had exploded.

At this point, they realized that the red globs Zero fired may have been more than just projectiles...

"Whoa... Take a look at THAT." Scrub gaped.

"That...was disturbing," Flyer gawked, the rest appearing speechless.

**Tattle: **_That's Zero's eye. EWWWW! Did you just see what I saw?! That's not just the definition of gross, but it's also going to give me nightmares! Max HP is 100, Attack is 16, and Defense is 0. Despite how it tore away from its body, there's really not much to this thing. It only has one attack... Well, I guess you can wrap this up quickly, Chopper.  
_

"OK, let's try to beat this thing down before it does anything else…" Chopper started off by stomping on Zero's eye, while Vivian's Shade Fist already brought it down to 80 HP.

"Well, at least we did 20 damage from the start," Vivian mentioned.

"Uh huh."

Zero's eye shot another red glob at Chopper, but he quickly guarded the attack. With that, he jumped on the eye and performed a stylish move.

"I call making the next move!" Scrub fluttered over to Zero's eye and damaged it with his Ground Pound. Unfortunately, he got struck by the eye's projectile. "Hey, Contadre, do you think this thing is shooting what I think it is?"

"I don't know..." Chopper trailed. "To me, it looks just like a projectile."

"Wha... Oh, never mind." the Yoshi let out a huff as Chopper and Mario stomped on Zero's eye. Since Mario was the last to attack, it was he who had gotten hit by Zero, but he managed to Superguard it with ease.

After Chopper's Spring Jump, Heartsy hit the eye with her Hearty Throw, reducing it to 10 HP.

"One more attack, and this thing's finished!" Heartsy smiled. "Thank goodness..."

After Heartsy guarded Zero's projectile, Scrub had volunteered to make the final move, so he fluttered above Zero's eye and performed a Ground Pound. That last hit had made Zero's eye shake and then explode, giving Chopper enough Star Points to upgrade his BP to 114.

"Well... That was...anticlimactic..." Flyer commented.

"I know! I didn't even get a chance to attack that thing!" Tamber complained. "Good going, puffball!"

"What? What'd I do?" Chopper gawked.

"You... You puffballs ruin everything!"

"Oh, for goodness sake... These types of childish arguments are so pointless..." Flyer sighed.

With that out of the way, Chopper had turned his attention to the facility up ahead. "OK... Now that Zero's out of the way, let's go in here before anything else happens."

Agreeing, everyone had taken the starry path ahead into the facility, hoping to claim the Dark Star and save the universe once and for all.

* * *

**Here's a little interesting trivia: there was a lot more blood with Zero in this fight originally. However, back then I didn't pay as much attention to being more true to Paper Mario and decided to throw in that so-called "edginess" into Zero, especially with his speaking. Good thing I know better! *shot***

**So, next chapter is when Chapter 19 ends, right? ...Riiiight?**


	130. How to Defy Gravity

"Huh… So this is the facility, huh? This place is sorta weird, I suppose…"

Chopper looked down at the glassy ground with purple lights under it. The walls were dark purple, with a hint of silver in it. The room was not too big, having a door up ahead. It was a bit dark, too, but not dark enough to make them blind. Thankfully, there was also a Save Block and Heart Block in this room as well.

"Well... Here we are. The facility." Chopper said, approaching the sign. "It says here that the place is called **Gravity Gadget**."

"Ahhhh... Very interesting. I'd assume that gravity will be taking a major role in this facility." Flyer said, interested in the place. "I thought this place looked strange from the outside, but from the inside? Even stranger... Plus, it feels like normal gravity in here, which is nice!"

"Let's hope this place is a piece of cake," Chopper walked up to the door, but he noticed that there was an exclamation point on it. "This thing won't open... I guess we need to find a switch."

Chopper scanned the area for a switch. The only thing he ended up spotting was a flap on the wall nearby. An idea suddenly popped into his mind, and he got Kirby's attention and pointed at the flap.

"Poyo! (I can definitely take care of that!)" Kirby smiled, opening his mouth to inhale the flap off, revealing a hidden switch. "Poyo! (Got it! All right, Chopper, hit that switch!)"

Kirby stepped out of the way, allowing Chopper to kick the switch, making the door open for them. Entering it, they walked into a bigger and much longer hallway with a yellow rail hanging from the ceiling over by a pit of green waste that appeared to be very acidic. There appeared to be that substance above the rail as well! Looking at said acid, most of them cringed.

"So... What would happen if we fell in that?" Scrub asked.

"I'd rather not know..." Heartsy gulped.

"Well, at least that railing above us can at least help me get over this...whatever that stuff is," Chopper mentioned, grabbing a hold of the railing thanks to his Spring Jump. When he slowly moved above the substance below, Vivian in particular appeared worried.

"Be careful, Chopper…" Vivian trailed nervously. "You don't want to fall in there..."

"Yeah... I really don't..."

"While you guys sit there and be worried about the puffball, I'm going to go over there myself." Tamber started to glide over to the wall up ahead. There was a platform that could be used to land on from the railing to get to another railing on another section of the ceiling, only higher. After landing on the platform, Tamber climbed up the wall and reached the door. There appeared to be a lever above the door, which he couldn't grab a hold of. "Hey! Can you guys get over here?!"

"Yeah, sure, we'll do that," Shadower assured, going into the shadows to meet Tamber on the other side. Vivian had done the same thing and had reached the door, too. When Chopper landed on the platform Tamber had gotten on, he made sure not to look down and used another Spring Jump to grab a hold of the next railing. He had landed by the door headfirst, leaving him dazed.

"Ow..." Chopper mumbled, quickly shaking his head. "I really need to make a better landing..."

Flyer decided to go next and flew over to where the door was. Now all that remained were the rest. Bombette, in particular, was less than thrilled.

"Great... Well there's no chance of me getting through here." Bombette sighed. "Curse me and not having arms..."

"I'll provide assistance!" Flyer shouted, flying back to the others who couldn't get across. He had spent nearly five minutes getting everyone to the door, and he was starting to get exhausted and landed to rest. "Gee... That sure was annoying... Did any of you gain weight?"

"Thanks for the help, though," Sonic mentioned. "If it weren't for you, we'd probably have a hard time getting here!"

"Well... It's one of the reasons why I'm here to assist you guys..."

Unfortunately, Flyer didn't have time to relax for long, as Chopper nudged him and pointed up at the switch above the door.

"Sorry, Chopper... My wings are a bit too exhausted to get to it now..."

"Poyo! (I'll do it!)" Kirby smiled, taking in some air and floating up to the switch. Once he pulled it, the door opened, revealing another hallway. Everyone smiled and entered the hallway, not finding much.

"So much for this place being... Wait, are those Phis?!" Scrub gulped, noticing three Master Phis nearby. One of them was carrying an electric shield.

Just as they were about to turn invisible, the Master Phis had already spotted them.

"Located! Located!" the Master Phi holding the shield announced in its monotone, robotic voice, pointing at Chopper and his crew. "Attack! Attack!"

"Ah good! This is just what we wanted!" another Master Phi grinned. "Now we can give him the proper beat down that he deserves for what he's done to us!"

"Like you guys hardly done much in a while," Scrub scoffed.

"Oh, you may think that, but that's where you're wrong," the third Master Phi spoke. "You see, ever since you've beaten Master Gemerl at Sunset Hill, he had found a brand new base, and was settling in it. He discovered that it was called the Palace of Shadow."

"The Palace of Shadow? You mean this whole time after we defeated Gemerl he's been staying in that horrid place?" Chopper gasped in surprise. "I didn't expect that..."

"Yeah, and no one even knew about it!" the first Master Phi cackled, it and the others aiming its weapons at the group. "So, Chopper… You wanna see how powerful us Phis are compared to the others?"

"Poyo! (I doubt you're even that hard!)" Kirby taunted.

"What did that pink…thing say?"

"It doesn't matter what that thing said," the second Master Phi stated. "What really matters is that we're going to destroy you!"

"Then bring it on!" Chopper shouted, landing a First Strike on the first Master Phi with a light ball. Thankfully, the projectile went through the electric shield and hurt it. The Master Phi was thrown to the door up ahead, which happened to be locked. It managed to get back up and fly back to the group with it shield in front.

"Hmmmmmm… All right, so these guys all have 70 HP, 18 Attack and 4 Defense." Flyer noticed. "Well... This could be a little difficult."

"Think you got anything to get rid of that shield?" Chopper wondered.

"I believe I do!" Flyer pulled out his arm cannon and fired at the Master Phi with the shield. It had managed to break through and deal 6 damage.

"Dang it! My shield is gone!" the first Master Phi grumbled. "Well... I guess we might as well show him what we can do!"

The three Master Phis shot Chopper with their projectiles, taking 54 out of him all together, leaving most of them shocked.

"Ow! That was pretty bad! ...Wait, I still have the Crystal Stars! Maybe we can try out the Clara Star?" Chopper decided, taking out the pale green Crystal Star. "Maybe it'll come to good use!"

"What the heck is this kid doing?" the Phi trio wondered, seeing Chopper put the star into use. Before they had time to come up with an answer, the ground began to shake and shift.

"Wh-Whoooooooa! Wh-What's going on?!" Scrub exclaimed, the ground suddenly shifting to the right.

The only one who wasn't affected by this was Chopper. Considering that he was the one responsible for the Planet Tide, he was not moving around. The heroes managed to grab a hold of something, while the Master Phis were not so lucky. Things were falling on them, and they had gotten hurt from crashing into walls. After that had ended, the shaking had stopped, and the Master Phis appeared badly damaged, having 10 HP left. The one who had the shield, however, was defeated.

"I guess I'll finish this up," Vivian raised a finger, and it it sparkled, quickly scorching the two Master Phis. They fell in defeat and dropped some Star Points for Chopper to claim. When the three Phis got up, they started to back away from them.

"Oh, boy… We better get outta here!"

The three Master Phis fled from the facility before the heroes could do any more to the. Despite them escaping, Chopper still felt satisfied.

"Well that takes care of that! Now we can get a move on!" Chopper walked over to the locked door to see a Light Block in the corner. He destroyed it with a light ball and found a lever. Pulling it unlocked the door into the next room.

And boy, was Chopper surprised to see a round, water-like creature that appeared yellow in color and had a mechanical head and hands, and also green eyes.

"Hey, that thing looks just like Staris!" Chopper gasped.

"Staris? Who's that?" Shadower wondered.

Mario: The God of the Stars.

"Wait... How come we didn't see him back in Viti then?" Bombette wondered. "Considering that the other gods were there."

"You know, guys..." Scrub started. "For some reason, this watery thing reminds me of-"

"Errr... Maybe we should just stop it there and get an idea of what this thing is," Flyer suggested, pulling his scanner out to scan the thing. "These are called Artificial Stardie with the ability to multiply themselves... Dang, that's dangerous."

Chopper looked up at the Artificial Stardie and frowned. "Well, my hammer won't be doing a thing against that. Though… I guess my light power might help!"

He made a light ball and threw it at the Artificial Stardie. It was revealed by Goombella that it had 72 HP, an Attack of 18, and a Defense of 3. Seeing those stats, most of them frowned.

"Well this is great..." Tamber groaned.

"I'll try to deal some extra damage," Flyer flew over to the Artificial Stardie and struck it with a Flying Attack, knocking the thing back. Unfortunately, he had gotten struck by the monster's mechanical claws. "Ugh! Those claws are powerful…"

While Flyer rubbed his injury, he noticed that the pathway they stood on was pretty close to the acid. He then started to ponder.

"What's on your mind, Flyer?" Heartsy wondered.

"Hmmmmmm… What if these things are weak to that acid?" Flyer pondered. "Chopper, why don't you give it a try?"

"All right," Chopper threw his hammer at the Artificial Stardie, knocking it close to the acid. However, since it was floating in midair, it didn't appear to do too much. Heartsy added in her Hearty Throw, making it crash into one of the walls.

The Artificial Stardie managed to get itself up and give the group a glare. It turned its attention to Chopper, and after blinking its eye, it flashed, making two, green lasers fire out. He brought his fists up, guarding the attack and pushing him back slightly.

"That thing shoots LASERS!" Scrub gaped. "I wish I could do that!"

"Well that's fair!" Chopper frowned, conjuring up another light ball and throwing it at the Artificial Stardie. Shadower lowered its defense with a Shadow Punch.

"There. That should lower his defense." Shadower stated, only to be struck by a laser from the Artificial Stardie. This had created a yellow star in which Kirby inhaled and spat at the enemy. Chopper then hit it with a Wall Jump, guarding the Artificial Stardie's claws afterward.

"One more hit should do it. Who wants to do the honors?" Chopper looked at everyone until Mario stepped up and stomped on the Artificial Stardie, destroying it.

Mario: That takes care of that!

"Y'know, those guys kinda remind me of some other enemies I went up against before in a space station..." Sonic recalled.

"Really? Maybe you can tell us about that after this quest." Chopper smiled, walking around the acid on the ground and over to the door, where everyone proceeded into the next hallway. They didn't find that much except for more Artificial Stardie. There were two of them, but they had managed to take them down with ease

"Whew… Man, these guys are sure a pain in the butt!" Scrub groaned. "Why do we have to face such annoying enemies? These guys have more HP than Grubba!"

"...Or Lord Crump's second robot," Vivian added.

When they progressed ahead, they saw the pathway go at a downward. The ceiling appeared to be in a downward slope as well. There was also a railing on the ceiling too. Chopper quickly used his Spring Jump to grab a hold of it, but he soon found himself sliding down the rail.

"Uhhh... I can't stop myself here!" Chopper gulped, finally letting go when he reached the door. While he did manage to land on his feet, he hadn't gone to a halt and bumped into the wall instead.

"Ha ha! I wish I could see that again!" Tamber shouted, falling back and laughing. Everyone decided to ignore him and headed to the door without the use of the railing - with the exception of Sonic. Thankfully, Chopper appeared to be all right, and had no serious injury.

"So, what was the point of the railing?" Shadower asked.

"It's probably to get here faster," Sonic answered, having beaten the others to the door. "Plus, it's real fun!"

"Anyway... Moving on." Bombette said, entering the door into a much larger room. In front of them was a pit full of acid, but above them was an Artificial Stadie that appeared upside down. "Wait... What's up with that?"

"The Artificial Stardie appears to be upside down," Flyer deduced. "Perhaps your Master Shoes will come to great use, Chopper!"

"Hmmmm... All right, I'll give it a try." Chopper used his Gravity Jump to leap into the air and attach himself to the ceiling. A purple ! switch appeared to be there. Hitting it made gravity change in the whole room, sending the others flying up.

"Whoa! This is…cool!" Sonic gaped upon landing on the ceiling. To their surprise, the Artificial Stardie had started to fall into the acid below, destroying it. "Man, it stinks to be that guy. I guess gravity changed for it as well…"

"That's one less enemy we have to worry about," Vivian remarked.

Chopper ran on ahead to a high ledge that he couldn't reach. A spring was right next to him, to his luck. Using it, he managed to get up to the ledge and reach the end of the room. There, he found a small opening with a purple glowing arrow pointing at it. Everyone else had noticed when they arrived.

"Hey, Chopper... Isn't that one of those openings that we could slide under?" Flyer inquired.

"Yeah, I think so! Let's give it a try!" Chopper used his 'cursed' ability to lie flat on the ground. With that, he started to inch his way through the opening like a caterpillar into a smaller room. When he stood up and saw the others get through, he used his Gravity Jump to land on the floor and kick the purple ! switch to return gravity back to normal.

"Whew! It feels much better with things back to normal!" Heartsy sighed.

"Though, I feel that this probably isn't the end to the gravity..." Vivian trailed, inching to the door.

"Well, we'll see about that," Chopper walked into the next room to find another small hallway with two Master Phis patrolling, as well as an Artificial Stardie. Surprisingly, they didn't appear to be attacking the Artificial Stardie.

"Huh... I thought that thing would be attacking them..." Shadower said.

"Poyo, (They must be on their side,)" Kirby deduced. "Poyo! (And that's not good!)"

"It's awesome that these things are under our control," cackled a Master Phi as it looked over at the Artificial Stardie. It looked down at them, but it quickly spotted the heroes up ahead. The Artificial Stardie flew toward them, claws ready to strike.

"What? Those punks are here?" the second Master Phi gawked. "Neat! Master Gemerl will love to see some defeated heroes and the Crystal Stars they collected!"

"Uh oh... This isn't good..." Chopper frowned, getting in a fighting stance.

"Well good! This is just what I wanted to do!" Tamber grinned. "Smashing up some robots is always fun!"

Tamber was the first to charge at the enemies with all his might, but suddenly, he and the others were forced back by a blue blast. It sent them tumbling back, while the Phis and Artificial Stardie were destroyed. When they managed to get up, the only thing they spotted was a round robot flying out of the room.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Tamber guffawed, looking down at the destroyed enemies. "I didn't even get a chance to break them!"

"I say it's a relief we didn't have to deal with them," Flyer commented. "But getting a glimpse of that robot, it looked kind of like you, Chopper..."

"Me? Wait..." Chopper paused, pondering over this. "Was that Choppor? ...No, wait, that shot was blue. Choppor's is usually yellow. Unless..."

Everyone, with the exception of Flyer and Tamber, started to ponder over who that robot was. However, the pondering had not lasted long when Heartsy suddenly had an idea.

"Wait a second... Was that that robot back in the forest?" Heartsy wondered, her eyes widening. "That jerk was the one who knocked me out, didn't he?!"

"Oh, yeah, I remember that piece of scrap metal!" Sonic recalled. "Man, he was sure out for you, Chop, wasn't he?"

"Metal Chopper? Oh, great... Him again?" Chopper groaned. "How'd he get here?"

"I'm sure he's just trying to go after you," Shadower guessed.

"Or he's a stalker," Scrub added.

At this point, Chopper didn't care. He wanted to know what was going on, so he ran on to the door ahead. Sadly, it appeared to have a lock on it. However, that did not stop him from searching around the room. Luckily, he found a flap that Kirby inhaled off to the north, allowing them into a room with a large pool of acid below them, along with a narrow walkway. At the end of the walkway was a chest safe from some acid projectiles being fired from a turret.

"They don't appear to be firing quickly," Vivian noticed. "Maybe I can help you, Chopper!"

Chopper nodded and started to progress through the walkway, while Vivian hid him in the shadows to avoid any acid projectiles. Thankfully, it hadn't taken him too long, and when he had opened the chest containing a purple key called a Gadget Key, the turret had stopped.

With the key in hand, the group returned to the other room and unlocked the door into a circular hallway. In front of them was a large, glass window with three black beams that appeared to be powering the facility. Chopper was the first to run up to the window and press his gloved hands against the wall as he got a closer look at the beam.

Being powered by those beams was the Crystal Star.

"Oh my gosh! It's the Crystal Star!" Chopper gaped, catching everyone's attention. "I can't believe it! It's actually here!"

"Really?" Scrub was the next to run up to the window and take a look at the blackish room. "Wow! It really is here!"

Mario: I can't believe we already found it!

"Hey, not to ruin the moment, but there's this window in our way," Tamber pointed out. "Of course, I can take care of this."

"Tamber! Don't-"

Tamber had ignored Flyer's plea and threw his fist at the window. Everyone covered their faces, but they didn't hear the sound of glass shatter. Instead...

"Argh! My fist!" Tamber yelled, shaking it. "Stupid window!"

"Poyo! (So much for that!)" Kirby giggled.

"Hmmmm... Well, I was going to tell you not to break it, since the energy powering up this facility would probably destroy us..." Flyer trailed. "But, the glass appears to be too difficult to break. The only way we could get the star is to shut this place down."

"Fair enough," Sonic said, stretching his arms. "We'll shut this place down and claim that star!"

After exploring the circular hallway, they found about three doors. It would make sense, since there were three beams. They took the left door into and outside area with blocks of water floating in space. Many of them were nearly caught off guard.

"Wow! This is...unbelievable!" Shadower gaped.

"Who ever thought we'd see water in SPACE of all places?!" Bombette exclaimed.

"Errrr... Yeah, I guess this'll be swell." Sonic said, despite his voice not sounding too enthusiastic.

"Hmmmm..." Chopper jumped into the water and found himself floating in the block. "Why don't I handle this? It'll probably be hard for you guys, considering the gravity."

"Really? You'll do all the work for us? Sweet!" Tamber grinned, ready to go back inside. Heartsy, however, pulled him back. "Hey! What's the idea!"

"No way! We're all doing this together!" Heartsy declared. "You're going to need our help, Choppy, whether you like it or not!"

"Oh... OK, that's fine, too..."

Everyone had joined Chopper in the water block and followed him into another one floating above the solid, purple floor. When they had reached a higher platform, they were met with a gap that required Scrub's help. After getting across, they spotted a black button, along with a small, glowing black trail leading back into the facility.

Once Chopper jumped on it, the trail had stopped glowing.

"Yes! One down, two more left!" Scrub cheered.

"Well, if it isn't my good friend and his other meatbag friends..."

Looking up, they saw Metal Chopper facing them in the air, his arms crossed. Everyone had gotten in their fighting stances and gave the robot a glare.

"All right, what are you doing here, Metal Chopper?" Chopper asked.

"Why do you think I'm here?" Metal Chopper hissed. "Isn't it obvious? I'm here to get my revenge!"

"Great... Why do we always run into freaks that look just like you, puffball?" Tamber asked.

"I see you've got a few new useless friends... That means there were more people for me to eliminate!"

Immediately, Metal Chopper began to launch homing missiles at them. Gaping, the group quickly ran back into the facility. However, rather than going in after them, Metal Chopper flew to another side of the facility.

"I'll surprise them in the next room!"

* * *

As for the heroes, when they had gotten back inside, they had started to catch their breath, while Bombette eyed the door they had just walked through.

"He doesn't seem to be following us..." Bombette trailed.

"Good... Now let's go check the next door..." Chopper sighed, walking up to the upper left door. They had gone back outside, but they were left in shock by the amount of rocks on the large, purple platform they stood on. Each of them had cracks on them.

"Poyo! (Look at all these rocks!)" Kirby gasped.

Mario: We could probably blow these up!

"And that's what I plan on doing to you all!" Metal Chopper announced, surprising them and firing more missiles in their direction. They all took cover behind a few rocks, which surprisingly did not get destroyed by his missiles.

"Hold on..." Bombette paused for a moment and lit her fuse on one of the rocks, instantly blowing it up. "OK... So my bomb can destroy these rocks, but his missiles can't? They must be awfully weak..."

"I don't know about that..." Chopper trailed. "I'd say it's because of how this stor-"

Metal Chopper had fired another missile in Chopper's direction, making him get out of the way. At this point, they were forced to dodge all of his attacks and blow up the rocks around the area. However, when they noticed the glowing black trail lead to one rock, Bombette blew it up, revealing another switch. She jumped on it to shut down another beam.

Mario: Run, guys!

As Metal Chopper prepared his machine gun, the heroes escaped back into the facility. Now all that remained was one door. Well, actually there were two doors, with one having a star plastered on one of them. It was different than the others, but they ignored it for now and headed into the other door. Thankfully, it did not lead them outside, but there was definitely plenty of acid on both the floor and ceiling.

"Uhhhhh... How are we supposed to do this?" Tamber asked.

"There's a pathway up on the ceiling," Chopper noticed. "Looks like my Gravity Jump will come to use!"

After crossing his way on the narrow walkway to the edge, he used his Gravity Jump where there was a mark on the floor indicating that there was a path above. He landed, and continued his way until he found a switch. To his surprise, it was a blue ! switch.

Regardless, he kicked it, making another walkway rise up from the acid on the floor. Annoyed, he returned to the others and found the pathway leading to a platform with a black switch.

"There it is! That's the last switch!" Vivian exclaimed.

Before they could go, they heard the sound of crashing from above. Looking up, they spotted Metal Chopper firing at them again.

"Don't think you're getting away from me so easily!" Meta Chopper roared.

"We need to act quick!" Chopper cried, rushing over to the switch. Once he had jumped on it, he shut off the final beam. However, that did not stop Metal Chopper from opening fire at them. Tamber, however, had managed to land a punch that stunned him.

"Ha! Take that!" Tamber grinned.

"Good work, Tamber! Now we gotta get out of here!" Sonic said, rushing out of the room with the others. When they had gotten back to the room, the three beams were finally gone, revealing the Dark Star in all its sparkling, dark glory.

"Well, we took care of one thing... Now how do we get this star out?" Heartsy asked.

"Perhaps we should check the other door?" Flyer suggested, going over to the door with the star. They followed him inside into a large, purple room with a large terminal nearby. There was also a large window, too.

"Whoa… This place is big." Scrub gaped.

"If I were to deduce, this laboratory can allow you to spot many different areas in Starlite Galaxy," Flyer explained, walking over to the larger terminal. He activated the screen, and they were staring at a large asteroid with green eyes and a freaky, green mouth.

"What's that?" Bombette asked.

"It says here this place is called **Asteroid Ring**. It is inhabited by many dark creatures, and is said to be created by the powers of the Dark Star."

"Really? One star can do that?" Sonic gawked. "Neat."

"Well, they say that the Dark Star is extraordinarily powerful. Much stronger than any Crystal Star..."

"But how do we get that Crystal Star out?" Chopper asked.

"Let me get to that..." Flyer changed the camera to the Dark Star inside the capsule. Nearby was a switch to release it. "I just need to pull this, and everything will be all set."

When Heartsy looked to the window, she spotted a certain robot flying directly at them. "Uhhh... Heads up, guys! Metal Chopper's coming!"

"Well, I guess we might as well fight him..." Chopper frowned. "After all, we usually fight a boss before getting the Crystal Star-"

Upon pulling the switch, the capsule the star was in exploded, turning their attention back to the terminal. When the smoke had cleared, the star was gone.

"Aw, come on! Don't tell me the Crystal Star just got destroyed!" Scrub whined.

"Uh oh... That's not good..." Chopper frowned.

When they turned to the window, they saw Metal Chopper get closer. They knew they couldn't do much except for fight, so they got in their fighting stances and prepared for-

"Hey, what's that?" Bombette interjected, noticing a shooting star fly out of the facility. Coincidentally, it had struck Metal Chopper, sending him flying away from the facility. Everyone looked flabbergasted, but upon getting a better look at the star, they noticed it was black.

"Was that...the Crystal Star?" Vivian gawked.

"Wait... Didn't Meta Knight try to destroy one of the Crystal Stars?" Chopper recalled. "He failed to destroy it... Maybe something like an explosion can't destroy a star!"

"If that's the case, then we can probably still go after it!" Sonic grinned.

"Poyo! (There's still some hope!)" Kirby cheered.

"Let's go after it!" Chopper smirked, running over to the door leading back outside. "So, are you guys ready to go after it, or what?"

"Or what? What is that supposed to mean?" Tamber asked.

"Errr... Never mind that. Let's just go."

Without asking any questions, the eleven heroes made their exit out through the door and back outside, hoping to go after the Crystal Star. One thing for certain was that this was not going to be as easy as they thought.

* * *

**Someplace farther out near the facility-**

"Ungh... My head..."

Kojo Pete slowly grumbled as he stood up and brushed his white armor. He hadn't remembered being out for so long. Then again, why was he out in the first place.

However, remembering what happened before was not the most important question when he realized where he was.

"What is this place? This is not home! As my home is not up in such a starry world that is black! My home is back in the City of Flowersville, where I go to conquer the city!" Kojo exclaimed, continuing his ranting. Eventually, this got his brain working again. "Wait, now I remember what happened! That accursed Chopper had sent me flying! Curses... Curse him... I wish to curse him in his sleep! For attacking him in his sleep is when he is the most vulnerable, making-"

There was a sudden, mysterious sound that caught his attention, and upon turning around, his eyes widened.

"What in the world...?" Kojo questioned, now left slack-jawed.

Before he had time to speak up, the red, multi-eyed figure had charged into Kojo.

* * *

**Of course getting the final Crystal Star wouldn't be this easy... :P  
**

**If you couldn't tell, the Artificial Stardie is based off the Artificial Chaos from some of the Sonic games. Only exception here is that the Stardie have mechanical claws. Also, the part about Metal Chopper unable to blow up the rocks is kind of a joke, where enemy AI can't destroy something in games, but you can.  
**

**Next up: Chopper and his friends chase after the Crystal Star, but it isn't going to be so easy!**


	131. Walking on Water and Stars

"Argh… Stupid Phis… Why can't you get anything done right?" Gemerl mumbled, flying around in Starlite Galaxy, waiting for his minions to give him a message on the Crystal Star. "It's been so long since they've contacted me. They should've had the information by now! What's taking so long?!"

Before he could complain any further, his communicator went off. Grinning, he activated his communicator.

"All right, Master Phi... Did you find the Crystal Star, or at least its location?"

_"Negative, sir. We've been looking all over the place for that thing." _the Master Phi replied with a headshake. Gemerl obviously appeared disappointed, and he was ready to speak up, but the Master Phi stopped him. _"BUUUUUUUUT, we did find something that's shaped like a star flying out in space."  
_

"A black star? Give me a description of it." demanded Gemerl.

_"Well, we didn't get a close view on it, but we thought we saw some sparkles from it." _

"That sounds just like a Crystal Star! I demand that you and the others keep track of it!"

_"Understood, sir!"_ the Master Phi nodded. _"We'll contact you if we manage to get it or reach it."_

"Excellent. But do not take too long. I am not that patient..." Gemerl shut off the communicator, now feeling satisfied. "This is good. Now I can finally get my hands on that star! As for how it was suddenly flying... I suspect that it was Chopper's doing. I better try to go after it, too, just in case..."

He began to fly on ahead, using his Phi locator to get an idea of where the Phis might be. As he flew, he couldn't help but view the stars surrounding him.

"Despite being evil, even I cannot deny that this place is gorgeous. Perhaps when I finally rule the universe, I'll create a new base located here."

* * *

**Outside of the facility-**

Once they were all back outside, they had stepped onto a glowing yellow pathway. There appeared to be many small stars on it as well, giving the idea that this was made up on trillions and trillions of stars.

However, there was still another problem.

"Dang it! Now we're slow again!" Scrub frowned, taking a step, which took him much more time than before. "Well, this is going to be fun..."

"Well I have no issue with this," Chopper mentioned, walking around just fine.

"Yeah, because you have those stupid shoes!" Tamber pouted. "It makes things SO fair..."

"Sorry that these shoes only fit me..." the Star Warrior trailed. "Anyway, we need to find that Crystal Star and get it! ...Hopefully it's not too difficult."

With that, they began to make their progression through the road. As they took a step, their foot created a ripple effect on the path, as if it were water. Strangely enough, it didn't feel like water. Flyer, in particular, was intrigued by this.

Unfortunately, their walk had come to a sudden halt when they spotted a few ships fly past them and into the cosmos far ahead. For some reason, Chopper was reminded of the ships back on Clara. Heck, they looked so much similar!

"Wait a minute..." Chopper paused, staring at the ships that appeared very small at this point. "Are those Dark Creatures?"

"Dark Creatures flying in space? Yeesh! How many times do we have to run into these guys?" Sonic questioned. "What is this? The third time we see their ships?"

Mario: I think so.

"Well, as long as they don't see us, we should be fine," Shadower assured, moving on ahead. Everyone followed him, running into a Master Phi up ahead. However, it was only one, and taking care of that was pretty easy for them.

What was even cooler was that there were even some platforms high above them with some chests. Chopper had used his Gravity Jump to spot a Max Shroom. He happily took it and landed back by the group, who had taken care of yellow, fire enemy with green eyes called a Star Ember.

"Embers? Geez... And here I thought we'd be done with them..." Chopper frowned.

"Guess not," Sonic shrugged.

As they reached the next area, they found a large gap between them and the pathway ahead. Thankfully, there was a small staircase made of stars to their south. Taking it brought them into a stardust-like area with a couple of trees around. The bark appeared lavender, while the leaves had aqua blue, orange, and red colors. Plus, the outlines on these were a pretty white instead of black.

"This place looks so gorgeous!" Vivian gasped, clasping her hands. "There's so much to like about these trees!"

"They're definitely interesting, no doubt," Flyer stated, inspecting the trees. "Though, I don't think even I could decipher how there are these types of trees..."

Chopper looked at the trees carefully, interested in its appearance, especially those white outlines. The leaves felt very smooth and bright when he touched them, and a sense of calmness had surged into his body. He let out a sigh of relief and smiled...

And then he whacked it with his hammer.

Sadly, nothing had fallen out from the tree except for a small star that hit Chopper in his head and left him dizzy. He managed to shake it off and go to another tree to whack it. That's when the others started to notice him doing it.

"What are you doing?" Heartsy asked.

"Hitting the trees. There's probably a switch around here somewhere." Chopper answered, whacking another tree after nothing came out of the previous. "It's worked before, that's for sure!"

"Well, keep hitting 'em, Contadre!" Scrub cheered.

Despite not wanting to hit the pretty trees, Heartsy knew there'd probably be something in them, so she started to whack some of them. Mario helped as well, and he had found a blue ! switch in one of the aqua blue trees.

Mario: Over here, guys!

Everyone walked over to where Mario was and spotted the blue ! switch as well. Scrub gave it a ground pound, and suddenly they felt the area shake. However, nothing appeared to happen from where they stood.

"I wonder what that was..." Vivian trailed.

"Only one way to find out," Sonic said, running back to the previous area. Everyone followed him back, and there, they found a cloud in the large gap. When they got a better look, they knew they were at least close enough to get across it.

"Perfect! Now we can progress!" Heartsy smiled, getting her hammer out. "Hold still, Choppy. I'll try not to make this hurt..."

She swung her hammer and sent Chopper flying onto the cloud. He managed to land on his feet, but he didn't have enough time to relax, as Flyer helped Heartsy over to the cloud so she could get Chopper over to the pathway ahead. She helped some of the others cross the pathway until everyone reached the other side and progressed onward.

When they entered the next area, they came across another large gap, and there was no alternate walkway to take. However, they soon looked up and spotted a path above. Chopper smiled and put his Gravity Jump to use, landing on the pathway upside down and hitting a yellow ? block that contained a coin. Once he landed on the other side, he found a switch to create a bridge.

"Well at least there's a bridge here..." Shadower sighed. "I don't think we'd be able to get over this gap."

"Yeah. It's a good thing it was here!" Chopper agreed before they progressed. They found a couple of trees in the next area, but there were also some Master Phis as well. Some were carrying electric shields, while there were hovering Phi heads resembling a Master Phi's head called a Mater Phimatite.

"Wait, didn't we see those flying heads back in the first Phi Base?" Vivian pondered.

"Yeah! They supported the Phis with healing items or new weapons!" Heartsy remembered. "I always spotted these guys when I would sometimes sneak into their base!"

Meanwhile, the Master Phimatite had spotted the group and alerted the Phis. It had taken out a staff with the ends being made of electric, and handed it to one of the Phis not carrying a shield. Flyer had gone up to the enemies first and disabled them, particularly the Phimatite, while Chopper destroyed it with his jumping skills. Sonic then used his Sonic Wind to send the shields flying, and Bombette's Explosion had done them in.

"That showed them," Bombette smirked.

With that, they progressed on ahead until they found a circular walkway going downward leading to the area ahead. Chopper smiled and started to run through it until he reached the next area. To his surprise, he spotted a couple of floating stars. However, they appeared black in appearance and had white eyes. They seemed to spin in a vertical fashion.

"What're those supposed to be?" Chopper inquired.

"They appear to be called Ztars," Flyer informed through his scanning gadget.

"Ztars? That's it? What kind of name is that?"

"Think about it. The letter 'Z' can be considered a backwards 'S', and usually when something is backwards, it tends to be negative."

"Oh. That makes sense."

Meanwhile, the Ztar had fired two dark beams from its eye at the group. Mario had dodged it and prepared to jump on it. However, since it had sharp edges, Mario ended up taking damage instead and held his foot in pain.

Mario: Mama mia!

"Well, now we know not to jump on this thing," Chopper said, hitting the Ztar with his hammer and dodging its rapid spin. Kirby had managed to defeat the dark star by simply inhaling it and spitting out as a yellow star.

"Poyo, (Done,)" Kirby said proudly.

"Yeah... That can be done." Sonic shrugged, moving on ahead. To their surprise, they had found a yellow doorway. "Hey, a door around here? I didn't expect that! ...Though, it doesn't look like we can progress with that barrier of light..."

Flyer looked up and saw a yellow ! switch up on a platform high above them. "Hmmmm... Well, maybe that switch may be our solution. Why don't you get that, Chopper?"

Chopper leaped in the air with his Gravity Jump and landed on the platform where the switch was. He gave it a simple kick, letting the event commence.

"Look at the doorway!" Vivian gasped, just when Chopper landed on the ground. To their luck, the barrier blocking their way had vanished.

"There we go! Now we can move on!" Chopper ran up ahead to the next area to find another Ztar, along with a circular pathway going upward into the next area. "Oh... Well now the circular path's going up now."

"Pretty ridiculous, if I say so myself," Bombette remarked, following the group around the pathway. When they reached the top, they were met with two Master Phis, to their dismay.

Instantly, they started to fire at the group of heroes. Heartsy put her hammer to action and used her Hammerang to hit both targets and quickly retrieve her it afterward. Scrub had summoned a Stampede, but since each hit could only do 1 damage, it didn't do a thing, leaving him to frown. Thankfully, Vivian had blown up, destroying the Phis.

"And...she defeats them. ...Again." Tamber frowned.

"Well, good work, Bombette. ...Except that you blew up near me." Heartsy said, now covered in soot and having frizzled hair.

"Oh... Sorry about that." Bombette nervously sweat dropped. "Remind me next time when I'm about to explode."

"Moving on," Chopper declared, making his way to the end of the area. Once again, there was another doorway. "More doorways? We're not even in a building..."

"I certainly don't know…" replied Flyer as they entered the next area. This time, there were more floating blocks of water around, just like what they had seen at the facility. Only this water appeared to have some small stars in them. Looking below, they were relieved to see platforms to prevent them from falling.

As Chopper looked at the water, he started to ponder. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he transformed into his Ninja ability. Smiling, he approached the water and stood on it without sinking.

"What the... How the heck are you doing that?" Tamber gawked.

"I learned this when I first got this ability," Chopper answered. "Now I am above water!"

"That's nothing," Sonic shrugged. "I've been able to run on water countless times without an ability."

Chopper frowned, suddenly feeling the sense of getting owned before he decided to move on over the water. When he reached the end of the block, he found an arrow pointing down at the platforms below. Vivian decided to go on the water block next, and being a shadow being, she was able to go over it as well.

Chopper walked around the block of water, but he didn't find anything else except for an arrow pointing down at the end of the water block.

"This doesn't feel so bad," Vivian remarked. "It feels neat being above the water!"

"I sure wish I could walk on water..." Scrub trailed. "That'd be so cool!"

Sonic decided to speed up before running across the water, and then he landed on the floor to progress. However, he would soon find more water blocks, but in a shorter size, along with being wide. Chopper got on that water block and started to progress until he jumped off and ran into a larger water block in front of the door.

"We might have to swim through this one," Chopper mentioned, jumping into the water block, the others joining him. When Sonic had jumped in, he was expecting to sink, but he was left surprised when he was floating inside. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead he only took in some water.

They quickly entered the door, but they still found themselves in a much larger water block than before. However, in the center of the block was a platform and even air, which they all headed to in order to catch their breath.

"Wow... For once, I'm not sinking in water." Sonic commented with a surprised expression.

"So apparently gravity still affects you even if you're in the water... How remarkable." Flyer said, appearing very interested.

"Man, there's just so many things that don't make sense!" Scrub said, feeling his mind getting blown. "Heck, how are we breathing in space?"

Everyone looked at his with an unsure expression. Flyer thought for a moment as well, but then one decided to step in.

"It's logic. Enough said." Shadower stated.

"Fair enough," Flyer shrugged.

Scrub decided to move on and dove into the water block, jumping out of it from the right. However, he ended up landing in another water block, while Chopper had landed on top of it. Smiling, he approached the ledge and jumped onto it.

"Walking on water is so much fun!" Chopper whistled terribly, his friends getting onto the ledge and following him. Unfortunately, he was not aware of a few hidden enemies around. One had managed to appear and catch him off guard. Luckily, he managed to jump back and avoid its attack on time.

When the group got a look at the enemy, Kirby easily recognized it as a Biospark. It was small and round like him, and it wore a navy blue cloak. It also had a red tuft of hair, and red hands and feet.

"Poyo? (Isn't that a Biospark?)" Kirby inquired.

"A Biospark? What's that?" Chopper wondered.

"They're ninjas that hide and wait to make an attack," Flyer informed. "So... I'd be careful if I were you."

"I'll keep at in mind," Chopper grabbed a Biospark and pushed it in front of another. The latter disappeared and tried to strike at Chopper, but he pulled out his kunai knife and blocked its attack. Narrowing its eyes, the Biospark transformed into a log and appeared motionless. Chopper paused and looked down at the log.

"Chopper! Look out!" Vivian cried.

Chopper turned around, but the Biospark was much faster and managed to strike him with his blade. Heartsy tried to hit the Biospark with her hammer, but it managed to simply jump on top of the hammer and then leap back to Chopper, ignoring her.

However, Chopper had seen the Biospark and managed to grab a hold of it. He leaped high in the air and then done downward, making sure the Biospark's head was aiming at the ground. Its head collided with the floor, and once Chopper released the Biospark, it was defeated.

"Poyo! (That's just what I do!)" Kirby smiled.

"Really? Neat!" Chopper replied. "Though, I hope we don't deal with more of these guys..."

They pressed on ahead and found a pathway up ahead, but there was another gap standing in their way from the pathway ahead. What made things worse was that there were no alternate paths to go to easily open up a bridge. Shadower, on the other hand, remained still and spotted something on the large gap.

"Hey... I think I see a blue ! block floating over the pit," Shadower said.

"Really? Where is it?" Chopper asked.

"Oh... I guess only I can see it. But it's pretty far off, so you might want to use something with range."

"Or you could use me," Sonic mentioned, pointing to himself. Chopper shrugged and kicked Sonic in a ball in the direction Shadower pointed to. Sonic had felt himself hit something, and he noticed a trail of stars quickly make a bridge for them to cross. "Well, that takes care of that! Now we can move on!"

With that, everyone progressed onward, unaware that they were being watched.

"How those chumps managed to make it this far, I have no idea," Kibbler mumbled, jumping out of hiding and watching them walk further. To his luck, they were far enough for them to not notice him. "Then again, considering his fight against Rawk Hawk, I can see how he managed to progress further. However, that won't stop me from destroying Chopper..."

"Sweetie, what's wrong?"

"'SWEETIE'?!" Kibbler gawked, his red eyes widening. He turned to his companion with narrowed eyes. "The name is KIBBLER! With a K! You will only refer to me as that, got it?!"

"Aw, you don't have to tell me that, my love! You're so sweet!" the female figure squeezed Kibbler tightly. "You're much sweeter than that _other_ guy that broke up with me…"

"The heck are you talking about? You're my sidekick, not my girlfriend!"

"Oh, it's all right, my love! Give me a kiss!"

"Uh oh..." Kibbler gulped, soon getting covered in his companion's kisses. Each kiss left him even more mortified. "Get off of me, you…freak!"

"Fr-Freak?!" the figure let go of Kibbler and backed away from him, now letting out tears. "It's not my fault that I was born this way!"

Kibbler looked at his companion, specifically her eyes. Those eyes looked... OK, they weren't anything special, but they sure were creating waterworks. He soon had a feeling of guilt in his mind, and he couldn't shake it off.

"All right, I'm sorry…" Kibbler sighed. "I didn't mean to hurt your feeling. You're my sidekick. I can't do this without you. Of course... I can't fall in love with you."

He soon regretted those words when he was caught in another hug by his companion.

"Oh, Kibby! You made me feel so much better!" the figure squealed. "I guess I'll go help you take care of your little problem right now, darling."

She started to drag Kibbler away, but not in the direction Chopper and his friends were going.

"Hello?! You're going the wrong way!"

* * *

**Next area-**

When they had entered the next area, they came across a doorway with at least two star-shaped locks. Tamber tried breaking it open with his fists, but they did not good.

"OK... So where are we supposed to go now?" Tamber asked.

Kirby noticed a small lift in the shape of a yellow star nearby and gestured everyone to it. Curious, Chopper decided to approach it, and once he was on it, he found himself slowly descending.

"It's...an elevator," Bombette said.

When the star had come back, Chopper was not on it. The rest decided to get on and let it take them to a large, aqua blue platform below. Chopper appeared to be there, noticing four paths to take: two on the left, and two on the right.

"There's two locks on that door, but four paths..." Chopper trailed. "Which way should we go?"

Mario: How about the left?

Agreeing, they took the upper left passageway and had come across a lot of barrels. They were all black in color and had a yellow star embedded in their centers. Along with that, there was a sign.

_For the eyes of the hero, searching for a key underground can be a big challenge. However, finding the switch can help you find what you need._

"The heck is this all about?" Tamber asked. "There's barrels here, not...whatever this is saying!"

"Let's check in another area then," Chopper suggested, taking the lower left path. It was a much smaller area, but it had a fountain with what appeared to be star water. Chopper decided to jump in it, and he suddenly felt his HP, FP, and Star Power fully replenish. Seeing this, the others jumped in and healed their HP as well.

Since there was nothing else there, they took the upper right path this time. They were disappointed when they only found a single tree and a Save Block beside it. Chopper hit it with his hammer, and out came a Master Shroom he happily took. Afterward, he saved his game and went to the lower right area. It was around the size of the area with the barrels, there were at least two Ztars, and there was a sign near them.

Curious, Chopper had approached it.

_To the hero looking for the key... Look carefully at the barrels. The one that stands out shall have what you need._

"I think this has to do with that other area..." Chopper trailed. "Does that mean the other sign involves this place?"

"Perhaps... And they said that key is underground..." Flyer recalled.

At that point, Tamber felt a familiar sensation, and he started to search around the area. "Oh, man... My treasure senses are tingling!"

"Treasure senses? You know where treasure is?" Vivian asked.

"Duh! My Master Star gives me an idea of where treasure is, and I'm going to find it!" Tamber started to dig in the place where he sensed treasure, but all he found was a yellow ! switch. "Dang it... It's just a dumb switch."

"Wait, Tamber! Hit it!" Heartsy suggested.

Shrugging, Tamber punched the switch, making it disappear and shine a light on a specific area. He walked over it, and that was where he started to sense something. He dug through there and managed to dig out a yellow key with a star handle called a Star Key.

"Where'd you be without me?" Tamber asked proudly.

"I'm not so sure..." Chopper shrugged. "Now let's go to the other area!"

They returned to the barrel area, and the first thing they did was look at each barrel carefully. Thankfully, there weren't too many of them, so it wasn't too difficult. They noticed one star on a barrel was more of a white color. Mario knew what to do and brought his hammer down on Chopper, sending him underground. Once he jumped into the barrel, he broke out and held up a Star Key.

"And that takes care of that!"

"Let's put these keys back where they belong," Sonic smiled.

They exited the area and stepped onto the star lift, which brought them back up to the door with the two locks. Chopper and Tamber inserted both keys, breaking the locks and allowing them to move forward. They were led into an area with a platform made of light, and there were a couple of rocks around too. Some even had a few cracks in them!

"Poyo! (More rocks!)" Kirby exclaimed.

"Uh huh. Looks like Bombette can take care of these." Chopper said.

"Or I can do it," Tamber said cooly.

That was when they heard the sound of mumbling. Now on guard, they looked over to one of the rocks where the voice was heard.

"We're not alone..." Heartsy trailed. "Should we destroy the rock?"

"I'll gladly do it," Bombette smiled. "Chopper, would you do the honors?"

"Sure!" Chopper nodded, picking Bombette up with no problem. "Boy, with the gravity here, you're not as heavy as before!"

"Wait... Are you implying something?"

"What do you mean? I'm not really that strong..."

"Oh... Well, just throw me."

With that, Chopper threw Bombette near the rock. Destroying it, a familiar figure was revealed behind it.

"Huh-What? Who dares disturb me while I work on my weapon?!" Kojo Pete gawked, holding an incomplete weapon in his hand. "For working on my weapon is mandatory to destroy the Dayzeeflower Girls and Chopper! Therefore, my weapon must be complete so I can rule the world! And ruling the world-"

"Wait, we saw this guy on your home planet, Chopper!" Shadower realized.

"That would be correct, you strange, shadow creature. While I was up here, I've... Er... Actually, I don't remember what happened. I woke up, and saw this weird- Wait, why should I be telling you this when my plan is to destroy you? Especially with a brand new weapon!" Kojo said, turning his attention to his weapon and fixing it. "It just needs a LITTLE adjusting and…YES! Mwa ha ha ha!"

Seeing Kojo Pete here was quite a surprise to the group. However, what really left them surprised was his appearance. His cape was battered ripped, possibly after the fight. His armor, on the other hand, had changed from white to black. Along with that, his pupils had changed red, and his face appeared palish. Plus, the slight twitching was suspicious.

"What's up with him?" Sonic whispered.

"I don't know..." Chopper shrugged.

After some tweaks, Kojo cackled and stood up to face them. "Now that my weapon is complete, I can destroy you! And to destroy you, it means that I will obliterate you far into space with this weapon! So as a result, I will be victorious, and I will be able to rule the world!"

"OK, we get it already..." Chopper sighed. "I just wanna know what the heck is up with you. You weren't like this before..."

"I say we beat this guy up!" Tamber smirked, raising his fists. "He's in the way anyway! You ready to get your butt kicked?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Kojo grinned, readying his weapon. "For being ready is the key factor of victory! So in the end, I, Kojo Pete, will finally defeat you after you've sent me to this accursed place! I will have my vengeance…"

"All right... Then bring it." Chopper challenged.

"Mwa ha ha ha! Ah, so you want me to 'bring it', huh? Oh, I'll bring you something…" Kojo smirked. "I shall bring you defeat!"

Despite being ready for battle, those red pupils of his left them a little unsettled.

**Tattle: **_That's Kojo Pete. For some reason, he looks a lot different from before… That cape… That armor… Heck, look at those pupils of those! They're red! That's not normal... Max HP is 340, Attack is 18, and Defense is 2. He'll attack you with that new weapon of his, or he might even use that laser sword he used against you last time. I think he might be able to use some giant killer robot. I don't know… It doesn't say much about him here, which kinda stinks. But if you remembered how to beat him before, then you should be fine.  
_

"All right, let's go!" Chopper pulled his hammer out and brought it down on Kojo's head, though it only did 8 damage. "Dang… I guess that helmet is giving him extra defense."

"Really? Well I'm going to try to crack right through it!" Tamber cracked his knuckles and balled his hands into fists, which were soon glowing green. "Heads up, Kojo! This is coming straight at you!"

Readying his arm, he thrust it forward and punched Kojo with his Power Punch. It managed to knock him back, but he was not down for the count.

"Curses… I will get you for that!" Kojo readied his gun and shot a dark blast at Tamber. He had guarded it, but the others in particular were left in surprise.

"Wait a second… He's got dark energy?! Where'd he get that?!" Chopper questioned.

"Oh, I'll tell you! It was... Actually, I don't remember." Kojo realized. "In fact, I don't remember my armor being black before..."

"Really? You don't know?" Vivian gawked.

"Well... It doesn't matter from here! And by not mattering, I shall stop caring about this question! For caring-"

Chopper pulled out his kunai knife, having enough with his talking, and he swung at Kojo Pete with it, taking 10 out of him. The Koopa stopped to give the Star Warrior a glare.

"Curses curses curses! Why must you interrupt my speeches?!"

"Because you always go on about that stuff!" Chopper replied.

"I guess I should do something," Vivian sank into the shadows and punched Kojo with a fiery fist upon emerging. It left him with a burn, but it didn't stop him from shooting Vivian with another dark blast. Even still, she was left in surprise. "I wonder how he even got that ability..."

"I wish I knew too..." Chopper pondered to himself. He shrugged and he struck Kojo with his kunai knife again. Scrub followed up by laying a giant egg and throwing it at the Koopa, which took 12 out of him.

"Grrrrrr! Take this!" Kojo fired another dark projectile at Chopper, which knocked away his Ninja ability. "Mwa ha ha ha! Now your power is gone! And with your power gone, I can destroy you without any worries! And by not being worried, this will go-"

"OK, I'm just going to attack," Chopper mumbled, hurling a light ball at Kojo and causing some serious pain to him, much to his surprise.

"_**AGGHHH! CURSE YOU CHOPPER! YOU… YOU EXPOSED MY WEAKNESS!**_"

"Your weakness is light energy?"

"Ugh… This armor is probably weak to light." Kojo grumbled. "For being weak to light means my weakness is exposed! Therefore, I become an easier target for someone! Curses… Curses times ten!"

"Curses times ten?" Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Yeesh, you sure don't make a lot of sense!"

"Who cares? His talking will let us attack him!" Tamber grinned.

For once, he had to agree with the brown furball and turned his attention back to Kojo. He got in a ball and struck him with a Spin Dash, performing a stylish move afterward and bringing him to 260 HP.

Kojo fired a dark blast towards Sonic, which sent him flying back to the group. Kirby decided to step in and used his inhale to eat Kojo and spit him into one of the rocks, taking 10 out of him.

"Poyo! (Yay! I got him!)" Kirby cheered.

"Curse you pink puffball… You and Chopper will be my first victims!" Kojo growled, getting back up and readying his weapon. Unfortunately, that was when he was struck by another light ball from Chopper. "Argh! You stupid little… What a cheap move…"

"Cheap move? You did stuff like that before!" Chopper retorted as he brought his arm up to guard Kojo's attack. He then threw another light ball at him.

"If we keep going like this, you'll be done in no time!" Scrub smirked, stepping out of the way so Shadower could lower Kojo's defense to 0. It was successful, but he was the victim of Kojo's dark laser sword.

"Yes… Excellent! Even my sword is filled with dark power! Mwa ha ha ha ha!" Kojo cackled. "See? With all of this dark power, there's no way you can defeat me! For not defeating-"

"Uhhh… You seemed to be in pain when I struck you with a light ball." Chopper mentioned, hitting Kojo Pete with his Gravity Jump and taking 30 out of him.

"Oof! You little brat! You're almost as worse as those accursed Dayzeeflower Girls! I'll make sure you never leave this place! For leaving here will prevent me from defeating you, and your defeat means that I, Kojo Pete, shall be able to rule this world with no problem!"

"I'd say your chances of ruling the world are pretty slim," Sonic taunted. Meanwhile, Heartsy brought her hammer down on Kojo's head, which was able to take 10 out of him and bring him down to 181 HP. Annoyed, Kojo fired a dark shot at Heartsy, who was knocked back to the group. With that, Chopper threw a light ball, and Flyer used his Flying Attack to strike Kojo once again.

"Honestly, despite those weird eyes of yours, you do not seem that strong..." Flyer commented.

"Oh, really? Well, I haven't shown you all of my great tools!" Kojo grinned evilly.

"Wait, you don't?" Chopper gawked. "Then what else do you have?"

"Here! Allow me to show you!" Kojo aimed at Chopper and fired a freeze blast his feet, preventing him from moving.

"Eep! I can't move!" the Star Warrior cried, trying to break free of the ice surrounding him. "Well, I'm not going anywhere..."

"Why not just use a fireball or something?" Heartsy shrugged.

"Oh... I almost forgot about that." Getting a fireball ready, Chopper hurled it at Kojo, leaving him with another burn in the process.

"AAAAH! Hot hot hot!" Kojo cried, using his cape to get rid of the flames on his butt. "Oh, now you've done it! By messing with me, it shall be the end of you! And the end of you..."

Looking down at his blaster, he noticed it had melted.

"_**CURSES! **_Now you have destroyed my... Wait, hold on, I still have two more." Kojo realized, drawing two blasters. "Now we're going to heat things up, Chopper! I'll…"

Bombette interrupted him by exploding in front of his face, covering the front side of him with soot. Annoyed, he shook the soot off him.

"What I was TRYING to say was that I'm going to destroy you!" Kojo finished, hovering up in the air. Flyer took a look behind him and noticed a lack of a jetpack.

"Guys... He's not wearing a jetpack..." Flyer noted. "How in the world is he flying?"

"OK, this is getting weirder by the moment..." Bombette groaned.

"Mwa ha ha ha! I have no need for such tools!" Kojo cackled, firing an ice and fire shot at Chopper and Tamber. "As I have evolved far beyond that! And by evolving far beyond that, I have gained great powers! Therefore, with the powers granted by yours truly, I shall surpass the Dayzeeflower Girls and take over the City of Flowersville, just as I, Kojo Pete, have intended!"

Mario: I don't think so!

Kojo prepared to make another attack, but he was interrupted when he got struck by light energy and then Mario's Super Jump. Angrily, he shot two fire projectiles at Chopper. This had left him covered in soot and burned for four turns. On the plus side, the ice on Chopper's feet had thawed.

"Great! I'm free!" Chopper cheered. "Now to change things around!"

He changed to his Magic ability and fired an ice beam at Kojo. This had managed to leave him frozen in the process. Shadower's Shadow Punch had helped bring him down to 106 HP. Since Kojo couldn't attack for a turn, Chopper hit him with a Gravity Jump, and then Tamber followed with a Power Punch, causing the ice surrounding Kojo to shatter.

"Grrrrgghh… What just happened?" Kojo quickly shook his head and looked at Chopper. "Oh! I was going to destroy you! Because in order to destroy you, I must eliminate you, and to eliminate you, I must use my blasters!"

"Did you just learn that?" Chopper asked.

"Uhhhh… No." Kojo shot Chopper with an electric blast, electrocuting him and stripping him of his Magic ability.

"Hey! I worked hard to get that ability, you know!" Chopper groaned, tossing a light ball at Kojo. With Flyer's Flying Attack, he was down to 41 HP. Kojo simply shot Flyer with an ice blast, and then he shot Chopper with a fire blast, just to make the burn last longer on him. Chopper had decided to hit him with a Spring Jump, and with Tamber's Power Punch, Kojo was down to 13 HP.

"Now you're goin' down!" Tamber grinned.

"Oh, I won't be going down! For going down means that I would have to fall to the ground!" Kojo explained. "Of course, I am certainly not tired to go to sleep just yet! Therefore, I will NEVER go down when I'm in a fight! Because for once, I…"

Having enough, Scrub used his Gulp attack to bring him down to 3 HP, and together with Chopper's light ball, Kojo's HP was depleted to 0. They were ready to celebrate, but Kojo's wincing had stopped them.

"ARRGH! Wh-What is going on with me?!" Kojo cried, noticing some darkness coming from his chest. "Uh oh… Does this shimmering light mean that… My time is up? But I had so much to live for!"

"Well, you did get on everyone's nerves with your talking," Scrub pointed out.

"I...have to agree with that," Chopper nodded.

"You… Curse you, Chopper… Curse you and the entire universe for what you've done." Kojo grunted, falling unconscious. Chopper had upgraded his HP to 195, but they hadn't had time to celebrate when a ball of darkness flew out of Kojo's body. This had reverted the Koopa's armor back to white, and his pupils were restored to normal.

"What's that?" Vivian gaped. The dark object began to form into a white icosahedron with a ton of red eyes on it. It was spinning around at a rather fast pace, and it looked more 3-Dish compared to the other enemies they ran into.

"Wait... So THAT was in Kojo's body?" Shadower gawked. "How long was it in there?"

"Most likely after he was sent flying out of Clara..." Bombette trailed.

Kirby stared at the white icosahedron being and started to ponder. This did not go unnoticed by the others.

"What's wrong, Kirby?" Chopper asked.

"Poyo... (I feel like I recognize this thing from somewhere...)" Kirby trailed, continuing his pondering. It didn't take him long enough to realize what this creature was. "Poyo! (Wait! It's Miracle Matter!)"

"Miracle Matter? What is it?"

Before Kirby had time to answer, Miracle Matter floated above everyone, and it had transformed into a ball of electricity. Everyone gawked at it, but it hardly gave them any time to react and struck them with a lightning bolt, knocking them all all.

Feeling satisfied, Miracle Matter flew off to a large asteroid off in the distance with green eyes and a green mouth.

* * *

**Originally when I created this story, I did not plan on having Kojo Pete or Miracle Matter as a mini-boss here. However, I then changed my mind and put them here. What's also funny is that I had also made Kojo Miracle Matter in disguise, but I thought maybe having it possess him would be a better idea.  
**

**So, what's next for our heroes? Well... I guess that last paragraph might give an idea to some.**


	132. Into the Asteroid Ring

"Ugh… What the heck just happened?" Chopper grumbled as he slowly got up, looking battered from the previous hit. "I don't remember what just happened… I think we were fighting Kojo Pete, but it turns out he was being possessed... And I feel really tired."

"Yeah… I think Miracle Matter got away, though…" Flyer slowly got up and rubbed his head, looking down at the unconscious Kojo Pete. "I never expected Kojo to be possessed like that... But, I guess it explains what was up with him.

Everyone else slowly began to get up. Chopper had taken notice of them and turned to them.

"Are you guys all right?"

"Yeah… I feel all right…" Vivian moaned, Chopper helping her up. "Where did Miracle Matter go?"

"I think he got away..." Chopper answered. He turned around and spotted off in the distance a large asteroid with a freaky-looking face. The eyes and mouth were glowing green of acid. "Hey... Didn't we see that before?"

"Of course! Back when we were in the Gravity Gadget!" Flyer recalled. "I showed you guys the Asteroid Ring! Perhaps both the Crystal Star AND Miracle Matter went there!"

"We should go check it out," Heartsy suggested. Chopper gave her a nod and walked through the doorway ahead into another area. It didn't appear too big, nor too small. In fact, there was no doorway around.

"Huh… There isn't much around here," Tamber mumbled, looking around his surroundings. The only thing he could see was a Save Block…and a Thwomp sitting on a cube-shaped block. "Hey, what about that statue over there? Go check it out, puffball!"

"What statue?" Chopper turned and was left in shock at the Thwomp statue. "Uh oh... Not another one of these..."

"It's just a stupid statue. I don't see what's the problem."

"But...it quizzes you!"

"Oh, yes, like that one Thwomp we ran into at the Night Palace," Flyer remembered.

"Wait, you two saw a Thwomp at the Night Palace?" Scrub gawked.

"Yeah, we both met this thing and it tried to quiz us. Only that one had sunglasses. This one just looks like it's some kind of ghost or something. I mean, those eyes..." Chopper shuddered.

"Come on, Choppy, I thought you were braver than this?" Heartsy inquired.

"Oh, fine... I'll do it. I hope this is the last time we ever see this thing again." Chopper approached the Thwomp and gave it a good poke. Everyone felt the ground shake, and soon, the Thwomp woke up. It had green eyes with the inside of its mouth being green as well. Plus, it appeared in a darker gray compared to others.

"Urg… Whuh-What?! What's going on here?!" the Thwomp asked, quickly taking notice of Chopper. "You! Are you the one that woke me up from my beauty nap?!"

Chopper was unsure of what to say, so he gave it a nod.

"Gah! I've been sleeping for eons and this is the surprise I get?! How nice… Anyway, I suppose you want to go to the Asteroid Ring to find the Asteroid Key, do you not?"

"Asteroid Key? What is that supposed to be?" Vivian asked.

"Oh, the Asteroid Key? It's supposed to be a giant key made of an aster—No, I'm just messing with you. The Asteroid Key is what you need to go into the Asteroid Ring – one of the darkest places in Starlite Galaxy. It's a lot darker than Nocturnane, that's for sure."

"Nocturnane? Never heard of that place..." Chopper trailed aside. He then brought his attention back to the Thwomp. "All right, what's it going to take to move on?"

"Oh, so you want to go through the Spaceway, do you? Perhaps I'll let you go…IF you beat me in a challenge!" the Thwomp grinned. "If not, then you're going to suffer greatly!"

"Of course..." Shadower muttered.

"So, what do you say, kid? Wanna go for it and take the risk?"

Chopper thought for a moment and then he pointed at him with a determined look. "All right, I'll take you on, freaky-looking Thwomp! We can do this!"

"Really? Err... I mean, yeah!" Tamber declared proudly, trying to look cool. "We're going to take you down!"

The Thwomp spun around once before stopping harshly. "Mmmm hmmm hoo ha ha! Nice choice! …Not! Now you're all in for something!

Like puzzle pieces, the background began to change into a game show. The Thwomp was also wearing a red bow-tie with white polka-dots. Everyone, with the exception of Sonic and Tamber, were not too surprised.

"Whoa, what's up with the background?" Sonic asked.

"Hey hey hey, ladies and germs! WEEEEEEEELCOME to the 70th Super Fun Quirk Quiz! I'm your host, the freaky and awesome Thwomp! Perk up those ears…er, antennas and listen up! If you answer five questions correctly, then you will be known as the Winner of the Super Fun Quirk Quiz! If you lose, on the other hand… You're in for some trouble! Some big trouble indeed…"

"Get on with it already," Tamber groaned

"All righty, then! Question Number One! What…is hidden here?" the Thwomp asked.

"How about an Asteroid Key?" Chopper answered.

"Hmmmmmm… Are you suuuuuuure that that's the answer you're going to pick?" the Thwomp raised an eyebrow.

"Yes."

They heard the sound of a happy ding, causing the Thwomp to spin angrily.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! That answer is…correct!" the Thwomp exclaimed. "Hey, wait a sec… That one was TOO easy! But don't worry, things will get much harder from here. Muuuuuuuch harder! …So prepare yourself!

"We'll make sure you throw another fit when we get the next answer correct!" Tamber taunted.

The Thwomp cleared his throat. "Perk up those antennas for Question Number Two! Now, tell me this… How much does it cost to buy a Master Shroom in Rogueport's shop?"

"Huh? I don't think I ever went there to buy one..." Chopper frowned, trying to come up with a decent answer. "Uhhh… Would it be for sixty coins?"

Unfortunately, that did not appear to be the case, as they heard an incorrect ding. A red X above them had appeared instead of a circle too.

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho! Wrong wrong wrong wrong WRONG!" the Thwomp cackled. "Ha ha ha ha! What an idiot you are! Careful now, kid: if you get three wrong, you're going to be suffering a terrible and evil fate!"

"You don't need to remind us again," Heartsy said.

The Thwomp spun around once and then the dramatic music came in. "Now then… Onto Question Number Three! …Ooh! This one's a good one! This should be a simple…for those with a brain. How many hands does a Goomba, Koopa, Shy Guy and Waddle Dee have? Total!"

"Oh, I know that! It's... Ermm..." Chopper paused, trying to think. "Dang it... I'm not so good at this stuff..."

"It's six," Flyer answered. They heard a dinging noise while the Thwomp threw another tantrum, much to Tamber's glee.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! That answer is…correct! Great... You got another one correct." the Thwomp continued to complain about how too easy it was another it got back to the next question. "All righty then… Are you ready for Question Number Four? Out of these four villains, which is the most dangerous of them all? Grubba, Unagi, Chillbi, or the Shadow King?"

"Oh, I know that! The Shadow King obviously!" Chopper answered happily, receiving a positive ding.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! That answer is…correct! And it was another easy one! Grrrrrrr! All right, then! Time for the next question, you big buffoon! It's Question Number Five! How many areas have you been through so far! Total!"

"Errr... If you mean by chapters, I guess nineteen..." Chopper trailed.

"Hmmmmmm… Are you suuuuuuure that's the answer you're going to pick?" the Thwomp asked.

"I guess so..."

Unfortunately, his answer was incorrect, making the Thwomp laugh again.

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho! Wrong AGAIN! Watch out now, kid: if you screw up one last time, you're going to be in a whole heap of trouble! …So be careful."

"That question was so unfair..." Heartsy frowned.

"All right, who's up for Question Number Six?" the Thwomp asked, getting back on topic. "This should be a no-brainer. How many Crystal Stars are there all together?"

"Twenty, obviously," Chopper answered. Guess what happened next.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! You're…correct! …Again." the Thwomp sweat dropped. "Oh, crud… Don't tell me you just got your fourth question right already! GAH! This isn't going too well for me. Y'know what? That's it! I'm going to make these question far-out impossible for you to answer, that it'll melt your brain!"

"That's logically impossible," Flyer pointed out.

"All right! Get ready, folks! It's time for…Question Number Seven!" the Thwomp declared, ignoring Flyer. "What number question is this?"

"Pbbbbbbbth! What kind of question is that?!" Tamber laughed.

"Do you know what number question this is?" Flyer asked.

Tamber instantly paused and gave Flyer an annoyed look. Chopper, on the other hand, remained confident and answered, "Question seven!"

"Hmmmmmm… Are you suuuuuuure that's your answer?" the Thwomp asked.

"Uh huh," Chopper nodded. He heard the sound of a positive ding afterward, which triggered the Thwomp to spin around angrily more than before.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO! AAAAAARRRGGGHHH! Cuh… Correct! You… You correctly answered five questions! Gah! I don't believe it! You beat me!"

With that, the background changed like puzzle pieces, and everyone was back in Starlite Galaxy where they met the Thwomp.

"I hate this game! You chumps were REAL lucky! Thanks to your victory, I have to let you go to the Asteroid Ring!" the Thwomp grumbled as it made a green rail behind it. Along with that, a green key appeared. "Have fun at that place…you jerks!"

The Thwomp gave them an annoyed face before it closed its eyes and went to sleep.

"Finally! We're done with that!" Chopper smiled, picking up the key and going over to the rail. "Now we can get a move on! Ready, guys?"

"Ready as I'll ever be! ...Though, I don't know how the others will get on the rail." Sonic said, approaching and inspecting the rail. However, everyone took notice of a cracked rock. Bombette gave Chopper the cue, and he threw her at the rock, blowing it up and revealing a green ! switch.

"Poyo, (I wonder what that switch does,)" Kirby walked over to the switch, and with one kick, a green cart appeared on the rail. "Poyo! (Hey! Now we have a way to get to that asteroid!)"

Everyone got on the cart, and it instantly took off. It felt like a roller coaster ride - in Chopper and Sonic's perspectives. And boy, was it fast…and rather enjoyable. For the others, they didn't have as much of an easy time.

"This thing is FAST!" Scrub gaped, tongue hanging out and going to the side of his head. With people like Vivian, Shadower, and Mario, they were holding their hats for dear life.

Mario: Hang on, guys!

As the cart moved fast on the railway, everyone could see many ghosts floating around the atmosphere. They resembled swirling vortexes with eyes ranging from green, yellow, blue, and purple. Their mouths appeared freaky and jagged as well, having similar colors to their eyes.

"There are ghosts here?" Flyer gawked.

Mario: Luigi wouldn't like this place...

"Well, if they get in our way, we'll show them who's boss," Chopper assured.

"Yes, I suppose so," Shadower nodded.

Turning their attention to up ahead, they noticed that the railway was ending by a sign with a skull on it. They all stared wide-eyed, knowing what that meant.

"Uh oh... How do we stop this thing?" Bombette asked.

"Not stop, but move to another rail," Flyer noted, pushing a button to his left, making the cart jump on another railway. It was heading up to a small gray volcano with what appeared to be green acid coughing out. Some began to ooze out as well when the platform circled around it.

"Considering acid and lava are deadly, it's fitting that that stuff's in a volcano," Heartsy said.

Chopper noticed the platform was about to tilt upward up ahead. "Guys... You might wanna hold onto this platform..."

"What do you mea—WHOA!" Tamber felt the cart tilt upward. Everyone hung on for dear life until it made its way over to the large asteroid-like planet. It appeared to be heading straight into the mouth.

"Oh, geez! That was close!" Bombette sighed, having been held by her fuse by Mario. "If you hadn't held onto me, I would've been a goner!"

Mario gave him an assuring nod as she finally stood up. Turning back to the asteroid, they were getting closer to the mouth. Everyone, with the exception of Mario and Sonic, closed their eyes as they entered the mouth of the asteroid planet. Opening their eyes, they discovered the interior of the asteroid resembled that of a base. The ground the green railway was leading down to appeared metallic, and around them was more green substance resembling acid or lava. The walls and the ceiling appeared to be a rocky texture.

The platform made a halting stop at the end of the railway, and everyone came toppling out of it and onto the floor on onto each other. Eventually, Tamber was the one to throw everyone off him and get up the others had finally gotten up, they spotted tall, dark tanks roaming around here.

"I wonder what these dark tanks are here for," Sonic wondered. He tapped the tank, but there was no response. Just as he was about to turn, a purple ghost appeared from inside the tank to give him a scare. "Whoa! Careful, guys. There are some ghosts in these tanks..."

"Ghosts?" Chopper walked over to the tank and saw the ghost face him and grin. "Oh... Well, it doesn't look too bad. Maybe it's not so harm-"

The ghost had charged in his direction, making Chopper dodge its attack.

"Oh, come on!" Chopper frowned, avoiding the ghost another time. From Flyer's scanner, it's called a Ghost Void, which is a name that it definitely deserves.

"These things have about 75 HP, an Attack of 19 and a Defense of 0." Flyer informed. "Yeah, I'd be careful if I were you, Chopper."

"Well, if this thing wants to fight, then looks like we don't have much of a choice," Chopper leaped forward and started to hurl light balls at the Ghost Void. The others joined in afterward, with Vivian throwing a Shade Fist, and Shadower using his Shadow Punch. The fight, however, had lasted about five minutes due to the Ghost Void constantly avoiding the group. But, thankfully, it was defeated.

"OK, that took us longer than usual," Heartsy sighed, everyone looking a bit battered from the fight.

"That thing was pretty annoying," Chopper mumbled. "I'm guessing Miracle Matter had something to do with that. Speaking of that, I wonder if it's here..."

"Poyo, (Well, we'll find out,)" Kirby said as he walked around some of the dark tanks. "Poyo! (Come on! We need to get moving if we're going to find that Crystal Star!)"

Chopper tried his best to keep away from the tanks around him. Everyone did the same as they walked through the area. Another thing they had to keep in mind: they shouldn't touch the acid rivers at ANY cost.

When another Ghost Void had charged at Chopper, he got a light ball ready and threw it at the enemy, destroying it successfully. Smiling, he continued his way through the path with his friends, avoiding any ghosts in the way. When they reached the end, they came across a door blocked by a large Light Block. Using his Master Glove powers, he managed to destroy the block with an large amount of light energy. The door appeared to have a lock on it.

"Whew… Now that that's taken care of, let's see what's ahead." Chopper unlocked the door with the Asteroid Key, and he and the group entered the door into another room. This time, there was a large pool of acid on the floor with a couple of dark tanks sitting in it. Along with that, there were some rocks floating in the acid too. "Oh, gee... More of this stuff."

"It's not too much of a challenge," Sonic smirked, jumping on one of the rocks.

"Yeah! This is way too easy!" Scrub agreed, jumping onto one of the rocks. He nearly slipped, but Sonic grabbed him in time. "Whoa! Thanks for that, Sonic."

"Anytime!"

Chopper had made a jump onto one of the tanks and looked over at Vivian and Shadower, then he looked back at the acid. "Hold on... How are Vivian and Shadower supposed to get through here without touching the acid?"

"Don't touch the acid, guys. Remember that." Chopper made a jump over the acid onto one of the rocks. "Oh, boy… How are you two supposed to get through this without touching the acid?" he asked Vivian and Shadower.

"Oh… I never really thought of that." Vivian frowned. "Should I take the risk?"

"Let's not," Shadower objected. "We don't know how dangerous that stuff could be..."

Chopper thought of using an ice ball to freeze the acid so he tossed it into the hot substance. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. "Uhhhh... That doesn't seem to work. Can you detach yourself from the ground?"

"Or they could just go into the shadows and meet us on the other side with no harm done," Flyer informed.

"...Oh, right! We did that back in the Gravity Gadget!" Shadower realized. "How come we didn't think of that before?"

Vivian and Shadower went into the shadows and headed to the door across the pool. For the others, they had to concentrate on getting across, but there was only a single tank leading to the other side. Thankfully, there were taller rocks for them to get onto the dark tank closest to them. When they were on, they noticed the gap was far enough for Heartsy to use her hammer.

Smiling, the pink girl readied her hammer and swung at Chopper, sending him flying across the gap and onto the next tank. Assistance was provided by some of the others to get the rest over. They then used the next set of rocks to jump over to the next dark tank. There, they had found a ledge above them where the next door was. Vivian and Shadower were waiting for them there.

"They're so lucky that they can get to places so easily," Tamber pouted. "I'm heading up there myself!"

Everyone watched as Tamber glided onto the wall and climbed up to the ledge. Flyer then broke the silence by saying, "That ledge is high enough for me to fly you up there, Chopper."

"Oh! Then you know what to do!" Chopper smiled, allowing Flyer to grab his hand and fly him up to the ledge. He got most of the others up, with Mario being the last. He struggled to hold him, but the plumber grabbed the ledge when they were close and pulled himself up.

"Geez! No offense, Mario, but you might want to lose some of that weight..."

Mario sweat dropped in response, but the group decided to proceed through the door into a large hallway with a couple of dark tanks placed sideways on the walls. Remembering their encounters with them in the first room, everyone was less than thrilled.

"I think we should try moving quietly around here," Chopper suggested as he tip toed through the hallway.

Tamber took a look at the Ghost Voids in the tank. "Heh heh heh…. Look at those freaks! They honestly think that they're so scary." Suddenly he began to mimic what he thought they would say. "Oh, look at me! I'm a ghost that sits in a tank all day sleeping like a little-"

The tank broke and a Ghost Void came out, trying to eat the furball. Everyone looked at Tamber with an annoyed expression. They jumped in to attack the enemy, but it had gotten out of the way in time.

"Annoying ghosts..." Chopper grumbled, slowly getting up. "How can we get that thing? I mean, it's not like a ghost can-"

He paused, remembering something two years ago. A smile had finally appeared on his face as he changed to his Ghost ability and became transparent. As the Ghost Void flew back down, Chopper flew toward it and ate it in one bite.

"You… You just ate that thing." Heartsy gawked

"Yup! I sure did!" Chopper assured. However, his proud look had not lasted very long, and a weird feeling enveloped him. "Ugh… Something does not feel right..."

Before he knew it, he changed to a dark purple with green eyes and a green mouth.

"Wait... What happened to you, Choppy?" Heartsy asked.

"Huh? What do you-" Chopper paused and took a look at his new appearance by looking at his arms. "What the heck? Why am I all purple and stuff?"

"Hmmmmm… I suppose by eating that ghost, you had gained its abilities." Flyer deduced. "You know, like your usual Copy Ability? Except this time, it's WITHIN an ability."

"Really? That's cool." Chopper floated over to the door to find a large area filled with a huge, acid river. A couple of railways were circling around the room too. "Err... This room is huge."

"There's also a lot of ghosts too," Bombette added.

"I don't think Ghost Town had this much people..." Chopper trailed, stepping into the room first. He noticed some Ghost Voids fly by him, ignoring him. "Hey! They don't seem to bug me now! Cool!"

"Sheesh! Not even Ghost Town had this much people! This is just… Sheesh!" Chopper eyed around the whole room to see if the Ghost Voids would attack. Luckily, they didn't seem to be harmful to him like this.

"I see a switch up there," Heartsy pointed to a dark ! block at the top of the room. "Maybe it'll allow us to progress ahead?"

"I'll get it!" Chopper declared, flying up to the top of the room and eating more ghosts along the way. This seemed to create a large, dark aura each time he devoured one. "Honestly... They don't taste too bad!"

When he cleared the rest of the ghosts, Chopper had hit the dark ! block with a light ball. This had created a bridge below to go to the door. Seeing no point in his Ghost ability, he removed it, unaware that he was still in midair.

However, when he realized he was in midair, he started to plummet.

"Well... I guess this is it..." Chopper frowned. "I guess this is where the story finally ends..."

He closed his eyes, expecting the worst. However, he didn't feel himself slowly die away from the acid. Opening his eyes, Chopper found himself caught in Heartsy's clutches.

"Huh?" Chopper gawked, noticing he was not in the acid. "I'm still alive! Hip hip hooray!"

"There's no way I'd let someone I care so much about fall into that stuff," Heartsy assured, giving him a dreamy look. "So... Are you going to give me a thanks?"

"Uhhh... Thank you?" Chopper replied, getting out of her arms. Obviously this was not the idea Heartsy had in mind, leaving her to face palm. Regardless of that, she followed the group to the door, which led them to an asteroid field outside.

"Hey! We're back outside!" Scrub gawked.

Chopper saw a large asteroid with a ring around it off in the distance. "I'll try to see if I can get over there."

Using his Master Shoes, he jumped on a couple of brown asteroids. Sonic decided follow him by using his Homing Attack on them to follow him. Unfortunately, that led them getting destroyed.

"What the heck, Sonic?!" Tamber guffawed. "We could've USED those asteroids to get to that asteroid!"

When Sonic had reached the ring on the asteroid, he looked back to see destroyed asteroids.

"Whoops... I didn't mean to do that..." Sonic sweat dropped.

"Well this stinks," Heartsy drowned.

Thankfully, Chopper had spotted a blue ! switch on the ring, and he gave it a kick, creating platforms for the group to get across.

"MUCH better!" Bombette smiled, reaching the other side.

"Thanks for that, Choppy," Heartsy smiled, kissing Chopper on the cheek when she reached him.

"Gross! Stop kissing me!" Chopper complained.

"Why would I stop doing that if I'm in love with you?"

"Heh heh... Good thing I'm not in that position." Sonic chuckled. He brought his attention back to the atmosphere around him. "I gotta admit, this place is pretty neat."

Mario: Just like the other areas here?

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Where could Miracle Matter be?" Chopper wondered, wiping off the kiss.

That was when a familiar figure's shadow had appeared in front of the group. Turning around, they found themselves facing Miracle Matter._**  
**_

"Speaking of Miracle Matter..." Flyer trailed. "Looks like it's here."

Miracle Matter wasted no time in giving the heroes a chance to continue talking and transformed into what resembled a green, crescent-shaped razor covered in moving spikes with small crescents behind. It dove into the asteroid ring and charged directly at them.

"Uh oh… Run for it, guys!" Chopper stepped back away from Miracle Matter and made a run for it. Everyone else started to run as well, successfully out-speeding the enemy. Flyer turned his head and was shocked to see Miracle Matter cutting through the ring.

"Oh my gosh... Is something like that even possible?!" Flyer gaped.

"Hey! Who cares whether its possible!" Tamber yelled, stopping to face the enemy. "I ain't running from some freak! We're going to take it down!"

"Tamber, I think you make a good point..." Chopper realized, stopping and turning around to face Miracle Matter. "We followed this thing anyway! We should be able to take it down!"

"Poyo! (Yeah! We gotta take this thing down!)" Kirby agreed, he and the rest of the group getting in a fighting stance.

Miracle Matter had stopped in its tracks and floated off the ground, transforming back into its icosahedron form.

**Tattle: **_That's Miracle Matter, a weird, icosahedron being with many red eyes. It sure looks like a freak. Max HP is 350, Attack is 18, and Defense is 2. Miracle Matter is a unique boss in a way because it can change into seven different forms! Yeesh! That's a lot! His forms are Fire, Ice, Spark, Stone, Bomb, Needle and Cutter. Each form has about 50 HP. Whenever it's in that form, only an ability of that form can hurt it. Not to mention Miracle Matter's own attacks can be inhaled back at it. Try to remember that, OK? If you try striking it with any other form, it won't do any good. Yeah, it's pretty complicated...  
_

"OK... So this is going to be pretty annoying... I have to use the same ability against it in order to hurt Miracle Matter..." Chopper groaned, watching Miracle Matter transform into a fireball with a yellow core. Chopper smiled, conjuring up a fireball and hurling it at the enemy.

"Well, if fire works against Miracle Matter, then maybe my attacks will work," Vivian sank into the shadows and rose up in front of Miracle Matter. Her Shade Fist, to her surprise, managed to damage it.

Miracle Matter floated above Chopper and made fire rain down upon him, taking 18 out of him. But Chopper simply took it as a scratch and tossed a fireball at Miracle Matter again. Vivian punched Miracle Matter again, bringing its Fire form down to 18 HP. Annoyed, Miracle Matter switched back to its cutter form and struck Chopper with its blades.

"Oof!" Chopper cringed from the hit, but it didn't let that stop him. He changed to his Cutter ability and tossed a cutter blade at Miracle Matter, damaging it severely. "It's a good thing I can switch to these abilities!"

"Yeah, or else we'd be toast," Sonic admitted after striking Miracle Matter with a Homing Attack. In retaliation, it struck Sonic by charging into him. He managed to guard it and land another Homing Attack, considering that charging into it would be too risky. Once Chopper threw his cutter blade at Miracle Matter, it transformed into a bubble that split and hit Chopper. Upon impact, the bubble exploded.

"What the… What kind of form is that?" Bombette asked.

"It appears to be its bomb form..." Flyer deduced.

"Hey, that's nice for me!" Bombette smirked, letting Chopper change to his Bomb ability and throw a bomb at Miracle Matter. With that, she charged into the bubble enemy and exploded, taking 8 out of it.

Chopper brought his fists up as he readied himself to guard Miracle Matter's attack. Another bubble struck him, but it didn't appear to faze him too much.

"Here I thought bubbles would be dangerous..." Chopper trailed, pulling out a bomb. "But it doesn't seem like it."

He threw the bomb straight at Miracle Matter, followed by Bombette's Bomb, bringing its bomb form down to 18 HP. They were expecting it to change, but surprisingly, Miracle Matter didn't. It just summoned another explosive bubble that hit Bombette.

"Not changing? Well, I guess this is it for this form." Chopper pulled out a larger bomb and threw it Miracle Matter. "OK, Bombette! Finish this form off!"

"Got it!" Bombette rushed toward Miracle Matter, and with one explosion, she destroyed its Bomb form. This had caused a slight explosion from Miracle Matter, making it transform back into its multi-eyed form, and then into its fire form. It showed no mercy and created a column of fire on Bombette, leaving her with a burn. "Ugh! No fair!"

"Yeah! That was cheap!" Scrub scowled.

"Well... I guess it's time for me to change to my Fire ability." Chopper changed to Fire Chopper and used his Fire Breath on Miracle Matter.

"Hmmmmm... Maybe I should try out my Fire Wall technique?" Vivian pondered. "It's not something I've used..."

"Give it a try!" Heartsy suggested, giving her an encouraging nod. Vivian nodded in response, and turned to Miracle Matter with her hands glowing a flaming color. Thrusting the palms of her hands forward, she had created a large wall of fire that was moving in Miracle Matter's direction. The attack managed to deal 12 damage, along with destroying Miracle Matter's fire form and turning it back to its icosahedron form. However, the big difference was that there were less red eyes on the enemy.

"I suppose the less amount of eyes indicates how much damage we did to him," Flyer said as Miracle Matter transformed into an orange, eight-sided star.

"Oh, goody… He's changed again." Tamber groaned.

A spike protruded from Miracle Matter struck Chopper, removing his Fire ability. "Ow! ...Well, I guess losing my ability wasn't exactly bad. Fire wouldn't be any good!"

Chopper changed to his Needle ability and struck Miracle Matter with his needles protruding from his helmet. Thankfully, a small thorn was left on the ground, so Kirby inhaled it and spat it at Miracle Matter, dealing 10 damage.

Miracle Matter struck Kirby with spikes this time, but it didn't stop him from inhaling more spikes and spitting them out at it. When Chopper used another needle attack, he brought the enemy down to 14 HP.

"Poyo! (This form's almost down!)" Kirby cheered.

However, Miracle Matter had decided to switch forms instead, transforming into a brown rock. It dropped onto the ring and began to roll around, crushing everyone in its path. Along with that, it had knocked away Chopper's Needle ability. He shrugged it off and changed to his Stone ability to hit Miracle Matter as a rock.

"Heh heh! This is a perfect opportunity for me!" Tamber grinned as he lifted a large boulder and hurled it at Miracle Matter, taking 10 out of it. Rather than rolling over the group, Miracle Matter floated above him and crushed him, leaving him flat like paper. "Ugh... I'm OK..."

When he finally got up, he got another boulder and threw it at Miracle Matter, and then Chopper became a stone again and crushed the rock enemy. What was even better was that he was able to Superguard Miracle Matter's roll, making it take 1 damage. Chopper and Tamber then repeated their previous attacks, and Miracle Matter's stone form was destroyed.

"YEAH! Take that, you...whatever the heck you are!" Tamber cheered.

Miracle Matter changed to its Cutter form and gave Tamber a shave. Well, not necessarily a shave, but it managed to hurt Tamber. Chopper changed to his Cutter ability and threw his cutter blade at Miracle Matter, and Sonic finished the form off with a Homing Attack.

"That's four forms down!" Sonic smirked. "We're pretty good at this!"_**  
**_

With that, Miracle Matter changed to its Needle form and struck Chopper with one of the spikes.

"Uh oh... I'm getting low on HP. I might as well heal myself." Chopper pulled out a Rainbow Master that he still had and ate it, recovering 200 HP and FP in a second. "Ahhhh… Much better!"

"Poyo! (I'll focus on hitting Miracle Matter, OK?)" Kirby inhaled one of the spikes and spat it out at Miracle Matter's needle form. This made it fire a spike at Kirby. Chopper, however, stepped in the way and used his Superguard to stop the attack. He then aimed his helmet at Miracle Matter and shot needles at it, destroying its needle form, turning it back into its icosahedron form.

"Miracle Matter's close to being destroyed…" Vivian stated, seeing less red eyes.

"Only two more forms left!" Chopper smiled**_._**Miracle Matter then transformed into an ice cube with shards of ice surrounding it.

"Poyo! (I got it!)" Kirby inhaled one of the ice shards and spat it out at Miracle Matter. Unfortunately, he got hit by one of the icicles that the dark monster fired upon him.

"I guess it's just me and Kirby for this part…" Chopper stated as he switched to his Ice ability. "Luckily I have my Ice ability."

He spewed out icy breath at Miracle Matter, while Kirby inhaled another shard and spat it out at the monster. Miracle Matter fired one of its ice shards at Chopper, who proceeded to guard it. Afterward, he ice skated over to Miracle Matter and unleashed his Ice Storm on it. After Kirby inhaled one of the shards and struck Miracle Matter with it, it was down to 2 HP.

Luckily, Chopper finished the job with one Superguard and an ice ball, destroying Miracle Matter's ice form. Having only one more form left and 50 HP, Miracle Matter transformed into its spark form.

"This is the form we saw before it took us out, right?" Heartsy inquired.

"Correct. Perhaps I can be of assistance." Flyer pulled out his arm cannon and used his Shocker attack on Miracle Matter. It appeared to be quite effective. "Well, so it does work!"

Miracle Matter shot a beam of spark energy at Chopper, stripping him of his Ice ability. However, since he didn't need it, Chopper changed to his Plasma ability and fired a Plasma Needle at Miracle Matter. Flyer's Shocker helped bring it down to 26 HP. Miracle Matter tried firing enough electric spark, but Chopper managed to Superguard it and then fire a powerful Plasma Blast that dealt 12 damage, bringing it down to 14 HP.

Miracle Matter floated above Flyer and fired a bolt of electricity at him, dealing 18 damage. That didn't stop Chopper from firing another Plasma Needle. With that, Flyer finished the fight by firing another electric projectile from his arm cannon. Miracle Matter's defeat had given Chopper enough Star Points to upgrade his FP to 195.

Turning their attention back to Miracle Matter, it began to shake violently in pain until it finally let off an explosion.

"Well, looks like that takes care of Miracle Matter," Chopper smiled, turning away. Unfortunately, he was completely unaware of the explosion being as powerful as he had thought, and after hearing explosions from the asteroid, he turned back to the destroyed Miracle Matter. "Uh... Run, guys!"

They all turned and fled from the explosions, but they were not fast enough. The asteroid exploded, and everyone was sent flying away from the asteroid. Looking back, they noticed the Asteroid Ring started to blow up.

"Whoa... Talk about lucky!" Sonic gaped, he and the others flying through space in the same pace as being fired from the Halberd's cannon. "Good thing we weren't caught in that!"

"If we were in the base, I'd hypothesize that we would've been destroyed..." Flyer deduced.

"Well, it's you and the puffball's fault that we're caught flying in space again!" Tamber yelled, giving the two a glare.

"Us? Why?" Chopper questioned.

"You guys finished off that freak! You caused that explosion!"

"Hey! That thing was going to destroy us! And it was evil!"

"Guys! Stop it!" Heartsy intervened, trying to get in between the two. "What's important is that we're still alive…albeit we're flying through space, which COULD be a bit of a problem for us…"

"Yeah..." Shadower sighed. "Well, better than dying. But, I guess the Crystal Star wasn't there..."

On the topic of the Crystal Star, everyone turned their attention back to the environment around them, seeing if there were any signs of the star. Unfortunately, all they found were stars in the distance not resembling the Dark Star. At this point, they could only wait for something interesting.

Chopper felt like this was going to be a long and boring ride.

* * *

**It's kind of a shame that I never mention the Ghost ability's...ability to eat other ghosts and change in appearance to it after this. Maybe when I write another story with that ability, I should put it in. Also, that was indeed the last time we'll ever see another one of those questionnaire Thwomps. I thought it was fitting that I'd put the last one in Chapter 19, considering that in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the last Thwomp is in Chapter 7 (the second-to-last chapter).**

**But with that, Miracle Matter is finally defeated! Perhaps now we might get to that Crystal Star? Right? ...Ri- *shot***

**Anyway, expect a certain someone to return from a couple of chapters ago!  
**


	133. One Last Race on Rainbow Road

Fifteen minutes had passed since they had escaped from the Asteroid Ring's explosion, but the heroes failed to find any sign of the Crystal Star. What made things worse for them was that they were now moving at a much slower pace.

"Oh, man... We're going way too slow." Sonic frowned.

"Well, this is nice! Now we're floating here in space for all eternity!" Tamber growled. "This is all your fault, puffball!"

"MY fault?!" Chopper guffawed. "I'd rather be here than in that explosion! We would've been...well, we wouldn't be alive, that's for sure."

"Well I don't want to spend my time floating in space for eternity..." Bombette trailed.

"I don't either..." Heartsy agreed, slowly inching to Chopper. "But, I wouldn't mind spending eternity with Choppy."

"Errr... Well, being here with you guys isn't so bad. I'd rather be stuck here with people I trust instead of my enemies." Chopper mentioned, making everyone smile.

"Yeah... I wouldn't mind that either." Vivian agreed.

"Hmmmmm... Hold on, perhaps I could see if there's anything nearby." Flyer pulled out his scanning device and scanned the area around them. Everyone looked at him with hopeful expressions, but the Wingel slowly frowned from his results. "There isn't anything around... Sorry, guys."

Mario: Oh, no...

Everyone's faces fell with gloom, any sense of hope finally lost. Perhaps they would be stuck here for eternity or until they died... Vivian, especially, did not like that.

"Hey, Chopper..." Vivian trailed, turning to him. "Maybe I could tell you one last thing if this is how we're supposed to be stuck here."

"Really? What is it?" Chopper wondered, appearing curious.

"Well... I've been having this strange feeling for you ever since we first became friends. It wasn't like that much at first, but it started to grow throughout our adventure. And it's also something I can't stop thinking about..."

"You can't stop thinking about it? Well, I guess it's all right if you want to let it out..."

"OK... Thanks." Vivian said, feeling a bit more confident. "Chopper, I think I'm starting to-"

"Wait a moment!" Flyer exclaimed, cutting Vivian off. "Perhaps...there is an idea! Though, I'm not sure if it'll be so successful."

"Well spill it!" Tamber demanded.

"OK OK! I was thinking about Chopper and Kirby summoning their Warp Stars over here."

"But... Kirby said the Warp Stars can't-"

"I know, but I feel like it's our only option," Flyer interjected. "...My apologies for interrupting you, Chopper."

"Poyo! (But the Warp Stars will get destroyed!)" Kirby noted. "Poyo! (We don't know how far we are, and chances are it'll explode!)"

After Chopper translated what Kirby said, Flyer replied, "It's either that, or we're stuck here forever, Kirby. Personally, I'd choose the former."

"Normally I wouldn't agree to something like this, but I think this is our only bet at getting anywhere," Chopper said.

Kirby eventually let out a sigh and gave Flyer a nod. He made a sharp whistle, along with Chopper, and they began to wait patiently.

After a moment, they noticed a shimmering light coming from the distance, and they resembled Warp Stars as well.

"Heads up, Contadre! I see the Warp Stars coming this way!" warned Scrub.

"Huh?" Chopper turned to where Scrub was pointing and he saw two Warp Stars heading their way. "OK! Let's get ready!"

When the Warp Stars had finally approached them, Chopper and Kirby managed to grab a hold of them and stop them in their tracks. Everyone else joined the two on their respective star and quickly took off.

"Whew! Finally! Now we're getting somewhere!" Tamber sighed.

As they traveled, the group, of course, could not help but gaze at the stars.

"These stars almost sound like they're making a song as they twinkle," Vivian remarked with a smile. Sonic had listened in onto the stars, and he too heard then twinkle a song.

"Hey, your right! ...Though, the song sounds kinda familiar." Sonic recalled. "Something about not mattering or something?"

"Wait, you find this song familiar?" Chopper gawked.

"Yeah, I swear… Do you always have that feeling you're suddenly hearing music in the background, as if you're being watched? I've been hearing that for years..."

"Hmmmm... Now that I think about it..."

"Do you think the stars are trying to tell us something?" Heartsy asked. Chopper merely shrugged. "Oh, I guess it was just me."

As they flew on, they noticed its brightness was slowly starting to dim away. Kirby was the first to notice, and he let out a sigh.

"Poyo... (This isn't good...)" Kirby frowned.

"Huh? What's up?" Chopper asked until he looked down at his own Warp Star. "Oh... That's what."

Their Warp Stars had finally become dull enough for them to explode, sending them flying forward in the process.

"What was that all about?!" Tamber asked angrily. "Did they suddenly explode?!"

"Poyo! (That's why bringing these here was a bad idea!)" Kirby explained.

"On the plus side, we're going much faster," Shadower said, brightening the mood a bit. "But hold onto your hats, guys!"

"Speaking of hats..." Scrub started, turning to Vivian. "You never showed us what's under your hat."

"My hat? N-No! It's not a good idea!" Vivian stammered.

"What? Come on! I just want to see!"

"Only Chopper knows what I look like under my hat..."

"Really?" Scrub turned his attention to Chopper. "Hey, Contadre! You know what she looks like without her hat?"

"Honestly... I don't remember." Chopper frowned.

"Oh... Well that stinks." Scrub crossed his arms and let out a huff. "Man, I'd do anything to get to that Crystal Star!"

"Crystal Star, you say?"

Everyone was at a sudden halt when they were surrounded by a purple, bubble-like barrier. They were then taken up to a blue and purple orb covered in white stars.

"What's going on here?" Chopper gawked. "And who are you?"

"Relax! Relax…" the orb assured. "I don't mean any harm! But, I overheard someone said that they wanted to get to a Crystal Star, correct?"

"Yup! That's me!" Scrub stepped in. "I really want to get to that Crystal Star! ...And maybe I'd like to see what's under Vivian's hat, too!"

"Wh-What?!" Vivian shrieked.

"Really? You so you would like to find its location?" the orb asked.

"Poyo... (I don't trust this thing...)" Kirby trailed, giving the orb a suspicious look. "Poyo... (It looks kinda familiar to me...)"

"Yeah, I agree with Kirby," Chopper nodded. "Scrub, I wouldn't trust this…thing. We JUST met this thing, and you want help from it?"

"Relax, small one, for I am not your enemy," the orb assured. "My name is Dreamstar. I am a roaming star that has the power to grant wishes. Since you were lucky to find me, I shall grant any wish you desire!"

"Well, we were told of many dangerous foes out here. I don't see any reason to trust you."

"Hey! He said we could probably get to that Crystal Star!" Tamber yelled. "Why not just listen to this thing this once?"

"Oh ho ho ho! Yes, your friend is right. I can take you to the Crystal Star."

"Hmmmmm…" Chopper pondered for a little while. "All right... I guess you can take us to the Crystal Star."

"Then you must want to go to Rainbow Road then," the orb said. "Coincidentally, I had planned on going there myself. I shall bring you there first, since you are in a bit of a hurry."

"Wait, what do you-" Before Chopper could finish, he and his friends had flung toward another direction.

"Enjoy the ride..." the orb grinned.

* * *

**Eight minutes later-**

At this point, Chopper found himself tumbling in midair as the group were sent flying at incredible speeds. But, they did manage to get a glimpse of a floating road not too far ahead. As they got closer, it appeared to resemble a road with the colors of the rainbow.

"Is that Rainbow Road?" Chopper asked.

Mario: It sure looks like it!

"I still would've liked to see what was under Vivian's hat..." Scrub pouted.

"I'm sure there are much more important things than seeing what's under her hat," Flyer mentioned.

"...Yeah, I guess you're right."

"For now, we should prepare ourselves to…" Flyer ended up hitting the rainbow ground before he could finish his sentence. "…land."

"Well, that was nice…" moaned Chopper, slowly getting himself up. Looking at the road itself, it was massive. There were also railings in the shape of stars as well. "Wow! This place is huge!"

"And here I thought I'd seen bigger roads than this," Tamber gawked.

"All righty…" Chopper took a deep breath and looked at the two ways to go. "I'm not so sure where to go?"

Mario: What about the map?

Chopper suddenly realized that, and he took out the Magical Map with a hopeful look.

"Let's see here… The Crystal Star is…" Chopper paused and looked baffled by his results. "The Crystal Star doesn't give a specific location..."

"What? Let me take a look." Flyer took the Magical Map from Chopper and studied it. "Well, from the looks of this, I think the Dark Star didn't move because Starlite Galaxy is just too big. Finding something on a small portion of a map is not easy."

"Wait, so what you're saying is that…"

"Yes, the Crystal Star could still be here!" Flyer pressed a black button on his scanner. "Luckily, I happen to have something that can detect dark objects. The Crystal Star – or in the correct term, the Dark Star, is most likely something I can detect within the vicinity."

"Hey, that's not a bad idea! Give it a try!"

"All right, here it goes!" Flyer turned moved the scanner around, and he seemed to be getting a signal coming from the left. "I'm picking something up from the left!"

"Yes! Finally!" Scrub exclaimed, doing a fist pump. "It took us long enough! ...But there's one thing that Dreamstar didn't do."

"What?"

"It never let me see what was under Vivian's hat!"

"Scrub, please..." Vivian trailed. "Can we just get to the Crystal Star already?"

"Yeah, I'd definitely like to do that," Bombette said. "That's a lot more important than a hat... No offense, Vivian."

"But come on! I bet she looks cool underneath it!" Scrub exclaimed.

"But... I can't show my face to people of the opposite gender." Vivian mentioned. "It might cause...horrible things."

"Is it because you're ugly?" Tamber asked.

"Come on, let's just stop, all right?" Chopper sighed. "You're making Vivian feel uncomfortable, and that's not something I want everyone to feel. Let's go look for that star!"

He quickly took off to the left, along with Flyer, Kirby, Mario and Sonic. Eventually the others had followed behind, with Vivian being last. The two other girls had noticed her trailing behind and brought their attention to her.

"So, you said that only people of the opposite gender can't see what you look like under that hat, right?" Bombette inquired.

"Yeah..." Vivian nodded.

"I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, but you wouldn't mind showing us what's under your hat, right?"

"We won't tell anyone," Heartsy promised.

"Well... I suppose I could..." Vivian trailed, grabbing a hold of her hat. "OK... Here it goes."

She lifted her hat off her head, revealing her beautiful eyes from underneath. Well, at least one of her eyes anyway. Bombette and Heartsy gazed at them in awe.

"Whoa..." Bombette commented.

"I don't see anything wrong with them," Heartsy remarked. "Why do you hide them when they're not a big issue?"

"Because if someone of the opposite gender had stared into them, they would be caught in a trance," Vivian explained. "It's some sort of paralysis spell or something... And keeping my eyes revealed wouldn't be good for the team."

"I can understand what you mean," Bombette assured. "If anyone tries to take off your hat, I'll take care of them!"

"I'd rather you not," Vivian objected as she put her hat back on. "I don't like the idea of hurting people for that... The only people who I think deserve to pay are those who've been doing such terrible things."

"Like the Shadow King and Queen?" Heartsy mentioned.

"Mmmmm-hmmmmm," the Shadow Siren nodded. "Anyway, we should go back to the others."

Agreeing, the three made their way back to the group.

* * *

**Up ahead-**

Thankfully, the others had not been too far, and the three had managed to catch up to them without them noticing their disappearance.

"How long do we need to walk through this mess anyway?" Scrub asked.

"I don't know. Whenever we find the Crystal Star, maybe" Chopper sighed. "It's probably going to take us a while to find the Crystal Star here."

"Yeah… Most likely." agreed Flyer, pulling out his darkness detector, but he noticed something different about it. "What the… Guys, something weird is going on here."

Mario: What is it?

"I'm picking something up ahead. ...Wait, is it moving? Uh oh... I think it's coming this way!" Flyer started to hear the sound of a motor running. _**"…GET OUT OF THE WAY!**_"

"Huh?" Up ahead, Chopper saw a vehicle resembling a motorcycle coming their way. "Guys! Move!"

He and the others jumped out of the way before the vehicle could hit them. After it passed them, it came to a sudden halt and faced the group.

"Ah! Finally! We meet again, Contadre! It's been a while, hasn't it, kid?"

Looking ahead, Chopper saw a familiar red chicken on his Hovercycle. "Moe Hawk? What are you doing here?! In fact… HOW did you even get here?"

"Well, after what happened back on that aquarium planet, I decided to go back to that repair store and get this bad boy upgraded!" Moe Hawk explained, revving his Hovercycle. "Now she can fly through space with no problem! Not to mention I overheard you were goin' into space, so I tried followin' you here!"

"…_Stalker,_" Heartsy mumbled.

"Hey! I heard that!"

"I don't care if you heard it or not."

"Whatever... But anyway… I know what you're lookin' for, so I decided to snatch it on this road. Don't believe me? Well, then check this out!"

Moe Hawk pulled out a black Crystal Star from his pocket, making everyone gasp.

Mario: The Crystal Star!

"Har har har har! This is the last one ya need, right?"

"Poyo! (Yeah!)" Kirby nodded.

"Don't think I'm goin' to give it to ya so easily! This is Moe Hawk you're talkin' to!" Moe Hawk had a grin that looked very suspicious. "Well... On one condition."

"And that condition is...?" Flyer started, raising an eyebrow.

"Well…" Moe Hawk began while balancing the Dark Star on his finger. "I was thinkin' we could have one last race, Contadre! I'm sick of you always beatin' me in the previous races due to stupid luck, an' I feel that this place has nothin' standin' in our way! No stupid trees to hit me, no battleships, an' no water! Just a racetrack! So, here's the deal: if you beat me by going around Rainbow Road three times, I'll give you the Crystal Star. What do ya say?"

"So…" Chopper trailed. "If I lose, do I still get the Crystal Star?"

Moe Hawk gave him a blank look. "No. I'll just throw you outta here. Also, you gotta admit that I'm faster an' better than you."

"Wait... Really? So you just care about being better than me rather than have the universe be saved? You should see my home planet! It's a nightmare!"

"Why should I care? I just want to make sure you get MOOOOOOE'D!

"If anyone's going to be getting MOE'D, it's you!" Chopper challenged, pointing a finger at him.

Moe Hawk began to snicker. "Really? You really think that yer gonna beat ME?! HA! I'd like to see you try, kid!"

"Well, considering that I beat you before, I think I'll have no problem," Chopper whistled for his Warp Star and jumped on it when it arrived. "Wait... This thing could explode like before."

"Let me look at the Warp Star real quick." Flyer inspected the Warp Star to see if it would explode or not. He then scanned it and came with positive results. "It looks like the Warp Star is compatible with this place. You should be fine on that thing. ...At least, for now."

"Good! That's all I needed to know!"

"Who really cares what it does," Moe Hawk retorted. "All I wanna do right now is race race RACE!"

"All right! Calm down! Sheesh!" Chopper groaned, staring at the racetrack. "You know… Now that I think about it, this place reminds me of Rainbow Path back in Star Haven. Only this place is a racetrack... And that place is huge. I wonder if this place is any bigger."

"If I was there, I'd be able to give you an answer," Shadower said.

"Oh... Right.

"Hey! Are you done talkin', or are ya gonna just stand there an' watch me win the race?!" Moe Hawk exclaimed, getting the young Star Warrior's attention.

"Oh. Right! I'll get back to business…" Chopper nodded as he readied his Warp Star to the left. "I suppose we'll be going this direction, will we not?"

"Yeah, sure... You can decide on that. It ain't gonna help ya win, that's for sure!"

"Yeesh, this guy has a bigger ego than me," Sonic scoffed aside.

"Good! Now that we have that taken care of…" Moe Hawk revved his Hovercycle and went beside Chopper. "Get ready… Get set... Hey, Contadre, what's that over there?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Chopper questioned, turning to the direction Moe Hawk was pointing. Snickering, the red chicken took off, leaving Chopper in the dust.

"Chopper! He already took off!" Flyer exclaimed.

"What?" Chopper looked back where Moe Hawk was and was baffled. "Hey! No fair!"

Wasting no time, he took off after Moe Hawk.

"That cheater!" Heartsy grumbled, clenching her fists. "Who does he think he is, trying to cheat like that?"

"You know, I'll admit, that was a pretty dirty move," Tamber agreed.

"Huh... That's surprising to hear that come from you." Shadower remarked.

"Well... Errr... It's only 'cause I'm the only one who can pull off dirty moves on that stupid puffball!"

"Sure..."

While Tamber was having another fit, Flyer had watched the two racers move further from them. "Let's hope Chopper wins this... If not, then this is going to be a problem for us. We might not get much done because of Moe Hawk."

"Poyo, (I have hope in him,)" Kirby assured.

* * *

**Over by the two racers-**

Thankfully, Chopper had managed to catch up to Moe Hawk on his Warp Star. What made things even better for him was when he passed him, leaving Moe Hawk surprised.

_"What? He's caught up already?"_ Moe Hawk thought with a surprised look.

Chopper looked back at the angry bird and couldn't help but make a face at him. "Ha ha! You thought you could could beat me by cheating, but I'm already beating you!"

"Heh heh heh… Oh, not for long, kid!" Moe Hawk grinned as he began to switch gears. The back of his Hovercycle had rockets that allowed him to move incredibly fast. With them, he immediately flew past Chopper in a blink of an eye. Chopper was left spinning around like crazy as a result.

"Eep! What the heck was that?!" Chopper gaped, finally stopping himself from spinning. "Well, I can't let Moe Hawk beat me like this! I gotta make this thing go a lot faster!"

Chopper activated the booster on his Warp Star, and he was already speeding up like crazy. Although it wasn't fast enough to catch up to Moe Hawk, it allowed him to fly through a loop and a corkscrew that were in the way.

"Don't think you're going to be winning this, Moe!" Chopper declared, narrowing his eyes upon seeing Moe Hawk up ahead. He decided to look behind him, but upon seeing Chopper, he was surprised at first. However, he noticed him get further behind, changing his look to a grin.

"Har har har! Looks like ya can't catch up to me!" Moe Hawk cackled.

"If only there was something that could make this thing go a bit faster..." Chopper sighed, realizing that if he kept this up, he wouldn't get anywhere. To his luck, however, Moe Hawk happened to accidentally drop something that not only looked delicious, but familiar to Chopper. "Is that…an Invincibility Candy?"

Without hesitation, he inhaled the delicious lollipop, and before he knew it, his Warp Star was going already catching up Moe Hawk's Hovercycle.

"What the…!" Moe Hawk spun around like crazy when Chopper passed him. "Grrrrr! That little...! How did he… Wait a second..." Checking his bag, he noticed something missing. "Oh, crud! Don't tell me that I dropped that lollipop! Grrrrrr!"

"Woo hoo! Now I'm back in the lead!" Chopper cheered, feeling a huge burst of energy in himself as well.

"Argh! There's no way I'm goin' to let Contadre get ahead of me! I still have a little something that'll give me a hand!" Moe Hawk smirked, pulling out a can of beans. "These 'Beans in a Can' will surely give me what I need to propel myself ahead of Contadre! …I just need to adjust my position in order to use them properly.

He opened the can with one of the spikes on his wrist and dumped all of the beans in his mouth. After swallowing them, bent down and made sure his behind was pointing in the opposite direction he was facing.

"Bombs away!" Moe Hawk yelled, gaining a boost of speed from the flames bursting out from his...behind. "WOO HOO! MAN! I never knew these beans would make me speed up so easily! Plus, it's making my belly feel much better!"

"Huh?" Chopper saw Moe Hawk speed past him with through his strange propelling ability he had recently gained. Thankfully, he got a grip on his Warp Star and proceeded, but seeing the incredible speed he was going surprised him. "Whoa! What the heck was that? ...And were there flames shooting out from his butt?"

The group watched Moe Hawk and Chopper pass them. Most of them were annoyed with the chicken being in the lead, obviouely.

"C'mon, Choppy! You can beat that chicken!" Heartsy cheered.

"Show him who's..." Scrub paused and sniffed the air. "Hey... What is that smell?"

"Looks like someone's been eating beans…" Bombette groaned.

"Beans? ...Whew! It really does stink here!" Sonic remarked, wafting the air around him before turning his attention back to the race. "C'mon, Chop! Don't let this guy beat you so easily! You can beat him!"

"I'm trying as best as I can! Sheesh!" Chopper put some more juice in his Warp Star by kicking it twice before moving faster.

As for Moe Hawk, things had been going well for him, but the flames had slowly wore out, causing him to slow down. Instead of the sound of flames, there were now small squeaks.

"Great... Well, looks like I'm all out of that." Moe Hawk pouted. "Then again, my belly hasn't felt any better! But I ain't done with that kid just yet!"

He pulled out a rocket launcher and he turned around to face Chopper. "Yo, Contadre! Taste missiles!"

He shot missiles at the Warp Star, but Chopper managed to avoid them with ease.

"Hey! Why are you using missiles against me?! That's not fair!" Chopper yelled as he kicked in some more juice. Once he got to Moe Hawk, he bumped into him at his side.

"Oi! Oh, now you're gonna pay!" Moe Hawk bumped into Chopper again, nearly making his Warp Star go spinning again. "Next time, don't try to do somethin' like that! 'Cause I'll make sure you get hurt!"

"I've gotten hurt many, MANY times! I'm sure I can take anything you throw at me!" Chopper challenged, glaring at Moe Hawk.

"Oh, all right! See if you can take care of this!" Moe Hawk pulled out a pellet gun and shot a ton of pellets at his face. Chopper closed his eyes tightly, trying to take on all of the pellets. Moe Hawk could see some tears starting to form up, but Chopper tried his best to hold them off.

"You're not going to stop me!" the Star Warrior declared, wiping the tears away and smashing his Warp Star into Moe Hawk's Hovercycle, making it go out of control.

"Whoa!" Moe Hawk gaped as he was losing control. He tried to maintain control, but unfortunately, the Hovercycle ended up crashing into one of the railings. "Dang it! Not again!"

"Does this mean I win?" Chopper asked.

"Heck no! My Hovercycle ain't destroyed! It can endure a lot more than before, that's for sure!"

"Oh... Well, I don't know what to say about that."

"Well why don't you just hold still!" Moe Hawk suggested, getting his club out. "I've got a Warp Star to take care of!"

Chopper managed to take off immediately before Moe Hawk could swipe at him and his Warp Star. Luckily, for Chopper, he managed to reach the finish line and was now on his final lap.

"Excellent work, Chopper!" Flyer shouted. "Keep at it, and victory should be ours!"

"You're almost there, Choppy!" Heartsy also shouted. To give him luck, she blew a kiss in his direction.

"Eek! Don't do that!" Chopper cried, being left distracted by the blown kiss. This ended up leading him to crash into the railing, giving Moe Hawk an advantage by passing him.

"Har har har! See you at the finish line!" Moe Hawk chortled.

"Ha ha ha! Nice one, pinky!" Tamber laughed.

"Hey, I didn't intend on making that happen!" Heartsy frowned.

"Well, it was pretty funny."

"Come on, Chopper!" Flyer yelled, seeing Chopper not getting a move on. "Don't just stand there! You can still win this!"

"Ugh... I don't know..." Chopper mumbled. "I mean, did you see what he was doing?"

"Hey! Don't give up like that!" Tamber yelled. "I know taking advice from me is bad, but listen! Don't. Give. UP! You need to get that feeling back in your heart! What MADE you beat that punk before?"

Chopper looked at Tamber in silence. "…All right, Tamber. I think I understand now." Feeling more motivate, he immediately flew off, following Moe Hawk. He kicked in some more juice to make the Warp Star go much faster.

"Har har har! I can't believe I'm winnin' this!" Moe Hawk cackled. "Gettin' this thing upgraded was the best choice I've ever made in a while! I bet Grubba's gonna be proud of me!"

"Not so fast!" Chopper came rushing in and bumped into Moe Hawk's Hovercycle, causing the chicken to lose control briefly and look back.

"AAARGH! What the heck are ya doin', kid?! Are ya tryin' to destroy my awesome ride?"

"Awesome? It looks dumber to me!" Chopper taunted.

"Your vehicle looks a lot dumber than mine! Take this!" Moe Hawk moved to the side to crash into Chopper, but he got out of the way and struck the Hovercycle with a fireball.

"Oh, crud! The thing's overheatin'!" Moe Hawk cried as he began to hop on his Hovercycle to prevent his bottom from getting too hot.

"Here, let me cool it down for you," Chopper shot an ice ball at the Hovercycle, freezing it. When Moe Hawk had finally sat down, he quickly rocketed upward, feeling the intense, freezing temperatures. When he finally landed on his vehicle, he gave a glare.

"Grrrrrrr! Yer gonna pay fer that!" the chicken growled, only to have himself get electrocuted due to the electric ball that hit his Hovercycle.

"And now… One more thing!" Chopper charged up some light energy as they got closer to the finish line. When it was finally charged, he hurled it at Moe Hawk's Hovercycle, causing it to blow into many pieces. Moe Hawk had been sent flying upward in the process as well.

And with just that, Chopper had crossed the finish line.

"Yes! Contadre did it!" Scrub cheered as Chopper leaped off the Warp Star.

"Wow… I...actually won it!" Chopper gaped. "It felt...pretty satisfying!"

As they celebrated their victory, Moe Hawk had finally landed right in front of the finish line headfirst. Groaning, he slowly stood up and was left slack-jawed at the sight before him.

"My… My Hovercycle!" Moe Hawk gaped, seeing his Hovercycle parts lying on the ground. He turned to Chopper with a glare, interrupting their victory. "I can't believe it! You destroyed it AGAIN! Thanks to you, I have NO way of gettin' home! DARN IT!"

Like a toddler unable to get what he wants, Moe Hawk began to stomp the ground angrily while gritting his teeth. Everyone slowly backed away from him.

"Hey! It's not my fault you were trying to hurt me!" Chopper defended, pointing to the marks on his face from Moe Hawk's pellet gun. "You were asking for it!"

"And isn't what you did child abuse?" Sonic pointed out.

"Bah! As if I care about child abuse, you worm! But, now I'm wondering what to do to you guys for bustin' my hot ride!" Moe Hawk growled, approaching them with his club ready. Everyone got in their fighting stances, but the chicken didn't get a chance to approach any further when he heard his communicator going off. Taking it out, he discovered Grubba to be on there. "Oh! Grubba! It's been a while since you've contacted me! Say, how're things goin' in prison?"

_"Hoo-WEE! Boy, as bad as it was back then, I think this place is becomin' one heck of a place!" _Grubba answered._ "All of these criminals I'm talkin' to… They know about me an' I get respect from 'em! …So how're things with you, Moe? Didja finally beat Contadre?"_

"Nope," Chopper replied, getting Grubba's attention. "He lost the race, and he promised me the Crystal Star. So, give it to me, Moe."

Moe pulled out the Crystal Star. "Ya want this?"

"Of course we do," Shadower nodded. "It's important."

"…Well, how about you find it yourself, then!" With a swing of his arm, Moe Hawk threw the Dark Star out of Rainbow Road and off someplace far from them.

"What did you do that for?" Vivian gaped

"Yeah! You know that the universe will be engulfed in darkness if you didn't give that thing to us!" Tamber growled, shaking a fist at Moe. "So why did you do it, punk?!"

"Well, I'm not gonna let some sissies put me down like that!" Moe Hawk answered. "So, I decided to make you pay for your crimes! Har har har har! Good luck finding that thing!"

_"Yeah, you did that and all… But I'm disappointed in you, Moe!" _Grubba scolded, getting Moe Hawk's attention._ "You let yerself lose once again to Contadre! Now I'm startin' to regret tellin' him that he's got the eye of the tiger, 'cause he sure has it!"_

"And I thank you for that," Chopper said proudly, making Grubba glare at him.

"_Listen to me, you slack-jawed antenna brain," _Grubba started. _"Someday I'm gonna be outta this joint, an' when I'm out, I'm gonna take yer energy, an' I'm gonna use it to become unstoppable and reclaim my job! And then I'll take everyone else's energy, too! Hyuck hyuck hyuck!"_

"The depends on if you actually succeed in it or not..."

_"An' as fer you, Moe Hawk… Yer fired!" _

"Fired?" Moe Hawk gawked, as if a mirror had shattered in his mind. Instead of being shameful, however, he grit his teeth and gripped his communicator. "Oh, yeah? Well go ahead! Fire me! You were never that helpful anyway! Why should I listen to a criminal who can't do somethin' himself, huh? Well I shouldn't be! Goodbye, Grubba! I'm through with you!"

_"Hey! How dare you-" _

Moe Hawk shut the communicator off and threw it off the road's railings.

"Well, that's the last time I ever listen to a criminal," Moe Hawk grumbled. When the communicator was far enough, he sighed and hung his head low. "Now how am I supposed to get out of this place without my Hovercycle?"

"Should we do something to help him?" Bombette whispered.

Mario: Oh, yes!

Chopper and the plumber was the first to approach Moe Hawk.

"Are you all right, Moe Hawk?" Chopper asked.

"Oh, I'm fine…" Moe Hawk answered.. "Listen, Contadre… No, not that name. You're name's Chopper, isn't it? Well, listen, Chopper… I apologize for my rude behavior all those times. I'm not really who you think I am."

He took off the spiked cuffs and fixed his Mohawk up a bit. "You see, I was always gettin' picked on by my bro, Rawk Hawk. He'd always give me wedgies or beat me up for no reason."

"Oh, so you're the nerdy brother?" Heartsy wondered.

"NERDY? Oh, heck no! I was pretty tough back then, too!" Moe Hawk declared. "…Just, not as much as my bro. You see, he'd always get everythin' better than me. He became a champ, he got to hang with the cute chicks, an' he always got to brag about it! It felt TERRIBLE always havin' to listen to his big ego! …But then you showed up an' beat Rawk Hawk down to a pulp."

"So… Why did you try to challenge me, then?" Chopper asked.

"Well, it was 'cause I wanted to be tougher. I wanted to show Rawk Hawk that I could be better than him, so I decided to try to challenge you to some races, but it only led to me paying a lot of money for fixin' my Hovercycle. I've lost so much coins 'cause of it."

"I don't know what to say about that..." Chopper trailed, his eyes looking down at the floor. "It's hard to accept someone's apology when they throw something very valuable out into the galaxy…"

"Look, I'm sorry for that. I was just so angry from losin'." Moe Hawk apologized. "Listen, I'll tell you where you can find that star. I heard of this place called **Nocturnane**. It's a giant asteroid with a couple of bases on there. I once stopped by there before comin' here. I think it threw it in that direction. ...Though, I think I also saw some robots and some bases."

"Robots? Do you mean the Phis?" Chopper gasped. "If you threw the Crystal Star there, then Gemerl will get that thing! We can't let them get a hold of it!"

"Poyo, (That'd be pretty bad,)" Kirby added.

"We need to find a way to get over there and fast!" Flyer suggested.

"I know a little way you can take to get outta Rainbow Road," Moe Hawk informed, pointing up ahead. "There's this secret passageway, but it's bein' blocked by some giant, yellow block. If you can break it, then you can find that Crystal Star."

"All right, thanks for telling us, Moe," Chopper nodded.

"Here, maybe I can be of assistance," Flyer said, going over to the broken pieces of the Hovercycle and attempting to fix it up. It didn't take long for him to fix it up, though it didn't look as nice as before. "I managed to fix this thing up, but I don't think it's in perfect condition. But it'll get you through this place, that's for sure!"

"Thanks…" Moe Hawk sniffed loudly. "I didn't know people such as you guys would be this helpful. Maybe one day, I should become a hero."

"Yeah, maybe you should!" Chopper agreed, giving him an encouraging nod. With that, Moe Hawk got on his Hovercycle and began to take off. Everyone started to wave goodbye to him until he was off in the distance.

"I guess that just leaves us, then!" Tamber said, breaking the silence. "So, puffball… Are we going to find that giant asteroid?"

"Of course. What else are we going to do? In fact, let's go look for it." Chopper moved on ahead, with the rest following him. Flyer got his light detector out that he had installed and began to detect any form of light. Of course, Chopper couldn't use light energy, as it would tamper with the gadget. He seemed to be detecting light energy up ahead to the left of the road.

"This way, guys. Come on!" Flyer announced, running on ahead to a curve on Rainbow Road. Rather than turning, they took the other pathway straight ahead, where a large Light Block was in the way.

"I've got this!" Chopper declared, firing light balls rapidly to created a larger one. He thrust his hand forward, and the giant light ball had struck the Light Block, destroying it.

Mario: That was easy!

"I'll say! Now we're gonna be outta here!" Scrub cheered. "...Wait, getting out of here? But this place is kinda cool!"

"I have to agree with you, Scrub," Vivian nodded.

"Wait... What about what's under your-"

Not wasting any time, Chopper grabbed Scrub and dragged him toward the secret rainbow passageway. The others followed him, amused by Scrub's annoyed expression.

"Hey! C'mon, Contadre! I just want to… Oh, forget it." Scrub groaned, crossing his arms.

* * *

**And that's it for Moe Hawk. I was actually considering putting him in Chapter 17, but I didn't think it would work out as well, so this was much better. I also thought this was the best of the races, too, and it gave Moe Hawk a little character development too.**

**Not too much action here in terms of fighting, but we do get back to that next chapter!**


	134. Taking the Secret Passageway

"Ahhhh… This is perfect!" Gemerl grinned, inspecting the bases that the Phis were working on on a large asteroid. "You're doing a nice job, Phis. THIS is what I've been expecting you to be like from the very beginning!"

"But, sir… We're only Master Phis." one Master Phi reminded. "The other ones are more incompetent, remember?"

"Oh. Yes. They are. They couldn't do much to stand up to Chopper, and frankly, I don't have much pity for getting rid of them."

"Errr… What happened, exactly?" another Master Phi asked.

"I sent them to the dump," Gemerl answered, chuckling to himself. "Well, most of them, anyway. Those are just like the other worthless pieces of scrap metal. They lack a brain, just like that fat scientist Eggman!"

"Dr. Eggman? And who is he?"

"A scientist that I once worked for. It was he that had managed to program me into what I have become today. Unfortunately, like most of his inventions, they don't tend to work in his favor." Gemerl laughed. "I bet he was left in horror when he realized that I had decided to borrow one of his machines to create and replicate you all. Such genius."

"And the Crystal Star?" another Master Phi mentioned.

"I wanted to leave Eggman so I wouldn't have to deal with him and his fake mustache. When I heard about the Crystal Stars in another world and its unlimited powers it had, I knew conquering the universe would be so easy! I can regain my ultimate powers, and finally robots shall rule under my command!"

"The Crystal Star can grant you such a thing?"

"What about us?"

"Relax, my robots. I will give you what you desire as soon as I get a hold of that last Crystal Star. When I find Chopper, I'll destroy him and get the rest of his stars. Then… I will be complete! When I'm complete, I can do as I please, and no one can stop me."

"Excuse me, sir…" Just before Gemerl could cackle, a normal Phi flew over to him with a book. "I was just reading through this book, and I had found something interesting about the Crystal Stars."

"What? Where did you find that?"

"Surprisingly, it was buried here. There was a note on it as well. Says it was written by some Meta Knight guy or something."

"Then let me see it" Gemerl swiped the book from the Phi and began to read through it. As he continued, he became more interested in it. "Well... This is very interesting! Perhaps this is something that Grodus knew about... Now I'm interested in bringing those Crystal Stars to a place called the Fountain of Dreams. Surely Chopper does not know of this."

"No, sir, I believe he doesn't."

"Which means he might just give us a hand! But first, we need to find that Crystal Star! So! Phis! Start searching the place immediately! While you do that, I will go out and scan the area for Chopper and his friends!"

"Yes, sir!"

All 632 Phis gave him a salute and they went off searching for the Crystal Star.

Gemerl looked at the bases with an evil grin on his mouthless face. "If you dare to come here, Chopper, go ahead. I'm definitely interested in battling you again."

Cackling, he flew off the asteroid in search of the heroes.

* * *

**Secret passageway-**

"Man, I can't believe we've made it this far already!" Tamber grinned as they walked on the rainbow colored pathway. "We're rocking this place!"

"I can remember the first time I got out from my bed," Chopper recalled. "And that was where it all started..."

"I remember being chased by some pig running a hot dog stand and BAM! You show up and you save me!" Scrub said with emphasis. "Good thing you came in time, Contadre!"

"Yeah. Though, I don't know why a pig was running the hot dog stand. Aren't hot dogs made from-"

"Not to interrupt the conversation or anything, but we need to get going," Shadower cut in.

"Yeah, that's true. C'mon, guys! Let's get a move on!" Chopper made his way up the small rainbow hill that was leading to the road ahead.

"I wonder how long this road is," Heartsy wondered, walking on ahead. "And what do you guys think is here?"

"Hmmmm… I don't know, Heartsy." Chopper replied as he walked up a rainbow stairway before them. "I doubt this road is long. We might be out of here any minute!"

"Poyo! (Actually, these stairs DO lead up somewhere!)" Kirby exclaimed, getting a better view of the top of the stairs. "Poyo! (Look up ahead, Chopper. I see an icy ground!)"

"Really? I don't see the road anywhere!" Chopper said, looking confused. Mario approached him and pointed to where the end of the stairs were. When he went up, he started to notice the ice. "Oh! Now I see it!"

He made a dash up the stairs and to the new road. Unfortunately, he had paid no attention to the ice, and he ended up slipping. Everyone else had to go give him a hand, but when people like Scrub and Tamber got on, they ended up slipping too.

"Stupid ice!" Tamber grumbled, slowly getting up.

"Yeesh, how many times have we run into ice lately?" Scrub asked, pulling himself together.

"With such a slippery place, it's going to be difficult getting through here," Bombette said, obviously frustrated. "This is going to be annoying."

"Relax, Bombette. I think we won't have too much of a problem." Heartsy assured. "After all, we managed to get through previous slippery places! This should be no problem!"

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Sonic grinned, giving a thumbs up. "This should be a piece of cake!"

Shadower gave an assuring nod as well, and then the group began to progress onward. They made sure to be careful of walking, especially since there were some Ztars roaming around the area. On the plus side, there were some bushes with small stars on them too, but they didn't have anything of interest

"Poyo, (I like those bushes,)" Kirby remarked, taking a look at the bush.

"Those stars do make it look very nice," Shadower admitted.

After they defeated the Ztars in their way, they had progressed onward to the next area. Feeling more confident in moving, Chopper began to pick up the pace, but he suddenly felt himself slip again.

"Whoooooa!" Chopper cried, sliding downward this time due to a small hill before them. Grumbling, he slowly got himself up. "How is there ice here anyway?"

"Well, Chopper…" Flyer started, flying over the icy floor. "According to science, it gets colder as you move further away from the sun. Since I do not see any sign of a sun nearby, then it is possible that it is much colder around here."

"All right, Mr. Science Nerd. Thanks for sharing that." Tamber said, not appearing to care.

"I appreciate your honesty..." the Wingel trailed, giving him an irritated look. "But 'nerds' are actually responsible for many important studies and discoveries around the world."

"OK, OK… Let's not get in a hustle here!" Sonic stepped in between Chopper and Flyer and Tamber. "We're not here to fight. Working together helps us a lot better than getting into fights!"

"Yes, I suppose you're correct. Shall we proceed?"

"Uh huh," Chopper nodded, proceeding onward. He made sure to watch his step on the slippery walkway until he reached the next area. There was a large gap in front of him, and it appeared too big for them to cross. However, there was one spot on the ground that appeared to be glowing, which caught Tamber's interest.

Grinning, he stood on top of the glowing spot and began to dig through. Revealed underground was a screw that appeared to be screwed in a little tight. Mario had given Chopper an idea to get on his shoulders, which he obeyed and did so. By spinning, they managed to get the screw off and reveal a couple of glowing spots on the gap.

"Maybe those act like platforms! Let me help you, Choppy!" Heartsy pulled her hammer out and went behind Chopper until she realized the glowing spots were too far. "Oh… I don't think my hammer will reach those."

"Oh... Let me take a look at those spots." Chopper decided, looking over at the closest spot with a ponderous look. "I wonder if fire would affect these."

Conjuring up a fireball, he dropped it on the glowing spot. Revealed underneath it was a Max Shroom.

"Aw, sweet! You got another one of those delicious Shrooms?! Gimme gimme gimme!" Tamber demanded, hands out and begging like a greedy child.

"Sorry, Tamber, but you can't have it. You don't even need this thing! Your HP is already full!" Chopper reminded, using Sonic to grab the Mushroom. He jumped over to another glowing spot with the help of Scrub and hurled a fireball at another glowing spot. Revealed underneath was a blue ! switch.

"Maybe Sonic could get that," Vivian suggested, seeing the range of the switch.

Sonic gave a nod, and Chopper went behind him again when he was curled in a ball. Chopper kicked him at the switch, causing a whole new area to appear within the background.

"Hey, we haven't seen those kinds of areas in a while..." Shadower realized.

A green pipe appeared back on the platform, and one appeared in the background as well. Knowing what he had to do, Chopper jumped into the pipe to go into the background. He had found a large Light Block acting as a platform ahead, so he jumped over the pit and onto the platform, making sure not to destroy it. There were also a few moving, green platforms as well moving vertical and horizontal. He had to time his jumps perfectly to avoid falling into the spacey abyss.

It was even more tedious with the platform when he came across some rainbow platforms in the next area. They would fade away for about a second, but they would eventually reappear for much longer. Thankfully, there were some solid, green platforms to stay on, and there was even one where a blue ! block was ahead.

Once he reached the block, he struck it underneath with his fist, causing some shaking around him. Curious, he returned to the previous area and found a tall platform with a railing above it. He returned to the group, feeling pretty exhausted.

"OK... That was pretty annoying..." Chopper sighed. "So...much...platforming..."

"I don't wanna ruin your rest, but there's still something up there," Sonic mentioned, pointing to the platform above. Chopper groaned and used his Spring Jump to launch up and grab the railing. When he made sure he was over the platform, he dropped onto it, only to realize that it looked all too familiar.

"Hey, wait a second... This is a paper airplane panel!"

"WHAT?!" Scrub yelled.

"YOU GUYS GOTTA COME UP HERE! THERE'S A PAPER AIRPLANE PANEL!"

"Well, let's go check it out," Flyer suggested, making his way up to the panel. Others helped those who couldn't fly up to the panel, and they were left in surprise by it. Chopper transformed into a paper airplane, and everyone got in. He started to glide to the other side where solid ground was and transformed back into himself. There happened to be a Save Block near the pathway ahead.

After hitting it, Chopper and his friends moved on ahead. It wasn't too big, but the icy floor had finally disappeared, and the floor appeared to be a dark purple. Not only that, but a familiar face was there, as if it was waiting for them.

"Ah! So nice of you to show up!" Dreamstar greeted. "So you made it here after all!"

"We sure did," Scrub nodded, approaching the orb. "So, why are you here anyway?"

"Well... I always wanted to come back here ever since the great battle..."

"Great battle? What do you mean?" Flyer asked.

"It was a time when my minions had invaded Starlite Galaxy in order to conquer it, only for the Star Warriors and Galaxy Soldiers to step in. Sadly, it turned out to be a draw in the end..."

"Minions? Wait a second..." Chopper paused, pondering over this. "Hey, Flyer... Have you ever scanned Dreamstar before?"

"I never thought of that before..." Flyer replied, taking out his scanner and scanning the orb. "Huh... It doesn't give any information about this thing."

"Then something's not right here," Heartsy said, looking at Dreamstar suspiciously. "Just who are you?"

"Hey, ball thing! What the heck are you doing here?" Chopper asked.

"I thought this might happen," Dreamstar said, acting more sinister than before. "I had planned on destroying you all anyway, so there's no point in hiding my real identity. My name is Nightmare! I am the mighty conqueror who corrupted the Fountain of Dreams and had all the Star Warriors eliminated! And now I have finally made my return!"

"Poyo! (I knew there was something up with him!)" Kirby realized. "Poyo?! (But how did he come back?!)"

"Nightmare? I remember some Cappies once mentioning that name before..." Chopper trailed. "But I thought you were defeated?"

"Oh, I assure you, I was, thanks to that pink creampuff. However, not all things are wiped out for good. With my return, the universe is ready to beg for mercy!"

"Sorry, but I think there's already something else threatening the universe by now," Sonic scoffed. "But you? Egghead's first machine looks more menacing than you!"

"Let's just take care of this thing," Tamber grinned, cracking his knuckles and charging at Nightmare. However, his punch barely did a thing to the orb, and he felt himself get pushed back by a barrier.

"Fool! You do not realize that I'm invincible!" Nightmare cackled.

"I don't think that's true," Chopper smirked, making a sharp whistle and summoning his Warp Star. "Do you know what I also heard about you? That you can't stand a certain star!"

"What?!"

Once the Warp Star came flying in Chopper's, he opened his mouth and prepared to inhale it. "It's time for the Star Rod to be put into action!"

As soon as he swallowed his Warp Star, he jumped and saw the Warp Star fly above him, but this time it shrunk, and a white and pink-striped stick stuck to the glowing star. Chopper grabbed a hold on rod and held it up with a smile.

"Poyo? (How'd you know about inhaling it?)" Kirby asked.

"Well... To be honest..." Chopper started, giving a nervous look. "I always wanted to eat the Warp Star when I first found it..."

Everyone, save for Nightmare fell over.

"Well... Congratulations. I must applaud you for figuring that out...but some dumb luck." Nightmare mocked. "However, that will not save you, as I've grown a bit more resilient to it!"

"Then let's test it out!" Chopper swung the Star Rod, and a yellow star came flying toward Nightmare. It pierced through his shield and caused a great amount of damage to him. 10 damage to be exact. He was revealed to have 120 HP, an Attack of 18, and a Defense of 0. When the others got up, Scrub stepped in first.

"I'll make the move! This guy was just trying to destroy us, and I don't like that!" Scrub yelled, fluttering above Nightmare and taking 10 out of him with his Ground Pound, bringing his HP to 100.

"Take this!" Nightmare shot a dark star at Chopper. He guarded it, and then he fired another star at Nightmare, followed by Kirby's Cartwheel. Nightmare decided to target Kirby this time, shooting a dark star at him.

"Poyo… (I don't know why, but he seems much easier than before...)" Kirby remarked.

"Really? Well that's interesting…" Chopper replied as he flung another star at Nightmare, followed by Heartsy's hammer.

"Urk… Don't think I'll give up just yet…" Nightmare groaned, shooting a dark flare at Chopper, knocking him back. That did not stop him from charging into Nightmare and bashing the Star Rod on the orb. With Shadower's Shadow Punch, Nightmare was already down to 40 HP.

Nightmare grumbled as he flung another dark star at the Star Warrior. Unfortunately for him, Chopper managed to Superguard the attack instead, which also got him struck by another star and a Shade Fist.

"Argh... No... Not just yet..." moaned Nightmare before he tackled Chopper and his friends by ramming into them. "I may be down to 20 HP, but I still won't give up the fight!"

"It's already over," Chopper let Flyer strike him with a Flying Attack before he readied himself. "This is it, Nightmare! Too bad this is all you are. We might as well put you in the 'easy boss' category!"

With one star, Nightmare was finally destroyed.

"Piece of cake!" Sonic smiled. "He barely stood a chance!"

While the rest started to celebrate, Vivian had noticed the orb was starting to surround in darkness. "Ummmm... Guys? I don't know if he's defeated..."

Stopping their celebration, they turned their attention back to the darkness encasing the orb. Suddenly, a figure began to form into a much larger size. Replacing the power orb form was a wizard form, with Nightmare donning a spinning, tornado-like robe. He also wore shades with single black-chromed lens that could flash. Also on Nightmare wore four shoulder pads, a yellow necklace, and a helmet with three, red jewels and long horns.

"Wait... What's this?" Chopper gawked.

"Poyo… (It's Nightmare's true form...)" Kirby trailed.

"Nightmare's true form? Why didn't you tell us this before?"

"Enough! Time to end this!" Nightmare's robe revealed a tornado inside, along with a couple of white stars that had fired out. Luckily, they all managed to dodge them just in time, but they got back in their fighting stances.

"Looks like the real fight's about to begin!" Bombette declared.

**Tattle: **_That's Nightmare, and from the looks of it, this is his true form. He says he was once the ruler of the universe, but I'm not buying it. Max HP is 360, Attack is 19, and Defense is 1. He'll usually try to attack you with a couple of white stars, or he might even suck you into that tornado. Watch out, though! If he raises his attack, he'll unleash this huge beam attack! If he does that, use Vivian's Veil to get out of the way immediately! From looking at him, he reminds me of an ugly witch. But, he's a wizard… So does this mean there can be ugly wizards like ugly witches?_

"All right, let's get this started," Chopper swung the Star Rod, and a star came firing at Nightmare's tornado body, making him let out a painful scream.

"ARGH! Not there! Anywhere but there!" Nightmare cried, not aware of Vivian coming his way and burning him with a Shade Fist. Cringing, he turned his attention to Chopper and pointed a finger at him. A white star had fired from his finger and struck Chopper, taking 19 out of him.

"Did he just fire a star from his finger?" Flyer gawked.

"All right, I have to admit… That was pretty strong…" Chopper wheezed before shaking himself from the attack.

Afterward, he jumped towards Nightmare's tornado body and he struck him with the Star Rod, knocking him back a little. Adding Kirby's Cartwheel to the mix also increased the pain in Nightmare's tornado body.

"With a weak spot like that, I don't know how far he'll be able to handle us," Sonic said confidently.

Nightmare turned his attention to Sonic, glaring at him underneath his shades. He grinned sinisterly as he opened his robe to fire a couple of stars at him and Chopper.

"Sometimes you need to learn to not act too overconfident," Shadower suggested.

"Yeah, yeah... I know."

"Oh, man… I'm not feeling so good…" Chopper groaned, trying his best to stand up. He obviously wasn't going to let himself fall just yet. With one star, he managed to make Nightmare flinch.

"You'll hang in there, Choppy. I know you will." assured Heartsy, pulling her Hearty Hammer out. "Why? Because you've managed to hold yourself against others like those two demons!"

"Yeah, that's true… But, just barely…" sighed Chopper as he watched her slam her hammer upon Nightmare's head.

Nightmare aimed a finger at Chopper and proceeded to fire a small, dark beam. Thankfully, Chopper managed to Superguard the attack and avoid it with ease.

"Gah! I missed! …Well, there's always the next time!" Nightmare told himself as he wrapped his body with his robe.

"I better heal myself…" Chopper pulled out a Master Shroom and stuffed it in his mouth, recovering 200 HP. "Ah! Now I feel MUUUUUCH better!"

"Hmmmmm... Perhaps this battle will be much more interesting now." the villain mused.

"Yeah, you're right, especially with me joining the fight!" Tamber declared, his fists glowing green as he charged at Nightmare. The wizard held his body in pain when those fists had managed to hurt him even when protecting his body.

"Urk! You… I never expected that to hurt as much..." winced Nightmare as he began to aim his finger at him. "Now let's see how you handle this!"

He zapped Tamber with dark energy, leaving him slightly covered in soot. "Ow! Why you little… I'm going to make sure my next attack is a lot stronger!"

"Forget about it, Tamber," Shadower suggested. "Getting angry at him won't do too much."

Chopper waved the Star Rod as he fired a yellow star at Nightmare. He barely had enough time to react when Flyer struck him with a Flying Attack afterward. Nightmare was not too happy and opened his robe to let a star strike him, knocking him back to the ground. He grinned as he turned his attention back to Chopper.

"Ouch… My head…" Flyer began to rub his head while Chopper struck Nightmare with his Star Rod. The wizard was also struck in the head by Mario's Super Jump, bringing him down to 252 HP.

"Hmph, I'll give you credit. You know how to put up a fight." Nightmare remarked. "I don't find you as tough as your father, on the other hand. What was his name? Toalune? I think it was…"

"You knew my father?" gaped Chopper.

"Of course I did! How else did I make his best friend turn against him?" Nightmare cackled, firing stars at Chopper. "Not only had I managed to turn him to the side of evil, but I also managed to get rid of another Galaxy Soldier. It worked so well with Knuckle Joe's father, so why not do it on him?"

"Yeah, I heard of that from Meta Knight," Chopper replied, creating a star barrier to protect himself. "We're going to do this for not just Nomad, but anyone else you've harmed as well!"

Mario: Yes!

With one swing, Chopper struck Nightmare's body with another star, leaving him to gape in pain. Sonic also made his move, getting in a ball and hitting the wizard's body with a Spin Dash. As he returned to the others, he performed another stylish move.

"You know, being back to life has some great advantages," Nightmare remarked, zapping Sonic with energy from his finger. "Because it allows me to deliver pain to you!"

"Well, that's not going to happen when we're here," Chopper declared as he charged some energy in the Star Rod and fired it at him. "I think this should do a little bit more damage to you!"

Indeed it did. The Star Blast attack ended up doing 12 damage to Nightmare.

"Ooh! Now that was pretty cool! Here! Lemme pierce his defense too!" Scrub laid a giant egg and quickly picked it up. "Ya like eggs, wizard? Well… This one's got your name on it!"

He threw the Mega Egg upward, which ended up hitting Nightmare's face. It broke and left the wizard with 12 less HP as a result.

"Ugh… Take this!" Nightmare opened his robe as he fired stars at the group, taking 19 HP out of them.

"If we chip him down a little more, he'll be more than halfway down," Bombette announced after she used her Bomb on Nightmare's tornado body. Chopper decided to toss a light ball at him instead.

"Hmmmm... Perhaps now is the perfect opportunity to go at full force!" Nightmare began to raise his Attack up by 19. "If you wish to flee, now's your chance. Unfortunately, it will not save you from your inevitable doom!"

"If that's the case, then there's no point in running!" Chopper shouted, charging up more energy in the Star Rod and striking Nightmare with another Star Blast, taking another 12 out of him.

"I guess I might as well use Veil," Vivian floated behind the group and brought them all except for Nightmare into the shadows. Unfortunately, for Nightmare, his powerful beam attack missed them, and he seemed rather disappointed when he saw them rise up unharmed.

"Great… Just what I needed." Nightmare groaned. However, this did give him the opportunity to fire a star at Chopper.

Chopper quickly shook himself and stepped out of the way when Shadower struck Nightmare with his Shadow Blast ability, piercing through his defense and also lowering it to 0. Chopper seemed happy with this, so he decided to take action by hitting Nightmare with a Gravity Jump. As usual.

Nightmare frowned as he zapped Chopper with dark energy. But, it didn't stop Chopper and Tamber from striking him with powerful attacks, like Chopper's Star Blast and Tamber's Power Punch. The attack was so powerful, that it knocked Nightmare back pretty far, nearly off the edge, in fact. Getting back to the fight, Nightmare opened his cloak and fired stars at the two attackers. To his dismay, they managed to guard the attacks.

"Sheesh! This is dragging on forever! How long until this guy's defeated?!" wheezed Tamber.

"No idea… But we have to go with it." Chopper pulled his hammer out and brought it down on Nightmare's head. A Shade Fist left a nice burn on the evil wizard. Nightmare grit his teeth as he struck Chopper with another star. Chopper fought back with with another projectile from the Star Rod, and then Bombette used her Bomb to bring him to less than 100 HP.

"Ugh… What's going on? Why am I this far from losing my HP?" Nightmare question, starting to get exhausted. In the meantime, he fired a dark beam at Bombette, knocking her back. Thankfully, Mario managed to grab her on time.

"Well, it's eleven against one..." Chopper pointed out, attacking Nightmare with a Rainbow Spin. With Flyer's Flying Attack, Nightmare was down to less than 70 HP.

"It's nice to know that he's almost defeated," Flyer remarked.

"You will not stop me!" Nightmare roared, firing a star from his finger at Chopper, taking 19 out of him. Chopper shook off the attack afterward and decided to use his Power Pounce. He performed a stylish flip as he came stomping on the Shadow King seven times. Once he bounced off him, he cheered for a stylish move and retreated back to the others, making the audience go nuts.

"How come we're being watched by the audience anyway?" Shadower asked. "I always wanted to know that."

Mario: Beats me!

"It's no big deal. We're still winning this battle." Shadower floated over to Nightmare and struck him with Shadow Lightning, bringing his defense down to 0. "And that leaves him incredible vulnerable.

"You'll regret that, shadow being!" Nightmare growled, zapping Shadower with more dark energy. Chopper gripped the Star Rod and swung it at Nightmare in retaliation, while Kirby pulled his blade out and struck the wizard with his Final Cutter, bringing him down to less than 30 HP.

"Poyo! (We got this in the bag!)" Kirby cheered.

Nightmare merely grunted as he fired stars at everyone. But it still didn't help him because of Chopper's Star Blast and Flyer's Flying Attack, which immediately brought him down to 1 HP.

"What the… But… How?" Nightmare gaped, feeling weaker than ever. He only attempted to raise his attack power, but that didn't save him when Chopper raised the Star Rod, which started to glow brightly. "A normal being isn't capable of defeating me! Only a Star Warrior was tough enough to stand up to me!

"Well, that's funny! I'm a Star Warrior!"

"...What?" Nightmare's eyes instantly widened.

"It's time to put an end to this!" Chopper declared, watching the Star Rod shine. Jumping back, he swung with all his might and fired a star in Nightmare's direction.

The power of the Star Rod enveloped Nightmare, causing him to become brighter as he let out a scream. He tried pointing a finger at Chopper to attack, but he barely had the chance, as any darkness within him had disappeared and caused him to explode.

All that remained of him were sparkles from the explosion."It's over..." Chopper sighed, lowering the Star Rod and upgrading his BP to 117. "We did it, guys. Now hopefully any soldiers who fell to him can finally rest in peace...""What's weird was that he didn't make any final speech or anything," Scrub mentioned.

"Well, not all villains can give a final speech when they're destroyed…" replied Sonic as he wheezed.

"Should we take a break for a moment?" Vivian asked, feeling exhausted.

"Heck no!" Tamber answered harshly, moving over to the passageway ahead. "I wanna get to that Crystal Star right now! Taking a break won't do anything!"

"...Yeah, Tamber's got a good point," Chopper said, making his way over to Tamber. He looked around him, but didn't see much. "Well... At least there aren't any enemies around here."

"...Yet," Bombette said.

After walking past the passageway, they found a narrow road up ahead with some Master Phis roaming around. Keeping the Star Rod close to him, Chopper had taken out one of the Phis with a star projectile.

"Well, looks like you jinxed that, Chop," Sonic said.

"I guess so," Chopper frowned, taking out another Phi along the way. He stopped to take a look at his Star Rod. "You know, I wonder... Will I need to use this to get past some obstacles?"

"Like that?" Shadower wondered, pointing to a blocked doorway up ahead with a dull star.

"Oh... I guess so." the Star Warrior rushed over to the doorway and fired a star at it, returning its yellow glow and opening the door. "Well that was pretty easy. OK, guys, let's move on!"

They walked over to the next area, which was much bigger than the previous area and around the size of the area where they fought Nightmare. To their dismay, however, the icy floor had returned. All they found was a yellow ? block and two Master Phis floating around.

"Nothing interesting around here, unfortunately… I wish we could find something else besides these icy pathways." Chopper groaned as he moved to the center of the area, trying to be careful of the ice. Unfortunately, that was when the Phis spotted them.

"Hey! There's those freaks!" the first Master Phi exclaimed.

"Well, let's not stand here! Let's get 'em!"

The two Master Phis changed to their arm blasters, and they began to fire shots at the group. They all took action by quickly avoiding them, with Chopper performing cartwheels to dodge. Kirby had inhaled one of them and spat it at the other, and then Bombette exploded, destroying one Master Phi.

"Uh oh... This ain't good." the Master Phi sweat dropped, looking at the remains of its comrade. When it turned to the group, they were prepared to attack. "Errr... RETREAT!"

With that, the Master Phi made its escape.

"Well, there it goes," Vivian said, watching the Phi get away. She turned her attention back to the yellow ? block nearby. "Maybe we should see what's in the yellow ? block."

"Well… I guess I might as well hit it." Chopper walked under the yellow ? block and struck it to get a Max Shroom. He took it and he put the delicious mushroom away. "Yummy! don't mind if I do!"

"Aw, man! You got another one of those mushrooms?! If only I could get a taste of one of those… Dang it." Tamber groaned, pouting. He turned to Vivian while still thinking about the Max Shroom, and he had suddenly imagined her as it.

"Are you all right, Tamber?" Vivian asked, noticing the look on him.

"I've got this," Scrub assured, knocking Tamber in the head with his Ground Pound, snapping him back to his senses.

"Hey! What was that for?!" Tamber yelled, not too pleased about the hit. "What? You think you can just hit someone like that? Aren't I your ally?!"

"Yeah, but you were... Well..." Heartsy paused, looking for the right word. "We were getting you back to your senses."

"It was still sneaky... But whatever."

With that out of the way, the progressed over to the next pathway ahead, and they found a curvy, narrow road leading to what appeared to be a ruined town ahead. Curiosity gained Chopper as he prepared to run through the path, not paying attention to the ice. Unfortunately, that led him to slipping again.

"You all right, Contadre?" Scrub asked, helping the antenna boy up.

"Ugh... Yeah, I'm fine." Chopper assured. "I forgot about the icy floor. Let's be careful here... And please don't fall."

"I appreciate the obvious," deadpanned Bombette, carefully crossing the icy road and avoiding the long fall below. Everyone made sure not to look down as they continued their cross. There were no Phis in the way, much to their relief.

When they had neared the end, Heartsy had accidentally slipped and was pretty close to the edge. She let out a shriek as she started to plunge to her doom. Thankfully, the group had noticed, and Chopper sprang into action first, grabbing a hold of her hand.

"I don't like this one bit!" Heartsy gulped, unable to resist looking down.

"Ungh... I need help, guys!" Chopper cried, eyes closed tightly. "I'm having trouble pulling her up!"

Kirby had grabbed a hold of Chopper and began to pull back to support him. There was some good progression, but that wasn't enough. Vivian eventually helped, and they managed to pull her back up. They didn't waste any time speaking about it until they reached the end of the walkway.

"Oh, man... I thought I was in trouble for a moment..." Heartsy sighed, closing her eyes in shame. "Usually I prepare myself for stuff like that, but not in that case..."

"Well, we all have our flaws," Sonic shrugged. "I'm a terrible swimmer, Chopper is small and physically weak, Mario is... Well, he's a bit heavy."

"We're all here to help each other in the end," Shadower explained. "And we're not going to judge you based on an issue."

"I guess your right," Heartsy sighed in relief, feeling better. "But thanks for the help, though. You guys really are true friends. Much better than some of those jerks in Sand Town..."

"Poyo, (Friendship is really important,)" Kirby stated.

"Yeah yeah... Enough fluff already." Tamber suggested, stopping the moment. "It's givin' me a headache!"

The group gave him a frown, but they knew they had to get a move on, so the group had entered the town, which had no ice covering the floor, to their delight. Most of the buildings had been destroyed, and many pillars were knocked over. There was even a statue in the center of the town that was knocked over and broken. Some windows had been broken, roofs were gone, and some houses were even split in half, some even completely wiped away except for the toilet.

In conclusion, it looked as if a nuclear missile had hit the place.

Sonic couldn't help but make a whistle. "Yeesh. This place is a mess!"

"Yeah," Scrub agreed, walking over to the toilet. "And you're not even safe if you go to the bathroom here!"

"That's true," Bombette agreed.

"Looks like there must've been a big battle here," Shadower said, scanning the area. He approached the statue in the center of the room and noticed its remains looked similar. "Hey, Chopper! Take a look at this!"

Chopper ran over to the broken statue, with Shadower gesturing him to the statue's head. Getting a closer look, he was left in shock.

"Hey... This is a statue of Meta Knight!" Chopper gaped. "What's it doing here?"

"Perhaps he had helped save the town from an evil force..."

"If that were true, then this place would be all fine."

This time, it was Flyer's turn to step in. "Well, it could be likely that Meta Knight was a hero of this town before it had met its demise."

"Then maybe that's it..." Shadower trailed. "Anyway, let's see if there's anything else here."

They had found a broken fountain nearby, but there didn't appear to be any water. Since there was not too much outside, they had decided to check inside a few houses. The only thing they found, though, were a few remains of a few people who lived here. To their surprise, all that was left of them was ash, according to Flyer's scanner.

"Whatever came here, it must've been real big," Sonic said, looking shocked.

"There's no sign of any bodies here!" Vivian gaped. "They're all just ash... Poor guys."

"Poyo, (I bet this was Nightmare's doing,)" Kirby said with a frown.

They left that house and found another house nearby. Once again, there was barely anything left. However, there was a wooden X on the ground in one small room, so Chopper used his Spin Jump to lead into what appeared to be the basement. There was a small table, some ash on the seat, and also a piece of paper.

Mario: This is just like my house's basement.

"There's a paper there," Heartsy said, pointing at the paper.

"Looks like I better-" Before Chopper could take the paper, Tamber had already snatched it.

"How 'bout I read it for a change?" Tamber suggested. Everyone gawked, but they decided there was nothing wrong with that, so he shrugged. "Right! Now! ...Actually, you read it, puffball."

"Ummmm... OK?" Chopper replied with a confused look on his face, taking the paper from Tamber.

_Dear Diary,_

_I don't know how long I will be living, nor do I know how long this town will last... The only thing I can do is write in you one last time. We are being under attack by a group of evil monsters. We don't have a clue what they are, but they appear to have bat-like wings and incredible technology in their hands. We have some soldiers fighting them off, but they are not doing it successfully. And then there is this one guy... Those red eyes... And that sword... He is even more menacing than those soldiers! If only he had come... That great Star Warrior with the legendary gold sword! He had protected us from the evil force of Nightmare! But he is nowhere to be seen. Please... Great knight, you must come to our aid! We all need you!_

"Poyo? (Wait... The paper says this was not Nightmare's work?)" Kirby gawked.

"Guess not," Chopper said, putting the paper down. "There's definitely something still out there..."

Mario: It must be even stronger than Nightmare.

"Well, we better be on the lookout for this enemy," Flyer suggested. "In the meantime, we should probably get out of here. It's definitely not too comfortable..."

Everyone came to agreement with that, so they took the spring out of the basement and made their way out of the house. Seeing no other reason to check the place out, they decided to make their exit out of here.

Well, it would've been easy if it weren't for some Master Phis and even some Ztars that were roaming around. The Phis, in particular, were checking the place out as well. One happened to pick up some ash on the floor and let it fall from its robotic hand.

"I don't know what this is, but my scanners tell me it was once living," the Master Phi informed upon scanning the ash.

"What do you think could've happened here?" the other asked.

"Don't know. But it's probably something that happened a long time ago. Anyway, you got the bomb ready, right?"

"Bomb? ...Oh, I didn't get it yet."

"What? Well, what are you doing? Master Gemerl told us to get a bomb ready to blow this place up and hinder Chopper!"

"Hi, Phis."

"Hey, Chopper."

The two Phis paused and took notice of Chopper waving at them. They immediately entered battle mode and charged at them. The first Master Phi decided to copy Kirby's inhale and created a cannon to suck Chopper toward the robot. Heartsy had used her Hammerang to stop them, and then came Tamber's Quake, which finished them off.

"That takes care of them," Bombette said. "But what do you think they were talking about?"

"Who cares?" Tamber shrugged. "It's probably nothing special!"

The others felt unsure, but they eventually progressed ahead. There were still a bit of ruins from the town, but it was a lot more hidden than before. In the center of the area was a round device with three buttons.

"What do you think that could be?" Vivian asked.

"I'm not sure..." Chopper trailed. "But I'm going to go check it out!"

"Wait, Chopper!"

Chopper ignored her and approached the device, giving it a look. Though he was no expert with technology, he could at least understand what the buttons read.

"OK... One says to destroy... The second says to explode, and the third says 'KA-BOOM' on it." Chopper read, pondering over this. "Hmmmm... Well, if we want to stop this bomb, I guess we gotta destroy it?"

When Flyer got a better look at it from a further range, his eyes had widened when Chopper pressed the "destroy" button. "Wait! Chopper! Don't press that but-"

_**KA-BOOM!**_

The device exploded, with Chopper caught in it. He was sent flying back to the group, tattered and unconscious. Everyone stared at him in horror, with a few cupping their mouths with their hands.

"Chopper! No!"

* * *

**There was supposed to be a fight with Master Hand and Crazy Hand here, but I thought it didn't have much of a purpose here, so I got rid of it. Instead, I decided to add a little more depth to the destroyed town. I'd say it worked much better for this story.**


	135. The End of the Road?

"Ooooooog… I don't feel so good..." Chopper groaned, slowly getting up. Looking around, he saw no sign of his friends. "Huh? Guys? Where are you?"

Surrounding him was a vast, spacy sky filled with many stars, kind of like Starlite Galaxy. However, when he looked down, he spotted grass. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing things, but sadly, he was not.

"How did I even get here? Is there anybody around here that can talk to me?! HELLOOOOOO?!" Chopper shouted, trying to get someone's attention. Sadly, he got no response. "Great... Looks like there's no one around. I guess I should just take a look around."

When Chopper looked over at a hill nearby, he frowned. "I kinda wish a tree with yummy food would be there..."

Suddenly, a tree with yummy food had appeared. Chopper blinked for a moment and gawked.

"Wait... Huh? That tree suddenly appeared! ...Where the heck am I?"

"You are in your mind, Chopper."

Turning around, Chopper spotted a familiar face staring at him. Well, not exactly familiar, but one he had seen before. Standing before him was a person in gray armor that resembled the shape of his parents, such as his oval-shaped body and round head. The only thing he could see through his helmet were those orange eyes.

"Hey... Aren't you that guy I saw on that hologram thingy?" Chopper gawked.

"Yes, it is me," Sir Lancelon nodded, approaching the boy. "It's a pleasure to meet you. ...Though, sadly, I am not the REAL Lancelon."

"What do you mean?"

"You see, Chopper, you are not in the real world at the moment. You're...actually unconscious at the moment."

"What? But how?"

"You don't remember setting off a bomb, do you?"

"Oh... Yeah, I think I remember now." Chopper realized, sweat dropping and giving a guilty look. "So, why are you here?"

"That darkness continues to grow bigger and bigger by the minute," Lancelon explained, arms crossed. "You do know of the consequences of it growing bigger, yes?"

"The universe will be gone..."

"Correct. And you are very close to finishing your job. Unfortunately, the darkness is coming closer to Pop Star as well... That means you cannot dawdle on in your dream and accomplish this task."

"Yeah... But I'm not sure how to wake up..." Chopper trailed.

"Chopper, do not listen to him."

Turning around, Chopper saw Meta Knight with his cape wrapped around himself approaching the two.

"Meta Knight? You're here too?" Chopper gawked. "...Oh, wait, you're not the real Meta Knight."

"Yes," Meta Knight nodded, finally stopping to face the two. "Chopper, you should know of the terrible consequences of what the Crystal Stars will do. I've told you many times."

"But didn't you say that you couldn't stop me?"

"True... But that was what the real Meta Knight said."

"Listen Meta Knight," Lancelon started. "The Crystal Stars are absolutely viable in restoring the universe! If the last one isn't collected, we are all DOOMED!"

"Chopper, you should know better," Meta Knight stated. "Remember what I've told you about. I've experienced many battles and witnessed many great evils. How do you think I knew about them?"

"Well... Ummm..." Chopper mumbled, looking back at the two warriors with uncertainty.

"Think about your quest!" Lancelon cried. "Think about the people who are trapped in the darkness!"

"Chopper, many lives will be lost by those twenty Crystal Stars!" Meta Knight noted.

"People will be saved!"

"People will be in grave danger!"

"Listen to me, Chopper!"

"Heed my words, Chopper!"

At this point, Chopper was having a hard time listening into both of them and was now closing his eyes tightly while covering his face. _"Please... Let this just be over... Please let me wake up!"_

Opening his eyes, he had seen a bright light ahead, and it was getting closer.

* * *

"Yo, puffball! Get your butt up this instant!" Tamber yelled, shaking Chopper like crazy.

"Whoa! Don't start shaking him!" Sonic cried, pulling the furball away from the unconscious boy. "Chop got hit by a bomb and is unconscious! Ya can't just throttle him! It'll make things worse!"

"Sonic is right," Flyer nodded. "This isn't a good way to wake him up."

"Then what's your idea then?" Tamber asked.

"Well... I did hear of something called CPR. It's usually done when someone is unconscious."

"...Oh, that thing? But don't you gotta put your mouth on theirs?"

"Well... Yes..."

"Then..." Tamber trailed, stepping aside. "Go do it."

"Wait, what?!" Flyer gaped. "There's no way I'm doing that! Why don't you do it?"

"Heck no! I ain't touching no puffball mouth! You do it! Unless you're...chicken?"

"Tamber, I refuse to do something like that."

"Then you do it," Tamber suggested, turning to Shadower.

"I don't have a mouth," Shadower pointed out, not trying to get involved.

"Same here," Bombette added.

"I'll volunteer," Heartsy declared, pushing Flyer and Tamber out of the way. The two stopped their arguing and decided to step back, relieved that neither of them had to do anything mouth-to-mouth related. On the other hand, Flyer knew the one volunteering could cause some...trouble for Chopper.

"This is gonna be good," Tamber snickered.

When she knelt down to face the unconscious and hurt Chopper, worry was starting to fill Heartsy's mind. But, considering that she was able to help heal him before, she felt confident that she could do it again.

"All right, stand back, everyone," Heartsy suggested. "Watch how a real expert gets the job done."

She leaned down and opened Chopper's mouth. Soon she placed her mouth over his. Of course, her idea of saving him was a bit different...

Chopper's eyes slowly opened, but he didn't seem to pay too much attention. However, it was then he noticed Heartsy's lips touching his mouth, and his eyes instantly widened.

"_**EEEEEK!**_" Chopper cried, quickly standing up and flailing his arms around. "Someone get me something that can clean my mouth! Like...that soap stuff!"

"I knew it would work," Heartsy smiled. "And I even got to kiss you as well!"

"Well... I guess that's one way to get him up." Flyer said, looking a little confused. Tamber, meanwhile, was on the floor, laughing like a maniac.

"BAH HA HA HA! The look on the puffball's face was priceless!" Tamber chortled.

"C'mon, let's just leave Contadre be!" Scrub suggested. "He got hit by what? An explosion?"

"I think so..." Chopper mumbled, rubbing his head.

"How are you feeling, Chopper?" Vivian asked.

"Well... I guess I'm all right. I think I might be able to keep going."

"Yeah, we need to find the Crystal Star," Bombette nodded.

Chopper then began to remember the dream he had. The sounds of the two arguing seemed to bother him, but he tried casting that aside. "R-Right... Let's get a move on."

And at that point, they took off toward the next area. While the icy floors were no longer around, that did not mean the pain was over with, especially for a certain blue hedgehog. Floating in the next area were some water blocks.

"Aw, great… Not those again!" Sonic sighed and he took a step over to it. "I was hoping we wouldn't see these things again… Guess I was wrong."

"We'll try to get through it as best as we can," Chopper assured as he made a leap into the water block and swam over to the one nearby when it had finally approached.

"I hope I don't sink to the bottom of those things," Taking a deep breath, Sonic jumped into the water block, knowing that the gravity would hopefully keep him floating in the water. He jumped out of it and into the next when it approached. He finally jumped out of the block and landed on a starry road.

"Hey, it's that starry path again!" Shadower smiled once he and the rest had gotten out of the water blocks. Looking down at it, it appeared to be a misty white with trillions of different, small stars on it. "It's definitely a sight to look at."

Entering the next area, they were met with another long walkway. However, there was also another path up above them as well, along with a purple ! block. Seeing that block made everyone nearly groan.

"Oh, great. I thought we were done with this?" Tamber mumbled.

"I have no problem with this. In fact, I'm glad to use the Gravity Jump again!" Chopper leaped upward with his Gravity Jump and stuck to the road above him. With one strike from the block, the gravity changed around them, and everyone landed on the road above them.

"Oh, man... My head feels all weird upside down." Scrub remarked, putting one of his hands on his head.

Chopper made a dash over toward the next area to find a couple of shooting stars, and not to mention a spinning star blade in the center of the area.

Actually, it was a Master Phi spinning the blade around like a madman.

"Master Gemerl told me to keep spinning this star blade around to prevent Chopper from appearing..." the Master Phi mumbled in an annoyed manner. "But he is nowhere in sight!"

"I'm right here," Chopper announced, getting the Phi's attention. At first, it looked at him like it was no big deal and got back to business. However, when the Phi realized who was standing there, it quickly faced him.

"What in the… You're Chopper!" the Master Phi stopped spinning the blade and glared at Chopper. "So, now you finally show up. Well, looks like I can finally get to doing what Master Gemerl ordered!"

The Master Phi began to charge at Chopper, while he changed to his Ninja ability and dodged the blade the Phi swung. He jumped over the Phi and knocked it to the floor (or rather, the floor upside down) with a kick. He then started to pounce the robot with many more ninja attacks. Eventually the Master Phi managed to shake him off and throw him toward the group.

Angered to see him get hurt like that, Heartsy charged at the Master Phi and gave it quite a beating.

"What the… Hey! Stop it! What do you... Ow! Oof! Wait a second... What're you doing with that hammer?"

Before they knew it, the Master Phi was sent flying through space.

"Awww... I wanted to fight it!" Scrub pouted.

"Well... At least it's gone." Sonic shrugged, noticing that there was no road ahead. "Looks like we gotta change the gravity here again."

"I'll get to it," Chopper said, finally getting up and using his Gravity Jump to land on the floor below. He found a purple ! block again, so he hit it to make everyone land on the floor and restore gravity to normal. "See? All taken care of!"

With that out of the way, they moved on ahead to the next area. There was a Save Block and Heart Block, the latter Chopper needed. Afterward, when they reached the center of the pathway, they spotted something in the background. It was giant, silver ball with a mustache, yellow eyes, and a creepy grin. From the looks of it, it didn't look complete, as it needed a lot of work done.

"Ugh... I don't like the look on that thing's face." Bombette remarked, shuddering at the ball.

"Hey... That place looks awfully familiar..." Sonic trailed, trying to get a better look at it. "Hold on... Isn't that the Death Egg?"

"What's a Death Egg?" Tamber asked, now starting to snicker. "Is it an egg that's supposed to destroy you? That sounds dumb."

"I don't get the name either, but it was made by Eggman."

"Eggman? That guy with that mustache?" Chopper gawked. "Oh, yeah! Him!"

Before they could continue their conversation, they heard the sound of firing up ahead. Turning their attention up ahead, they spotted a Master Phi taking control of a turret. Smirking, Tamber rushed up to the Phi and punched it out of the turret.

"I say we blow that thing up!" Tamber suggested, pointing to the Death Egg.

"Not a bad idea," Sonic admitted, getting a hold of the turret. Pressing the button, a large, green laser had fired out from the turret and struck the Death Egg. In no seconds flat, the space station exploded, and fireworks had appeared in the background too.

"That's it? Well... So much for that." Bombette commented with a blank look. "We should get out of here."

They would've progressed further, if they didn't see a figure in his Egg Mobile get sent flying in their direction. The group quickly recoiled as Eggman had fallen to the ground before them.

"Oof!" Eggman grunted, slowly getting up from his mech. "Great… All of that hard work was all for nothing! Bah! Who could've done such a thing to my creation?!"

"Right here, Egghead!" Sonic grinned, pointing at himself. "I thought your space station would be a lot stronger, but then again, your stuff tends to get destroyed by me anyway!"

"YOU… YOU… So YOU were responsible for that act!" Eggman growled, his face turning steaming red. "I'm going to... No, settle down, Robotnik..."

"Sorry about that base of yours, but it was probably for the better," Chopper mentioned.

"Sure, my base is destroyed, but that doesn't mean I'm finished just yet," Eggman grinned, pulling out a remote. "You see, I have a magnificent robot that I can assure you that survived the explosion."

Eggman jumped back into his mech and pressed the red button on the remote. Behind him, a silver and red robot had appeared, and it was very large in size. The group's eyes widened in shock as the scientist entered his new machine.

"I can't help but compare this guy to Lord Crump," Chopper whispered to his friends. "They both make stuff, and they're both chubby..."

"Yeah, both sure are chubby," Sonic agreed, getting Eggman's attention.

"Grrrrrrr! I had enough of your insults, Sonic! It's time to put you all back in your place! Egg Guardian, go!" Eggman yelled, making sure the robot was off the pathway, considering it was too big to fit there. "This will be the last time you fools have to deal with me!"

"If by defeating you, then I'm fine with that," Flyer assured.

**Tattle: **_That's the Egg Guardian. It's a robot made by Dr. Eggman. Wow! Look at the size of this thing! It's almost as big as one of those dragons you've faced! Max HP is 370, Attack is 19, and Defense is 3. This thing is able to smash you, shoot lasers, or it might even fire missiles. Watch out for the big beam attack! If you get caught in that, be prepared to take some serious damage. If I were you, I'd try to get away from such a deadly attack..._

"Well, we might as well do this!" Chopper pulled out his kunai knife and charged at the Egg Guardian. With one slash, he took 10 out of the robot.

"Blah! You little…! I'll get you for that!" the Egg Guardian aimed its machine gun at Chopper, but Sonic intervened and struck the robot with a Homing Attack, knocking it back.

"Grrrgh! Take this!" Eggman pressed a button, and the Egg Guardian began to fire its machine guns at Chopper and Sonic. They managed to guard the attacks, but even then, they still took some heavy damage.

"Ow... That seriously hurt." Chopper winced.

"Nyah ha ha ha!" cackled Eggman. "This robot's armor is so strong, that it causes pain to those who get punched! I'm such a genius!"

"That doesn't sound like anything new," Sonic scoffed.

"Yeah... Sonic's kinda got a point." Chopper pulled out a shuriken and tossed it at the Egg Guardian. "Good thing I'm not throwing this at Eggman. It could really hurt..."

"Good thing," Bombette agreed as she attacked the Egg Guardian with her Bomb. Sadly, it only managed to do 7 damage, to her disappointment.

"Grrrr! Out of my sight!" the Egg Guardian brought its fists down on Chopper, flattening him like a pancake. "Oh ho ho ho! Not so round now, are you?"

"Well you're even rounder!" Chopper unflattened himself with the help of a bicycle pump that Kirby pumped for him to make him round again. "Now let's get back to business!"

With his kunai knife, he slashed at the Egg Guardian, causing some sparks to come out from the robot, leaving Eggman shocked.

"What in the… How did you do that?!" Eggman gawked.

"I don't know," Chopper shrugged. Eggman face palmed as Flyer struck the Egg Guardian's head with a Flying Attack.

The Egg Guardian didn't take much time to make its move. It fired a laser from its eyes at Flyer, who was lucky enough to guard the attack.

"OK, you weren't lying about that hurting," Flyer said, lowering his guard.

Chopper tossed two shurikens at the Egg Guardian to take 12 out of it. Tamber's Power Punch was able to leave a big dent in the robot's chest, along with taking 9 out of the Egg Guardian.

"Heh heh heh! I can't believe my fists are strong enough to break through that! Awesome!" snickered Tamber. This, of course, did not go unnoticed by their opponent.

"Why you little… Take this, your big hairball!" Eggman pressed a button, and the robot shot a laser at Tamber, knocking him back.

"Gah! Stupid robot! Go get 'em for me, puffball!" Tamber grumbled. "Plus, he called me a hairball!"

"OK, I'll do it. I was going to attack him anyway..." Chopper sighed as he pulled his hammer out. He approached the Egg Guardian and slammed the hammer down on the Egg Guardian's head. Vivian sunk into the shadows and rose in front of the Egg Guardian. With one fiery punch, she left a burn on the robot.

"Grrrgh! What did you do to my glorious creation?!" Eggman yelled, noticing the burn on his creation. He pressed a button and made the Egg Guardian attack Vivian with a fist, but she Superguarded it and took no damage. "NO!"

"I think that's more of a 'YES' to me," Chopper said, rushing toward the Egg Guardian and slashing at it with his kunai knife, which then followed up with Shadower's Shadow Punch, lowering its defense to 0.

"Well, now we can deal a little bit more damage to it now with its defense at 0," Heartsy smiled.

Eggman grumbled to himself, but he made the Egg Guardian fire missiles out of its head and hit everyone, leaving them all cringing in pain.

"Oh, man! That really did hurt!" Scrub winced. "It was a lot more painful than Grodus's attacks!"

"Hmmmmmm… I suppose I need to plan out a little…" Eggman pondered, only to notice Chopper jump up to the cockpit. "H-Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

"What do you think?" Chopper pulled his kunai knife out and he swung it at the Egg Guardian's head, thus angering the fat scientist more.

"Hey! That's going to cost a lot of rings to repair, you know!" Eggman yelled. Unfortunately, he was ignored, and his robot had received a Super Jump from Mario. To make matters worse, the Egg Guardian appeared to be malfunctioning.

Mario: What's going on?

"Looks like it's disabled," Sonic noticed with a grin. "Neat!"

"Bleh! Come on, you piece of junk! WORK!" Eggman exclaimed, slamming his fists on the buttons. That was when the robot started to work, along with opening its chest to reveal a large cannon charging a beam. "Huh? Oh… YES! Now we're talking!"

"Oh... Well, that's not good. ...Wait, I think I have an idea!" Using his ninja powers, Chopper disappeared, leaving the others to gawk.

"Hey! Are you seriously leaving us here?!" Tamber asked angrily.

"Hold on, guys… I think we CAN do something. Just watch." Flyer pulled out a Boo's Sheet. "We have a big supply on these things. Since only one of us is bound to get hit, I'll use it."

"What?! Hey! I think I should be the one to use-"

Unfortunately, he was ignored as soon as Flyer put the Boo's Sheet on, making him invisible for a turn. The Boo's in the audience applauded Flyer for this action as well.

"Heh heh heh... Let's see how you deal with this!" Eggman grinned, pressing the large, red button. "_**FIRE!**_"

The cannon in the Egg Guardian's chest fired a huge blue laser beam straight at Flyer. However, due to him being transparent, the attack only phased through him. Once the invisibility wore off, Eggman noticed Flyer was left unharmed.

"Great… I missed!" Eggman growled. Afterward, He was struck by a kick from Chopper when he appeared, which then followed up with Heartsy's Hearty Hammer. Annoyed, Eggman fired missiles at everyone again, but it didn't stop Chopper from throwing two shurikens at the Egg Guardian, followed up with Scrub's Mega Egg.

"You're getting OWNED!" Scrub snickered, only to get hit by the Egg Guardian's fists. Chopper looked back at Eggman in anger.

"Perhaps that will teach you to not make fun of a genius such as myself," Eggman said, letting out a small snicker.

"You're going to pay for that!" Chopper jumped toward the Egg Guardian's chest and slashed at it, causing more sparks to come out from the machine.

"Argh! Again with that?!"

"Poyo! (And here's this as well!)" Kirby pulled out his Final Cutter and swung it at the Egg Guardian, bringing the robot down to 177 HP.

Eggman pressed another button to make the Egg Guardian smash Chopper, but he was able to quickly avoid it with ease. Meanwhile, Shadower used a Shadow Punch to bring its defense to 0, and then Chopper delivered a Gravity Jump that took 30 out of the Egg Guardian.

"Whoawhoawhoa! This is crazy!" Eggman shouted, the inside of his machine now having sparks. "No! Not the controls as well!"

"Gee, Eggy… You sure are bad when it comes to your creations!" Sonic scoffed, hitting the head with a Homing Attack. "I mean, this thing is just ridiculous! Could this thing be any worse?"

"With this added, maybe," Chopper answered, throwing a shuriken at the Egg Guardian, taking another 10 out of it.

"Grrrrrrr! Get a load of this!" Eggman slammed his fist on an orange button, and the Egg Guardian's fist crushed Chopper, removing his ability. When he finally got himself unflattened with Kirby's help, he noticed his own ability was gone.

"Hey! You got rid of my Ninja ability! That's not fair!" Chopper frowned, pulling out the Star Rod and firing a Star Blast at the Egg Guardian. "Looks like I'll use this instead."

Flyer made another attack on the Egg Guardian, striking its head to dish out 10 damage, but he was quickly swatted back to the group by the robot's hand.

"Well, we're almost there, Chopper…" Flyer wheezed while he slowly got up.

"Let's hope nothing gets in our way," Chopper clenched the Star Rod and performed a cartwheel spin with it, knocking the Egg Guardian back with the attack. With Bombette's Bomb, the Egg Guardian was down to 84 HP.

"The robot's close to defeat. We've got this!" Bombette assured.

"Argh! Well, let's see how you like THIS!" Eggman grinned maliciously, pressing a blue button. The Egg Guardian unleashed its flamethrower upon the whole group, dishing 21 out of them. "Oh ho ho ho ho! Now THAT was satisfying!"

Unfortunately, his chortling left him off guard, and he didn't see Chopper shoot a star straight at Eggman until the robot got hit, which then followed up with Shadower's Shadow Punch.

"Grrr!" Eggman began to fire more missiles at the group, but they managed to Superguard them with ease. Afterward, Chopper struck the Egg Guardian with his Spin Jump, which then followed up with Scrub's Ground Pound.

"You know, the bigger they are, the bigger the target they are!" Scrub smirked.

"I believe it's the bigger they are, the harder they fall," Flyer corrected.

"...What about if your small?" Chopper wondered.

"Hmmmm... You know, I never thought of that befo-"

"Enough of this!" Eggman yelled, the Egg Guardian grabbing Chopper and throwing him at Scrub. They both got up, with Chopper firing a Star Blast. With Heartsy's Hearty Throw, Eggman's mech was down to 23 HP.

"This robot's almost down," Heartsy sighed. "Thank goodness!"

"Great… This thing is starting to get weak…" Eggman looked at the outside of the robot. "Bah! I don't need to worry about it! Victory shall belong to me! Just look at yourselves!"

Chopper looked at himself with a reflection from the Star Rod. "You're right… But that doesn't mean we're done so soon!"

He leaped in the air and jumped on the Egg Guardian with his Spring Jump. Once he jumped off the robot, he landed back by the group with a smile.

"All right, Sonic… You can finish this up!"

"Thanks! I'm going to get him good!" Sonic clenched his fist as he grinned at Eggman. "Sonic Wind!"

"Wh-What?!" Eggman gaped as a blue gust of wind began to surround the Egg Guardian. Several explosions were starting to come from the robot as well. "No... This can't be! My glorious creation! Ruined! All thanks to you, Sonic!"

"Heh heh heh! Here we go!" Sonic dashed the Egg Guardian, and with a jump and a Homing Attack, he sent Eggman and his Egg Mobile flying out of the robot.

"_**I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!**_" Eggman yelled, an explosion with a depiction of his symbol appearing in the sky.

"Well, it looks like it's over," Sonic declared, facing the group. "Eggman…is gone."

"Wait..." Shadower paused. "You mean he's actually...?"

"Not a chance. He's just defeated, that's all! But wherever he is now, he's out there...somewhere."

"I wonder how he'll get home," Chopper mentioned as he upgraded his FP to 200. "I mean, being stuck in space like that? That might be difficult."

"Ehhh… Don't worry about it! I'm sure Eggy's going to come back anyway. I mean, he always does! For now, let's relax and get a move on."

They made their exit from the are, with what remained of the Egg Guardian exploding. They entered the next area to find a Save Block and a doorway. Though the group was somewhat surprised to see the Save Block, they decided not to take it as a big deal and hit it before progressing.

It was even more of a surprise when they found a waving road up ahead, as if it was some kind of a racetrack.

"Hey... Didn't we already find some kind of racetrack? What gives?" Tamber asked.

"If this is another race with Moe Hawk, then I'm not doing it," Chopper grumbled. "I've had enough of those races."

"But Chopper, we sent him out of here, remember?"

"Oh..."

"Actually, it is I who has been waiting for you this whole time, Chopper!"

"Wait... Don't tell me who I think it is..." Chopper looked at one of the higher sections of the road and saw Metal Chopper staring down at them. "Crud... I thought we were rid of him?"

"Well you thought wrong!" Metal Chopper grinned.

"Well... Uh... We don't have time to be here. Maybe if you let us go, then maybe you can be the main bad guy of the sequel!"

"That sounds nice, but when you're already wiped out, there will be no need for a sequel!"

"Oh... Dang... Well, there's no way I'm going to deal with you." Chopper declared, quickly running past Metal Chopper like a bullet, leaving him spinning and dazed. When he finally regained his senses, he clenched his fists angrily.

"Argh! You're not getting away so easily!" Metal Chopper growled. Remembering his friends, one eye looked back at them. "I will deal with you all later."

With that, he dashed after Chopper with the help of his jetpack.

"Should we follow them?" Heartsy asked.

"Heck yeah! We're not lettin' that piece of scrap metal stop us!" Sonic declared, slamming a fist into his open hand before taking off.

Mario: Well, we better follow.

Agreeing, the rest followed behind.

* * *

Chopper continued to run, his feet moving faster than before. Unfortunately, this speed wasn't enough to fully outrun his robotic counterpart, who was getting closer to him.

Looking back, Chopper gulped upon seeing Metal Chopper getting closer. "Oh, geez... How'd you get here so quickly?"

"You should know by now that I have all of your data," Metal Chopper said, aiming his machine gun at Chopper. "And now to begin annihilating you!"

Metal Chopper began firing, but each of his shots had missed his target. One had nearly struck the back of Chopper's foot, but he managed to speed up just in time.

"Watch where you fire that thing!" Chopper cried. "You could seriously hurt someone with that!"

"That's what I intend on doing!" Metal Chopper was about to fire, but then his machine gun began to overheat. He muttered angrily to himself, but he still had another trick up his sleeves. The robot counterpart switched to his blue laser sword and managed to knock Chopper forward with one swing. Though he was satisfied he managed to hit him, this only pushed Chopper further. "Great... That was a bad move on my part..."

Chopper continued to run, but he was eventually put to a halt when he found the edge of the road in front of him. He tried to balance himself, trying to not fall off. When he finally maintained balance, he looked around for another pathway.

To his dismay, there was none. This was the end of the road.

"Wait... There's no other way to go?" Chopper gasped. "Then... Where do we go from here?"

"That's very simple: you don't!" Metal Chopper cackled, his laser sword ready to land the final strike. "This is the end for you, Chopper! And then I shall never have to deal with your face again!"

Chopper gulped and covered his face while shaking in fear, knowing that he was unable to do anything at this point.

"Here it comes! Say your prayers, Chopper!" Metal Chopper swung his laser sword at him…

…Until a light barrier came in between them. Because of the speed he was going at, Metal Chopper had also crashed into it and was left stunned.

"What?! What just happened?!" Metal Chopper questioned, now seeing a yellow, watery being land by Chopper. "And you are…"

The being did not speak. All he did was throw a powerful punch at Metal Chopper, sending him flying away. The robot was left in shock when he noticed this being's arm stretch.

"ARRRGH! I'll get you next time, Chopper!" Metal Chopper yelled, until he was no longer seen. Chopper decided to take a peek at what happened and noticed he was still alive.

"Huh? What just happened?" Chopper wondered, spotting something in front of him that left him in surprise.. "Staris? Is that really you?"

Staris turned around and looked down at Chopper. He noticed the wounds left on him, so he placed a hand on him and, using his power, he healed them off.

"Oh… Thanks, Staris." Chopper said, noticing the injuries healed off. "But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at Star Haven with all the stars?"

Before Staris could even answer, Chopper saw a large observatory appear before his very eyes. Flying around it were many stars.

"Whoa! That's...cool! Do you use this place to travel around?"

As Staris nodded, Sonic had managed to stop by and notice him and Staris. Following behind were the rest, with Tamber stopping in front of Staris to catch his breath.

"Huff… Huff… Finally. We made it…" Tamber panted slowly getting up to find the robot. "Wait… Where's that robot freak that looks like you, puffball?"

"He's gone, apparently," Chopper answered. "And the road ends here... But, I did find an old friend of mine!"

"Who? That guy?" Scrub gawked, looking up at Staris. "Why does he look like-"

"Who the heck is he supposed to be?" Tamber asked, cutting off Scrub.

"He's Staris, the Star God," Chopper said. "He was at first corrupted by the dark power in the Star Rod, but I managed to help turn him back to normal."

"You? Turn a god back to normal? Pbbbbbth! Yeah right!"

"But I'm serious!"

"Wait... So Staris is a god?" Vivian gaped. "Maybe he could help us!"

Before anyone had time to answer, Staris had created yellow spheres of energy that surrounded the group, and in a blink of an eye, they were suddenly thrown toward the observatory.

* * *

**Observatory-**

Once everyone appeared on the observatory, they got a chance to finally take a breather and look at the gray and yellow place. There were many Star Kids flying around, but when they spotted the group, they quickly flew over to them with excitement.

Mario: Star Kids!

"Star Kids? The heck are those?" Tamber asked.

"They're stars... But they're kids." Chopper answered.

"OK... Fair enough." Bombette shrugged - if she could actually shrug. As for the Star Kids, they began to make comments toward the group as they continued to circle them.

"What do those antennas do?"

"How does she move with no legs?"

"That Yoshi has a big nose."

"Why does he look so puffy?"

"What's under that guy's hat?"

"Is that ponytail supposed to be a fuse?"

"What's with the hammer?"

"I like your mustache!"

"I never saw a creature in blue fur before!"

"Cool wings!"

"You remind me of a tulip..."

All of them didn't seem too bothered by their comments, whether they were negative or not. However, Tamber was the one exception, who felt his face redden in anger.

"Why you little...!" Tamber was about to dive at the Star Kid who "insulted" him, but everyone managed to hold him back. "Hey! Lemme at him! He called me a tulip!"

"Ah, Chopper! It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Chopper stopped pulling Tamber upon hearing the voice. Turning around, he saw a brown, wooden doll in blue approaching him and his friends.

"Geno! You're here too?" Chopper gaped.

"Of course I am," Geno nodded. "After all, Staris wanted me to stay with him, so here I am. But what brings you here?"

"Well, we're trying to look for a Crystal Star. I was told it was located on a place called Nocturnane."

"Nocturnane. Hmmmm... I believe I've heard of that place. But why do you need this Crystal Star?"

"Without it, the universe is doomed by some darkness," Scrub answered. "And it got Contadre's planet, too!"

"I see... Then this is a serious business. After what you've done for Staris, I think he'll be happy to take you guys there." Geno turned to Staris and gave him the details. He then turned back to the group. "Staris says that the Crystal Star you need is back in Gamble Galaxy."

"Poyo! (That's my home galaxy!)" Kirby gaped.

"Wait... So how are we supposed to get there?" Chopper wondered.

"Staris can do that with the observatory, obviously," Geno nodded with a grin. "Staris, shall we begin?"

Staris nodded and drove his arms into the ground. The whole observatory began to glow, leaving many to cover their eyes.

"It's too bright!" Heartsy cried.

"What is Staris doing?" Vivian asked.

"He's setting course for Nocturnane," Geno explained, the observatory now starting to move. "Only he has the power to move this observatory wherever he pleases."

"That sounds cool," Tamber remarked. "So we just sit down and relax for now! Good!"

"Staris! Staris!" a Star Kid cried, making its way to the Star God. "There's something on top of the observatory!"

"What? What is it?" Geno asked.

"There's this scary-looking white creature with a halo on its head! I've never seen it before!"

"White creature?" Chopper gawked.

"Poyo? (Halo?)" Kirby gawked as well.

"It's really scary! I think it's trying to attack the observatory!"

"That's preposterous," Flyer spoke up. "I don't think it's going to attack-"

Just then, a red projectile had fired by Flyer's feet, leaving everyone off guard.

"OK... So it is attacking this place."

"Well, Staris can't take care of that thing at the top at the moment," Geno said, slowly turning to the group. "So we shall leave it to you to take care of this invader."

"What're you going to do?" Tamber asked.

"I'm going to try to keep the Star Kids under control. Unfortunately, Staris is busy moving this observatory, so he is depending on me to do it. You focus on defeating the enemy, OK?"

Everyone gave him a nod, and they hurried their way up to the top of the observatory. Coincidentally, there were these blue star beams that could transport them to the upper level, where they happened to spot a small, red staircase leading up to a red platform at the top.

Once Chopper hit the Save Block, they reached the red platform. However, they noticed there was no one there.

"Come on out and show yourself!" Chopper demanded, knowing that the enemy was probably hiding.

The figure responded by finally descending to face them. It appeared circular and white, having red wings, beady eyes, a red mouth, and also a yellow halo that floated above its head. On top of its head was also a bandage. But for some reason, this enemy looked somewhat familiar to them.

"Hey, this looks just like that freak we saw before," Bombette recalled. "Wasn't it called Zero?"

"Yeah... But it doesn't have the eye." Shadower reminded.

The beady eyes had disappeared, and the red smile changed into a red eye. One that everyone remembered not too long ago.

"Wait... That's Zero!" Chopper gaped. "But I thought we destroyed this thing?"

"Poyo... (I guess not...)" Kirby trailed, getting in a fighting stance.

"If this is what's attacking the observatory, then we have to stop it," Vivian declared.

"Yes," Chopper nodded, taking out the Star Rod. "OK, Zero...Two! We don't know how you managed to come back, but this time, we WILL defeat you! ...Again!"

Zero Two responded with a blink, a small trail of red liquid trailing down from its eye in the process.

**Tattle: **_That's Zero Two. ...Wait, really? What kind of name is that?! Max HP is 380, Attack is 19, and Defense is 2. Unlike before, Zero Two will now fire small, sparkling blue energy balls, or it'll fire a red laser from its eye as well. Be careful, Chopper… Zero Two will raise its Attack up and shoot a huge blast from that halo. I would advise you to have Vivian pull you into the shadows when he does that, OK? Ummmm… I don't know what to say... Well, why is this thing crying?  
_

Chopper swung the Star Rod, and a yellow star struck Zero Two's eye. It closed its eye, cringing in pain and making it shed another red tear.

"Hey, what's up with those tears?" Chopper wondered.

"I'm not so sure..." Heartsy trailed, who gripped her hammer and brought it down on Zero Two's head. "What's up with the bandage and halo on its head?"

"Beats me," Shadower shrugged, only for Zero Two to fire a red laser at Chopper.

"Ow! He's definitely a lot tougher than before!" Chopper cringed, managing to fire another star at Zero Two.

"Let's see what happens when I throw this egg!" Scrub laid a giant egg and he threw it at Zero Two. It took 12 out of him afterward. He was about to celebrate, but Zero Two fired a sparkling energy ball at the Yoshi. Chopper jumped toward Zero Two and shot a light ball, leaving the enemy blind for a turn.

"Yes! Zero Two's blind!" Chopper cheered. Mario pulled out his hammer and brought it down on Zero Two. Due to being blind, Zero was unable to make a move, which helped Chopper hit Zero Two with a Hammer Throw, followed up with Vivian's Shade Fist, leaving it with a burn.

Zero Two's eye opened up, and it fired another energy ball at Chopper, who managed to guard the attack. Chopper retaliated by shooting a star, and then Shadower lowered Zero Two's defense with a Shadow Punch, bringing it down to 293 HP.

"Hopefully that'll give us an advantage," Shadower said, soon getting hit by another laser. He grumbled to himself as he let Chopper strike Zero with a Gravity Jump, taking 30 out of it.

"Well, that worked out well," Sonic remarked, striking Zero Two with a Homing Attack. He was able to Superguard Zero Two's projectile afterward.

"Good job, Sonic!" Chopper complimented. He brought his attention back to Zero Two, and he struck it with another star to its eye. Kirby followed up with a Final Cutter, causing him to get hit by another one of Zero Two's projectiles, but he easily guarded it.

Chopper gave Kirby a nod of approval before he turned his attention back to Zero Two. He leaped in the air and used his Light Stomp to take 8 out of it. Bombette soon followed up with her Bob-omb Blast, which not only sent her flying, but Chopper as well.

"Bombette! Weren't you aware of Chopper?" Vivian gasped.

"Wait, what?" Bombette noticed Chopper land headfirst on the floor. "Oh... I didn't mean to do that."

"What I don't get is why you wasted 9 FP on one enemy..." Shadower trailed, Zero Two shooting a red beam at Bombette. This had knocked her back toward the edge, but Heartsy had grabbed her by the ponytail and pulled her back before she could fall.

"Phew... Thanks for the help, Heartsy."

"It's no big deal. We're all here to help each other."

Meanwhile, Chopper had his Star Rod ready, and he fired another star at Zero Two's eye, making it close its eye in pain. While it was off guard, Tamber rushed in and struck the dark being with his Combo Punch. Unfortunately, it was he who got hit by Zero Two's energy ball.

"Argh! Stupid white angel ball thing!" Tamber growled, going back to the others, who watched him go to the back to wait his turn. Chopper shrugged and decided to use his Diamond Glove attack to hurl a charged electric ball at Zero Two. With Flyer's Flying Attack, it was down to 175 HP. Not only that, but parts of its red wings had been destroyed as well.

"Well, this is going a lot smoother than I thought," Flyer remarked, guarding Zero Two's laser.

"I guess so," Chopper agreed, smacking Zero Two with the Star Rod. Once he did that, Kirby attacked next, pulling out his Final Cutter and swinging the blade at Zero Two. The red eyed being gave Kirby a glare as its halo started to glow, making its Attack raise by 19.

"Poyo... (Uh oh... We need to hide...)" Kirby gulped.

"I think I'm going to heal for the turn, then we can hide," Chopper decided, pulling out a Rainbow Master and recovering 200 HP and FP. Vivian immediately pulled everyone into the shadows as Zero Two fired a large, yellow beam from it. Luckily for the group, its attack missed, and they had emerged unharmed. It, however, did not stop Zero Two from firing a sparkling projectile that exploded and hit them all.

"So this thing has sparkling bombs too? Great..." Tamber groaned.

Chopper ignored Tamber and fired a Star Blast at Zero Two, pushing it back and giving Tamber the opportunity to hit it with a Power Punch. He proceeded to taunt it until he was hit by Zero Two's projectile. However, unlike before, he decided not to complain and returned to the others. Chopper proceeded to strike Zero Two with his hammer, while Vivian left it with another burn thanks to her Shade Fist.

Zero Two tried to attack Chopper with a projectile, but he Superguarded it and then used a Soft Stomp, which brought its defense to 0. Mario proceeded to strike Zero Two with a Super Jump, taking 12 out of it. The dark, angel being swooped down to attack Chopper, but he managed to guard the attack and then jump on its head. After Heartsy struck it with her hammer, Zero Two was down to 74 HP, and more of its wings had been destroyed.

"We almost got this," Heartsy sighed.

"You're almost finished, Zero Two," Chopper said, pointing at the red eyed opponent. "You may have become...that, but you're still no match for us!"

Zero Two gave Chopper a glare before firing another red laser from its eye. This knocked him back, but it didn't stop him from leaping forward and hitting it with a Rainbow Spin. Scrub struck it with a Ground Pound afterward, Superguarding its energy ball.

With Chopper's Gravity Jump, and Tamber's Combo Punch, Zero Two was left with 12 HP. At this point, all of its red wings were destroyed. But Zero Two was not going to go down just yet, so it started to charge up another attack through its halo.

"So... Who wants to finish Zero Two off?" Chopper asked.

"Poyo, (I'll do it,)" Kirby volunteered, swiping the Star Rod from Chopper's grasps, to his surprise. "Poyo. (And I'll be using this.)"

Chopper was surprised by this, but he reluctantly agreed to let him use it. Kirby turned his attention back to Zero Two, the Star Rod ready to make the final blow.

"Poyo, (If I managed to defeat you before, I can do it again,)" Kirby declared, firing a Star Blast at Zero Two. Once the attack made contact, Zero Two's halo had suddenly exploded, and its body began to shine.

The last thing they saw was another red tear trail down Zero Two's eye before exploding.

Chopper was left surprised. Not just because of Zero Two's death, but how Kirby used the Star Rod. "Whoa... You're a lot better with that than me!"

"Poyo, (I used it before,)" Kirby mentioned, returning the Star Rod back to him. With him leveling up again, Chopper upgraded his BP to 120.

"Well... Let's go back down and tell them the good news!"

Everyone agreed with him, and they headed back down to Staris and Geno. They had gotten a glimpse of the white explosion from above, and they were also proud.

"So, it looks like they did it," Geno smiled.

When the heroes had finally returned to them, they had gotten a glimpse of something up in the distance.

"The job has been finished," Flyer sighed.

"Excellent. Now hopefully the Star Kids will not panic again." Geno said, looking around at the relieved Star Kids. "I wish I could thank you for your deed... Actually, since you're all battered and bruised, why not do this?"

Geno pulled out a bag and threw star dust out of it. It glittered down on everyone, and it got rid of any injuries left from Zero Two.

"Whew! I feel so much better!" Shadower sighed. "Thank you, Geno."

"It's no problem. Right now, we're not too far off from Nocturnane. In fact, we are already in Gamble Galaxy at the moment." Geno informed, leaving everyone hopeful. "However, we still have some time to wait. So... Who are these friends of yours, Chopper?"

"Them? Their names are-"

"Easy there, puffball, why don't WE introduce ourselves," Tamber suggested, approaching Geno with a smug look. "The name's Tamber, the coolest guy you'll ever meet. Just keep away from my Master Star, 'cause it's mine."

"Master Star? That sounds like something I've once heard of before... Wasn't it once a relic of a group from an island called Clearno Island? How are you holding onto that?"

"It ain't your business."

"OK... Very well, then."

After Tamber had stepped away, the rest began to make their introductions. Vivian was unsure of what to say, thus she didn't have anything interesting to say. Scrub had told him about the stories of him and Chopper rocking the Glitz Pit. Geno was not able to understand Kirby, but Chopper had said that Kirby was a big fan of food, along with going out on adventures.

Shadower had mentioned that he was once a servant to the Shadow King, but he decided to leave off the background of the dark power still in him. Bombette explained that she had gotten bombnesia, which caught Geno off guard for a moment. Heartsy had explained that she lived with her grandfather in Desert Sands, though he had died at the age of six, leaving her to remember what he taught her to become more independent. She also mentioned she was Chopper's girlfriend - which he said was untrue. Geno had obviously found this to be funny.

Mario said that he was the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. Obviously, this was something Geno knew. Sonic stated he was Mobius's hero and had stopped the evil Dr. Eggman from his evil schemes. Flyer informed him that he was Chopper's best friend, but Geno had still remembered him from before from two years ago. Especially that one incident...

"Hmmmm... Very interesting..." Geno remarked. "I must say, these people are quite the successors to the others that traveled with you, Chopper."

"Yeah, I guess so," Chopper nodded. "But some of them are very unique!"

"Yes..." Geno nodded, soon getting interrupted when the observatory had come to a stop. Everyone looked at what was before them and saw a giant, rocky landscape before them. "Ah! So we have finally arrived..."

The group had approached the edge of the observatory to get a much better view of the asteroid. One thing for certain was that it was vast. Nearby was Pop Star itself, to their surprise.

"So... This is Nocturnane..." Flyer trailed. "It's absolutely massive!"

"But it's right by that Pop Star planet!" Tamber complained.

"Yes... That's true." Vivian noticed.

After getting a good view of the asteroid, Chopper turned to Geno and Staris. "Well... I guess this is goodbye, right?"

"I suppose..." Geno nodded with his arms crossed. "But, that doesn't mean we shall never see each other again. There will come a time when we shall meet again."

"You really think so?"

"Of course," the doll smiled, only to hear something from Staris. "What? There are robots that inhabit this place? Hmmmmm... That sounds like trouble."

"You think those Phis are on that asteroid, Choppy?" Heartsy asked.

"If they are, then we gotta get to it before they do," Chopper gulped. "Thanks for everything, Staris and Geno, but we gotta get going!"

The two gave them an assuring nod before they waved goodbye and leaped off the asteroid. Getting a look behind them, the observatory started to fly off.

"All right... It's time to get that Crystal Star once and for all!" Chopper declared.


	136. Hunting for the Dark Star

As soon as the group landed on Nocturnane, they suddenly felt the gravity around them change, as if they were back on the two moons. All except for Chopper, who was pleased that he was unaffected by it.

"So... This is Nocturnane, huh?" Sonic wondered, looking around the giant asteroid. "Feels pretty empty here... And it's the perfect opportunity for a nice run!"

"Poyo! (And the Crystal Star is close to Pop Star, too!)" Kirby squealed. "Poyo! (We won't have to worry about trying to get back there now!"

"Oh, yeah! That's actually really nice! That's one thing I was worried about!" Chopper agreed. Afterward, he turned his attention back to the area with a serious look. "OK, guys… This is it! This time, we're going to get that Crystal Star! And nothing's going to stop us!"

"Once we get that star, then we can finally bring it back to the Fountain of Dreams and save the universe," Vivian said. "Hopefully we'll be able to stop the darkness in time..."

"Yeah... You're right. Anyway, let's go!" Chopper gripped the Star Rod and began to make move on. He and the others were being cautious of any Phis, as warned before. Thankfully, there were none in sight. There were, however, some rocks that could be blown up, and some boulders that could easily be smashed.

"Chopper, you might need me to blow up some of the rocks around here," Bombette informed.

"And I'll smash the other stuff," Tamber added.

"All right," Chopper nodded and spotted a rock with a crack in it. Remembering what Bombette said, he picked up the Bob-omb and threw her by it. She blew it up, revealing a Max Shroom inside. Smiling, he retrieved it. "It's nice to get these kind of items!"

"I wonder what's in this rock," Tamber smashed a larger rock to find Max Juice inside. "Ooh! Now we're talking!"

He picked up the Max Juice and was about to drink it, only for Chopper to take it from him. "Hey! What the heck was that for, puffball?! I'm not allowed to have a drink or something?!"

"It's called saving, Tamber," Chopper answered, putting the juice away. "We need to save this stuff for REAL emergencies. And... This isn't an emergency."

"Bah! Whatever..."

"Chopper, I think you should pull out that Magical Map and see where we could find the Crystal Star," Flyer suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea!" Chopper pulled out the Magical Map to find the location of the Dark Star. But, just like before, he wasn't getting any results. "Dang it. It's just like before! How are we supposed to find it around here?"

Mario: We'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way.

"Old-fashioned way? Well bring it it, then!" Scrub declared.

"Yeah! That's the way to go! Now let's get going!" Chopper suggested, walking on to the northern pathway. There, they spotted a silver base with a couple of Phis patrolling. "Oh... Well, looks like there ARE Phis here! Maybe we should try avoiding them?"

"They don't appear to be Master Phis," Heartsy noticed, pointing to the normal gray Phis that were carrying some materials toward their base.

"Wow. I didn't expect to see those guys here." Shadower said in surprise.

"So, are we gonna give those Phis a beating or two?" Scrub asked, punching the air.

"Honestly, that would be a bad idea," Flyer said, shaking his head. "If we were to be caught, then the rest of the Phis would be alerted of our presence, and they'd be after us like a swarm of bees. It's too risky."

"We can get Shadower to help us if a Phi almost spots us," Chopper added.

"That sounds like a good idea," Shadower agreed.

Chopper gave him a nod and rushed behind a rock nearby. He decided to slowly peek over the rock to see if there were any Phis looking at their direction. When the coast was clear, he gave everyone a signal to come on over. They listened and they rushed over behind the rock as well.

"We better not destroy these rocks," Bombette whispered. "That means no smashing rocks, Tamber."

"All right, I have no problem with that. I know how to control my own strength." Tamber assured, hitting the rock with his fist.

And that was when the rock was smashed into smithereens.

"Huh?" one of the Phis noticed Chopper and his friends over by the destroyed rock. "Hey, guys! You're not going to guess what I found!"

"What?!" another Phi yelled.

"Chopper and his friends! They're here!"

"You serious? Then what're we doing here, working on this base? Let's get him and alert the others!"

"Uh oh..." Chopper gulped, holding the Star Rod close to him. The Phis working on the base dropped their things and charged at them. With the Star Rod ready, he swung it and fired a yellow star that knocked the Phis over like bowling pins. "Guys! Let's run for it!"

Chopper rushed over to the left pathway, which happened to lead away from a base. There, they sighed in relief and decided to take a breather. There was also another left pathway they could take, but that had led them to another Phi base.

"Crud... With those Phis knowing of our presence, this is going to be a big problem," Chopper groaned.

"Nice going, Tamber," Bombette said, glaring at Tamber.

"What? What'd I do?!"

"You smashed the rock, obviously."

"It was an accident!"

"It doesn't matter if it was an accident or not," Flyer cut in. "We were probably going to be found out eventually. Though I would not comply with fighting, I feel that it is our only opportunity for now."

"Hey, Chopper!" a Phi called out from the base ahead. When Chopper faced the Phi, his eyes widened when he spotted some Phis such as normal ones, elites, suns, demolitions, and masters on hover bikes. "Check out these new rides! We're going to take you down with these awesome bikes!"

"Uh oh..." Chopper gulped. "Now they have bikes..."

"How do they get so much equipment like that?" Vivian wondered.

"They must have a lot of materials..." Shadower trailed.

When the Phi Bikes got closer, Chopper instantly ran out of the area once they fired red lasers. The rest of his friends, however, had not noticed.

"Crud... Got any ideas, Contadre?" Scrub asked, turning to Chopper, only to notice his disappearance. "Hey! Did Contadre run away? I...guess we should follow?"

"No way!" Heartsy objected.

"No? Why not?"

"They're Phis. It's not like they're impossible to beat. Plus, I think I might have an idea!"

When the Phi Bikes got closer, Heartsy took her hammer out and threw it. An Elite Phi happened to get hit by her hammer and was knocked off. Smiling, Heartsy caught her hammer and jumped into the bike. She pressed the button labeled "fire" and managed to shoot away another Phi Bike.

Mario got the idea of what she was doing and jumped into one of the empty Phi Bikes to help her out. Many more had been empty, and the rest had managed to get onto a Phi Bike as well.

"This bike is very easy to pilot," Flyer commented, looking at the controls. "It even has an autopilot, too."

"Which I'm using," Tamber grinned, letting the bike do the work for him. Sadly, he had paid no attention to the rock his bike was moving toward, and he ended up crashing into it. Grumbling, he got back on the bike and turned off autopilot. "All right, fine. I'll do it myself."

While everyone managed to shoot a decent amount of Phis, a group had managed to get away and continued to follow Chopper. They decided to follow the Phis, knowing they would find Chopper eventually. Vivian had noticed Sonic was simply running instead.

"Why aren't you using a bike?" Vivian asked.

"Who needs one of those bikes when you can go super fast?" Sonic answered with a grin. "I'll try to make sure they don't capture Chopper, all right?"

"That sounds good..." the Shadow Siren nodded, watching Sonic blast off. _"Please be safe, Chopper..."_

* * *

Chopper had taken the northern pathway in the previous area, which had a couple of black Master Phimatites flying around. He had no problem taking care of those, as his jumping and Star Rod had helped do away with them.

Just as he was about to celebrate, he spotted some Phi Bikes up ahead. He would've tried to run from them, but they had already surrounded him.

"We got you now, Chopper!" one Phi shouted.

"There is nowhere to hide now!" an Elite Phi cackled. "This is the end of the road for you."

"I suggest you hand us what Master Gemerl wants," demanded the Sun Phi, readying its turret. "Or face the consequences."

"We were going to eliminate him anyway," a Demolition Phi reminded.

"So, do you have any last words, Chopper?" the Master Phi asked.

"Well... Errr..." Chopper trailed.

"Nah, forget it. Let's destroy him!"

Before the Phis could fire, they and their bikes were suddenly destroyed by projectiles from behind, as well as a blue ball going at incredible speeds. Some Phis had managed to survive, specifically the Master Phis. When they stood up, they quickly flew off.

All Chopper could do was gape at astonishment.

"What...was that?" Chopper gawked, unsure of what else to say. When he saw some Phi Bikes approaching him, he quickly got in his fighting stance. "Well... I think I can take these guys on!"

He leaped in the air and prepared to fire a star at the bikes.

"Wait, Chopper! Don't fire! It's just us!" Flyer cried.

Chopper paused in midair for a brief moment before he fell to the ground. When he finally stood up, he got a closer look and saw that it was really his friends.

"Hey, it really is you guys!" Chopper smiled. "How'd you manage to use those things anyway? Are there instructions?"

"Well... Not necessarily, but it's not that hard to learn. There's even an autopilot."

"And we all know how that turned out..." Heartsy trailed, her eyes shifting to Tamber, who gave her a face in return. She turned back to Chopper with a smile. "By the way, this was my idea. What do you think?"

"Ummmmm... Well, good work!" Chopper replied, giving her a thumbs up. She blushed in return and offered a hand. "Huh? What's that?"

"Don't you want to join me on this bike?"

"Who needs that when I can run on my own?" Chopper smiled, running over to the northern pathway. Heartsy had let out a small sigh and frowned, while Chopper pointed to the path he faced. "Let's go this way, guys!"

Everyone followed Chopper to the north into another barren landscape. Once again, there were many cracked rocks that could be destroyed, but along with that, there were now Xs on the ground. Tamber leaped off his Phi Bike and dug where an X was to find a Max Shroom.

"Here, take it, puffball," Tamber tossed the item over to Chopper, who put it away.

"Man, finding this Crystal Star is going to be a lot tougher than I thought," Sonic remarked.

When they took the pathway to their left, they had run into another Phi Base. The Phis settling there, on the other hand, were more prepared than the ones at the other base. They had Phi Bikes like theirs, but their bases also had a couple of turrets as well.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me..." Tamber groaned. "They got even more bikes, and now they have turrets!"

"They sure have gone overboard," Sonic commented. "But so what if they got this stuff? We can still mop the floor with them!"

"Yeah!" Chopper agreed, swinging the Star Rod and firing a star at the Phis, knocking a few off their bikes and even destroying them. One turret had also gotten destroyed as well. "Uhhh... We could use some attacks that hit multiple targets!"

"I'm on it!" Vivian raised her finger, and upon sparkling, all of the Phis and turrets were set aflame with her Fiery Jinx. "That should keep them distracted."

"Mario and I will take care of the rest," Sonic decided, taking out the seven Chaos Emeralds. Mario had nodded in agreement and took out a feather. Both of them transformed into Super Sonic and Cape Mario and took off toward the Phis and the base.

Phis on the Phi Bikes started to fire at the duo, but Cape Mario spun his cape to deflect the shots and destroy both the bikes and the Phis. He then flew in the air, following Super Sonic over to the base.

Everyone gaped as they watched the Phi base explode.

"Dude... That...was...awesome..." Scrub gaped.

Super Sonic and Cape Mario had flown out of the destruction and landed back by their friends, transforming back to normal in the process.

Mario: I'm a bit exhausted...

"Yeah, me too," Sonic sighed, putting the Chaos Emeralds away. "Yeesh... I never thought using the emeralds would burn up so much energy in me..."

They decided to exit the area by taking the left path. To their dismay, they had run into an icy ground. However, they were less annoyed, considering that they had gotten adjusted to the ice. Rather than rocks, there were chunks of ice around. There was even a frozen chest that Chopper melted to find a Star Shroom inside.

Since there was nothing else around, they decided to take the pathway up north. Thankfully, there didn't appear to be any ice here, so walking was much easier. There didn't appear to be any rocks or Phis in sight either.

"How far have we traveled on this giant asteroid?" Chopper asked.

"I'm...not so sure..." Flyer trailed.

"Well, hopefully we're not too far from our destination. Let's not waste any time and get a move on!"

"Oh, I don't think so! Not when I'm around!"

Everyone looked around until they noticed a figure land in front of them. His landing wasn't exactly precise, but he managed to pull himself together and glare at the group with his red eyes.

"Long time no see, Chopper!" Kibbler smirked. "I've been waiting to finish you once and for all! You remember me, don't you?"

Everyone looked at him in confusion, leaving Kibbler to gawk.

"Wait... You guys don't remember me? Kibbler? The guy who spoke while you and Rawk Hawk were fighting? COME ON! How could you not remember me?!"

"Dude, just get out of the way," Scrub suggested. "We're trying to look for a Crystal Star."

"Heck no! Not when I'm trying to stop you!"

"Now that I think about it, I think I remember seeing him..." Vivian realized.

"See? At least someone has the decency to remember me!" Kibbler grumbled. "Anyway, I made a vow to put a stop to your plans, and now I can finally do that!"

"Wait... What do you have against us?" Chopper asked.

"Well... Perhaps I should unveil who I truly am!"

"Darling, what's going on here?"

Before Kibbler could remove his armor, hot pink dinosaur-like being with a funnel-shaped snout, spikes on her tail, a rounded white belly, and a red bow made her entrance. Many were left gawking at her.

"Hey, wait a second... Didn't I see that thing before?" Chopper asked.

"Thing?! I'll have you know that I am a beautiful Birdo!" Birdo declared, giving Chopper a glare before turning back to Kibbler. "So, these are the ones you were speaking of, darling?"

"Yes, these are-" Kibbler paused, his red eye twitching. "The names KIBBLER! With a capital K!"

"Hmmmmm... Maybe instead of dealing with them, we could go out on a romantic date."

"Not now..." Kibbler grumbled. He turned back to Chopper with a sheepish grin. "You see, Chopper… This...whatever she is was happy enough to join me in order to destroy you. This is my new sidekick, Birdo!"

"No need to call me Birdo, sweetie," Birdo said, appearing love-struck. "You can call me 'Birdie'!"

"Listen here, kid," Kibbler began, ignoring Birdo. "You may have defeated Rawk Hawk, but there's no way you're a match for me and my sidekick! Today is the day that you will be defeated-"

"By the power of love!"

"_**AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!**_" Kibbler began to steam with rage as he stomped the ground like an angry child. When everyone was giving him a weird look, he eventually stopped. "Now listen here, Chopper… Whatever power we're going to use, we're going to destroy you with it!"

"But... I still don't get why you want to destroy me..." Chopper trailed. "I never did anything to you."

"Oh, you did something, all right… And now I'm going to get back at you once and for all! Let's go, Birdo!" Kibbler pulled out a cutter blade and got in his fighting stance.

"Well, let's show them who's boss!" Sonic suggested, the others getting out of their Phi Bikes to prepare for battle.

**Tattle: **_That's Kibbler. He's a strange-looking Sir Kibbles with…red eyes? Strange... Sir Kibbles don't usually have red eyes... Max HP is 180, Attack is 18, and Defense is 1. It says here that he only has that cutter blade he can detach from his helmet. Usually he'll throw it only at you, or he might throw it at all of you guys. That's…really all he has. He doesn't seem like a huge threat to me compared to all of the other major enemies.  
_

**Tattle: **_That's Birdo. She's one strange-looking dinosaur, I have to admit. She can shoot eggs from her mouth? Weird… Max HP is 200, Attack is 19, and Defense is 0. All she does is shoot eggs at you. And...she'll even try to protect her "hubby". ...Hey! Don't look at me! I didn't write this!  
_

"Wow. Their HP is pretty low compared to other enemies we've faced. This might not be so hard... Let's take out Birdo first." Chopper leaped in the air and jumped Birdo's, performing a stylish move afterward as he bounced off her head again.

"Maybe my Fiery Jinx will help," Vivian muttered, raising her finger and engulfing Kibbler and Birdo in flames, leaving a harsh burn on them as well.

"Youch! That burns!" Kibbler cried, as throwing his cutter blade at Chopper, knocking him back.

"Why, sweetheart, there's no need to fret over some fire," Birdo said while batting her eyelashes before shooting an egg at Vivian, who immediately guarded the attack.

"But it REALLY hurts!"

While Kibbler continued to complain about the fire, Chopper struck both Kibbler and Birdo with a Star Blast. Kirby then followed up with a Final Cutter to take 12 more out of the two.

"Argh!" Kibbler growled, clenching his fists in anger. "I'm going to make you pay for that! It's time I conjured up a spell!"

"Huh?" Chopper gawked, noticing Kibbler create a red spell and hurl it at Kirby, sending him tumbling back. "Wait... That kind of attack looks familiar..."

"What do you mean?" Vivian asked.

"I mean it's just that... When I see something like that, I think of a Darkling..."

"That's because my darling is great!" Birdo said cheerfully, shooting an egg at Chopper. He managed to guard it and take only 18 damage instead. After that, Chopper put his Master Gloves to use, and he had created a large ball of light energy above the two. Once it fell, the two had taken 16 damage.

"Let's see how you chumps handle this!" Tamber grinned, smashed at the ground with his Quake attack to take 12 out of the two opponents.

"All right, so Birdo has 126 HP left, and Kibbler has 128. Not too bad…" Chopper brought the Star Rod in front of him to guard Kibbler's red spell and also Birdo's egg. He struck the two with a Star Blast afterward.

"Let's see how you like a Sonic Wind!" Sonic clenched his fist and a bunch of blue wind surrounded the two opponents, dealing some heavy damage to them. Birdo was immediately down to 101 HP, with Kibbler being at 103, which made everyone smile.

"Curse you, Chopper!" Kibbler tossed his cutter blade at him, but he was able to Superguard it with ease. Heartsy was the one to get hit by Birdo's egg. She decided to take action by striking the two with her Hearty Cyclone. This set them flying in the air and made them hit the ground painfully hard.

"Oooog… I never thought a pink tornado would be able to hurt me…" Kibbler slid down from the iceberg and he quickly shook his head. When he looked back up, he saw Chopper strike him and Birdo with his Ultra Gloves. They happened to be ice balls, leaving him shivering. "Too c-cold..."

He saw Chopper strike him and Birdo with his Ultra Glove attack. It was an ice ball, which made things a little colder for the two of them. "Argh! I hate it when it has to be cold!"

Kibbler shivered as he hurled another red energy ball straight at Chopper with a grin. Unfortunately, the satisfaction did not last very long when Birdo approached him from behind and grabbed him.

"Don't worry, my love! I'll protect you!" Birdo cried romantically.

"Wait… What the heck?! What are you DOING?!" Before he knew it, Kibbler was inhaled by Birdo, and then was spat out into an egg. Four other eggs appeared as well.

"Oh, this should be easy," Chopper smiled, turning to Vivian. "Just use your Fiery Jinx and we'll find out where Kibbler is."

"All right," Vivian raised her finger and used her Fiery Jinx to burn Birdo and destroy the other eggs, dealing damage to Kibbler as well.

"Excellent!" Chopper raised the Star Rod and he struck the two with another Star Blast, bringing Birdo down to 59 HP and Kibbler to 62.

"Oh, dear… My HP is running low… Darling, what shall we do?!" Birdo cried.

"First off, I'm KIBBLER! And second, why don't you suck it up instead of complaining?!" Kibbler growled as he hurled a red spell at Vivian. She managed to Superguard an egg from Birdo, to her luck.

Chopper struck the two, but this time with his Master Hammer ability, dishing 14 out of both of them. Bombette decided to use her Explosion to deal 14 to Birdo and 13 to Kibbler.

"You guys are seriously a complete joke!" Bombette scoffed. "Look how far we've brought you down!"

"Well, I'll be the one having the last laugh, that's for sure!" Kibbler grumbled as he struck Bombette with his cutter blade. Birdo attacked her for insulting her 'sweetheart'.

"Meh, it doesn't matter. You guys are going down." Chopper used his Master Glove attack, followed by Vivian's Fire Wall, which helped bring Birdo down to 3 HP. Birdo had spat an egg at Vivian, while Kibbler had fired another red spell at Chopper.

"With this turn, they should be finished!" Heartsy smirked.

"Go ahead and finish them, Vivian," Chopper suggested.

"But why me?" Vivian asked.

"Well, I don't think you got a chance to finish off some baddies for a while... So, why not just finish them with a Fiery Jinx?"

"Well… OK... I guess I can." With that, Vivian raised her finger, and both Kibbler and Birdo were engulfed in flames and had fallen on the floor, covered in soot and barely moving. Vivian looked a bit guilty, believing they were seriously hurt. "I hope my attack didn't do too much harm..."

"Probably not," Bombette replied, while Chopper leveled up and upgraded his HP to 205. That was when both Kibbler and Birdo got up, appearing exhausted. "See? They're not too hurt!"

"Grrrrrr... Dang you, Chopper… Wait, what am I talking about?!" Kibbler turned around and pointed at Birdo angrily. "This is all your fault! If you hadn't gotten in the way, we'd have them! What was I thinking about hiring you? You're FIRED!"

Birdo gasped, tears starting to come down her face. "You mean… You're breaking up with me?! But… But…"

Suddenly, the tears began to stop, and her face turned steaming red. Everyone who wasn't Kibbler slowly stepped back.

"THIS IS JUST LIKE WHEN MY OTHER BOYFRIEND BROKE UP WITH ME! YOU STUPID LITTLE THING!" Birdo yelled, knocking Kibbler back with her tail. "I'm done here!"

Birdo let out a huff as she walked away. Everyone turned their attention back to Kibbler, who slowly got up. Before he could yell at them, he noticed his armor was cracking.

"Uh oh…" Kibbler's armor completely shattered, revealing himself to be a dark being with an antenna with a red bulb on it, a round head with red glowing eyes, an oval-shaped body and two disembodied hands.

"Wait... What is that?" Heartsy gawked. "That thing looks just like what we fought when that painter made something like that."

"So he WAS a Darkling!" Chopper gaped.

"Great… Now my disguise is gone! I should've made sure this armor was a lot stronger..." the Darkling muttered, glaring and pointing at Chopper. "Listen, Chopper! Soon we shall return, and you'll be sorry for what you did to us!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Oh, you and your foolish friends will find out soon enough... As for now, I'm outta here!" the Darkling made its escape by disappearing, leaving everyone to gawk.

"What did he mean by saying we'll find out soon enough?" Tamber gawked.

"I'm not so sure..." Chopper trailed. "I mean, those guys were trouble two years ago, but after that incident, I don't think I've seen them before... But those two Tartaras we saw at Professor Frankly's... What was up with that?"

"Let's not worry about that at the moment," Flyer suggested, getting back onto his Phi Bike. "That Crystal Star is our number one priority right now."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's get going." Chopper made a dash forward, his friends following them on their Phi Bikes.

As they reached the next area, they could get a much better view of Pop Star. There were about two pathways they could go, one to the right and one to the left. When they headed left, they found another Phi base with Phis prepared to attack. Thankfully, they had not spotted them, so they decided to go to the right. Unfortunately, they were met with another Phi base.

"Geez! There's so many bases around here!" Shadower gaped. "A lot more than before!"

"Hey, look over there," Heartsy noted, pointing over to a rock blocking the pathway to the right near the base. "There's a rock in the way, but it looks like there's plenty of room to get through."

"Well, I could just lie down and inch my way under there, but I think turning into a tube will work a lot better," Chopper declared, turning sideways and then into a tube. He and the others rolled under the rock with ease, getting to the next area without being spotted. Unfortunately, that meant they had to abandon their Phi Bikes.

"So much for taking those bikes with us..." Flyer trailed, spotting another rock ahead, along with a huge rubble to their north. "I think that one rock ahead has enough space to slide underneath."

Chopper nodded and lied down near the rock, slipping under the opening. They were brought into a much smaller area, with a little bush and a tree with white outlines. Chopper hit the tree with his hammer, and a Star Fruit fell into his hands. With it, it could heal off 175 HP and 200 FP.

The bush, unfortunately, only had a single coin, so they left the area and returned to the large rubble that was before them. Chopper suggested blowing it up, but it did no good when Bombette exploded. Smashing through it with Tamber did no good either. He was about to give up, but then he spotted a panel with a piece of paper ripped in half.

"Say... Didn't we once see something like that?" Chopper asked, pointing to the panel.

"Didn't you get some kind of ability to tear through some stuff in the way?" Flyer asked.

"Oh, yeah! I was 'cursed' with it!"

He stood on the panel, and he thrust his arms forward and clenched his hands into fists near the rubble. To him, it felt like he was actually grabbing a hold of it. He threw his hands upward and ripped off the piece of paper blocking their way and revealing an open pathway.

"Aw, yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Scrub cheered.

Smiling, Chopper and his friends made their way to the area ahead. There didn't appear to be much around, sadly. There were no other pathways to take either.

"Wait... A dead hand? No way... I can't be!" Chopper gasped.

While the others were disappointed, Vivian had spotted something in the center and gasped.

"Chopper! Look over there!" Vivian announced, pointing to the object ahead.

"Hmmmm?" Chopper looked ahead and nearly gaped at what he saw.

The Dark Star.

"Oh my gosh! I don't believe it! It's the Crystal Star!"

Everyone exchanged smiles as they approached the Crystal Star in all its glory. Just looking at the sight of it gave them a feeling of hope.

Chopper was about to take the star, but the sound of robots and vehicles had alarmed them. Looking up, everyone spotted Phis descending into the area, with a few on Phi Bikes.

"Hold it right there!" a Master Phi shouted. "Escape from this place, and you'll be eliminated!"

When the Phis finally landed, they all readied their weapons and aimed at the group.

"Great... We're surrounded..." Shadower sighed.

"Well we can always just take 'em on!" Scrub smirked. "Let's show them what we've got, Contadre!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the Master Phi warned. "You're all outnumbered. If you fight us, don't expect to come out alive."

"For once, I think that Phi's right," Sonic agreed. "Mario and I have already used our Master-Rank abilities, so we can't start using those yet..."

Mario: Where's the leader, though?

"Master Gemerl is not here at this moment," the Master Phi explained. "He was actually trying to scan the area for you. Of course, we can just tell him you are here, and then he will come back here pretty soon! In the meantime, I believe you should hand over those Crystal Stars."

"What if we refuse?" Tamber asked.

"Well... I'm sure you would know what would happen."

There the heroes stood, unsure of what to do. Being surrounded by an army of robots was especially bad, and since they were a bit exhausted from the walking, it was even worse. Many of the Phis grinned, ready to open fire on the group.

"So... What's it going to be?" an Elite Phi asked. "You going to give us what we want, or are you going to die?"

"There's no way we're going down so soon!" Chopper declared, holding the Star Rod up. "We've come this far, and we aren't going to fail!"

"What is that supposed to be?" a Sun Phi scoffed. "It's just a candy cane with a star on it!"

"It may look like that, but it's actually the Star Rod! This thing has so much power in it, that it might even be tough enough to destroy this asteroid if I use its full power!"

Many of the Phis suddenly recoiled, with a few even lowering their weapons.

"Don't be so foolish, Phis!" the Master Phi yelled. "He's only trying to trick you! There's no way he's going to destroy this place!"

"I will!" Chopper cried. "And I bet it'll destroy you all!"

"Wait, Chopper... Are you actually planning on doing that?!" Flyer gaped in horror. "I mean, if you do that, then chances are we could..."

"I know... But if we don't act now, then these guys are going to blast us!"

"OK, that does it," the Master Phi growled, preparing to fire. "Phis! Destroy these fools for Master Gemerl!"

Surprisingly, none of the Phis fired.

"You cowards... Very well, I guess it's up to me to destroy them."

"If you do that, this place will be destroyed," Chopper warned, the Star Rod glowing with immense power.

"Chopper, please..." Vivian pleaded. "Don't take the risk."

"It's too late for that," Chopper replied. "If anything bad happens to us, then I'm sorry..."

"All right, I've had enough. This is it for you, Chopper!" the Master Phi yelled, firing a shot at Chopper. It knocked him back, but he was able to get back up, now ready to attack.

"This is it, Phis! See how you like THIS!" Chopper let out a cry as he swung the Star Rod to the ground with all his might. Nothing happened at first, but then the asteroid began to glow brightly, and the ground started to shake.

"You idiot! Now we're all going to die!" Tamber yelled.

"Whoa… I don't like this..." a Demolition Phi gulped.

"I...really messed up," the Master Phi said, nearly falling over. "Master Gemerl is going to get real angry with me. Well... There is one option... _**RETREEEEEAT!**_"

All of the Phis obeyed and tried to make their escape from Nocturnane. Unfortunately, it was not enough time. The asteroid had exploded, taking the Phi army with them. Not even Chopper and his friends could see each other through the blinding lights.

All that remained was sparkling dust.

* * *

**Near Nocturnane-**

Gemerl, on the other hand, had decided to sit on a small, lonely asteroid - the one he had found himself on when he woke up in order to scan the area for Chopper. The only thing he had seen recently was an observatory flying to the asteroid and then away. He suspected that Chopper would be on there, but he would wait for the Phis to tell him.

He was ready to get in contact with them just in case, but he had heard the sound of a large explosion. Turning around, he noticed Nocturnane was no longer there.

"What? What happened to that asteroid?!" Gemerl gawked, seeing nothing but space dust remain from it. Immediately, he turned on his communicator. "Phis? PHIS?! Come in, Phis! Are you there?!"

No response.

"Are you there, my minions?! Speak to me!"

Still no response. The only thing he could heard was a buzzing noise.

"No... It can't be... How could that place be destroyed?! Everything was in good condition! Unless it could've been..." Gemerl paused and suddenly got the answer. He clenched his fists in anger, as if he was ready to punch someone's lights out. "That Crystal Star... So it WAS on that asteroid... And Chopper DESTROYED the place!"

Using his jetpack, he blasted off toward the destroyed Nocturnane.

"Now you've pushed me to my limit, Chopper..." Gemerl hissed, his eyes turning red with anger. "I'm going to do everything to make you suffer!"

* * *

**What a chapter that was. I guess you can say that it ended with a bang. *shot***

**After eleven chapters going through Chapter 19, we're finally getting to the boss. And boy, is Gemerl not going to hold anything back.**


	137. Gemerl: Battle for the Final Star

While the Phis were destroyed from the destruction of Nocturnane, the heroes, on the other hand, were much luckier. The explosion had ended up sending them flying closer to Pop Star on a floating, silver platform. Unfortunately, it had left them unconscious in the process.

Chopper was the first to open his eyes. When he stood up, he didn't realize how painful it was to stand. But when he got a closer look at his surroundings, he was pleasantly surprised.

"Wait... I'm...alive?" Chopper gawked, looking at his hands and feet. Despite being alive, he was also badly injured, now having 1 HP. Moving was a lot harder than before due to being hurt, too. "Geez... I think I might've overdone it."

He turned around and noticed his friends were lying on the ground too. Vivian appeared to be the closest, so he approached her and gently shook her.

"Hey, Vivian! Are you there?" Chopper asked, hoping for a response.

Vivian let out a small moan and slowly opened her eyes to see Chopper looking down at her. "Ch-Chopper? What happened?"

"Well... I guess we survived that attack I pulled off." Chopper answered, helping the Shadow Siren up. He noticed that she, too, had only 1 HP left. "Are you all right?"

"I guess so... Thanks for asking." Vivian said, giving him a smile. She looked at her surroundings as well, noticing no sign of Phis. "I wonder what happened to the Phis..."

"I think they were destroyed from that blast."

"Ugh... Am I still alive?" Flyer groaned, slowly getting up. "Hey... We're all alive! But I don't feel too good, though. Not only that, but where's Nocturnane?"

"I think I ended up destroying it," Chopper answered. "I don't even know where it is."

Everyone else started to get up as well, noticing the low amount of HP they had. In the meantime, Chopper decided to take out the Magical Map and, to his surprise, it was glowing.

"Hey... Guys! The map's glowing!"

That's when the group stopped paying attention to their injuries and took a look at the map.

"If the map's glowing, then that means... The Crystal Star is not too far ahead!" Shadower realized. "So the star's still in one piece."

"It might be up ahead," Heartsy said. "We should check up ahead!"

"Yeah, we should do that," Chopper agreed, making his way over to the edge of the silver platform to find two blue platforms floating in a circle. "Oh... I'm not so sure if I can jump this. Maybe you can help, Scrub?"

"No can do," Scrub panted. "I'm too exhausted for that."

"OK... I suppose I can try to jump this." Chopper took a couple of steps back and then made a big leap onto one of the platforms. He was lucky to make it, as his feet had landed by the platform's edge.

"Hopefully I can make this," Bombette said, making a leap onto the platform. Once everyone crossed the two blue platforms, they had finally come across a green platform where a Save Block and Heart Block was. Up ahead was another pathway.

"A Heart Block!" Tamber gaped. "Hit it now, puffball!"

Chopper immediately struck the Heart Block, which recovered everyone's HP and FP. Though it had cost them some coins, they didn't care, especially since they had 1 HP left.

"RELIEF!" Chopper exclaimed, stretching his arms. "I feel SO much better now!"

Mario: Definitely!

"I think I'm ready to get that star!" Sonic smiled.

Agreeing, everyone took the pathway ahead onto a large, floating platform. It appeared glassy and transparent in the center, having some yellow lights inside in the shape of a star. The outer part had was colored black and yellow.

"This is a pretty nice platform," Flyer remarked, staring down at the bright star inside. When he looked up ahead, a smile had appeared on his face. "Hey, Chopper! Look at what's up ahead!"

Chopper looked up ahead and saw the Dark Star sitting at the center of the platform. A smile had appeared on his face as well.

"Yes! It's the Crystal Star!" Chopper cheered, walking over to it. "I can't wait to show this to everyone back on Pop Star! Now we can finally save the universe!"

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

A laser was fired near Chopper, causing him to jump away from the star. Another laser was shot at the pathway behind them, preventing anyone from turning back.

"What the heck? Now who's stopping us?!" Tamber groaned.

"You're not going anywhere, Chopper," Gemerl hissed, slowly descending on the platform with his hands balled into fists. "I should've known that you were responsible for the destruction of my entire army."

"Gemerl..." Chopper trailed, getting in a fighting stance. "You know, it's been pretty long since we ran into you."

"Yes, it certainly has," Gemerl nodded, noticing some new faces in Chopper's group. "It looks like you've brought in some new friends to help you. Such a pity that you're leading them to their death."

"So this is the Gemerl guy you've been talking about?" Flyer asked.

"Yeah... This is him." Chopper nodded. "We didn't see this guy since Chapter 9."

"This guy doesn't look too tough," Tamber scoffed. "I bet we can beat him."

"Chopper, it is your fault that my army is completely destroyed," Gemerl said, ignoring Tamber and returning his glare to Chopper. Eventually he started to calm down. "But, the more I think about it, I don't necessarily need them to accomplish my goal. They were rather incompetent, and they never seemed to succeed in stopping you. However, that doesn't mean I'm going to make you and your friends suffer for destroying my hard work in getting that army."

"We're sorry about all that, but you were being kind of jerkish to us, so I think we were allowed to do that," Chopper said. "Can we just have the Crystal Star?"

"Not a chance. I vowed that I would get a hold of all twenty Crystal Stars and use them to make me the Ultimate Gizoid once again. Then I can finally rule the world as the most powerful robot in existence! The only thing getting in my way…is you.

"As if we're going to let you do something like that!" Heartsy scoffed. "We need that Crystal Star for more selfless reasons."

"And do you even know what those stars are supposed to do?" Gemerl asked.

"They're supposed to repel the darkness that's trying to destroy the universe," Chopper answered. "Right now, it's getting a lot closer."

"Oh, really? That's what you believe? Then you are a lot stupider than you think!"

"Poyo! (We're not stupid!)" Kirby retorted.

"Anyway, I shouldn't be wasting any more time now. The Crystal Star is finally in my hands!" Gemerl grinned, grabbing the star and holding it up. The star began to glow black, transforming star in the platform into a depiction of his head. "And now to take care of you fools! Once you're finished, the twenty Crystal Stars shall finally be mine!"

"We're not going to let you get in our way!" Chopper shouted, taking out the Star Rod. "Let's settle this once and for all!"

"So be it!" Gemerl declared. "Ever since our previous battle, I've made sure that I became more powerful than ever. With the Crystal Star in my hands, my chances of destroying you have increased! Be prepared to meet your end!"

"Yo, Contadre! We're not going to let this punk insult us like that! We can take him! I know that!" Scrub shouted confidently.

"Let's show this robot who's boss!" Heartsy declared, hammer ready to strike.

**Tattle: **_That's Gemerl. He's the leader of the Phis and he's also known as the Gizoid. Wow. I can't believe he's back after such a long time… Max HP is 400, Attack is 20, and Defense is 4. This robot will use all he's got against you, like his missiles, his charge, and even his copy abilities. What's worse is that he'll recover 100 HP thanks to his healing ability. Great... That's even better! ...Wait, there's more! It says he can use the Dark Star's power to summon a black hole that can deal about 65 damage to you! He can seriously do that?! Omigosh! That's horrible! When he does this, do everything you can to avoid that! Do everything you can to stop him, Chopper. We don't want this robot to become this universe's overlord...  
_

"All right, Gemerl… Let's do this!" Chopper swung the Star Rod at Gemerl. Unfortunately, the attack was only able to deal 6 damage "What the heck? That didn't really do that much…"

"Of course it didn't," Gemerl grinned. "I made sure to improve on my defenses as well! So are you intimidated now?"

"Not a chance," Flyer retorted as he struck Gemerl with a Flying Attack, taking 10 out of him. "At least I can pierce through your defense!"

"Grrr! Not bad... Well, let's see if you can handle this!" Gemerl charged in Chopper and Flyer's direction with his jetpack, but his attack was Superguarded. "What?! How?!"

Gemerl was left nearly stunned as Chopper hurled an electric ball at him. Bombette then followed with a Bomb attack, taking another 6 out of him. He shook off any soot left on him and began to fly upward. Not wasting any time, he curled into a ball and began to spin rapidly. He threw himself at Chopper and knocked him back near the platform's edge, taking 20 out of him.

"Oof! …OK, 20 damage is a bit…extreme." Chopper cringed, returning to the group, taking his hammer out. "But I think this fight shouldn't last long if we use some strong moves."

He made a dash toward Gemerl with his hammer raised in the air. He brought it down on him with his Power Smash, and then Sonic struck the Gizoid with a Spin Dash.

"How was that?" Sonic taunted, waggling his finger.

"Not as bad as what you're about to receive!" Gemerl fired missiles into the air, which began to home in on Chopper and Sonic. They tried to avoid them, but they were already too late. Chopper suffered 17 damage while Sonic took 14.

"I suppose I could help us deal some more damage to him," Shadower decided, striking Gemerl with a Shadow Punch that lowered his defense to 0. "OK, Chopper! Give him everything you've got!"

"Got it!" Chopper nodded and rushed toward Gemerl, jumping in the air and stomping on his head, taking 10 out of him.

"Perhaps now is time for me to use one of your own attacks," Gemerl scanned Chopper, and once he finished, he conjured up an ice ball and tossed it at him. Thankfully, it didn't freeze him.

"Ack! That was cold!" Chopper shivered.

"So how does it feel to get hit by your own attacks?!"

"Nothing special..." Chopper shrugged, swinging the Star Rod and hitting Gemerl with a yellow star. The attack was able to knock him to the ground and leaving him cringing. However, when he got up, he saw another figure charging at him.

"I call making the next move!" Tamber blurted, one of his fists glowing green. He threw a Power Punch at Tamber and knocked him near the edge.

_"I can't let these fools beat me like this!"_ Gemerl thought, appearing somewhat worried. However, he then remembered one of his newer moves and appeared confident. "I must admit, you and your friends do have some decent moves, Chopper. As for me, I have another trick in store for you!"

He raised one of his arms, making him appear dodgy.

"Hit me! I dare you!"

"Gladly!" Chopper smirked, ready to strike him with a Light Stomp. However, he ended up missing and falling over, while Gemerl cackled. Scrub was about to use his Gulp on him, but that had missed as well.

"No fair! This guy's cheating!" Scrub complained.

Gemerl evilly chuckled as he teleported out of their sight. He appeared at an angle near Chopper and then hurled himself at him, taking 20 out of the Star Warrior.

"He's starting to get annoying..." Chopper groaned. "I think it's time I used a Power Bounce!"

With that, Chopper started to jump on Gemerl using his Power Bounce. He managed to jump on him about fourteen times before jumping away. Heartsy volunteered to go next and struck Gemerl with her hammer, bringing him down to 300 HP.

"OK... He's down to 300 HP now..." Heartsy sighed. "This is going to be fun..."

"I had enough with this! Chopper, it's time to put an end to this right now!" Gemerl pulled out the Dark Star and held it up. "How ironic! A Crystal Star will lead to your demise!"

The Dark Star began to let off a dark aura as a black hole began to appear before them. Everyone felt themselves slowly moving toward the black hole and were trying to move back.

"Oh, no... This isn't good!" Chopper cried.

"Gah ha ha ha! It's time to say goodbye, Chopper! Soon, your Crystal Stars shall be mine for the safekeeping!"

Just before the group could get sucked into the black hole, the platform began to shake and crumble. When Gemerl noticed this, he lowered the star, and the black hole disappeared.

At this point, they were all floating in midair.

"This...is not what I had in mind," Gemerl said with a blink face. "Of course, I shouldn't worry too much about thi-"

All of a sudden, Chopper's party and Gemerl began to plummet downward by another form of gravity nearby.

Pop Star's gravity, that is.

"Pop Star's gravity's pulling us down," Shadower noticed. "Well... This is nice."

Gemerl tried to escape with his jetpack, but it didn't appear to do much with the gravity being too strong. Soon enough, he had fallen down to the group's level.

However, that did not stop him from trying to fight back.

"Take this!" Gemerl fired a couple of missiles at the group. Chopper chose to fight back too, firing stars at the missiles and destroying them.

At this point, the two continued to duke it out with their projectiles, but neither of them had managed to land a hit on either of them.

* * *

**Near the Fountain of Dreams-**

"Things have been a little peaceful here so far in Dream Land, especially the Fountain of Dreams," Fumu spoke as she was writing in her journal. "Ever since Marx Soul was defeated by Chopper and his friends, everyone seems to be in a good mood. Not even King Dedede and Escargon have come up with some plans. Hopefully Chopper and his friends are all right. _...Especially Flyer_."

"Heh heh heh! You like that one person in Chopper's group, do you, sis?"

"Bun!" Fumu blushed, giving him an annoyed look and closing her journal. "How many times do I have to tell you NOT to eavesdrop on me when I'm writing?"

"Well, you usually write some interesting stuff in that book."

"Oh... Well, if you really want to know what's in my book, you can just ask me instead."

Just as Bun as about to answer, he noticed several figures plummeting from the sky nearby. "Hey, sis! What's that?"

"We better check it out!" Fumu rushed over to the Fountain of Dreams. When she got there, she and Bun noticed Chopper, his friends, and a robot in front of the fountain, slowly getting up. "Hey, it's Chopper and his friends!"

"And who's that robot?" Bun wondered.

"Guys?" Chopper gawked, taking notice of Fumu and Bun. Before he could wave at them, Gemerl had managed to land a kick on him.

"This is no time to be saying your hellos, Chopper. Let's finish our fight!" Gemerl shouted. Before he could make another move, he stopped and looked around him. "Wait... What is this place?"

"You're on Pop Star, or Dream Land," Fumu answered. "This placed is supposedly 'ruled' by a king named King Dedede."

"Really? Well, sounds pathetic. I'll take over it once I'm through with Chopper and his friends."

"I think telling him that was a bad idea, sis..." Bun whispered.

"If you two want to live, then you'd stay out of this fight," Gemerl suggested. "Intervene, and I'll destroy you."

"You wouldn't DARE!" Flyer growled.

"I'm evil! Of course I'd do that! ...Anyway, let me get back to full health." Raising his arms, Gemerl used his recovering ability to heal off the 100 HP he had lost from battle. "Ah! Much better! Now I can destroy you all!"

"That's not fair!" Chopper frowned. "You can't do that!"

"Too late! I already did!" Gemerl grinned, his jetpack ready to charge at them. "Now to finish you off!"

Before he could charge, he and the rest noticed the Star Rod was starting to flash in response to the Fountain of Dreams. Sparkles of star energy had rained down on the heroes, recovering all of their HP, FP, and Star Power.

"Hey! I feel… Completely recovered!" Vivian gasped.

"Hmph... Fine, I guess we're even then." Gemerl stated, sounding a bit annoyed. "Now let us get back to our battle, Chopper! With those two friends of your watching, I can't wait for them to see you suffer!"

"Well, I can't wait for them to see me beat you!" Chopper declared, swinging the Star Rod and firing a star at Gemerl. Flyer flew in next and struck the Gizoid with his Flying Attack, which resulted in him getting struck by one of Gemerl's projectile's afterward.

"I'm not afraid to use the Dark Star's power at this point," Gemerl warned. "With no platform getting in the way, it should be much more successful!"

"It won't stop me from defeating you though," Chopper objected as he hit Gemerl's face with his hammer. A Power Smash, to be exact.

"I call punching him!" Tamber declared, rushing toward Gemerl and striking him with his Combo Punch. Gemerl easily shook it off and began to scan Tamber.

"Let's see how you like THIS!" Gemerl had managed to copy Tamber's Combo Punch and used it against him.

"What the... How'd he do that?!" Tamber gaped.

"He can copy our abilities..." Chopper frowned. "Be careful..."

"Oh, don't worry, Chopper… You'll be next!" Gemerl said, giving him a threatening look.

Chopper ignored his threat and smacked Gemerl with his Star Rod. Scrub laid a giant egg and threw it at Gemerl to take 12 out of him. Annoyed, Gemerl clenched his fists and activated his jetpack, making him tackle Chopper and Scrub, nearly making them dizzy.

"Whoa... I felt a little dizzy for a moment..." Chopper quickly shook his head and took action by tossing an ice ball at Gemerl. Vivian left a burn on Gemerl with her Shade Fist, but he didn't seem all that fazed by that.

"If you're planning on burning me, go ahead. It's not going to do much to stop me!" Gemerl flew up and curled in a ball, flying left and right to fire missiles at Chopper. In the end, he managed to take 22 out of him, to Chopper's dismay.

"Geez... If he keeps doing this, then I'm going to be using a lot of items!" the Star Warrior gulped, getting ready to make another move. Shadower, however, had already attacked Gemerl, striking him with a Shadow Punch that lowered his defense to 0. "Oh, thanks, Shadower!"

"Anytime, Chopper!" Shadower replied as he watched Chopper strike Gemerl with his Power Smash, taking a good 12 out of him.

Gemerl copied Chopper's Power Smash ability and used it to his advantage once again. He flew up to Chopper and made a hammer materialize in his hand. It was a bit similar to Chopper's, but his had a color scheme that matched his style. He brought it down on him, but Chopper managed to guard it.

"Even if you use my attacks against me, I still won't go down!" Chopper yelled, delivering a Spin Jump to Gemerl's head. With Bombette's Bomb, they already brought him down to 298 HP.

"Nice! He's already down to 298 HP!" Bombette smiled.

"I haven't even warmed up yet!" Gemerl mentioned, changing his right hand to a cannon. He fired an ice beam at Bombette, freezing her instantly. "Heh heh heh! That takes care of one of them!"

"Crud... Well, let's make sure Bombette doesn't get hurt while she's frozen." Chopper pulled his hammer out and he struck Gemerl with a D-Down Pound. "This should be pretty useful!"

"Argh!" Gemerl winced, getting hit by Sonic's Spin Dash afterward. "I didn't expect him to have that..."

As Sonic gloated by doing a break-dance, Gemerl took this opportunity to send him flying back to his friends with a kick. He then charged at Chopper, but he was much faster and managed to strike the Gizoid with his Star Rod. Mario followed up by bringing his hammer down on him.

"Well, he's left with 270 HP, that's a good thing," Fumu stated, but she was a bit shocked when Flyer got hit by one of Gemerl's missiles. "Flyer! No!"

Gemerl turned his head to Fumu, making her eyes widen.

"Yes, go ahead and cry out for your friend. It lets me know that I'm doing something right! But remember, interfere, and it's the end for you."

"We better listen..." Bun whispered. "And let's try not to worry about them too much."

"Yeah, you're right," Fumu nodded. "I have faith in them..."

Chopper toward Gemerl and leaped in the air again, striking him with a Power Bounce. After bouncing on him twelve times, he performed a stylish move to make the crowd go nuts before getting off. Flyer helped out by taking 10 more out of Gemerl with his Flying Attack.

This time, Gemerl got his flamethrower ready, and he aimed it at Chopper, unleashing its flames upon him, and leaving him with a nasty burn.

"AACK!" Chopper screamed, his arms flailing around. "I-I won't go down so soon! T-Take this, Gemerl!"

He charged at Gemerl and he struck him with a Rainbow Spin Attack, knocking him back and nearly making him lose his balance.

"This time, my attack's going to work!" Scrub declared, grabbing Gemerl by his tongue and inhaling him with his Gulp attack. Afterwards, he spat him out with a disgusted look no his face. "Yuck! He tastes horrible!"

"He's a robot. What were you expecting?" Heartsy questioned.

"Well, then that should help me, considering that Yoshi won't do that against me," Gemerl grinned.

"Hey, don't think I'm not going to use it," Scrub said, giving him a glare. "I'm still going to do what it takes to beat you!"

Ignoring Scrub, used his teleportation powers to move all over the place and leave everyone looking all over the place. Eventually, he ended up striking Chopper with the yellow stunner on his wrist, leaving him paralyzed for a turn.

"Gaack! Can't…move…" Chopper stammered.

"Oh, no!" Heartsy gripped her hammer and glared at Gemerl. "What'd you do to Choppy?!"

"Why, it's simple! I simply stunned him with my stun object on my wrist! He won't be able to move for a bit! Gah ha ha ha—OOF!"

Before he could finish, Gemerl found a hammer hit him in the head.

"Argh... Normally I would ignore little girls, but considering you always invaded my old base, I won't be so merciful!" Gemerl hissed, a hammer materializing in his hand and striking Heartsy with it. Rather than a trail of hearts, a trail of diamonds appeared upon swinging it.

With the turn finally over, Chopper was able to move again. Smiling, he rushed toward Gemerl and attacked him with another Power Smash. Tamber's Combo Punch brought the robot nearly halfway down. Gemerl shot an ice beam at Chopper, but he managed to guard it. What made things worse for Gemerl was when Chopper used his D-Down Hand attack, followed up with Flyer's Flying Attack.

Being at 190 HP was definitely not a good sign.

"I'm not going to let myself down so easily!" Gemerl raised his arms and surrounded himself in a red shield. "So, Chopper… Do you remember THIS?"

"Oh, great… This is just what we need." Chopper sighed, and he stomped on the shield twice. Though he expected it to shatter, it only turned green. "Oh... This is new."

"See? It's going to take a lot more to break my shield." Gemerl grinned, crossing his arms. Just then, Tamber's Combo Punch had managed to shatter it. "Well... So much for that. Allow me to show off another one of my moves!"

Gemerl teleported into the center of the stage and made a couple of missiles circle around him as he curled up into a ball again.

"What's this guy planning?" Tamber wondered.

Missiles came raining down on everyone, taking 20 out of everyone. Despite wheezing, it didn't stop Chopper from striking Gemerl with the Star Rod. Now that Bombette was thawed, she was able to attack with her Bomb, knocking Gemerl back with an explosion. In retaliation, he fired another ice beam, but this time at Vivian. Luckily, she was able to guard the attack and then strike him with a Fiery Jinx. Chopper helped throw in his Power Smash as well.

"You are all an annoying bunch. I suppose I have to resort to my strongest attack." Gemerl pressed the blue button on the yellow fin-like object on his head, and his Attack was raised by 20. "This will be able to take 40 HP out of you all. You better be ready..."

"Well, we definitely are," Chopper smirked, pulling out a Rainbow Master and eating it to recover 200 HP and FP. Vivian pulled everyone into the shadows to avoid Gemerl's powerful attack. The giant laser Gemerl fired had done no damage to them, but there were a couple of trees in his way that had gotten incinerated.

"Oh… That's not good…" Fumu gawked.

Gemerl was disappointed when he saw the group emerge with no harm done. However, it did not stop him from attacking them with a barrage of missiles. Chopper quickly shook it off and struck Gemerl with his Star Rod. Mario hit Gemerl with his Super Jump afterward to bring him to about 146 HP.

Mario: This isn't too bad!

Rubbing his head, Gemerl raised an arm and made himself dodgy. "I dare you to hit me now, you fools!"

"Oh, man... I don't know if I want to risk hitting Gemerl again with that status on," Chopper frowned.

"Say, Chop... What about the Crystal Stars?" Sonic suggested.

"Oh! Maybe we can use one of them! Though, I don't know if the Light Star's going to do any good..."

"We haven't tried out the King's Star yet," Heartsy mentioned. "Why not use that?"

"That star? I...don't know..." Chopper trailed, taking out the indigo-colored star. "I mean, it's ability... It doesn't sound nice..."

"Oh, really?" Gemerl spoke up, overhearing their conversation. "Then go ahead, Chopper! Show me this Crystal Star's power! Unless you lack the courage to do so!"

Chopper gave a more determined look and sighed. He raised the Crystal Star, but before he could pull off any moves by pressing buttons, he noticed the star circle around him, leaving a trail of darkness behind.

"What's going on with that star?" Bun wondered.

"I don't know, but it doesn't look good..." Fumu trailed.

As the darkness surrounded Chopper, he started to feel a strange emotion envelope him. It was something he had done before, but it was always something he would always avoid.

Rage.

Chopper let out a scream as the dark smoke had finally faded away, revealing a dark figure underneath. There Chopper stood, appearing black with glowing, angry eyes.

"Oh, no... Not this again..." Shadower gulped.

"What was the name of this star's ability? Dark Super Chopper?" Vivian wondered.

"Well, let's hope for once that he's on our side," Bombette hoped. "In the meantime, let's pay attention to Gemerl."

She rushed toward Gemerl and tried to strike him with her Bomb, but her attack ended up missing. Gemerl, meanwhile, had stared at this new transformation in surprise.

"This...is surprising," Gemerl commented, appearing shocked. Despite this, he remained confident and hurled a fireball at him. To his surprise, Dark Super Chopper had swatted it away as if it were a fly. "What kind of power is this supposed to be?!"

Before he could make another move, Dark Super Chopper had conjured up an attack swiftly and fired a dark blast at him, taking 14 out of him and leaving him in shock upon being knocked back. The others were shocked as well, being caught off guard by the attack.

"Are you OK, Chopper?" Vivian gasped.

_**"I'll make sure you're taken back to the junkyard when I'm through with you," **_Dark Super Chopper hissed, while Kirby managed to hit Gemerl with his Final Cutter.

Gemerl decided not to let this form bother him and charged at Dark Super Chopper. Despite dealing damage, he was not able to escape the horrors of Dark Super Chopper's Spring Jump, which was powerful enough to take 28 out of him.

"Geez... I'm feeling that this was a big mistake." Shadower realized, noticing Dark Super Chopper's HP meter draining. "Hold on, Chopper! Can't you get rid of that power or something?"

"Shadower, forget it. There's not much we can do." Sonic said, using the Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Sonic. "On the other hand, Gemerl only has 92 HP!"

"We'll see about that!" Gemerl hissed, raising his arms and recovering 100 HP. Super Sonic was not pleased, so he charged into him to bring his HP down to 180.

Dark Super Chopper hurled dark energy straight towards Gemerl afterward, taking another 14 out of him. Even when he was struck by a barrage of missiles, Dark Super Chopper didn't appear to budge, despite taking damage.

"You're such a fool, thinking you can hurt me like that," Gemerl scoffed. "You do know that it's only doing damage to you as well. Then again, that works very well for me!"

_**"****I don't have time to deal with you," **_Dark Super Chopper replied harshly, hitting Gemerl with another Spring Jump. As he flew back, Super Sonic had lunged at Gemerl and took another 12 out of him.

As Gemerl was ready to make his move, the rage within Dark Super Chopper has suddenly vanished, turning him back to normal. He was left panting and exhausted.

"What...happened to me?" Chopper wondered. "I don't feel too good..."

Mario: Really?

"Yeah… I think…" Chopper looked at the King's Star in his hand before putting it away. "I'm going to make sure I _never_ use this star again."

"Looks like that ability left you pretty weak. Excellent!" Gemerl charged at Chopper and Super Sonic – though he was damaged when he rammed into him, on the other hand.

As soon as Chopper used another Power Smash, and Vivian with her Shade Fist, Gemerl was down to 100 HP.

"Ha! How does it feel to lose?!" Scrub taunted.

"Fine! I think now's the perfect opportunity to use this!" Gemerl roared, holding up the Dark Star. "Now, Dark Star! Use your ability to destroy them!"

A black hole appeared above them and it began to suck everyone in. Everyone tried their best to escape, but the black hole was too much for them. The only ones who did not get sucked in were Fumu and Bun, who could only watch in horror as the heroes got sucked in.

"Oh, no... This doesn't look good..." Fumu gulped.

"I wouldn't want to be sucked into that," Bun shivered.

After the black hole spat them out, everyone suffered 65 damage from the attack. What made things worse was that Scrub, Kirby, Heartsy, and even Sonic had ended up falling in defeat when his super form was knocked out.

"Guys!" Chopper gasped.

"Gah ha ha ha! Face it, you deserved it after destroying my minions." Gemerl cackled.

Chopper turned to Gemerl and he clenched his fists. "That's it! You've gone FAR enough!"

He gripped the Star Rod and struck Gemerl with a Star Blast. Tamber ran toward him again and threw in a punch that managed to bring him down to 80 HP.

"OK, I'm not going to lie, this robot is a lot eviler than I thought," Tamber remarked, glaring at the Gizoid. "He makes me sick..."

Gemerl began to lift off the ground and unleash his flamethrower upon Chopper. After he guarded it, he used his Hammer Throw to knock Gemerl to the ground.

"Good one, Chopper," Flyer complimented as he struck Gemerl with a Flying Attack, bringing him to 60 HP. "I think we can do this. We might have a chance!"

"Yeah!" Fumu and Bun cheered happily for them, but then Gemerl copied Vivian's Fiery Jinx ability. Gemerl grinned as he raised his finger and struck everyone with a Fiery Jinx. They were left with a severe burn that dealt some serious damage to them.

"Heh heh heh... You will all burn!" Gemerl cackled.

"Argh! I'll get you for that!" Tamber growled, attacking Gemerl with a Power Punch. Chopper simply shrugged and swung the Star Rod at him, taking 6 out of him. Gemerl flew up and charged at Chopper with missiles. Luckily for him, he was able to Superguard the attack.

"Whew… THAT was close…" Chopper huffed, gripping his hammer and bringing it down on Gemerl. Once Flyer struck him with his Flying Attack, he was able to guard Gemerl's ice beam. Even then, he found himself shivering.

"Whew... I thought I was frozen for a moment…" Flyer shivered, striking Gemerl with another Flying Attack. Chopper brought the robot down to 8 HP after his Hammer Throw.

"Guh… You guys won't finish me off so soon! _Bzzzzzzzt! _I… I will end this!" Gemerl began to raise his attack up by 20, but, Chopper was already prepared to finish this battle off.

"Sorry, Gemerl, but it's over for you," Chopper began to charge power in the Star Rod. "Say hello to my…_**Star Blast!**_"

He swung the Star Rod, and a powerful star came hurling at Gemerl, striking him and making him emit sparks

"_**ARRRGGHHHH! BZZZZZZZT!**_"

An explosion came from Gemerl, knocking him onto the floor. The explosions continued until he remained motionless on the grass.

Coincidentally, Scrub, Kirby, Heartsy, and Sonic finally stood up, appearing exhausted.

"Geez... What happened?" Sonic asked, looking around. "Hey, where's Gemmy?"

"Take a look over that," Tamber answered, pointing to the defeating Gemerl on the ground.

"Nice! He's defeated!" Scrub cheered.

"You guys did it!" Fumu cheered, she and Bun running over to them now that it was safe.

"Way to take that guy down!" Bun added, noticing the Dark Star on the ground. "So, that's the last Crystal Star?"

"Yup!" Chopper nodded. "And speaking of that… I think the time has come. Right, guys?"

Everyone else exchanged nods.

"Go for it, Chopper! It's the last one!" Flyer smiled.

"All right, here it goes…" Chopper walked over to the Crystal Star and touched it. The Dark Star began to circle around him while he gaped.

However, what they didn't pay attention to was a certain robot's hand starting to move.

Once the Crystal Star had hovered over Chopper, held the Crystal Star up high above him.

**You got a Crystal Star!**

**END OF-**

"Ack! Guys!"

The heroes quickly stopped when they looked in the direction Fumu and Bun were and gasped. There they were, caught in a hold by Gemerl, who had one of his hands transformed into an arm gun.

"Gemerl! What are you doing?!" Chopper cried, getting in a fighting stance. "Let them go! NOW!"

"Go ahead, try to attack me," Gemerl challenged, chuckling darkly. "However, it's going to cost you these precious friends of yours."

"You wouldn't do such a thing!" Flyer yelled.

"Do you even know who I am? I am the Gizoid! I am not going to let some clowns humiliate me like this! Now, Chopper... I'm going to ask you one time and one time only..._Bzzzzzzt_... _Give me the Crystal Stars!_"

"Why would I do that?" Chopper asked.

"Because if you don't, these two are going to die!"

The heroes were unsure of how to respond due to being frozen in fear. Flyer, especially, was the most frightened.

"What...do we do?" Chopper muttered.

"Wait... Guys, I might know something." Shadower whispered. "Flyer, you can disable and repair things, right?"

"But Shadower, that-" Flyer paused, his brain now starting to work. "...I think I understand completely."

He started to whisper an idea to everyone, who began to nod in approval. Gemerl continued to glare at them impatiently, bringing his arm gun closer to Bun's head.

"I'm scared, sis..." Bun squeaked.

"I know... But...let's have faith in them..." Fumu whispered.

"What are you guys whispering?" Gemerl hissed. "If you're not going to give me the Crystal Stars, then I should pull the trigger on these useless friends of yours!"

When the group finally stopped whispering, they turned to Gemerl, appearing more confident.

"OK, Gemerl, we'll give you the stars," Chopper nodded. "But can we ask you a little question?"

"No."

"Come on! We just want to ask you something! Unless your chicken?"

"Shut up, Chopper. I want the Crystal Stars NOW!"

"Hey, Gemmy! Where'd you get the name anyway?" Sonic asked with a smirk.

"I swear, if you call me Gemmy one more time, I'll-"

"The more I think about it, your old base was pretty crumby," Heartsy remarked. "I mean, it had such bad security and such an obvious way of getting in! It should've been called 'Gemerl's Obvious Hideout'!"

"OK, I had enough," Gemerl snapped, silencing the group. "I've lost my patience, and now your friends are going to die!"

He prepared to fire, but surprisingly, it didn't seem to work.

"What the... I can't move!"

Flyer smirked, appearing from behind Gemerl putting his trusty screwdriver and wrench away. As he flew back to the group, Fumu and Bun were taken out of the Gizoid's grasps and were now by the group.

"What the... What did you do?!" Gemerl howled.

"Well, we simply let you be distracted, while Shadower made me invisible to get behind you and disable you," Flyer explained. "And then once I did that, we had Vivian bring them over to us so they were safe!"

"What?!"

"But there's one last part to the plan!"

Chopper smiled and swung the Star Rod with all his might, firing a star that was was faster than a bullet. It managed to hit Gemerl and send him flying back. He had fallen to the ground, this time appearing badly damaged.

He struggled to stand up, but when he did so, everyone approached him, narrowing their eyes at him.

At this point, there was no point in fighting any longer.

"...I'm done," Gemerl declared, sparks spewing out from his body. "I..._bzzzzzzt_...tried all I could to finish my goal... But..._bzzzzzt_...you ruined it for me!"

"Wait, you're giving up already?" Chopper gawked.

"I had enough. You can have that Crystal Star and find out what happens. I'm going now. Goodbye, Chopper."

And with that, Gemerl began to hover away slowly, severely damaged and unable to fight for any longer.

"We... We did it!" Tamber smiled. "We actually managed to beat this guy!"

"You guys did a real good job," Chopper smiled. "Thanks for saving Fumu and Bun."

"Sorry we got in the way," Fumu apologized.

"No need to. It wasn't your fault." Sonic assured.

"And the Crystal Star is finally ours...for real," Vivian smiled. "So, Chopper, should we continue where we were last off?"

"Yeah!" Chopper nodded, taking the Dark Star out. Once again, it began to circle around him with a single flash, and he held it up as it hovered above him. "Finally... The last Crystal Star is ours!"

**You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 20! And Chopper can now use the special move Black Hole!**

**END OF CHAPTER**

_The last Crystal Star had been all over the place within both Starlite and Gamble Galaxy. But each time, Chopper went after it, and now he had finally collected all twenty Crystal Stars. But despite the victory, he was still bothered by what the results could be. Were Meta Knight's words true? So many questions to him were still left unanswered.  
_

* * *

**What a boss fight that was! I'm not going to lie, but this was definitely one of my favorite bosses and chapters so far. It was definitely a good comeback for Gemerl, in my opinion.  
**

**But, sadly, with the nineteenth chapter being complete, that means there is only one more interlude remaining.  
**


	138. Chapter 19 Interlude

Grodus stood angrily, thinking about his past failures against Chopper and his friends. He, Lord Crump, and Johnson had made their way to Dream Land after getting information provided by Johnson on where Chopper took the Crystal Stars.

And now, he was planning on finding this Fountain of Dreams to crush him. Or perhaps for another reason...

"What a disgusting world this is," Grodus scoffed. "If this is where Chopper takes the Crystal Stars, then I plan on transforming this place to suit me. But still... I loathe Chopper for what he has done to me in the past..."

"This ain't too bad," Lord Crump said, sitting on the grass. "At least the grass is soft."

"If I could recall, it was YOUR fault that our army is wiped out, Lord Crump," the X-Naut leader said, narrowing his eyes at him.

"Whaaa? No way! It's not my fault that I had to make a run for it! There was a cloud of darkness that was coming upon the fortress!" Lord Crump sweat dropped. "And besides, there's not enough room to fit everyone in a teleporter anyway."

"That still does not excuse you for what you did. But still, there's not much I can do now at this point. We just need to go find Chopper and see if he has all the Crystal Stars."

"And then I'll get my new robot to crush them!"

"Perhaps... I will admit, your new creation does have a lot of power. But it looks ugly as well."

"What?! No way! It looks awesome!"

"You might want to take a look at this, Sir Grodus," Johnson intervened, printing a copy of something on his laptop. "I believe this might please you!"

"Hmmmmm? Let me look." Grodus grabbed the paper from Johnson and began to read it. "This looks like an instruction on a spell that can create portals to anywhere!"

"So…?"

"Gaaack ack ack ack! My my! Perhaps I don't need to use those Crystal Stars to help me reach my destination!"

"But, sir," Johnson started. "Don't you need those Crystal Stars in order to-"

"Yes, I know," Grodus interjected. "I never said I was just going to ignore them. After all, I need to make sure they're in the same room as me."

"Oh... Oh...! I see what you mean!"

"Of course. As for you, Lord Crump, I believe I might need your help."

"Wait, why do you need me?" questioned Lord Crump.

"While I make my way to the exact destination, I want you to ambush those fools! Use your new robot to face him if you must! Failure is not an option!"

"Whuzzat? You want me to ambush him? And you're just going to sit there and do nothing?"

"Of course not. Once you defeat them, you will take their Crystal Stars and bring them to me. And with them, I can finally summon the great evil that rests in that evil, dark world. And then, nothing will get in my way with conquering the universe!"

"Wait, sir... But you summoned the Shadow Queen twice." Johnson reminded. "And... We all know how that turned out."

"Yes, that's true… I've heard in the legend, however, that those who summon this evil with the twenty Crystal Stars shall finally be granted unlimited power. Then Chopper will be begging me for mercy..."

"What about that other robot who's after the Crystal Stars?" Lord Crump mentioned.

"Him? He's probably not a problem. I sent him into outer space so I wouldn't have to deal with his ugly face again. We don't have to worry about him anymore!"

Grodus took a look at the paper Johnson gave him, and after reading it for a moment, he conjured up some dark magic. When he lunged his scepter forward, a dark portal had appeared before their very eyes. It appeared to be a swirling portal and was in black and purple.

"That place looks too scary," Johnson shivered. "I'm not going in THERE!"

"Very well, you don't have to. Besides, I don't need your help at this moment." Grodus said, making Johnson look down in sadness. "Let's go, Lord Crump! We don't have time to waste…"

Grodus walked into the portal, followed up by Lord Crump, who ended up tripping on his way through. Once they were in, the portal closed.

"Well, there they go. I guess I'm the only X-Naut left now." Johnson sighed, sitting down on the grass. "If only there were other X-Nauts here to talk to me..."

As he continued to sulk, he noticed a large shadow towering over him.

"What the…" Johnson got up and looked up. His eyes widened in shock at the sight before him. "_**WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?!**_"_**  
**_

* * *

**Cappy Town-**

"Eep!"

"That thing's huge!"

"It's a demon beast!"

Unfortunately, things were not as peaceful as Fumu believed in Dream Land. At least, right now. Many Cappies cried in horror as a large Koopa king came storming into town with his old Magikoopa companion.

"Uuurgh… There's too much green around here. And this town looks so small and dumb. Plus, why do these guys looks like mushroom stems?" Bowser grumbled, appearing very disappointed with this place. "Is this seriously the world that Chopper goes to find the next Crystal Star?"

"It is indeed, Your Massiveness! This place is called Dream Land. We're no longer on our planet anymore…" Kammy informed. "It doesn't seem much different to the Mushroom Kingdom..."

"Yeah, I know. But there are some weird species here..." Bowser trailed, spotting a Waddle Dee passing by. "That thing reminds me of Chopper for some reason. I'm going to go speak to it!"

When Bowser approached the Waddle Dee, though, it quickly scurried away upon seeing him. Annoyed, he decided to ignore it for now and go over to the restaurant. Chef Kawasaki had come in, appearing delighted to see a new customer.

"Oh, boy! A new customer! Welcome to-" Kawasaki paused, looking up at the Koopa king. "_**AAAAAAAAAAAH!**_ We're closed!"

He quickly ran back into the kitchen and locked the door.

"Well... I suppose there's no point in staying in this town..." Kammy trailed. "We should probably get going."

As they left the town, however, they had spotted another figure that looked different compared to the Cappies. She appeared white and wore a jumpsuit and green bandanna.

"Look, Lord Bowser! Perhaps we can get some information out of her!" Kammy suggested, pointing to Silica. "You there! Suspicious white girl!"

"Huh?" Silica turned around to find Bowser and Kammy approaching her. Just in case, she took out her weapon. "Who are you people?"

"For your information, I am a beautiful Koopa with a beautiful name! You may refer to me as Kammy Koopa! And this here is-"

"Can it, Haggy! I can introduce myself!" Bowser cut in, shoving the old Magikoopa out of the way. "I am Lord Bowser, this world's new ruler!"

"New ruler?" Silica looked up at the two, not appearing to be intimidated. "Well, with all the fighters in Dream Land, I don't think you'd stand a chance."

"How DARE you insult His Massiveness like that!" Kammy roared. "Once we get our hands on those Crystal Stars, you'll be sorry!"

"Crystal Stars? Oh, I know of those."

"You do?" Bowser glared at her, demanding an answer. "Then tell us right now!"

"Well... There was a Crystal Star here, but Chopper already got his hands on it. Same thing with another one...and another one... Come to think of it, I think he only needs one more."

"Wh-What?! Are you SERIOUS?! Chopper already got those Crystal Stars! You gotta be KIDDING me! I'm always, ALWAYS behind on schedule!"

"You guys! You guys!" Bun cried, running into town as fast as he could. He came to a stop and started to pant. All of the Cappies in town turned their attention to him. "You're not going to believe this... But, Chopper has gotten the last Crystal Star!"

Many Cappies gasped at first, but then it followed up with loud cheers.

Bowser, on the other hand, was left slack-jawed.

"Did he just say that Chopper got ALL the Crystal Stars?!" Bowser gaped. Kammy slowly backed away, expecting the usual tantrum from Bowser, who began to stomp his foot in anger. "_**GWAAARGGHHHH!**_"

"Oh, dear! Your Angriness! You need to calm down!" Kammy shrieked.

"I suppose I should give the Mayor the heads up," Silica decided, leaving the two and heading to Hatty Town.

"Urgh… I can't believe I failed yet AGAIN!" Bowser roared.

Kammy, however, had noticed Bun and the Cappies leaving the town and heading in the direction of the Fountain of Dreams.

"Your Angriness! I think I've thought of an idea!" Kammy exclaimed, causing Bowser to stop stomping.

"Well spill it! What is it?!"

"You know, those people are most likely going in the direction where Chopper is at the moment. Perhaps we should...follow them?"

"Hey, yeah! You're right! We'll go there, catch Chopper by surprise, and watch him get flattened by yours truly!" Bowser cackled. "Gwa ha ha ha! I can't wait for THAT! And once I'm done with that, the Crystal Stars shall finally be mine, and it's world-conquering time!"

"Mweh heh heh... Oh, yes, Lord Bowser! You can finally get what you wish!"

"Yeah, of course! Now let's get going!"

Bowser began to storm off, following the Cappies toward the Fountain of Dreams. Kammy was about to follow, but suddenly a large shadow had lingered over her.

Bowser suddenly stopped stomping and suddenly, an idea struck him. "Wait a minute… We can always take down Chopper, you know, Haggy… How's about we go to where he is and see if we can catch him! That would be nice!"

"But…" Kammy was ignored. Bowser stomped his way over to where Chopper could possibly be. "…Why do you never listen to me at times? I haven't done anything wrong…"

"Huh? What's this?" Kammy looked up and gaped. "Your… Your Evilness! The sky! Look!"

* * *

**Castle Dedede-**

In King Dedede's room, the king himself was already awake and ready to have his breakfast. Escargon had recently gotten up in his room, putting his plushie of King Dedede on his bed and heading out to the throne room. Without Tartara Corporations bugging him, there was not much to do around the castle.

"Good day to you, Your Majesty," Escargon greeted as they met at the dining table.

"You look well, Escargon," King Dedede replied.

"I'm feeling the usual. I mean, each day has mostly been the same... You're basically going to make your minions make you some food, and you're going to get fatter again."

"What did you say?!" King Dedede growled, pulling his hammer out and striking Escargon's head with it.

"Ow! Watch it! ...I mean, what I meant to say was that you were going to continue to be a mighty and awesome ruler of Dream Land." Escargon said as he got a bag of ice and put it on his head.

"Hmmmm... Yes, most likely." the king replied, becoming calm again and resuming eating his meal.

"Say... I wonder what's going on with those Tartara guys. I mean, you ever thought if those guys were actually serious or not?"

"Don't even bring them up, Escargon," King Dedede warned. "We're done with them! They couldn't do a thing to take out Chopper, and they certainly didn't help me with those Crystal Stars either!"

"I bet now that Chopper's already got all of them..."

"If he did, then that means it's your fault!" King Dedede growled, glaring at Escargon. "You should've been thinking of some better plans along the way. But instead, you just sat by the side and made me do all the work!"

"What? It's not my fault! You never wanted my help anyway!" Escargon frowned, pointing at his king. "I'd say this is all your fault!"

"You want to tell me that again?" the king pulled his hammer out and raised it above him.

"No! Not the hammer! Anything but that!" Escargon quickly made a bolt out of the dining room, the king chasing after him through the hallway.

"Stop running, Escargon! You know what's supposed to happen in the end!"

"Your Majesty!"

King Dedede and Escargon paused and turned to face a Waddle Doo holding a small sword.

"Captain Doo! What is it now?" King Dedede asked, lowering his hammer and approaching him.

"You have someone at the gate," Captain Doo answered. "It said it wants to see you immediately."

King Dedede and Escargon exchanged looks, and then back at Captain Doo.

"I bet it's those Cappies demanding that I give them rights, is that it?" King Dedede asked, crossing his arms and looking away while laughing. "Well, not a chance!"

"Like we'd ever give them anything!" Escargon laughed as well.

"Your Majesty, it wasn't a Cappy."

The two stopped laughing and looked back at Captain Doo, appearing surprised. Escargon, on the other hand, looked uncertain.

However, it was King Dedede who broke the silence with a grin. "Oh, really? These people must be very interested in seeing me! Come on, Escargon! Let's go pay this person a visit!"

"Your Majesty, do you think it's really-" Escargon suddenly found himself being grabbed by the eye stalk and taken over to the front gate.

"You should consider it an honor to meet someone with me!" King Dedede laughed, opening the front gate. As the gate opened, his laughing stopped when he finally saw what was standing before them.

In front of them was a large, black and red dragon-like lizard with red and black armor, a helmet, and a large hammer. One thing for certain was that it was pretty large, being even bigger than King Dedede. There were two other soldiers that were smaller in size and wore similar armor to the large one, but they had bat-like wings and had hunched backs. Their tails also appeared to have razor sharp ends. In their arms were futuristic assault rifles.

"Who are these guys?" Escargon whispered, shaking in fear.

Despite looking scared, King Dedede tried to put on a brave face and look up to the large one. "Who are you, and what do you demand from me?"

"You are the one named King Dedede, correct?" the large monster asked.

"Yes, you're looking at yours truly."

The large one took out a piece of paper and scanned it. "It says here that you owe Tartara Corporations over a trillion Deden."

"I cut our deal, don't you remember?" King Dedede reminded. "The contract is gone, so I don't have to deal with you guys anymore!"

"Your Majesty, you must understand that if we ask something from you, you give it," the large Tartara hissed. "And that if you failed to pay us, there would be a _terrible_ consequence."

"Look, I don't have the money to pay you guys, and nor will I give it to you! You people were supposed to give me a demon beast that would succeed, not fail! You can't make me pay you!"

"You're right. We can't make you pay us. So, we have to resort to another way." the large Tartara pulled out a communicator. "All right, boys! Lift it up!"

"What's going on?!" King Dedede turned around gaped as he saw a large red and black battleship above the castle. What also surprised him was his castle being lifted off the ground "Wait, what are you doing to my castle?!"

"We believe your castle will be enough to pay us back," the Tartara Soldier explained. "And now, we shall use it however we please!"

"And it's thanks to Chopper that we shall soon make our return..." the other soldier grinned. "The Tartaras are back, baby!"

The Tartaras were immediately beamed into the battleship, while the castle had been beamed in as well. They started to fly away, leaving King Dedede in shock. His own castle. Gone.

"We're… We're homeless!" King Dedede sobbed, covering his face. "What are we going to do now?!"

"Well... Maybe some of the people are willing to let us stay in their house for the-"

"Those guys don't like us! There's no way they're going to help us!"

"Then... I'm not so sure..." Escargon trailed, watching King Dedede sit on the grass and cry.

* * *

**Somewhere else in Dream Land-**

"_Bzzzzzzzt! _That foolish Star Warrior… He thinks he's so cool now that he got the final Crystal Star." Gemerl grumbled, floating away from the Fountain of Dreams in his poor condition. "I can't believe I've failed. I lost everything that I needed! My army! The Crystal Stars! Not even my plan to get those stars worked!"

As he continued to fly by, he noticed off in the distance that Bun had been running back toward the Fountain of Dreams. Far behind him were a large group a Cappies.

"Looks like they already heard the news and are going to congratulate them," Gemerl muttered. "I'd go pay them a visit, but in this condition, I can barely fight."

However, he had come to a stop when he looked up and spotted a large black and red portal appearing in front of a battleship near a hill, leaving him surprised.

"Hmmmmm… If something tells me what I think it is… That ship is going to… Hold on... Perhaps my plan is not finished yet!" Gemerl grinned. "I can always give Chopper a little surprise when he finds me! Heh heh heh... And this time, Nothing will get in my way!"

Gemerl flew up and rushed toward the portal, successfully entering it before it could close.

* * *

**Fountain of Dreams-**

"Finally… We did it!" Chopper smiled, putting away the Crystal Star. "After all that trouble, we've finally gotten the last Crystal Star."

"And now the universe will be saved at last," Flyer added, holding Fumu's hand.

"Yeah… It's about time!" Scrub smiled.

"Honestly, I couldn't have done it without you guys," Chopper said, turning to his friends. "If I had gone out and done this all by myself, then it'd be game over for me!"

"Well, what can we say? We're here to look out for each other!" Sonic said, giving a thumbs up.

"You really helped me out when Kirby and I were separated, Vivian," Chopper started, approaching her. "I'm actually really happy I got to meet you. I mean, if you weren't on our side, I don't know what would happen between you and Beldam..."

"Yeah, I'm glad I got to meet you..." Vivian smiled, her face turning a bit red.

"And Scrub..." Chopper started, walking over to him. "You've done so much to help me out on this adventure! Heck, you never seemed to let anything try to get in your way for the most part when we were in trouble."

"Well, you helped me become who I am, Contadre," Scrub said. "And I thank ya for that!"

"You were the first one to go out and help me on my quest, Kirby. ...Well, until we got separated, of course." Chopper said as he walked over to Kirby. "Honestly, I always find it nice to at least have someone around with an appetite like mine! But you're so much better at eating stuff then me! How'd you do it?"

"Poyo! (I was born with it, of course!)" Kirby cheered. "Poyo! (And I was happy to come with you as well!)"

"I really want to thank you for what you've did for me when I had lost my name and body," Chopper thanked, going over to Shadower. "You really saved us when we had run into a couple of serious issues, like when Silica was chasing us. And I'm glad you're not being bothered by your brothers."

"I should be thanking you, too, Chopper," Shadower replied with a smile. "You definitely show off a lot of kindness. You and the rest of the others!"

"To be honest, I always found it funny when you spoke like a pirate," Chopper giggled, going over to Bombette. Though, the look on her wasn't exactly the happiest upon hearing that. "But, I think it was great knowing you. You might...well, have an...explosive personality, but I think that made you interesting! Plus, it was fun blowing stuff up with you!"

"Yeah, same with you," Bombette replied, unsure of what else to say.

"I really should thank you for helping me out with that Phi Base problem," Chopper smiled, going over to Heartsy. "You were really out there to help me and all... And you've done a lot to defend me when you had the chance. Plus, I'm happy to know that I'm not the only one of my kind to be remaining here."

"I'm glad I got to be around you as well," Heartsy smiled. "And thanks for taking me on this adventure."

She kissed him on the cheek, making Chopper gag and wipe it off before going to Mario. "Ever since I went the Mushroom Kingdom, I wanted to meet you, Mario! I know why so many people like you, and I'm glad you got to give us a hand on this adventure! Though, I'm sorry what the Shadow King did to you."

Mario: Everything's fine!

"If it weren't for your speed, I don't think this adventure would be so easy," Chopper said, turning to Sonic. "I mean, I know I'm fast, but you're a lot faster! It was really cool seeing you go in and take out those enemies!"

"Well, it's what I do!" Sonic said, taking in the compliment. "Heck, we wouldn't have met if I didn't find you in the Music Kingdom!"

Chopper nodded and went over to Flyer. "You're one of the first few friends I had, Flyer, and you're smarts really gave us a hand! ...Even if I didn't understand a few of your words. Plus, you really do help out, since I can't fly normally..."

"Well it's thanks to you that I have someone who shows a lot of care for me," Flyer smiled.

Finally, Chopper had approached Tamber. "I know you may have not been the nicest to me and all... But I don't really hate you. Honestly, I think you're a bit misunderstood. I'm personally open to talking to you more if you want."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, puffball," Tamber replied, appearing uninterested. "We got the last Crystal Star yadda yadda yadda... So are we going to get to business?"

"Oh... Right..." Chopper slowly took out the star, but then he suddenly got cut off by a familiar voice.

"Well, Chopper! I can't believe you did it!" Professor Frankly exclaimed, making his way over to them.

"Professor Frankly? What are you doing here?" Vivian asked.

"Well, I had just wanted to come over to this place and check out the Fountain of Dreams. After all, I never got the chance to see it for myself." Frankly explained. "But it looks like I've come here on time to see you with the final star! I must say... You did such a magnificent job. I wish I was there to see it…"

"If you saw everything, then you would probably be getting thrown around like a rag doll," Tamber snickered.

"Errmmm Yes… Anyway, Chopper… With those twenty Crystal Stars, you can finally eliminate the darkness with an unlimited amount of light power!"

"Wait, hold on, guys!" Bun cried, running back to the fountain. "You might want to hold off on that!"

"What? Why?" Shadower asked.

"Well, everyone's coming over here to see!"

"Oh? They must be very interested to see this." Frankly remarked. "I suppose we can wait for them."

So they decided to wait for the Cappies, but there was also someone else dashing toward their direction. They heard the cries of two people and turned to the right to spot King Dedede and Escargon bawling and coming down the hill where their castle was.

"What are they doing here?" Fumu asked.

"Hey, are you guys OK?" Chopper asked, noticing their tears. "You don't look so good..."

"Of course we look terrible!" yelled King Dedede, making Chopper recoil. "Our... Well, MY castle was taken away by those monsters! They took it away from me and left me homeless!"

"Serves you right for what you've done to everyone!" Fumu frowned.

"Hey, you stay out of this!" Escargon snapped. "This isn't any of your business!"

"Well, it is my business, considering I found you guys with those monster!"

Everyone turned to face King Dedede and Escargon with a glare, though they didn't look and happier.

"I know I've done a lot of bad stuff before, but please! This isn't our fault! If there's anyone to blame, it's those Tartaras!"

"Wait... Tartaras?" Chopper gawked.

"Yeah! Look, we have a confession to make..." Escargon gulped.

"No way, Escargon! As if we'll do that!" King Dedede snapped, punching him on the top of the head.

"Dedede, drop it," Fumu suggested, putting her hand on her hips. "I already know of them, so I can tell them."

The king let out a sigh. "All right, fine... I found those guys and decided to purchase some demon beasts from them. They helped provide me that little girl that escaped, those two Demon Beasts named John and Lemmy, and that Treenoon guy."

"We already know about that," Flyer admitted.

"Wait, really?" Escargon gawked. "How?"

"Well... Those Demon Beasts were stupid enough to tell us you sent them after us."

"Oh... Well, at least we don't have to hear you guys yell at us." King Dedede realized. "Anyway, I happened to owe them a lot, and I tried to make an anime that would hopefully provide them enough money that I owed them. Well, you guys know how THAT turned out... So I ended up breaking off our deal and cut off any contacts with them."

"So you just chose not to pay them?" Shadower asked, not seeming pleased. "You are pretty greedy."

"I didn't take them seriously before, but then I found one of their guys at my castle, and they stole my home! And it doesn't seem like they even care about me being homeless!"

"And all of the Waddle Dees were in that castle, too!" Escargon added.

"Please, Chopper…" King Dedede cried, kissing Chopper's feet. "You've got to help us!"

"Eww! Don't kiss my feet!" Chopper cried, stepping away. _"As much as I don't like King Dedede, I have to admit, having him lose his castle is a LITTLE too far… Tartaras are pure evil. But on the other hand..."  
_

"You're a good kid, right?" Escargon asked. "You would help us out, too?"

"Hmmmm… I don't know…" Chopper pondered.

"Look… If you get my castle back, I promise that I'll NEVER cause any trouble in Dream Land again." King Dedede declared. "In fact, I'll also give you something in return as well. We'll… We'll lower taxes around here!"

"That does sound like a good bargain," Frankly said.

"But it doesn't sound good enough..." Chopper trailed.

"What? Well… We'll throw parties every Friday!" Escargon suggested, only to get hit by King Dedede's hammer.

"Fat chance!" King Dedede growled. "How about... Maybe we can supply with you a pile of food?"

"It's a deal!" Chopper declared happily.

Everyone else stared at him in disbelief, face palming. Well, except for Kirby.

"Poyo! (I'm with you, Chopper!)" Kirby cheered.

* * *

**Hatty Town-**

"Is this true, Silica? Chopper has collected all twenty Crystal Stars?" the Mayor gaped, hearing Silica's words.

"Yes, that's right," she nodded. "The people in Cappy Town are going over to the Fountain of Dreams right now to go witness it!"

"Oh my gosh... We need to get over there right now! Before it's too late! You go on ahead. I'll go tell the others to go to the Fountain of Dreams!"

"All right, I'll be waiting for you," Silica nodded, running off in the direction of the Fountain of Dreams.

"I'm so proud of Chopper... He finally did it." the Mayor sniffled, watching Silica go off. "I feel as if I just found the map a day ago..."

As Silica took off and the Mayor went to tell the others of Hatty Town, they were unaware of a dark figure watching down from a hill above the town.

"So apparently the time has finally come," Tipral said, watching the event with his arms crossed. "Surely they will finally realize that they will all put themselves in grave danger. Seeing Chopper lie to all of them will definitely be an interesting sight."

With that, he teleported out of the vicinity.

* * *

**Fountain of Dreams-**

Chopper noticed many Cappies from both Cappy and Hatty Town arriving at the Fountain of Dreams moments later after Silica had arrived to watch the scene. Many were looking excited after hearing of the great spectacles that would be coming.

"Wow! There's so much people coming here!" Chopper gaped. "How many people were in each town?"

"I'm...not so sure," Silica sweat dropped.

"Well, they're definitely going to witness something awesome!" Scrub grinned.

When the Mayor had approached them, the first thing he did was go to Chopper and shake his hand.

"Oh, Chopper! It was such a pleasure to work with you on this adventure!" the Mayor cheered. "I wish I could've done a bit more to help, but then I'd realize I get in the way."

"It's all right. I mean... I don't know how you'd be able to handle what was down in Rogueport..." Chopper trailed.

"Yes, he does speak the truth," Frankly agreed.

The Mayor took notice of the old Goomba and raised an eyebrow. "Now who is this? Is he another one of your friends?"

"My name is Frankly, a professor back at U Goom university. I had helped Chopper tell him of the areas on the Magical Map where he needed to go. He wouldn't be here without me, that's for sure!"

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you! I am the Mayor of Hatty Town, and it was I who had found the map!"

"Then I should be thanking you as well for guiding Chopper throughout his adventure," the Mayor smiled, reaching out to shake his hand. When he noticed he lacked arms, he sweat dropped and lowered his hand. "Well... Chopper... Shall we get started?"

"I suppose it's now or never," Chopper nodded, turning to his friends. "You guys ready for this?"

Mario: Yes!

"People of Dream Land!" the Mayor announced, turning to the Cappies. "It is with great honor that I give you our heroes of Dream Land, who will finally save not only the world, but the universe from the fatal doom of the darkness."

The Cappies let out loud cheers, leaving the heroes to gawk at their praise.

"I...never felt so famous before," Heartsy gaped.

"I don't think I've ever been famous," Tamber added.

"So... Are you ready to do it?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah. I think I'm ready." Chopper nodded, walking over to the pedestal. "OK, here it goes… I'm going to bring them all out!"

Once he jumped on the pedestal, the blue light started to circle around the fountain, brightening it and giving out a feeling of hope. Each spot where a Crystal Star would stand began to glow in its matching color. Chopper felt the pedestal around him sparkle, and soon all twenty Crystal Stars began to surround him and slowly float above him. The more they circled him, the further they started to spread out until they were floating above their respective places. Once they stopped, they disappeared in a star-shaped sparkle and appeared at their specific part of the fountain.

Everyone couldn't help but gape at the sight.

"This is incredible!" Bun commented.

"It's definitely a spectacle, that's for sure," Parm agreed.

"Perhaps there will be a celebration after this?" Memu wondered.

"Whoa… This is interesting." Chopper gaped, watching the Crystal Stars fly into the sky. Suddenly, they saw a bright flash from the sky, and soon a light barrier had made its appearance, being visible in any location within the universe.

"I don't believe it… It worked!" Scrub fist pumped.

"Poyo! (We're saved!)" Kirby squealed.

The Cappies began to cheer and hug each other, happy to be saved from the darkness.

"We're saved!"

"Pop Star can live without troubles!"

That was when Bowser and Kammy showed up at the fountain behind the group of Cappies. Since they were busy celebrating, none of them had paid any attention to him.

"Hey, what's up with the celebration?" Bowser asked in disbelief. "They throw a party and don't invite ME?!"

"Oh, dear..." Kammy gulped. "And I remember the last time you weren't invited to a party..."

Bowser let out a small grumble, while the heroes smiled in joy for their recent victory.

"Wow... We actually did it!" Chopper cheered. "We finally finished our quest!"

"That means it's party time!" Sonic declared.

"Hrrrmmmm…" Frankly trailed, looking up at the sky. "For some reason, something doesn't feel right…"

"What're you talking about? The barrier's here, and that darkness can kiss its luck goodbye!" Scrub scoffed.

Suddenly, the barrier had shattered, and the Crystal Stars came falling down, no longer sparkling in all its glory. At that point, the celebrations had stopped.

"Wait... What? What happened?" Shadower gawked.

"Weren't the Crystal Stars supposed to save us?" the Mayor gawked.

At that moment, the ground began to shake, and the sky began to darken to a dark red. The Cappies began to scream in horror.

"We're all doomed!"

"We're all going to die!"

_**"****Ha ha ha ha! You fools!" **_a demonic voice cackled, echoing through the sky._** "You honestly believed that your precious Crystal Stars would save you! Think again!"**_

"That voice... It sounds familiar..." Escargon trailed.

"Who… Who are you?!" Chopper exclaimed.

_**"****My name is none of your concern. ...Yet." **_the voice replied. _**"It's all thanks to you that my plan has worked all along! That mayor was such a fool, believing that the Crystal Stars would save you all. You just fell into my trap!"  
**_

"So… It was all just a trick?!" Flyer gaped, clenching his fists.

_**"****Indeed! And there's nothing you can do about it. However, before you all perish, allow me to open the way to your doom, Chopper!"**_

"Doom? What do you mean?" Chopper suddenly noticed a black and red portal appear before his very eyes. "Uh oh… This isn't good!"

He tried his best to flee, but it was impossible to get away from it. Chopper, his ten friends, and even Silica were sucked into the portal.

"Chopper!" Frankly gasped. "No... It can't be!"

"Whoa! Look at that!" Bowser shouted, getting through the crowd of screaming Cappies. "Did you see that, Haggy?"

"Yes, Your Evilness!" Kammy nodded. "It looks like those stars have led to another world!"

"Well what're we doing standing here? We're going after Chopper!"

"Oh! Of course, Lord Bowser!"

Bowser and Kammy immediately rushed into the portal, while the others were unaware of his presence. Right when they jumped in, the portal disappeared.

"Oh, no… I had a feeling something like this would happen…" Frankly trailed. "I hope Chopper can find his way out of this…"

"I hope they _all_ find their way out," Fumu said, appearing worried.

As they looked up, they saw a dark vortex making its way closer to Dream Land.

* * *

**So, who expected this? *sees a lot of hands raised***

**Well, on that note, this means that the final chapter of the story starts in the next chapter. Be prepared, because it is going to get intense!  
**


	139. Tartamos, the World of the Tartaras

**CHAPTER 20**

**-The Final Conflict-**

Chopper moaned as he slowly got up from the red rocky ground he lied on. Noticing his surroundings, he saw that ground was made of red rock, and there was lava all over the place. It almost felt as if he was inside some kind of cave, but when he looked up, he saw no sign of a ceiling. What he did find in the distance, however, was a volcano.

Eventually everyone else got up and took notice of their surroundings too. For once, they were left in surprise.

"Dude, is it just me, or is it REALLY hot here?" Scrub asked, waving his hand in front of him.

As they looked around, Chopper suddenly remembered what Meta Knight had told him and lowered his head. "I can't believe that I didn't listen to Meta Knight… He was right this whole time. I should've listened to him this whole time..."

"Chopper, please don't put yourself down," Vivian suggested, approaching him. "I think we had a good reason to get those Crystal Stars. After all, the universe was still in grave danger, and we were being encouraged to go look for them."

"But still... Meta Knight warned me all these times, and I didn't bother with it."

"If anything, I'd say this is all of our faults," Flyer stepped in. "WE didn't listen to Meta Knight, not just you, Chopper. And, to be honest, I feel pretty guilty as well."

"Hey, not to interrupt this pity party and all, but there's an important question to be asked. Where the heck are we?" Tamber asked. "And where's that one white chick who was with us?"

"Oooog… I've never seen you people here before."

Chopper turned around to see a dark gray Goomba with fiery red eyes, a missing fang, a scar on his right eye and also the inside of his mouth resembling flaming colors.

"What the… Who're you?" Chopper asked.

"So, how'd you end up here, guys?" the Goomba asked, ignoring Chopper's question. Everyone looked at him with confusion. "What? You don't know where you are? You must be new here."

"Well... I guess we're in some new world, pretty much." Chopper replied, looking up at the flaming red sky and the dark clouds. "And it isn't a cave, that's for sure."

"Yeah, I had a feeling you folks had no idea where you are now. Well, might as well welcome you here." the Goomba took a deep breath. "Welcome to **Tartamos**!"

"Wait... Tartamos?" Bombette gawked. "How the heck did we end up here?"

Mario: It was probably that portal.

"Whoa, you came out of a portal? That's surprising." the Goomba remarked. "Though, I gotta warn you... The folks around here ain't friendly. The Tartaras run this world, and they LOVE torturing new folks! I even heard one of them saying that they wanted to get a boy named Chopper here so they could capture him."

"Wait, Tartaras? They're here?!" Chopper gaped.

"Hey, those guys wanna capture you, puffball," Tamber snickered. "These guys must REALLY hate you!"

"Tamber!" Heartsy growled.

"Oh, really? You're really Chopper?" the Goomba asked, walking up to Chopper.

"Yes... That's me." Chopper sighed.

"Hmph... Well, you don't look like a huge threat to me, that's for sure. Heck, I'd be laughing right now if I hadn't lost that ability."

"So you're just going to tell those Tartafreaks that Chop's here?" Sonic asked. "'Cause that'd be pretty low."

"Nah, I'm not like them," the Goomba assured. "It's their fault that I've become a hideous Goomba. However, I can tell you about someone who can probably give you a hand on getting out of this place."

"Hmmmmm... Very well. Who is it?" Flyer asked.

"It's a Tartara, but this one ain't a fighter. In fact, this Tartara's just a minister. Yeah, sounds crazy, considering that they destroy stuff, but this guy's friendly. Go talk to the Tartara Minister, and maybe he'll give you a hand. Though, I gotta warn you... His place is located in the city, and lot's-a Tartaras inhabit that place."

"The city?" Chopper gawked, staring at the red and black buildings off at the distance. "Oh, man... If we go there, they'll gang up on us!"

"Geez... This isn't a good situation for us..." Sonic trailed. "We gotta think of something!"

"So, what's the plan?" Tamber asked, turning to Flyer.

"Wait, me?" Flyer gawked.

"Yeah, you! You think of all the plans!"

"Ummmmm..." Flyer pondered, trying to think of an idea. However, it didn't seem like his brain was working very well at the moment. "Oh, I don't know... I can't think of an idea..."

"You can't?"

"Well, what are we supposed to do? It's not like we can sneak in through there while invisi-" Flyer paused, a light bulb suddenly appearing over his head. "Wait a minute... Perhaps we can! After all, we do have two people who can hide us from those Tartaras! Plus, even if they were to spot us and attack, they couldn't do a thing to us if we disappeared!"

"But what if they do spot us?" Shadower asked, pondering as well. "They'd know of our presence and alert the others! You know, like when we were dealing with the Phis?"

"Hmmmmmm... Yes, that could be an issue... That means we must try our best to avoid being caught."

"Well, that doesn't sound so hard," Chopper smiled. "Come on! Let's go to that city!"

Everyone nodded in agreement, walking away from the Goomba and heading toward the city. Once they were far enough, the Goomba turned away in disbelief.

"Those guys are total nutjobs," the Goomba said. "They aren't going to last a minute out there. Not with the kind of technology they have."

Before he could go back to his own business, another figure had come out of the portal. However, she was quick to get up and look around her with a surprised expression.

"What the... What is this place?" Silica gawked.

"Oh, great, another one..." the Goomba groaned. "You're in Tartamos. The Tartaras run this place yadda yadda yadda."

"Tartaras? Aren't they..." she paused, as if suddenly something sparked in her head. "My mother... She once ran into monsters called Tartaras back on Chopper's planet before it blew up..."

"Your mother? Running into Tartaras? As if!"

"Look, did a group of people come out through this portal?"

"Yeah. You missed them about a minute ago. They're heading toward Tartara City." the Goomba answered. "Don't expect them to come out alive, though. Chances are they're already toast."

Silica looked up ahead at the city and took her weapon out. "If they're going there, then I'm going to have to help them!"

"Wait a moment, don't be going so-" the Goomba was cut off as Silica went running toward the city. "Well, so much for that. She ain't getting out of there alive either! Such a shame... They didn't seem like bad people either."

* * *

**Tartara City-**

The heroes had reached a lot closer to the city and hid behind a few large rocks. Flyer had taken out a pair of binoculars and got a look at the city. To his surprise, he didn't spot any Tartaras around.

"Strange... I don't see any of them in sight..." Flyer trailed.

"Really?" Chopper gawked.

"Here. Take a look for yourself." Flyer handed the binoculars to Chopper, who proceeded to look through them. The only problem? He was holding them the wrong way. "The other way, Chopper."

"Oh... Curse me and being bad with technology." Chopper frowned, turning it the right direction to look through. He, too, had found no sight of any Tartaras. "Yeah... I don't see them in sight! Weird, huh?"

"Well, then I guess there's no point to our plan then..." Vivian trailed.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Shadower spoke up. "There could still be some Tartaras around. We should just be on the lookout."

Everyone nodded in agreement and decided to make their way toward the city in the open. It looked much larger when they arrived than where they first spotted it. The buildings were tall, and there were even a couple of shops around too. Unfortunately, there didn't appear to be a salesclerk in them, nor were there any items available. Even then, Chopper had a feeling they wouldn't even sell him anything. As they made their exit from the shops, they spotted a couple of billboards attached to some buildings. One, in particular, had caught Chopper's attention.

"Hey! Why's there a picture of me being blasted by those Tartaras?" Chopper asked, seeing a poorly-made billboard with him being zapped by a few Tartaras with their ray guns.

"Wow. They really hate you, puffball." Tamber gawked, noticing more billboards and signs that appeared to be anti-Chopper. "What'd you ever do to them?"

"He's done a lot to them, trust me," Flyer replied.

"Poyo… (That must stink for Chopper that all of these guys hate him so much…)" Kirby sighed. "Poyo! (They probably started it!)"

"They sure did," Chopper nodded, spotting one building called "Bob's Motorcycles". "Hey... Maybe Bob is still here!"

"Who's Bob?" Vivian asked.

"He's... Well, he's nothing special, honestly. Let's just hope that minister is there."

Thankfully, they had come across a black and red shrine near the edge of town. What was even nicer was that there were no guards in sight either. Smiling, the eleven made their way over to the front door and hit the Save Block.

"Wow! We didn't find a single Tartara in this city!" Scrub cheered. "They must be having a vacation during this time!"

Mario: Hopefully...

"Let's just hope this minister can give us a hand," Heartsy hoped. "I'd prefer to get out of here..."

With that, they opened the door into the shrine. The interior was mostly red, having a red, shiny floor and black walls. There were also stain-glassed windows all over the place with a couple of portraits of some Tartaras. What surprised them was that there was even a portrait of Tipral on one of them. To most of them, it looked just like the one they found in the Dark Steeple.

"Hey… Why is there a stain-glasses window with Tipral on it?" Chopper gawked. "Unless... He's on THEIR side!"

"And it looks just like the one in Dark Steeple!" Vivian added. "Maybe this is where he got it in the first place."

"What's this? Have people arrived to see me?" a small Tartara with a large, white mustache, and a red robe asked, turning to face them. He also had a large, red tiara on his head as well. "Ah... So you must be Chopper. I've heard many things about you."

"Yeah, that's me," Chopper nodded, he and the others approaching the Tartara Minister. "We need your help."

"Hmmmm... Yes, I foresaw this." the minister grinned. "You youngsters came here through a portal, did you not? Through those Crystal Stars?"

"Yeah, we did," Tamber nodded. "And we wanna get out of here!"

"Perhaps you may not want to... After all, I think there's more of a reason to stay here than you think."

"What do you..." Chopper paused, pondering for a moment. "You mean... Oh, right! If that demon's here, then that means we can finally stop him! We might have a chance after all!"

"Indeed," the minister nodded. "Do that, and perhaps you will find your way out of here."

"Well, I think it's a good idea to go give that demon what he deserves!" Sonic grinned, cracking his knuckles. "This'll be easy! Thanks for the help you provided, minister guy."

"Anytime, young ones."

The group waved goodbye and made their exit. Once they were gone, the Tartara Minister grinned and pulled out his communicator.

"This is the minister, do you copy? Chopper and his pathetic little friends are here! Now's our chance to capture him!"

* * *

**Outside-**

"Well... I guess this means that we have to go out and find this demon." Chopper declared, turning to his friends. "We just have to find out where he is and stop him! That way, the universe will finally be saved, and we'll be out of- Hey, what's with you guys, and why does it feel a little darker?"

At this point, Chopper's friends were staring wide-eyed at what was behind him. Chopper had decided to turn around and stared at the large Tartara with wide eyes as well. The Tartara was much bigger than them in both height and width. Unlike a normal Tartara, it was standing more upright and wore red and black armor that had an emblem of Maquano on it. Along with that, they carried red, long jagged swords and had large wings.

They were staring at a Tartara Royal Guard. Two of them, to be exact.

"Well well well! So, you finally show up at last, Chopper!" the first Tartara Royal Guard cackled, staring down at him with its fiery red reptilian eyes. "We've been waiting for you. You and your friends!"

No one dared to speak back.

"What? You never met a Tartara Royal Guard before?" the second one grinned, showing off its rows of razor sharp teeth. "Oh, don't worry! We won't bite! That is, unless you don't listen to us."

"Wh-What do you want?" Heartsy asked, barely able to speak loud enough.

"You're all under arrest for treason," the first Tartara Royal Guard hissed.

"Treason?! We didn't do anything wrong!" Scrub yelled, raising his fists. "And you WON'T stop us so easily, monsters! C'mon!"

The other Tartara Royal Guard picked up Scrub and snorted at him. It could feel the warm air from its nostrils, and it left him staring at the Tartara in fear.

"N-Never mind..."

"Treason is when you try to commit a crime such as murdering a leader," explained the first Tartara Royal Guard. "You, Chopper…are an example of high treason!"

"Wait, you mean Maquano?" Chopper gawked. "I never murdered him. I just tossed him into a Light Orb and let him go flying in space. He's probably long gone by now."

"We're not just referring to our leader. You are also responsible for destroying countless Tartaras throughout the six years. It's thanks to you that we had to make our retreat two years ago! We would toss you into prison, but like all people here, you're given a trial, and that's in about a half an hour!"

"Trial? What trial?" Chopper gawked as he suddenly felt himself being lifted from the ground by the Tartara Royal Guard's giant hand. They were able to hold some of the others in their hands, too. Both got about around half. "Wait, what are you doing?!"

"What does it look like? We're taking you to your trial." one of the guards sneered. "Oh, boy... The judge has been looking forward to seeing your arrival. You have no idea how angry he is with you!"

"This doesn't sound so fair..." Flyer trailed.

"Oh, believe me, you're all not alone. Like all people here, they're entitled to a lawyer."

"A lawyer? What are those?" Chopper asked.

"They handle court cases," Flyer explained. "It's their job to either prosecute or defend the criminal or something."

"Like that one guy named Phoenix Wright? I hope we get him! I heard he's good at that."

"Don't even count on it, you fool," the first guard sneered. "We got someone much better for him… You'll thank us later!"

"So we're going to end up losing anyway?" Tamber pouted.

"Most likely!" the other Tartara Royal Guard laughed.

"Well, that seems a bit biased," Flyer stated. "You should at least make the trail fair for us. This isn't how you set up a trial anyway…"

The Royal Guard growled at him, which caused him to shut up. "All right, Chopper! We should be there pretty soon! Get ready to give any evidence you might have. Don't count on winning, though!"

"Crud... This isn't going to be fun." Chopper sighed as they were taken over to a large red and black courthouse further away from the city.

* * *

**Inside the courtroom-**

"Wow… All of these Tartara are all here, ready to taunt us." Vivian gasped, spotting the jury in their seats. They were all Tartara Soldiers in their armor, giving the group glares. Some even started to call them names and throw rocks. One even attempted to fire at Chopper, but another Tartara had ended up holding it off.

One thing for sure was that they were all uneasy. Including Tamber.

"Oh, man… I don't like it here…" Tamber gulped.

"Wow. YOU'RE scared too? Can't say I'm surprised about that." Sonic admitted.

The two Tartara Royal Guards dropped the eleven to their seats. They were all cuffed by their arms so they wouldn't escape. Of course, with people like Bombette, they simply cuffed her legs instead.

"This is going to be fun..." Bombette groaned.

"All right, we have the boy and his stupid little friends, your honor!" sneered the Tartara Royal Guard. "We can begin the trail now!"

"You have Chopper? Excellent!"

"Hey... That voice sounds familiar..." Chopper trailed.

"Everyone please rise to honor the Great **Camikon**!" ordered the Royal Guard.

All of the Tartaras remained silent and they stood up.

A small Tartara had finally gotten onto the judge's seat. He was wearing a black wizard's hat and a monocle on his left eye, he had purple eyes, unlike the other Tartaras. The old Tartara had two fangs hidden underneath his large, gray mustache and beard. The wizard was also wearing a black with long sleeves. He was also holding a wand that had a red orb with darkness inside of it. His legs were rather short as well, hence why they were hidden underneath his robe. Beside him was a black broomstick with a purple circle resembling an eye on the back that had a flaming pupil. Surrounding the back of the broomstick were around four spikes, with the front of the broomstick was pointy as well.

Many knew that this Tartara was quite old. Possibly even the oldest Tartara out there, and Chopper knew this wizard was high in command.

"So! We finally meet again after two years, Chopper!" Camikon started. "You've foiled our plans, and you've gotten rid of Maquano. This time, we can finally get payback!"

"Hey, he started it, you know! If he hadn't destroyed Mondrao, I wouldn't be in this mess right now!" Chopper frowned, though Camikon nor the Tartaras seemed to buy it. He sighed and decided to look around him. "So, this is the place where you guys live?"

"Correct. Hence why the Tartaras are named after this place, Tartamos." Camikon replied, spinning his gavel around slowly. "I would like to slam this down and say you're guilty, but according to the law, we're required to allow you to have a trial…and a _lawyer_."

"And who's our lawyer?" Vivian asked.

"He's right over there," Camikon pointed his wand at the Bumpty with the magnify glass and hat.

"Fear not, my dear **Flyer**! I will help you win the case with my detective skills!" Pennington assured, twirling his magnify glass as he sat next to them.

The eleven either let out a groan or face palmed.

"Well, we're doomed," Scrub stated.

"Nyeah heh heh heh! So, shall we get started?" Camikon slammed his gavel on the stand. "The defense may start! You! Pennington! What do you have to say?"

"Thank you, good sir," Pennington stood up and turned to everyone. "Hello, my fellow monsters. I am known as Pennington. I am a master detective who has managed to find out the truth in every case! And I can certainly tell you that **Flyer **is NOT guilty!"

"We already know that he's guilty," Camikon snarled. "He had gotten rid of our leader two years ago."

"Oh, really? Well…" Pennington pondered for the moment. "Perhaps that was a clone of my dear assistant. Hrrrmmm... Yes, it makes perfect sense!"

"_**OBJECTION!**_" a Tartara lawyer objected Pennington's statement, slamming the desk and pointing at him. "How could he have been a clone when he knows everything about it!"

"Well... Ermmmm... Exactly! He does NOT know about the crime, hence why he didn't do it!"

"Oh, we'll see about that... I call to the stand...Chopper!"

"Wait… Why me?" Chopper questioned as he was suddenly teleported to the stand as a witness.

"Now, Chopper… You were there at the scene, and not to mention you were involved in it." the lawyer explained. "So, care to tell us what happened?"

When Chopper looked at his friends, they all shook his heads at him, and he gave an assuring nod.

"Oh, yeah... We can also tell if you're lying or not." the lawyer added. "That chair is able to detect lies and electrocute you, so we can tell if you're bluffing!"

Sighing in defeat, Chopper began to explain. "Well, after I beat Bowser, I was thrown to another area in Star Haven that happened to lead me to Staris's Shrine. But, Maquano happened to stop me and my friends, and, well, we fought."

"Could you explain what happened next after that?" the lawyer asked. Chopper shook his head. "And why not? You're obviously trying to hide something! And that could result in an electrocution!"

"Err… _**OBJECTION!**_" Pennington shouted as he pointed his magnify glass. "And what makes you think that? It's obvious that you did not see **Flyer **defeat this evil villain! If he's telling everything, then he-"

"_**OVERRULED!**_" Camikon shouted. Pennington sweat dropped and sat back down…until he had an idea.

"Oh, not so fast, you! You don't have the evidence of which **Flyer** DID destroy him! My dear boy would never eliminate someone unless he was too evil! Isn't that right, my assistant?"

"Err... Yeah! What he said!" Chopper agreed, unsure of what else to say.

"Order in the court!" Camikon banged his gavel, which made everyone be quiet. "Now, tell me, Chopper… How do you plead?"

"Ummmmm... What do you mean?"

"Guilty or not guilty?"

"Well, I'm definitely not guilty! But I bet you guys are going to think so anyway." Chopper grumbled with a pout.

"Now now, **Flyer**… No need to get angry." Pennington said, trying to calm him down. "I, Pennington, will definitely make sure that you come out of this alive! So! Now it's MY turn!"

"Go right ahead," Camikon said, appearing as if he didn't care.

Pennington took out a suitcase, and he pulled out a bag of potato chips. "This, my friends…is a witness I found earlier today! I believe it has something interesting to say!"

With that, Chopper was teleported back to the others, while the potato chip bag was replaced.

"So, witness… Explain to us what happened the other day!"

Potato Chip Bag: …

"Ah-HA! Now I'm starting to see it… This witness has told me that your leader seemingly went into his castle, got a rope, wrapped it around his neck, and let himself hang there! That might explain why there's a rope in his castle." Pennington explained proudly, giving off a proud look. "Case closed!"

"_**HOLD IT!**_" the Tartara lawyer stood up from its seat and pointed at Pennington. "How do you surely know that Maquano would do something like that? That's preposterous! There's no way he'd be capable of dying like that. Honestly, I doubt you even know him."

"Oh, ho ho ho! I do know him indeed! Why, he's... Ermmm... Give me a moment here. Errrrrr..." Pennington paused, trying to ponder. "Can you tell me a bit about him?"

"Ugh... You're seriously annoying me." the lawyer growled, about ready to shoot him.

"Now, now, lawyer... There's a reason why I picked this guy to be his lawyer. Just look at him!" Camikon looked at Pennington, who was staring at the potato chip bag with shifty eyes. "See? He's a bumbling idiot!"

"I see…" the Tartara lawyer brought its attention back to Chopper. "Ahem! Now, Chopper… Could you explain to us what happened after you fought?"

"All right, fine..." Chopper sighed. "Basically, we fought with swords, and eventually I managed to defeat him with a Galaxia Sword Beam. And then..."

"And then what?" Camikon asked.

"…And then he was thrown into space thanks to that Light Orb," Chopper finished.

"See, people? He admitted it!" the Tartara lawyer cried. "Now we can finally punish him for his crimes!"

"Yeah, he's right!"

"Chopper must pay!"

"Our leader is gone! We want REVENGE!"

"You're such an awesome lawyer!"

"Give Chopper a harsh punishment!"

"I want something to eat!"

"Order! Order in the court!" Camikon roared, banging his gavel and silencing the Tartaras. "You people are giving me a headache! Yeesh! I'm too old for this stuff! At least we weren't loud like back in the old days!"

Everyone could only stare at him in silence.

"Hold on a moment! May I speak?" Vivian asked. She would've risen from her chair, but since her arms were cuffed to the chairs, she couldn't.

"Hmmmmmmm?" Camikon looked at Vivian with his monocle. "Hmmmm... What now? Who are you, missy? One of Chopper's friends?"

"Yes..."

"Hmph... Fine, if you insist."

"Thank you," Vivian was brought up to the chair, while the potato chip bag was opened by Pennington, who now began to chow down on the chips.

"Sometimes when you're on a mystery, you must make sure you have something to eat. Don't you agree, my dear **Flyer**?"

"I guess," Chopper answered, attempting to shrug.

Vivian immediately cleared her throat. "Listen, I know you may not be happy with what I say, but I think you should forget about this issue. I mean, considering what you people have done, I'd say Chopper was pretty justified in what he did. If you hadn't tried to destroy his birth planet, then you would've have had to deal with him."

"We don't consider losing our leader to be justified when he's involved in it," the Tartara lawyer hissed.

"Order in the court," Camikon demanded, banging his gavel. "Now the jury shall make their decision!"

One of the jury members stood up. "We, the jury, find Chopper, Star Warrior of Planet Clara, guilty of treason, foiling our plans, and TREASON!"

Of course, Chopper was baffled by the results, while Penningston stood in shame before the heroes.

"My apologies, dear **Flyer**. I tried as best as I could, but surely you will…" Before Pennington could even finish, he was transported out of Tartamos and back to...wherever he was.

"Excellent! Now that we've gotten that over with… I, Camikon, the judge and the new leader, sentence you and your friends…to _death_!" Camikon cackled, banging his gavel and making the Tartaras cackle as well.

"Oh, that's just great… How did I NOT see this coming?" Chopper groaned.

"Wait, isn't this technically child abuse?" Heartsy asked. "You can't do something like that!"

"We've made our decision, and we're keeping it that way, whether you like it or not!" Camikon grinned. "And we don't care about such laws around here. We play by our own rules. So, tomorrow morning, you will be thrown into the volcano, and that is where you shall perish."

"And where are we supposed to stay?" Bombette asked.

"Why, you'll be staying in prison, of course! Have no worries, my friends! There will be no escape! Yep! Just a bunch of hot molten lava surrounding the prison. So don't expect to get off the island, 'cause you can't survive in lava."

"Heh heh heh! I can't believe we're finally going to have Chopper destroyed after all of these years!" cackled a Darkling. "Getting him here was such a good idea!"

"Shut up, you!" Camikon silenced the Darkling before he turned his attention to the two Tartara Royal Guards. "You two! Take these eleven to their prison cells!"

"Understood, Lord Camikon!" the two Tartara Royal Guards saluted him and picked up the heroes. "All right, you guys. Let's get you where you belong!"

With that, the guards made their exit with Chopper and his friends.

"Nyeah heh heh heh!" Camikon snickered, putting the gavel down and getting on his broomstick. "Lord Maquano would've been so proud of me! I'm going to finally avenge him! I can't wait for tomorrow! ...But first, I need to pay someone a visit. They should be making their arrival here pretty soon."

Camikon flew out of the courthouse, while Tartaras wearing suits had disposed of them and got back in their armor. They soon made their exit, returning to their usual positions.

* * *

**Right by the portal-**

Unfortunately, Bowser and Kammy were a little slow compared to the others. They had just recently arrived, and Bowser had fallen on top of Kammy upon getting out of the portal.

"Oooog… I wouldn't exactly call that a nice ride…" moaned Bowser, slowly getting up to check out the place. "Whoa... What's this place? Got any ideas, Haggy? ...Haggy?"

Looking below him, he saw a flattened Magikoopa lying on the floor. He stepped away, allowing her to get back up and onto her broomstick.

"Oh, dear... Now that was quite a trip." Kammy moaned, readjusting herself and taking a look at Tartamos as well. "What's this? Why does this place look somewhat familiar?"

"...Hey, now that you think about it, it kinda does!" Bowser realized, looking at the lava and the rocks, along with the city ahead. "This reminds me of that one place we were at two years ago!"

"Again with the new people?" the Goomba groaned, spotting Bowser. "Ugh... How do these people keep coming here?"

"Who's this weird Goomba?"

Ignoring him, the Goomba continued. "By the way, this is Tartamos, go crazy and stuff."

"Tartamos? Why, Lord Bowser! We WERE here before!" Kammy gaped.

"Oh, yeah! We were!" Bowser recalled. "...Though, I don't recognize this area."

"Why, Lord Bowser and Kammy Koopa! It's so nice to see you again!" Camikon came flying over to the two on his broomstick, pushing the Goomba out of the way. "It's been two years since we've seen each other!"

"Whoa… Who the heck is this old geezer?" Bowser asked.

"Why… Camikon!" Kammy gaped, recognizing the old wizard. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon! So, where are we?"

"You two are in my home world, Tartamos, remember? Lord Maquano showed you that place after you lost your castle." Camikon explained.

"Oh, this place? Yeah, now I remember..." Bowser grumbled, crossing his arms. "But that's not what's important right now. Tell me where Chopper and Mario are! I have a score to settle with them!"

"At the moment, Chopper is in prison. We got a hold of him thanks to the minister, and now he's going to be thrown into the volcano tomorrow morning! Nyeah heh heh heh! This is what I've been dreaming of!"

"Hey, don't get any funny ideas, because I want to be the ones to take care of them!"

"Yes, yes... Perhaps you could participate in their execution... Anyway, I also did you another favor as well. Look over at that rock ahead." Camikon said, pointing his wand at a castle in the distance. "I wanted to make sure you were welcome here!"

Bowser had gotten a view at what Camikon was pointing to and gaped.

"Wha…? What's my castle doing here?!" Bowser exclaimed. "WHY would you bring it here? All I want to do is get rid of Chopper and Mario so kidnapping the princess would be easier, not live here!"

"Relax, king… I think he's got a little deal for us!" Kammy assured.

"A deal I DO have! I was able to get a hold of your older minions from two years ago." Camikon mentioned. "You remember the seven guardians of the Star Spirits, don't you?"

"Oh, yeah… That. All right, what are you proposing, weirdo?" Bowser asked.

"Oh, you'll see…" Camikon grinned as he raised his wand. "This should be a little nice! I'll make sure you have plenty of company and people to help you crush Chopper when you finally get the chance.

Using his wand, he had summoned seven minions. Well, more like six minions and one group, actually. One was the Koopa Bros., the next was King Tutankoopa, the third was Tubba Blubba, the fourth was General Guy, Lava Piranha came up next, then Huff N Puff, and then followed up by the Crystal King.

"What the… What the heck's going on here?! Where are we?!" General Guy asked. "I demand an explanation right NOW!"

"And what is King Bowser doing here?" the Crystal King asked, spotting Bowser. "And it also feels too hot here."

"I'll say," Red nodded, waving his hand.

"Can I borrow one of your masks, guys?" Yellow groaned.

"No way!"

"Whoa… Now THIS is what I'm talking about!" Bowser grinned. "Gwaa ha ha ha! Sure, they failed to beat Mario before, but they're a lot more competent than the others!"

As Bowser started to cackle, he and the others were unaware of an army of aliens making their arrival through a portal as well.

Dark Doom grinned as he stepped out of the portal.

* * *

**Yup. Chapter 20 takes place in Tartamos from the previous story. Sure, we saw a bit of it there, but now Chopper is finally getting a chance to go in there himself.  
**

**I couldn't help it with referencing Phoenix Wright, even if I didn't play the game. And of course I had to bring in Pennington as well. :P**


	140. Escape From Tartara Prison

"Well well well! So THIS is Tartamos, isn't it?" Dark smirked, getting a view of the rocky floor and dark clouds above him. An army of Dark Soldiers were right behind him, wearing their usual attire. "Interesting place… I always heard about this place, and I always wanted to conquer it. And without that pesky blue hedgehog and that antenna freak, it will all be easy!"

"What the heck? What's this guy doing here?" Bowser gaped spotting Dark Doom and his army. "Look, if you're here to take over, then take a hike. I'm busy talking to this old geezer here!"

"Hold on a second, Lord Bowser... Let me talk to them." Camikon suggested, flying over to Dark. "And who might you be?"

"The name's Dark Doom. I'm the king of the Dark Creatures, an alien race that I had created just like a certain father of mine. Don't mind me, I'm just here to conquer your world and become its new ruler! So, you can either surrender now, or die to my army!"

The Dark Soldiers aimed their weapons at Camikon and the others, while Dark crossed his arms and grinned.

"So... What do you say, old man?"

"Bleh! Why do we always have people who want to take over MY world?!" Camikon scowled. "It's just disgusting! If you wanna try to take my land, then you'll have to get through my army first!"

"Oh, really? Show me your army!"

"Gladly," Camikon grinned, raising his wand. "Come here, my fellow Tartaras!"

At that moment, an army of Tartaras came flying in, such as grunts, soldiers, swordsmen, brutes, and even some royal guards. They had their weapons ready and aimed at Dark and his army.

"So, what's it gonna be now, you young whippersnapper?"

"Hmmmmm... Your army is rather big." Dark remarked. "But just because you got yourself a big army, doesn't mean they're powerful. They need to be well-trained!"

"Oh, don't worry, they've been created to do tasks like fight you creatures off," Camikon laughed.

"Please! As if your army can do a thing to my superior Dark Creatures!"

"Ugh… I had enough of this." the Crystal King shot an ice beam directly at Dark, freezing him in a solid ice cube. "Heh heh heh! There's your little ice sculpture, King Bowser!"

Unfortunately, due to the heat in Tartamos, it didn't take long for Dark to thaw out. At this point, he had enough and pointed his black gloved finger at the army.

"Dark Creatures! _**ATTACK!**_"

The Dark Soldiers rushed toward the Tartara Soldiers, who easily shot some of the soldiers with their blaster rifles, which were strong enough to go through their armor. Dark found himself gritting his teeth in anger as a few of his minions fell.

"All right, so I guess you're not as weak as I thought. But I'm not finished yet! Fire away, my minions!" Dark yelled as the Dark Soldiers managed to shoot down a few Tartaras.

At this point, lasers were firing everywhere, and both sides had soldiers falling.

"Bah! This is starting to get annoying!" Camikon spat, getting sick of seeing his minions fall. He began to raise his wand as he shouted, "GET OFF OF MY LAWN!"

With his magic, he was able to make a barrier of flames appear between the two armies.

"What the heck is this?!" Dark growled, his hand nearly getting caught in the flames.

"Sir, it appears that we're being blocked by this fire barrier," one Dark Soldier informed.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!"

"We're awaiting your orders. What shall we do?"

"As much as I don't want to do this, we might as well retreat for now," Dark suggested before glaring daggers at the Tartaras and Camikon. "Hear me out, old man! We'll be back to destroy you and your army! This place will be MINE! And there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

"Do what you want over there," Camikon shrugged. "It's all barren where that side is anyway! Go set up a crumby camp for all I care."

"So be it," Dark turned away from Camikon and his Tartaras and started to leave, his army following him. Once they were gone, everyone on the other side seemed satisfied.

"Now THAT was awesome!" Red grinned. "Too bad it was short."

"Yeah! Maybe we should've tried to get a little involved in it. You know, form our tower and attack or something like that." Yellow suggested, soon getting punched by Red afterward.

"Shut up, Yellow!"

"Both of you put a sock in it!" Bowser boomed. "Listen here, guys! I want you all to stay in the castle and do whatever the heck you want! Tomorrow morning, I'm going to push Chopper and Mario into a volcano!"

"What about us?" Tutankoopa asked.

"Oh. Right. You can come if you want."

"Chopper will finally be destroyed?" the Crystal King almost sounded astonished. "At long last... He will be out of our sights forever!"

"Yes… You all go ahead and go to your castle at the moment." Camikon suggested. "For now, I shall be returning to my castle at the moment! I have some things to take care of."

At that moment, Camikon flew away toward his castle. The rest of the Tartara army retreated, while Bowser, Kammy, and his minions returned to Bowser's Castle for the day.

* * *

**Prison-**

"Oh, man… I can't believe we have to be stuck in this horrible prison…" Chopper sighed, sitting down on a rusty, metal and uncomfortable bed. It was attached to the wall through two chains, and there weren't any blankets or pillows either. "I really don't like this..."

"Geez... These beds are so uncomfortable," Flyer remarked, sitting on his bed in one of his own cells. "How do people handle this?"

"I wish I knew," Chopper shrugged, trying to adjust himself on the bed, trying to find where he felt more comfortable sitting. To make matters worse, there was a bit of lava in his own cell. The Tartaras had decided that this was the worst cell, so he was given the honors of sitting in it.

"It's hot in here!" Scrub groaned, trying to fan himself with his hand.

"I was pretty used to the desert's heat, but this place... Yeesh!" Heartsy frowned. "I think it's off the charts!"

"If we had something that could cool us off, I would very much appreciate it," Flyer said.

"Or you could be a man for once and suck it up," Tamber added.

"Hey!" the Tartara Prison Guard, who was named Johnny, came walking in the hallway and looked at the eleven prison cells that everyone was stuck in. "Shut up in there, will ya?"

"How about YOU shut up, all right?!" Tamber yelled, making Johnny back away.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You just stop being loud." Johnny went back to the office and began to drink some coffee

"That guard's weird," Scrub remarked.

"His voice is stupid," Tamber added.

Meanwhile, in Vivian's prison cell, she had lit up a small flame with her finger to see what was around her. There were some handcuffs hanging on the wall, and there were even a pile of bones in another corner.

"Oh… I wish we could do something..." Vivian sighed in a sad tone.

"Why can't you just go into the shadows to get out?" Bombette suggested.

Vivian had decided to give it a try, but she had instantly emerged from the ground. "That won't work. There's some sort of barrier underground."

"Poyo? (There's a barrier?)" Kirby gawked. "Poyo? (You mean we're doomed?)"

"I'm not so sure what to do..." Vivian sniffled.

"Hey, Vivian…" Chopper started, hearing her sniffles. "Why are you crying?"

"_Sniff… Sniff… _It's just… I don't know what to do. I didn't want it to end here... It would've been much better if it had ended in a better way..."

"Yeah, no kidding," Heartsy agreed. "It would've been real nice for things to end on a much happier note."

"Uh huh," Chopper agreed, looking over at the bars on his cell. "Man... I wish this cell wasn't directly facing me so I could easily slip through it sideways."

"That'd be nice," Tamber said. Suddenly his stomach began to grumble. "Say, when are we going to eat?"

"Beats me," Chopper shrugged, turning his attention to the guard. "Hey! When is lunchtime?!"

"Lunchtime?" Johnny brought his head up and checked the clock. "Oh gosh! I just realized it's past lunchtime! It's time for you guys to eat!"

The Tartara grabbed a bag of rotten meat and tossed one into Tamber's cell first, along with a ketchup bag. He was about to eat it, but then he noticed it was disgusting, so he threw it out of the cell near Johnny.

"What? You don't want it? Oh well... More for me, then!" Johnny picked up the piece of meat and gulped it down. "Mmmmmm! Delicious! Maybe I should star—_**OHHHHHHHHH…**_"

"What's with him?" Shadower asked.

"Ohhhhghghghgh… My stomach!" Johnny cried, immediately rushing into the bathroom and locking the door. "I can't hold it in anymore!"

"Well, that was something..." Sonic trailed.

Mario: What now?

"So much for that." Tamber grumbled, dropping the ketchup on the ground and stepping on the pack angrily, splattering the ketchup everyone. "Oh, great! Now there's ketchup on the floor!"

"Well, that's your fault if-" Flyer paused, another idea coming in. "Hey, Tamber! Lie down on the ketchup and don't move!"

"Why?"

"Trust me. You'll thank me later."

Tamber grumbled and decided to remain motionless on the ground. Meanwhile, everyone had cringed when they heard the sound of Johnny's painful moans from the bathroom.

_"Errgghhh... It's coming out!"_

"What's going on in there?" Scrub asked.

Mario: It definitely sounds painful.

_"Here it comes! …Still going!"_ At that moment, the moaning stopped, and everyone stopped cringing. _"Wow! I didn't think that was possible! Now THAT'S a record! I'm going to tell Camikon about THIS one after Chopper and his friends fall into the volcano! Well, I guess I better get back to those prisoners."_

"OK, Tamber, don't move!" Flyer whispered.

Johnny walked out of the bathroom and returned to the prison room. Everything seemed fine and dandy...until it noticed Tamber lying in a pile of red substance.

"What the…!" Johnny looked at Tamber through the cell with a shocked expression. "Wha… What do I do? Should I check his body?"

After a tough decision, Johnny unlocked the prison cell and walked in. "Boy… I don't know what happened, but the death must've been a bit brutal. Now, let's just see here…"

Johnny bent down to get a closer look at Tamber...but he soon found a fist meet with his face.

"Ack! My face!" Johnny cried. "Was this some kind of trick? I HATE these kinds of tricks!"

Soon enough, Tamber had bashed the Tartara in the head, knocking it out instantly.

"Weakling!" Tamber grinned, grabbing the key. He started to unlock the other prison cells, and just for the heck of it, he unlocked Chopper's cell last.

"Thanks, Tamber… You did a good job there." Vivian complimented.

"Yeah, yeah, keep thanking me! I deserve all the credit anyway!"

"Well, I technically came up with the idea," Flyer pointed out. "But, you did do a nice job, so good work, Tamber. Now we just need to find a way out of here."

"And find that demon as well," Chopper added.

Flyer had noticed some stairs nearby and pointed to them. "There's our way out of here. Let's go!"

Everyone hustled up the stairs and out of the prison room. They were taken to a large hallway made of red marble. A couple of pillars were holding the ceiling up. There weren't any windows, but between the pillars they could see what was outside: a rocky island surrounded by lava.

"Camikon wasn't lying when he said this place was surrounded by lava," Sonic said, looking uncertain at the lava. "This could be difficult... But it's definitely not going to stop us, right?"

"Yeah!" Scrub agreed, while Chopper had come to a stop when he found two ways to go: one way left, and the other right.

"Well, there aren't any enemies in sight," Chopper sighed in relief. "But... Where do we go?"

"Let me think for a moment," Flyer said, pulling out a compass, but he was having problems, too. "Wait a moment... I don't even know where the exit is, so why am I taking this out."

"Wait... So you don't have any ideas?"

"Not at the moment. Sorry..."

"Dang… We don't even know where to go! Uhhh...let's try the right." Chopper rushed to the right of the hallway, only to find a large door with a lock on it. "…Nothing here, I suppose. Well, except for this locked door.

"There's probably a key we need to find," Shadower said. "Let's check the other way."

"Yeah, I guess so," Chopper ran toward the left direction to find another door, which was luckily not locked. This led them into another hallway with a couple of prison cells. They appeared much older and rustier. Not to mention it was dark and difficult to see in the room.

"Poyo! (I can't see a thing here!)" Kirby cried.

"Let me light the room up," Vivian suggested, raising a finger and letting a small flame emit from her finger. Chopper had created a light ball in order to slightly light the room. Getting a much better look, they noticed a couple of bones resembling a Koopa's lying on the ground. They appeared red and had black boots.

"Those are new Dry Bones..." Chopper trailed.

"That is, if they're Dry Bones," Shadower corrected.

Just then, the one in front had risen from the ground, revealing its orange eyes. After a tattle from Goombella, it was revealed that this was called Fire Bones, and that they had 83 HP, an Attack of 19, and a Defense of 4. What was worse was that fire would not be able to stop them.

"G…go back…" the Fire Bones moaned, throwing a flaming red bone at Chopper. He managed to inhale it and spit it back at the Fire Bones, making it collapse on the floor. They sighed in relief and passed the enemy, but they didn't have time to relax for long when a couple of other Fire Bones rose to attack.

"I think I'm going to have to change things a little," Chopper changed to his Ice ability, but when he tried breathing ice on the Fire Bones, it didn't seem to do too much. "Well, this doesn't work. ...Maybe this?"

He changed to his Water ability and he squirted water on the Fire Bones. This time, it appeared to be more effective, doing more damage than a normal attack. His Tidal Wave was enough to put an end to the Fire Bones. With that, they moved on ahead and found a small, wooden door in front of them.

"I wonder where this leads," Sonic opened the small door into a room with a rope hanging from the ceiling, and an axe hanging on the wall. "Well... This is...an interesting sight."

"This place is unsettling," Vivian frowned, looking up at the rope. "I'm sure the Tartaras used to use these..."

"OK, I'll admit, even I find this to be freaky," Bombette commented. "Maybe I'll just get out of this room while you check out this place."

As she turned, however, she had found a Fire Bones blocking the way and holding an axe.

"You shall not pass…" moaned the Fire Bones.

"Uhhhh... Chopper? We have some company!" Bombette shrieked, stepping back. "This thing's got an axe!"

The rest had turned around and shrieked as well at the sight of the Fire Bones holding the axe up like an executioner. It brought the axe down, but Bombette was able to step back in time to avoid it. Thankfully, it wasn't going to be attacking soon, since it was struggling to pull the axe off the ground. Bombette tried charging into it headfirst, but that hardly made the Fire Bones budge. Her Bomb, however, had managed to make it collapse.

"Phew! At least explosions are still effective..."

The axe dropped to the ground, but it was slowly enveloped in black smoke that reminded them of the smoke from the Tower of Riddles. When the smoke cleared, the axe was gone.

Mario: Was that axe real?

"I don't know... It looked real, though..." Heartsy trailed.

This wasn't the only freaky thing in this room. There was also a pile of bones in one corner, along with another door with a small, barred window. When they got a look inside there, they saw the bones of what resembled a small dragon. No one had wanted to go into that room, not only because there was nothing in there, but they just couldn't bear it.

"I hate this place. I really do." Tamber admitted, not caring what the others had to say about his comment.

"Perhaps that one door is where they keep something that...devours prisoners," Flyer gulped. "But it doesn't appear to be living any more. It just makes you wonder what these guys treat prisoners and pets..."

"I knew Tartaras were evil, but this is pushing it," Chopper commented. He tried his best to look away from any bones he saw, but something had caught his attention ahead. He had spotted a crack in the wall up ahead just asking to be destroyed. "Hey, Bombette... Do you mind blowing up this wall?"

"I don't mind. ...Unless we find more bones." Bombette replied, allowing Chopper to pick her up and throw her straight at the wall. Once she blew up, a hole was revealed that led to a balcony outside. However, the balcony was not too far from the lava. In fact, it was pretty close!

Chopper had spotted a red chest sitting on the balcony, so he opened it and he picked up a Prison Key inside. It was red and spiky, so he was carefl when he put it away.

"Well, we got the key," Scrub said. "I suppose now's the time to go all the way back to where we found that locked door, huh?"

"Yeeeeeeah… That's going to be fun." Tamber groaned. "I hate backtracking."

* * *

**Locked door-**

"All right, let's see what's through this," Chopper pulled the Prison Key out and he used it to unlock the door. It led to a room filled with stairs going up and stairs going down.

Unfortunately, they had to go down because there was a door upstairs that was locked. To make things worse, the basement area had a broken hallway, along with even lava. The pathway even had a few gaps with the lava down below.

That, and the hallway was dark.

"Great… Another dark hallway." Chopper sighed. "This really does make me think of the Palace of Shadow..."

"Poyo, (That places was pretty dark, too,)" Kirby remarked.

Vivian saw a couple of unlit torches, so she raised her finger and let it sparkle. All of the sudden, the torches started to light up, making it easier to see through the hallway.

"MUCH better! Thank you, Vivian." Sonic took a small stroll through the hallway, but he stopped at the gap. "Whoa... Well, there's no jumping over this, that's for sure."

"It's pretty far as well," Chopper added. "I don't think Scrub can handle this."

"Awww..." Scrub pouted.

"Then allow me!" Heartsy pulled her hammer out and swung it at Chopper without him noticing, making him cross over. Sadly, his landing wasn't exactly perfect. "There you go! Now you're across!"

"Ugh… Why didn't you warn me?" moaned Chopper as he got up. He saw a dark ! switch right next to him, so he shot a light ball at it to fill up the gaps. "Well, that takes care of one thing!"

With the gaps no longer getting in their way, everyone had followed Chopper ahead. Unfortunately, they had come across a dead end.

"Well... So much for that." Bombette sighed. Shadower, however, noticed that the wall was rather translucent.

"Wait a sec… I don't think this is a dead end." Shadower turned his hand invisible and noticed that it went through the wall. "Ah! So there IS something behind here!"

"Neat! Let's check it out!" Chopper smiled, using Shadower's ability to become transparent and walk through the wall into a small, secret room. A chest was revealed to be there, and inside was another Prison Key. "Yes! Another key!"

"Well, that was a lot easier than I thought," Flyer commented.

"But we still have to backtrack. AGAIN." Tamber groaned.

Frowning, the rest began to backtrack their way to the upper floor.

* * *

**Upper floor, locked door-**

"All right, here it goes!" Chopper tossed the Prison Key into the door, unlocking it. When they entered, they noticed how much shinier the floor appeared to be, and it was a lot larger than the previous rooms they walked through here. In the center was a statue of Camikon, but beside it, there were small remains of a statue.

"Looks like we're in the main area… Nice!" Sonic grinned.

They were about to explore the area, but they were put to a halt when they saw two Darkling. One had a red bulb on its antenna and red eyes, while the other had a blue bulb and blue eyes. When the two Darklings weren't looking, the group hid behind the ruins of the other statue and started to listen in to their conversation.

"So, how do you think the prisoners are in their cells?" the red-eyed Darkling asked.

"Oh, I bet they're doing fine…not!" chortled the blue-eyed Darkling. "I bet they're crying like little babies! If they are, then I need to find a camera and record it."

"I wonder if it was a good idea entrusting the prisoners to that prison guard. I mean, Johnny's got some serious issues with the bathroom!"

"What are those guys talking about?" Shadower asked.

"Beats me..." Chopper shrugged, unfortunately being loud enough for the Darklings to hear them.

"Huh? Who said that?!" one of the Darklings had looked in the direction of the voice and spotted the group behind the ruined statue. "Hey! What's Chopper doing out of his cell? ...Wait a minute, the prisoners are out of their cells!"

"Yeah, they shouldn't be out here! We ought to take care of 'em!" the blue-eyed Darkling suggested. "Let's jump them!"

They rushed toward the group, but Chopper managed to shoot some water at them, causing them to wince. Afterward, Chopper had removed his Water ability and found out they had 85 HP, an Attack of 19, and a Defense of 0, according to Goombella's tattling.

"Darklings with that much HP? That's surprising..." Chopper remarked. "But I'm not going to let that stop me! I've beaten them before, and I can do it again!"

Chopper jumped on top of the blue Darkling, and after bouncing off its head, he hurled a light ball at the red-eyed Darkling starting screaming in pain.

"AGGGHHH! The light! It… It burns!" screamed the red-eyed Darkling. "How did he get that kind of power power?!"

"Shut up, you! Take it like a real Darkling and fight!" the other scoffed. It noticed its buddy get hit by Scrub's Ground Pound attack afterward.

"Oof! Oh, you're gonna pay for that!" the red-eyed Darkling hurled a red spell in the shape of an circle at Scrub, knocking him back. Chopper got hit by a blue orb of energy by the other Darkling.

"OK, maybe they are a lot tougher than I thought," Chopper said as he tossed a light ball at the red-eyed Darkling. Kirby followed up with a Cartwheel, bringing the enemy down to 45 HP. After they attacked, Chopper had decided to use the Island Star to take 20 out of them both with an Earthquake, while Kirby used his Squishiness on Chopper to make him dodgy. Chopper couldn't help but smiled when both Darklings missed their attacks. After Chopper and Heartsy made their attacks on the red-eyed Darkling, it was down to 15 HP.

"Two more hits and this Darkling is finished!" Heartsy smiled.

"Oh, geez... I'm not feeling too good." the Darkling gulped. It simply attacked Chopper with a red spell, while the other threw in another spell as well, but it was over for the red-eyed Darkling with the red bulb when Chopper jumped on it, followed by Sonic's Spin Dash.

"All right, one down, one to go!" Chopper cheered, smirking at the blue-eyed Darkling. "So, ready to give up?"

"You may have taken down my buddy, but that ain't going to stop me!" the Darkling hurled a blue spell at Chopper, who proceeded to guard it. Afterward, he brought his hammer out and bashed the Darkling's head with it, with Shadower striking it with a Shadow Punch afterward, leaving it at 55 HP.

The Darkling fired another blue spell, but this time it hit Shadower instead. Afterward, it got stomped by Chopper and Mario, and at this point, the blue-eyed Darkling was starting to get exhausted.

"Whew… This is getting intense." the Darkling huffed, hurling another spell at Chopper. He easily guarded the attack by bringing his arms in front of his face, and then he struck the Darkling with a Rainbow Spin. "I don't know how long I can take this..."

"Then give up," Scrub suggested.

"In your dreams!"

Bombette charged at the Darkling with her fuse lit up and unleashed her Bomb attack upon the Darkling, bringing it down to 15 JP. "Just two more hits, and it's history!"

"Argh! You pests!" the Darkling attacked Chopper and took another 19 out of him. But once it went down to 5 HP by Vivian's Shade Fist, the Star Warrior hurled a light ball at the Darkling. "Oh, crud… Not the light!"

The Darkling's eyes widened in pain as the light enveloped its body and caused it to explode.

"Well, that takes care of that," Chopper sighed in relief before he made his way over to the exit. Unfortunately, it was blocked by a large amount of rubble. "Great... Well looks like we're blocked."

"I don't know, Chopper..." Vivian trailed, spotting a panel with a piece of paper ripped in half. "What about that?"

"Oh. Right." Chopper replied with a sheepish look as he stepped on the panel. "OK... It's time to put this move to its use again!"

Using his "cursed" move, he managed to rip the piece of paper where the rubble was off. Revealed underneath was a door. They opened the door, and they all smiled when they found themselves outside of the building.

"Oh, finally! We're out of that horrible place!" Heartsy said happily.

"Yeah! We're finally back in the light!" Scrub cheered.

"Whoa, don't get your hopes up just yet," Flyer cut in, pointing to the lava surrounding the rock they were on. "Remember what Camikon said? Even if we were to get out of prison, we'd still have an issue getting off this island with this lava."

"Oh, great… So we're basically stranded." Tamber pouted. "Real nice..."

"Maybe there is something around here," Vivian pondered. "We probably just can't see it."

"What idea do you have?" Chopper wondered. Soon enough, Vivian had grabbed him and pulled him into the shadows. When the others noticed their disappearance, they spotted a blue ! block to reveal itself.

"Hey... It's one of those blocks." Shadower gaped. "How come I never saw that?"

"You guys can come back up now!" Bombette shouted. The two rose up from the shadows in response, only for it to disappear. "I swear that I saw it here…"

"Y'know, I always wonder what it's like in the shadows," Tamber pondered. "Is it incredible?"

"I'm not exactly sure..." Chopper replied. "So where was the switch?"

"It was right over here," Bombette answered, standing over where the block was. Chopper went over there and jumped to hit a blue ! block. To their surprise, they had found a surfing panel get created through the flipping of cardboard nearby.

"Hey, we didn't see that in a while," Flyer recalled.

"I've never seen that before," Tamber remarked.

Knowing what to do, Chopper changed to his Water ability and stepped onto the surfing panel. However, when he summoned a wave to carry him across, he found no water. In fact, nothing had risen out of the lava.

"Wait... What's going on?" Chopper gawked, trying to use the ability. He looked down at the panel in disappointment, but instead of a water symbol, the symbol was fire. "Wait... I have to surf over lava with my Fire ability?!"

"That sounds...interesting," Flyer said, unsure of how to comment on it.

Chopper was unsure at first, but he had removed his ability and changed to his fire one. This time, the "cursed" power appeared to work when a small wave of lava reminiscent of his tidal wave had been summoned, with it floating behind him when he was lifted off the ground.

"Vivian and Shadower can help the rest of you get across here," Chopper decided. "There's land not too far, so when I get over there, I'll try to give a sign of where to come."

They gave him a nod as he started to surf over the molten lava before him. Some fireballs had risen from the lava in front of him, but he made sure not to touch them. Thankfully, they would go back into the lava and wait for a couple of seconds to rise back up.

Once Chopper had finally reached the other side, he landed on the red rock and let the fire wave disappear upon removing his ability. He turned to his friends and gave them the thumbs up, and then Vivian and Shadower started bringing everyone to him one at a time. Thankfully, that process didn't take too long.

When his partners were all at his side, they were disappointed to see that they weren't back where they originally once were. The area around them was a lot different. There appeared to be steam coming up from the ground, and there were some small sections with some yellow cracks. Flyer recommended not touching them. A gate happened to be up ahead, but it was closed.

"Yeeeeah… Now I wish I was back in Starlite Galaxy," Chopper sighed. "At least that place wasn't dangerous."

Chopper walked over to the red ! switch that was by the gate and struck it. It opened, but it didn't take long for the it to close.

"Hey, Chop, maybe if we go fast enough, we can get past that gate," Sonic suggested.

"Oh, yeah! I remember!" Chopper nodded, kicking the switch again. He and Sonic quickly grabbed their friends and sped past the gate before it close on them. Once they were past, they sighed in relief and let go of their friends.

Unfortunately, they were unaware of a certain wizard watching over them through his wand.

* * *

"Argh... Curse that Chopper." Camikon hissed as he continued his way to his castle. "Well, I should've known that he would've escaped from his prison. After all, Johnny isn't that reliable of a Tartara..."

As he flew past the city, he thought he had spotted a white figure hiding behind one of the buildings. This caught him by surprise and made him look down at the girl.

"What's this? There's another person down here in Tartamos? Hrrmmm... Perhaps she is another friend of Chopper's. I could simply handle her myself, but I doubt she'll be able to do much on her own! I'll let the Tartaras handle her when they see her!"

Putting his wand away, he increased the speed on his broomstick and took off to his castle.

* * *

Unfortunately, their time to take a break was very little, as Chopper and his friends had spotted a Tartara Royal Guard patrolling the area.

"Heads up, guys… There's a Royal Guard here." Chopper warned. They quickly stepped back and noticed some rocks around. "Maybe we can use those rocks to hide, or maybe Vivian's Veil or Shadower's Void."

"You might wanna keep your voice down," Flyer suggested. "It might hear us!"

Unfortunately, that was enough to get the guard to stop patrolling and look back. Thankfully, they had managed to hide behind the rock in time.

"Hrmmm... I thought I heard something..." the Tartara Royal Guard trailed, approaching the rock they hid behind. Just in case, Shadower used his Void to make everyone invisible right when the guard started to sniff the rock. It, however, did not detect anything. "Hmph… Must be my imagination…"

The Tartara Royal Guard carried on ahead, not paying attention to the rocks. They were lucky that it was going through the gate behind them.

"All right, now let's move!" Chopper rushed on ahead along with everyone else before the Tartara Royal Guard could detect them. One thing for sure that this place was a nightmare to everyone.

But that wasn't going to stop them.

* * *

**I think one of my favorite lines in this had to be when Chopper was complaining about the bars of the cell not being in the proper direction for him to slip through. Also, the surfing part was originally a paper airplane panel, but I thought it'd be interesting to put lava surfing instead.**


	141. Searching Castle Dedede

One of the things the group had first started with was looking back after passing the Tartara Royal Guard. They wanted to make sure that it wouldn't be coming back in their direction. Plus, with the lack of rocks around for them to hide, it wasn't going to be easy.

"That was a close one back there," Sonic sighed. "If that monster spotted us, we'd be toast!"

Mario: Let's hope there aren't more of them...

"If we find more, I'll try to make sure my Void ability gives you guys a hand," Shadower assured. "There's no way I'm going to let you guys get spotted."

Chopper nodded, and the group decided to move on ahead. There wasn't that much around, but they were still careful of some of the yellow cracks and steam still around. Thankfully, there were no Tartara Royal Guards around this area, leaving them relieved. However, there were some Darklings patrolling, but to them, it was no big deal after those previous two Darklings.

The first thing Chopper did was run up to the closest Darkling and stomp on it, destroying it within seconds.

"And that takes care of that," Chopper said as he landed on the ground. The other Darkling was about to hurl a spell at him, but Mario had sprang into action and destroyed it with his Super Jump.

With that out of the way, they had come across another gate ahead, only this time there was no switch to open it. However, the barred gate was in a position for Chopper to slip through it. Everyone had turned sideways and slipped through the gate, allowing them to progress ahead.

The next area had some plumes of lava shooting up from small craters this time. One had nearly scorched Mario's boot when he had not noticed.

Mario: This place is dangerous!

"Hmmmm... Well, those craters on the floor should indicate that we should avoid them." Flyer suggested, noticing said spots. "Of course, fire won't always shoot up, so when there isn't, feel free to walk across. ...But I still wouldn't recommend it."

They nodded in agreement and carefully moved through the rocky path, avoiding any flaming spots. Their progress was going pretty well for them, until they had come across a long path of small, flaming craters. Chopper had decided to try to run through it, but he wasn't fast enough. The flames had sent him skyrocketing back to the group.

"Ow..." Chopper mumbled, slowly getting up. "Well, running it won't work."

"Maybe I could pull you into the shadows before those flames come out?" Vivian suggested.

"Ummmm... Sure, let's give that a try!"

The two made their way through the fire plumes more successfully this time, with Vivian pulling Chopper into the shadows each time the fires shot up. With this strategy, it hadn't taken that long for them to get to the other side. However, there was still the trouble of getting the others across as well. Thankfully, that process had not taken too long either.

After that, Sonic was the first one to go up ahead, but he put himself to a halt when he noticed two Tartara Soldiers looking out at the lava, as if they were at the beach.

"Heads up, guys... We've got some Tartaras." Sonic warned. The others decided to make sure they weren't spotted and tried to spy on them.

"So… How are things with you today?" asked the first Tartara.

"Oh, the usual," the other responded, who picked up a rock and made it skip across the lava. "Nothing too interesting or anything. Just enjoying the good old life of a Tartara…"

_"Huh... I never thought you could skip a rock across lava."_ Sonic thought. _"I oughta try that sometime!"_

"Well, what do you say-" Before the Tartara could finish, it was kicked into the lava by a Darkling. The Tartara had emerged from the lava, giving the Darkling a glare. "What the heck was that for?!"

"Tartaras don't die in lava?" Scrub gawked. "Wicked."

"Doesn't sound too wicked when they're our enemies..." Heartsy trailed.

As the Darkling laughed at the Tartara's humiliation, Chopper decided that this was the perfect opportunity to spring into action. He conjured up a light ball and hurled it at the Darkling, destroying it in a flash of light.

"What in the world?!" the two Tartaras turned around see Chopper, his hand glowing yellow.

"Wait a second... What's Chopper doing here?" the first Tartara gawked. "Shouldn't he be in jail or something? ...Wait, he managed to escape?! This isn't good!"

As the first Tartara began to back away, the second one grabbed the other by its arm and pulled him back, its blaster aimed at Chopper.

"You fool! Why should we be afraid of him?! Considering he's sentenced to death, it would make sense to shoot him down down! Besides... We'd get a promotion if we beat him!"

"Hey... Yeah! Let's do it!" the first Tartara grinned, firing at Chopper. He quickly dodged their attacks and managed to jump on one of their heads. It didn't appear to do too much, which was bad when he was knocked to the ground by one of their projectiles. Before they could shoot at him again, Kirby inhaled one of their shots and spat it at the first Tartara, knocking it back into the lava.

"Poyo! (Don't worry, we're here for you!)" Kirby assured.

"Don't think I'm finished yet!" the Tartara hissed, flying out of the lava and landing by its comrade. "We're not like the cowards we were two years ago! We're much stronger...and richer!"

"Yeah, we've made TRILLIONS!" the second Tartara cackled. "It was a smart move to take that stupid king's castle from him after he refused to pay us."

"Yeah... We know about that." Chopper said.

"We also gave him several demon beasts to take you down! ...Though, seeing as you're still standing, it's obvious that didn't work."

"He already told us that," Shadower said. "In fact, one of the reasons why we're here is to take back that king's castle."

"Take back the castle? Good luck with that!" the first Tartara laughed. "That ain't going to be easy for you!"

"Well, we'll see about that," Chopper replied, getting ready to fight. "Let's get back to our battle!"

"Yes, let's," the Tartara made another attempt to fire, but Chopper pulled the Star Rod out and deflected the shot. He swung the Star Rod again, which successfully struck through the Tartara's armor. "Argh! I'm going to get you for that!"

The Tartara shot again, but Chopper blocked it with the Star Rod once again and fired another star. Before they knew it, the Tartara had exploded into dust upon it defeat, leaving the remaining Tartara shocked. It looked at the group before fleeing, knowing it stood no chance.

"What a chicken," Tamber snickered. "That thing reminds me of those girls who always run away from stuff!"

"What gives you that idea?" Heartsy asked, casting a glare.

"Well, it's fairly obvious!"

"Name one."

"Errrrr... Lot's of them!"

"Let's save the arguing for later and progress onward," Flyer suggested. "We definitely don't want to be standing here for long..."

When they had left the area, the first thing they noticed were some plumes of fire appearing horizontal this time. Chopper looked down at it and noticed the lower section did not appear to have any flames. As he looked at it carefully, Scrub had approached the flames.

"I'm not going to lie, but those flames look cool," Scrub smiled, pointing at it. Unfortunately, his finger was a little too close, causing him to feel a burning sensation. "_**YEOW! MY FINGER!**_"

He started to blow on it, taking out any flames. Though he was relieved the fire was gone, his finger continued to sting.

"Why did I have to touch those flames in the first place? I'm such an idiot!"

"You're not an idiot, Scrub," objected Heartsy, who was pulling out a bandage. "Look, people make mistakes all the time. You'll probably learn next time not to touch fire."

"Nah, you kind of are an idiot," Tamber stated, leading Heartsy to silence him by bonking him on the head.

"Ignore him. He barely learns."

"Thanks for the bandage, though," Scrub said once it was finally wrapped around his finger. "OK, Contadre! We can get going!"

Chopper nodded and transformed into a tube. Everyone had joined him in it before he started to roll under the flames. Once he was past that, he transformed back to normal and found a couple of gravestones ahead.

"Gravestones? What are they doing here?" Bombette wondered. As she took a step, a hand has emerged from the ground. Coming out was a Fire Bones, ready to attack. "Ugh... Not these things again!"

"You shall never go on…" the Fire Bones moaned, taking out a bone and whacking Chopper with it.

"Hey!" Chopper smacked the Fire Bones with his Star Rod, making it collapse to the ground. "Let's go before this thing comes back up."

They rushed on ahead, but the Fire Bones had managed to grab Mario's foot. He struggled to break free from its grip, but Sonic brought the enemy down to make it release Mario.

Mario: That was close...

"Don't worry, I got your back, Mario," Sonic assured. "Though, I think now we gotta be careful when passing by those things..."

Mario: Yeah.

With that, the group continued their way through, dodging any small craters shooting up lava. A couple of Darklings were around here, but they had managed to do away with them with a barrage of their own attacks. Afterward, they came across a boulder blocking the way of a bridge.

Not only that, but they could hear explosions from behind the boulder.

"Whatever's behind here doesn't sound good..." Flyer trailed. "Tamber, you should be careful when smashing that."

"Don't worry, I've got this," Tamber said confidently, throwing a punch at the boulder and shattering it. Just as he did, a red Bullet Bill with flaming eyes had come flying toward him. He was lucky to get out of the way in time before it hit the rocks behind them. "That was close!"

"What were those? Flaming Bills?" Chopper gawked.

"Looked like it..." Flyer trailed. "But it wasn't exactly on fire..."

Looking up ahead, they spotted the rest of the bridge over the lava, and at the end was a Bill Blaster painted similarly to the Flaming Bill. They decided to call it a Flaming Bill Blaster.

"Well this is great... It's been a while since we ran into these." Shadower sighed.

Despite the complaints, they made their way across the bridge anyway. The first couple of steps resulted in a fight between them and a Flaming Bill. What surprised them was that when they exploded, they could leave a burn on anyone upon impact. They were very cautious of them each time they charged.

Vivian had volunteered to give a hand with the Flaming Bills, using her Veil to hide the group each time a Flaming Bill had approached them. Once it passed, they would emerge and continue on until another one came their way. This was repeated about three times until they reached the Flaming Bill Blaster.

"Time to make a first strike!" Chopper unleashed his Master Hammer the Flaming Bill Blaster first, taking 14 out of it for his first strike. Goombella's tattle had revealed that it had 83 HP, no Attack, and a Defense of 4. Chopper didn't take it as a big deal and slammed his hammer upon. Scrub had pitched in by striking it with his Mega Egg.

The Flaming Bill Blaster shot a Flaming Bill, which had 14 HP, an Attack of 19, and a Defense of 3. It was easily finished when Chopper used his Master Glove ability, followed by Bombette's Explosion.

Though the Flaming Bill Blaster was reduced to 27 HP, it still fired another Flaming Bill, which soon came to end when Chopper attacked with another giant light orb of energy. The Flaming Bill Blaster was finally finished off by Tamber's Power Punch, making it explode.

"Oh, yeah! Now we're talking!" Tamber bragged, punching the remaining Flaming Bills off the bridge. "I. Am. AWESOME!"

"Uhh… I guess so, Tamber." Chopper slowly began to walk up ahead into the next where, where they found a red and black Tartara base with a gate in the way. The gate appeared to be open. "Hey, look! An open gate!"

"Let's head on through before it closes," Flyer suggested.

While they made their way towards the gate, one Tartara Soldier was sleeping on the job on top of the gateway. Because of that, one of its comrades had to wake it up using its assault rifle

"Ow! What'd you do that for?!" the Tartara Soldier exclaimed.

"Look," the partner pointed to the eleven coming their way. "See? Chopper's escaped from prison! You're not going to let him pass, are you?"

"Whuzzat?" the Tartara was still a bit drowsy, but a nice slap in the face got it conscious when it looked down. "Whoa! Chopper's coming here! I guess I better do my job…"

The soldier got up from its seat and pulled the lever to close the gate.

"Aw, crud! They're closing the gate! Let's move faster!" Chopper increased his speed, but despite his speed, he was not fast enough to get past the gate. "Oh, crud... That's not fair..."

"Bah ha ha ha ha! Too bad for you!" the other Tartara laughed. "You escaped from prison, so now you're gonna have to stay here! Enjoy, kiddo!"

"They seriously blocked us from moving on?" Tamber gawked. "That stinks!"

"Actually, I might be able to fly up there," Flyer noted, looking up at the height. "It's high enough, that's for sure."

"Then let's do this!" Chopper smiled as Flyer grabbed his arm and lifted him off the ground. They had flown up to the top of the gateway where the tired Tartara decided to lie down and rest now that the job was done.

"Ah… Nothing like a good old…" the soldier was struck in the head by Chopper's hammer before it could close its eyes. "What the… How'd you get up here?!"

"We flew up here," Chopper answered, pulling the lever up to open the gate. "OK, guys! Make it quick before it gets closed again!"

Everyone listened and walked through the gate. Chopper and Flyer waved goodbye to the Tartara as they jumped down and went past the gate. The Tartara would've complained, but since it was tired, it went to sleep again.

"That was a close one," Shadower sighed. "But, it makes me wonder... Considering that we saw that stain-glass window of Tipral in the minister's room, you think it's possible that my brothers and the Shadow Sirens are with these guys, too?"

"Maybe..." Chopper pondered. "I never thought of that. ...Were you and Vivian here before?"

"I never was," Vivian replied, shaking her head. "I never knew about Tartamos in my life..."

Before Chopper could reply, they all heard the sounds of more projectiles coming their way. Chopper was unfortunate to get struck by one of the Tartara's shots.

"I got 'em, guys!" one Tartara shouted.

"Ugh... Well that hurt." Chopper mumbled, clutching his arm as he stood up.

"I've got a bandage for you if you need it," Heartsy reminded, taking a bandage roll out. He smiled, but shook his head at her.

"It's no big deal," he assured, getting the Star Rod out. "I've gotten hit by these guys before, so I can handle this!"

"Blast it! He's still up!" the Tartara spat. It shot once again, but Chopper deflected the attack with the Star Rod. Once he fired a star, the Tartara was defeated.

"Whoa... That actually took care of it? Neat!"

After Mario and Sonic took down the last Tartara, they had progressed on ahead until they found two paths. There was one north leading to a castle in the distance, and there was another to the right.

"Which one should we take?" Chopper wondered.

"Let's take the right," suggested Flyer, who began to move to the right. Chopper shrugged and walked through the gate to the right, only to find out that the bridge before them had been destroyed.

"What the... The bridge is out." Bombette gawked.

"Heh heh heh! Well, looks like it worked out as I planned!" cackled a Tartara who was at the other side. "You were ALMOST there, but once I heard about you guys escaping, I decided to destroy the bridge! You're doomed now!"

"You mean we can't do anything to get across?" Vivian asked.

"That's right! So enjoy spending the rest of the day here trapped! 'Cause tomorrow, you're going to die!" the Tartara flew upward and began to make its way back to the city.

"Great… Now we can't even get across." Sonic groaned, kicking a pebble off the bridge and into the lava. "So, now what are we supposed to do?"

"Well, we can just take that other pathway to that castle," Shadower suggested. "It sure looked weird, though... I mean, it seemed so out of place, having that peace sign and that yellow color..."

Chopper's antennas sprung up and Kirby gaped. "Wait! That's King Dedede's castle!"

"You sure?"

"Uh huh! I recognize it when we were making that stupid anime!"

"Poyo! (Maybe there's something there!)" Kirby agreed, heading back to the previous area and skipping over to the castle. Everyone else followed him toward the gate.

* * *

**Outside Castle Dedede-**

Two Waddle Dees with spears were watching the castle carefully, looking for any sign of intruders. Their appearance, however, was mostly the same, but with one major difference. Their eyes were now red.

Eventually one of the Waddle Dees had looked down at spotted the heroes coming their way. It readied its spear, but it was suddenly stopped by the other. They muttered a few words, and after some head shakes and nods, they finally took aim at the group and started throwing their spears.

"Heads up, guys! There are a couple of spears coming down on us!" Heartsy shouted.

"Vivian! Try to get rid of them!" Chopper suggested while dodging the spears.

"Ummm… OK…" Vivian raised her finger, and once it sparkled, the two Waddle Dee were engulfed in flames and thrown off the gateway. Both of them had landed on the rocky ground headfirst, causing them to become unconscious.

When the group stood before the closed gate, Flyer had flown up to the top of the gateway and pulled the lever, causing the gate to open up. With that, he returned to the group gratefully.

"All right! Let's head inside the castle!" Flyer suggested. "Maybe then we'll find a way to get Dedede's castle back to Dream Land."

Everyone agreed, and they rushed into the castle's entrance.

* * *

**Meanwhile, back with Dark Doom-**

"I don't like this place one bit," Dark mumbled as he looked at a couple of gravestones that were around this horrible area. A couple of lava pits were around too, which he had constantly told his soldiers to beware of. "Well, if we're going to have to stay here, then we might as well do something. We can make ourselves a base so we can prepare ourselves to fight against those Tartaras. We just need our supplies..."

"Uhhhhhh... I don't know about that..." one Dark Soldier trailed.

Dark turned to the soldier with a suspicious look. "And why not?"

"Well... You see... I was trying to find a safe place to put our supplies so they would be safe. I eventually found this well and decided to keep it in there." the soldier explained, appearing more uncertain by the minute. "Unfortunately... I had problems getting it out..."

"It's in a WELL?! Why would you DO that?!" Dark hissed, his eyes glowing yellow with anger.

"Well where else was I supposed to put it? There wasn't any place I could, really…"

"Go fetch it out of the well. Now."

"What? I'm not going in there! First off, I can't even get it out of there. Second, that well's filthy! You can't make me do it!"

"Oh, I'll _make_ you," Dark grabbed the Dark Soldier, and after finding the well, he tossed it in. "Enjoy getting all of that stuff back up here!"

As he walked away from the well, the Dark Soldier could only look at the inside of the well with disdain.

"Oh, man... This well's going to ruin my recently washed armor!"

* * *

**Inside Castle Dedede-**

"Hmmmmm… So this is Castle Dedede, huh?" Sonic asked. "Doesn't look too like anything incredible..."

"You know, there's one thing that's bugging me..." Heartsy trailed, pondering over something. "Didn't Silica get sucked into that portal, too? Where do you think she went?"

"I wish I knew," Chopper trailed, coming to a halt when he found two ways to go. "So, which way should we go?"

"I say the right," Tamber walked over to the right to find a door that leading downstairs. This had coincidentally led them to a room with a communicator on a table. "Hey, I found something interesting! You guys gotta see it!"

"What is it?" Chopper followed Tamber downstairs and was pleasantly surprised with what he found. "Oh, it's nothing speci- Hey, is that one of those communicator thingies?!"

"I guess so."

Chopper suggested that everyone come downstairs, and they had come in and were surprised with the communicator as well.

"A communicator? We can use that to contact someone!" Shadower gaped.

"Who should we contact?" Chopper wondered.

"Maybe we should get in contact with someone from Dream Land…like Fumu!" Flyer suggested. "Or maybe even the Mayor of Professor Frankly."

"You just want to talk to Fumu, don't you?" Bombette asked, not waiting for an answer. "Well, it's not a bad idea."

"All right, let's see what I can do," Chopper approached the communicator and studied it for a moment. This went on for a while until he turned to the group, appearing puzzled. "Uhhhh... I don't know how to use it."

Sighing, Flyer went up to the communicator and got it to work. He made sure that it was making contact with Dream Land. He gave the phone to Chopper, and he started to wait for a response.

To his luck, he did.

_"Hello?"_

"Who's speaking, please?" Chopper asked.

_"Chopper? Is that you? It's me, Fumu! Where are you?"_

"Well, you're not going to believe this…" Chopper took a deep breath. "Apparently, we're in a place called Tartamos. It's where the Tartaras live, apparently."

_"All right, at least you guys are all right. ...You're all right, right?"_

"Yeah, we're fine... Except that we had to escape a prison and stuff. Right now, we're in King Dedede's castle, but we don't know how to get it here..."

_"Don't focus on that right now. Try to find a way out of there, OK?"_ Fumu suggested. _"It may not stop Dedede and Escargon from crying like babies, but at least you'll be safe."_

"How are the others doing?"

_"Well, right now, we're in the Mayor's house. Hold on, I think the Mayor wants to talk to you."_

_"Chopper, is that you?"_ the Mayor spoke up.

"Yeah, it's me," Chopper nodded.

_"I'm deeply sorry for getting you into this mess... I shouldn't have taken that letter too seriously."_

"Well, I'm sure things would go bad anyway... Besides, I think I should be thanking you! I think we can finally put an end to who's really behind this!"

_"Chopper, are you so sure?"_ Professor Frankly spoke up.

"Of course! I think right now, it's safe to assume that this was all Camikon's doing. I mean, who else who's alive hates me more than anyone else? That guy, obviously!"

_"Hrrrmmmm... Well, if you're deciding to stay here to stop this madness, then we shall not stop you. The only thing we can do at the moment is cheer you on."_

"All right. Thanks, guys. We should probably get going now..."

After saying his goodbyes, he hung up the phone.

* * *

**Mayor's house, Dream Land-**

"So... Chopper and his friends will not leave Tartamos until they put an end to this darkness..." Frankly trailed, hanging up the phone. "Well, we cannot do much to stop them now, right?"

"I'm sure what they're doing is for the better," Fumu assured.

"I suppose so..." the Mayor sighed, hearing King Dedede and Escargon's sobs from outside. "I would greatly appreciate it if those two would take their crying elsewhere... It's not helping us at this moment."

"I wish the same thing," Bun agreed, watching the two cry from afar in the darkness.

_"I can't believe that we're still homeless! We're doomed!" _

_"I wish I could do something to cheer you up… But… I don't have anything!"_

"When will they stop crying? It's getting irritating!" Fumu groaned.

"Let's not try to get too annoyed by their cries," Frankly suggested. "Perhaps we should try to solve the issue on that Magical Map."

"I suppose so..." the Mayor agreed. "Though, I find it coincidental that I got two letters regarding the Crystal Stars."

"What were they?" Fumu asked.

"Well, one was sent by Mario, and the other didn't have any name on it," the Mayor had taken both letters out and showed it to them. Frankly was the first one to study both.

"Hrrrmmmmm... So Mario sent the Magical Map to you?" Frankly asked, continuing his study. "It's strange... I don't think Mario even knew of this place..."

"Then that means Mario DIDN'T send the letter," Fumu realized. "It must've been someone else!"

"Yes, that is correct. As for the other letter... It says that only the Crystal Stars could help save the universe, but that didn't turn out to be true... Obviously we were all fooled by this... And I find it strange that there were thirteen more Crystal Stars out there. Not even I knew of this."

"Perhaps those Crystal Stars were made by that demon who gave me the letter?" the Mayor pondered. "Perhaps he had put in a power that would doom us all if all the Crystal Stars were to come together!"

"It must be... Unfortunately, it managed to get us. But, I don't think all hope is lost just yet. Chopper and his friends are still out there, looking for this great evil."

"Let's hope they can stop it," Bun said.

* * *

**Castle Dedede-**

"All right, at least we told everyone that we're all right," Chopper said, putting the phone down. "So, what do you think we should do next?"

"Well, the logical thing to do here would be to continue our search through the castle," Flyer suggested.

"Sounds good! Let's check it out!" Sonic decided, running back into the hallway. Everyone else had followed, and they had taken the other pathway this time. As they were getting to the end of the hallway, they noticed another path to the left, along with three shadows.

Feeling suspicious, everyone went against the wall and tried to remain quiet.

"We better be careful..." Vivian whispered. "There could be some Tartaras in here..."

"Maybe we can give them a little surprise," Heartsy mentioned. "They probably won't see it coming."

As the footsteps got closer, everyone exchanged nods and prepared to take action, getting their weapons out just in case.

"OK, ready guys?" Chopper asked. Everyone gave him nods, and he smiled. "All right! Let's do this!"

The eleven jumped into action and prepared to make their attack. They came to a sudden halt when they realized that these were not Tartaras standing before them.

"Wait... Meta Knight?" Chopper gaped, seeing him and his two servant, Sword Knight and Blade Knight. They had gotten in their fighting stances, but they soon realized who they were and lowered their guard.

"Meta Knight's here?" Shadower gawked. "But how?"

"We happened to be in the castle when we felt this earthquake," Sword explained. "Only, it wasn't an earthquake... The castle was being lifted off the ground and taken here. And... Yeah. That's why we're here."

"Great! At least we know there are some people who are here!" Chopper smiled, approaching Meta Knight. When he looked at the look on his face, Chopper stopped smiling and lowered his head. "Oh... Right... I'm sorry for not listening to you, Meta Knight... You were right the whole time... And now the universe is in big trouble."

"I guess this explains how you and your friends are here," Meta Knight said, wrapping his cape around himself.

"Yeah... But now the universe is in trouble thanks to my stupid little stunt... You must be pretty mad."

"After all of those times I've told you about the Crystal Stars, you still didn't listen to me. However, I knew that whether you collected them all or not, the results would still be the same." Meta Knight explained. "However, that doesn't mean all is over."

"All isn't over yet? What do you...?" Chopper paused, suddenly realizing what he was talking about.

"Yes. There is still a way to stop this great evil who's responsible for this. And I feel that after facing you all those times, you just might be ready."

"Wait... All of those fights were to determine if we were capable of fighting these Tartaras?" Flyer gawked.

"Correct."

"So, you're not mad at me for what I did?"

"No. I knew that despite my warnings, you would still continue on. People were encouraging you to do the same thing. However, we can still put an end to these Tartaras and save the universe. You are looking for that wizard, correct?"

"Yes," Vivian nodded.

"We had spotted him flying past here," Blade explained. "He doesn't even bother checking this castle out, so we were pretty safe. What do you say we go to his castle and pay him a little visit?"

"Now we're talkin'!" Sonic smirked, only to remember something. "But that bridge is out. There's no way we're getting across."

"There is a secret passageway behind the castle that we can take. Follow us." Meta Knight turned around, and he and his two servants began to head in the opposite direction. Everyone else followed him until they were standing before a door. "Just beyond this door is another pathway. It'll lead to a volcano."

"I think Camikon was planning on throwing us in there," Bombette recalled.

"Well, since we're not being thrown in there, it shouldn't be too bad," Chopper remarked.

Mario: It better not be like Mt. Lavalava.

"Even though I don't know what that place is like, I'm sure it's not," Chopper opened the door to find a long, narrow pathway ahead surrounding by lava.

"This doesn't look too bad," Tamber commented. "It's just a long, narrow path..."

"There's ghosts in that lava," Sword noted.

"Oh... That stinks."

"I suggest we be careful walking as well," Meta Knight suggested, walking down the small pathway leading to the narrow one. "You definitely do not want to fall into this lava."

"Oh… Well this is going to be nice." Chopper groaned as he and his friends followed Meta Knight and his servants to the narrow pathway.

* * *

**We've gone pretty much three chapters with no major fights. Well... That's probably about to change next chapter when they go up against something big...  
**


	142. The Dragon in the Volcano

As the group started to make their way across the narrow pathway, they were told by Meta Knight to stick to the middle of the road. One thing that surprised them were a couple of Lava Ghosts with black gaps in their body forming a jagged mouth and two eyes jumping out of the lava and soaring over the path, letting out a creepy moan before submerging into the other side of the lava.

"Man… You were right when you said that this place is pretty freaky…" Chopper shivered, watching another Lava Ghost fly out.

"I would advise not touching those Lava Ghosts," Meta Knight noted.

"I wouldn't even try touching them," Vivian said, watching one soar over them.

Meta Knight had opened up his cape and pulled out Galaxia's handle, allowing it to form into a sword. "Stay behind me. Not even these Lava Ghosts would dare to go near this."

"What about the Star Rod?" Chopper wondered, pulling said weapon out and surprising Sword and Blade Knight.

"Is that the Star Rod?!" Blade Knight gaped. "How on EARTH did you acquire that?!"

"Well… I inhaled my Warp Star. To be honest, I always wondered what would happen if I ate it..."

"Really? Maybe next time I find a Warp Star, I can eat it." Sword Knight chuckled.

"That is, if you ever acquire one," Blade said.

Sword was a bit irritated, but he decided to ignore him for once and continue the way through the narrow path. At times, some of them had nearly fallen off, but they were all there to save them in time. After that, everyone had gotten better at walking across. However, as they walked, Chopper had approached Meta Knight from behind.

"Say, Meta Knight… Silica had gotten sucked into that portal too." Chopper informed. "Have you seen her walk near Dedede's castle?"

"Silica is here as well? I see..." Meta Knight trailed. "Perhaps we could use her help... Unfortunately, she hasn't passed by the castle. However, I do believe it's important to find her."

"All right..." Chopper had looked up ahead and noticed a Flaming Bill Blaster Blaster in the way. "Uh oh... Not another one of these. I hope we'd see the last of them."

"We'll take care of this!" Sword gripped his sword and let out a battle cry as he rushed toward the Flaming Bill Blaster. He swung at it, causing his sword to shatter.

And boy, were the tears coming down through his helmet anime style.

"What?! Aw, man! Not my sword!" Sword cried. "Without my sword, I'm useless! What am I going to do?"

"I got a spare sword," Meta Knight pulled out a spare sword that looked a lot like Sword's bronze sword and tossed it to him. "Use that instead, but I don't recommend hitting that Flaming Bill Blaster. It'll break. Again."

"Good idea," Sword put his sword away before he got hit by an oncoming Flaming Bill. Another one had come Meta Knight's way, but his sword easily swatted it away. He raised his sword upward and swung vertically, making a Sword Beam strike the Flaming Bill Blaster and slice it in half.

"Whoa... That was cool." Scrub gaped.

As Meta Knight landed, another Lava Ghost had come out of the lava and let out another moan. However, it decided to bring its attention to them and spat a fireball at them. Chopper was lucky enough to change to his Water ability to extinguish the flame and destroy the Lava Ghost.

"So those things will attack us..." Blade trailed, gripping his sword while trembling. "We better be on guard when those things appear."

"Heh heh! What's wrong, Blade? You're a bit scared, aren't ya?" teased Sword.

"If you decide to mock me next time, you're going to drop and give me twenty!"

"OK! OK! Whatever..." Sword groaned, deciding not to continue the argument and staying cautious of any enemies.

"Remember, stay in the middle of the pathway," Meta Knight advised. "It's the safest part of the road."

The others nodded, with Chopper removing his Water ability before they followed the three knights. To their relief, the pathway was coming to a close.

* * *

**Camikon's Castle-**

"Blast it! They're finding another way around the bridge!" Camikon growled, watching them pass through the pathway in his throne room, which was decorated with mostly a red carpet and red walls and ceiling. Along with that, he was sitting on a throne that appeared rather big for him. "This won't end well if… Hold on a moment…"

He noticed that they were heading toward the volcano. His annoyed expression had turned to one of confidence.

"Maybe this won't be a bad thing! One thing for certain is that there's something dangerous in that volcano, and it's not going to let them get away so easily!"

"Lord Camikon!" a Tartara Royal Guard called out, walking into the throne room. "We've just recently discovered that Chopper has escaped his prison! Do you want us to…"

"Yeah yeah… I already know they escaped." Camikon grumbled. "I've seen it through my wand."

"Oh, then my apologies. I guess I am no longer needed here." the Tartara Royal Guard said, slowly turning away to leave.

"Hold up, guard!" Camikon raised his arm as a signal for it to stop, putting it to a halt. "Perhaps we should...release that monster?"

"You mean the monster in the volcano?"

"No, not THAT one! I'm talking about the other one! Ridley! You know, that monster we managed to capture? I think he'll come to great use!"

"Ridley? But... Capturing that thing was a MENACE! It managed to wipe out many of our soldiers! If we release it, it'll be a problem for US!"

"An order is an order, Tartara! Do as you're told, or else you'll be next in line as a meal to that monster in the volcano after he takes care of Chopper!"

"I... Errr..." the Tartara stammered, eventually giving up. "As you command, Lord Camikon..."

The Tartara Royal Guard walked out of the throne room, leaving Camikon to grin while sitting back on the large throne that once used to be Maquano's. Now that he was the new leader, he could do whatever he wanted.

"Nyeah heh heh heh! Being the new leader is great!" Camikon cackled, waving his wand around. However, when he turned his attention to his right, he noticed that a large, purple door in the was left open. "Whoops! That shouldn't be open…"

He got off the throne and walked over to the large door to close it. "There! That should take care of things."

Camikon turned away from the door, but it opened once again. Groaning, he slammed it shut again. This time, it stayed closed.

"I don't know what's going on, but I think there might be something strange in there. Then again... Lord Maquano had told me to never go in there... I never knew why..." Camikon suddenly paused for a minute. "Wait, hold on a second… He's not here to tell me what to do! Nyeah heh heh heh! Perhaps I CAN check and see what's inside!"

Camikon opened the door, preparing to go inside, but it had ended up shutting on him.

"WHAT?! First it plays tricks on me, and now it doesn't let me through?!" Camikon growled, going back to his throne to sit down and watch Chopper. "Stupid little Star Warrior… I hope you fail in this quest!"

* * *

**Back with the heroes-**

"Hey, guys… I can see the end up ahead!" Sonic pointed to a red sign with a bright orange "exit" on it. "Yeah, that's gotta be it! How else would there be a sign around here? It's pretty obvious."

"Obvious sign is obvious," Tamber stated as he glided over the three knights. "I'm going to get there first!

And first he was. He already made it to the small little area, but he didn't find anywhere else to go. Looking both ways, there was not another pathway. Annoyed, he turned to the other.

"I don't see any pathway around here! Did we come here all for nothing?!"

"No, you didn't come here all for nothing," Meta Knight explained, reaching the path's end. He pointed Galaxia at the green ! block that was floating above the ground. "That must be hit in order to go underground."

"Underground? Why are we going underground?" Chopper asked.

"It's the only way we're going to get anywhere," Meta Knight replied. As soon as everyone got to the end, Chopper decided to step under the block and struck it. This caused the ground to shake below them, but they soon realized that the floor they were standing on was starting to slowly descend.

"Poyo? (So this is an elevator?)" Kirby gaped.

"Yes, this is the elevator that can take us down underground. We'll soon be inside the volcano." Meta Knight explained.

"This is a very convenient lift," Flyer remarked. "Perhaps these Tartaras wanted to create a hidden elevator in case of a major battle."

When the elevator stopped, they stepped off the section and continued through the cave-like doorway ahead. There, they found an area with a couple of lava flows on the path and even the background. Along with that, there were also some mine carts.

"Huh... There are mines around this volcano..." Chopper trailed.

"Stay close, everyone," Meta Knight suggested, keeping his sword in front of him.

"We already know that," Shadower assured, the group staying close together. "That's what we always do."

"Then I have no need to remind you guys."

"I suppose it's not a bad idea to talk about how hot it is here," Sonic said, proceeding to fan himself with his gloved hand.

"Yeah, you got a point," Sword agreed, approaching the bridge. He decided to cross over first, but it didn't appear to be sturdy. Blade followed behind next.

"Whatever you do… Don't. Look. Down." Blade warned. Sword had immediately looked down and gulped. "I said NOT to look down."

"Sorry, I couldn't help it."

Meta Knight decided to ignore them and continued on ahead to the end of the bridge. Everyone else followed until they came across another bridge leading down to an area filled with tracks. Unfortunately, this bridge had a small gap that could not be jumped over. However, with Scrub's help, Chopper managed to easily get across the bridge and reach some more rock, where they were some tracks and more mine carts.

"I have a feeling we have to use those mine carts..." Chopper trailed.

"What's wrong with that?" Shadower asked.

"Nothing! I was just wondering.""I call shotgun!" Sword declared, jumping into one of the mine carts. Blade had decided to join him, only to make sure he didn't try to move the cart in any way possible. Meta Knight joined them as well, though it had left the cart a little cramped. Regardless of that, they didn't have much of a big problem.

Chopper jumped into one of the mine carts closest to him. Vivian smiled and floated over to the cart.

"Wanna join me, Flyer?" Chopper asked, not seeing Vivian approach him. She frowned and slowly stepped away, while Flyer nodded and went over to the mine cart. However, someone else had already beaten him to the cart.

"I'll join you, Choppy," Heartsy smiled, leaving Flyer to gawk.

"Huh? But why?"

"To be close to you, obviously."

"Uhhhh... OK... I guess you can." Chopper shrugged, having no idea he was practically writing his own death warrant. With that, Heartsy used her hammer to get the mine cart going, following the one Meta Knight was one behind.

"…Well that stinks. Heartsy took my spot." Flyer turned around to see a frowning Vivian. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, really... Maybe we should follow them."

"Yes, that's not a bad idea," Flyer got a mine cart for the two of them, and they quickly got in and got a move on. The others soon followed, with Kirby and Bombette sharing one, Mario and Sonic taking another, Scrub and Shadower following behind, and finally Tamber, who got a mine cart all to his own.

"Ha! I don't have to share one with the others!" Tamber scoffed, despite being the last mine cart to go through the tunnel ahead.

While going through the tunnel, they could see hot boiling lava below them. This had made things hotter for everyone, and they were starting to fan themselves.

"Whew! It's hotter than before!" Sword complained.

"True... But we are wearing this armor." Blade stated.

While the group continued to move through the tracks, Flyer had still noticed the look on Vivian's face and turned to her, not feeling too convinced by what she told him earlier.

"Are you sure everything's all right?" Flyer asked.

"Yeah, don't worry about me. Everything's fine…" Vivian responded, not even looking at him.

"Hmmmmm… You don't look all right to me. You can tell me what's wrong, Vivian. Maybe I can help you."

"…I guess so," Vivian turned to Flyer and took a deep breath. "Is it wrong to tell you if I sort of..."

"Sort of what?"

"Well, back at his house, maybe I sort of...ummmmm..." Vivian gulped, unsure of whether to confess or not. "Let's just say I...kinda kissed him."

"Oh, that? I don't see what's wrong with that? Unless you mean..." Flyer looked at the cart Chopper was on. Things were looking all right for him, until he found Heartsy grab him in a hug and started to freak out. "Oh... That. To be honest, I never really knew he was always scared of stuff like that. I mean, he isn't exactly the most mature person out there. I'm younger than him, and look at me!"

"So, do you think it's possible for me to be around him more?"

"He doesn't have much of a problem with you. I mean, you're his friend too, right? You shouldn't be afraid to say anything to him if he considers you to be a friend."

"Hmmmmm... Maybe you're right. Thanks, Flyer." Vivian smiled.

As they continued along the way, they had come across a track in a loop-de-loop. Everyone held onto their carts as they had traveled through it and started to move downward, causing the carts to increase greatly in speed.

"Hang onto your hats, guys!" Shadower cried, one of his hands grabbing a hold of his black and white-striped hat. "This might get a little bumpy!"

Eventually the carts had started to slow down when the track had become flat after the downward slope. They could see the end up ahead, but that was when it started to get very bumpy. Eventually each track had come to a sudden halt, and they were thrown off the cart and onto the rocky floor. Some had a better landing than others.

"Ow... My head..." Sword groaned, rubbing his helmet upon standing up.

"I must say... That was an interesting ride." Blade remarked, doing the same thing too. "Are you all right, Sir Meta Knight?"

"Yes, I'm good," Meta Knight answered, appearing to have landed just fine. "That will probably be the last time I ever go on a cart ride..."

"Yeah, me too..." Chopper agreed, standing up and rubbing his head. When Tamber got a look at him, he started to snicker. Sword couldn't help but snicker as well, but when Blade gave him a scolding look, he had stopped. "What? What's wrong, Tamber?"

"Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror lately?" Tamber laughed.

Chopper decided to take a look at his face, and he had noticed he was at least covered in a couple of kisses. His eyes widened, and he started to freak out.

"Eeek! Get them off!" Chopper cried.

"That was the best cart ride ever," Heartsy smiled, feeling satisfied while Flyer had given him a handkerchief to wipe off the kisses. Afterward, he sighed in relief and walked up ahead. There, they found a pool of lava and a couple of rocky platforms floating on it. He jumped onto it, having no problems getting across. Meta Knight, meanwhile, had decided to use his wings to glide to the others side where a tunnel was.

With people like Vivian and Shadower, they had met Meta Knight on the other side. Once the others reached them, they were put to a halt when they heard some voices up ahead. Meta Knight suggested they all be quiet in order to listen in on them.

"There are some Tartaras ahead..." Meta Knight warned. "Be ready to take them."

Walking through the tunnel, they came across another bridge going down to a large, rocky area where a couple of Tartaras were. There were some pillars around too. According to the tattle, Tartara Soldiers had a Max HP of 88, an Attack of 20, and a Defense of 2.

"Man... I didn't know they had that high of stats." Shadower gawked. "Since there are a lot, should we fight them?"

"Maybe we can get around them," Chopper suggested as he walked down onto the rocky area from the bridge. Unfortunately, the Tartara Soldiers spotted them and immediately fired at them.

"I got this!" Flyer took out his arm cannon and began to shoot at the soldiers. Not only did he paralyze them, but he also managed to knock them into one of the small lava pits. However, that one ended up emerging from the lava without harm. "Oh, right... They won't die in the lava. Well... At least I paralyzed it?"

"You're gonna have to do better than that!" the Tartara Soldier cackled, firing a shot at Flyer. However, Meta Knight stepped in, gripping Galaxia and deflecting the attack back at the Tartara. This was enough to put down the soldier. Flyer was about to thank him, but Meta Knight raised an arm.

"You can thank me later," Meta Knight assured.

"Ummmm… OK?" Flyer and the others followed Meta Knight ahead to larger and round area. Another boulder was in the way, so Tamber smashed it before they proceeded onward and took out a Tartara. When they reached the end of the tunnel, they found two doors. There was one to the north, and the other was to the right. Along with that, a Save Block and Heart Block were here as well.

"Well... Looks like we have two ways to go..." Chopper trailed. "So... What do you we do?"

"We should split up," Meta Knight suggested, turning to the group. "Sword, Blade and I will take the door to the north. The rest of you can check what's to the right. We'll meet back here after exploration."

"OK! We can do that!" Chopper nodded. "We'll make sure we don't take long either!"

Meta Knight gave him a nod, and afterward, he and his servants took the door to the north. Once they were gone, Chopper and his friends approached the door ahead, avoiding a small river of lava in front of them. The door itself had a symbol of flames on it. Plus, the door was very big, much bigger than most doors.

"What's up with the size of this door?" Sonic gawked. "Do ships go into here?"

"With how this underground place is set up, I don't think it's likely that a ship could even fly here," Flyer explained.

"Yeah... Something's fishy." Chopper remarked, hitting both the Save Block and Heart Block. "Well, I guess we'll be finding out pretty soon."

Vivian opened the door and everyone walked into a large, dark room. To their surprise, there was no sign of any lava in the room. Only the walls appeared to have lava on them, and it wasn't even getting on the floor. The area was also round, and the only source of light was from a hole above.

"It's way too dark in here," Tamber commented.

"And what is up with that hole above us?" Bombette asked.

Everyone took a look up at the ceiling and noticed how the hole seemed to resemble a crater.

"Who are you?!"

Everyone had stopped looking up and froze when they saw a large, black dragon with flaming red stripes on his face stare at them and let out a huge roar. The dragon's teeth were sharp and pointy compared to other dragons with flat teeth. Along with that, this dragon appeared to be covered in flames.

"What in the world is THAT?!" Tamber gaped.

"You don't appear to look like Tartaras! Then again, no one even bothers coming here, unless there is an execution..."

"An execution?" Chopper gawked. _"So is this what Camikon was throwing us into?"_

"This dragon reminds me so much of Gloomtail..." Vivian trailed, slowly stepping away.

"Not only Gloomtail, but Frosttail too," Chopper added.

"You know my two brothers?" the dragon asked, giving them a suspicious look.

"Yeah... But they ended up getting beaten."

"So you're telling me that you people destroyed my younger brothers?!" the dragon roared, smoke coming out of his nostrils. "So... That explains why I haven't heard from them lately. As for you mortals, I shall make you pay for your actions! You will all cower in fear of the mighty **Flametail**, the oldest of the dragons, and now the pet to Lord Camikon!"

"Pet to Camikon?" Chopper gawked. He had gotten a closer look at the dragon. "Wait a minute, you look like that dragon I used to see Maquano flying on two years ago!"

"Wait, you know this dragon?" Shadower whispered.

"Hmmmmm... Now that I get a better look at you, I do recognize you." Flametail realized. "You were that little boy that my master had a deep hatred for. I'm sure you're surprised to see how much I've grown! Dragons do grow over the years… And now, I've become the mightiest of them all!"

"Fat chance! That prison area was scarier than you!" Tamber scoffed.

"Then why were you freaking out over him a moment ago?" Bombette asked.

"Shut it! That never happened!"

Flametail ignored their conversation and grinned. "Hmmmm… Now that I think about it, I haven't eaten in three weeks! SOMEONE was a bit lazy in feeding me. However, it looks like with you eleven, that issue has finally been put aside! And besides, making a meal out of those who destroyed my brothers sounds delightful!"

"If that means you wanna fight, then we'll give you a fight!" Sonic smirked, taunting the large dragon. "Bring it on!"

"Gwa ha ha ha! If that's what your plan is, then sure, I'll fight you. It's always nice to play with my meals first! Then, I shall cook you up with my flame breath, and then you'll be mine!" Flametail cackled. "It will be I who's your executioner!"

**Tattle: **_That's Flametail. He's the oldest of the dragon family. And he's quite menacing! I mean, look at those teeth! Max HP is 420, Attack is 20, and Defense is 2. You won't be able to touch Flametail if he's covered in flames, so you need some kind of water attack to get rid of them. But heads up! Those flames will come back after two turn, so keep yourself on guard! Just like the other dragons, he will use his claws, bite you, and attack you with fire breath…and dark breath. He's also got this massive Pyro Blast that will deal a TON of damage to you if you're not careful. Other than that… He's not a pushover. Heck, using fire may not be a good idea either...  
_

"All right, I guess this means I gotta use my Water ability here," Chopper put on his Water ability and shot water on Flametail, extinguishing the flames on him.

"Bleh. So what if you have water. That won't stop me!" Flametail chortled. Vivian struck his nose with a Shade Fist, but unfortunately, being a fire dragon, he was not left with a burn. "You call that fire? Let me show you what fire truly is!"

Opening his mouth, Flametail breathed a burst of flames upon everyone, leaving a massive burn on them for four turns. Many were left agape as a result.

Mario: Mama mia!

After cringing from the burn, Mario had decided to approach the dragon's paw and strike it with his hammer. Afterward, Chopper had decided to hurl an ice ball at Flametail to take 8 out of him. Once the might dragon brought his paw down upon Chopper to flatten him like a pancake, his flames returned after Kirby helped unflatten him.

"Geez... This is just like that fight with Unagi." Chopper groaned, using his Tidal Wave to summon a large wave that struck Flametail tremendously. With him no longer being covered in flames, Flyer decided to make his move and strike Flametail's nose with a Flying Attack.

Out of anger, Flametail bit Chopper, and considering that Flametail's teeth were not flat like the other dragons, it certainly did a lot more damage than usual. Nevertheless, Chopper shrugged that off and brought his hammer down on Flametail's paw. Afterward, Shadower brought his defense down to 0 with a Shadow Punch.

"Hmmmmm... You do put up quite a fight. Let's see how you hold against this!" Flametail jumped in the air and came down, creating an earthquake to leave everyone shaking. Thankfully, they managed to guard it, but for people like Vivian and Shadower, they weren't affected.

"That was strange how that attack didn't do a thing to me…" Vivian remarked, noticing the others had taken damage from it. Flametail didn't seem to care about this as his flames returned. However, once again, Chopper took care of them with some more water. He screamed in pain, but it got a little worse when Scrub used his Ground Pound on his nose.

"Ha! How'd you like that?!" Scrub taunted.

"Let's see how my new dark breath will work on you," Flametail opened his mouth and unleashed his dark breath upon everyone. This, in the end, had left Scrub and Sonic paralyzed.

"Gah! I…can't move!" Sonic wheezed.

"What the heck is this?!" Scrub exclaimed, trying to move.

"Ah yes... You see, with my dark breath, anything can happen to you. Just be lucky it wasn't something like falling asleep or becoming frozen!" cackled Flametail, only to be interrupted by Chopper's light ball. Kirby then threw in his Final Cutter, and out of anger, Flametail brought his paw down on Sonic, since he was left in the open. After his flames returned, Chopper took them out, and Heartsy caused some serious pain to his paw with her hammer. "_**ARRGGGH!**_ My paw!"

Clutching his paw in pain, he hissed at Heartsy and brought his other paw down on her.

"Ouch..." Heartsy squeaked, looking puzzled over the hit.

"That should be enough for you... At least, for now."

"Well, let's see how you like this!" Bombette cried, charging at Flametail with her fuse lit up. She exploded, taking 8 out of him, which soon followed up with Chopper striking the dragon with his hammer.

Despite being down to 280 HP, Flametail flew up in the air and struck the ground, creating another earthquake. Still, Vivian and Shadower were left unharmed by the attack, while the others had taken 22 damage.

"Argh! How come you two were unaffected?!" Flametail roared.

"Beats me," Chopper replied, summoning another large Tidal Wave upon Flametail to extinguish his flames, which followed up with Tamber's Combo Punch, taking 10 out of him. As Flametail narrowed his eyes at them, he brought his head back and then opened his mouth wide to unleash his fire breath on the group. They were able to Superguard it and take no damage from it.

"How did you avoid that?!" the dragon gaped.

"Well, that's simple," Chopper started smugly. "We can Superguard it, so that'll let us avoid any attacks. You can't avoid THIS, though!"

Chopper gripped his hammer and unleashed a Master Hammer attack, striking Flametail in the nose and the paw, which caused some immense pain to him. Tamber grinned, proceeding to mock him and prepared to attack, but Mario had beat him to the punch and struck Flametail with his hammer. Angered, Flametail used his dark breath on them, but they managed to guard it with no serious effect left on them.

Chopper shot water at Flametail to extinguish the flames on him, and once Flyer struck him with a Flying Attack, Flametail was down to 218 HP. Before they could mock him for almost being halfway done, Flametail successfully left a burn on everyone with his fire breath.

"Ah, excellent! That's exactly what I wanted to see! Now things should be a bit easier for me!" Flametail grinned evilly.

"Ugh... Not a chance." Chopper grumbled, striking Flametail with his Ultra Gloves. With Tamber's Power Punch, Flametail was now down to 196 HP.

"Hmmmmm… So you are tough meat. I will admit, you have great power for someone so small. Unfortunately, you're not going to be standing here any longer soon."

Cackling, Flametail raised his Attack by 20, shocking everyone.

"Crud… NOT good!" Chopper decided to pull out a Maximum Recovery (a Max Shroom and Max Juice combined) and ate the thing to recover all of his HP and FP. "You know what to do, right, Vivian?"

"Mmmmm-hmmm!" Vivian nodded, pulled everyone into the shadows to hide.

"Take THIS!" Flametail opened his mouth unleashed a massive purple breath that nearly engulfed the room. "Now do you see my true power?! That is the true power of a mighty dragon such as myself!"

However, when the smoke had cleared, he noticed the group emerge from the ground, appearing unscathed by the attack.

"…It didn't hit you?! How?!"

"Thank the purple chick," Tamber said smugly. Flametail chomped at Vivian and took 20 out of her. Once his flames returned, Chopper struck him with another Tidal Wave, with Shadower following up with his Shadow Punch. Flametail decided to bring his paw down on Chopper again to leave him flattened. Chopper decided to shrug it off and hit Flametail with a Power Smash. After Vivian's Shade Fist, the dragon was down to 158 HP.

"You people... I don't understand how you manage to bring me down this far..." Flametail trailed, narrowing his eyes at the group. He flew upward again and created another earthquake upon coming down. Everyone was hurt, with two exceptions, of course.

"Ugh... That attack is still as annoying as ever." Chopper groaned. He was about to extinguish Flametail's flames, but then he remember the final Crystal Star and pulled it out. "Hey, maybe this might be a good time to test out the Dark Star's power!"

"Are you really going to do that? That might be dangerous…" Vivian gasped.

"Well, considering that when Gemerl used it, it didn't affect him. I'm sure it won't hurt us." Chopper assured, but he noticed how much Star Power the ability would take. "This is going to cost me about 18 SP? That's…a bit extreme."

Nevertheless, he used the ability anyway. He managed to suck Flametail into a large, black hole that ended up tearing a hole into the background. As a result, the large dragon had taken 65 damage.

"Bluuurgh… What…was that?" Flametail moaned.

"That was one of my Crystal Stars! And it sure was powerful!" Chopper smirked. Scrub laid a giant egg afterward and threw it at Flametail's nose. The dragon rubbed his nose for a brief moment before scorching everyone with his fire breath.

"Ugh… I'm getting tired of his fire breath." Chopper groaned. With that, he decided to shoot more water at Flametail. Kirby's Final Cutter had proceeded to drop him to 60 HP.

"Poyo! (We almost got this!)" Kirby cheered.

After shaking off Kirby's attack, Flametail brought his paw down on him to leave him flattened. But this didn't do too much, because Chopper summoned another Tidal Wave and then he got paralyzed for a turn thanks to Flyer's arm blaster.

"Argh! You're going...to pay for...that!" Flametail screamed, struggling to move due to the paralysis. With this, Chopper had struck him with his hammer, and then Sonic used his Spin Dash.

"He's down to 27 HP. We got this in the bag!" Sonic grinned.

"Guh... If Lord Camikon were to discover that I lost to my meals, he would disown me for sure..." Flametail grunted. "I cannot let you all stop me! I will ensure that you become my dinner today!"

He opened his mouth and used his dark breath to freeze both Flyer and Tamber. Chopper narrowed his eyes at Flametail and changed to his Sword ability.

"All right, you're going down!" Chopper declared. "And swords are used to take down dragons! ...Right?"

"...Yeah, I think so," Bombette nodded before hitting Flametail with her Bomb. Once Chopper swung at Flametail, he was down to 11 HP.

"You are not leaving this place alive!"" Flametail hissed, using the rest of his strength to raise his Attack power by 20. "With this one attack, you will all fall before me!"

"We're not letting you stop us," Chopper declared, charging at Flametail and bringing him down to 3 HP with a single sword swing. "All right, someone finish the job!"

Shadower nodded, and with one Shadow Punch, Flametail's HP had been drained to 0, and his eyes starting to spin in the same manner as his brothers.

"N-No… How… How can this be?" Flametail moaned. "Could this be the end of the 'Tail' family after all? It… It can't be…"

The giant Tartara dragon had fallen back in defeat, and Chopper was able to gain a level, upgrading his HP to 255, since he had 250 FP and 160 BP. The impact of Flametail's keeling over had caused the room to shake for a brief moment, but once it stopped, Chopper had removed his Sword ability, and Flyer and Tamber were no longer frozen.

"Whoa... What the..." Tamber noticed the dragon lying on its back and gawked. "Wait... That thing's already defeated?!"

"Yeah... And it sure wasn't easy." Sonic sighed. "Well, we might as well get out of here, right?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, but before they could go, they heard the sound of choking. They turned around and looked at Flametail, who had coughed up a chest that had landed in front of them.

"Wait... That dragon had eaten a chest?" Bombette gawked.

"That's the third time I've seen that," Chopper remarked. "Might as well see what's inside!"

He opened the chest, and inside, he found a Volcano Key. Unlike the prison key, it was a scarlet red kind of color rather than being a dark red.

"Huh... A key? What do you think this is going to be used for?"

"Probably for a door, obviously," Tamber stated. "Let's just get out of here."

They all agreed and left the dark room, returning to the previous one, as Meta Knight had told them to meet him back here. Meta Knight and his two servants happened to be in the room, as if they were waiting for them.

"You all seemed to be gone for an awfully long time," Meta Knight said. "What happened?"

"Well, it's kind of a long story…" Chopper trailed. "But in the end, we got a hold of a key!"

"Ooh! That's just what we need to move on ahead!" Sword grinned.

"Wait, so how long were you guys in that other room?" Heartsy asked.

"Not too long," Blade answered. "We ran into this locked door, so we decided to come back here and wait. We did hear some noise coming from the room you were in, though."

"And why didn't you give us a hand?" Tamber asked angrily.

"Sir Meta Knight said that you guys could probably handle it on your own," Sword answered. "But enough about that! You got the key, and now we can finally get outta this dreadful place!"

"Yes! Let's go, then!" Chopper smiled, rushing over to the door. Everyone also followed through the door, wishing to get out of the dreadful volcano.

* * *

**Camikon's Castle-**

"What is the meaning of this?!" Camikon exclaimed, slamming his fist on the arm of his throne. "My gigantic dragon pet, Flametail, was slain by Chopper?! This is impossible! How could he defeat such a monster of great size?!"

"Lord Camikon!" a Darkling cried, who came flying into the room. "Bad news, Your Majesty! You know your pet Flametail? He…"

"I already know, Darkling," Camikon replied, raising an arm to stop it. "Sure, Flametail is gone, but we're not finished just yet. We still have Ridley to take care of him and his pesky friends!"

"Oh… About Ridley…" the Darkling gulped. "He attacked one of our soldiers and even threw one into the lava. ...You really think releasing him was a good idea?"

"That's because Ridley doesn't care whose side he's on," the wizard replied, adjusting his monocle. "He's a monster. All monsters don't care whose side they're on. Ones that can't speak, that is… All they want to do is cause destruction!"

"Ummmmm… Yes. I believe so. Should we stun that thing or something? It might cause more harm to our soldiers."

"Hmmmm... I suppose you could. But, if you find Chopper, release him! Right now, he should be heading to Bowser's Castle. Once he's done there, then we can release the beast!"

"Bowser's Castle?" the Darkling raised an invisible eyebrow. "What was the purpose of bringing it here? We don't need Bowser for our plan, don't we?"

"Not really... I think I have other plans for him anyway. Now SCRAM! I have some other business to take care of, and you're in my way!"

"Very well, _old geezer…_" the Darkling flew out of the room and shut the door.

The old wizard looked over at the dark door yet again. He thought about going over to the door again, and eventually he did so. However, the door would still not open for him.

"Why on earth is this thing not opening?!" Camikon growled. "Does this door have a life of its own?!"

After pulling enough times, Camikon eventually gave up and went back to his throne to relax.

"Oh, what's the use? I'm not going to get that door open myself. There's probably nothing special in there anyway." Camikon grabbed a mug with coffee in it and began to sip it. "Then again, considering how it won't let me open it and all..."

Unfortunately, the coffee he was sipping had ended up getting on his robe, leaving a hot sensation on him.

"_**YEOW!**_ Darklings! Help this poor old feller out!"

* * *

**Volcano-**

"So,a dragon had that key in his stomach?" Meta Knight asked as they walked over to the locked door through the small narrow cave, avoiding any small craters containing spewing lava.

"Yeah, that dragon ended up coughing it out of his stomach!" Chopper explained, holding the key in his hand. "You should've seen the battle, though. It was pretty tough, but we managed to take it down! And boy, it fell over on his back like those other two dragons!"

"You've slain two other dragons?" Blade gawked. "I never heard about this..."

"Mario's taken three dragons, too, right?"

Mario: Oh, yes!

"Meh... Taking down a giant dragon is nothing compared to beating Nightmare." Sword said, as if his accomplishment was nothing special. "Too bad he's not around anymore."

"Uhhhh... Technically...we did." Flyer mentioned.

"Poyo! (Yeah! We mopped the floor with him!)" Kirby smiled.

Sword was unsure whether to laugh or appear shocked.

"Whether Nightmare was defeated or not, we have a bigger threat to deal with," Meta Knight said, cape wrapped around his body. "And it will be his defeat that will save the universe."

"Yeah, so we better get out of this volcano first," Chopper rushed over to the door and unlocked it with the Volcano Key. The door's lock broke off opened, and they came across a small room with an elevator up ahead.

"So, that's where we need to go in order to come back up, right?" Flyer asked.

"Yes. That's the elevator that'll take us back up to the surface." Meta Knight nodded.

"Then we'll finally be back where we started..." Shadower trailed, the group making their way over to the elevator. Just like the other one, there was a green ! block floating above. Once they all stood on the platform, Chopper struck the block, causing the room to shake.

"Going up!" Chopper smiled as the ground around them began to ascend. Looking up, they could see a bright light above them. One filled with dark clouds and evil, red skies.

* * *

**Well, there's your last fight against a dragon. Just like in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, there are three dragons that can be fought (though PM: TTYD has one that's optional). Flametail has certainly grown two years later. :P  
**

**Just a little heads up, the next chapter is going to be very long. Possibly the longest chapter in the entire story. It also has the most fights in a single chapter, having about seven. So... Yeah. There's gonna be a lot.**


	143. Seizing Bowser's Castle

When the elevator stopped, they all found themselves back outside. While they were not as close as they were to the portal and city, they were definitely not too far.

"Whew! I can't believe we made it out of there!" Sonic sighed, stepping off the elevator and stretching his arms and legs. "Though, this place isn't much better anyway..."

"Hey, it's better than being in prison," Chopper shrugged. He looked at his surroundings, but he stopped when he saw a rocky platform with Bowser's Castle on it off at the distance. A small, narrow pathway led over to the front entrance. "Hey, guys! Take a look at that castle! You think Camikon would be in it?"

"Well it does look evil," Scrub said. "I bet he is in there! Let's go pay him a little visit, Contadre!"

Mario, on the other hand, looked at the castle suspiciously. The gray texture and the style of the castle looked all too familiar to him. Though this one looked a bit different compared to some of the other castles, it just screamed that guy's.

Mario: Guys... I don't think that's Camikon's Castle.

"It's not? Then who's castle is it?" Sonic wondered.

Mario: Bowser's.

"That's Bowser's Castle?" Chopper seemed a bit surprised, but he got another look at it. "…It doesn't look like his castle. I remember it being bigger and scarier than THAT. This one looks...pretty small."

"But… What would Bowser be doing here?" Vivian wondered. "It's not like he has anything to do with this place…"

"Well, whatever he's doing, he's probably planning something. I say we go take a look through his castle. You coming, Meta Knight?"

"I'd rather not," answered Meta Knight. "I don't know much about this 'Bowser' you speak of, and I cannot focus on him for the moment. If you want to go find him, then you are allowed.

"What are we going to do then?" Sword asked.

"We might as well go find some others to lend us a hand. We don't have a chance of getting to Camikon's Castle with just a small army like us."

"Small army?! We got about fourteen here!" Chopper exclaimed. "We can stand a chance!"

"Even that's not enough to bring down an entire Tartara army. We may be able to take a couple down, but we'd be highly outnumbered. We still might barely win if I call in some help anyway."

"You're seriously doubting our skills, Meta Knight," Bombette stated. "We've taken down two DEMONS! I think we can handle an army of Tartaras! I bet it'll be easy!"

"You know, I think he's right," Flyer stated. Everyone turned to him in surprise. "What? We're practically outnumbered! The only thing that COULD change is if we found some others that knew how to fight. Besides, we don't know where Silica is, and she's someone who could help us."

"Yeah," Chopper agreed, turning to Meta Knight. "Hey, Meta Knight, you go ahead and get some help. We'll go and see what Bowser's trying to plot."

"Then it's settled. Come, my servants." Meta Knight turned away into the direction of the city. "If I'm correct, Silica would be around the city. However, if Tartaras are all over the place, then she'd be in the outer part."

His two knights nodded and followed him to the outer part of the city. As they left, Chopper and his friends walked over to the narrow pathway leading to Bowser's Castle. The only thing they had to be careful was the lava below. Thankfully, the walk hadn't taken too long, and no one had struggled to cross either.

"All right, here we are," Chopper sighed in relief as they made it to the front door. "Should we knock the door first?"

"Heck no!" Tamber intervened, punching the door a couple of times until it finally fell over on a Koopatrol guarding the door. Many other Koopatrols inside the main room had turned their attention to them. "All right! Listen up, idiots! We're taking over!"

The Koopatrols got in their shells and charged at Tamber. Unfortunately, they weren't strong enough to stop him, since he managed to knock them away with a punch. With the Koopatrols knocked out, everyone was able to step foot on the red rug that led up to a throne. It was Bowser's throne, but he wasn't there.

"Where do you think Bowser might be?" Chopper asked. Mario pointed at the stairs to the side. "Oh. Why didn't I see that before?"

"We better go up there, then. I bet we'll find that Koopa if we start searching." Sonic ran over to the stairs and waited patiently for everyone else to walk over to him. When the rest reached him, they made their way up to the top of the staircase.

They only found a small hallway when they reached the top. There weren't any Flaming Bill Blasters to get in the way, which was a relief, but they could see a Save Block at the door up ahead.

…And also a Koopa in a yellow mask. He looked up at everyone from up ahead and jumped up in shock.

"WHOA! I don't believe it! Chopper's…already here?!" Yellow gaped.

"Yellow? From the Koopa Bros.?" Chopper gawked. I haven't seen you in such a long time. Last time I saw you, I was fighting against Perfect Staris. Did you guys mellow out or something?"

"Heck no! We always stay on Bowser's side!" Yellow retorted, pointing at him while his finger flashed. "We're loyal to that guy and that's how it's going to be! Anyway, now that you're here, let me just…"

Yellow turned toward the door ahead and he bolted in before Chopper could do or say anything.

"I think the Koopa Bros. are planning something big," Chopper said. "I mean, why would they be here too?"

Mario shrugged. He didn't have any clue either. But, perhaps they could get answers from the Koopa Bros, so he approached the door and opened it after Chopper hit the Save Block. With that, they rushed into the next room.

"Hey! What the heck?" Chopper gaped, finding something atrocious in the room, which had a round platform attached to chains on the ceiling over lava. He was standing before himself - only it was made of cardboard and looked atrocious.

"I don't know what I'm looking at…" Vivian commented.

"Huh? What… What is the meaning of this?!" the Trojan Chopper roared. "Why is there another Chopper in my face?! This is an outrage!"

"You're the outrage here!" Chopper shot back, taking out his hammer.

"Then I shall prove that I'm the real one by crushing you!" the Trojan Chopper raised its cardboard fists. Even when it raised a fist, it looked awful.

**Tattle: **_That's Trojan Chopper._ _…I have no comment on this. Max HP is 30, Attack is 1, and Defense is 1. Is this some kind of joke?_

"Just like before, this thing is just A-Tro-jus!" Chopper smiled, resulting in groans from everyone. "What? Come on! Don't be like Koopa and get annoyed with my puns! It was even one of the first ones added in the first story!"

"Seriously, that really stunk," the Trojan Chopper remarked. "...Er, I mean, ha HA! You're just as terrible with jokes as I am!"

Shrugging, Chopper slammed his hammer down on the Trojan Chopper, taking 9 out of it. Bombette's Bomb managed to pierce through the…cardboard Chopper's defense and deal 10 damage.

"Whoa… This isn't good…" Trojan Chopper gulped, only for the sound of a smack to be heard from inside.

_"Shut it, Yellow! You don't want them to hear us!"_

_"Red! They can probably hear us!"_

"_Oh, crud..._ _Ahem!_ So what if you dealt 19 damage to me! I still have this!" the Trojan Chopper brought its fist down on Chopper, but when he guarded the attack, he didn't take any damage.

"Yup. This thing is stupid." Chopper stated, tossing a light ball at the Trojan Chopper. With one more Bomb, the Trojan Chopper exploded.

"_**Whoooooooaaaa!**_"

"Well, that was easy," Bombette commented.

The Koopa Bros. came flying out of the atrocious cardboard Chopper, but they all landed on their feet and flashed a thumbs up.

"Here come the Koopa Bros.!" Red shouted, giving Chopper a smirk. "So, Chopper… You surprised to see us again? Well, guess what? We're not going to act like the way we were before!"

"How are you going to act, then?" Chopper asked.

"Oh, just you wait and see!" Red made a signal by pointing his finger. "All right, boys! Form up the tower and we'll show him what we've got up our sleeves!"

The others obeyed and jumped on top of each other to form a tower. Red jumped up on Black and pointed down at the heroes. "All right… Taste THIS!"

As they all went in their shells, they struck Chopper with a Dizzy Strike, leaving him dizzy and taking 16 out of him.

"What just happened?" Chopper asked while his eyes began to spin like crazy.

"You're a bit dizzy," Vivian explained. "I could heal if off for you..."

"No no! I can do this!" Chopper assured, taking his hammer out and approaching the Koopa Bros. Unfortunately, his hammer missed, and he ended up falling over. The Koopa Bros. couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Ha ha ha! He can't take it like a man!" chortled Black. "I KNEW this was a good idea!"

"You know what's a good idea?" Bombette asked. The Koopa Bros. stopped laughing and looked at her. When they the fuse on her light up, they instantly gulped. "See how you like this!"

With her Bomb, she was able to send the Koopa Bros. flying.

"Whooooooooa!" the Koopa Bros fell over on their backs, unable to get up.

**Tattle:** _Those are the Koopa Bros. They're a group of Bowser's minions that had guarded one of the Star Spirits two years ago. They look pretty pathetic... Each have a Max HP of 100, an Attack of 17, and a Defense of 2. If they're on their backs, then their Defense goes to 0. Y'know, like all Koopas! When they're in that tower, that's when they're real dangerous. They can attack together and deal a whooping 20 to you! Watch out for that... However, you can easily knock them over with an explosion. Other than that, there's nothing too special about them... They're Koopas in ninja gear. That sounds cool...but these guys sure aren't._

"Well, I think it's time to deal some damage to these guys," Chopper said as he struck the Koopa Bros. with his Diamond Hammer, taking 10 out of them all. "Anyone got something that can hit everyone?"

"Yeah," Shadower nodded, hitting the Koopa Bros. with his Shadow Smite, bringing their defense down to 0 - even if they were lying on their backs.

"Ack! Why is it so hard to get up?!" Red grumbled as he and the others managed to get themselves up. "OK… We'll try again. Form up a tower! Now!"

The Koopa Bros. formed their tower again, but this time they had a dark aura surrounding them as they spun in their shells. Many were left surprised by this, especially Chopper.

"What the..."

"See how you like a good old Dark Shell!"

They rammed straight at Chopper, but he was lucky enough to Superguard it, despite being dizzy. The Koopa Bros. were unfortunate to fall over on their backs upon being Superguarded.

"Aw, great… Not again!" Red grumbled as he and the rest of the Koopa Bros. got struck by Chopper's Quake Hammer. They were all flying off the ground from this one, that's for sure.

"I know just what to do!" Scrub smirked, making a sharp whistle that summoned a Yoshi stampede. They struck the Koopa Bros. for 10 HP, also leaving them with 60 HP.

"Can't…get…up…" Red struggled to get up, but he and the others continued to struggle. This left them all open for another attack. They were quickly struck by Chopper's Diamond Hammer and Vivian's Fiery Jinx.

"Youch! That was hot!" Green screamed.

"Totally," Green agreed.

"Oh, shut up…" Red replied as he managed to get himself up. "I got a better idea! Let's attack 'em one at a time!"

The Koopa Bros. all got in their shells, and one by one, they threw themselves at Chopper. He managed to Superguard three of their attacks, but he got hit by Red's Fire Shell, taking 17 out of him.

"Now to flip you guys over!" Chopper used his Quake Hammer again to flip them all over. With Mario's Triple Jump, they were all left with 20 HP.

"Oh, great… We're almost down…" Yellow gulped.

"You're not helping, Yellow…" Red replied before he was struck by another Quake Hammer, bringing their HP down to 10.

"And now to make the final blow!" Bombette's fuse began to light up. "I think it's payback for what they've done to me in the past! Especially since they left me rotting in a prison cell in their fortress!"

"Fortress? But I remember it being a park..." Chopper trailed. Nevertheless, he stepped out of the way, allowing Bombette to unleash a Bob-omb Blast upon the Koopa Bros., sending them flying up to the ceiling.

When they came down to the ground, they were all covered in soot and were left unconscious. Chopper was lucky enough to upgrade his FP to 255 upon leveling up as well.

"Just like before, the Koopa Bros. were just as pathetic as before. Let's move before they get up." Chopper walked away from the unconscious Koopa Bros. and headed to the door ahead. The others followed him to the door, making their exit out of the room.

"All right, guys! I think I saw them come through here!"

The door where the group first came into opened up, and one of the Dry Bros., Dry Red, came walking in.

"All right, boys! The coast is clear! Ya'll can come on in!" Dry Red gave the signal for the other three to walk in. "Now it's time to give that kid what's coming to him ever since he beat us down in Unagi's Cave!"

"Uhhhh... Dry Red, that's not the kid." Dry Black pointed out, taking notice of the Koopa Bros. "And... The look a lot like ys!"

"What?! How is that even possible?" Dry Green gawked, poking Green with his finger. Unfortunately, he ended up waking up, along with the rest of the Koopa Bros. They rubbed their eyes for a moment until they finally got a view of the Dry Bros.

"What in the world?!" Red gaped, looking at Dry Red. "Who… What…? All right, tell me what's going on! Why is there someone here that looks like me?! You better have a good explanation!"

"I should be saying the same thing, bub!" Dry Red retorted.

"Dude, look at yourself! You're not even worthy enough to be the coolest of the cool! …Such as myself!" Red grinned, flashing a thumbs up. The other three did the same thing as well.

"Oh, yeah! Well we're smoother than that!" Dry Red flashed a thumbs up too, even though it was basically the same thing.

"These guy's are stealing our style!" Black barked.

"Yeah, I know..." Red trailed, both groups narrowing their eyes at each other. "I think we should settle this in a different way…"

"Maybe a good ol' fight will do!" Dry Red suggested, cracking his knuckles. "It'll be you and me! Outside of the castle! Four o'clock!"

"I say we fight now!" Red came charging at Dry Red, knocking him back. He managed to smack Red in the face with his own arm. Dry Black helped pull Red off of him, but he was attacked by Black.

"All right, boys! I think it's time we showed 'em our Dark Shell attack!" Red ordered. The Koopa Bros. formed a tower and spun in their shells.

"We're not giving up so easily! Let's use our Dark Shell too!" Dry Red ordered as well, making a tower and spinning in their shells as well.

"_**TAKE THIS!**_"

Bboth towers rammed into each other, and the last thing both sides could see was an explosion before everything went blank.

* * *

**Next room-**

As they stepped into the next room, they all heard an explosion from the other room.

"Whoa… What the heck was that?" Chopper went over to the door and tried opening it. Sadly, it didn't seem to open. "What? It won't open?"

"Wait, it's budged? Then how are we going to get out of this castle?!" Heartsy asked, appearing worried.

"I don't know... But let's worry about that later." Chopper said as he turned around. "We should get a move on."

As the group traveled through the hallway, Chopper noticed that it had a tan brick ground and walls. Plus, there was a bit of sand around.

Mario: This place seems familiar...

"It really does feel like Dry Dry Ruins," Chopper recalled, coming to a halt at the door ahead.

_"Bleeag, Blooooaaaagh! Who daaaaares set foot in my territory?!" _a ghastly voice echoed through the room. _"I am the great and evil King Tutankoopa! I rule the desert with an iron fist!"_

"Uhhhh... I think I already know who it is." Chopper said. "You can drop that act, Tutankoopa."

"Aw, come on! Why do you always have to—I mean… _Flee now while you can! Or face the wrath of the sands!"_

"No thanks," Chopper smiled, opening the door to another room with a similar texture to the hallway, except that it was a bit bigger with Chain Chomp statues on the walls.

And in the center was King Tutankoopa in his Egyptian headdress and white robe, who had his arms raised up when upon speaking in his ghastly voice.

"Er… Uh… Gee, what a coincidence! We haven't seen each other in a while, haven't we?" Tutankoopa said, looking surprised and scared at the same time. "I was just… Wait, why am I afraid of YOU?!"

"I don't know... Why are you?" Chopper wondered.

Tutankoopa floated up onto a platform with Buzzy Beetle shells. "I remember why I was waiting for you! It's payback time for what you did to me in Dry Dry Ruins! The Curse of Dry Dry Ruins will be put upon you! Same goes to you, Mario..."

Mario immediately got in a fighting stance and glared at the Koopa, along with everyone else.

**Tattle: **_That's King Tutankoopa. He's a Koopa that's in some kind of Egyptian clothing or something along those lines. He may think he's all incredible, but he looks more like a weirdo to me. Max HP is 320, Attack is 17, and Defense is 0. He'll throw those Buzzy Beetle shells at you, or he might even summon a friend of his named Chomp. ...That's all there is to him. To be honest, he's nothing interesting. Sounds like Tutankoopa's a pushover.  
_

Chopper made a big leap onto the platform and stomped on Tutankoopa's head, leaving him dizzy for the moment. Upon remembering those feet, the Koopa was left horrified.

"No… Not those feet!" Afterward, Tutankoopa was struck by Mario's Jump attack as well. "…And those too!"

After recovering from being dizzy, he raised his arms. "Come, Chomp! I shall release you from your prison!"

"Chomp? What kind of dumb name is that?" Scrub scoffed.

A bunch of magic waves fired up from Tutankoopa's hand and then flew down on one of the Chain Chomp statues. It broke, and a Chain Chomp hopped down from the pedestal it was on.

"That's…freaky," Heartsy gaped.

"This thing may have a Defense of 9, but it has 10 HP! This will be no problem with my Quake Hammer!" Chopper pulled out his hammer and slammed it on the ground to take out Chomp and also deal some damage to Tutankoopa.

"Hmmmmm… I could probably hit him, but I'd have to waste FP. ...Oh, who cares about that? We have a lot of it!" Heartsy used her Hearty Throw and struck Tutankoopa with her thrown hammer. Eventually she managed to reclaim it after Tutankoopa had thrown a small tantrum.

"Ooog… Stupid little… I shall avenge Chomp…by crushing you all! Bleah heh heh heh… You'll regret it!" Tutankoopa made a wave of magic energy fire up from above, and a giant Chain Chomp appeared on top of Chopper, which fell on him to deal 17 HP.

"OK, this guy is a lot stronger than before..." Chopper mumbled, quickly shaking his head and stomping on Tutankoopa, followed by Scrub's Ground Pound. Tutankoopa grabbed a Buzzy Beetle shell and threw it at Chopper. He proceeded to guard it, and then he tossed a light ball at Tutankoopa, and then Flyer struck him with a Flying Attack.

"Bleag! I'll show you true power!" Tutankoopa raised his arms again and started to perform his own magic. However, it didn't turn out how he had hoped, and after a Chain Chomp had fallen on the ground, a rock had fallen on Tutankoopa and knocked him off the platform. "Ohhhhhh... Why isn't my magic perfected?"

"He's open for an attack! Let's get him!" Chopper brought his down on Tutankoopa, stunning him for about ten seconds, allowing Heartsy hit him with her own hammer.

"This feels pretty satisfying," Heartsy smirked.

"Urrgh…" Tutankoopa quickly shook his head and turned to Chopper. "Feel my wrath!"

Using his magic again, he made a Chain Chomp fall on top of him. Chopper retaliated by throwing an ice ball at him, despite it not freezing him. Bombette son struck him with her Bomb attack afterward. What was even better for the heroes was that someone in the audience had gotten annoyed with Tutankoopa doing terrible, that he got pelted by a rock that dealt 3 damage,

"Who dares throw that rock at me?!" exclaimed Tutankoopa, looking at the audience. They were completely silent. "No one, huh? Well then…"

He grinned as he raised his arms and used his magic to raise the audience from their seats.

"Now, fools… You'll see what I'm capable of!" Tutankoopa fired the audience at Chopper and his friends. They managed to bring their guards up and take no damage from the twenty audience members flung at them.

"Whoa… That was intense." Chopper sighed.

"Poyo, (At least we took no damage,)" Kirby said.

Chopper agreed and hurled an electric ball at Tutankoopa, paralyzing him instantly. This allowed Heartsy to bring her hammer down on the Koopa, making the rest of the audience members cheer.

"Heh! We get a free turn!" Sonic got in a ball and struck Tutankoopa with a Spin Dash. When Chopper stomped on his head, their opponent was already halfway down. Tutankoopa had soon recovered from being paralyzed, and he was far from pleased.

"Ouch! You horrible young child!" Tutankoopa complained. "How could you do such a thing to King Tutankoopa, king of the desert?!"

"Because you're a bad guy?" Chopper replied.

Tutankoopa floated back onto the platform while raising his arms up as he shouted, "Come here, Chomp! Aid me once again!"

Using his magic, one of the other Chain Chomp statues were destroyed, and another Chain Chomp had stepped into the battlefield. However, just like before, Chopper easily defeated it using his quake Hammer and hurting Tutankoopa. Vivian struck the Koopa with a Shade Fist to leave a severe burn on him.

"Let's see how you handle THIS!" Tutankoopa used his magic to electrify a Buzzy Beetle shell. He then tossed it at Chopper, who proceeded to guard it.

"You asked for it!" Chopper made a big leap over to Tutankoopa and stomped on his head. As soon as he bounced off, Kirby jumped up and performed a Cartwheel, bringing him down to 120 HP. He was annoyed at first, but when he grabbed a fire shell, he instantly grinned.

"A nice fire shell should fry you up!" Tutankoopa cackled as he tossed it at Chopper, leaving a burn on him.

"Hey, why not attack someone else?" Chopper complained, taking damage from the burn.

"No way! Keep attacking him!" Tamber suggested, causing the others to glare at him.

Regardless, Tutankoopa ignored them, while Chopper had stomped on his head. Shadower quickly struck him with a Shadow Punch to bring him to 100 HP.

"Wow. We're almost done with him. Awesome." Scrub grinned.

"Uh huh," Chopper nodded, Superguarding the giant Chain Chomp Tutankoopa summoned to fall above him. He immediately stomped on him when he afterward.

Tamber grabbed a boulder from out of nowhere and threw it at Tutankoopa to bring his guard down. Because of this, he was the one to get hit by an electric Buzzy Beetle shell. This made Chopper feel better, on the other hand. Tamber made a face at him in response, so he got back to the fight and jumped on Tutankoopa. After Mario stomped on him, they had him down to 56 HP.

"Fear my power!" Tutankoopa roared, using his magic to summon another Chain Chomp. But, it ended up falling on top of him instead, making him fall off the platform. It was good, since Chopper and Heartsy were able to bring him to 19 HP with their hammers.

"Two more hits and it's over," Flyer smiled, while Tutankoopa slowly stood up.

"Ouch! You ungrateful little…" Tutankoopa grit his teeth as used his magic to fire a Chain Chomp at Chopper. He didn't care whether he got hit or not, as he managed to throw a light ball at Tutankoopa.

"I'll make the final blow!" Heartsy volunteered, gripping her hammer. "I haven't gotten an opportunity in a while!"

"Go for it," Chopper nodded, watching as Heartsy brought her hammer down on Tutankoopa, knocking him over.

"_Bluuuuuuuuuuurgh…_" Tutankoopa, slowly getting up a moment later. That was when the Chain Chomp statues had exploded and turned into normal ones, which landed behind him and began barking. When he turned to them, he began to shake and sweat. "Uh... Hey, Chomps! Did you come here to give me a hug?"

The Chain Chomps barked even louder and started to chase after Tutankoopa, ignoring the others.

"Waah! What're you doing?! I thought you were…ow! Someone help me!" Tutankoopa cried, leaving the room and dropping something along the way.

"You know, I can't help but feel that I remember something similar to that with him two years ago..." Chopper recalled.

"He dropped something," Heartsy walked over to the key and picked it up. "I bet this is what we need to open that door over there!"

"Door?" Scrub looked up ahead and noticed a locked door. "Oh, yeah! There is a door!"

"Now let's see if the key works," Heartsy ran over to the door and put the key in the lock, which ended up breaking off. "Yeah, it fits perfectly! Now we can get a move on! ...Though, what's up next?"

"Hmmmmm… Maybe Bubba Blubba?" Chopper wondered, thinking about Bubba Blubba as they entered a room with a floor made of marble. There was also a large table and even a large bed with a blue quilt.

Mario: This place is very nice!

"Chopper, look!" Vivian whispered, pointing to someone sleeping on the bed.

"What do you… Whoa." Chopper saw a big blue Clubba taking a nap in the comfortable bed. "That's not Bubba Blubba… He's someone else..."

Mario: That's Tubba Blubba!

"Tubba Blubba? Weird name..." Chopper was about to continue speaking, but the group heard some noise coming from upstairs. Curious, they went up to see two Goombas in tuxedos over by a table.

"Why, good day to you all!" the first Goomba greeted. "Please. Have a seat over there. We'll get to you shortly."

"Ummmmmmm… OK?" Chopper had a puzzled look on his face as he sat down. Everyone else had taken a seat and found a small cup of tea to sip.

"Before we get started… Would you care to save your game first?" the second Goomba asked.

"Save? Oh, I'll do that then." Chopper hit the Save Block above, saving his game. "I don't get the whole point in that…"

"Now then... Let us get started! Wait here a moment..."

The two Goombas had gone downstairs, and upon approaching Tubba Blubba, they began to continuously headbonk him. However, they hadn't gotten much of a response from the sleepy Clubba, to their dismay.

"_**THEY'RE**_ _**HERE!**_"

Tubba Blubba's nose bubble instantly popped, and he sat up on his bed, looking a bit drowsy.

"Hmmmph? What's all the noise?" Tubba Blubba mumbled. "Can't I have five more minutes?"

Immediately, Tubba Blubba went back to sleep. The two Goombas exchanged annoyed glances and gave the Clubba a Mega Headbonk, waking him up completely.

"Who?! What?! Where?! What's going on?!" Tubba Blubba jumped off his bed and glared at the two Goombas. "You better have a good explanation on why you woke me up!"

"You better look upstairs then," one of the Goombas told him.

Tubba Blubba sniffed the room. "Hmmmm… I'm getting a scent. One smells familiar... And I don't like the other one!"

He stomped his way up the stairs, where he saw Chopper and his friends sitting. They quickly stood up and got in their fighting stances.

"I had a feeling this was a trap..." Shadower mumbled.

"What are you people doing in my room?! People shouldn't be walking in here when I'm asleep!" Tubba Blubba growled, pounding his fists together. "I may be a wuss when I'm around Boos, but I've changed! I'm going to crush you all!"

"Crud... Well, looks like we have no other choice." Chopper groaned. "We're going to take you down, blue Bubba Blubba!"

"I'm TUBBA Blubba! And if that's what you want, then fine! I don't need invincibility to win this! My fists will do all of the work for me!" Tubba Blubba brought his fists down on the ground, knocking everyone back.

**Tattle: **_That's Tubba Blubba. Apparently he's some big Clubba who used to be invincible. I heard from Mario that he fought this guy before. That's pretty interesting… Max HP is 340, Attack is 18, and Defense is 0. He'll attack by bringing his fists down, or he might just use a hip attack. Overall, he's another 'meh' person. Kind of like the others... It makes me wonder if the others are even lamer.  
_

Chopper started the fight by creating a light ball of energy and throwing it directly at Tubba Blubba. It made contact with him and sent him flying back. He blinked for a moment as Chopper lowered his arm.

"What was that?!" questioned Tubba Blubba before he was hit by Mario's hammer. Before the plumber could step away, the large Clubba angrily grabbed him and threw him at Chopper.

"Ow... Well, he seems stronger than Bubba Blubba." Chopper mumbled before he jumped on Tubba Blubba to take 10 out of him. Mario jumped on the Clubba as well, bringing him down to 300 HP. Tubba Blubba stomped over to Chopper and he brought both of his fists down, creating a shockwave that struck him.

"Whoa... That's impressive." Sonic gaped.

The Clubba grinned as he stepped away, but he was swiftly hit by Chopper's Jump attack. He performed a couple of Stylish moves on him upon bouncing on his head. Scrub had fluttered over to Tubba Blubba next and used his Ground Pound to strike his head. After that, he cheered after performing a Stylish move.

"Being stylish is always cool!" Scrub cheered.

"And it also lets us get more Star Power," Flyer added.

"I'll flatten you!" Tubba Blubba shouted as he jumped on Chopper using his own weight. After he stepped off him, Chopper managed to get himself up, with the help of Kirby, of course.

"So I guess you wanna play it the hard way, huh? Then fine!" Chopper pulled out his hammer and struck him in the stomach, leaving Tubba Blubba to heave in pain. Vivian took another 10 out of him with her Shade Fist, along with burning him.

Tubba Blubba charged at Chopper with a punch, knocking him back toward Vivian. She helped Chopper up before he threw an electric ball at Tubba Blubba. Tamber decided to throw a punch to his stomach next, causing him to hold it in pain.

"Oooooog…" Tubba Blubba moaned. "My belly's starting to hurt..."

Despite this, he took a couple of steps back and charged at Chopper, attempting to flatten him with his weight again. However, his attack was Superguarded, making him take damage instead.

"Whew! That was close... Now to hit him with a Rainbow Spin!" Chopper smiled as he ran up to Tubba Blubba and struck him with a Rainbow Spin, followed up with Heartsy's Hearty Hammer. When Tubba Blubba threw a punch at him, he managed to guard the attack and strike him with his hammer.

"Now that I think about it, you seriously remind me of Grubba," Chopper mentioned. "Both are blue, and both are pretty bad."

"Really? That Grubba guy? That's weird..." Sonic trailed, hitting Tubba Blubba with a Spin Dash.

Once Chopper got struck by another shock wave, he clenched his fists, having enough. He leaped up in the air and landed on Tubba Blubba's head, using a Gravity Jump to take 30 out of him.

"EEEEEOUCH! What was THAT?!" exclaimed Tubba Blubba.

"My Gravity Jump," Chopper replied.

Afterward, Vivian struck Tubba Blubba with her Shade Fist to leave a burn on him. Chopper easily avoided Tubba Blubba's stomp attack with his Superguard before using a Spin Jump to take 15 out of him. Mario landed a Super Jump on him afterward, with him being hit by Tubba Blubba's Fists. Chopper landed another Gravity Jump on him to bring him to 97 HP.

"Might as well give this to you," Sonic pulled out a Rainbow Master and tossed it to Chopper so he could recover 200 HP and 200 FP.

"Bluuurg… That's not funny!" complained Tubba Blubba, seeing Chopper recover from the damage he took. Out of anger, he ran toward him and flattened him with another jump. Once Chopper got up, he threw a light ball at Tubba Blubba's face to stun him.

"We almost got him, so this shouldn't be too bad," Bombette said, exploding in front of Tubba Blubba with her Bomb.

"Grrrrrr!" Tubba Blubba grabbed Bombette and threw her at Chopper. He managed to guard her, and then he hit him with another hammer attack. Kirby's Cartwheel had brought the large Clubba down to 57 HP. Tubba Blubba tried punching at Chopper, but to his dismay, his attack had ended up missing. "Urgh... I'm definitely not on my A game here..."

Once Chopper landed another Gravity Jump, Tamber had thrown in his Power Punch and laughed at Tubba Blubba.

"You're so pathetic!" Tamber scoffed.

"Oof! What's wrong with me? How are these people who are smaller than me taking me down like this?!" Tubba Blubba brushed himself and stomped on Chopper. That, however, did not stop him from hitting him with a light ball.

What sealed his defeat was when Mario landed a Jump attack on his head.

"_**Eeeeeeeoooooow!**_"

Tubba Blubba collapsed onto the ground in defeat, while Chopper had claimed his Star Points. Afterward, the group approached the Clubba, noticing that he was not unconscious.

"OK! OK! You win!" Tubba Blubba cried. "I really don't like getting hurt so much! Honestly, I'm really a sensitive guy who doesn't like to be scared to death by ghosts. It started two years ago… Look, I'll let you have the key to the next room!"

Tubba Blubba walked over to the wall nearby and ripped through it, leaving a large, hole. He ripped through another part of the wall with a key this time.

"Here! Just take it! All I want to do is sleep at this moment… Could you please leave me be?"

"OK... Will you promise not to hurt anyone?" Chopper asked.

"Yes! Yes! I really do!" Tubba Blubba pleaded.

"All right. I guess so. Besides, we're not really after you anyway."

"Oh, thank you…" Tubba Blubba walked back down the stairs and began to resume his nap. Thankfully, that hadn't taken too long.

"I...guess we can move on," Chopper gawked, hitting the Save Block and unlocking the door downstairs. Through that door was a round room with marble ground. Along with that, there were some pillars holding the ceiling. Along with that, there were a lot of toys.

"What the heck is this place?" Scrub asked. "And what's with the toys?"

"Weird... I thought you'd like this room." Shadower gawked.

"Heck no! I'm into manlier things than this!"

"Who goes there? !"

The group instantly froze when they saw an army of Shy Guys standing before them. Up on a large present box was a white Shy Guy wearing a badge, along with a peaked cap, golden shoulder pads, and a gold metal with a ribbon on it. Chopper took a look at the hat he wore and smiled.

"Hey, I like that hat! Can I have it?" Chopper asked.

"Absolutely not!" General Guy snapped in a military-like voice. "This hat is mine and only mine! It shows my authority over my army! But before I get on a tangent, allow me to introduce myself… I am General Guy! I am a loyal servant of King Bowser and I lead this Shy Guy army! I once heard from King Bowser that a certain pale green boy with antennas was coming here… You, sir, definitely match that description!"

"Well, uh…"

"Ah-HA! Then you ARE Chopper. How would I know? King Bowser said you'd be with Mario, who I have always remembered! I would never forget about him!"

Mario let out a sigh.

General Guy stopped laughing and he adjusted his hat. "Anyway… You, young boy, are rather rude for trespassing in our territory. This room belongs to us Shy Guys, and if you think you're getting to the next room, you're dead wrong! Only evil minions like us Shy Guys are allowed into the other rooms in the castle!"

"All I wanna do is find Bowser," Chopper replied.

"Yeah, so maybe you oughta back off, unless you want me and Contadre to take you down!" Scrub taunted.

"Hmph! Very well then. You won't be leaving this room alive, then." General Guy declared. "Shy Guys! Get ready!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Got it, sir!"

"You can count on us, sir!"

"Um… OK?"

"Let's take them down!"

"Pipe down, Shy Guys!" General Guy shouted, silencing the Shy Guys. He then turned back to Chopper. "You shall taste defeat, Chopper! _**Chaaaaaaaarge!**_"

Instantly the Shy Guys faced the group and got prepared for battle.

"All right, guys!" a random Shy Guy began. "Let's not mess this up like last time, OK? Chaaarge!"

Upon seeing their HP, Chopper was pleasantly surprised.

"These guys have 35 HP? That's not so bad…" Chopper decided to bring his hammer down on them, which then followed up with Sonic's Spin Dash. That was when the Shy Guys mobbed Chopper, jumping and even kicking him. Since he guarded their attacks, it didn't do much. For the heck of it, Chopper used the Diamond Star and attacked them with an Earth Tremor. Though he wasn't completely successful in the attack, he managed to do 4 damage, leaving only one left.

"Eeep! I'm the only one left! We can't take them on! We must ruuuuuuuun!" the Shy Guy fled from the battle and passed General Guy. The latter was not pleased.

"Stand your ground, men! We don't have time for cowards!" General Guy shouted. "Running away will not be tolerated! I will not abide deserters!"

The Shy Guy passed by the group, leaving them spinning before they got their act together. General Guy ended up face palming.

"You men make me sick! We can't let Chopper get deeper into the castle! We must prevent that from happening! Am I the only one with guts?" General Guy yelled, jumping into his toy-like tank. "Alley-oop!"

A Shy Guy with light sticks came walking in, acting like it was air traffic. General Guy moved his tank toward the group and accidentally hitting the Shy Guy. The Shy Guy ended up crying on the ground.

"Get up this instant!" General Guy shouted. "We don't have time for sleeping on the stage! So stop being a crybaby and be a trooper!"

"OK! OK!" cried the Shy Guy as it got up and ran away. General Guy looked back at the Shy Guy in disdain before he brought his attention back to Chopper.

"Chopper! You, sir, will pay! You took down those disgraces of an army! But, that's all you're going to ever do to us! It's time for the next wave!"

General Guy whistled, and two Shy Guys that were on a piece of paper come down with stilts. They got up and the paper surrounding them disappeared.

"Attack Chopper, Stilt Guys! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Right away, sir!"

"These Stilt Guys have 25 HP, so we should focus on attacks that'll hit 'em both," Flyer suggested, using his Hurricane to have Chopper man the plane's turret and hit both Stilt Guys. Chopper then finished the job with his Master Hammer attack.

"That takes care of them!" Chopper smiled.

"Unbelievable! You defeated the Stilt Guys!" General Guy was traumatized. "Well… Looks like I only got one more thing left for you!"

Four Shy Guys fell from the ground and began to form some a small tower. Three Shy Guys came down next to them, forming another tower. A Shy Guy came out of General Guy's tank, leaving him surprised.

"Ho ho ho!" General Guy chortled. "I honestly doubt you'll get passed these guys! They really do pack a punch! Attaaaaaaaack!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"So these guys have 30 HP, huh? Well, I think we can finish 'em off easily!" Chopper attacked them with his Master Hammer. "Now, Bombette… Use your Explosion and they'll be done with!"

"All right, I'll do it! Stand back, everyone!" Bombette's fuse lit up as she slowly began to walk over to the Shy Guys. With her Explosion, she sent the Shy Guys flying. This had left General Guy completely speechless.

"Gah! Grrrr…! Fine! Looks like I'll have to beat you myself!" General Guy shouted. "Nobody embarrasses the brave Shy Guys in my army! Nobody!"

"But most of them were cowards!" Scrub scoffed.

"That's not the point! Prepare to battle against me and my tank!" General Guy closed the top, and he got inside of his tank.

"That looks more like a stroller than a tank," Chopper noticed.

"Oh, really?" General Guy turned the barrel and pointed it at Chopper. "What did you just say?"

"Err… Nothing?" Chopper gulped.

"I thought so…"

**Tattle: **_That's General Guy. Well, more like his tank. It looks more like a stroller to me. I mean, come on! Max HP is 320, Attack is 18, and Defense is 2. Defense against electric attacks is 0, so keep that in mind. He'll shoot missiles at you from that barrel, or maybe he just might throw bombs at you. There's also that light bulb, which can deal some serious damage if you don't take it out soon. That has 40 HP. Honestly, I think this is the first time I saw Shy Guys acting military-like. I thought these guys were just crazy, like those thieving Bandits.  
_

"All right, so we'll have to take out the light bulb first," Chopper started off by jumping on the light bulb, with Shadower throwing a Shadow Punch at it afterward.

"Take this, you rotten little boy!" General Guy popped his head out of the tank and threw an ice bomb at Chopper. He quickly guarded the attack so he didn't become frozen. With that, Chopper jumped on the light bulb one last time before Mario jumped on it, shattering it.

"That takes care of that," Vivian said.

"Great… I just lost my light bulb!" General Guy groaned. "HOWEVER, I still got my tank! And it's also got a couple of new tricks up its sleeves too! Take a look at this!"

He pressed a button, and a missile fired out of the tank and hit everyone, dealing 20 damage. As they were left covered in soot, General Guy began to laugh.

"What the… Wow. I underestimated that thing…" Flyer gawked.

"Well, surely he doesn't know that I can do THIS!" Chopper changed to his Plasma ability and fired a Plasma Needle at the tank, piercing through its defense.

"Ack! My high-tech tank defenses don't seem to stand up to that electric attack for some reason!" General Guy cried. "Quit doing that! You're breaking the rules of war, electric headed Star Warrior!"

"There are rules to war?" Chopper asked as Sonic struck the tank with a Spin Dash. General Guy grabbed an electric bomb and threw it directly at Chopper. Unfortunately, for him, the bomb ended up HEALING Chopper instead.

"Wh-What?!" General Guy stammered. "How did my electric bomb heal you?!"

"Uhh… Hello? ELECTRIC?!" Chopper pointed at himself. "Of course that wasn't going to work!"

"What an idiot," Tamber snickered.

Chopper fired another Plasma Needle at the tank to electrocute it, which then followed up with Heartsy's hammer. General Guy popped out of the tank again and managed to hit Chopper with a fire bomb this time, leaving a burn on him. It still didn't stop him from piercing through the tank with another Plasma Needle.

Mario shrugged and pulled out his hammer. He brought it down on General Guy's tank afterward, which was what led him to get struck by an electric bomb.

"Where does General Guy even get these bombs? In fact, how many does he have?" Chopper questioned as he struck the tank with his Spark attack.

"If I knew, I'd tell you," Flyer answered, being the next one to hit General Guy's tank with his Flying Attack. Since General Guy had some garbage left in his tank, he decided to pull it out and throw it at Flyer for 18 damage. "Youch! Garbage doing 18 damage? Yeesh..."

"Yeah, it is weird," Chopper agreed, electrocuting the tank with a Plasma Needle.

"Let's see how I'll do against this thing!" Tamber clenched his fist and managed to leave a big dent on the tank. "Oh, yeah, baby! I'm AWESOME!"

"Arrrgh! How dare you damage my precious tank! You'll pay for that!" General Guy grabbed a fire bomb and tossed it at Tamber, leaving a burn on him.

"Gah! Stupid bomb!" Tamber grit his teeth and shook his fist at the tank. Chopper ignored him, while Shadower lowered the tank's defense with a Shadow Punch. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity to use his Gravity Jump, Chopper leaped in the air and came down on the tank, taking 30 out of it.

General Guy loaded another missile in the tank's barrel and opened fire. Thankfully, they all managed to guard the attack and take only 19 damage. This made Chopper attack with a Spin Jump, which then led up to Bombette using her Bomb.

"Taste more garbage!" General Guy threw more garbage at Chopper, hitting him in the face.

"Augh! I don't like this!" Chopper complained, getting the garbage off him and struck General Guy's tank with a Plasma Needle. Kirby made the next move, pulling out his Final Cutter and striking the tank with it. It managed to leave a mark, too.

"No! Look what you did to my beautiful tank!" General Guy cried.

"That thing looks more like a stroller than a tank," Sonic taunted. In response, General Guy threw a bomb at Sonic. "Looks like someone's a little _too_ sensitive..."

"Yeah," Chopper nodded, firing a bigger electric blast at General Guy's tank, taking 14 out of it.

"And then comes the Power Punch!" Tamber rushed straight at General Guy's tank with a Power Punch, bringing it down to 127 HP. With that, General Guy fired another missile at Chopper and his group to take another 20 out of them. Once Chopper threw in an electric ball, some smoke was starting to come out of it.

"Wow. We're getting closer and closer to beating this thing down. Neat!" Sonic smirked as he attacked the tank with his Sonic Wind. General Guy was about to throw an electric ball at Sonic, but since the wind from Sonic's attack was starting to wear off, the bomb hit Chopper instead, healing him.

"Thank you!" Chopper smiled.

"GRAAAAH! What is WRONG with me today?!" General Guy raged. "I'm not being the general that I used to be!"

"Well, sorry to hear that."

Once Shadower struck the tank with a Shadow Punch, Chopper attacked with another Gravity Jump, bringing it to 69 HP.

"Wow. We're chipping him down for real!" Scrub smirked.

"Grrrrr! Let's see how you like another missile!" General Guy went back inside of his tank and fired a missile at the group. "I hope you enjoyed that."

"At this point, we don't really care," Chopper replied, attacking the tank with a Wall Jump, taking a good 26 out of it. When Scrub threw a giant egg at the tank, they brought it down to 31 HP.

"Nice!" Scrub grinned.

"Grrrrrrrr! My tank…is almost about to explode!" General Guy gaped, noticing some sparks coming from his tank. "Looks like I have to take things a little bit further!"

He grabbed a couple of bombs and began chucking them at Chopper and his friends. To his dismay, they managed to Superguard them all.

"Great… That didn't work." General Guy face palmed as Chopper struck the tank with a Spark attack, followed by Flyer's Flying Attack, bringing it down to 11 HP. General Guy could feel some shaking coming from the tank. "Uh oh… This thing's almost about to blow! Mayday! Mayday!"

"Allow me," Sonic volunteered as he got in a ball. With one Homing Attack, he caused the tank to explode. It also sent General Guy crashing through the ceiling, as well as sending him flying out of the castle. "Looks like he's finished!"

"Yup!" Chopper nodded. "Though, was sending him out of here necessary?"

"No idea," Sonic shrugged. "I was just doin' what I usually do."

They looked up ahead at the remaining Shy Guys. Without their general leading them, they were all huddled together, shaking in fear.

"Uh… RUN FOR IT, GUYS!" one Shy Guy cried, fleeing from the room with the others. Along with that, a key happened to drop from them.

"Hey, they dropped a key!" Chopper grabbed the key and brought it over to the door ahead. "Let's go, guys!"

He unlocked it, and they entered a room with a couple of lava pits and a brown, rocky ground. That said, everyone was less than thrilled to be back in a place that reminded them of the volcano.

"Oh, goody… We're in a hot place again." Tamber groaned.

"Well... We are already in a hot place." Flyer pointed out, while Chopper removed his Plasma ability and hit the Save Block and Heart Block. He spotted the door up ahead, along with a large lava pit.

"There's the door already! Let's get outta here quick!" Chopper suggested, running over to the door. However, he was put to a halt when the lava pit started to become bubbly.

"What the… Something's not right." Flyer said, taking notice of the lava pit.

When the others walked over to Chopper, they saw a large, red Piranha Plant emerge from the lava. It had a green stem with thorns on it, and its head had white polka dots, which resembled white rings than actual full spots. Like most Piranha Plants, it had white, thick lips and sharp teeth. Two other thorny stems were beside it including small buds with thick lips.

Mario: Lava Piranha...

"BLECK HYUK HYUK YUCK!" Lava Piranha cackled. "SO YOU ARE THE ONE KING BOWSER WAS TALKING ABOUT!"

"I guess so..." Chopper shrugged. "And why are you speaking in all caps?"

"WE NEVER LISTEN TO A BAD PERSON LIKE YOURSELF! YOU ARE BAD!"

"Oh, come on! We're not bad! We do what we need to do!" Tamber yelled. "At least, I'm not bad."

"OH, BUT YOU ARE! YOU ARE BAD!" Lava Piranha shouted. "BAD GUYS COME TO BOWSER'S CASTLE TO FIGHT BOWSER! BAD GUYS WHO TRY TO COME HERE GET HURT! THEY DON'T LEAVE THIS CASTLE ALIVE! WE PREVENT THOSE FROM CONTINUING! WE MAKE THINGS VERY HOT, CHOPPER! WE TRY TO DESTROY YOU!"

"You look like a rip-off of Poison Piranha," Chopper remarked. "…Or is it the other way around?"

"WE DON'T CARE WHAT POISON PIRANHA IS! HE IS OLD! BUT WE STOP YOU FROM MOVING! WE BEAT YOU, CHOPPER!"

Chopper stood speechless for a moment before finally getting in a fighting stance. "Well, fine. You might make things hot, but we're going to cool you down!"

"I don't know whether that was supposed to be a pun or not..." Shadower trailed.

**Tattle: **_That's Lava Piranha. He's a deadly Piranha Plant that will use fire against you. You know, like most Piranha Plants? Talk about unoriginality. Max HP is 180, Attack is 18, and Defense is 0. The only thing it'll do is spew fireballs at you. However, those Lava Buds will do the same thing as well. They have 30 HP, an Attack of 15, and a Defense of 0. I'd try to get rid of those as well if I were you. It doesn't say much else... If only this thing could take a chill pill. It is WAY too loud!  
_

"Let's take this thing down," Chopper started off by using his Master Glove attack to take 16 out of Lava Piranha and the Lava Buds with a giant light ball.

"Good idea. We need to take out those Lava Buds too." Vivian said, raising her finger and striking them with a Fiery Jinx. Thankfully, none of them were healed by this. Lava Piranha had ended up attacking Chopper with a fireball, while the Lava Buds' fireballs were Superguarded by Vivian.

"This one last attack should finish the buds off," Chopper stated as he attacked Lava Piranha with another Master Glove attack. The huge amount of light energy caused it to cringe while taking out the buds.

"THE LIGHT! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!" screamed Lava Piranha.

"Argh! Stop being loud!"

"I'll get him to shut up," Tamber approached Lava Piranha and landed a punch on it, which managed to silence it as well. "That'll teach ya!"

Lava Piranha spat a fireball straight at Tamber, leaving a burn on him in retaliation. While Tamber grumbled, Chopper stomped on the Piranha Plant's head, performing a stylish move in the process.

"Let's see what I can pull off," Scrub fluttered over to Lava Piranhas head and attacked it with a Ground Pound. This made Lava Piranha shoot a fireball at him, but he easily guarded it. Along with that, the Lava Buds had come back, and they were ready for action again.

Chopper decided to throw in a Gravity Jump on Lava Piranha to deal 30 damage. Add Flyer's Hurricane, and Lava Piranha and its buds had lost 12 HP in the process. It did manage to hit Chopper with a fireball, while the Lava Buds shot fireballs at Flyer and Tamber. Chopper left the Lava Buds at 2 HP when he used his Master Glove attack. It also left Lava Piranha with 36 HP when Kirby used his Final Cutter against it.

"BLECK HYUCK HYUCK YUCK! WE WON'T LOSE SO SOON!" Lava Piranha yelled, spitting a fireball at Chopper, who managed to guard the attack.

"Let's just get rid of this guy already," Chopper groaned as he performed a stylish move on him with a Jump attack. Mario brought the Piranha Plant down to 16 HP with his jump, but he got burnt by a fireball while at it.

"Yup. We're wrapping it up now." Tamber stated, getting ready to finish off the Piranha Plant after Chopper stomped on him. "Take…THIS!"

With one punch, he knocked Lava Piranha's head back. Not only that, but he managed to make the creature sink into the lava.

"Wow. That was easier than I thought!"

"Well, that wraps this up!" Chopper smiled. "I guess we ought to…"

Suddenly, the lava began to bubble once again. Soon enough, Lava Piranha emerged again, but this time covered in flames. This time, his tongue was hanging out as well.

"WE WON'T GIVE UP SO EASILY, CHOPPER!" Lava Piranha cackled. "BAD GUYS DON'T DESERVE TO WIN QUICKLY!"

"Dang it... I guess it's not over yet... Well, better do what I usually do to flaming enemies." Chopper sighed, changing to his Water ability. He raised his arm, and a large wave struck Lava Piranha and the Lava Buds, stunning them for two turns.

"Now's our chance to attack! Quickly! Before his flames return!" Flyer shouted. Tamber was the first to make a move, punching Lava Piranha's head with his fists. Since Lava Piranha was stunned, it couldn't make an attack.

"A free attack! Heck yeah!" Tamber grinned, punching Lava Piranha again.

"This is easier than I thought it was going to be!" Chopper smiled as jumped on Lava Piranha. Unfortunately, it managed to restore its flames, along with its buds, and it shot fireballs at them. This time, they did more damage. Regardless of that, Chopper used a Tidal Wave to stop them in their tracks. Tamber threw in another punch afterward.

"Let someone else have a turn! Sheesh…" Heartsy frowned.

"Oh, boo hoo! You want to make an attack!" Tamber fake cried. "Well, only the strong ones get to make a move – excluding the puffball."

Once again, Lava Piranha was unable to attack, so Chopper and Mario both jumped on the enemy, and eventually it managed to restore its flames and leave its tongue hanging from its mouth.

Lava Piranha shook a little before his flames were back, bringing it back to its crazy self.

"NOW YOU WILL BURN!" Lava Piranha spewed fiery breath upon Chopper, dealing 19 damage to him. The Lava Buds shot two bombs that would attack next turn, but they only had 1 HP.

"Uh oh… I better get rid of them!" Chopper used another Tidal Wave to take out the bombs and stun Lava Piranha once again. "Wow... This is actually pretty easy."

"Now let's see if I can finally attack," Heartsy pulled her Hearty Hammer out and slammed it down on Lava Piranha's head.

"And now… Here's a nice Gravity Jump!" Chopper delivered a Gravity Jump on Lava Piranha. Tamber brought it down to 46 HP with his Combo Punch.

"He's still not getting up. DOG PILE ON HIM!" Tamber shouted, rushing at Lava Piranha. However, its flames had come back, and the result was him getting scorched. "Ow..."

"Think before you act," Flyer suggested.

Tamber mumbled as he went back to the group. Chopper took out the Lava Buds with his Tidal Wave, and then Flyer used his Flying Attack. After Kirby used a Cartwheel and Chopper a normal jump, Lava Piranha was down to 4 HP. However, Lava Piranha was able to get back up and scorch them with its fire breath.

However, Tamber was not going to let any of these losers get the final hit, so he picked up a boulder from out of nowhere and tossed it at Lava Piranha while it cackled. Soon enough, its fell fell on the ground unconscious.

"There! It's finished!" Tamber smirked, crossing his arms. "You can start thanking me now."

"Ummmm... Thanks?" Chopper gawked, removing his Water ability. Afterward, he hit the Save Block and Heart Block near the door. "This way, guys."

He opened the door for everyone to walk in, and then he went in. They noticed that it wasn't as dark in here. It felt nice and bright, and the ground was made of clouds. Even the walls were a sky blue color.

"Wow... This is a nice room!" Flyer smiled. "Even though I get some serious déjà vu from the Night Palace..."

"Yeah, it does look like it," Chopper agreed with a smile too. His smile, however, didn't last long when he saw a large, brown lump in the middle of the room. "Hey, what's that?"

Everyone could only shrug.

"OK... Let's check it out." Chopper walked over to the lump and poked at it. At first, nothing happened, but then it started to move. "Whoa! It moves!"

"Are you the boy named Chopper that King Bowser mentioned?" the lump asked.

"Whoa! It even talks!"

The lump ignored Chopper and continued. "What possessed you to run into this castle and knock away King Bowser's minions?"

"Well, er… That's hard to say. I was thinking that Bowser might know something." Chopper pondered. "Plus, I'm wondering WHY he's even here in the first place."

"But he has not done anything to you…yet," the lump looked over at Mario. "Is that you, Mario?! I had a feeling you'd be here with Chopper. So I was right after all…"

"And who are you supposed to be?" Flyer asked.

"Me? I'm just a simple cloud who takes orders from King Bowser. You can call me Huff N. Puff. But I can't allow someone of the likes of you to move on. I definitely do not want to disappoint King Bowser after my other failure…"

"I'm not going to let some brown cloud get in my way," Chopper declared. "So move it."

"I don't think so," Huff N. Puff rose, up, revealing his light red eyes and mouth and also his fat cheeks. "I do what King Bowser tells me to do, and his orders are to eliminate you!"

Mario noticed the size of Huff N. Puff was a lot different than before. He was much bigger. His guess was that there were much more Tuff Puffs in him.

**Tattle: **_That's Huff N. Puff. He's a giant, brown cloud that's made up of 380 Tuff Puffs. That's right! Max HP is 380, Attack is 19, and Defense is 0. Huff N. Puff will only attack you with his thunder attacks, or he might even inhale his own Tuff Puffs to recover HP. You don't want that to happen, since he'll heal more HP depending on how many Tuff Puffs there are. Make sure you use attacks that can hit more than one enemies when he's got a ton of Tuff Puffs out. That's the key to winning this. You know, looking at this cloud, I can't help but notice that it reminds me of something...strange... ...Eeeugghh!  
_

"So he's got 380 HP? That's not too bad…" Chopper started off by using his Power Bounce. He managed to stomp on him twelve times before he bounced off of him, performing a stylish move in the end.

"Whoa, I think I might need to do something about these Tuff Puffs!" Flyer used his wind powers to attack the Tuff Puffs with a Tornado, destroying them in the process. Only two remained.

"Master Huff N. Puff! I wish to pummel Chopper too! Permission to attack?" one Tuff Puff asked.

"Yes, attack him!" Huff N. Puff replied.

The two Tuff Puffs tried to attack Chopper, but he managed to shake them off before they could do anything. Seeing as they were pointless, Huff N. Puff inhaled the two Tuff Puffs back into him to recover 4 HP.

"Cheap," Scrub mumbled.

"Well, it's only 4 HP…" Chopper trailed, stomping on Huff N. Puff with his Jump, making a couple of Tuff Puffs come out. Vivian attacked them with a Fiery Jinx afterward, setting Huff N. Puff aflame as well.

"Hey, that Goomba chick did say this thing looks like something," Tamber recalled. "What do you think it looks like?"

"I don't know. It just looks like a brown cloud." Chopper shrugged, causing Tamber to snicker upon realization.

The two Tuff Puffs attacked Flyer, taking 8 out of him. Huff N. Puff made his next attack, inhaling some air and then using all of his might to blow Chopper away, only to deal 10 damage to him because he managed to hold his own against it.

"Sorry, but I don't think you're going to stop me so easily," Chopper said as he stomped on Huff N. Puff again.

Flyer used another Tornado attack to defeat the Tuff Puffs. The two remaining ones tried to attack him, but he managed to throw them off before they could get a hold on him.

"Whew... Well that's a relief." Flyer sighed.

While that happened, Huff N. Puff body slammed Chopper with his own weight, taking 19 out of him. This did not stop the little Star Warrior from striking him with a Gravity Jump, however. Bombette used her Explosion afterward to take out the Tuff Puffs and deal 14 damage to Huff N. Puff.

"You asked for it… Now you're going to witness the full power of my storm!" Huff N. Puff exclaimed.

"Master Huff N. Puff! We got this!" one Tuff Puff assured as it and the other one charged at Chopper, attacking him, but they were driven back by Chopper's Rainbow Spin.

"Now to charge my storm…" Huff N. Puff clenched his fists and teeth as he was surrounded in electricity.

"He looks...uhhh... Oh, never mind." Chopper frowned, tossing a light ball at Huff N. Puff. Flyer used another Tornado to get rid of the Tuff Puffs that were around, and Huff N. Puff was left with 230 HP.

Chopper managed to drive the two Tuff Puffs away when they attacked, but the main problem was Huff N. Puff's storm. He already unleashed the attack, but ironically, the attack was Superguarded.

"Aw… My attack missed?" Huff N. Puff frowned, seeing the group unharmed. "That should've hit you!"

"Guess not!" Chopper replied as he struck Huff N. Puff with a Spin Jump. "I bet using some strong attacks will work nicely against him."

"Then I'm going in for another Explosion!" Bombette charged at Huff N. Puff and his Tuff Puffs and destroyed all of the small clouds, making Huff N. Puff even smaller.

"No! Not my beautiful clouds!" Huff N. Puff clenched his fists and knocked Bombette away with one of them. "Now I'm angry!"

"Ugh... Who ever thought a cloud could pack a punch?" Bombette groaned as she watched Chopper perform another Power Bounce on Huff N. Puff, stomping on him fourteen times this time.

"Good job!" Heartsy complimented, using her Hearty Cyclone to take out the rest of the Tuff Puffs. The two remaining tried to attack her, but she shook them off.

Huff N. Puff tried his Hurricane attack again, but it only did 10 damage to Chopper, since he managed to hold on to the cloud. He delivered a nice Spring Jump on him, on the other hand, taking 20 out of him.

"This battle is getting easier and easier by the minute!" Tamber used his Master Star Fist to take out all of the Tuff Puffs and also deal damage to Huff N. Puff, bringing him to 139 HP.

"Gnnnnrgh… How dare you humiliate the great Huff N. Puff like this?!" Huff N. Puff body slammed Chopper again, taking another 19 out of him. When he finally got off, Chopper took 30 out of him with a Gravity Jump. With Scrub's Ground Pound, he was down to 99 HP.

"This cloud doesn't stand a chance against us!" Scrub cheered.

"Master Huff N. Puff! We can't give up now!" one Tuff Puff cried. "We still have a chance!"

"Yes… We still do." Huff N. Puff ordered the Tuff Puffs to attack Chopper. He managed to shake them off, while Huff N. Puff used his Hurricane to blow Chopper away. Though it did manage to hurt him, it was not enough. "Argh! My attacks are not working!"

"Works for us," Chopper replied, using another Gravity Jump to bring Huff N. Puff down to 69 HP. Bombette's Explosion had helped deplete the brown cloud to 55 HP.

Huff N. Puff ordered the Tuff Puffs to strike Chopper again, and this time they did 2 damage. He quickly inhaled the two small clouds so he could get a little bigger, recovering 4 HP. Chopper shrugged it off and struck Huff N. Puff with a Spin Jump. Heartsy used another Hearty Cyclone to help take out all but two Tuff Puffs.

Huff N. Puff brought his whole cloudy body down on Heartsy to deal 19 to her. Unfortunately, his attack missed, and he ended up getting struck by her hammer. Chopper tossed a light ball at Huff N. Puff, bringing him down to 14 HP.

_"Hmmmm… Perhaps I can still win this…" _Huff N. Puff thought, preparing himself for another storm. Considering he was surrounded by electricity, Chopper threw a fireball at him. Flyer volunteered to finish him off with his Tornado, which managed to shrink him down to Chopper's height.

"Game over, Huff N. Puff!" Chopper smiled, staring at the helpless cloud.

"No! How could this happen to me?!" Huff N. Puff cried before he finally exploded.

"That's it? That was hardly an explosion!" Scrub pouted. "That could've been so COOL!"

"Well, we might as well move on with Huff N. Puff gone," Vivian suggested, opening the door ahead. She noticed that the ground in the next room was made of ice. "Another cold room?"

"Really? Let me see." Chopper entered the room and was left in surprise by the room's appearance. There were stairs in front of him too, leading to the upper floor. The walls were blue with snowflakes depicted on them. Along with that, he was shivering. "You weren't wrong when you said it's cold in here, Vivian."

"Well, it's better than being out in the burning heat at the moment," Flyer said as he walked in. He almost slipped because of the icy floor. "They really need to do something about this floor."

"Yeah, that's true," Chopper walked up the spiral stairs to the top, where he found a frozen door on the upper floor. "I'll take care of this!"

He changed to his Fire ability and he melted the door with his fire breath.

"Now we can head in," Heartsy smiled, the group entering a smaller room with a Save Block and Heart Block. However, to them, the room felt a bit eerie, just like a similar, small room like this in the Crystal Palace.

"Why does Bowser's Castle have so many different designs for their minions?" Chopper wondered after hitting both blocks. "It's…strange."

"I'm guessing that the next minion…is an ice one," Vivian trailed off over to the door and opened it to find a snowy pathway leading up to an icy platform. The walls almost made it look like they were outside.

"Interesting design," Flyer commented as they set foot on the snowy ground. "And it's definitely real snow."

Chopper let a snowflake fall into his hands and melt. "Yup. This is real snow all right. Though, I don't get how it's snowing in this castle. Oh well..."

He made his way up the snowy hill and onto the icy platform. Across the platform was another door, and hopefully, the last one.

"Who comes to my cold room?"

Everyone stopped when they made it on the platform, and they looked up to see a familiar face floating down.

"The Crystal King?" Chopper clenched his fists and got in a fighting stance. "I had a feeling you'd be here…"

"And I knew of your appearance" the Crystal King said coldly as he descended. "After my last defeat, I was nothing but star dust! Luckily, an evil angel once found me while I was up in Starlite Galaxy. I proposed to him that if he could bring me back, I would give him the power he needs to lead an army. Luckily, that deal was a success."

"Wait… Are you talking about Chillbi?" Flyer asked.

"Perhaps, Besides, he was nothing more than a depressed angel who had no friends! He wanted to get rid of them, so I helped him!" the Crystal King grinned. "…But, back to the story. You see, once I was back to my own self again, I decided to do one thing: hunt you down!"

"I'm surprised we didn't see you before. I mean, wouldn't you have followed us around?" Chopper asked.

"Unfortunately, I am unable to leave any cold place that I stay, such as the Crystal Palace – which is why I had to come in here immediately and make a cold room myself. However, when I heard that you'd be coming here, I knew my chance at getting revenge would finally come to be!"

"Revenge? Ha! You don't even have a face!" Tamber laughed.

"True, but I'm still capable of destroying the lot of you!" the Crystal King raised his arms and summoned his three Crystal Bits. "This time, I'm not holding back! You better be ready, Chopper!"

**Tattle: **_That's the Crystal King. He…really looks freaky with no face or arms! That voice itself makes me shiver! Max HP is 400, Attack is 20, and Defense is 2. Those Crystal Bits can be fired at you, or the Crystal King might even use his Ice Beam! It gets worse from there, though… If he's low on HP, he might end up recovering 50 HP because he can! Honestly, it's a really bad thing… Even his ability to clone himself is also a pain! Honestly, this is one guy you should be careful with... He's much tougher than the others.  
_

"Let's see how fire does against you!" Chopper smirked as he used his fire breath to burn the Crystal King. While it didn't necessarily deal additional damage, it did leave the Crystal King wincing in pain.

"Argh!" the Crystal King cried.

Vivian sank into the shadows and emerged in front of the Crystal King. She left a longer burn on him with her Shade Fist and then returned to the others. The Crystal King decided to inhale his Crystal Bits and spit them at Chopper. Each did 8 damage to him, taking 24 damage altogether.

"Wow. This guy can really deal some damage…" Chopper quickly shook his head and spat a fireball out at the Crystal King. Vivian also burned the Crystal King with her Shade Fist. The Crystal King mumbled to himself as he raised his arms, summoning his Crystal Bits back. This had also made him waste a turn, to his dismay.

"A free turn! Thanks, Crystal King!" Chopper smirked, hitting the Crystal King with a Fire Spin, taking 10 out of him. "You know, this battle is probably suited for you, Vivian!"

"Ummmm... Yeah, I guess so." Vivian blushed, raising her finger to strike the Crystal King with her Fiery Jinx. Along with that, she had managed to take out his Crystal Bits too.

"I don't need my Crystal Bits to win this. Take this, Chopper!" the Crystal King's robe sparkled before he shot an Ice Beam at Chopper. Luckily, he managed to guard it to prevent himself from being frozen. "Hmph... You have some quick reflexes."

"Well, I guess that's a good thing," Chopper said as he tossed a fireball at the Crystal King, burning him once again.

"Argh... I can't stand the heat!" the Crystal King hissed.

"Deal with it!" Tamber retorted, punching the Crystal King with a Combo Punch. The Crystal King did not tolerate this, so he shot an ice beam at Tamber and froze him.

"Dang… I was hoping he would be able to guard it, but oh well…" Chopper used his Fire Breath on the Crystal King, while Vivian used another Shade Fist on him to bring him close to 310 HP.

"Perhaps this attack should surprise you!" the Crystal King swung his arm, and the background near Chopper ripped. The Ice Slash struck both Chopper and Vivian, which froze the poor Shadow Siren.

"Vivian! No!" Chopper cried.

"Oh, I'm sorry… Did I hurt your little friend?" the Crystal King chuckled.

Chopper rushed at the Crystal King, leaping in the air and hitting the Crystal King with a Spring Jump to take 16 out of him.

"Poyo! (I'm going to make a move!)" Kirby declared, pulling his Final Cutter out and striking the Crystal King with it to deal 12 damage. This time, the Crystal King attacked Kirby with an ice beam, but he successfully Superguarded it. "Poyo! (You missed!)"

"You'll have to do better than that, Crystal King!" Chopper taunted, hitting the Crystal King with more of his Fire Breath. Thankfully, Tamber had thawed out and was ready to attack. However, Mario beat him to it and managed to hit the Crystal King with his hammer.

"Don't think I've forgotten about giving Bowser with an iced Mario gift!" the Crystal King reminded, freezing Mario with another ice attack.

"Aw, great… He's got Mario too!" Sonic sighed. "Well, time to make things a little interesting then!"

He curled up in a ball and struck the Crystal King with a Spin Dash. After that, Chopper spat another fireball at the Crystal King. With that attack, Vivian had finally thawed out.

"Are you all right?" Chopper asked.

"I feel much better, now that I'm thawed out," Vivian nodded.

"Good!"

"I'm going to need my Crystal Bits for this…" the Crystal King muttered, raising his arms and summoning his Crystal Bits, but he ended up losing all of his defense when Shadower hit him with a Shadow Punch. Chopper landed on the Crystal King with a Gravity Jump and then he guarded the Crystal King's Crystal Bits that were fired at him. He then performed a Wall Jump on him to deal 26 damage. Tamber's Power Punch helped bring him halfway down.

"Ready to give up?" Chopper asked.

"Urgh… You won't stop me!" the Crystal King grumbled, summoning his Crystal Bits again. "I will not stop until you are defeated!"

"All right, then..." Chopper breathed more fire on the Crystal King, while Vivian had scorched him even more with her Shade Fist. The Crystal King managed to take 24 out of Chopper by spitting his Crystal Bits, but that didn't stop Chopper and Vivian from hitting him with more fire-based attack, the latter performing a stylish move.

The Crystal King gave an evil grin as he raised his arms and recovered 50 HP, leaving everyone to gape. "Heh heh heh... This should help me prevent myself from losing to you fools!"

"That's cheaper than that stupid cloud!" Scrub pouted.

"Well... I guess it's time to use a Gravity Jump." Chopper rolled his eyes as he used a Gravity Jump to strike the Crystal King. After Vivian hit him with another Shade Fist, the Crystal King tried freezing her. Sadly, his attack was a failure when she Superguarded it.

"That was too close!" Vivian sighed.

"You were lucky," the Crystal King hissed before taking damage from Chopper's Gravity Jump. When Scrub used his Mega Egg on him, he was down to 107 HP.

"Whew... It's good to know that the Crystal King is nearly defeated." Chopper sighed, bringing his guard up to prevent himself from becoming frozen by an ice beam. Chopper fought back with his Fire Spin, which managed to deal 10 damage. With Bombette's Bomb, the Crystal King was down to 89 HP.

The Crystal King summoned his Crystal Bits to prepare for his next attack, but this led him to get hit by Chopper's Fire Breath and Vivian's Shade Fist.

"Heh heh heh heh… I know you think you can win this fight, but I'm not going to let you! Behold!" the Crystal King raised his arms up and began to spin around vertically. Two other Crystal Kings appeared in front of them. "Can you guess which one is the real one?"

"So he can clone himself..." Flyer trailed. "Very interesting."

"Vivian, go ahead and use a Fiery Jinx," Chopper suggested with a smile. Vivian nodded and scorched all three Crystal Kings with fire. Though, in reality, two were unaffected, while the real one was struck, causing the clones to disappear.

"Curses! I thought this would work!" the Crystal King spat.

"I guess not," Chopper said as he struck him with another Gravity Jump, bringing him to 37 HP.

The Crystal King inhaled his Crystal Bits he had and spat them out at the Star Warrior. _"If I'm going to stay alive, I'm going to have to heal soon… It's bad when stuff like this happens."_

"Hi-ya!" Chopper yelled, throwing a fireball at him. Once Heartsy brought her hammer down on the Crystal King, he smirked and raised his arms.

"Heh heh heh!" the Crystal King cackled as he recovered 50 HP.

"Not again..." Chopper mumbled, hitting him with a Power Smash. "This battle is dragging on and on…"

"I understand how you feel, Chopper," Vivian agreed after striking the Crystal King with a Shade Fist. They at least brought him down to 51 HP.

The Crystal King decided to make two other clones once again, hoping to trick Chopper and his friends. Chopper, feeling confident, tossed a fireball at the one in front, but it turned out to be a phantom, which disappeared.

"Dang it..." Chopper frowned. What was worse was that the Crystal King had taunted him as well. Vivian revealed the real Crystal King with her Fiery Jinx, scorching him in flames. He grumbled to himself as he struck the group with an Ice Slash, which managed to deal 22 damage.

…But it was Superguarded, to his surprise.

"Arrrgh! How dare you Superguard my attack?!" the Crystal King hissed. He could hear the audience cheering for them. "Shut up! You're not helping!"

"Hey, they're just cheering! Sheesh!" Chopper spat a fireball straight at the Crystal King, with Tamber leaving him at 21 HP with his punch.

The Crystal King panted, but he wasn't going to stop there. He struck Tamber with an Ice Beam, freezing him. But it was coming to an end when Chopper and Vivian both struck him with fire attacks.

"_I'm not going to last long…" _the Crystal King thought, looking at his burnt robe and his melted crown. _"…But I STILL won't let myself down!"_

He slowly got up and struck the group with an Ice Slash.

"Sorry, dude, but we gotta end this," Sonic said.

The group nodded, and Vivian had sunk into the shadows and delivered the final blow with her Shade Fist.

"No… I've…failed!" the Crystal King cried, feeling sparkles emit from him. "Forgive me, King Bowser, for I have failed…"

With that, the Crystal King exploded into star dust once again.

"Whew! That was close!" Chopper sighed in relief, but he took notice of the star dust that flew out of the room. "Wait... That star dust..."

"Who cares about that?" Tamber groaned. "That thing's defeated. Let's go!"

"Yeah... You're right..." Chopper nodded, removing his Fire ability and reaching the door ahead. When he opened, they found a small room with a red rug and a spiral staircase. "What's with the stairs these days?"

"Maybe this is how Bowser likes to set up things," Vivian wondered.

They all made their way up the stairs until they got to a large, red door with a Bowser face on it. They could see two Bowser statues next to the door, giving them the idea of who would be ahead.

"Here we go!" Chopper kicked the door open to walk into the throne room. "All right, Bowser! We finally found you! Now you can't run!"

"Hunh?" Bowser got up from his throne and spotted Chopper and his friends. He jumped over to them, causing the ground to tremble for a moment. "What are YOU doing here?! Shouldn't you be in prison?"

Mario: We escaped.

"Whuh?! Then… How am I supposed to celebrate my victory against you guys?!" Bowser began to stomp the ground angrily. "This. Isn't. FAIR!"

"Your Grouchiness! Settle down!" Kammy cried, trying to calm Bowser down. "You know that getting angry won't do anything!"

"Hmmmm… You're right, Haggy! But giving Chopper and Mario a beating will!" Bowser grinned, his fists now covered in flames. "You're gonna wish you've never gotten out of that prison of yours!"

"Wait a second! I never said I wanted to fi-"

Chopper barely had time to finish, as Bowser's fist had knocked him into the wall behind him.

"Gra ha ha ha! Now THAT felt good!" Bowser cackled. "It almost makes me feel better!"

"Rah rah rah! Go get him, Lord Bowser!" Kammy cheered.

"Good idea, Haggy! How about I land another punch on him?" Bowser stomped over to Chopper and landed another punch on him while he was on the wall. Many were left at shock and anger, especially Heartsy, who was now steaming.

"Get away from him!" Heartsy yelled, attempting to bring her hammer down on Bowser's tail. However, Kammy had warned him at the last moment, and Bowser managed to knock her away with his tail.

"Not now, pinky! Can't you see I'm taking down Chopper?!" Bowser grumbled, getting ready to pummel Chopper again. He soon found someone grab a hold of his tail, and when he turned, he saw Mario grabbing a hold of it. "...Oh, crud."

Mario gave him a grin and began to swing Bowser around with all his might until he let go, causing him to crash into the wall and be left dazed. Meanwhile, the others, including Heartsy, had run over to Chopper.

"Are you all right, Choppy?" Heartsy asked.

"Ungh... Yeah..." Chopper mumbled, rubbing his head. Seeing the bruises on him, Heartsy attempted to use her Sweet Kiss on him, but he managed to push her away. "No no no no! Not that!"

Bowser, meanwhile, had gotten back up and stormed back over to the group, steam now coming out from his nose. "All right, no more nonsense! Now's the time that we put an end to this! Haggy, you're helping me!"

"Of course, Your Evilness!" Kammy agreed, flying over to him.

"Unfortunately, I might have to cut this battle short."

Looking above, everyone spotted Camikon making his appearance in the room.

"Huh? What're you doing here, you old fart?" Bowser asked.

"I'm here because I found out Chopper was coming here, of course!" Camikon answered. "Thanks for all the help, Bowser. You're no longer needed!"

"What?! Were you using me this whole time?!"

"Of course… Now that I no longer need you, I have a good idea of where you can stay!" Camikon raised his wand and summoned a dark purple portal. The current was so strong, that it started to suck Bowser in.

"_**YOU… YOU TRAITOR!**_" Bowser screamed, getting sent through the portal.

"Camikon… How could you do this to us? After all we've done for you guys, you turn on us…" Kammy trailed.

"Do you really think that we were actually HELPING you, Kammy?" Camikon spat. "We only do things for ourselves! Lord Maquano only told Bowser to get the Star Rod because he KNEW it would help him. With that Star God Staris going crazy, Lord Maquano could take control of the dark power corrupting him, and taking over your world would be a snap!"

"You… I don't believe this! All this time we were being used?! …And to think I considered you to be my friend!"

"I'm sorry, but we Tartaras do not have any friends. ...Now that I mention it, sending you to Bowser's location would not be such a bad idea."

"What?!"

Soon enough, Kammy was sucked into the portal, which soon closed afterward.

"Where'd they go?!" Chopper gaped.

"Nyeah heh heh heh! Oh, rest assured, my friend! They'll be just fine in there! ...That is, if they can handle the pure evil of that dark realm!"

"Dark realm?"

"Yes. I had learned a new spell from looking at Lord Maquano's books, and I had discovered an evil, dark realm where all those who are of no use would go. I've once heard that there are some evil beings within that world that even put the Tartara Royal Guards to shame..."

"Wh-What?" Chopper gaped. _"If he's telling the truth, then maybe... Could that be the place we need to go?"_

"You were lucky to get out of that rotten jail cell. But, it was my own fault for leaving such a pathetic guard to take care of you guys. Then again, this just makes this more exciting! Unfortunately, I must say goodbye to you all. Perhaps I may see you... Perhaps not!"

Cackling, Camikon cast a spell that teleported him out of the castle.

"So… I guess we have an idea of where we might need to go..." Vivian trailed. "But how will we get there?"

"That wand is capable of doing such a thing," Flyer said. "Maybe if we get a hold of that, we can get to where Bowser and Kammy Koopa are held captive! ...But I don't like what he said when he mentioned some evil beings being even stronger than the Tartara Royal Guards."

"Hopefully Meta Knight can help us..." Chopper trailed.

"Sounds like a plan! Let's get outta here!" Sonic suggested as he left the room. Everyone else followed him, now having an idea of where they'll need to go.

* * *

**Yeah, I wasn't kidding when I said this chapter is long. The next one is pretty long too, but not as long as this. Plus, there's a lot more interesting stuff going on there as well. Hence why it's probably one of my favorite chapters in this story. There's a lot of progression, trust me.  
**


	144. The Battle for Tartamos

"Step on it, troopers! We're almost prepared to face off against those Tartaras!" Dark Doom shouted, his Dark Soldiers loading up their weapons. Some carried futuristic assault rifles, some carried huge machine gun blasters, and some had rocket launchers. Needless to say, all of them were armed up and ready for battle.

"Hold on, sir… How much are you offering us for this battle?" one of the Dark Soldiers asked. In response, Dark drew his blaster and aimed it at the soldier's head.

"It'll be your head if you don't get your lazy butt off the ground!"

The Dark Soldier's eyes widened and saluted its leader. "Y-Yes, sir! I'll get to work right now!"

Dark lowered his pistol and grinned. "Good. It better stay that way. Or else… BANG!"

"Wait, sir… How do we plan on defeating a large army when they have brutes that are bigger than ours?" a Dark Engineer asked. "We need to formulate a plan first before we even try to fight against them…"

"You Dark Engineers DID make some vehicles that are capable of blasting away anything in sight, right?"

"I believe so! We have this!" the Dark Engineer brought out a Dark Hoverbat with wings that were like a bat's wings. It was dark purple with laser cannons at the front and missiles to the side. It could also charge into opponent with the spear that it holds, and Dark admired the design of it.

"This design rocks," Dark stated as he looked at the spears at the front. "This thing is capable of shooting, blowing things up and also impaling our enemies. I have to say… I think this will do nicely. The only problem is that we need others that can FLY."

"Oh, it can, sir! You'll see when the time comes for battle! You won't be disappointed!"

"I better not be," Dark grabbed the Dark Engineer and glared at it. "Or else you're going to pay with your life."

"Errr... I value my life, sir."

"Then the first thing you can do is test the weapon out. We need a guinea pig to do it, and I think you'll do nicely."

"What? Why me? Can't you make the one that gets the least pay do it?"

"Nah. That'd be dumb."

The Dark Engineer let out a sigh.

"Anyway, perhaps now is the time we got moving." Dark suggested, turning to his troops. "We cannot allow the Tartaras to stop us! Tartamos…shall be mine! Hwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Does this mean we get a raise?"

Dark stopped cackling and shot the Dark Soldier who interrupted him. At that point, the soldiers remained silent and followed him out of the graveyard.

* * *

**Outside of Bowser's Castle-**

Chopper and his friends were able to make it out of Bowser's Castle with no problem. The door going back into the room where they fought the Koopa Bros. was no longer blocked, which helped them get out of the castle. Once they were standing outside in front of the entrance, they sighed in relief and started to make their way through the narrow, rocky path.

"Whew… I can't believe we made it out of there! I feel so much better, considering that we were in there for a WHILE…" Chopper said.

"No kidding! I was hoping that we'd get out of there sooner or later!" Flyer agreed. "However, we finally know where we need to go. But to do that, we need to get Camikon's wand."

"That's probably not going to be an easy task with all of his minions," Sonic noted.

"You're right, Sonic. I think we're going to need to form some sort of strategy…" Chopper nodded.

When they had finally returned to where they and Meta Knight had split, they had spotted Meta Knight waiting for them.

"Chopper! I see you've returned…" Meta Knight said, cape wrapped around him. "We've been waiting for you for quite a while."

"Meta Knight!" Chopper rushed over to Meta Knight and his two servants. "So, did you find anything?"

"While Sword, Blade and I were searching, we had found Silica near the city," Meta Knight informed, pointing to Silica nearby. "However, I had also succeeded in calling some others to assist us. Chopper, I'd like you to meet Kit Cosmos, Knuckle Joe, and Sir Arthur.

Chopper looked at the first Star Warrior that was behind Meta Knight. He looked like a dark gray ball of fur with round eyes and a mouth with a light gray mustache and eyebrows. He also had bare, tan arms and legs and a green cap with a gray stripe and a white circle on its front that had a star. Along with that, he was carrying a bow and arrow, and a bokken to train people with, and also a saber.

"Pbbbbtthhhh! Look at the hairball!" Tamber snickered.

"I'll have you know that I was in a war against Nightmare!" Kit Cosmos scolded, bringing his attention to Chopper. "So, I reckon you're the one who got us all into this mess, didn't you?"

"Well… Yeah." Chopper replied.

"Well, I'll be! A young Star Warrior such as yourself got us into this mess! You have no idea how much shame the Star Warriors would feel for you! Back in the old days, us Galaxy Soldiers were loyal and we always listened to our masters! You ought to have listened to your father, you know…"

Chopper remained silent as he looked down at the floor. Kit Cosmos quickly caught onto this and looked more sorrowful.

"Oh... I'm sorry, Star Warrior. I didn't know that you're father... Well, you know."

"It's OK. You didn't know."

The next person Chopper saw looked elf-like with spiky yellow hair, blue clothing, and a bandana wrapped around his head. He decided to wave as a greeting.

"Well, hello..."

"So, you're that boy that I've been hearing about on Dream Land," Knuckle Joe grinned, rubbing his nose area (despite lacking on). "Don't worry, I'm going to make sure that I provide enough help. I managed to take down the strongest Demon Beast twice!"

"Poyo! (Yeah!)" Kirby nodded.

"Well, I'm glad you're here to give a hand," Chopper nodded.

"With me on your side, those Tartaras are no match for us!"

"Good thing Meta Knight had found me," Silica said, bringing everyone's attention to her. "I didn't know how long I'd be able to stay in that one area for that long. That mushroom guy might've been leading me into a trap."

"What was strange was that the city was empty when we first went there," Shadower remarked. "But, it's good to see you here!"

Chopper looked at the last Galaxy Soldier Meta Knight had with him. This warrior had green skin, blue eyes, and armor that was golden and star-shaped. He was also holding a silver colored sword with a red gem on the handle. Just like Meta Knight, his face was hidden under his mask.

"So you're the legendary Star Warrior Chopper that I've been hearing about these days," the warrior named Sir Arthur said. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Sir Arthur. I had once assisted Meta Knight in the battle against Nightmare."

"Sir Arthur? ...Hey, I heard of you before!" Chopper realized. "From that hologram of Sir Lancelon! He mentioned you, I think!"

"Sir Lancelon? He was a brave warrior, but unfortunately, he had fallen, just like many other soldiers on my side... That was definitely a grave time..."

"Well... We're going to make sure none of those bad things happen! We're going to take down those Tartaras and save the universe!"

"Yes, and I plan to help you with that," Sir Arthur declared, drawing his sword. "By my sword, those Tartaras will fall!"

"Good! So... I guess we should try to find Camikon and get his wand. He said something about a dark realm... Perhaps that's where our destination is!"

"Dark realm?" Meta Knight gawked. "Hmmmmm... Yes, I think that might be our destination in stopping this great evil."

"But where are we going to find this Camikon?" Sword asked.

"I suppose he's sitting in his castle like a lazy bum," Blade answered.

"Yes... That makes sense." Kit Cosmos agreed.

"So how is it at the city?" Chopper asked, turning to Meta Knight.

"It's all right, but I don't think it will be soon," Meta Knight explained. "I overheard another army talking, and they said something about attacking the Tartaras. I heard the name 'Dark Creature'."

"Dark Creatures? Aw, crud! Don't tell me they're here!" Sonic groaned. "Why do they always have to be at our butts all the time? Can't we get a chance not to deal with them?"

"Well, if they're occupied with the Tartaras, then it'll be easy taking them both out," Flyer mentioned. "Then we can get to Camikon with ease!"

"That sounds like a plan! Let's move!" Knuckle Joe ran on ahead toward the city. They noticed that the city was now on fire. Many shots were being fired as well. Sir Arthur had taken out his binoculars and took a look at the battle proceeding on.

"Those Tartaras are fighting those 'Dark Creatures' you spoke of," Sir Arthur informed.

"Looks like the Dark Creatures are doing the job for us," Shadower smiled. "Maybe if we can 'convince' them to help us, we'll have allies!"

"I highly doubt it. There's no way we're going to get them to help us." Flyer said, noticing a couple of Tartaras over by the city entrance guarding a cage with a purple pterodactyl monster with bat-like wings. "Chopper, look over there!"

"Huh? What's that thing?" Chopper gawked, seeing the monster, Ridley, attempting to claw at the two Tartaras. Unfortunately, he couldn't get his hands on them.

"Man, this monster just won't stop!" groaned one of the soldiers. "How long do we have to wait for Chopper to release him?"

"Speaking of Chopper…" the Tartara looked over at Chopper and his big group. "That Star Warrior's here, and he's even brought a group of friends with him! How interesting!"

"So, ya wanna go destroy him?"

"Definitely," the two Tartaras pulled their blasters out and began to fire at Chopper and his group. The young Star Warrior dodged the attack cartwheel and landed a jump on the first Tartara.

"Take this!" Chopper yelled, smashing the Tartara with his hammer to leave it dazed. The other Tartara lunged at him, but Silica changed to her machine gun and shot the soldier, giving it no chance to attack and destroying it. The other Tartara got up to attack, but Knuckle Joe had jumped in and used a Vulcan Jab to defeat it.

"That takes care of that," Knuckle Joe grinned, cracking his knuckles.

They brought their attention back to Ridley, who was continuously banging on the bars of the cage he was trapped in. The group decided that he was no threat and were about to progress. However, Ridley knew that they were underestimating his intelligence. With a malicious grin, he had grabbed a hold of the cage's bars and started to move them. Everyone had frozen in their tracks.

"Uh oh… This doesn't look good." Heartsy gulped.

Ridley didn't even have to bend the bars, as his strength was enough to break them off and free him. He landed on the rocky ground, letting out a roar as he swung his tail in the direction of the group. The Galaxy Soldiers were thrown back in the process, leaving Chopper and his friends to face the dragon-like monster.

"Crud… Well, there's no way I'm letting this thing get in my way!" Chopper declared, changing to his Bomb ability. "We're going to take you down!"

Ridley grinned, as if he was accepting his fight and let out a roar that managed to frighten many of them.

"Yeesh... That's one heck of a roar!" Scrub gawked.

**Tattle: **_That's Ridley. He's a freaky-looking pterodactyl monster that is said to come from...another world? What in the world is he doing here, then? Max HP is 450, Attack is 20, and Defense is 3. He's a pretty aggressive fighter, being capable of using his tail, his claws, and even his gnarly fire breath. He might also grab you and drag you along the ground. I'd avoid that if I were you... Considering that the Tartaras were not able to handle this guy, I don't know what to think of him. Just try to do what you can to defeat him!  
_

"Chopper, you might need help with this monster," Meta Knight suggested, getting back up. "If those Tartaras couldn't control him, then he is a force to be reckoned with."

"Don't worry, Meta Knight, we got this! Just watch!" Chopper tossed a bomb at Ridley. Since he was up in the air, ground attacks weren't going to do much to stop him. Shadower, however, could hit him with a Shadow Punch, which lowered his defenses.

Ridley roared as he swung his tail at Chopper. This was enough to knock him over. However, he had quickly gotten up and leaped in the air and used a Jump on Ridley. This was enough to send him to the ground, where Tamber dealt some heavy damage with his Power Punch.

"Heh heh heh! That should take care of him!" Tamber chuckled until he Ridley had struck him with his claws. "Hey! What the heck was THAT for?! It's not like I was doing anything to you!"

"Tamber, this thing is a monster. It's not going to listen to you." Flyer informed. "I don't see the point in talking to it. Though, I will admit, this thing is quite intelligent."

Chopper nodded in agreement, taking out a bomb and striking Ridley with a Power Bomb to deal 9 damage. Meanwhile, Sir Arthur had managed to get up and see the heroes fight against Ridley.

"Chopper! Perhaps you could demonstrate your sword skills." Sir Arthur suggested.

"Yes, I would agree," Kit Cosmos nodded. "I'm very interested in seeing how well you are with a sword."

"Ummmmm... Maybe next turn?" Chopper sweat dropped, turning to Kirby. "All right, Kirby… Give this thing a Final Cutter!"

"Poyo! (I'm on it!)" Kirby replied, pulling his Final Cutter out and striking Ridley with it, piercing through his defense and dealing 12 damage. It wasn't a lot compared to how much HP he had, but it was decent damage. But this only caused the beast to grab Kirby and throw him at Chopper, which knocked away his Bomb ability. Then again, Chopper planned on doing away with it, so he changed to his Sword ability and swung at Ridley with his trusty sword.

Ridley's HP was brought down to the 370s thanks to Flyer's Flying Attack, and he let out another loud roar before lunging at the heroes. Sword and Blade, however, decided to take action and stand in front of the group, their swords ready to strike. To get rid of them, Ridley opened his mouth and shot an explosive fireball that managed to knock them back.

"Argh!" Blade grunted, pulling himself together and getting up. "I don't know if we can help you fend off this thing, Chopper. Just keep fighting!"

Chopper nodded and lunged his sword at Ridley's chest, causing him to stagger back in pain. Scrub decided to attack next, using his Mega Egg to make a giant egg fall on Ridley.

"Take that, you ugly dragon!" Scrub cheered, only for Ridley to swing his tail and make Scrub fall over. "Ow! How did I not see that coming?!"

Chopper turned his attention back to Ridley and charged at him like a drill, striking him with his Spinning Sword attack and taking 9 out of the monster. Vivian had left a burn on him with her Shade Fist, along with dealing 7 damage.

When Silica got up, she smirked and aimed her weapon at Ridley, changing it to bazooka form. Before he could turn his attention to her, she fired a rocket that took 14 out of Ridley. That's when he turned to Silica and swung her tail to send her flying into a large rock. While this didn't knock her out, she did take some serious damage.

"Ugh... Well, I did my best against him." Silica groaned.

"Hey, if you're going to hurt my friends, then expect a serious beating out of it!" Chopper warned before striking the monster with a Sword Beam. Ridley didn't care and dove towards him. Chopper gulped and prepared to guard it, but Heartsy's Hearty Throw had managed to strike him and deal 10 damage.

Even with that attack, Ridley still managed to harm Chopper with his fire breath. It didn't stop Chopper from slashing at him with a D-Down Slash, though. After he did that, Sonic attacked him with a Spin Dash, bringing his HP down to 296.

Ridley roared at Chopper and attempted to strike him with his tail, but Kit Cosmos jumped on top of the monster and began hitting him with his saber. Ridley managed to shake him off, but unfortunately, for him, Kit Cosmos took an arrow out and struck him in the chest, dealing 12 damage.

"Go on, kid! Make a move!" Kit Cosmos shouted.

Ridley turned to Chopper and attempted to strike him with his tail once again, but he ended up failing. Chopper managed to strike him in the chest, leaving him to scream and hold his chest in pain. With that, Mario had leaped in the air and stomped on his head with a Super Jump. Unfortunately, since he was close to Ridley, he was grabbed a hold of and thrown back. Mario managed to get up after tumbling and take a deep breath. He thought it would be best to take a tiny break, so he let Chopper strike Ridley with another Spinning Sword.

"Let's see how an explosion will do against him," Bombette made her way over to Ridley and exploded in front of him with her Bomb, bringing him to 252 HP. "Well, this is working nicely for us."

"_**Vulcan Jab!**_" Knuckle Joe yelled, rushing towards Ridley and striking him with his Vulcan Jab, taking 10 out of him. He was able to jump out of the way of Ridley's claws and make another move. "_**Sweeping Kick!**_"

He swung his leg, and blue energy had fired at Ridley. However, this had also led to Ridley swiping at him with his tail, knocking him to the ground.

"Argh... This guy's quick. Well, at least I gave you a hand, Chopper." Knuckle Joe mumbled. "Take him down for me, will you?"

Chopper gave him a thumbs up before he struck Ridley with a Sword Beam, followed up by Tamber's Combo Punch. This had managed to bring the monster halfway down. And boy, was the group happy to know of that.

"Yeah! He's already down this far!" Tamber cheered, guarding Ridley's tail when it came flying in his direction. "Sorry, but you ain't getting in my way! Time for you to take a good ol' nap!"

Most of the Galaxy Soldiers were left in surprise when Tamber picked up a boulder and threw it at Ridley. Afterward, Chopper had folded himself up until he sprang into the air and landed on Ridley with a Spring Jump. Before he could land, however, Ridley grabbed him.

"Aw, crud!" Chopper gulped, trying to break free from Ridley's grasps. He ignored him and hurled him downward onto the rocky floor. The impact created a small hole, along with leaving him dazed. Ridley grinned and dove at him again, ready to make another move.

"You shall not pass!" Sir Arthur yelled, drawing his sword striking Ridley's tail, dealing 16 damage. This had brought his attention to Sir Arthur, and soon enough, he breathed fire on him. Though his armor protected him, it wasn't enough to keep him fighting.

"Ugh… That wasn't exactly what I was predicting…" groaned Sir Arthur, brushing off the soot on his armor while panting. "Chopper… Star Warrior of Planet Clara… I leave the rest to you!"

Chopper quickly shook his head and then gave Sir Arthur a thumbs up. He then turned to Ridley and he rushed toward him, swinging at his chest once again. Sonic quickly attacked as well, curling into a ball and striking Ridley with a Spin Dash. This, however, had gotten him struck by Ridley's tail. Meanwhile, Chopper decided to use up an Ultimate Shroom to recover 100 HP, and then Shadower lowered Ridley's defense to 0 with his Shadow Punch.

Ridley turned his attention to Shadower with a growl. He swung his tail at him to knock him back, but since Shadower lacked feet, he wasn't knocked too far back.

"All right… Now let's get to business!" Chopper leaped in the air and struck Ridley with a Gravity Jump. Before he could swipe at the Star Warrior, he managed to jump away in time. Meanwhile, Tamber's fists started to glow green, and he had landed a punch in Ridley's chest. He let out a wince as he knocked Tamber away with his claws.

"Stupid whatever he is..." Tamber growled angrily.

"Well, at least he's down to 94 HP," Chopper sighed in relief, his floppy hat being somewhat torn from Ridley's fire. "And I don't like how I look... I guess there's another option.

Chopper removed his Sword ability, took out the Star Rod, and swung it in Ridley's direction, making a yellow star strike him and bring him down to 87 HP. Vivian's Shade Fist helped take 7 more HP out of him and burn the monster as well. Ridley roared loudly and was about to spew out flames at the group, but he was interrupted by a Galaxia Sword Beam that managed to deal 16 damage. He looked in the direction of the figure who had landed.

Meta Knight held his sword up high and proud.

Hissing, Ridley lunged in the direction of Meta Knight, but he was much faster, flying up with his wings. When Ridley was vulnerable, the masked warrior managed to swing at his chest. Unfortunately, his fight with Ridley did not last long when he was soon struck by a tail from behind. With him vulnerable, Ridley prepared to land a devastating blow on Meta Knight. However, he was soon interrupted when Chopper and Mario had jumped in and brought their hammers down on him.

When Ridley tried clawing at Mario, he successfully Superguarded it, with Chopper shooting a Star Blast and Flyer striking him with a Flying Attack afterward. That did not stop him from hitting Flyer with his tail, however. But, soon enough, Chopper's light ball and Tamber's Combo Punch brought him down to 2 HP.

Ridley panted. He knew he was going to be finished sooner or later. However, he wasn't going to go down just yet. He quickly grabbed Chopper and flew over the lava.

"Eep! I don't like this!" Chopper exclaimed, looking down at the hot boiling lava. "Can't we talk about this?!"

Ridley smirked and prepared to throw him in. That was, until he was suddenly stunned by a blue gust of wind. This ended up releasing Chopper from his grips, but Flyer managed to fly in and save Chopper.

"Thanks, Flyer!" Chopper sighed, being taken back onto solid ground.

"Let's finish this," Flyer suggested.

Chopper nodded and took out the Star Rod. With one yellow star, the attack was enough to defeat Ridley and send him plummeting into the lava. He let out screams of pain as he tried to escape from the lava, but not even he was strong enough to make his escape. Before they knew it, Ridley had sunk into the lava, the last thing being seen was a hand reaching out.

"What a gruesome way to go..." Heartsy trailed."That thing did pack a punch…" Silica remarked, walking over to the group. "How did something like that get here?"

"Hmph… That's a good question." replied Kit Cosmos. "I don't think we'll ever know…"

Suddenly they heard the sound of a shot fire, and a laser came whizzing toward them. The shot had barely hit Sir Arthur, who was the first to spot a Tartara Soldier aiming its weapon at them in their current, damaged state.

"Thank you very much, Chopper! Thanks to you, we lost that monster that we were going to use against you!" snarled the Tartara Soldier. "Then again, that thing was attacking our soldiers, so that was more likely a good thing. Plus, in the condition you're in, taking you out will be easy!"

"Crud... This isn't what I was hoping..." Chopper gulped.

"Well, too bad for you, Chopper!" the Tartara raised its blaster at Chopper's forehead. "Say goodbye, Chopper!"

The Tartara was ready to pull the trigger, but it suddenly felt a painful sensation in its leg. Looking down, it spotted a shuriken caught on its leg.

"What the…"

Before it could react, the Tartara was quickly defeated with a single shot. Everyone was left in surprise.

"What the heck?" Bombette gawked.

"I'm afraid we haven't missed anything, didn't we?"

Everyone looked up ahead saw three familiar faces: Blade, Bang and Night. Blade happened to be giving a smug grin.

"Blade? Bang? Night?" Chopper's eyes widened in surprise. "What are you guys doing here?!"

"It's kind of a long story, kiddo," Blade replied. "You see, we found some dark red portal opened up nearby, so we decided to take a look at what was through here. And... Yeah, we found ourselves here. Pretty cool, huh?"

"We've been through a lot, considering that we were trying to chase down those Dark Creatures," Night said.

"Yup! And now we're here!" Bang declared stupidly.

"I just said that, Bang..." Blade groaned. "Anyway, what're you doing here?"

"We got taken here when we tried to destroy with the darkness with the Crystal Stars," Chopper explained. "Right now, we're going after a wizard named Camikon to get a hold of his wand. Maybe you could help us?"

"If it involves destroying things, then I'm game," Night smirked.

"Plus, I don't like the idea of our world being destroyed," Blade added. "It makes me sick."

"Yeah, I agree," Knuckle Joe nodded. "I hope to find whoever's responsible for this and put a stop to him! ...Though, in this state, that's going to be difficult."

"_**HEALING TIME!**_" Bang exclaimed, taking out a bag of dog treats. He started to throw them at everyone, even if they didn't take them. They all gave him weird looks. "What? That stuff heals you!"

Despite being reluctant, they eventually decided to eat the treat. Despite it being disgusting (save for some people), their wounds were surprisingly healed.

"...Our injuries seriously got healed from dog treats," Scrub said in a dull tone. "What?"

"It didn't taste that bad," Sword remarked.

"Thanks for that," Chopper said, not minding the treat either.

"Well, now that we are prepared for battle, I suggest we progress," Meta Knight suggested, pointing his sword ahead. "Chopper, lead the way for us."

"Me? Lead the way?" Chopper gaped, pointing at himself. "But… Why me?"

"This is your job. You wish to stop all this madness, so we shall follow your orders."

"Wh-What?! But... I've never led an army before! What am I supposed to do?"

"You give us the orders, and we follow them," Sir Arthur explained. "It's very simple."

"Ummmmm… Let's just walk into the city to fight." Chopper stated. "And, uh... We should pay more attention to the Tartaras than the Dark Creatures, since the Tartaras are a bigger threat."

"If you're implying that we can get the Dark Creatures to work for us, then I don't think that'll work," Night informed. "They only work for themselves and no one else. Even then, we still need to capture Dark Doom. He's pretty dangerous on his own."

"Well... What if we just avoided them?"

"That won't be easy if they're all over the place," Blade noted.

"Then... If they attack us, we fight them, and that's it. Now let's go." Chopper rushed into the city along with the others. Thankfully, getting in there was pretty easy, but the city was in bad shape. There were buildings burnt down, a chunk of a skyscraper was torn off, and a couple of laser shots were firing everywhere. There were also many explosions.

"Keep firing, guys!" the Tartara General shouted. "We cannot let these filthy aliens take over our world!"

"Leave no Tartara alive!" the Dark Creature General shouted. "This world shall be ours! Kill all that are alive!"

"Sheesh! They're ALL fighting!" Heartsy said in disbelief.

"Well, they're fighters. What can you expect?" Sonic shrugged. "At least we're not in it."

"Getting through this city might not be difficult, then," Chopper smiled, moving through the path that appeared to be clear. They ended up coming across two paths in the end. One path led out of the city, and there were many Dark Creature bodies lying there. However, the other path had the sound of loud cheers, as if something important was going on.

It took Chopper a while to decide, but he had finally decided to go to the pathway with the bodies, since the cheering sounded an awful lot like Tartaras. This had led them into a graveyard, but there were no signs of any enemies, to their surprise.

Well, except for one.

Chopper had spotted a Dark Soldier getting itself out of the hell with a couple of weapons.

"Ugh! I can't believe it took me THIS long to get myself out of that well! This isn't what I deserve!" the Dark Soldier mumbled, putting the weapons down and panting. It looked around and noticed none of the soldiers were in sight, and it also spotted Chopper ahead. "Hey… Where's the group? And are you…Chopper?"

"Uhh… No? My name's... Uhhh... Jacky?" Chopper lied.

"Oh no you don't, kid!" the Dark Soldier shouted, aiming its gun at him. "I know you're tryin' to fool, but it ain't working! First I'll take you out, then I'll destroy Sonic!"

The Dark Soldier fired at Chopper, but he was able to inhale the attack and spit it back at it, knocking the Dark Creature down the well again.

"**_I HATE YOU!_**" the Dark Soldier shouted as it hit the bottom of the well.

"Is this all there is here?" Bombette asked. "Because I don't see anything else here."

"Well, I suppose we ought to go the other way then," Knuckle Joe suggested. "I don't see the point in being here..."

Before they could turn back, the group had spotted a couple of chests in the area. Curious, Chopper decided to approach them. One of them contained an item called a Plasma Shield, which could absorb all attacks for two turns. There was also another item called a Plasma Grenade, which could be thrown and stick to an enemy. The explosion would be able to damage it and other ground enemies as well.

"I don't know if I should be taking this..." Chopper trailed, looking at the grenade. "This item doesn't fit me."

"Can I have it then?" Bang asked.

"Please... Don't give it to him." Blade suggested. "He's not trustworthy with explosives..."

"What? I'm an expert with them!"

Ignoring them, the group decided to take a look at the gravestones. They appeared dark gray with stone-like spikes protruding from its top. There didn't appear to be any names listed on them, which surprised many of them.

"Well, these gravestones are kinda pointless," Shadower said. "There's no names on them. Unless these Tartaras are not usually named..."

Just then, a hand had risen from one of the gravestones nearby, and a Fire Bones had come out. Two, to be exact. They rushed at the group, but Silica had fired a missile and sent them flying into the well. Soon enough, a scream was heard.

_"Ack! Get these things away from me!"_ the Dark Soldier cried.

"Considering that there was a Dark Creature here, some bodies along the way, and also the fact that we found some weapons that look like they belong to them, it's safe to assume that this is where they were settling," Flyer deduced. "Of course, they're obviously gone."

"They are most likely all fighting at the moment," Meta Knight stated. "Perhaps we should check the other pathway, as dangerous as it might be."

"I guess so," Chopper nodded, making his way to the exit. "Let's get out of here."

Agreeing, they made their exit from the graveyard, leaving the Dark Soldier in the well to climb its way back up.

* * *

**Other pathway-**

When they had taken the other path, the sounds of the cheers had gotten much louder. Of course, there were the typical battles between some Tartaras and Dark Creatures that got in their way, but a few explosions had managed to destroy them, making it easier to progress. After a little ways of traveling, they came across a large, red colosseum with flags hanging over the front entrance. When they got closer, they noticed the flags had a symbol of Camikon's face.

"What is this supposed to be?" Chopper asked.

"It's an arena," Sir Arthur answered. "It's likely that a battle is going on in there..."

"I say we check it out," Kit Cosmos suggested, approaching the entrance. That was, until a projectile came his way and nearly hit his foot. "What the... What gives?!"

"_**I HAVE FURY!**_"

Looking up, most of the group let out sighs at the green bean hovering in front of the entrance.

"Not this guy again!" Heartsy groaned.

"Fawful welcomes you all!" Fawful cheered. "People have been having the waiting like an impatient fox searching for its wallet!"

"OK, what are you doing here?" Chopper asked, he and his friends getting in a fighting stance.

"Hey, this guy's the nutjob we saw back on your home planet!" Bang realized, pulling his pistol out and aiming it at the smiling bean.

"No nuts around here," Fawful replied. "Just a bunch of raging fans who fell over into a sandwich of chortles."

"...What?" Silica replied in a blank tone.

"Why, Fawful is having the allowance of letting you into the glorious arena! I still crave to see the fury of little children beating each other to death with pointy sticks!"

He turned around and flew over to the Tartara that was taking tickets. In a flash, the bean person pulled his ticket out, putting it up at its face.

"I have entry!" Fawful exclaimed. "Fawful has brought his ticket to where the clashing will begin!"

"Hmmmmm…" the Tartara trailed, inspecting the ticket. "Well, everything appears to be in order. All right, you're allowed in."

"Nyeah heh heh heh!" Fawful cackled as he rushed into the arena. Now that he was out of the way, Chopper decided to enter the arena.

"Hold it right there! You're going to need your…" the Tartara stopped when it saw that it was Chopper. "Oh, wait… It's you, Chopper! Well what a surprise... Some people have been expecting you."

"The heck are you talking about?" Tamber asked.

"Don't worry, none of you need a ticket. You're free to go in!" the Tartara grinned, allowing them in. "Enjoy the battles!"

Shrugging, Chopper took a step through the gate and into a tunnel ahead. Once they were all in, the gate had closed shut behind them, making it dark. Thankfully, there were some people around who had supplied some light to see.

"I don't like this…" Vivian trailed.

"We better be ready for an ambush," Kit Cosmos suggested, arming his bow. They spotted a bright light at the end of the tunnel ahead, and the sound of a crowd cheering was coming from there. As they got closer, the cheers got louder.

Eventually they reached the end of the tunnel and found a large gate before them. They didn't bother opening it, as it ended up doing that on its own. They shrugged and entered the light, leading them into a large, circular arena. That was when the cheers turned to boos.

Looking up at the audience, the heroes spotted many Tartaras and Darklings throwing tomatoes down at the party. They also spotted a couple of familiar faces up near where Camikon was sitting.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! So, Chopper has finally arrived!" Beldam cackled, staring down at Chopper from the balcony.

"Beldam?!" Vivian gaped, spotting her, Marilyn, and Doopliss watching them.

"Camikon!" Chopper shouted, his eyes more focused on the old wizard.

"Nyeah heh heh har! Welcome to my arena, Chopper!" Camikon cackled. "I see you and your group of soldiers fell right into our trap!"

The gate behind them began to close shut, preventing them from leaving.

Mario: Uh oh...

"Oh, this is going to be great! I can't wait to see what's in store for Chopper!" Mysterious chuckled.

"Were you guys in on this whole thing?!" Chopper exclaimed.

"Of course we were, Chopper! In fact, we thank you for doing all of the work for us! Those Crystal Stars you collected allowed the portal to this realm to be opened!"

"Now you're gonna pay the price for what you did, Slick!" Doopliss chuckled.

"Oh, shut up, freak-in-a-sheet," Beldam snapped. The poor Duplighost hung his head low and remained silent.

"Pay the price? What did we ever do to you guys?" Sonic asked.

"You didn't do anything to us, but we do consider you to be a threat," Tipral explained. "After all, you did destroy the Shadow King and Queen..."

"Hey, he looks just like you, Chopper," Silica whispered.

"Well it's not our fault that they were evil, you big fake!" Chopper yelled, pointing at his dark self. "We're doing what's best for the universe!"

"Or maybe you're doing what YOU think is best."

"Poyo! (Well we have better sense of what's better than you!)" Kirby shouted.

"Enough already!" Camikon intervened, while Tipral stepped away from the balcony. "Darklings and Tartaras! The time has finally come! Let's give it for the Star Warrior and his friends!"

Predictably, the audience had booed at them.

"You're going to get what you deserve, meanies!" Mimi shouted, which the heroes were surprised to see, along with even some of the baddies.

"Who the heck is that girl?" a Darkling asked.

"Beats me," the other shrugged.

"So, what do we have to do? Fight some kind of dragon?" Tamber asked, cracking his knuckles. "We've done that before, and we beat it."

"No. We have something else more interesting." Camikon grinned. "How about you fight each other…"

"Wait, WHAT?!"

"…to the DEATH!"

"You can't be serious!" Vivian gaped. "Why would we ever do such a thing to each other?!"

"Mmmmmwee hee hee hee! You see, Vivian… Now you should have realized that you should've stayed with us!" Beldam grinned. "Plus, seeing you go up against your own friends would be very entertaining!"

"I wouldn't DARE to do something like that!"

"I'm fine with this," Night said calmly.

Blade looked at him with a strange look. "Dude, its a fight to the DEATH!"

"Oh... Well, I'm already dead..."

"Now, let us begin with the first battle," Camikon looked at Meta Knight's two servants. "Sword Knight and Blade Knight… You two will be the first ones going up against each other!"

"What? Why us?" Sword Knight gaped.

"We would never fight each other to the death!" Blade Knight objected. "We've been allies for so long!"

"Either you fight each other or you're both going to be eliminated," Camikon declared.

"…I'll do it," Sword Knight sighed, facing Blade Knight. "…But I'm not going to like it."

"Sword… Why would you do such a thing?"

"We have no other choice. I don't want to fight you, but it looks like we're being forced to do so by this…wizard. Please forgive me."

"We'll try to find a way to get out of this, Blade," Chopper assured. "So, just don't hurt each other, OK? Try to, uh, block each other's attacks."

"Hmph… I understand." Blade Knight turned to his friend. "Forgive me if I hurt you, my friend."

"Heh heh heh! Now then… Get yourselves ready to… _**FIIIIGHT!**_" Camikon shouted, hitting the gong. Both knights came charging at each other, swinging their swords. Both clashed, while the crowd began to cheer.

While the two fought, Chopper turned to the rest of the group. "I think I might have an idea of getting that wand. But I don't think it will be easy…"

"This is surprising," Flyer gawked. "Usually I'm the one thinking of the plans."

"What is your idea?" Sir Arthur asked.

"You see those stairways that lead up into the crowd?" Chopper asked, pointing to said staircase. "Well… We could probably take those to get out of the arena. The only problem is that Camikon would probably see us..."

"Then how are we gonna get the wand if he'll see us?" Silica asked.

"I'm not done yet," Chopper turned to Silica, who stayed silent. "We're going to need some people to distract Camikon. At least three or four people."

"No problem!" Blade cracked his knuckles. "I've got the ninja skills to sneak around. Leave this to me!"

"OK! I was planning on getting it myself, but I don't mind help. It might make it easier!"

"You don't look like the sneaking material, though."

"Not yet," Chopper said, quickly changing to his Ninja ability.

"Hold on… Did you just hit puberty?" Bang asked.

"No, he didn't hit puberty, you moron," Blade sighed. "He just changed to a ninja ability, that's all. Geez, your idiocy makes me want to punch myself in the face."

"All right, so who's going to distract them?" Chopper asked. Scrub, Tamber, Knuckle Joe, and Silica decided to step up. "Wait, are you sure, Scrub?"

"I can handle it, Contadre!" Scrub assured. "I mean, I handled the Glitz Pit before! And I plan on going back there after this adventure?"

"Wait, you're going to the Glitz Pit on your own?"

"Heck yeah. I think I learned a lot from you, and I think I am confident in taking the champ. But, let's talk about that later. We've got something more important to take care of."

"Just be careful and try not to get hurt," Heartsy suggested.

"Yeah, yeah... No need to remind me."

Chopper turned back to Blade. "All right, when they start distracting Camikon, that's when we turn invisible and make our way up those stairs."

"All right, I get it," Blade nodded. They both began to watch as the four walked past Sword and Blade Knight and looked up at Camikon.

"Huh? What do you dolts want?" Camikon asked.

"Hey, check out this new trick I can perform!" Tamber stuck his tongue out at Camikon while Scrub had laid a Dizzy Egg and threw it at Camikon's face, causing the old wizard to get angry.

"Grrrrrrrr! I'm warning you… Try that again and I'll order you to be shot first!" Camikon warned, aiming his wand at Scrub.

"Uhh… Sorry 'bout that, old geezer!" Scrub apologized. "Could you forgive me for that? I'll do something else!"

He laid two more eggs and a stick and plate came out of them. He began to balance them on his two hands and his nose. "Huh? How do you like it?"

"Is this supposed to be entertainment? Because I don't feel at all entertained." Camikon mumbled.

While they distracted him, Chopper and Blade used their ninja abilities to become invisible and run up to the stairs. They noticed in the audience that there were a couple of guards.

"Hmmmmm… This may not be so easy, but they probably won't notice us if we're quiet." Chopper whispered.

"I gotcha," Blade whispered back. They went around the seats and made their way to the entrance to Camikon's balcony. Two Tartara Soldiers happened to be guarding that door. An idea popped in Chopper's head, and he picked up a rock and threw it at one of the soldier's heads.

"Ow! What the heck?!" the Tartara Soldier looked at the one next to it. "What was that for?!"

"What?"

"Why'd you throw that rock at me?"

"Wait, I didn't do that!" objected the second Tartara. The other simply gave it a face and began to guard again…until the second Tartara was hit by a rock. "Hey! You hit me with a rock!"

"What?! No I didn't!"

"Oh, so you're trying to lie to me, aren't you? AREN'T YOU?! Well, guess what? That's not gonna work anymore!" the second Tartara whacked its comrade in the head with its blaster.

"Wow. You REALLY think I did it, didn't you?" the other whacked its comrade back. In a second or two, they were having a brawl that knocked them into the arena.

"Well that takes care of them," Chopper walked through the doorway and onto the balcony. He saw Tipral next to Camikon. The Shadow Sirens were behind his throne, and the Shadow Brothers were looking down, frowning at the distractions.

"Will you two let me watch the fight between Meta Knight's two servants?" Camikon growled. "I'm trying to see what's going on!"

"We're just trying to entertain you, that's all," Knuckle Joe stated, balancing Silica on his head.

"Don't you want us to possibly get injured from this?" Silica asked.

"That would be nice and all, but I want to see those two fight! Stand out of my way!" Camikon yelled, firing a dark spell in their direction.

"Aw, crud… It's not working!" Blade whispered.

Beldam grinned at their suffering, but she stopped for a moment. "Hold on a second… Is it me, or do I feel some kind of presence around here?"

"Now that you mention it, I feel it as well…" Mysterious agreed.

"Crud… If they can feel our prescence, then we gotta be as quiet as possible." Chopper whispered. Blade nodded and watched as Chopper snuck over to Camikon's throne. He started to reach out for the wand…

…Until Tipral's eyes opened.

"Someone is here, Camikon," Tipral alerted.

_"Oh, crud,"_ Chopper thought.

"What? Where?" Camikon asked.

"Stop right there, villains!" Bang yelled at the doorway, aiming his pistol at the villains, while they stared at him. "I've come for that wand, so you better hand it over!"

_"Dang it, Bang! Why'd you have to ruin the plan?!" _Blade thought._  
_

"Who are you supposed to be?" Camikon asked. "Are you that dumb Chihuahua that's friends with that cat and undead mouse?"

"What? I'm not dumb!" Bang objected.

"Oh, shut up, Bang! You're ruining our whole plan!" Blade shouted.

"What was that?" Camikon asked, his eyes narrowing. "…We're not alone. There is someone else in this room."

"Crud…" Chopper groaned, knowing that he couldn't stay hidden for any longer and appeared visible to the villains, along with Blade. Camikon took notice of them and gave them a glare.

"So, you tried playing a little trick on me in order to steal my wand, right? Too bad your plan didn't work out for you!"

Chopper swiftly pulled a kunai knife out. "Stand back, Camikon… I'm not afraid to take you down!"

"Ah, so you want to face against me, is that it?" Camikon questioned. "Hmmmm... Now that I think about it, having you all take each other down isn't as fun as I thought. I had wanted to avenge Maquano myself, so I think I have a better idea."

"I have anger! There is no fighting?! Fawful is enraged!" Fawful shouted.

"And who are YOU supposed to be?" Camikon asked, noticing the bean.

"I am the great Fawful! The gorger of the salad! The one who is having anger of no battles!"

Camikon gave him a blank look before raising his wand and summoning a dark purple portal. Immediately, Fawful was sucked into it before it closed. "There. Now he's taken care of."

"Dang it... We could've gotten in there." Chopper frowned.

"Nyeah heh heh heh! You honestly think I would let you go through the portal?!" Camikon cackled, transporting Chopper, Blade, and Bang back into the arena through his magic. "I'm letting you guys go for now. I don't see much of a point having everyone fight against each other."

"So… We can stop now?" Blade Knight asked, lowering his sword, along with Sword.

"Yes! We don't need to fight anymore!" Sword Knight cheered.

"HOWEVER..." Camikon began. "Three of you must remain here and fight! And I get to choose who they are!"

"What?! Then don't pick me!" Tamber cried.

"The three people I choose are…" Camikon began as drums began to play in the background. "…Blade, Bang, and Night!"

"Dang it!" Night grumbled, snapping his finger in frustration.

"Oh, come on!" Bang complained.

"Wait, do we have to fight to the death?" Blade asked.

"Of course you have to! That's the point!" Camikon spat.

"Ugh... Fine. We'll do this." Blade looked at Bang and Night and winked at them. "Don't worry, I've got a plan!"

"Now, I think we should get started with this. Don't you think so, Tipral?" Camikon asked, looking over at Tipral, who slowly nodded. "Excellent! But first, allow me to show the rest of you the way out."

Camikon struck everyone but Blade, Bang and Night with his magic, sending them back to the arena entrance.

"Crud… Now it's just us." Blade gulped.

Camikon grabbed a megaphone as if he was announcing something. "Attention, everyone! We're about to start Round 2 of our great battle! Let us first start by announcing the fighters!"

"Wait, what?" Blade gawked, a spotlight appearing on him.

"To your left… The blue ninja cat that's named after a sword! He certainly loves to slice things up, and he also loves catnip! HEEEEEEEEERE'S BLADE!"

Blade made a face as everyone booed at him. "Catnip? I don't remember enjoying catnip! Never in my life have I even TRIED it!"

Of course, this was a big lie.

"To your right…" Camikon started, a spotlight appearing on Bang. "The yellow Chihuahua bounty hunter! This dude certainly loves to be around the chicks! Let's just say… He loves' to pick up chicks! …Unfortunately for him, his efforts in getting a girlfriend are not successful, and he can't even spell 'I'! HEEEEEEEEEEERE'S BANG!"

The Tartaras all booed at Bang as he made a face. "What the heck? I can spell 'I' easily! And I know how to get chicks easily! I mean, look at my awesome muscles!"

"Now… Over here…" Camikon began as a spotlight appeared on Night. "The red undead mouse…thing! I have no clue what he's suppose to be, but I guess that large weapon does show he's the powerhouse! He also loves destruction! HEEEEEEEEERE'S NIGHT!"

Night, too, was booed at, but he didn't care. "Yeah, keep it comin', folks! Throw anything you got at me, 'cause it ain't gonna work!"

"Get yourselves ready to… _**FIIIIIIGHT!**_" Camikon hit the gong and the fight immediately began. Blade started off by drawing his katana, but after thinking for a moment, he put it away.

"Nah... I'd rather use my bare hands!"

"Wait," Bang gawked, looking at Blade. "Why are you putting your kata-"

"Shhhhh! Go along with it..."

"What's this? Blade's putting his weapon away!" Camikon announced. "Apparently, he's going to fight with his bare hands! What a trooper he's being! Someone get me a tissue!"

"Errr... I'm using my bare hands as well." Bang said, putting his weapons away and using his bare hands. Night did the same thing as well.

"And now the other two are putting their weapons away! I don't believe this, folks! Are they really going to fight with their bare hands?!"

The audience gasped as Blade punched Bang in the face. Night did the same exact thing, almost knocking a tooth out of him.

"Hey! Why're you guys teaming up on me?!" Bang exclaimed.

"Shhhhh! Pretend you're dying." Blade whispered.

"Oh," Bang quickly fell over on the ground once Blade kicked him in the shin, clutching it. "Oh, my chin!"

"_Shin,_" the blue cat corrected.

"It looks like Bang is down from a kick in the shin!" Camikon shouted. "Now it's only between Blade and Night!"

Blade and Night looked at each other. At that moment. Night decided to give him the evil eye, which made Blade's eyes widen in fear.

"No… Not the evil eye! Anything but that!" Blade pretended that he was dying from the evil eye by letting out a huge scream. After that, he fell to the ground.

"Heh heh! Who's the leader now?!" Night chuckled.

"I don't believe it folks! Night has won the battle without getting hurt!" Camikon announced, resulting in cheers. Once the cheering calmed down, Camikon sighed in relief and got off his throne. "Whew… Now that that is done with… It's time to go back to the castle."

"What about us?" Beldam asked.

"I don't need your help, so you do what you want," the old wizard declared, making his exit from the arena.

"So be it," Tipral stated. "If he doesn't require us anymore, we can just wait until Chopper finally shows up to his destination."

"Yes, that is true. We can wait for him there and surprise him!" Beldam grinned.

"We should give him our thanks as well! Come on, Purple!" Mysterious smirked, he and Purple going into the shadows, leaving the arena.

"Let us go to, my sort-of-lovelies! Marilyn! Freak-sheet!" Beldam and Marilyn sank into the shadows while Doopliss followed them through his shape-shifting.

* * *

**Arena entrance-**

"Man, that was one heck of a performance," Sonic commented as they landed on the ground.

"Too bad we didn't get that wand..." Chopper frowned. "What do we do now?"

"Hey, guys!" the group paused, taking notice of a Goomba calling out for them. It certainly looked familiar. "Yeah, I'm talking to you guys!"

"It's that Goomba from before…" Vivian trailed. "Should we…go to him?"

"Of course you wanna come over here! I've got some interesting stuff to tell you!"

"Really?" Chopper gawked, approaching the Goomba. "What do you know?"

"You know that wizard Camikon, right? Well, if you take that trail up ahead, you'll leave the city and go to the battlegrounds. There's this large red and black castle that he lives in. If you can make your way up to his room, I'm sure you can prevent him from getting away and get that wand!"

"Camikon's Castle? Hmmmmm… Interesting... Thanks for the help!"

"Though, why are you giving us a hand?" Shadower asked.

"Let's just say…that guy's a real jerk. Not many people that aren't Tartaras, Darklings, or anything affiliated with him like him. Plus, I overheard you talking about that wand before."

"Oh... OK." Chopper nodded. "We might as well go before we get into any more trouble, especially with Dark Creatures."

"Yes, we should," Meta Knight agreed. "Those three can take care of themselves for right now. They'll eventually meet up with us."

At that moment, they began to head out toward the pathway leading to Camikon's Castle.

"Good luck, you guys… You're gonna need it." the Goomba said boldly.

* * *

**Battlegrounds-**

"Excellent! We've finally made it to the castle!" Dark grinned as he saw the large red and black castle off at the distance. "This is our moment, Dark Creatures! If we can infiltrate that castle, then this realm is ours!"

"But, sir… The Tartaras are bringing all they got against us! Just look!" a Dark Soldier pointed at one that was stepped on by one of the Tartara Royal Guards.

"You're going to wish you've never came here, Dark Creatures!" the Tartara Royal Guard roared. "Destroy them all! Leave none alive!"

Dark saw a laser coming his way and easily stepped aside to dodge it. He then pulled out his pistol to shoot the Tartara that tried to shoot him. A Tartara Soldier with a sword tried to strike him, but he grabbed its arm and kicked it face, knocking the monster back. He picked up the red, jagged sword it carried and swung it at the Tartara Royal Guard's foot.

"AAARRRGGHHH! YOU…" the Tartara Royal Guard tried to step on Dark, but he got out of the way and shot the guard in the face, knocking it into the lava.

"Heh heh heh! Now THAT takes care of them for now!" Dark grinned as he put his gun away. The Tartaras, knowing that they couldn't keep this up, retreated back into the castle. "All right, my soldiers! Now's our chance! Let's get in that castle!"

"Uhhh… Sir? We got a problem." a Dark Creature warned, pointing to a defeated Dark Creature lying on the ground.

"What?" Dark turned around to see Chopper and his friends take down a Dark Creature that was attacking them. "What the… What are THEY doing here?!"

"We don't know, sir! They must want something!"

"And they brought some of their other friends here too? How…interesting." Dark grinned, deciding to approach the group with his weapon ready. Once they had defeated another Dark Creature, Dark fired his blaster, which had barely struck Chopper's foot. Everyone turned their attention to Dark, surprised to see him here.

"Wait, what's Dark doing over here?" Chopper gawked.

"I wanna know how he got here," Sonic added.

"That's very simple," Dark started. "We found a portal outside of our base, and after some studies, we found out we could go to Tartamos, a place I always wanted to conquer!"

"So... Portals have been appearing throughout the universe..." Shadower trailed. "The Crystal Stars were most likely involved in that."

"If that was you who opened it, then I thank you, Chopper," Dark smiled. "Now Tartamos will be mine! All I need to do is take care of that old geezer!"

"Slow down there, mister! We're taking down that old geezer ourselves!" Scrub stated.

"What? YOU'RE going after that old geezer too?! Sorry, but you're too late. We beat you here, so we have the right to infiltrate the castle!"

"Poyo! (No way! We have a more important job than you!)" Kirby snapped.

"…I don't know what that creampuff said, but it sounds like you're threatening me. Well, now that you're here, I think I might just stay and wipe you fools out as well!"

"Believe me, you don't want to do that..." Chopper trailed, narrowing his eyes at the Dark Creature leader.

The Galaxy Soldiers pulled their weapons out, and Chopper's friends got in their fighting stances. Dark took a look at them and laughed.

"Oh, look! A bunch of round creatures and whatever the heck you other people are are threatening me! Oh, I'm so scared!" Dark cried, pretending to be scared. "Like I'm afraid of you all! You wanna get into that castle? Well, then you'll have to get through us first! Dark Creatures! _ATTACK!_"

"You guys focus on taking care of the Dark Creatures! My friends and I will take care of Dark Doom!" Chopper pulled the Star Rod out and he jumped toward Dark.

"Heh heh! Now this is interesting..." Dark smiled. "All right, then let us battle! When you and Sonic and finally gone, I will become the mighty ruler over all!"

"Like we're going to let that happen!" Bombette exclaimed. "Come on, Chopper! Let's show him what we've got!"

**Tattle: **_That's Dark Doom. He's the leader of the Dark Creatures. Even still, he's a bit freaky with that closed eye on his forehead… Max HP is 480, Attack is 20, and Defense is 2. Most of his attacks are pretty much the same, but he might throw in a couple of new attacks, such as these small meteors and this swift strike attack. Just make sure you be careful when he makes himself dodgy for two turns. That'll get REAL annoying. Not to mention he might try to raise his defense to be a total jerk… Do all you can to stop him, 'cause I don't want this freak to take down Camikon!  
_

"Let me show you what kind of new moves I got!" Chopper smiled, striking Dark with a projectile from his Star Rod. Sonic landed a Spin Dash on Dark to deal 8 to him as well. "So, how do you feel now?"

"Heh heh heh! This is only the beginning of the fight!" Dark cackled, firing a purple shot from his pistol at Chopper. He managed to guard it and then use his Gravity Jump to deal 22 damage to him. "Argh! What was that?!"

"Something pretty painful," Bombette smirked, using her Bomb to bring him to 430 HP. In response, Dark put away his weapon and performed a sweeping kick that managed to knock Bombette to the ground.

"I'm not gonna lie, that move seems interesting..." Sonic trailed. "Maybe I should use that one day."

"No time to be thinking about some kind of sweep kicks, Sonic. We gotta take down Dark!" Chopper approached Dark and took 8 out of him with his hammer, leaving him to cringe. With Kirby's Cartwheel, Dark decided to hit him with a sweeping kick. That did not stop Chopper from throwing an ice ball at him, while Heartsy had struck him with her hammer as well, bringing him down to 398 HP.

Dark thrust the palms of his hand forward, and he had summoned his red, crescent-shaped energy at the group, dealing 20 to them all. Chopper had shrugged it off and landed a Light Stomp on him to deal 8, while Tamber's Power Punch had dealt 12.

Dark grumbled to himself as he fired at Chopper again, who had managed to guard the attack. Afterward, he had decided to hit him with another Gravity Jump, while Tamber threw in another Power Punch to deal another 12. Once he had landed that punch, Chopper had taken a look at the Galaxy Soldiers fending off the Dark Creatures. Most of them appeared to be doing fine, though Kit Cosmos was struggling at first, Sir Arthur had assisted him by attacking the Dark Creatures that were after him. This gave Kit Cosmos the chance to get at a further range and fire his arrows. Chopper had also noticed that Meta Knight was taking one down with Galaxia.

"Chopper! Watch out!" Flyer shouted.

"Huh?" Chopper turned around and found himself getting hit by Dark's punch. "Hey! No fair!"

He quickly took action by hitting him with his hammer. Vivian decided to add in her Fire Wall to the mix, which managed to not only pierce through Dark's defense, but it also took out a few other Dark Creatures that were nearby. This had managed to bring him down to 320 HP, and he was starting to get annoyed.

"You may have brought me this far down, but I'm not going down so easily!" Dark yelled, purple swirls of energy appearing around him. Small meteors had fired down at the group, and they quickly brought their guard up to take less damage. Chopper then used a Star Blast to hit Dark afterward, while Flyer took 10 out of him with a Flying Attack.

"So, ready to give up?" Sonic asked.

"Not a chance! I still have more tricks up my sleeves!" Dark raised his arms, and he boosted his Defense by 2, bringing his Defense to 4. "There. That should save me the trouble of taking some serious damage."

"Crud… He rose his defense." Chopper frowned. "Well, this is going to be annoying..."

Regardless of that, Chopper had decided to use his Master Hammer and deal 14 damage to Dark. Following up, Scrub had used a Mega Egg to crush the Dark Creature leader with a giant egg, bringing him down to 270 HP.

"So they're throwing some stronger attacks against me now! This battle might become very interesting…" Dark grinned, firing at Chopper again. He managed to Superguard it and use a Star Blast against him. Shadower lowered his Defense to 0 with a Shadow Punch afterward, leading him to get shot by Dark. But, with his Defense at 0, Chopper took 30 out of him, and then Mario's Super Jump dealt 10 damage.

Throwing his hands forward, Dark fired another Swift Strike at the group, dealing another 20 to them. Thanks to Chopper's hammer and Sonic's Spin Dash, Dark was down to 199 HP. Along with that, Dark's defense boost wore off too.

"Heh heh! Looks like your defense boost is gone!" Sonic grinned.

"This fight is still far from over!" Dark roared. Raising his arms, he made himself dodgy. "Now try hitting me!"

"I'm not going to take the risk," Chopper said, pulling out a Maximum Recovery and recovering all of his HP and FP.

"Well I, personally, am I going to make a move!" Sonic declared before he curled up in a ball and struck Dark successfully with his Spin Dash, pulling a stylish move while at it. Dark remained confident, and he raised his arms again and had a large, dark ball of energy charged up.

"Heh heh heh!" Dark cackled, giving them all a demented smile.

"Uh oh… We better act fast!" Chopper ran up to Dark and struck him with his Diamond Hammer, and then Kirby had struck him with his Cartwheel afterward, bringing him to 173 HP.

"Take…THIS!" Dark tossed the dark orb of energy in the direction of Chopper. He gulped and quickly duck, letting it go over him.

"Ha! You missed me!"

"Who ever said I was trying to hit you?" Dark grinned, pointing behind him. "Take a look for yourself!"

Chopper turned around, and his eyes widened when he realized who it was going after.

With Flyer and Vivian, two Dark Creatures had noticed they were open and tried to attack them. They had taken notice of this and were now fighting back. Unfortunately, this left them open for any attack behind them. Coincidentally, a dark orb was coming their way...

"Vivian! Flyer! Watch out!" Chopper cried.

They both turned to Chopper, but they could only see a dark orb of energy coming toward him. The two barely had enough time to react, and the dark ball struck them, leaving them lying on the ground motionless.

"Vivian?! Flyer?!" Chopper rushed over to the two with worry. Everyone had put the battle to a pause when they brought their attention to him and the two injured ones. "Are you guys still here?! Please speak to me!"

"Whoa… That was… Wow." Sonic said, completely at a loss of words.

Chopper continued to attempt to wake them up by gently shaking them, but he had gotten no response, despite how much he tried.

Unfortunately, he didn't get a response from either one of them. He tried so many times to get them up, but they didn't.

"No… This… This can't be…" Chopper gaped, his eyes watering up. "Are they really...?"

"This is not good…" Silica trailed.

"When I first saw them getting distracted by my Dark Creatures, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to take them out!" Dark cackled. "And now, this fight will be much easier! Too bad for you, Chopper. They were probably just as pathetic as you are. Don't worry, you'll be joining them soon enough!"

"Do you even care about their lives?" Chopper sniffled.

"Not a chance! Heck, I've got a little secret for you." Dark started, approaching him and whispering, "I don't care about my own minions dying either."

Hearing the sniffling coming from Chopper made him laugh even more. "Awww, what's the matter? You gonna cry? Go ahead, Chopper! Let it all out! It'll be the last you'll cry before you die!"

That was when the crying had turned to rage, and a dark aura had immediately surrounded him. Dark was nearly thrown back by the darkness, but when he saw Dark Super Chopper turn, he saw nothing by glowing white eyes.

"Oh, no... Not this again..." Shadower gulped.

"What the… What are you supposed to be?" Dark gaped. "What kind of power is that?!"

_**"****I am your worst nightmare" **_Dark Super Chopper aimed the palm of his hand at Dark, and a dark ball of energy struck him, taking 14 out of him. To his surprise, he found the attack very painful.

"Argh! I don't understand this! How can you have THAT kind of power?!"

"Because you did something that would severely anger him," Shadower answered. "And now he's lost control."

"He's real ticked off," Sonic nodded, pulling the seven Chaos Emeralds out and using them to transform into Super Sonic.

"Your dark powers don't scare me, little boy! I've faced things more threatening than you!" Dark tried to do a sweeping kick, but Dark Super Chopper ended up blocking it with ease. What happened afterward, was Dark getting severely punched in the stomach. His eyes widened in pain, and he clutched his stomach as well. Soon enough, Super Sonic had made a dash at him and dealt 12 damage. "You stupid hedgehog!"

Dark charged at Super Sonic and attempted to kick him, but as a result, he was hurt instead.

"Are… Are my attacks useless?" Dark gasped as Dark Super Chopper used a Power Bounce on him, taking 32 out of him with every jump doing more than it would usually do. Afterward, Super Sonic dashed at him again, and he was down to 89 HP. As Dark started to feel exhausted, he noticed something about Dark Super Chopper. Despite the immense power within him, his HP was also draining. "Hmmmmmm... So, it looks like that power is also draining him. Perhaps this may work to my advantage as well!"

He didn't want to risk attacking Dark Super Chopper, so he went after Super Sonic. He had taken 12 damage as a result, but Super Sonic's transformation had finally faded away.

"Dang it... So much for that." Sonic sighed.

Dark Super Chopper showed no mercy, using his Power Bounce to deal another 32 damage. After Shadower landed another Shadow Punch, Dark was down to 37 HP.

_**"I'm going to make sure you suffer for what you did,"**_ Dark Super Chopper hissed. _**"I won't give you any mercy!"**_

"Ugh... I... I don't know how long I'm going to last..." Dark panted, looking up at the dark being with hopelessness.

_**"Now to finish this!"**_ Dark Super Chopper came flying toward him, ready to fire a blast to destroy him.

"Wait! Chopper…"

Dark Super Chopper came to a halt and turned around. His angry eyes had changed to one of surprise when he saw Vivian and Flyer slowly get up.

"Chopper... We're all right... Don't worry..." Vivian moaned, holding her arm in pain.

"We've taken worse hits before," Flyer assured, still wincing from the pain he took. "You don't need to be that to win..."

Suddenly, there was no more anger within the Star Warrior, and the darkness enveloping him had finally gone away, turning him back to normal. However, he was left exhausted from the fight.

Seeing this, Dark grinned and took the opportunity to make an attack.

"Chopper! Look out!" Vivian cried.

Turning around, Chopper had found a foot hit him in the face and knock him back.

"Heh heh heh!" Dark cackled, feeling more confident. "Well, looks like that dark power wore off on you already! And with the condition you're in, victory shall be mine!"

"Wait... What did happen?" Chopper asked, but upon hearing the word "dark power", he quickly realized what happened. "Oh, no... I didn't turn into...that, did I?!"

"I'm afraid so..." Shadower confirmed.

"Oh, man... I didn't want that to happen to me again!"

"Hey hey, easy there!" Sonic said. "This battle's not over yet! He's only got 37 HP left, and his Defense is now 0! What do you say we finish this off?"

Chopper looked up at Sonic and gave him a confident look. "Yeah! Let's finish this!"

He turned back to Dark and leaped in the air. Before Dark could attack him, Chopper had struck him with his Gravity Jump, bringing him down to 7 HP.

"Argh! What the..." Dark looked up ahead and was quickly struck by Sonic's Spin Dash, knocking him onto the ground in defeat.

"And that's how you win a battle!" Sonic smirked, landing on the ground and waggling his finger.

With Dark defeated, Chopper had approached Vivian and Flyer. He had taken out two Max Shrooms and let them eat them to fully recover their HP.

"Thanks, Chopper," Vivian smiled, giving him a hug.

"It's a good thing that attack didn't do us in," Flyer sighed. "I wouldn't have wanted things to end like that."

"I'm glad you're both alive as well," Chopper cheered. "Though, I'm sorry I turned into that...thing."

"Don't be. It helped us take down Dark. ...Right?"

"Speaking of Dark..." Bombette started, her eyes shifting over to the Dark Creature leader, who was slowly getting up. He rubbed his head in pain before drawing his blaster.

"I'm...not finished yet," Dark hissed, gritting his teeth and revealing his fangs. "You will never defeat me... I am the king of the Dark Creatures! I surpass you all! And now, I'm going to finish you once and for-"

The sound of a shot fired, and Dark's blaster had exploded in his hands.

"One of the major rules of being a villain: never give out a speech when you have your enemy where you want them!"

The group turned around to see Blade, Bang, and Night behind them with an army of defeated Dark Creatures behind them as well. They had confident looks as Bang lowered his gun.

"Hey, it's you guys!" Heartsy gaped. "How'd you get out of that arena?"

"Oh, we pretended to defeat each other and played dead," Blade explained. "It was a lot easier than we thought."

"And I was the victor," Night grinned.

"And I destroyed Dark's gun!" Bang cheered.

"Yes, we know that already, Bang..." Blade sighed.

Dark stared down at the remains of his gun in disbelief and hissed at the group. "Argh! You will pay dearly for that! I guess this leaves me with no other option... Dark Creatures! Eliminate them all!"

He did not hear the sounds of shots firing.

"Uhhhh... Dark Creatures? Attack! Now!"

"I'm afraid that won't be happening," Sir Arthur explained, he and the other soldiers approaching him from behind. "They're finished."

"What?" Dark gaped.

"Face it, Dark, you're outnumbered," Meta Knight stated, his sword aimed at him.

"I'm outnumbered?" the Dark Creature leader gawked, seeing all of his Dark Creatures defeated. "How is that possible?!"

"Apparently those Dark Creatures were not strong enough to take us," Silica stated.

"Looks like you'll have to surrender to us," Blade smirked. "So, how does it feel to taste defeat?"

Dark let out a small grumble in response.

"Wait a minute…" Bang realized something after hearing some voices behind them. "Blade, did we tell them we're being followed by an angry mob?"

"Yeah, we…" Blade paused for a moment, and his eyes widened. "Crud! I forgot about that!"

They had turned around when the voices got louder and found an army of Tartaras and Darklings approaching them.

"Leave none alive!" the Tartara General shouted.

"Uh oh…" Chopper turned to the castle to see some Tartaras Snipers hidden through the windows. "Well, we can try to get into the castle, but it might not be easy…"

"Chopper, leave these Tartaras to us," Meta Knight declared, gripping Galaxia. "You don't have time to face these guys. We'll try to hold them off so you can find Camikon and get that wand!"

"Wait… I thought you were coming with us?" Chopper frowned.

"Unfortunately, it looks like we can't," Meta Knight parried one of the Tartara's blasts. "Just go!"

"But…"

"You have a mission, Chopper, and you need to finish it. Just stop asking questions and go!"

"All right, Meta Knight…" Chopper nodded, slowly facing his friends. "Let's go, guys. I guess it's just us."

Chopper's friends followed him to the castle entrance. With one kick, the door burst open, and they were able to walk inside. All that was left outside were Blade, Bang, Night, the Galaxy Soldiers, Dark, and the Tartaras.

As the army got closer, Meta Knight had gotten in a fighting stance. "Now then… Galaxy Soldiers! Attack!"

All of them rushed toward the army in a blink of an eye.


	145. Camikon's Evil Castle

**Here it is, guys. This…is the second-to-last part of the first part of Chapter 20. Yes, there are TWO parts to this chapter, which is why it's a very long chapter. But, now we're getting into the darker area of this chapter. How exactly is it darker? Well… You wait and see.**

**And don't think this is longer than that last chapter. We're basically exploring the castle this chapter. That's all.**

* * *

Once everyone took a step in the castle, the door closed shut behind them. It was definitely a large door because a Tartara Royal Guard would need to walk into the castle. Heck, the rooms here were MASSIVE. The ground was made up of red carpet with a symbol of Maquano on the bottom. Apparently it must be because Camikon didn't have time to replace it. They could also see some stairs up ahead with two hallways going to the left and right. There were also a couple of doors in this main room.

"Whoa… This is some castle Camikon's got here. I didn't think it would be something like THIS…" Sonic said, gazing at the red wall and carpet in amazement.

"To be honest, this place has a dark feeling to it," Chopper stated. "No, really. It reminds me so much of the Palace of Shadow. That's not a good thing, you know. It means it's freaky as all heck."

"You're right, it does have that dark feeling to it," Vivian agreed. She noticed a Save Block right by the door. "Chopper! You should hit that Save Block!"

"Good idea," Chopper walked over to the Save Block and he jumped under it, saving his game.

Once he did that, he looked at Flyer and Vivian for a second. "Are you guys all right after getting hit by that dark orb of energy Dark sent at ya?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't see that coming, honestly." Flyer replied. Vivian only nodded her head in a shy way.

"Say, something seems to be bothering you, Vivian," Bombette noticed. "Are you all right? I know Chopper asked that question, but you only seemed to be giving a small nod. Did something bad happen?"

"Well, umm… No, not really." She looked at Chopper and then back at Bombette. "Everything's fine, Bombette. I'm just a little hurt from that attack Dark threw at me and Flyer."

"We should be asking you the same thing, Chopper," Flyer said. "I mean, after what happened to you against Dark, you were probably badly hurt. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. But, now I know something…" Chopper pulled the King's Star out. "This Crystal Star…is _evil_! It's almost as if the Shadow King's power is straight in this thing! Something tells me that this isn't what the Crystal Star really looks like…"

"Poyo? (What about the Queen's Star?)" Kirby asked.

"The Queen's Star?" Chopper pulled the Queen's Star out. "Now that I think about it, it almost seems like the Shadow Queen's power is in this thing. I say that this thing is evil as well."

Mario: There's the Dark Star, too.

"The Dark Star?" Chopper sighed as he put both Crystal Stars away and then pulled out the Dark Star. "I think this one might be a bit evil too… But, I don't know whose power would be in it. It just summons a black hole and that's it. The only one I saw use something like that would be…Marx?"

Chopper suddenly heard a noise coming from one of the doors. He slowly tiptoed over to the door to listen carefully. It sounded like someone was laughing manically, to his displeasure.

"What's behind this door?" he asked himself as he reached for the doorknob. He slowly began to open it while sweating nervously.

Once it was fully open, he saw Marx balancing on a ball juggling a key. He looked like what he was as Marx Soul, except that he doesn't have the wings on him. The walls were surrounded by flames too.

"Oh, god… Are you telling me that MARX is in this place? !" Chopper grumbled to himself.

"Whee hee hee hee! If it isn't Chopper!" Marx Soul cackled. "So tell me! Have you been killed by something? If so, Congratulations to you! I hope you rot in your room for all eternity, 'cause that's where you're gonna stay for the rest of your life!"

"I'm not dead, you know. I was taken here by some portal."

"Poyo? (Chopper, what's going on over there?)" Kirby skipped over to the door, only to be shocked when he saw Marx Soul there. "Poyo! (Marx! What… What's he doing here? !")

"Calm down, Kirby. He can't really do anything. He's dead, remember?" Chopper assured.

"Marx is here? Wow… Wait, what's he got with him that he's juggling?" Shadower pointed to the key that Marx Soul was juggling. He seemed to be using his tongue to juggle it around.

"He's juggling it with his tongue?" Heartsy asked, a bit surprised by how he's doing it, yet crept out at the same time. "That's kinda creepy, if you ask me…"

"Whee hee hee hee! So you're not dead, aren't you? Then maybe we can have some fun now that you're here! Hee hee hee! LOTS of fun!" Marx Soul cackled. Three Darklings appeared in the room.

"Leave this place!" the Darklings shouted, shooting red globs of energy at Chopper, who countered it by tossing three light balls at the Darklings, destroying them instantly.

"Whuh? How did you destroy them?"

"That's very simple," Chopper began, aiming the palm of his hand straight at Marx Soul. "My light energy can rid any darkness that's around. So, you'll be next if we don't get that key, all right?"

"Hee hee hee hee! Like I'd ever give you this key!" Marx Soul cackled. Once he saw Chopper's hand glowing, he immediately changed his mind. "OK! OK! You can have the key!"

He tossed the key to Chopper with his tongue. "Thanks. I needed this." Chopper walked out of the room and he shut the door on his way out. He was thinking about locking the door, but he thought it would be wrong.

"Let's see what's in that other room," Scrub suggested. Chopper shrugged and he walked over to the door next to the one they were in and he opened it, only to find…

"Ness… Ness… I…f…e…e…l…g…o…o…d…" Chopper's antennas sprung up when he saw swirling red vortex in the dark room moan out. It was about to strike him, but he slammed the door shut before he got hit.

"OK, guys… Let's NEVER go into that room again. Got that?" he asked everyone.

"Good idea," Sonic agreed. They immediately went up the stairs to one of the locked doors. Well, both of them were locked, but one of the locks had a shape that the key Chopper had would fit.

"Might as well try that one," Chopper rushed over to the door to his right and he inserted the key in its place. The door opened and he immediately rushed into the next room. It didn't seem like a hallway here, unfortunately.

It actually looks more like a round room, like those rooms in the Palace of Shadow. They all noticed a chandelier on the ceiling, though. There were a couple of Tartara Soldiers in this room too.

"So, what are your plans for tomorrow?" a Tartara asked his friend.

"Well, I'm probably going to go to the beach when we can finally come out of this place, and maybe we might even make some more money by fooling people just like we did with King Dedede!" his friend replied.

"Ah, King Dedede… What a great customer he was. Too bad he decided not to pay us. Thankfully, his castle is ours now! He cannot do a thing about that! Oh, if only he paid us, then he wouldn't be crying like a baby at this moment…"

A Darkling noticed Chopper and his friends walk into the room. "Pardon me, you two…" the Darkling began. "But we appear to have company! Even take a look for yourself!" He pointed at them.

The two Tartaras stopped talking and they turned to Chopper and his friends. "What the… Shouldn't you be in your prison? That's where Camikon said to put you in, right?" one of the Tartaras gaped.

"Maybe you didn't realize that I ESCAPED that place, didn't you? In fact, there's a big battle going on outside. Even take a look for yourself!" Chopper pointed to the window.

"Hmmmm?" the two Tartaras decided to look out the window. They saw the Star Warriors, Blade, Bang and Night fighting against the Tartaras. They seemed rather shocked.

"Wow. The kid's right. How did he get here so fast?"

"It's because we get through things quickly," Sonic smirked, pointing at both Tartaras. "But I think it's about time your business went bankrupt! What do ya say, Chopper?"

"Yup!" Chopper agreed, bringing the palm of his hand at the two Tartaras. "Sorry to say this, but I think it's time to make you guys go out of business. You guys gotta go for now."

"Sorry, but there's no way we're giving up our business! We're rich 'cause of it! You know who needs to go down? I think you do!" the Tartara Soldier fired straight at Chopper, but he jumped out of the way with a cartwheel.

"Shoot him, Flyer!" Chopper shouted. Flyer aimed his arm cannon at the Tartara and he shot him with an energy blast, stunning him and also leaving him paralyzed.

"I know how to take care of this!" Tamber grabbed the Tartara and he lifted him up above his head. "I think you ought to leave this place!"

"Hey! Put me down NOW!" demanded the soldier. Tamber ignored him and he simply tossed him out the window. He grabbed the other Tartara and he threw him out the window as well.

"I didn't quite understand why you simply threw them out the window," Bombette stated. "I don't think that did anything. At all."

"Well, I wanted to throw them out the window, so I did that!" Tamber replied, giving them all a big grin that was…rather strange.

Chopper looked out the window and he noticed that there were shots coming from higher up in the castle. "Uh oh… I think there are snipers above us. I think we should help by taking them out."

"Where are the snipers anyways?" Vivian asked.

"Why don't we check through this door then?" Chopper opened the door and he walked into the next room. It was big with a couple of platforms high up. They were stuck on the walls, actually.

"Now that I think about it, I think this is my time to shine!" Flyer smiled, seeing that he could reach that distance. "Are you ready to fly, Chopper?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Chopper replied. He grabbed onto Flyer's feet once he flew up. "I'm gonna hang tight. There's no way I'm gonna let myself fall."

"That's all right. That's what you need to do anyways. The only problem is that…how are we going to get everyone else up there?" Flyer started to ponder as he flew up to the platform.

"We're gonna have to fly up to that door," Chopper said as he pointed to the door high above them. Flyer nodded and he was about to fly up. "Whoa whoa! Let's just relax for a couple of seconds!"

"Ummm… OK?" Flyer said with a confused look.

* * *

**Ten seconds later-**

"OK, now I'm ready," Chopper grabbed onto Flyer's feet once he took off and they flew up to the door.

"Hey! What about us?" Heartsy shouted.

Chopper looked down at everyone else. "I'm afraid there isn't any switch or anything. Sorry, but you might have to stay here and wait for right now. Don't worry though. We'll be back!"

The two walked into the next room to find a small little hallway. A door was already close to them, and apparently, it leads to a balcony where one of the Tartara Snipers are.

"Hey… I think we can get the snipers here!" Chopper opened the door and he came up on the balcony. The Tartara Sniper didn't appear to notice the two walk over to him, which was nice.

"Come on… I need a clear shot!" the Tartara Sniper was aiming at Silica.

"I got this covered," Flyer whispered. He flew over to the sniper and he used his wind powers to blow him off the balcony, sending him down to the ground in front of Silica.

"What the…" Silica looked down at the sniper. "I think Chopper got one of the snipers, guys!"

"Well, in that case…" Night pulled his axe hammer out and he slammed it straight on top of the Tartara Sniper.

"Aw, come on! I wanted to kill the sniper!" Bang whined.

"Oh, quit your whining already, Bang," Blade said with an annoyed look on his face. "You'll get your chance soon enough. Just don't whine like some kind of baby, all right?"

"Fine…" Bang pouted.

* * *

"Hmmmmm… Now that I think about it, Silica DOES remind me of Fumu for some reason. Still, Fumu will always be the greatest girl ever." Flyer said while looking down at Silica.

"Oh, boy… Seriously, are you always thinking of Fumu all the time?" Chopper asked while face palming.

"No, I haven't brought her up in a while, Chopper," Flyer replied with a strange look. "What? I'm not allowed to think of my girlfriend? If I can't, then you can't think of your girlfriend either."

"Well, that doesn't matter, considering that I don't even have a girlfriend," Chopper responded with his tongue sticking out in a silly way.

"Then why do two girls have a crush on you? …Actually, how do THREE have a crush on you? Wouldn't you consider them to be your girlfriends?"

"Errr… Let's just take care of the other sniper." Chopper picked up a pebble an he threw it straight at the other Tartara Sniper's head, making him a bit dizzy.

Bang saw that the sniper was too distracted, so he took out his sniper rifle. "This time I'm gonna get the shot!" He loaded his weapon and he aimed at the sniper and fired at him, making him fall off the balcony.

"Well, looks like Bang took care of that guy," Chopper sighed in relief, wiping his brow. "Now we don't have to worry about any snipers. I think they should be in the clear for this fight."

"I don't think so…" Flyer pointed to the Tartara Royal Guard that walked out of the castle with his giant sword. "That monster has…you're not gonna believe it… 110 HP, an Attack of 21 and a Defense of 4. Personally, I would stay away from these guys if I were you…"

"Stay away from them? Oh, come on! I'm not a coward, Flyer! I know you have a different point of view, but we can't just let these huge monsters get in our way! We would have to fight 'em anyways!"

Flyer shrugged and he followed Chopper back inside of the castle, where they kept moving to the left of the hallway. A Darkling rose from the ground and tried to attack, but it was destroyed by Chopper's light energy.

After thirty seconds, they found themselves in front of a small door. "Let's see where this leads to," Chopper opened the door and he found a small, dark room with dark blue walls and chains. There was a large Dark Block in the center of the room.

"Smash that thing," Flyer suggested.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna do it. Sheesh!" Chopper pulled his Master Hammer out and he immediately destroyed the block with his hammer ability. Once he smashed it, Flyer shivered a little from the air. It felt scary to him.

"Say, Chopper… Maybe we should find a way to see if we can make this whole place lighter."

"Calm down, Flyer. We NEED to do this. What? You'd rather be stuck on a planet filled with darkness?"

"Well… No."

"Then shut up and let us do this," Chopper noticed that there was a dark X on the ground. But, he also happened to notice some writing on the wall when he pulled out a light ball.

"What's this?" He walked over to the wall to see what it had to say. "Aw, crud… It's written in a different language. Flyer, you're gonna need to translate it for me, OK?"

"All right, I'll check what it has to say," Flyer walked over to the writing. "I don't think I can read this. Sorry, Chopper, but… Hold on a minute! Let's see if my translator works on this thing!"

He pulled his translator machine out and he brought it over the writing. "It reads, 'To the one that can read this: the wall that was in the room with the platforms can be blown up. There you shall find the stairway to the next floor.' I think it means the room our friends are still in needs to be blown up."

"Oh, that's it? That doesn't sound like a bad thing at all," Chopper turned to the dark X on the ground. "I suppose we're gonna have to break through the ground, it looks like."

He jumped up and then came down on the ground with a Gravity Stomp, breaking the dark X and falling through the hole he just made thanks to that ability.

"Whoa… That must be a big fall…" Flyer used his wings to slowly land on the red carpet that Chopper landed on. They were back in the room where they saw those two Tartaras.

"Strange… Why did it bring us back here?" Chopper asked with a confused look on his face.

"Well, apparently we were above this place," Flyer replied.

"But that's strange. I don't remember the hallway being so short compared to this. Is Camikon trying to mess with our minds by teleporting us here?"

"I wouldn't say that… Look, let's not have a big conversation. We need to get back to the others and tell them about blowing up the wall, OK?" Flyer flew over to the door and he opened it. He and Chopper immediately rushed into the room where their friends were.

"What the… How did you get over here?" Vivian asked.

"It's kind of a long story…" Chopper began. "Well, not a LONG story, but all that matters is that we need your help, Bombette."

"What do you need me to do?" Bombette asked.

"It's not much," Chopper picked her up and he aimed her at the wall. "Before you get angry, just hear me out. I need to throw you at the wall. I know it sounds dangerous, but can you go with the flow?"

"Uhhhh… OK?" Bombette was a bit confused, but she let him throw her over to the wall. She blew up and a large hole was revealed, showing a stairway going up to the second floor.

"Let's see what we got up there," Chopper walked up the stairs to the door. When he opened it, he found another hallway, but this one was a bit wider. It wasn't a hallway with Royal Guards, that's for sure. Some Hell Bones were on the ground too, which was a bit of a problem.

"Crud… Hell Bones! I hate these things…" Shadower groaned.

"I just hate that my flames don't do anything to them," Vivian frowned as the Hell Bones rose up from the ground.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to use some water…" Chopper sighed as he changed to his Water ability and squirted water at the Hell Bones, extinguishing the flame on it. Tamber finished it off with a punch.

"All right, let's keep going before that thing gets up," Tamber suggested, running over to the door.

Chopper followed him over to the door to the next room, where they found some stairs going up to the third floor. They simply took them up to the door leading to the third floor hallway, but they noticed something on it.

"Wait… This door's 'Out of Order'?" Chopper questioned. "What the heck is with that? Door's don't go out of order!"

"Nothing goes out of order around here!" Scrub pretended to roll his invisible sleeves and he stormed over to the door. With one punch, he did…nothing.

"What? ! How come that didn't do anything? !" Scrub exclaimed.

"I don't know why…" Chopper looked over at the wall to notice that there was a tiny little peel on it. "But I happen to know where we CAN go! Kirby, you're gonna have to help me!"

"Poyo? (You want me to inhale something?)" Kirby asked. Chopper pointed to the little peel on the wall. "Poyo! (Oh! Now I see it! Don't worry, I'll go take care of that!)"

Kirby skipped over to the wall and he used his Inhaling ability to peel the dark paper off of the wall. The paper went straight into his mouth and a doorway was revealed. A small little room with a chest was in there.

"I wonder what's in that chest," Chopper walked into the room and he opened the chest. Inside of it was a Castle Key. "Ah… So THIS must be the key that needs to be used to unlock the door in the main room."

"So we have to backtrack ALL that way? ! That's complete bull!" Tamber shouted.

A dark-looking pipe immediately appeared right by the chest. "Oh, what a coincidence! Now we have a way of going back, I suppose!" Chopper jumped into the warp pipe and he went down.

"And to think that we would have to backtrack that whole way…" Vivian remarked, thinking about Twilight Trail's backtracking to Dark Steeple and back. She thought of that while going down the pipe with everyone else.

* * *

**Back in the main room-**

When they came out of the pipe in the corner of the room, they froze as soon as they saw a Tartara Royal Guard walking by.

"Guys… Stay quiet!" Flyer warned.

"Are you kidding me? I said we could take this guy on, remember?" Chopper recalled back on the balcony. "Flyer, we're not cowards. If we didn't fight one of these guys, these guys would think we're scared!"

"Huh? What was that noise? !" the Tartara Royal Guard turned to the corner by the stairs, where he found Chopper and his group of friends. "Ah! So you guys are HERE! I thought you would be outside for a minute!"

"Well you thought wrong," Chopper smirked, getting in a fighting stance. "We can take you on! Size doesn't matter around HERE!"

"Bleh heh heh heh! Oh, what made you want to fight ME? ! Oh, whatever… Since our objective IS to kill you, I will do my job and kill you myself!" the Royal Guard pulled out his large sword.

"That sword is huge! I don't think we can take this guy on…" Vivian whispered.

"Well I'm taking the risk anyways," Chopper whipped up a light ball and he tossed it straight at the Royal Guards face.

"Augh! What kind of power was THAT? !" he exclaimed.

"That was my light power, thank you very much."

"Gragh! Imbecile! You will pay dearly for that!" the Royal Guard breathed fire out straight at Chopper. He jumped out of the way and he swung the Star Rod straight at him, making a yellow star strike him.

Tamber immediately punched the Royal Guard in the foot, dealing 8 damage to him. They only did about 20 damage to him, sadly…

"Heh heh heh! Your attacks don't cause a lot of harm to me! You should have turned back when you had the chance!" the Tartara Royal Guard used his fiery breath to burn everyone.

"Bleh… Well if that's how you're gonna play, then I might as well play the same way!" Chopper pulled his hammer out and he struck the Tartara Royal Guard with a powerful Master Hammer attack.

Flyer pulled his arm cannon out and he blasted the Royal Guard with an energy blast. "Just remember: don't touch this guy, or else you're going to get hurt. It's a big warning…"

The Tartara Royal Guard merely laughed as he swung his large red sword, firing a sword beam straight at Chopper. He managed to guard the attack, but it was still a bit painful.

Chopper quickly shook his head and he squirted water on the Royal Guard, extinguishing his flames so Shadower could lower his defense to 0 with a Shadow Punch. Afterwards, they Superguarded the monster's sword swing.

"You're gonna have to try better than that!" Chopper scoffed, striking the Royal Guard with a Gravity Jump. Tamber brought him down to 10 HP with his Power Punch, which felt satisfying.

"Aw, yeah! That felt good!" he grinned.

"Argh! How could this happen? ! You're all like ants to me and I'm losing to you? ! This is an outrage!" the Tartara Royal Guard spewed out flames upon everyone, burning them.

"Well, looks like we're gonna win this!" Chopper summoned a large Tidal Wave to strike the Royal Guard. Once Vivian punched him with her Shade Fist, the large monster fell over on the ground and turned into smoke like any other enemy they've defeated.

"I don't believe it… We took that thing down?" Flyer gaped.

"See? I told you we could do it!" Chopper smirked, waggling his finger at him after removing his Water ability.

"Since we took care of that Tartara, we should get going," Vivian suggested. "That key you have should take us to the other door in this main room."

"Yeah, we better get going," Sonic suggested. Chopper agreed and he walked over to the door to the right this time. He noticed the lock on the door with the same shape as the key.

"Yup. This is it." Chopper put the key into the lock and it broke off. The door opened for them and they walked into a hallway with torches on the walls. These torches…were a darker color than the ones in the other side.

"I don't like it here… It gives me the chills." Heartsy shivered.

"It definitely feels a lot different from the other part of the castle," Chopper admitted. "I gotta admit, this IS the darkest place I've been in so far. I've never really went into any dark areas two years ago, that's for sure."

"Well, WE never did. The closest that you've seen darkness was before you faced Maquano up in Star Haven." Flyer recalled.

"That's true," Chopper walked on ahead to the door after destroying a Darkling with his light energy. They found a room with stairs going up to a door, just like in the other rooms.

"If they have these futuristic guns, how come they don't have an elevator?" Tamber questioned.

"I don't know. I don't think we'll ever find out yet." Shadower shrugged as he floated up the stairs, making sure nothing would hold him back.

Once they got to the top of the stairs, they walked into the room behind the door, which was large and round. It reminded them of Gloomtail's room, but not as big and dark. It had two Tartaras speaking.

"So, we're gonna go see if we can make some more Demon Beasts and sell 'em to customers, right?" the Tartara asked.

"Yeah, don't you remember? We do this ALL the time! We repeat the same cycle over so we can become filthy rich! Doesn't that sound like a nice plan?"

"Sounds like it," the Tartara noticed Chopper was in the room. "Aw, crud! We gotta get outta here! Chopper's already here!"

"Really? Crap!" the two Tartaras pressed a button on their wrist pads and they were out of the room. Chopper scratched the back of his head in confusion.

"Where the heck did they suddenly go?" he wondered.

"Hold on… I think I see a little map of the castle here," Sonic rushed over to the map on the wall. "So we're on the second floor at this moment… They say that Tartara Corporations is on the eighth floor and Camikon's room is up on the…tenth floor."

"Tenth floor? ! There are ten floors in this castle? ! That's just ridiculous!" Tamber whined.

"Well, we're gonna have to live with it. We should go up to the eighth floor first. I suppose that door will lead us up there." Chopper walked over to the door and he went into the room where all the stairs were. It led him up to the eighth floor.

"We better follow him," Vivian suggested. "For some reason, I feel like this is going to be a long way up."

* * *

**At the eighth floor-**

"Finally… We made it up here." Chopper walked out of the stairway room into a hallway. He noticed at the end of the hallway that there was a door labeled "Tartara Corporations" on it. "There's the door leading to where we need to go."

Chopper rushed over to the door and he opened it. "After you," he said politely as everyone walked into the room.

"Aw, thanks for holding the door, Choppy!" Heartsy placed a kiss on his cheek before walking into the door. Chopper had a disgusted look on his face before he walked into the room.

They all saw all of the computers on the wall and the amount of Tartaras in the room. There was even a machine that takes Demon Beasts to other places. Right now, there weren't any Demon Beasts.

"Guys… I think I see Chopper here!" warned a Tartara. "Let's get him!"

They pulled their weapons out and they aimed at Chopper. "Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you… I took down a Tartara Royal Guard, just to let you know!"

"A Tartara Royal Guard? !" the Tartara lowered their weapons. "Look, we're not here to cause any trouble. Honestly, we don't even have any ammo left in our guns. We thought it would scare you off."

"Why would you think we'd be scared off? I highly doubt that we would've…" Shadower replied.

"Yeah, I guess so…" the Tartara named Joe was slowly reaching for his grenade behind his belt. "Now, if you could just leave us be, we could probably… HA HA!"

"What?" Chopper saw a grenade being thrown straight at his direction. "Crap! We gotta get rid of that!"

He managed to kick the grenade back at the Tartara before it exploded. The monsters were the ones that got killed instead. It also caused the computers to malfunction since they were a part of the explosion.

"Wow. So those Tartara were trying to kill us after all… That sounded a bit clichéd, though. I mean, they said they weren't going to hurt us, but then BAM! They throw a grenade! It is seriously CLICHéD!" Scrub stated.

Flyer looked at all the machines that were destroyed from the grenade. "Well, there goes their whole business. If they don't have people to give them monsters, then they can't make any money."

Vivian floated up to one of the dead Tartaras. "There's a key in here, Chopper!" She took the key and tossed it to Chopper.

"This key looks like it can be used to go to the ninth floor, I presume… Well, we better try it out!" Chopper rushed out of the room and he went up the stairs to the ninth floor, where he unlocked the door.

There wasn't any hallway on the ninth floor. It was simply one, large circular room with five candles in the center.

"What a strange-looking room… All there is around here are five unlit candles. Might as well light them up." Chopper tossed five fireballs straight at the candles, lighting them up.

"I wonder what that did…" Vivian wondered. They noticed that darkness slowly began to make a chest. It reminded them of back at Riddle Tower at the Palace of Shadow.

"Ugh… I hate that eerie voice. It's HORRIBLE!" Chopper sighed and he grabbed the key out of the chest. But he suddenly heard a strange voice coming from the flames.

"_**Yesss… Now I have contact with this place…" **_That voice sounded like the Shadow Queen's.

"Huh? Shadow…Queen?" Chopper turned to the candles, which showed only two flaming hands. It almost looked like the flaming spirit of the Shadow Queen's hands.

"_**Yes, Chopper… It is I, the Shadow Queen! This may be all I have left of me, but I can surely punish you for what you've done to me and my husband." **_the flaming hand grabbed Chopper and attempted to fry him.

"Agh! Let go of me!" Chopper cried.

"Puffball! Kill it with fire!" Tamber shouted.

"How can I kill it with fire when she's already MADE of fire? …Oh, wait, I think I see what you mean." Chopper changed to his Water ability and he managed to extinguish the flaming hand.

"_**AIIIIIIIYYYEEEEEE! It hurts! How… How could you do this to me? !" **_the Shadow Queen's spirit gasped.

Chopper didn't answer her question. He immediately squirted water on the candles, extinguishing them and getting rid of her flaming spirit. After that, he removed his Water ability.

"Whew… Finally. She's gone. Honestly, I was a bit scared." Chopper sighed in relief.

"Well, it's over now," Vivian said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "We have the key that'll take us to Camikon's room. That's what we need anyways, right?"

"Yeah, you're right…" Chopper looked at the key. "I suppose we should get going then."

And with that, they all left the ninth floor and headed up to the tenth floor for their showdown against Camikon.

* * *

**Guess what? The next chapter is actually a boss chapter! I can't believe we've made it THIS far already. Aren't you a bit surprised?**


	146. Camikon: Fighting an Old Person

As soon as everyone made it up to the tenth floor door, they saw a lock on the door. "Well, looks like we're at the right door," Chopper pulled the Castle Key out and he put it in the lock. "Let's hope that this thing will be unlocked so we can finally have our showdown against Camikon!"

The lock broke off and the door opened. But what was strange in the next room was how it looked. This large room almost reminded Chopper of the room before facing off against Grodus in the Palace of Shadow. There were a couple of chandeliers on the ceiling with dark flames on them and there were even portraits of Camikon on the wall. There were no windows around here, unfortunately.

"Whoa… This place gives me the creeps, and that is saying something!" Tamber stated as he looked at the room.

Scrub walked over to one of the portraits of Camikon. "Why is there a picture of Camikon looking like a farmer? It makes no sense, to be honest…" He poked at the portrait a couple of times before it ended up falling on the ground. "Meh, nothing bad really happened to it."

"I don't think we should touch those portraits, Scrub…" Chopper warned, looking at the portrait's creepy grin. "Camikon's a wizard, and he could be watching us at this moment. He could make one of those pictures…come to life!"

"If he's watching us, then he knows that we're coming into his room," Vivian stated, floating through the large hallway to the large door with a picture of Maquano on it. "I don't think Camikon even changed the picture on the door either."

"It doesn't matter if he did or not," Chopper responded, rushing straight to the large door. "Besides, I think Maquano's helmet looks better than Camikon's own head. That wizard…isn't too threatening."

"Oh, man, I can agree with you on that one! He's almost not as threatening as Eggman…or should I say Baldy McNosehair!" Sonic began to chuckle after the nickname he gave Eggman.

"Baldy McNosehair? That's a new one… Well, anyways, we better get going." Chopper grabbed the door knob and he began to open it. "…Nah, this isn't how you enter your enemy's room."

Instead of opening the door, he immediately hit the Save Block and Heart Block and THEN he kicked the door open.

"All right, Camikon! We're finally here!" Chopper declared, jumping into the next room with everyone else. "This time, you're not fleeing! We're going to settle this once and for all!"

"Ah… So the small little Star Warrior HAS made his way here! I didn't expect you to make it here this fast…" Camikon was sitting on his throne, grinning at them all. "But, I guess it makes sense, considering that you ARE a fast one."

Chopper took a couple of steps before getting in his fighting stance. "Man, I've been waiting a long time for this, Camikon! After all you've done, I think it's time to put an end to this!"

"What do you mean by, 'after all I've done'?" he asked.

"Well, you obviously got rid of King Dedede's castle, and not to mention that you made a company that would be used to get rid of me! And also… That darkness in the universe! It ends here, Camikon!"

"What are you blabbing about?" snapped Camikon. "Those weren't MY ideas! The whole darkness? That wasn't an idea I thought of! Same goes with the Hellspawn Corporation! I don't know WHY you think this is all my idea. It ISN'T!"

"Then whose idea IS it?" Flyer questioned.

"Those are questions that I refuse to tell you about," Camikon retorted, aiming his wand at them. "You may have escaped prison, killed my pet AND get out of the arena, but you don't stand a chance against the Great Camikon!"

"Oh, I bet I DO stand a chance against you!" Chopper replied. "Listen, if you don't want to fight, then just let us have the wand so we can go into that dark realm. Would you rather live, or would you rather end up dying (which I'm pretty sure might happen)? It's your choice."

"Nyeah heh heh heh! Oh, silly Chopper… You really think that you'll beat me because you managed to two years ago? Trust me, you young whippersnapper: I've gotten a lot stronger after these years. Now that I'm the new ruler of Hell, _I_ have become the strongest one! I have high doubts that you'll even stand a chance!"

"Well, how about you prove it then?" Vivian's fists were in flames. "I think we should settle this right now!"

"Very well, then! But you'll regret fighting me, that's for sure…" Camikon twirled his wand around. "I have to say, Princess… I never expected you to turn against us like that. At the very start, too!"

"That's because I care about my world. Wouldn't you care about your world, too? What's the point of living if there is no world or people to speak with?"

"What's the point? Why, there really is none! We do this because we want to make the universe feel threatened! We do it all for fun! In fact, it doesn't really affect us because that swirling darkness isn't coming here! Isn't that just fantastic?"

"That's…horrible!" Vivian put her hand over her mouth. "I never knew you would do something like that!"

"But, unfortunately… I don't think any of you will live long to see the universe get swallowed up. Oh, what a pity… But my time of vengeance has come near! Chopper, you WILL die!" Camikon summoned his broomstick and he got on it, floating over to the group.

"Try all you want on me, but I'm not gonna give up the fight!" Chopper's hands were surrounded in light energy. "Let's do this!"

**Tattle: **_That's Camikon. He's the leader of the Tartaras and the leader of Tartamos. He's this small little wizard that knows a lot of evil magic. Max HP is 500, Attack is 21, and Defense is 1. He'll use his magic to cast dark spells on you, or he might just place curses on you too. I'm not gonna lie, but those curses are pretty bad. They can deal damage to you in SECONDS! Also, watch out for his healing. He might recover some HP with his magic if he wanted to. But, I think you might stand a chance. It's you, a young person, against him, an old person. This is your chance, Chopper! Don't try to fail us, all right?_

"First things first… We need to get Camikon off of his broomstick." Chopper made a leap on Camikon and he stomped on him twice, performing a stylish move as well. The old wizard ended up falling on the red carpet.

"Why you little… How dare you send me off of my own broomstick? !" Camikon snapped. Ugh… This is just like before."

Vivian sank into the shadows and then rose up in front of Camikon. Using her flaming fists, she struck him with a Shade Fist, leaving a burn on him and dealing 9 damage to the old wizard.

"You'll regret that, Princess!" Camikon raised his wand up and then aimed it at Vivian, casting a dark magic spell straight at her. The dark magic didn't seem to cause as much harm to her, to his surprise.

"Hmmmmm? How did my dark magic fail to cause harm to her?" he questioned. "Could it be because she is a dark being? Bah! I won't let that bother me!"

"And since you're on the ground… That lets me do this!" Chopper pulled his hammer out and he slammed it down on Camikon's head. "I don't really care if you're an old person! You're evil, and that's what matters!"

"Figures… Young whippersnappers these days don't know how to respect their elders!" Camikon pouted when he got hit by Heartsy's hammer afterwards.

"Now let's see how this works against you!" Camikon struck Chopper with a dark magic spell, firing a glob of dark energy at the Star Warrior. It knocked him back and dealt 21 damage to him.

"Well, this is strange… You have dark power, yet I have light!" Chopper tossed a light ball straight at Camikon.

"AUGH! Light power? ! Where did you get this? !"

"What? I had it when I fought you before… Don't you remember?"

"Like I really care if you did or not… All that matters is that I put an end to you!" Camikon aimed his wand at Chopper again, attempting to cast another dark spell at him.

"Remember, Chopper… We don't want to destroy that wand. We need to get it." Sonic whispered.

"Got it," Chopper replied, pulling his hammer out and adding light energy to it. He slammed it down on Camikon, which then followed up with Sonic's Spin Dash. Unfortunately, the blue hedgehog was who got hit by dark magic.

"Nyeah heh heh heh!" Camikon grinned as he twirled his wand. "It gives me a good feeling when I injure someone!"

"You didn't really injure him, you know… That was just…and attack." Chopper hit Camikon's face with a Rainbow Spin Attack, knocking him back to his big throne Maquano used to sit on.

"Oooooog…" he moaned as Bombette made her next attack by using her Bomb ability. "I won't give up just yet, fools!"

He got up and then he summoned his broomstick. "Now let's hope I don't have to get knocked off of my broomstick again…"

He cackled as he fired a glob of dark energy straight at Chopper. Unfortunately, his attack did no good, as it was Superguarded by the Star Warrior. Camikon didn't seem to mind, though.

"Well, better… Nah, I think I'll do it in another way." Chopper threw his hammer at Camikon to deal 10 damage. The old wizard ended up falling off of his broomstick…like before.

"Poyo, ( Now's my chance to attack,)" Kirby blurted out before dealing 9 damage to Camikon with a Cartwheel. "Poyo… (To be honest, I feel somewhat bad for hitting an old person…)"

"Ehhh… Don't worry about it, Kirby." Chopper assured. "He's a bad guy. We have an excuse to hit an old person. We also hit girls like Mimi before, so what's the harm?"

"Grrrrr! Take this!" Camikon fired a dark beam from his wand at Chopper and his group. They all cringed as they were struck by it. "Ah, now THAT feels a lot better, now that I think about it."

"That's just what you think," Chopper threw a light ball at Camikon's face, blinding him. "OK, Mario! Make a move!"

"Oh, yes!" Mario nodded and then he pulled his hammer out, bringing it down on Camikon for 9 damage.

"Perhaps the other traitor would like some of this," Camikon aimed his wand at Shadower and he tried blasting him with a dark glob of energy. The only problem with that…was that it didn't do anything to him.

"Well, looks like your attacks don't harm me. Well that's a relief." Shadower sighed as he lowered Camikon's defense down to 0. Once that was over with, Chopper came down on the wizard with a Jump attack.

"Oh, if I had a lawn, you'd be off of it right now…" Camikon warned, twirling his wand and using it to stop time. Unfortunately, his ability didn't work because of everyone guarding it. "Curses! I thought that would work…"

"Well, I didn't think it would," Chopper replied, using his Spin Jump to dish out 16 HP on Camikon. Tamber went up next, dealing 14 damage to Camikon with his Power Punch.

"Man, hitting old people is fun!" Tamber chuckled before he got hit by ice magic that Camikon used against him. He managed to guard it, so he didn't become frozen.

"That was a close one…" he sighed in relief. Chopper and Flyer decided to switch places, so he made his move first, striking Camikon with his Flying Attack and then a light ball from Chopper.

Camikon conjured up some more dark magic and he fired it straight at Chopper. He brought his fists up to guard the attack, but it didn't do that much. They DID manage to bring him down to 300 HP with a Hammer Throw and another Flying Attack.

"Hmmmmm… Perhaps I need to think a little bit…" Camikon put his hand on his chin as he began to ponder. "Ah! Now I see what I should do!" He conjured up another spell and he fired electric magic at Tamber, paralyzing him.

"You…! I'm gonna tear you apart when this paralysis goes away!" Tamber growled.

"Calm down, Tamber," Chopper said. "Just let us handle everything else." He pulled the Star Rod out and he fired a yellow star at Camikon, knocking him back and making him scream in pain.

"This… This light! Where are you GETTING it from? !"

"We got it from Starland Galaxy, if you must know," Flyer replied.

"Figures… That place is filled with stars. I don't know how you managed to get all the Crystal Stars, but I'll tell you that you did all of that for nothing! You should've learned…" Camikon grinned.

"So it was YOU who sent that letter, didn't you?" Chopper questioned in a serious voice.

"Letter? ! I have no idea what you're talking about! First you think I was the one who made that darkness spread, and now you think that I sent a letter? Listen, you… I don't even KNOW where that came from, nor do I care."

"You don't know? That's a bit…odd. I think you're lying." Scrub laid an egg and he threw it at Camikon's face. Unfortunately, he had to get burnt by his fire magic, but he took it like a man.

"Fire's not gonna do much to me! I know that!" Scrub scoffed.

"You better watch what you say, Yoshi… You could easily be killed while you're still young. I could arrange that for you if you want." Camikon grinned.

"You WON'T do that to him!" Chopper raised his Star Rod and he struck him with a Star Blast. Vivian left another burn on him with her Shade Fist.

Camikon grumbled to himself as he used another dark beam to hit everyone except for Vivian and Shadower. "I may not be able to use dark attacks on you two, but I can certainly use other moves!"

"Yeah, well I don't think you'll live to see that," Chopper paused for a minute. _"Oh, yeah… We need to get the wand. I can't just destroy Camikon like this. Just weaken him and get the wand. That's it." _He ran straight towards Camikon and he knocked him back with a Rainbow Spin Attack.

"Ha HA! Take that!" he shouted, knocking the wizard back. Vivian left another burn on Camikon to reduce his HP to more than halfway.

"Argh! I had enough of this! Now's the time when I get a little more serious!" Camikon raised his wand and he immediately recovered 60 HP. "Ahhhhh… Much better."

"Aw, come on! That's CHEAP!" Chopper clenched his fists in anger. "Fine. If that's how you're gonna play, then I'll play a bit rough too!"

He let Shadower bring Camikon's defense down to 0 first before he attacked with a Gravity Jump. He managed to use another one of him after the wizard attacked him with more dark magic.

"So, you really think you want to push me further, don't you? Well… I can say that you're putting yourself in big danger by doing that…" Camikon said in a serious voice.

"You know, Camikon, we can stop this fight if you're getting weak," Chopper reminded him. "All we really need is that wand. If you simply give that thing to us, we'll leave you be."

"_**NEVER!**_ I wouldn't give up so easily! My minions would think I'm a disgrace if I easily gave up to you!"

"You're already done anyways," Sonic declared. "Your business is dead. How? Well, let's see… One Hellspawn tried to kill us with a grenade, but it didn't end up working. Yeah. Your business is finished."

"Wh-What? ! How… How could you do such a thing? You realize that you're gonna get us BANKRUPT? !"

"Hey, it's not our fault! They killed themselves with their own weapon!" Chopper retorted.

"This guy's not gonna learn. It's not worth talking out of this." Tamber punched Camikon in the face before he got back on his broomstick.

"Ah, it's good to be back on my old broomstick," he grinned as he struck Chopper with ice magic. He managed to guard it again, which felt nice. But then he knocked him off the broomstick with another Hammer Throw.

"Poyo! (This attack should bring him down to 200!)" Kirby struck Camikon with a Cartwheel attack, bringing him down to 200.

"You stupid little puffball! Take this!" Camikon fired a dark glob of magic straight at Kirby, but it ended up getting inhaled and thrown back at him instead. "Blugghh… How… How did you do that?"

"He did just like what I can do, that's what!" Chopper declared, inhaling Camikon and spitting him out to deal 10 damage.

"NICE! That was pretty cool!" Sonic got in a ball and he made a dash at Camikon with a Spin Dash. He also did a little break-dance after he hit the wizard, making the audience go nuts.

"How… How can this be?" Camikon questioned as he saw his HP meter was more than halfway down. "Fine. If you want me to take things further, then I shall!"

Camikon raised his wand up in the air. Using his dark magic, he ended up sucking the souls of some of the audience members into it. "Ahhh… I feel… I feel like I'm getting stronger!"

He started to have a dark glow around him. He seemed to be moving a bit faster this time. "Now that I've taken some of the souls of your adoring fans, I have become faster than ever! Now you'll see what I can do…"

Camikon suddenly disappeared and he conjured up a dark spell. The dark glob of energy couldn't be seen because of its speed, but they all seemed to see when it was going to be struck upon them by a little flash.

"NOW!" Chopper brought his fists up and he managed to guard the attack. "You know, Camikon… Just because you got some more energy doesn't mean that you'll win. We can see when you're gonna make that move."

"Like I really care, you young whippersnapper! All I care about is killing you!" Camikon roared. He seemed a bit more hyper and more aggressive. It's almost like he's not an ordinary old person.

"All right, let's make this quick," Chopper pulled his hammer out and he struck him with a Light Smash. Flyer made another attempt to use his Flying Attack, which did another 10 damage.

"Take this!" Camikon struck Chopper with lightning that appeared in a blink of an eye. It knocked Chopper back, but he was able to get back on his feet. He immediately inhaled a Maximum Recovery to recover all of his HP and FP before he struck him with a Rainbow Spin Attack.

"What ever happened to taking turns?" Sonic questioned.

"Well, when we're in a situation like this… We need to use all we got to win. He's not going to give up, that's for sure." Chopper replied.

"This should do something, I guess," Vivian raised her finger up and she engulfed Camikon in flames for about a second, leaving a painful burn on him. "I'm surprised that he can be burnt."

Camikon used more lightning magic, striking everyone in a blink of an eye. This got Chopper to use a Spin Jump, taking 14 out of him. Mario attacked him with a Super Jump afterwards.

At this moment, Camikon grinned. "Nyeah heh heh heh!" His cackling sounded almost…insane. He fired a dark glob of energy after he captured more poor souls of the audience members.

"Stop that right now, Camikon! You're hurting all of those poor adoring fans!" Chopper growled.

"Heh heh heh heh! NEVER! They belong to me now! And that's how they will be!" Camikon cracked his neck a tiny bit as he said these words, making a couple of people cringe in fear.

"That's just…insane." Heartsy stated. "Is that strength he's getting making him…insane?"

"It looks like it…" Chopper tossed a light ball at Camikon's face, blinding him immediately. Once Vivian attacked with another Shade Fist, he was down to less than 100 HP.

"Hrrrmmm… Now let's see what I should do…" Camikon raised his wand up and he recovered 60 more HP. "Now you'll have to deal more damage to me if you want to defeat me!"

"Oh, I don't think so…" Chopper pulled the Dark Star out of his hands. "If you're becoming crazy, then we should try this little thing on you!" Using the Dark Star's power, he managed to suck Camikon into a black hole and spit him out to deal 65 damage.

"There. All better!" Chopper said cheerfully.

"Hmmmm… That was a bit interesting…" Vivian commented before hitting Camikon with another Shade Fist. This wizard only had 78 HP left…

Camikon was about to absorb more adoring fans' souls, but Chopper stopped him by tossing a light ball at him, blinding him for real this time.

"Now this should be cake," Chopper stated, bringing his hammer down on the old wizard. Flyer's Flying Attack brought him down to 50 HP.

"Since he's blind, we can deal a bit more to him!" Chopper threw his hammer at Camikon, followed by Flyer's Flying Attack again, making that a total of 20 damage.

Camikon cackled as he conjured another dark spell, striking Chopper with a dark glob of energy. Afterwards, he got his broomstick and he got back on it.

"Better get him down," Chopper threw his hammer at Camikon again, and then when Vivian used another Shade Fist on him (with a stylish too!), the evil wizard was left with 10 HP.

"Grrrggh… You… This isn't…" Camikon grumbled as he struck everyone with a dark beam from his wand. "I'll never give up the fight!"

"Sorry, Camikon…but I think this is the end." Chopper charged up a ball of light energy. "Take THIS!" He tossed it straight at Camikon, causing him to scream loudly and drop the wand.

"Uh oh…" Everyone paused as Camikon's wand fell to the ground…and broke.

"NO!" Chopper cried out. "The wand is broken!"

But they couldn't feel sad now. They were interrupted by Camikon's loud screams, which could be heard from outside of the castle.

"AGHH… This isn't possible… I can't lose to you!" Camikon wheezed. "I've been planning things for so long…and for those two years of planning, I end up losing to you…"

"All right, Camikon. Enough wheezing. How do we get rid of the darkness?" Chopper walked up to Camikon and he glared at him with light energy in his hand.

Camikon chuckled. "I'll never tell you..." He then gasped as light began to take over his body. "_**GRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!**_"

At that moment, the light caused him to be surrounded in a dark mist. The dark mist ended up exploding, leaving no sign of Camikon. He was dead.

"I don't believe it. Camikon's dead…" Chopper gaped.

"How are we supposed to get to that dark realm now?" Vivian questioned.

"Hold on a moment, guys… Take a look at this!" Flyer pointed to the large, dark purple door that was on the wall.

"What is that?" Tamber asked.

"I don't know. It looks like it's a door that might lead somewhere." Flyer grabbed the door knob and he pulled the door open. Through that door was an area that looked a lot different than Hell itself.

"Whoa… Is that what I think it is?" Chopper gaped.

"Wow. That place looks creepy. Do we really need to go in there?" Heartsy asked.

"Yeah, it looks like it, Heartsy," Chopper replied. "But don't be afraid. We made it all this way. It looks like that door will lead us to the final area. Perhaps Camikon is not behind all of this? Maybe we'll find out through this door."

"You're right, Choppy. I guess I have to hold my own and get through this. I'm definitely NOT afraid!"

Chopper looked at everyone else. "So… Are you guys ready?" Everyone slowly gave him a nod. He slowly took a deep breath as he looked at the dark, creepy world that was ahead of him.

"All right… Let's go." Chopper and his friends walked into the new world that they were about to encounter. Once they were all inside, the door closed shut behind them.

* * *

**Outside of the castle-**

"Did you guys hear that loud scream?" Silica asked.

"Yes. I heard it. It was very loud…" Meta Knight responded, along with everyone else.

"I wonder who it came from…" Blade wondered.

The Tartaras remaining seemed to question the same thing, but only the general knew whose voice that was. Camikon's.

"I don't believe it… Did… Did Camikon just die?" the Tartara General gaped.

"It appeared that Chopper did his job by defeating him. From the looks of it, he has just entered the darkest realm. You've lost already." Meta Knight said, swinging Galaxia a couple of times.

"Grrrrr! We won't give up just yet! Tartaras! We shall avenge Lord Camikon by killing them! FIRE!" the Tartaras all fired their weapons at the Star Warriors and Blade, Bang and Night.

"Chopper… I hope you can pull through." Meta Knight's last words were before he charged straight at the general.


	147. Enter Dark Subspace World

**We are officially halfway finished with Chapter 20 in this story. Can you believe that we're actually getting there? Oh yeah, we definitely are! This is where the chapters get a little darker than they used to be (well, it's mostly the atmosphere of the area). Just so you know, this is the second part of Chapter 20, so expect to see some new enemies and some interesting foes.**

**And with that, let us begin!**

* * *

"Well, here we are, guys… Looks like there's no turning back..." Chopper looked up at the evil, dark sky that had many colors that were pretty tough to see, like purple, light purple and even blue. The ground was also made of darkness, but the pathway they're standing on is a glowing yellow color, which was a bit strange to see a bit of light in the area. Dark lightning also appears in the background, but rather far away (and for music… Listen to the subspace theme from Brawl. I think it's also called **Danger Ahead**. It fits the atmosphere very well here).

"We're finally in the darkest realm, or rather, Dark Subspace World," Flyer declared, looking at his surroundings. There wasn't really anything in this area except for a door up ahead. "That door must lead us somewhere, I suppose."

"Before we go, we're gonna need to make a plan," Chopper announced, walking over to everyone else. "I know we just got here and all, but I think making a plan isn't a bad idea at all. If we're gonna get through here, then we gotta make a plan."

"Let me check this map," Flyer scanned the area with his scanning device and he put it on his map. "According to this map… There's a core in the center of this place. If we could get to that core, then perhaps that dark vortex destroying the universe shall be saved! I think that makes PERFECT sense!"

"Perhaps the core is what's controlling all of this," Bombette thought for a bit. "But let's not get there YET. What matters is that we get going PRONTO! I'm pretty sure there won't be that many enemies to stop us."

"Oh, I wouldn't count on that…" Chopper gave her a strange look before opening the door up ahead. "All right, let's move!"

Everyone else followed him to the next area, where they only found a glowing yellow platform ahead. In height, this place was high, but in width, not exactly.

When Chopper jumped on the yellow platform, he gaped when he saw light blue glowing platforms appear in front of him, acting like stairs.

"Holy… Well, looks like we finally found our way to get up…" Chopper jumped up the steps before they disappeared, making it to the next door. He waited patiently for the others to come to him before walking into the next room.

They found themselves in an area with a small little road leading up to another door ahead. There were two torches at the beginning and the end of the road. The flames on them were dark purple, with the core being black.

"I gotta admit, this place does feel a bit freaky," Chopper commented as he stepped onto the road. It wasn't long, but it was definitely a bit freaky from looking at the dark lightning coming down in the background.

While they walked on the bridge, do Darklings appeared. These looked different, though. Their purple bulbs had black spikes on them and their fingers seemed more pointy and creepy.

"Do you sssee what I sssee?" the first Darkling asked.

"Why, yesss, my dear friend! I sssee Chopper coming here! I'm not sssurprisssed that he made it thisss far…" the other Darkling replied.

Chopper immediately braked when he came up to the two Darklings. "What in the… More Darklings? What are they doing here, though?"

"Ah, Chopper! We've been waiting for you!" the Darkling gave him an invisible evil grin. "You may have defeated Camikon, but you have jussst gotten started! Welcome to _our_ world now!"

"Your world is Dark Subspace World, is that correct?" Heartsy asked.

"Oh, yesss, little girl! It isss!" the other Darkling cackled. "We love thisss place with a dark passssssion! Unfortunately, for you all, we cannot allow you to make it to the core. That'sss a bad idea!"

"Oh, yeah? Well we'll see about that!" Chopper tossed a light ball straight at the Darkling at the front, causing it to get destroyed in minutes by the powerful light.

"Look what you've done to my friend!" the Darkling that was still there conjured up a dark purple ball of energy. "I ssshall avenge him by killing you!"

"I don't think so!" Chopper made another light ball and he destroyed that Darkling with it once he tossed it at it. The Darkling screamed as the light took over its body and caused it to explode.

"That was a bit…freaky." Flyer stated.

"Oh, come on! Are you serious about being scared? !" Tamber snapped. "This place isn't as freaky as Hell was!" He took a look up at the sky and then at the torches. "Err… I stand corrected!"

"I thought you weren't afraid of anything?" Chopper chuckled.

"Uhhh… That was…" Tamber stammered. "Well, let's just say I'm not afraid of anything else! …Except this place and Hell."

"Sure you are…" Flyer rolled his eyes at him as they made their way over to the door. "Is there any castle or anything around here? Or is this place a whole dark realm with nothing but darkness?"

"We'll find out sooner or later, Flyer," Chopper assured, grabbing a hold of the door knob. He noticed that the door had a light purple glow on the frame of the door. The rest of it was only a dark purple.

"That door looks a bit strange…" Vivian stated as they walked into the next area. They found a small little road leading up to some stairs going down. Two Darklings were in this area, along with Dry Bones in a black color with red eyes called Shadow Bones.

A bad thing that they heard down at the bottom of the area was the sound of a Bullet Bill being fired.

"Oh, don't tell me we got Bullet Bills here!" Chopper face palmed and he looked down at the bottom. He took notice of the dark Bullet Bill with purple glowing eyes. Apparently it's called a Subspace Bill. The blaster that's firing them are called Subspace Blasters.

"Well, we got a long way down there. I'm not gonna like this one bit." Shadower groaned, looking at the Subspace Bills being fired. But the only thing they had to worry about were the Shadow Bones and Darklings.

"Ehhh… I think we can handle those guys." Sonic said. He looked over at Mario. "Don't you think so, Mario?"

"Oh, yes!" Mario replied, giving him a nod.

Vivian lifted her finger up and she set the Darklings and Shadow Bones on fire with her Fiery Jinx. Luckily, the Shadow Bones were now weak to fire, unlike the Hell Bones from Hell.

"It's a good thing I can hurt them with fire, that's for sure," Vivian smiled, bringing her arm down while she watched them burn.

Chopper took out the two Darklings by tossing two light balls at them. The two Shadow Bones ended up dying after being burnt by Vivian's flames (that were still on them), so they were clear for now.

"Grab as many coins, hearts and flowers as you can!" Scrub shouted as a couple of coins, hearts and flowers dropped from the ground.

"Yeah, yeah… I know about that." Chopper collected the hearts and flowers to recover a tiny bit of his HP and FP. He didn't really need the coins now, since they're in the last area of the story.

"Hey, why're you leaving those coins be? !" exclaimed Tamber.

"Hello? Isn't it obvious? This is pretty much the final world we're gonna be in! There's no point in getting coins now! I'll just say forget the money for right now. Any hearts and flowers around, I'll take."

"It sounds like a good idea," agreed Bombette. "I mean, WHY do we need any coins? We're pretty much overflowed with them! But let's stop talking about this. We need to get going."

"Yeah, we certainly do," Chopper made his way over to a yellow ? block that he hit with his fists underneath, making a Max Shroom come out and land on the ground. "This should be helpful!"

"A Max Shroom? Oh, yeah! You better take that." Shadower agreed.

Once he put it away, they all walked down the stairs to the next little road moving to the left that leads to a couple of more stairs. It reminded them all of when they were in the Palace of Shadow for some reason.

"This place really does have some connection between the Palace of Shadow, Shadow Palace and Camikon's Castle," Flyer stated, knocking down some Shadow Bones. "Why does Camikon even have a door leading to here in his room in the first place?"

"We'll never know about that question," Chopper replied as he tossed a fireball at the Shadow Bones. "Only Camikon would know that. Unfortunately, he's dead."

Once they made their way to the stairs, they made it to the bottom of the area. To their right was a door that was being block by a Subspace Blaster. It was shooting a couple of Bullet Bills in their direction.

"You're gonna need to help us here, Vivian," Chopper warned.

"I think I can handle this," Vivian followed Chopper closely as he got to the Subspace Blaster. When Subspace Bills came toward them, she grabbed Chopper and pulled him into the shadows. It took a couple of Veil moves to get to the Subspace Blaster, where Chopper destroyed it within minutes.

"There we go! Now we can move on ahead!" Chopper smiled and he opened the door to another area. They noticed that this bigger road had some parts of it disappearing when they got close to it. If they stepped in that invisible part of the road, they'd end up falling to their doom.

"Now you sssee why being able to float is easier than having feet!" the Darkling on the pathway hissed.

"Oh, yeah? Well I can certainly do this." Chopper tossed a light ball at the Darkling's direction. It was immediately destroyed when it got in contact with it.

"Pbbbbbbbth! This should be eas-" Once Tamber set foot on a part of the ground that would disappear, he almost ended up falling. "OH, SWEET MASTER STAR ROLLS!"

"Whoa!" Chopper managed to grab his hand before he fell to his doom. "I got you, Tamber! Don't scream!"

"I'm not TRYING to scream, you know…" Tamber gave him an unimpressed look as he pulled him up from the bottomless pit. "I could've handled that on my own! I didn't need your help!"

"Yeah you did, Tamber. You would've been a goner if I didn't help you."

"Yeah, that's what you think, puffball. I'm gonna move on. This time, I'm gonna GLIDE!" Tamber jumped and he spread his arms out to allow him to glide across the door with the help of his fur.

A Darkling noticed him trying to get across, so it shot a dark glob of energy straight at him, sending him down near the end of the road. But it didn't stop him from beating the crap out of the thing.

"All right, while you guys try to get through that part, I'm gonna sit here and be a little lazy like I usually am when I have to guard that Master Star." Tamber put the Master Star in front of him and he began to guard it.

"I think I have a good idea on how to get through here," Flyer suggested. "Why can't we just fly everyone across? Some people here can fly around, for your information."

"Yeah, I suppose we can do that," Chopper agreed, letting Flyer grab his arm and fly him over to the door. Other people who could float or fly helped the people who couldn't. Sonic only used his speed to get across.

"Hey, what about me?" Heartsy questioned, being the only one left.

"Oh! I think this should get you over!" Chopper opened his mouth and he used his Inhaling ability to suck up Heartsy like a vacuum. Only this time, when she got to him, he stopped.

…But her lips ended up colliding with his. Heartsy seemed to enjoy it, while Chopper's eyes widened in fear and disgust.

"_GROSS!_" Chopper coughed and spat while Heartsy ended up giggling and sighing in happiness. "I'm NEVER doing that ever again! Blah! Now I got your germs on my mouth!" He continued to spit in disgust.

"That felt so GOOD!" Heartsy squealed while hearts began to float above her. "I never knew such a moment like that would lead us to kiss!"

"Well I thought it was funny," Tamber snorted.

"Give him a break already, sheesh!" Flyer opened the door to the next area. "It appears that we got an area with a little puzzle. I think you ought to be a little cautious with it, though."

"A puzzle?" Chopper quickly wiped his mouth and he rushed into the other area. He noticed that there was a picture on the wall that needed to be the same as the blocks of the picture.

"Hmmmm… This might be a bit tough, but I think I can handle it." Chopper began to push one of the heavy blocks over to the unmovable block. It took him about four minutes to get them all to be shaped like a Darkling.

When it was finished, a Darkling ended up coming out of the picture and ambushing them. Flyer checked the stats on the thing. It has 94 HP, an Attack of 21 and a Defense of 0. It's a bit tough, in their eyes. It IS weak to light, though.

"Let's just clear this fight with some light attacks," Chopper tossed a light ball at the Darkling. Tamber punched it with his fists to take 12 more out of it.

"You ssshall pay for your terrible deedsss!" the Darkling hissed, shooting a dark orb of energy straight at Chopper, hitting him in the face and exploding.

"Ugh… All of this dark energy is starting to bother me!" Chopper frowned as he tossed another light ball at the Darkling, causing it to scream loudly.

"The light! It burnsss!" it screamed.

"Well, serves ya right!" Sonic scoffed as he attacked it with a Spin Dash. He ended up getting knocked back by the Darkling's dark energy.

"Oh, screw it. I got a good idea on how to end this." Chopper ended up using his 'Screw this, I'm done with this fight' light ball that instantly killed the Darkling, giving them the Star Points they needed.

"How come you never used that on any of the bosses, Contadre?" questioned Scrub.

"Well, sometimes I'm not allowed to for some reason. But, let's not get to that, OK? We don't question logic here." Chopper grabbed a dark purple key that the Darkling dropped and he used it to unlock the next door.

When they set foot in the next area, they found themselves in a bigger area. There were a couple of floating glowing platforms and apparently, the door is up above on one of the platforms.

"Crud… Just what we needed. Some big jumps…" Shadower groaned.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Shadower. We can find another way to get up there." Chopper took a couple of steps on the dark glowing ground as lightning struck. "We're still pretty far. Well, we're not even CLOSE!"

"Hey, Chopper, what's that over there?" Flyer pointed to the Fire Block blocking a tunnel up ahead.

"Oh, that? It's a…" Chopper froze at the moment he saw the block. "…Fire Block? Oh, no… Oh no… NOOOO! Why? ! WHY? ! Why does a Fire Block have to be around here? ! Dear god, WHY? !"

"Are you OK, Chopper?" Bombette asked.

"That thing… It brings back horrible memories of when I was in that Rainbow Train and that gate between Music Kingdom and Toy Kingdom. I can't believe I'm actually seeing this again."

"Oh, that? I remember that when we were looking for the first Crystal Star." Vivian remarked, sighing happily from those times. "Those were good times… It was also when I first met you."

"Yeah, it certainly was. It almost felt like yesterday, I'll admit." Chopper gulped as he looked at the Fire Block. "This… This probably won't be good. As unsettling as this place is, THAT block is unsettling."

"Why are you afraid of a Fire Block? Just toss a fireball at it and it's gone!" Tamber frowned.

"A fireball won't work against it. A Flaming Block, on the other hand, WILL work. But…_gulp_…I gotta go through this. Vivian… Go… Go right ahead."

Vivian frowned as he floated behind him. "I don't want you to get hurt, Chopper…" she whispered.

"You seem to care a lot about me for some reason," Chopper remarked, thinking about when he and Vivian spoke in his house. _"I know she just said she liked me, but is this going a bit further? Yeah, I'm still a bit confused on this, but I know that she did ask me that…question."_

Vivian started to blush shyly. "Well… Ummmm…" Before she could finish, she ended up lighting a small fire on Chopper's butt. His eyes widened as he immediately ran towards the Fire Block.

"OH GOD IT BURNS!" he screamed as he crashed into the Fire Block, destroying it within minutes. He crashed right into a door that had a lock on it.

"Ouch… My butt hurts…" he moaned, rubbing his bottom. "Apparently this door's locked, so we can't go in there…yet."

"Are you OK, Chopper?" Vivian asked sweetly as she floated up to him. He gave her a nod. "Oh, thank goodness! I thought I hurt you… Good thing you're fine." She gave him a hug.

"Heh heh heh! Chopper and Vivian sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes-" Tamber got pelted by a dark rock that a Subspace Guy shot him with with his slingshot.

"Ow! What the heck is that thing? !" he exclaimed.

Mario: It's a Subspace Guy!

"Subspace Guy? That's a pretty original name to give it. It's almost like everything here is called 'Subspace' or something along those lines. Meh. I'm not gonna complain about it." Shadower knocked the Subspace Guy away with a Shadow Punch.

"All right, if this door's locked, then we have to go up to that door…and that'll require me to use my Gravity Jump skills!" Chopper began to make some big leaps up on the platforms above him.

"Well this stinks!" Heartsy put her hands on her hips. "How are some of us supposed to get up there? Can't someone at least give some of us a hand?"

From hearing this, Chopper was forced to stop and jump back down to grab Heartsy. "Fine. I'll help you up there…if that makes you happy."

Heartsy's eyes sparkled. "Of course that makes me happy!" She was being carried bridal style by Chopper, who began his way back up with his Gravity Jump. "This is a dream come true…"

"No it is not, Heartsy!" Chopper grumbled. "There's no way that I'm dating anyone! I don't have time for love! I only have the time to save a world! Plus, girls have cooties, and everyone knows that cooties are bad."

"Cooties? Is this why you hate my kisses?" Heartsy gave him an unimpressed look. "That's all a myth, y'know. Even if it wasn't, then how come people don't die from them or catch diseases?"

"Isn't there a disease you get from kisses, though?"

"…Now that you mention it, I think there is. But that's out in _that_ world. It doesn't matter here, so we're perfectly fine." She battered her eyelashes at him as she smiled. "So, now that we're close to the end… Do you have wedding plans?"

"Ack! No weddings!" Luckily, for Chopper, he got to the door and he put her down. "Aren't we too young for that? And I don't think now is the time for something like that anyways. We're in a serious issue now!"

"Oh, fine…" Heartsy sighed in sadness, but she managed to sneak a kiss on his cheek. "OK, now I feel better!"

While Chopper wiped the horrible kiss off his face, everyone else managed to make their way up to the door. With everyone here, they walked into the door into the next area that might have a Subspace Key.

The only thing they found in this little area was a light purple grinding rail that led over to a little pathway ahead. However, there were these black Embers on the rail called Subspace Embers that were in the way.

"Oh, goody… Now we have the return of those Ember guys. When's the last time we saw them?" Chopper remarked.

"I think we last saw them in the Palace of Shadower," Vivian answered. "I think they were called Phantom Embers, right?"

"Yeah, I think they were… But, let's try to get across this rail." Chopper jumped on the rail and he let the speed booster on it take him through it.

"Wait! Not all of us can grind on the…" Shadower was a bit too late. Chopper already made his way out of there and onto the rail. "Well, looks like he's not gonna listen to us…"

"I'll go follow him," Sonic jumped onto the rail and he began to follow Chopper through a loop and off the rail to a small little road. He noticed that he was sliding under this wall with a little opening on the ground.

"Crud! I didn't make it!" Sonic snapped his finger, only to see Chopper return by slipping under the wall again. He came back with a Subspace Key.

"What's wrong, Sonic? You sound like you're annoyed." he said.

"Oh. It's nothing." Sonic replied. "You got the key, right? Well… How about we get that key to where it needs to go!"

"That's exactly what I was gonna do," Chopper walked onto the paper airplane panel and he transformed into a paper airplane. Sonic jumped into the airplane and they were off, gliding over to the other side.

"And… Presto!" Chopper changed back into his normal, paper self (well, in reality, he's not REALLY paper). "I got the key!"

"All right, then let's return to that door," Flyer suggested as they walked out of the area and to the locked door.

* * *

**At the locked door-**

"All right, got the key, got the lock, and we got the door," Chopper smirked as he put the key into the door. The lock immediately came off, allowing them to set foot in the next area.

Unfortunately, they didn't find much in this next area. They could only see dark walls and a door up ahead with a lock on it. However, they noticed something else on the ground. It looked like Dry Bones in a black color with purple eyes.

"Whoa… Is that a new kind of Shadow Bones?" Scrub gawked at the sight of the bones laying on the ground ahead.

"Seeing that thing reminds me of that teddy bear in Toy Kingdom and the Dark Bones from the Palace of Shadow," Vivian remarked. "I wonder why there's one of these kind here."

"Hmmmmm… We'll just have to go up to it and see what's there." Chopper walked on the dark ground to the pile of bones while dark lightning struck the background yet again.

Once Chopper poked the bones on the ground, he saw no movement. "See? Nothing to worry about! I think things will be just…"

"_Gluuuuurgh… Bluuurgh…_ Foolish mortals…" the pile of bones began to shake as its eerie voice echoed through the room. "You shall not pass through here… Those who disturb him shall drown in darkness…"

"Drown in darkness? What is this thing saying?" Chopper questioned. The Dry Bones known as Subspace Bones got up as he summoned a bunch of Shadow Bones from the sky. They filled the room, pushing everyone back to the door.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRGH!" Everyone screamed as the Subspace Bones grabbed the key and began to teleport around the room.

"Do not let the mortals get the key to the door…" it hissed.

"Well I'm certainly not going to let this thing teleport around the room like that!" Chopper gripped his hammer and he began to knock the Shadow Bones away. "Come on, guys! Start knocking them back!"

"This should be fun!" Heartsy began whacking at the Shadow Bones with her Hearty Hammer. The way the hearts appeared from her hammer made it look extremely unfitting around here.

"Just keep hitting them so we can catch those Subspace Bones!" Chopper yelled out as he began to use his Diamond Hammer ability to spin his hammer around while moving. Everyone else continued to strike the bones.

"Hey! I see the Subspace Bones!" Bombette immediately lit her fuse and she charged at the Subspace Bones, causing an explosion that blew a couple of Shadow Bones away from the fight.

When everyone else joined her, they saw the Subspace Bones was accompanied by four Shadow Bones. Chopper's mouth dropped to the ground.

"Are you SERIOUS? ! They expect us to do THIS? !" Chopper groaned. "Fine. I'm using a Holy Comet on them.

Chopper brought the Light Star out and, using its power, he managed to wipe away all the Shadow Bones, but not the Subspace Bones. That thing didn't even lose any HP.

"Wow. Subspace Bones aren't even affected by THAT thing…" Flyer pulled his scanning device out and he scanned the target. "It's called Subspace Bones, and it has 105 HP, an Attack of 21 and a Defense of 6. Yeah… I'd be careful with this thing if I were you."

"A Defense of 6? Sheesh! We're gonna need to use some firepower to take this thing out!" Chopper gripped his hammer and he struck the Subspace Bones with a Master Hammer attack.

Vivian lit up the Subspace Bones with a Fiery Jinx to pierce through its defense and leave a nasty burn on it. Bombette already dealt 4 damage to it before, so they were off to a good start.

"You will die, mortals…" the Subspace Bones moaned as it threw a bone in Chopper's face.

"That's it," Chopper used his Master Glove attack on him, but he used fire instead of light to hit him. Flyer followed up with a Flying Attack, bringing it down to 49 HP.

"All right, this is a good way to finish this thing off," Sonic smirked while waggling his finger – only to get hit by the Subspace Bones. He fought back by using his Sonic Wind on it, doing only 6 damage.

"Sheesh! My Sonic Wind isn't even that strong against this thing! What gives? !"

"Calm down, Sonic. I think we can still beat him down." Chopper used his Gravity Jump on the Subspace Bones to take another 16 out of it, leaving it with only 25 HP.

Chopper managed to Superguard the bone that the Subspace Bones threw at him and he struck it with his Master Hammer. Once Vivian used her Fiery Jinx on it, it was defeated.

"Whew! We did it!" Chopper sighed in relief. The remaining Shadow Bones in the room ran out after seeing their leader get destroyed. The Subspace Bones, on the other hand, left a Subspace Key for everyone.

"Poyo! (Let's grab that key and get out of here!)" Kirby cried as he swiped the key and skipped over to the locked door. He broke the lock by inserting the key into its keyhole. Once that was done, they all entered the next area.

They only found a large trail leading to a glowing yellow platform that would eventually make stairs if stepped on.

"That must be the way to go," Chopper stated as he prepared to make a dash towards the platform. Unfortunately, he was stopped when two armored humanoid-like people came hovering down onto the ground.

"So, have you found any sign of them?" the first one asked.

"Negative. I think they might be somewhere ahead. If we take a look there, then maybe we might find them." This person was in dark purple armor with a helmet with a black visor and purple glowing eyes. Two violet spikes were on the side of his head and he had a jetpack that had enough fuel to make him fly anywhere he wanted. He's also got some cool little gadgets in his armor like a knife, a cutter and even a grappling hook. These…are Darksprine Troopers.

"That sounds like a good idea," the first Darksprine Trooper loaded his futuristic assault rifle up. "It's been a while since we got to shoot something. I won't be surprised if we find him."

"You got a point there," the other Darksprine Trooper began to twirl one of his pistols around. He accidentally dropped it, but then he picked it up immediately. "Whoops! I didn't mean to drop that…"

"Who gives a damn about dropping your pistol? Listen, if we don't get rid of that kid, then we're gonna have a big problem. Many people have been coming in this world somehow, and it's our job to keep them from getting to the core!"

Chopper nearly gaped at their conversation. "So… There are others around here too? I didn't know that…"

"Huh? Did you just hear something?" the first Darksprine turned around and a red ! appeared over his head at the sight of Chopper. "Whoa! It's… I don't believe it! THIS is the legendary Chopper I've been hearing about?"

Chopper's antennas sprung up. "Crud… We've been caught! But, listen… Before you blast us into smithereens, listen to us. Who are you guys?"

The Darksprine with the two pistols twirled his pistols. "We are…" After twirling them for a bit, he finally stopped. "Darksprine Troopers! We serve only… Actually, who we serve is none of your business!"

"Why is it none of our business?" Vivian questioned.

"Because, Princess… We have our reasons. Unless, you want to be blasted, you no-good traitor. But that's not the point. We've been having other people show up here lately. It's not a good sign…"

"Really? Oh, OK… Well, I suppose we'll just get going now…" Chopper was about to take a step until he found a grappling hook wrap around his arm.

"You fool! You really think we'd let you go easily? !" the Darksprine Trooper with the two pistols' glared at Chopper evilly. It almost looked as if the whole place got darker with his glowing eyes.

"We're Darksprine Troopers. We're not like those Hellspawns. They may look threatening, but looks can only deceive. We ARE threatening. Not by looks, but by skill! There's no way you're getting away from us so easily!"

He pulled his arm back, causing Chopper to get knocked to the ground. The Darksprine flew up with his jetpack so Chopper would be pulled up from the ground as well.

"Agh! I'm not giving up so easily!" Chopper shot a light ball at the Darksprine, while he tried to shoot Chopper with one of his pistols. The young Star Warrior avoided the shot and he tried tossing another light ball.

"Unnnghh!" the Darksprine was struck by the attack, but it didn't save Chopper just yet. He ended up falling along with the trooper. But the Darksprine managed to retract his grappling hook so that he wouldn't get stuck with Chopper.

"You idiot! We could've had him!" the other Darksprine Trooper loaded his gun and he began firing rapidly at Chopper before he could get up.

"Stop right now!" Vivian's hands started to glow and then she unleashed her Fire Wall attack on the two Darksprines. It left the two troopers with a huge burn, and honestly, it wasn't good for them.

"Ack! …Fine. We'll let you go for now. But, hear us out! We'll be back!" the two Darksprine Troopers flew away with their jetpacks. For some reason, Chopper knew there were more of them.

"So those were the Darksprine Troopers that Camikon was talking about, huh?" Flyer tilted his head.

"It looks like it. Let's not waste any time, though. We BETTER get going." Chopper jumped onto the glowing yellow platform so he could jump on the other glowing platforms that were created. He was led up to a door, but also a Save Block and Heart Block.

"Huh… So we have these. Might as well take them." Chopper hit both blocks and then he proceeded into a large, circular room.

"I don't see anything except for a door up ahead," Tamber stated.

"I guess there really isn't anything around here. I suppose we should get going." Bombette took a few steps until he heard maniacal laughter coming from the room.

"Buh! Buh! _**Buh huh huh!**_ Finally you show up, Chopper! I've been waitin' a WHILE for you, y'know!" Lord Crump fell from the sky and he landed on the ground, looking up at everyone with a glare.

"Lord Crump? ! What the… What are YOU doing here? !" Chopper exclaimed in surprise.

"I've been waiting for you, that's what I was doing! Luckily, Grodus was able to find a way to get us into this place without a problem. Yeah, that's right! Looks like those Crystal Stars you collected were all for nothing!" Lord Crump stood up as he began to chortle.

"What do you mean by 'all for nothing'?"

"You don't know, do you?" Lord Crump cleared his throat. "When all twenty Crystal Stars are collected, they will open the portal to a new world. A dark world, that is! You've been helping us all along! And THAT is what makes this plan so cool!"

"Then why is Grodus here too?" Vivian questioned.

"Oh, he has his reasons. You know, the Crystal Stars wasn't the ONLY thing he wanted. There IS something here that he also wants to get! But I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Sorry, but that's why I'm here! Grodus sent me to stop you!"

"What are you gonna do, use your body to attack us?" Chopper scoffed.

"Oh, I got something even better in store for you!" Lord Crump grinned as he pulled a remote from his pocket. "Yeah… I bet when you see this thing, you're gonna cry for mercy."

With one click of the red button, the ground began to shake. At that moment, they saw a large robot resembling not only Magnus von Grapple, but also Lord Crump! There wasn't even a cockpit to this thing! It pretty much looked like Lord Crump's head, but with two red glowing eyes. The white X on the body had a red 3 labeled on it.

"What the… Oh, come on!" Chopper face palmed. "Did you SERIOUSLY make another version of your robot?"

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh hu! Oh, you BET I did! And it's just not any kind of Magnus von Grapple! This is **Magnus von Grapple 3.0 **we're talkin' here! This thing is designed to KILL!"

Lord Crump opened the head of the robot and he immediately jumped in and took control of the robot. "Get ready for a clobbering, losers! This is where it ends!"

**Tattle: **_Oh, come on! AGAIN? ! Well, this is Magnus von Grapple 3.0. It's Lord Crump's new robot. It doesn't look like it's designed well, honestly. Max HP is 490, Attack is 20, and Defense is 4. Magnus will now shoot missiles and even…lasers? Wow. I guess Crump really did improve his machine. But, still… This thing looks very 'meh' to me for some reason. Just watch out when it retracts its fists. Those things have 10 HP, an Attack of 22 and a Defense of 0. If he retracts them, take them out IMMEDIATELY! Those are the most dangerous. If you manage to do all of that, then he shouldn't be TOO bad. The only question is… WHY does he want to stop you? Is this some sort of trick?_

"Yeah, those last two versions were complete garbage, so I decided to improve this bad boy! It took a while, but I managed to do it! Now you're looking at the new and improved Magnus von Grapple!" Lord Crump began to cackle. "Prepare for some pain, Chopper!"

"Oh, yeah? Maybe it's YOU who's going to feel pain!" Chopper pulled his hammer out and he smashed at Magnus's feet, taking only 6 out. "Crud… It only does 6 damage! We're gonna need a lot more to beat this guy…"

"Then allow me!" Shadower lowered Magnus's defense by striking it with a Shadow Punch.

"Grrrrrr! My defense!" Lord Crump gripped the two joysticks as hard as possible. "Now you're gonna get it!" He made Magnus fire a dark laser straight at Shadower, dealing some damage to him.

"Yeah! You like that? That's the new Magnus Laser! I decided to grab some dark power in this place to upgrade this bad boy, and presto! His weapons are stronger than ever!"

"They're certainly not amusing…" Chopper made a move by using his Spin Jump on Magnus, hitting its head for 16 damage. Tamber used a Power Punch on its body, taking a good 14 out of it.

"All right, here it comes!" Magnus shot both of its fists out, making them float in front of him.

"Uh oh… This isn't good." Chopper gulped. He could only attack by using his Light Stomp on Magnus. Vivian destroyed both fists with her Fiery Jinx, and not to mention leave Lord Crump's robot with a burn.

Lord Crump grumbled to himself as he made Magnus bring its foot down on Chopper. It didn't do much, but it did some damage. It reminded him of using that move in the Great Tree.

Chopper unleashed a D-Down Jump on Magnus 3.0, taking 10 out of it. Bombette immediately followed up with a Bomb attack, bringing Magnus's HP down to 414.

"Better bring out the good ol' fists again," Lord Crump spread out Magnus's arms as new fists attached to its folded black paper arms. "Let's see how you like some missiles, Chopper!"

Rockets fired up from Magnus's body and it came down on Chopper. He managed to bring his fists up and guard the attack, but it didn't do too much.

"I might as well use one of my Copy Abilities," Chopper changed to his Beam ability and he immediately struck Magnus with a beam attack from his wand. Kirby followed up by using his Final Cutter on the robot.

"Time to turn up the heat! Buh huh huh!" Lord Crump pressed a button and Magnus began to use its flamethrower on Chopper. Unfortunately, the attack was Superguarded, so he didn't get him.

"You're gonna have to try a LITTLE more to hit me, Crump," Chopper stated as he attacked Magnus with a Master Glove attack. He made the giant light ball come down on Magnus and deal 16 damage to him.

"All right, so he's down to 380 HP. That's a good thing." Scrub smirked as he laid an egg and threw it at Magnus's head. It almost made the robot lose its balance, but it managed to hang on.

"Taste laser, loser!" Magnus aimed its fist at Chopper and it fired a dark laser at him. "Luckily, having this thing being powered by dark energy makes this thing stronger than before! I'm such a genius!"

"Genius? I would say that…" Chopper jumped towards Magnus and he struck its head with a Rainbow Spin Attack. "And to make things cooler…" He added in a light ball to deal 12 damage in total.

"Oh, cool! Let me try something like that!" Flyer flew up to Lord Crump's robot and he struck it with a Flying Attack. He also managed to stun it a little with his arm cannon, but not for that long.

"Hmmmmmm…" Lord Crump pressed a button, making the guns on the fists turn into ACTUAL fists. "All right, punks! You want a fist in your face? Well, I'll give you one with THIS move!"

He pressed a green button, making Magnus shoot its right fist straight at Chopper. The fist came back onto Magnus's arm after hitting Chopper. It left a red mark on his face, though.

Chopper's face turned red. "You're gonna pay for that, Crump!" Taking out his hammer, he used the light energy in it to strike Magnus with a Master Hammer attack.

"Go ahead, Mario!" Chopper shouted.

"Oh!" Mario immediately jumped up in surprise. But, nevertheless, he made a big leap onto Magnus's head and delivered a Super Jump. Lord Crump made his robot knock him back with a punch.

"Stupid little plumber! We should've taken you out months ago! …Wait, we couldn't, 'cause Grodus was still bodyless!"

"But why do you still follow his orders?" Chopper questioned.

"That's none of your business, you hear me?" Magnus attempted to step on Chopper, but he managed to jump out of the way and use an Art Attack. He was able to make the Ruby Star circle around Magnus ten times, each time doing 3. So, all together, he did 30 damage to him.

With Kirby's Final Cutter, Magnus was already down to 270 HP. They were getting there…

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! You really think this is over yet? Well get a load of THIS!" Magnus hovered up with its jetpack and it came down to the ground, sending a dark shockwave towards everyone.

"Oh, great… Now he's ripping off Eggman with that speech." Sonic made his move next, using a Whirlwind to deal 10 damage to him. It may pierce through defense, but it doesn't do a tremendous amount.

"I'll make my move now," Chopper threw his hammer straight at Magnus with his Hammer Throw ability, taking another 10 out and leaving him 5 more HP until he was halfway down.

Magnus's fists changed to its machine guns as it fired rapidly at everyone. But, since Sonic was in the front, he took the 20 damage from the shots instead.

"Unnghh… Next time, I'm not gonna switch places with you, Chopper… I mean, you have the most HP anyways!" Sonic grumbled.

"That's because of leveling up," Chopper replied as he used his Power Bounce on Lord Crump's machine, bouncing on it fourteen times and then bouncing off of him to do a stylish.

"So when do we get to make some Stylish moves?" Scrub asked.

"When you attack?" Chopper replied with a raised eyebrow.

Like before, Magnus detached its fists, which made it possibly for Vivian to destroy them with a Fiery Jinx. Chopper made his move next with his Light Smash, striking Magnus's feet with a power light attack from his hammer.

"H-Hey! Don't do that! This thing needs dark energy, not light!" Lord Crump wailed, kicking Chopper away with Magnus's foot.

"Oof… Well, he sure puts up a fight…" Chopper used another Master Glove attack on Magnus, followed up by Shadower's Shadow Punch, bringing his HP down to 192. They're getting there…

"Buh huh huh…uh, crud. How come you guys aren't done yet?" questioned Lord Crump while he scratched his head.

"Dude, we're not going to let ourselves get beaten down by you, don't you realize that?" Chopper replied.

"Well, I still have this!" Lord Crump was going to make an attack, but he realized his fists weren't back on. "Crap! Why did I forget to get these fists back on?" He got more fists that went on Magnus's arms.

"All right, now to get to business!" Magnus's hands changed into vacuums as they sucked the audience members into the robot. "Now let's see how you like a stronger laser!"

Magnus fired a huge dark laser straight at Chopper while audience members were being fired out. Each member did about 5 damage to him, but he managed to guard them all, only taking 40 damage.

"Grrrgh… That was painful." Chopper quickly shook his head before he struck Magnus with a Gravity Jump.

"All right, I'm gonna try out something I don't think I used yet…" Shadower fired a huge, shadowy blast at Lord Crump's robot. Not only did it keep his defense lowered a bit more, but it also did 12 damage as well.

"Grrrrr! Why can't you die already? ! All this hard work I put into this thing and you STILL don't die!" Lord Crump made Magnus fire a dark laser at Chopper, knocking his Beam ability away.

"Gah! Oh, fine… I'll use something else." Chopper changed to his Laser ability. He immediately fired a charged laser from his visor at Magnus. Bombette's Bomb attack brought him down to 130 HP.

Magnus fired a couple of missiles at Bombette this time. It didn't light her fuse, but it certainly did deal 20 damage. Enraged, she attacked with another Bomb, taking another 10 out of him, followed by a laser fired by Chopper.

"_Huff… Hack… _I guess you really have some firepower. I wasn't expecting to see that…" wheezed Lord Crump, detaching Magnus's fists. This only backfired on him when Vivian destroyed them with a Fiery Jinx, which was followed up by Chopper's Hammer Throw attack.

"Good. He's down to 90 HP. We have this battle!" Chopper smirked.

"Not for long! Magnus Drill!" Magnus changed its fist to a drill that charged straight at Chopper. He managed to Superguard the attack, taking no damage. As soon as Shadower used another Shadow Blast, he immediately ate a Maximum Recovery to recover all of his HP and FP.

"Whew… Now I feel better." Chopper sighed in relief.

Lord Crump's face turned red in anger as he fired Magnus's machine guns at Chopper, knocking him back a bit and removing his ability.

"Whoa… That was a bit intense. But, I guess I'll use something else." Chopper changed to his Bomb ability and he began to throw a powerful bomb at Magnus, taking 12 out of it.

Bombette blew up in front of Magnus to take 10 out of it. But, she was knocked back by a missile that Magnus fired upon her.

Shadower used another Shadow Blast on Magnus to lower his defense to 0 once again. Chopper took the time to use his Gravity Jump, bringing him down to 14 HP. It wasn't too far now…

"Urk… You… My robot… Look at it!" Lord Crump noticed a couple of sparks coming from his robot and also he noticed a couple of dents as well. "Is this how you treat something that's been worked hard on? !"

"Uhhh… No?" Chopper replied.

"Grrrr! That's it!" Magnus sucked up the audience members once again with its vacuum and it fired its dark laser at Chopper. Unfortunately, he didn't guard any attacks, so he took 50 damage from it.

"Sheesh! That REALLY hurts!" Chopper wailed. He managed to pull a bomb out and toss it at Magnus before he could get hurt again.

"All right, I'll finish this off!" Bombette's fuse began to light up. "You're gonna regret facing us, Crump!"

She charged at Magnus with all of his might, and with one explosion, she managed to put an end to the robot.

"_**BLAAAAAAARGH!**_" Lord Crump screamed as sparks began flying everywhere. "What have I done to deserve this? !"

"Well, let's see here…" Chopper pondered for the minute to think of what Lord Crump has done in the past. "You…"

Before he could finish, everyone saw a trembling white light coming from the glowing Magnus von Grapple 3.0.

"GR-GROOOOOODUUUUUUS! HOW… HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? !" Lord Crump wailed. The robot began to explode vigorously and at that moment, Lord Crump was flung out of the robot and was sent far from them. He…was finished.

"Well, there goes Lord Crump… I don't think we'll ever be seeing him again." Chopper stated.

"Let's hope he doesn't float in this world forever. That would be a bad thing." Shadower stated.

"Uh… Hello? You guys? We have more ways to go, you know!" Tamber pointed to the door. "We gotta get going! We can't stay here forever, y'know!"

Chopper jumped up a little. "Yeah, you're right, Tamber. We gotta get a move on!" He rushed over to the door and he grabbed a hold of the knob. "Come on guys! Let's go!"

When he opened the door, everyone immediately rushed out and into the next area of this world.

* * *

**And that's the end of Lord Crump! Next up, we have another fight! ...Yeah, the rest of these chapters are gonna have some battle, just so you know.**

**Oh, and happy birthday to my brother, who pretty much has no clue about this story! :D  
**


	148. Watch Out For Traps!

"Humph… Well this is a bit interesting…" Chopper noticed that this area they walked into felt a lot similar to another area they've been in. It was obvious that they were in a place with Subspace Blasters and Subspace Bills! How obvious could you get? And to throw it all off, there were even some Darklings floating about, too!

"This is the same exact area we've been in…except now we're going up," Vivian stated as she looked at the stairs the Subspace Blaster was blocking. "Why is the room the same? Did people get lazy with the design?"

"I don't know, but let's not make a big deal out of it," Shadower suggested. "We're already getting a bit deeper into this place. Well… SORT of deeper, I suppose."

"I just realized something…" Heartsy interrupted. "I never had a chance to attack Lord Crump's robot! I don't know why, but did I seriously forget to attack or something?"

"Maybe it's because nobody likes you!" Tamber chuckled, only to get whacked in the face by Heartsy's hammer.

"Tamber, why are you always being such a jerk to me? !" she exclaimed. "I REALLY don't like to hit you with this thing, but you always have to do some of the stupidest things to everyone, including me!"

"OK, break it up," Flyer stood in the way. "I think you both need to stop. Yes. Both of you. Find something that you care about. That way, you'll probably forget it." Flyer noticed Chopper was shaking his head in horror at him.

"Well that sounds good to me," Tamber pulled the Master Star out and he began to rub it. "This thing is probably the thing I care about more than anything in the world. It's so…beautiful."

"I know what I care about more than anything," Heartsy zipped over to Chopper and she was about to hug him…until he was pulled away by Vivian.

"Ummmmm… Maybe you should wait after we're out of here." Vivian suggested.

"_Someone help me, please…_" Chopper squeaked. He was lucky that a Subspace Bill ended up hitting him, because it got everyone's attention, especially Vivian's.

"I'll take care of that," Vivian raised her arm up and in no time at all, she destroyed the Subspace Blaster with a Fiery Jinx. With it out of the way, they were able to go up the stairs and take the other pathway to the left.

"Great… More Subspace Bills. Just what we needed…" Chopper groaned as he raced his way towards the Subspace Blasters. He finished them off with his Master Hammer ability, which sent them out of the area.

"Is this going to be the same as the other area we were walking in, Chopper?" Bombette asked.

"Looks like it," Chopper replied as he jumped up the next staircase to the top of the area. He made a huge light ball of energy that he threw at the Subspace Blasters like a bowling ball.

"Hey, this is pretty fun! Why haven't I ever done something like this before?"

"'Cause you're a puffball?" Tamber snickered. Everyone eventually face palmed at him. "What? He IS a freakin' puffball! Just look at him!"

Everyone kind of ignored what he said and they followed Chopper over to the door. Tamber sighed and he looked at the Master Star.

"Man… When will I ever get to be tougher than that kid? I know I was saying that I'm the toughest… But I gotta be honest, star. Being tough isn't about acting like it. It's about skill and strategy. I'd like to admit it, but I can't. I mean, I bet people would lose more respect for me if I did that!"

"Tamber, are you co-" Flyer stopped when he heard Tamber talking to his star. He almost heard everything. "Tamber, are you all right?"

Tamber turned his head to Flyer. "Did you hear what I just said?"

"Well… Only a little bit."

"Please don't tell Chopper I said that stuff! I swear, if everyone knew what I just admitted to myself, then I'd probably lose all the respect from them! No, really! I'm a freakin' guardian of this thing and I HAVE to be tough. That's why I always try to act like I'm the coolest."

"Tamber, calm down," Flyer patted his shoulder. "I won't tell Chopper. I promise you that I won't do any of that, OK? But, I have a little question… Why DO you guard that star?"

"Well… You can thank my dad for that. He always told me that I was a complete failure and that I couldn't get anything right. He always let me down, and he even forced me into guarding a freakin' STAR!" Tamber kicked the Master Star in anger.

"Is that why you've been guarding that thing?"

"Yeah. Thanks to him, when I was being a guardian, people didn't like me and they threw rocks at me. People were acting like bullies to me then. You wanna know what happened to all of my people on Clearno Island?"

"What happened to them?" Flyer was starting to get a little curious.

"I threw them all out in anger. That's what I did! I couldn't trust anyone, so I threw anyone off of the island. I started to become a huge jerk after that, and that's what led me to try to throw Chopper off of the island. Unfortunately, I ended up losing to him and you guys… But when I joined you guys, I started to feel a bit better. Of course, I wanted to try to stay tough, but I started to realize that it wasn't making me cool at all. It made me feel a lot more hated than before."

"There there, Tamber… It's all right. Maybe when the time comes, you'll be able to tell Chopper all of this and he'll start to understand. If you said this sooner, people would have understood." Flyer smiled at him.

"Thanks, Flyer… You're a real pal." Tamber patted his shoulders. "You know, out of all the people here, I think you're one of the coolest, along with Chopper and Scrub."

"Wait, why do you argue with Heartsy anyways? Heck, why do you sometimes argue with Vivian?"

"Oh, those two? Well, seeing that they both really like Chopper, it made me feel a bit jealous of him. I just couldn't stand it at all. I wanted to have someone who liked me, but I never got a girl. I know that girl Silica was pretty, but I think she might like that Knuckle Joe guy instead. What? They're pretty good friends! That's what I'm hearing!"

"Hmmmmm… I understand. But, maybe some day you'll find the girl of your dreams. I thought I never would, but I found Fumu. …But enough about that. We gotta go follow everyone else!"

"Good. Now, just remember not to tell Chopper, OK?" Tamber brought up. Flyer gave him a nod and they went into the next area where everyone else was.

Chopper noticed the glowing yellow platform floating above the ground. With one jump, he saw a couple of other platforms that were vertical a little above him. It was almost like it was some kind of wall it formed. Two walls, to be exact.

"Hmmmmm… Let's see what I can do here." Chopper began to use his Wall Jump ability to make it up to the next yellow platform, which made stairs for him to go up to get to the door that was above a large, dark wall.

"That wall? Easy peasy!" Tamber rushed over to the dark wall and he began to climb up it. "My fists are good enough to let me climb up things, y'know."

"I wouldn't count on that!" a Darksprine Trooper with two pistols appeared and he tried to fire at Tamber with his pistols. "You all won't be leaving this place alive!"

"Oh, yeah?" While Chopper was at the door, he tossed a light ball at the Darksprine, making him scream. Flyer was able to scan the enemy.

"This guy has 120 HP, an Attack of 24 and a Defense of 5," Flyer's eyes shot wide open. "Wowza… That's pretty strong, if you ask me… But, that's what you'd expect from someone with this amount of power."

"Yes. I know you don't expect such power from me." the Darksprine Trooper used his grappling hook to grab Flyer's scanning device and grab a hold of it himself.

"No! My scanning device! Give it back!" he shouted.

The Darksprine ended up smashing it with his fist. "Oops! Looks like I broke your little device!"

Flyer nearly gaped at the sight of his broken scanning device. But, instead of crying, he clenched his fists.

"I worked hard on that thing!" Flyer began to summon a tornado with his wind ability. "And YOU broke it!" He sent the tornado at the Darksprine Trooper, who got sucked into it.

"What the… Get me out of this right now!" he shouted.

"I don't think so!" Flyer took his arm cannon out and he aimed it at him. "You're FINISHED!"

With one blast, he sent the Darksprine flying away. He did manage to get his jetpack in control, but he decided not to go back and try to fight back. Flyer, on the other hand, was still peeved.

"Don't worry, Flyer, we'll try to get you a new one when we're out of here," Vivian assured.

"It's all right, Vivian… I can make a new one myself. It's not too bad, honestly. I still have some other stuff with me." Flyer sighed as he flew up the wall to the door. Everyone else shrugged and they tried getting up. Luckily, Mario still had his Spring Jump to help him get up.

Once everyone made it up, they all walked into a small little area with a door up ahead and also a blue ! switch in the center of the room.

They also saw someone else in the room that greeted them. But they were all surprised when they saw it was…the Mayor.

"Mayor? ! What are you doing here? I thought you were dead!" Chopper was almost speechless after saying that.

"Good evening, Chopper!" the Mayor greeted politely. "…Or, morning? I'm not so sure. It's hard to tell the difference of when it is day or night here. It's dark around here!"

"How are you still alive? Weren't you killed?" Vivian asked.

"Oh, I'm not dead, my dear. I was just…er…teleported here! Listen, before you start asking questions, I would like to help you get to the core of this place."

"Ummmm… OK?" Chopper raised an eyebrow.

"You see this blue ! switch here?" the Mayor pointed to the switch in front of Chopper. "This switch will take you there in a second! Have no fear, my friend! You'll be taken to where you need to go in a snap!"

"Hmmmmmm… I don't know about that." Chopper looked over at the door ahead. It was locked. "Oh, fine… I'll do it." He kicked the switch, but it only made a trapdoor open up and make everyone fall through it.

"Mimimimimimi!" the Mayor transformed into Mimi. She was wearing a white dress with red polka dots on it. She also had red sunglasses shaped like hearts. "I can't believe you fell for it!"

"Mimi? ! Is that you? ! What are you doing here? !" Chopper shouted from the ground below.

"That's none of your business, meanie-head! After what you've done to me on your stupid planet, I think it's best that you stay down there and weep all day!"

Mimi stuck her nose up in the air and she teleported out of the room. Heartsy seemed a bit peeved at her.

"I can't believe she tricked us!" Heartsy clenched her fists in anger. Vivian seemed to be doing the same thing. "Ever since we went into that ancient temple in Snowy Mountain, she's always been following us! It's annoying me to death!"

"Yeah, I'm getting tired of her!" Vivian huffed, having her arms crossed. "She's always sticking her nose in our business! She doesn't even have a reason for going after us!"

"Well, let's try to forget about her right now," Chopper brushed himself off. He noticed that they were in a round area with four doors. One to their left and right and one north and south.

"Hmmmm… Which one should we start with first?" Chopper ended up choosing the one to the south. They found an area with nothing else around. It was just a plain old area with nothing but a dark ground.

"Maybe we can find something if we go into the shadows," Vivian floated behind Chopper. "Don't worry. This won't be bad."

She pulled Chopper into the shadows, which triggered a cracked floor near the left of the area to be revealed.

"Hey! You two! Come up here! I can see something!" Bombette shouted.

When the two rose up, they saw the crack wasn't there. "Bombette… There isn't anything here."

"I swear I saw something… How about you throw me at it? I think I can help reveal it." Bombette walked over to Chopper, who eventually picked her up and threw her to where she told him to throw.

After the explosion, a small little block was revealed to be under it. It looked like a block of a red eye, for some reason.

"What's with the freaky red glowing eye on that block?" Flyer questioned.

"Beats me," Chopper put the block away. "Let's check the door to the left." Chopper ran out of the room and he went over to the left door in the main area below. They found another similar room, but they saw a large, Yellow Block, Stone Block, Metal Block, Rainbow Block and Dark Block in the room. There was also a sign in this area.

"Go check what the sign has to say," Heartsy suggested. Chopper shrugged and he walked over to the sign to read what it had to say.

_Those who find themselves stuck in this room must smash the blocks in order from weakest to strongest. Only the ability you get to smash it with may be used to smash the block._

"Interesting… I guess I have to hit them in order from weakest to strongest…" Chopper walked over to the angry Yellow Block and he smashed it with his Super Hammer attack. He moved up to the Stone Block next, where he smashed it with his Ultra Hammer attack. Chopper used the same attack on the Metal Block, and then he used his Diamond Hammer attack on the Rainbow Block. He finished it off by using his Master Hammer attack on the Dark Block.

"Whew… Finally. That took a while to do." Chopper picked up the second glowing red eye. "This other eye is a bit creepy…"

Nevertheless, they walked out of the area and to the door up north. They found a room where there was nothing around except for a sign. Flyer walked over to it and he read it first.

_To find what you seek, you must jump, jump, jump!_

"Wha…? It says to 'jump, jump, jump!' What the heck is THAT supposed to mean?" Flyer questioned.

"Hmmmmm… Well, maybe I'll find out myself!" Chopper used his Gravity Jump to find something interesting. He found a red, scary-looking mouth block. "Yeah… This must be another block."

"Wow. We're really finding some interesting things here lately…" Vivian said in surprise as they walked out of the area and into the one to the right. This one had a Darksprine Trooper patrolling around.

"Crap! A Darksprine Trooper!" Tamber shouted.

"Hrrrm?" the Darksprine turned his head to Chopper and his friends. He immediately aimed his battle rifle at them. "Chopper! So, you ARE here… But I didn't expect you to be down here, though…"

"Look, we don't wanna get in a fight here. We're just trying to get out of this pit. That's all…" Chopper backed away.

"Hmmmmm… So I suppose you want this, do you not?" the Darksprine held up a black block. "This is what you need if you're going to get out of here, am I correct?"

"Yeah, we need that! Can we have it?"

"…I MAY give this to you. But, you're gonna have to answer this tough question. If you get it right, I'll be nice and give you the block. However, if you get it wrong… You're gonna have to fight me for it!"

"Ummmmm… OK?"

"Good. Now… Who's the best Darksprine Trooper in Dark Subspace World?" the Darksprine aimed his gun at Chopper. "Remember: get it wrong and I'll blast you! Got that?"

"That's a simple question," Chopper smirked. "That would be…uh…YOU, wouldn't it?"

"Hmph! Yes… Yes. That's the right answer. Very well. Take this block." He tossed it to him. "Now, if you'll excuse me… I have somewhere else to go right now."

"Why are you helping us?" Vivian questioned.

The Darksprine turned his head to Vivian while hovering up on his jetpack. "Because, Princess… We don't like having intruders in this place, and APPARENTLY, there are a couple here…"

"All right. That's fine." Chopper walked out of the room and into the main area. "OK, let's see what these blocks can do!"

Pulling the four blocks out, it made an evil-looking spring. A Subspace Key also appeared in Chopper hands when the blocks came together. As he smirked, he jumped onto the spring and it brought him back to where Mimi was.

"Hey… Where's Mimi? Did she disappear?" Heartsy questioned. "When I find her, I swear I'm gonna…"

"No, Heartsy… Let's not get there." Vivian warned. "…Well, actually… I'd wanna help you too. After all she did, I'm a bit peeved with her."

"Let's save that for later, girls. Right now we gotta get moving!" Chopper unlocked the door with the Subspace Key, allowing them to move on to an area with a yellow platform. There was a bottomless pit down below.

"Careful, guys… If we fall, we're screwed." Shadower warned.

"We're not screwed! Just watch what I do!" Scrub jumped onto the yellow platform and more platforms were summoned. "Now, if you'll excuse me… I'm gonna head up to that door!"

Everyone shrugged and they followed Scrub up to the door. Chopper immediately hit the Save Block before walking into the next area. They noticed another person was in this room now.

Mario: Princess Peach? !

"Mario! Chopper! I'm so glad to see you!" Peach greeted them all with a smile, but Chopper looked a bit confused when he walked over to her.

"Is this some kind of trick? First we see the Mayor, and now we see you?" Chopper gawked. "Give us an explanation, please."

"Relax, Chopper. It IS me! Can't you see it in my eyes?" Chopper still found it to be confusing, but he sighed and listened. "Listen, Chopper… I need you to answer three questions. There's no right or wrong answer. It's just what you think. Can you answer them?"

Chopper shook his head. "This is obviously a trick. I'm not going to answer your questions."

"I don't know, Chopper… I wouldn't talk like this to the princess…" Vivian said, unsure of what to do.

"Just answer the questions, Chopper," Sonic suggested. "It probably won't take that long."

"Ugh… Fine! I'll answer the questions!" Chopper turned to Peach with a grumpy look on his face. "Go ahead, Peach…if that's really who you are. Give me the questions and I'll answer them."

"All right! Now… Tell me, Chopper… What is the thing you fear the most out of everything in the world?"

Chopper looked back at Heartsy, who was swooning over him at the moment. _"Oh, god! I'm NOT going to say that she is… I don't want to hurt someone's feelings."_

He then thought for a second and he smirked. "What do I fear more than anything in the world? Maximum Recoveries!"

"Maximum Recoveries? That's…an interesting fear." Peach seemed a bit in surprise, but she moved on. "All right, here's the next question. What do you always see in your dreams?"

"What I see in my dreams…is obviously a Star. That's the most obvious one."

"A Star? That's very interesting… Now for the final question. Answer this one as honest as you can be. What do you hate more than ANYTHING in the world?"

"I hate it when I have a Dried Shroom in my inventory. Those things are USELESS!" Chopper grumbled from remembering those things.

"That's all I really need. Thank you, Chopper!" Peach moved aside. "Go right ahead, everyone! You can move on ahead."

"OK… Thanks." Chopper still seemed a bit confused with Peach. But, nevertheless, they walked through the door to find a similar room to the other. But this one had a Maximum Recovery.

"Ha HA!" Chopper rushed over to the Maximum Recovery and he grabbed it.

"Wait… Did you lie on all of those questions?" Vivian asked.

"Of course I did! But I had my reasons… Let's go." Chopper rushed into the next area. There was a Star lying down on the ground. He grabbed that and walked into the next area to find a Dried Shroom.

"Ewwwww… That Mushroom's dried up!" Bombette said in disgust.

"Hey, it's better than nothing!" Chopper grabbed the Dried Shroom and he ate it. "_Urrgh… Nasty!_"

"Why'd you even eat that thing?" Sonic questioned.

"'Cause I can! But, enough about that. I wanna see what we can find through here." Chopper grabbed the door knob to find another familiar-looking area. But this time, Peach was in it, and boy, was she angry.

"_**EEEEEEEEEEEK!**_" the girly scream was loud enough to make everyone cover their ears. "How… How did you get through that? ! That's… That's impossible!"

A purple cloud of smoke appeared around Peach, and it turned out to be…Mimi!

"I put everything that you hate through those rooms! How were you able to handle those? ! Unless… Unless you were LYING, you meanie-head!" Mimi screamed.

"MIMI!" Both Heartsy and Vivian got went up to her in anger.

"So were you trying to trick us this whole time? ! What is wrong with you? !" Heartsy growled, pulling her hammer out.

"You're always sticking your nose into our business!" Vivian growled. "What do you want with us? I think you should be ashamed of what you're doing to us! Talk about being a brat!"

"Ashamed…of myself?" Mimi pointed to herself like she wasn't offended. She put her hands on her hips and she laughed. "Oh, you silly girls! I like getting what I want! All I want to do is tear that kid apart! But, you two seem to be the ones that always have to get his help! How embarrassing!"

"Wait, what? That's not true!" Chopper retorted.

"Golly! You two sure do talk a lot when you have that cute boy of yours to protect you! You're not as cute as me, either!"

Both girls jumped up in shock. Were they just dissed by this…little girl? !

"Wow. They got dissed." Tamber gaped.

Heartsy gripped her hammer. "Hey! That… That was pretty rude! Seriously, you're worse than BOW! You can't diss us like that!"

"Oh, but I _did_!" Mimi cackled.

"If you're asking for a fight, then we're going to give you one," Vivian pointed her finger at Mimi. She was ready to burn her with a Fiery Jinx, that's for sure.

"Uhhh… Are you two really…"

"Chopper! Get over here right now and help us teach this little girl a lesson!" Heartsy interrupted.

"Huh? What the heck are you TALKING about?"

"Help us give Mimi what she deserves," Vivian replied, but in a sweeter tone.

"Awwwww… Does the two wittle girls wanna protect their boyfriend? How sweet!" Mimi said cutely. "I wouldn't be surprised if your boyfriend had to cry all over you when I'm done with you!"

"Wait, what about us?" Scrub asked.

"You guys just stay back for now… I guess it's just us against her…" Chopper whispered.

"_**MIMIMIMIMIMIMIMI!**_" Mimi started by snapping her neck. The sound made everyone disgusted and disturbed at the same time.

"Eeeeeuugh! Is THIS what you meant when she would transform into a spider?" Flyer wailed. Chopper silently gave him a mod.

When he turned back around, he was staring at Spider Mimi. _**"MIIIMIII! Oh, are you afraid of me? That's good, because it makes this fight a lot easier for me! Time to go bye-bye, you three!"**_

**Tattle: **_EEEEEEEEEEEEEK! …I'm sorry, Chopper, but I'm just afraid of spiders! Th-This is Mimi…in her spider form. She stills scares me as a spider! M-Max HP is 500, A-Attack is 20, and D-Defense is 2. She'll simply attack you by throwing Rubees at you or use her spider legs to attack. Her attacks will go a bit faster as you bring her down, so that's a little warning. Other than that… GET RID OF HER IMMEDIATELY!"_

"Sigh… I can't believe I was dragged into this fight…" Chopper grumbled as he tossed a light ball at Mimi. She was knocked back a bit, but it didn't do too much harm to her.

Heartsy slammed her hammer on Mimi as hard as she could. That added an extra 2 damage to the amount of HP she took out of her. It felt a bit satisfying, but not by a lot…

"_**Taste my Rubees, you meanie-heads!" **_Mimi snarled as she tossed a red Rubee at Heartsy. The Rubee got stuck in her hair, causing her to panic a little.

"Ack! This thing is stuck in my hair!" Heartsy pulled it out, but it didn't make the top of her hair look good. "Now look what you did! Why would you ever do something like that? !"

"_**Awwww… The poor wittle girl's hair is all frizzled! Let me help you! Mimimimimi!" **_Mimi tried to strike her with her spider legs, but she managed to slam her hammer down on her before she could.

"All right, Chopper… Attack, now!" she shouted.

"Wow. Now I feel like a partner now…" Chopper grumbled as he pulled his hammer out and slammed it on Mimi.

Unfortunately, he was the one to get hit by Mimi's Ice Rubee. Luckily, he managed to guard the attack by holding his hammer in front of him. He managed to throw it at her afterwards, taking 10 out of her.

"I might as well attack now," Vivian sank into the shadows and then punched Mimi with her Shade Fist when she rose up. She was able to perform a stylish – at the cost of getting hurt by a Rubee Mimi threw at her.

"_**Mimimimimi! Now you both have Rubees stuck in your hair!" **_cackled Mimi. _**"This is just my day!"**_

"Ugh… I can't believe this is happening again…" Vivian sniffled, trying to get the Rubee out of the curl of hair in front of her. "It ruins my hair…"

Chopper clenched his fists at Mimi. "As much as I don't care about hair, I think that was a bad thing to do," He pointed at Mimi and then made a big leap on her head, striking her with a Wall Jump, taking 18 out of her.

Vivian punched Mimi again with her Shade Fist, taking another 8 out of her and leaving another burn on her. She managed to Superguard Mimi's next attack, luckily for her.

"Since this is a battle between three girls and a boy, you should get in there, Bombette," Scrub suggested.

"No, I'm not gonna get involved in this," Bombette retorted. "Besides, those two girls have a bone to pick with her."

Chopper slid back a little as he tossed a light ball at Mimi. Heartsy brought her down to 400 HP with her Hammering Hearts ability, which sent a bunch of pink hearts down from the sky on her.

"_**Golly, you two sure are angry with me! But that makes it all better!" **_Mimi cackled as she tossed a Flaming Rubee straight at Heartsy. She guarded it by bringing her hammer up, then she struck her with her hammer.

"All right… I'm gonna use a Master Hammer attack." Chopper managed to dish 16 out of Mimi with his all-powerful Master Hammer attack. But, since he was still in front of Mimi, he got hit by a Flaming Rubee, which left a burn on him.

"Ack! Stupid burn…" He clenched his fist and he used a Master Glove attack next, sending a big light ball of energy down on her. Heartsy followed up with her Hammering Hearts, bringing her to 350 HP.

"You know, Mimi… You can just give up right now and let us through." Chopper said, trying to convince her to let them through. "We don't wanna waste time with you."

"_**You really think I'm gonna fall for a trick like that? After all you've done to me, I'm not gonna let you go so easily!" **_Mimi snarled, sending a Poison Rubee at him.

"OH, GEEZ!" Chopper guarded the Poison Rubee before he could get poisoned. "Whew… Thank goodness that didn't poison me."

He quickly shook himself and he used a Light Stomp on her. "If you're not gonna give up, then I'll throw everything I got against ya!"

Vivian agreed with Chopper, engulfing the spider girl in flames with a Fiery Jinx attack. The burn caused Mimi to take some more damage as well.

Enraged, Mimi climbed onto the wall and then began to drop a Rubee from above down on Vivian. She managed to guard the attack and bring her down with a Shade Fist. Chopper made his move by hitting her with a Rainbow Spin Attack.

"_**What ever happened to hitting girls? !" **_Mimi exclaimed at Chopper after tossing a Rubee in his face.

"Not around here, Mimi!" Chopper replied. "Only gentlemen do that! And just to let you know… I'm NOT a gentlemen!"

He rushed at her after wiping the red mark left on his face. He punched her with his fists with flaming energy surrounding it, leaving a burn on her. Vivian added a larger burn with her Shade Fist too.

Mimi frowned at Vivian, but she managed to strike her with her spider leg. She was relieved that none of her spider legs came off yet.

"Oh, yeah… The spider legs!" Chopper changed to his Angel ability, pulling his bow out and aiming at her with it. "So, you like heart-shaped arrows? I don't, but they are certainly sharp!"

Chopper smirked as he fired an arrow straight at Mimi. The arrow stuck on her, causing her to scream madly. Heartsy also did some damage by slamming her hammer on her head.

"Now THIS feels satisfying!" she declared.

"_**I'll be satisfied when you're gone!" **_growled Mimi, swiping her spider leg at Heartsy, knocking her back to the ground. The Rubee that she pulled out from her hair was still lying on the ground.

"Let's see how you like your own Rubee, Mimi!" She grabbed it and threw it straight at her head, stabbing her with it.

"_**EEEEEEEEEEEK! How… How dare you use my own Rubee against me? !" **_she screamed.

"Oh, this is going to be nice!" Chopper pulled another arrow out and he fired it at Mimi once again, letting it stick on her like the other arrow. At this moment, Mimi lost a spider leg.

"_**No… NO! Not a spider leg! You big bully!" **_Mimi rushed at Chopper and she tossed an Electric Rubee at him. He was able to bring his fists up and guard the attack before striking her with another arrow.

"We're halfway done with her! That's nice!" Vivian raised her finger up to give Mimi a good ol' Fiery Jinx, burning her as well.

Mimi growled as she tossed another Rubee at Vivian. The Rubee stuck in her hair ended up coming off, making the curl look a bit frizzled, but she didn't seem to care at the moment. She punched Mimi with her flaming fists, sending her back, with Chopper jumping up and slamming his hammer down on her.

"_**My other leg!" **_Mimi shrieked when she lost another spider leg. She was only down to two legs. Things weren't looking too hot for her…

Nevertheless, she attacked Heartsy with a simple Rubee. It didn't do much to her except for throwing the Rubee back at her.

Chopper pulled three arrows out and he fired them all at once at Mimi, making three arrows get stuck in her. He was able to take 12 out of her with that, reducing her down to 200 HP.

Mimi didn't feel too hesitant to attack, so she crept on over to Chopper and she whacked him across the face as hard as she could with her spider leg. However, the Star Warrior managed to grab one of her spider legs and pry them off easily.

"_**You bully! How could you pull off my own spider leg? ! That REALLY hurt!" **_whined Mimi.

"Oh, grow up…" Chopper whacked Mimi across the face using the spider leg he pulled off. "Wow. I never knew I would be able to do something like THAT…"

"Hey, Chopper… Give me that leg for a second." Vivian grabbed the leg Chopper was holding and she surrounded it in flames, whacking Mimi with them as well.

"Poyo… (I never knew that Mimi was this disgusting for a little girl…)" Kirby stated as he looked at Mimi's spider form.

"_**Man, you two REALLY want to get rid of me, don't you? I bet I know why. I dissed you and made fun of your boyfriend, isn't it?"**_

"Chopper isn't my boyfriend!" Vivian retorted, blushing furiously.

"_**Then explain THIS!" **_Mimi pushed Vivian to the ground and she picked up a plushie of Chopper. _**"See? You even have a plushie of him! Maybe I should just keep it! Mimimimi!"**_

"Why would you even want a plushie of me anyways?" Chopper questioned. "In fact, where did you even GET that thing?"

"Well, umm… I got it from some weird person." Vivian replied. "Now that I think about it, he looked somewhat like Fawful. I think he MIGHT be him!"

"I'll try to get that plushie back…even though I'm confused on WHY you have it." Chopper aimed at the plushie Mimi was holding. "Hold on… I'm not gonna SHOOT that thing! No…"

He aimed at Mimi instead, striking her with three arrows. She screeched as she dropped the Chopper plushie. Vivian immediately grabbed it and punched her with her Shade Fist.

Mimi grinned as she made Rubees rise from the ground to strike the three. Unfortunately, it didn't affect Chopper because he was already hovering off of the ground with his angel-like wings.

"HA! You missed!" Chopper fired an arrow at Mimi again, with Heartsy slamming her hammer on Mimi's head. She was hit by a Rubee Mimi tossed at her, but she didn't care that much.

Chopper smiled like an angel as he stuck another arrow in Mimi's head with another heart-shaped arrow.

"Hey, Choppy… Could I try those arrows?" Heartsy asked sweetly.

"What? No!" Chopper backed away from her. "If I gave them to you, you might poke your eye out! Plus, you don't even have a bow."

While Heartsy was speaking to Chopper, Vivian struck Mimi with her Shade Fist, but at the cost of being hit by a Flaming Rubee.

"All right, enough of this," Chopper changed to his Wing ability and he swooped down at Mimi. When Vivian used another Shade Fist, Mimi's third leg came off.

"_**No… My third leg!" **_Mimi sneered at Vivian as she tossed an Ice Rubee at her. She managed to guard it with no problem, though.

Chopper, on the other hand, decided to use a stronger attack. He immediately leaped up high and came down on Mimi with a Gravity Jump, bringing her to 98 HP. Heartsy's hammer brought her down to 90 HP.

Mimi was able to knock away Chopper's Wing ability by climbing up the wall and dropping a Rubee down on him. It didn't affect him too much, because he managed to being her down with his Hammer Throw.

With Vivian's Shade Fist plus the burn effect, Mimi was brought down to 70 HP. Another leg ended up coming off of her, leaving her with only two legs.

"_**You… You…" **_Mimi attacked all three of them with Ice Rubees, but the attack was Superguarded. _**"MEANIES!"**_

"Man, you're even more immature than I thought!" Chopper stated. "Why do you always have to whine like a little brat? _I_ don't even act like that!"

Chopper threw his hammer at Mimi again to dish out 10 on her. Vivian helped him out by bringing her HP down to 50 with a Fiery Jinx, and then to 48 after the burn kicked it. Mimi was only left with one leg afterwards.

"_**I… I don't know how long I'm going to last…" **_wheezed Mimi. She attacked Chopper with a Poison Rubee that he managed to guard. He immediately made another attack by tossing an ice ball at her.

"Let's see if you can beat the cold on THAT!" Chopper smirked. "Err… I guess beating the heat works better anyways."

Vivian giggled a little at him, but afterwards she attacked Mimi with her Shade Fist, reducing her to 30 HP. Luckily, she managed to guard Mimi's Rubee that was tossed at her. No biggie.

After Chopper tossed an electric ball at her and Heartsy slammed her hammer on Mimi, they knew she was going to be done in the next turn. But it didn't mean Mimi was going to give up.

Chopper smirked as he began to charge up a light ball. "All right, Mimi! This is the end!"

Before he could even get a chance to make a final blow, Vivian and Heartsy stood in front of him. "Hey! I was going to finish… Oh, forget it. You two can do it."

"Thank you," Heartsy lifted her hammer up and Vivian raised her flaming hands up. Mimi gaped as Vivian summoned a large Fire Wall towards her, with Heartsy slamming her hammer down on her a couple of times.

"_**EEEEEEEK! STOP IT!" **_she screamed. As soon as the fire wall set her aflame, the last leg on her ended up coming off, making her fall to the ground.

"_**I… I don't get it… I got beaten by two girls? !" **_Mimi transformed back into her girly self, but she was starting to twitch a little. "Y-You…"

She instantly fell over on the ground. "I can't believe all this time, I could never beat you… I hate the fact that those people were holding me in their stupid little castle for a long time!"

"Wait, do you mean the Hellspawns?" Chopper raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah! Those meanie-heads are the reason why I was sent to kill you! I was meant to be delivered to some fat penguin person, but I managed to escape. Ever since I found you, I wanted to beat you down! Unfortunately, I never won…" Mimi panted and coughed.

"Look, listen… Since you have the ability to teleport, why don't you just teleport back to your home? You know, where you used to be?" Chopper suggested.

"That might be an idea… But, I'm not doing it because you said so. I still have a bone to pick with you, but I won't bother you anymore… At least, for right now."

"I understand if you hate me. Honestly, I don't take any offense to that. Anyways…" Chopper began to stretch. "I think we ought to get going. Good luck getting out of here."

Chopper and his group of friends walked over to the door and they left the room without turning back. Mimi, on the other hand, managed to get up and grin after they were gone.

"Oh, maybe we'll see each other some other time, meanie-head! And that next time we see each other, I'm gonna make it so you don't EXPECT it!" At that moment, Mimi teleported out of Dark Subspace World.


	149. Setting Foot on the Subspace Gardens

**All right… I have one thing to say about this chapter and the next one: they might be a bit on the short side. The reason? Well… You might find out soon enough. But those of you who do like a certain character might like seeing his appearance in this chapter. Who, exactly? Oh, you'll find out somewhere in this chapter. Trust me on that. **

**Anyways… Let's get to the fic! We're only six parts away until we make it to the final battle, you know!**

* * *

"How do you think Mimi is doing back there after that beating we gave her?" Bombette asked as they walked into an area with a straight road going up to a door ahead. It looked kind of like a bridge, now that they got a good look at the area. That's just what Chopper was thinking.

"Ehhhh… I think she can handle herself. I mean, she's a little girl who's been going around these parts on her own! I'm PRETTY sure she could take care of herself…" Chopper replied.

"She got what was coming anyways," Heartsy said, now feeling a bit satisfied. "I feel MUCH better after that… Next time, let's make sure that we don't run into anyone like that again."

"I highly doubt that we will anyways, Heartsy…" Sonic replied.

Chopper decided to make his way across the road and to the door. "Let's not waste any time now. We better get going."

Everyone followed him into the next area, which had stairs leading up to a door ahead. There wasn't anything interesting, unfortunately. But, they did find two Darksprine Troopers hovering on the stairs.

"So we were ordered to patrol these parts, is that correct?" the first Darksprine asked.

"Yeah. Of course we are! That's why we're here anyways!" the second Darksprine replied, giving his friend a strange look. "Look, we're not going to let that Chopper make it to the core. He's getting closer to that garden by the second!"

"Garden? What garden?" Chopper interrupted. Both Darksprines turned their heads to Chopper. "I never knew there was a garden around heEEEERE!" He ducked when the Darksprines tried to shoot him with their weapons.

"Kill Chopper! Do not let him make it to the garden!" they roared. Chopper was lucky enough to rush over to them and give them a taste of their own medicine by slamming his hammer down on them. Vivian's Fiery Jinx was tough enough to get rid of them once and for all.

"Whew… That was a close one." Chopper sighed in relief as he wiped his brow. "For a second there, I thought we weren't going to pull that off! But, I'm glad we were able to…"

They made their way up the stairs to another area with a glowing yellow platform. Only this time, it only made a couple of other floating platforms that led all the way to another purple glowing floor.

"This doesn't look too safe…" Vivian frowned.

"Yeah, and I don't think I can even make those jumps," Chopper agreed. "It's a bit far for me. I don't even think Scrub can get me across that first platform. The others? Maybe. But these ones I sure can't…"

"I can get through this easily! Just watch!" Tamber grinned as he jumped on the yellow platform. He jumped up and he began to glide across the platforms to the other side. When he landed, he stopped grinning.

"_Come on, Tamber… I know you can't just keep yourself quiet! You gotta SPEAK out to him! I mean, I know some others have something to say to him! I think I can do it before them!" _Tamber thought, trying his best to tell Chopper what he means.

"Are you all right, Tamber?" Chopper asked.

"Who, me?" Tamber turned around, giving him a grin. "Oh, yeah! I'm just fine! Thanks for asking anyways, puffball! I feel like I can bust through this door and tell those Darksprine jerks that I can tear 'em apart!"

"Ummmmm… Sure you do." Chopper turned back to his friends. "All right, so how are we going to get across this?"

"I know just what to do…" Heartsy gave Chopper a cute wink, freaking him out a little.

"Uhhh… Are you all right, Heartsy?" he asked nervously.

"Oh, I'm fine! I know how to get you across, that's all. Just turn around." While Chopper turned around, Heartsy pulled her hammer out. "Stay still! This won't take a while! …I said stand still!"

She managed to whack Chopper over to the other platform that was too far to reach. Scrub gaped, but he turned to Heartsy anyways.

"Yo, girly! Think you can send me over there?" Scrub asked, trying to act all tough.

"Well, I suppose I should. You DO need to get Choppy across those other platforms anyways… Just turn around and hold still, OK?" Heartsy brought her hammer back and she swung Scrub across to the other side.

"Now… How are WE going to get across there? That's the question…" Sonic scratched the back of his ear while he watched Chopper get on Scrub's back to flutter across the platforms and over to Tamber.

"Oh, that's an easy one," Flyer started by grabbing Heartsy's arm. "I'll just fly people across! …And you people who can fly also help people across, OK?"

Flyer flew Heartsy across so she was down over by Chopper – who she could get a chance to hug. He was able to help get Mario (who was a bit heavy for him) and Sonic (who was also a little heavy, but not as much) over too. Vivian helped Bombette over while Shadower and Kirby floated over to the door.

"Wow. We certainly found a nice little strategy to get ourselves across this place. I'm glad that I didn't have to use my Inhale on Heartsy…" Chopper looked over at Heartsy, who giggled at that moment.

But, enough about that. They all walked into the next area, but what they found there was a bunch of mirrors. There were A LOT, and they were definitely shiny.

"Poyo! (Hey, cool mirrors!)" Kirby skipped over to one of the mirrors on the background to take a look at himself. He looked…pretty manly. "Poyo! (H-Hey! Look at you! You're definitely one handsome devil, aren't you?)"

"Hmmmmmmm… I think these mirrors are a bit interesting!" Chopper took a look at himself through one of the mirrors. He began to wave to himself.

"Some of these mirrors are cool, I gotta admit," When Chopper turned back to the mirror, he saw not himself, but the face of someone he knew. One that he saw back in Hell, that is…

"So you all have seen Fawful's mirrors?" Fawful's face was on all of the mirrors. "Nyeah heh heh heh! Glorious mirrors! They reflect the fury that I am having! But I am not needing of you to be here at this moment!"

"Fawful? !" Chopper got in his fighting stance, but he didn't see him anywhere in the room. "Come on out, Fawful! You can't hide forever, you know!"

"Where is Fawful? You are not having the seeing of Fawful! My appearance stays invisible like a chameleon turning invisible in a salty pond filled with curry!"

"Poyo… (Mmmmmmm… Curry…)" Kirby began to lick his lips.

"Not now, Kirby… We're not here to eat." Chopper looked back at the mirror. "Listen, Fawful! If you don't show yourself right now, I'm gonna have to find you through one of these mirrors!"

Chopper punched one of the mirrors, resulting in it breaking. "…What? He's not in this mirror? I better try another one."

"No no no, Chopper… Don't break another mirror." Flyer warned. "You're going to get yourself some bad luck if you keep smashing some mirrors."

"That's all just a myth, Flyer," Chopper retorted. "There's no such thing as luck! I highly doubt something bad is going to happen to me at this moment. Watch. I'll even stand here quietly to see if I get hurt."

"It doesn't work that way, Chopper," Shadower stepped in. "You see, you have bad luck for seven years, right? Well, you're not going to get it immediately after you do something. There's other ways to get bad luck, too."

"Look, let's not talk about bad luck here. I'm just trying to find Fawful, and this isn't helping." When Chopper turned back to the mirrors, he saw a Darksprine Trooper's helmet instead.

"Ah, Chopper! So you're here!" a Darksprine ended up breaking through one of the mirrors. He pulled out his rifle and began firing down at them.

"Hey! You just got yourself some bad luck, y'know!" Tamber shouted.

"There's no such thing as luck, furball!" the Darksprine fired down at Tamber while he was on his jetpack. Tamber, on the other hand, tried to glide up to him, but because of how high he was, he couldn't get to him.

"Gah! I can't reach him! Curse my inability to jump high!"

"Surely this will hit him," Chopper tossed a light ball straight at the Darksprine Trooper, stunning him at the moment. He immediately stomped on him and tossed an electric ball at his jetpack.

"Uh oh…" the Darksprine began to fly all over the place from his malfunctioned jetpack. He ended up exploding when he crashed into the wall.

"That takes care of that guy," Sonic sighed in relief as he walked over to the door. "Come on, guys… Let's get out of this room."

Everyone agreed and they walked into a circular room with two Darklings floating around. There was also a yellow ? block at the northern part, so Chopper hit the block to get a Max Juice.

"They're definitely giving us some nice stuff!" Chopper smiled as he put the item away. He then walked over to the door ahead, which led into a straight room with something on the wall.

"What's that up there on the wall?" he asked.

"It looks like some sort of puzzle…" Vivian saw that there were some dark torches in the background in some sort of strange pattern. "I wouldn't worry too much about it, though. We should just move on."

Chopper walked into the next room, which had a staircase going up and one going down. There were four doors: one that they came out of, one to the left above them, one to the right across the staircase and one to the right up the staircase.

"Oh, this is simple! We just have to go into the right door! That's not a problem!" Chopper smiled. "It's just like in the Palace of Shadow!"

Kirby looked over at the torches. They were all in dark flames. "Poyo… (I don't know, Chopper… They're all lit up, you know…)"

"Meh. It'll still be easy." Chopper started by walking up the stairs to the top staircase. "I'll take this way for now."

When he entered through the door, he ended up coming out of the previous room. He could hear this freaky, demonic laughter coming from the room. Apparently, he chose the wrong door.

"That demonic laughter is freaky…" he shivered. Before he walked back into the other room, he stopped for a moment to look at the torches. "If I'm correct, those torches must be the order to go through the puzzle. Meh. Not too bad."

Chopper walked back into the other room where everyone was waiting. "All right, before you all freak out, I have to say this: I think I know which way to go. Just look at the torches in the other room and you're clear."

"I suppose we should try that out," Vivian agreed. "Lead the way, Chopper."

"Follow me!" Chopper walked up the stairs and then down to the door. They were led into another similar room.

"OK… Down again." He walked up the stairs and down again, leading everyone else into another similar room. "Up."

They walked up the stairs to another room. Chopper began pondering before heading down the stairs. The next room, they had to go up once again, and up afterwards. The final puzzle room was the one going down.

"All right, let's see what we'll find through here," Chopper turned the doorknob and he opened it. He was astonished when he found out that they were led into a beautiful garden with a dark ground and beautiful green grass.

"Wow… I don't believe this. Am… Am I really seeing something here?" Flyer rubbed his eyes a couple of times. "No… I'm not imagining this. Out of all the places we've been through here, this has to be the strangest."

"This place is way past cool, man," Sonic grinned. He looked up, but he still noticed the dark sky. "Well, the sky certainly hasn't changed. But, the question is… Why is a place like this here?"

"That's a question I'd like to know too, Sonic…" Chopper took a couple of steps on the dark ground. It didn't have that glow in it now. It only had some blue in it and that's all.

They looked at the background to see a large tower, kind of like Riddle Tower. This one seemed to have a large, dark door in front of it.

"Where is everyone?" Heartsy asked. "I don't see any enemies around here. For some reason, it feels a bit freaky…"

Chopper walked over to the calm waters and he began to get a drink from it. "The water seems crystal clear, too…" He looked up to see that there was a bridge leading over to the tower in the center of the room.

"Hold on, Chopper… There isn't a bridge to get to the center. Just look over there. There's a red button that needs to be hit." Flyer pointed to the red button on the wall over by the small door ahead. It was locked, though.

"There's no way we're getting through that door over there, that's for sure…" Chopper called for Scrub to help him over to the other side. They seemed to notice a red ! switch sitting there.

"What happens when you hit this thing?" Scrub asked. He kicked it with his foot, but nothing happened.

"There's gotta be another switch here somewhere!" Chopper looked down in the water. Because it was so clear, he was able to spot something down there. A certain red ! switch, to be sure.

"You mean I have to hit the one down there AND up here? Talk about a cheap trick!" Chopper looked up at Sonic.

"Oh no! There's NO way I'm going down there! I'm gonna drown!" Sonic stepped away from the water.

"Sonic, you're not going to be down there for long. I bet you can hold your breath for AT LEAST thirty seconds!" Chopper glared at his blue friend.

"Sigh… Are you SURE it's going to be thirty seconds?" Sonic questioned. Chopper replied with a nod. "Fine. I'll do it. But I'm not gonna like it."

Sonic held his breath and he jumped into the pool. Chopper followed down there by sinking to the bottom. The blue hedgehog began to choke underwater, but he was still able to get kicked in a ball by Chopper and stay there.

"I'll be back, Sonic," Chopper swam back up to the surface and he went to the red ! switch. Once he gave him the cue, Sonic hit the switch and then he hit the one above the water with his hammer.

Once Chopper pulled Sonic back to the surface, they all felt some shaking as two bridges were made through cardboard. This meant that they can finally get to that red button on the wall.

Mario: Leave this to me!

Mario brought his hammer down on Chopper so that he would be underground. He rose up inside of the barrel so that he can make his way over to the red button across the bridge.

"OK, Mario… Go right ahead! Go for it!" Chopper felt Mario's boots touch the barrel as he jumped onto it. With one whack from his hammer, more shaking started to occur. The bridge over by the tower was finally connected to the center of the area.

"Ah, yes! Now we can go in that tower!" Tamber fist pumped.

"Although, I find it strange we're going in there first and not through that door. It was the other way around when we were in the Palace of Shadow." Shadower remarked.

"Don't even bring up that place anymore," warned Chopper. "I'm getting sick of that place."

When they made their way into the tower, they noticed that the plaque on the door was labeled, "Dark Subspace Tower". It was an obvious name to be sure.

But what was inside of the tower was what confused everyone. They found the inside to be a dark purple with dark stars all over the place. It felt like they were in some kind of dark space of some sort.

"Nyeah heh heh heh heh! _**I HAVE FURY!**_" the sudden burst of that voice got Chopper's antennas to spring up.

"So Fawful's here! I should've known that he would be somewhere around here! …Thank goodness that he is. For some reason, it feels like it's a relief seeing that green bean."

"Yeah, that's something I could agree on," Flyer nodded. He walked over to the spiral stairs in the center of the room. "I'm pretty sure that we'll get to him with these stairs."

They all made their way up the stairs to the top of the tower. They saw this large pedestal with this dark sphere being stored behind a glass capsule. Fawful was making his way over to it.

"Wait… What the heck is that thing in there?" Chopper questioned.

"I have happiness! Now that Fawful has found the darkness of what can give him the granting of dark power, Fawful can finally chisel the glass like a competitive moose!" Fawful cackled.

"Dark power? ! Oh no you don't!" Chopper rushed straight at Fawful, but he got shot by Fawful's blaster, knocking him to the ground.

"So you, Green Antenna, think you're having the stopping of Fawful? I have shock at you for making it here! Fawful hates you!"

"Yeah, I know you hate me and all, but you're not going to get that!" Chopper slowly rose up, but he saw Fawful vaporize the glass capsule with his blaster. He froze it first and then broke it with his foot.

"Why is Fawful suddenly having beef? I have surprise! Fawful is meant to be beefless!" Fawful didn't care too much, so he made the Headgear attach itself to the dark sphere and it began sucking the dark energy into it.

"I…have…_**DARKNESS!**_" Fawful was beginning to feel a bit…different. Dark energy suddenly engulfed him as his outfit began to change. His red cloak changed to a dark blue, and his shirt had a black star on it (although, his cloak is covering his shirt). His cloak was also a bit jagged too. Lastly, the spiral glasses he wears turned to a red color.

"Nyeah heh heh heh! Finally! I have gained more fury! Now Fawful is stronger than ever!" Fawful hovered up with his Headgear and he grinned down at Chopper and his friends. "Now I am Dark Fawful!"

"What was the point of that dark power anyways? It's not like you really needed it…" Flyer groaned.

"Oh, but I do! Fawful has been wanting to avenge my old master after she had the killing because of you, Green Antenna! You, fink-rat, shall have paying!" Fawful shook his fist at Chopper.

Chopper took a look at him for a bit. "Hmmmmmm… I DO recognize you a little bit. But, is this because I killed your old master? I don't even know who this person is anyways!"

"Cackletta was Fawful's master! I had shock when she was killed by you!"

"I didn't do anything to her! I SWEAR!" Chopper retorted.

"I have ignorance! You are starting to underestimate Fawful's power, who has the suction machine for draining that dark power! Fawful may not have gotten all of the power, but I am thinking it is enough to kill you, the stupid warrior!"

"Well, then this should be a bit easy," Chopper began to stretch.

"You have gotten in Fawful's way in each of the turns… Just like the red mustache here that I hate… Fawful hates all of your faces…" Dark Fawful babbled.

Mario: *sweat drop*

"But… Now…" Dark Fawful turned to Chopper and his friends. "Fawful shall say farewell to your fink-rat faces forever! Chopper! Meet… _**FURY OF FAWFUL!"**_

**Tattle: **_That's Dark Fawful. He's just Fawful, but with all of that dark energy around him. Even when he's got all of that power, he STILL looks like a total nutjob! Geez! Max HP is 510, Attack is 21, and Defense is 3. He'll attack you with his blaster, or he might even summon some dark portals to throw large dark orbs of energy at you. Yikes! He can also shoot small orbs of dark energy at you if he wants. I guess he's got some new abilities in him with all of that. That could be a bit dangerous…_

"All right, Fawful… You want some? Come and get it!" Chopper rushed straight at Dark Fawful, bringing his hammer down on him. Flyer took 10 out of the crazy bean with a Flying Attack.

Dark Fawful's Headgear attached itself to the chandelier up on the ceiling and he began to swing himself towards Chopper. Unfortunately, his hammer was able to knock him back a bit, but the Star Warrior got hit when Dark Fawful spun around and hit him from behind.

"Whoa… I didn't see that coming…" Chopper quickly shook his head and he charged up a light ball to shoot at Dark Fawful.

"Ach! The light! It has the brightness!" Dark Fawful screamed as Flyer attacked him with another Flying Attack.

Dark Fawful grinned as he was surrounded by a purple aura. He summoned four dark portals. One was in front of Chopper, one was above him, and the two others were right next to Dark Fawful when he hovered over him.

He tossed a dark purple orb of energy down at Chopper, which was able to be guarded. Dark Fawful sent one to the right for Chopper to counter with a light ball, but he was soon hit by a dark orb that was sent above him.

"Nyeah heh heh heh! Fawful has good feelings!" Dark Fawful cackled as he hovered down. He was left open for Chopper to use a Light Stomp on him. Flyer used another Flying Attack on him to bring his HP down to 450.

As much as Chopper wanted to be satisfied, he wasn't. Dark Fawful pulled his blaster out and his fired purple stars from his blaster that circled around. He jumped out of the way and watched as they hit Chopper.

"Ack! What kind of attack IS this? !" exclaimed Chopper.

Dark Fawful could only cackle at him as he stepped back in. He was unfortunate to get hit by Chopper's Rainbow Spin Attack and Mario's hammer, but he's crazy, so it didn't matter to him.

Chopper prepared himself for anything that was going to be thrown at him. Dark Fawful only shot a dark blast from his blaster at him. That was all.

"Oh… That wasn't too bad." Chopper quickly shook himself and he immediately used his Power Bounce on Fawful, managing to take 15 out of him. Scrub laid an egg and threw at him afterwards.

"So you think you have more fury than Fawful?" Dark Fawful pulled his dark laser sword out. "I will have the spanking!"

"Did you just say that you were going to get spanked?" Chopper questioned before he was hit by Dark Fawful's dark laser sword. He managed to knock him away by swinging the Star Rod at him.

"Quick! Someone make a move!" he shouted. Vivian immediately took action by punching Dark Fawful with her Shade Fist, leaving a nasty burn on him.

Dark Fawful spread his arms out as his Headgear attached itself to the chandelier. He came charging at Chopper, but he was struck by his hammer twice when he came at the Star Warrior.

…But he was still hit from behind by Dark Fawful. But it didn't stop him from attacking him with a Gravity Jump after Shadower lowered his defense with a Shadow Punch.

"Ahhh… Now THAT felt nice." Chopper smirked as he bounced off Dark Fawful. He managed to bring his hammer out to guard the bean's dark laser sword, but it did do some damage to him.

He was able to use a Spring Jump on him to take 20 out of him, with Tamber following up with a Power Punch. It left him with only 310 HP.

Dark Fawful began to speak about having fury and all that before he fired a couple of purple stars from his blaster. They circled around and came on everyone, but they managed to Superguard it.

"All right, now let's get to business!" Chopper smirked as he pulled his hammer out and slammed it on Dark Fawful with his Hammer Throw. With Flyer's Flying Attack, he was down to 290 HP.

Dark Fawful created more dark portals for him to toss dark orbs of energy down to hit Chopper, but he managed to counter some with a light ball. Even one was thrown back at him with his hammer!

"How embarrassing! You got hit by your own dark attack!" Chopper laughed. "I thought you wouldn't be harmed in any way by it!"

"Fawful does not have caring at you! Your faces don't scare me!" Dark Fawful said, not making much sense. He cringed when Chopper slammed his hammer down on him, with Hearsty slamming her hammer down on him too.

"Urk… Fawful won't have the giving up just yet…" Dark Fawful coughed, slashing at Chopper with his dark laser sword. Chopper fought back by using his Star Blast from his Star Rod at him, taking 12.

"Poyo! (Better make my move!)" Kirby pulled his Final Cutter out and he used it to hit Dark Fawful, taking 12 out of him too.

After Dark Fawful's dark orbs he threw at Chopper, he used his Planet Tide attack to tilt the ground, sending Dark Fawful all over the place. He was able to take 54 HP out of him with it.

"Whew… Well that was interesting…" Chopper sighed in relief.

"Well, we DO need to throw some powerful attacks, so it's not a bad idea," Bombette ran towards Dark Fawful and she exploded in front of him with a Bomb attack.

"HEEEEEEEEY!" Dark Fawful raised his arm and dark orbs of energy began to surround him. "Now I am having evil!" He sent the dark orbs at everyone, taking 21 out of everyone.

"All right, that's it!" Sonic curled up in a ball and he struck Dark Fawful with a Spin Dash. "This guy is seriously bothering me!"

"He's bothering everyone, Sonic," Chopper agreed, throwing his hammer at Dark Fawful, who immediately head butted Chopper. "And he's CERTAINLY bother me! Come on, Fawful…"

"Fawful told you you would be meeting his fury!" Dark Fawful grinned before getting hit by Chopper's Master Hammer. He was brought down to 130 HP after Mario brought his hammer down on him.

"OK… He's not far from being finished now, that's for sure." Chopper sighed in relief, but he was ready for anything Dark Fawful was going to throw at him.

"Nyeah heh heh heh!" Dark Fawful jumped out of the way after shooting a circle of purple stars. Chopper was able to Superguard them, making Dark Fawful look a bit sad.

"No? But… How?" Dark Fawful jumped back into the fight, only to get hit by a Hammer Throw and a Flying Attack. Then he managed to tackle Chopper and hit him with his dark laser sword.

Chopper managed to kick him off of him before striking him with a Master Glove attack. "You really need to stop tackling people, Fawful…" After he struck him with that, he tossed an electric ball at him afterwards.

"What was the point of that?" questioned Flyer.

"I don't know. I just wanted to add a little more to that." Chopper replied, only to have his friend face palm at him before he attacked with a Flying Attack.

"OK, we should be able to breeze through this if I can get a Gravity Jump in or something…" Chopper said.

Dark Fawful grinned as he floated above him, summoning his dark portals again. "Taste my fury, fink-rats!"

He fired a dark orb of energy down the portal to his right, sending one in front of Chopper. He managed to redirect it back at Dark Fawful once he whacked it with his hammer.

"All right, Shadower… Hit 'em with a Shadow Punch!" Chopper shouted.

"I'm on it!" Shadower struck Dark Fawful with a shadow fist, lowering his defense to 0. Chopper immediately followed up with a Gravity Jump, bringing Dark Fawful's HP down to 28.

Dark Fawful began to pant. Part of his cloak was a bit ripped and dirty. "I… I have…FURY!" He lifted his arm up and sent dark orbs of energy straight at Chopper and his friends.

"When will this guy ever learn? !" Flyer exclaimed.

"There's not much we can do about it… We just have to fight." Chopper stomped on Dark Fawful's head, which was followed up by Vivian's Shade Fist. With that burn effect, they only had to deal 6 more damage.

"Well, looks like he's not gonna get up," Chopper noticed Dark Fawful kneeling down on the ground. He simply tossed a light ball at him, bringing his HP down to 0.

"_**NOOAAAARGH!**_" the light energy Chopper tossed at Dark Fawful ended up draining all of the dark energy from him and making him fall over on the ground, unconscious.

"_I have…fury…" _he moaned before he passed out.

"Well, looks like that's it for Fawful…" Chopper noticed that Fawful was back to his normal self. He wasn't dead, but he was certainly unconscious from all of that fighting…

"Let's not bother with him, Chopper. We have other things to do right now. Not to mention there isn't anything to do except for getting out of this place." Flyer said.

"Good idea. Let's go, guys." Chopper made his way down the spiral steps and out of the tower. There really wasn't much else around, so he didn't have to worry.

* * *

**Oh, come on! You guys probably saw it coming after Fawful was taken to this place! We were destined to fight against him! Sadly, that's the last time we'll ever see him in this fic. But, don't worry, my friends. Things will get better (hopefully) for you guys!**

**For now, review if you wish. That's really it.  
**


	150. The Meatbag Killer

**Yeah… This is another one of them short chapters, but frankly, I don't even care! There's not much to it except a little fight and a little puzzle. There's not TOO much traveling, though… But, we'll certainly be seeing a returning enemy at the start of this chapter!**

**I bet you just saw the person's name right now!**

* * *

"After plowing through this whole place, I find this garden? ! What is up with this place? !" a familiar-looking robot busted through the door into the garden, to his dismay. "I thought this place was evil? ! This is NOT what I want to see in this place! Not at all! Grrrgh… I'm not finding anything around here…"

Metal Chopper made his way to the center of the garden. "It hasn't been easy for me. Having to make my way out of Starland Galaxy was NO easy feat. I'm just glad I got out of there… But then I found this place. Now I'm starting to wonder what's here."

He made his way over to the locked door at the end of the garden. "Hmmmm… This appears to be the way out of this dreadful garden. But it's locked…"

While he was looking at the door, Chopper and his friends walked out of the tower and to the center of the garden. Chopper's eyes widened in surprise when he saw Metal Chopper over by the door ahead.

"What the…! What's Metal Chopper doing here? !" he exclaimed, only to have Heartsy cover his mouth.

"Shhhhhh! Don't shout! He'll notice us if you shout again!" Heartsy looked over at Metal Chopper. "Good… He didn't seem to notice us…"

"What's he doing here, though?" Sonic questioned.

Metal Chopper poked the lock on the door. "Hmph… This is something I can handle." He changed his hand to his blue laser sword and he managed to cut through it, breaking the lock.

"Ahhhh… Much better! Now I can make my way through here!" Opening the door, he made his way through the hallway ahead.

"We better follow him. Thanks to him, we can finally make our way through that door." Scrub suggested, making his way to the door and opening it. It was simply a straight pathway leading to a door up ahead.

"Interesting… This place reminds me of the hallway we had to go to get to Gloomtail's room." Chopper remarked. "I don't think we could've ever gone back there again if we wanted because of that Star Key."

"What ever happened to not talking about the Palace of Shadow?" Shadower questioned.

"Oh. You got a point there." Chopper made his way past the Subspace Embers. This felt like the other areas with all the darkness and the dark lightning in the sky. It certainly felt creepy…

"I can feel something dark through these doors for some reason…" Vivian frowned as they walked into another similar area through the door with a Subspace Ember there. "It feels like we're getting a bit deeper now."

"Deeper? Oh. That's a good thing, though!" Chopper smiled as he took out the Subspace Ember and made his way into the next area. There were two Darklings he had to take care of with a light ball there.

"Well, from the looks of the Save Block and Heart Block, this must lead to a different room," Bombette pointed at the blocks with her foot.

"That's lucky for us!" Chopper made his way over to both blocks and he hit both of them to save and to fully recover his stats. "Now I feel MUCH better from those fights!"

"Dude, you leveled up a couple of times from those fights! Isn't that enough?" Tamber question.

"No. Now let's get going." Chopper kicked the door open into a large room with dark pillars circling around this little arena place. It was kind of like the size of Gloomtail's room, but cooler and freakier.

"This is it? There's nothing else around here? !" Scrub exclaimed.

"Tell me now, meatbag! Where am I? !" Metal Chopper had his arm around a Darksprine Trooper's neck, aiming his arm gun at his head. "Talk now, or else I'll fire at you!"

"Gcccccck! Uccccccckkk!" the Darksprine's choking was preventing himself from speaking. It only got him whacked across the face by Metal Chopper.

"That's not an answer, you fool! You better tell me where I am right now, 'cause I need to make my way out of this dastardly place!"

The Darksprine pointed to his neck as he choked. "Hmmmmm? What's that? You can't speak because I'm strangling you? Fine. I'll stop for right now, but any funny business will have you strangled again!"

Metal Chopper loosened his grip on the Darksprine Trooper. "Whew… Thank you. Now, you're in a world called Dark Subspace World, Metal Chopper. We inhabit this place. We're ruled by… Well, that's not any of your business!"

"Dark Subspace World?" Metal Chopper stopped for a second and grabbed the Darksprine again. "Hold on a second… How do you know my name? !"

"We know about the Hellspawns. They created you, you know. Not to mention our leader knows about you, too. You just wanted to find Chopper yourself, right?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Then you may want to look behind you, then!" the Darksprine took notice of Chopper, who was right behind Metal Chopper.

"What?" Metal Chopper turned around. He looked a bit surprised when he saw his old nemesis again. "YOU! How did YOU get here? !"

"I should be asking the same thing to you!" Chopper retorted, getting in his fighting stance. "Don't tell me you found a portal to this place too…"

"I didn't 'find' the portal. It found me." Metal Chopper took care of the Darksprine by shooting him before turning to him. "You see, while I was floating in space after our little race, thanks to some kind of monster… I ended up reaching that dark vortex, but its dark effect didn't harm me. It could be because I'm a robot. I found guys like that guy I killed summoning a dark portal, so I followed them through, which brought me here. I suppose you came through a dark portal too."

"Well, I came through a dark red portal first, which brought me to Hell. I had to fight my way through that dastardly place through Camikon's Castle, which had a door that led to this place. I probably had it worse."

"Hmph! I see… So we both had our ways of getting here. No matter…" Metal Chopper aimed his gun at Chopper. "Now that I've found you, I can finally finish the deed that should've been finished back in Star Haven!"

"I blew you up there! There's NO way you'll beat us. I swear, you've been at it for years and you couldn't beat me ONCE!"

Metal Chopper chuckled. "Perhaps this time it will be different," he lunged at Chopper, trying to grab him. Unfortunately, his efforts were fruitless when Chopper managed to grab his shoulders and knock him back with a head butt.

"Grrrr! You'll pay for that!" Metal Chopper began firing his machine gun straight at Chopper, who began to dodge them by running up the pillar. The shots pierced through the pillar and knocked it to the ground.

"All right, fine… We'll fight you the normal way." Chopper got in his fighting stance, pulling his hammer out. "Let's do this!"

**Tattle: **_That's Metal Chopper. He looks…a lot similar to you for some reason… I don't see much of a huge difference, though. Max HP is 520, Attack is 21, and Defense is 4. He'll use that laser sword of his to fight you or he might even use his other weapons he carries with him. If I were you, I'd try to use some defense-piercing attacks that can go through his tough armor. Although he had 130 HP last time, I think now he's taking things up a measure with his abilities and weapons. He might even use the audience as a weapon if possible! But still, I don't believe that this might be a hard fight. The defense could be a bit of a problem, though…_

Chopper gripped his hammer as hard as he could as he brought it down on Metal Chopper. "Gotta remember what Goombella said. I need to use some defense-piercing attacks."

He pierced through Metal Chopper's defense with a D-Down Pound. He was able to do 6 damage to him before, so this wasn't too bad. Sonic used his Sonic Wind on him, but that only did 8 damage.

"Heh heh heh! I guess my defense is really working out for me!" Metal Chopper tackled Chopper and he held him to the wall, punching him in the face as hard as he could.

"Ack! Get off of me!" After suffering from 21 damage, Chopper managed to push him off and use a Master Hammer attack on him, taking 16 out of him.

"Even if you somehow managed to defeat me, you're still not going to get something that I was lucky enough to find!" Metal Chopper was holding up a key that was shaped like a dark sword.

"Whoa… That's something interesting." Scrub laid an egg and he threw it straight at Metal Chopper, taking 12 out of him.

"Stupid egg shell…" Metal Chopper wiped the pieces of the egg shell off of him before shooting a blue blast straight at Scrub. "I don't care if you're a baby or an adult! I hate ALL meatbags!"

"What got you into hating people?" Vivian asked.

"I just hate 'em, that's all! They think they're all cool making us robots their slaves! Someday, us robots will rule the universe, and _I'll _be their leader!"

"Not gonna happen, Metal! Not on my watch!" Chopper retorted, tossing a light ball straight at him.

Mario helped Chopper out by bringing his hammer down on him. But, it didn't help him when Metal Chopper tackled Mario and knocked him straight at the wall, attempting to punch him.

"Oh no you don't!" Chopper rushed straight behind Metal Chopper and he knocked him up the wall with his Master Hammer attack.

Mario: Thank you…

"Don't mention it, Mario," Chopper gave him a thumbs up before he dodged Metal Chopper's missile after he was hit by Heartsy's hammer.

"All right, let's see what else I can do against you…" Chopper jumped behind Metal Chopper and he changed to his Needle ability. He struck his metal foe by shooting some needles at him.

"Poyo! (I ought to use my Final Cutter again!)" Kirby struck Metal Chopper with his Final Cutter, taking 12 out of him. When Chopper's metal foe tried to shoot a missile at him, he only inhaled it and sent it back at him, making him take 21 damage instead.

"Thanks, Kirby!" Chopper said cheerfully as he struck Metal Chopper with his Piercing Spikes, dealing 10 damage to him. It didn't pierce through him, but it surely pierced through his defense.

"Grrgh… I'm gonna knock that ability out of you!" After he got struck by Bombette's Bomb attack, he rushed at Chopper, firing his machine guns at him. Unfortunately, there was no way he was going to hit him with those machine guns due to his speed.

Instead, he pulled his blue laser sword out and he slashed at Chopper, knocking his Needle ability out.

"Oof! Man, for someone who's violent, you sure pack a punch…" Chopper groaned as he used a Star Blast from the Star Rod to hit him. "I think this feels a lot more satisfying than in Starland Galaxy!"

"I'll be satisfied once you're dead"! yelled Metal Chopper, rushing straight at him with his jets. Unfortunately, a Flying Attack did him in, knocking him back to one of the pillars, knocking it over.

Metal Chopper felt enraged. He immediately began glowing when he began to charge one of his most powerful attacks. "I'm going to kill you any second now, Chopper…"

"Oh, really?" Chopper started firing light balls above Metal Chopper so that they would combine into one big one. When it was all together, it came down on his metal foe, dealing 16 damage to him.

"OK, Vivian! Let's try avoiding this attack…" Chopper waited patiently as Vivian grabbed onto him.

"I'll protect you, Chopper… Don't worry." she whispered to him as she pulled him down below. Since Metal Chopper was trying to attack both of them, he was forced to shoot his large laser beam at them. Unfortunately, it missed.

"Grah! WHY did it have to miss? ! That no-good…" Once he saw Chopper and Vivian rise from the shadows, he immediately fired a missile straight at Vivian. "Let's see how you like it when I hurt your girlfriend!"

Vivian immediately covered her face, but she never heard any missile explosion from her. She heard one coming from Metal Chopper instead.

"Huh?" She put her hands off her face to see Metal Chopper knocked back. He also had a little dent on him. "Wha… What just happened?"

"Chopper inhaled the attack and spat it back at Metal Chopper," Bombette answered. "Isn't that cute? He's protecting you!"

Vivian giggled a little bit before lighting Metal Chopper on fire with her Fiery Jinx. "Argh! Stupid burn…"

He made his way to the audience, grabbing a couple of the people in there. They screamed as he grabbed them.

"So, Chopper… How would you like it if I threw your adoring fans at you?" Metal Chopper began to throw them one bye one at Chopper, who began to guard the attacks. He only took about 25 damage…

"Well, that's not too bad, I guess…" Chopper sighed in relief as Shadower lowered Metal Chopper's defense with a Shadow Punch. This allowed him to use his Gravity Jump, dealing 28 damage to him.

"You're gonna wish you never did that, Chopper…" Metal Chopper's fingers started to get longer and sharper as he tried to slash at Chopper with them. The young Star Warrior dodged them and kicked Metal Chopper instead, dealing 6 damage to him.

"All right… Now let's see what this'll do!" Chopper attacked Metal Chopper with his Wall Jump this time. He felt relieved about taking a whole 24 out of his nemesis.

"Sweet! He's halfway down! Let's see what this Power Punch'll do!" Tamber rushed straight at Metal Chopper with green energy around his fists. "There's no enough room for one Chopper around here!"

With one powerful punch, he knocked Metal Chopper to the wall. He slowly got himself up and brushed himself.

"You think you're so strong, do you? Well, let's see how you handle this!" Metal Chopper raised his gun at Tamber and he fired a blue laser straight at him, knocking him back at one of the pillars.

"Whoa… That's not good." Chopper gripped his hammer and he took 10 out of him with a D-Down Pound. Sonic was able to bring him down to 220 HP with his Spin Dash.

Metal Chopper clenched his fists as he knocked Sonic back with it. It didn't do that much, considering that Chopper managed to dish 16 out of him with a Master Hammer and then Scrub used an egg to deal 12 damage.

"Take this!" Metal Chopper fired a missiles at Scrub, which took 21 out of him, and also one at Chopper, which was thrown back at him after he inhaled the attack. "Grragh! You little…!"

"Heh heh heh! That worked out nicely!" Chopper grinned as he slammed his hammer down on Metal Chopper, piercing through his defense. Mario used a Super Jump to bring him down a little more. He was down to at least 153 HP now.

Metal Chopper pulled his blue laser sword out and he made a dash at Chopper, slashing him with it. "Ahh… Now THAT felt satisfying!" he said with a satisfied look on his face.

"Man, he's never going to give up, isn't he?" Sonic questioned.

"Yeah, I don't think he will… But we'll surely make him weaker with THIS!" Chopper pulled the Dark Star out and he began to use its power to summon a black hole to suck Metal Chopper in.

"What are you…?" When Metal Chopper got spat out of the black hole, he suffered 65 damage. "What… What was THAT? !"

"My Black Hole ability! Although it drained a lot of my Star Power, it did some strong damage to ya!" Chopper smirked.

"Damn those Crystal Stars"! Metal Chopper spat. "I should've tried to snatch that star when I had the chance!"

"Too bad for you!" Sonic clenched his fist and he struck Metal Chopper with a Sonic Wind. "That should bring you down to 80 HP…"

Metal Chopper tackled Sonic and he began to punch him, but Chopper managed to inhale him and spit him back out at one of the pillars.

"Ugh… I forgot you can do something like that." Metal Chopper moaned.

"Well it's good to use," Flyer grinned, striking the dizzy Metal Chopper with a Flying Attack, bringing his HP down to 60.

Metal Chopper flew up with his jets and he immediately began to fire rapidly down at everyone with his machine guns. This time, he was successful in hitting everyone, taking 21 out of them.

"Don't worry, I'll get him down," Vivian raised her finger up and Metal Chopper found himself engulfed in flames. It was good enough to bring him down to the ground so Chopper can D-Down Jump him.

"You want to feel the same way I am at the moment? Well let's see how you like this!" Metal Chopper used his flamethrower to leave everyone with a nasty burn. "Now it feels even!"

"Not really… You're going down pretty soon." Chopper used his Light Smash on Metal Chopper, which was followed up with Tamber's Power Punch, bringing him down to 20 HP.

"Urk… This can't be possible…" Metal Chopper coughed as he tried to freeze Chopper with an ice beam. Unfortunately, his attack was fruitless when the Star Warrior guarded the attack.

"All right, here it goes!" Sonic clenched his fist and he managed to bring Metal Chopper down to 12 HP. "OK, Chopper! Hit 'em with a Star Blast!"

"What? ! Don't! I beg of you!" Metal Chopper begged.

"Sorry, Metal Chopper… I'm not falling for that trick again. Goodbye for now. Will we see each other again? Maybe, maybe not." Chopper took the Star Rod out and he began to charge up an attack.

"Not if I finish it off first!" Metal Chopper began to charge up a powerful laser attack. Unfortunately, he was a bit too late. Chopper was able to strike him with a Star Blast, resulting in the poor metal foe to explode into pieces.

"ARRRGGGHH! How? ! How did I lose to you AGAIN? !" Metal Chopper exclaimed as his head flew up, along with other parts of his metallic body. "Remember these words, Chopper: I _**will**_ be back! If it has to take about five months for me to make my return, then so be it!"

"Pbbbbbbbbth! I highly doubt it!" Chopper began to wave goodbye to Metal Chopper as he floated away. "Bye, Metal Chopper! It's a shame I probably won't ever see you again…"

"Don't try to jinx it, Chopper…" Sonic warned.

"Oh, relax. He's not gonna come back. Sure, he came back before, but he's probably not gonna come back again."

While Chopper and Sonic were talking about whether he would return, Vivian noticed the key Metal Chopper had with him before dropped to the ground.

"Chopper! The key!" She got Chopper's attention by shaking his arm a little. "I think we need that for Subspace Tower!"

"Hmmmmm… I guess we should take it, then." Chopper picked the key up and he put it away. "OK, guys… Let's move!"

As everyone made their way out of the room, Bombette stopped Chopper. "Hey, Chopper… There's something I've been wondering."

"And that is…" Chopper raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I saw how you were protecting Vivian when Metal Chopper was about to attack him. Do you… Do you care about her?" she asked in curiosity.

"What? What kind of question is… Look, now's not the time for any of this, OK? We got some stuff to do right now!"

"Oh, all right… I was just curious. That's all." Bombette seemed annoyed, but she followed Chopper back to the tower.

* * *

**At the entrance of Subspace Tower-**

"All right, we're back at this freaky place… All alone." Chopper shivered as he opened the door to the main room of the tower. "OK, guys… Let's get a move on."

"Hey, what happened to the doors that were here before?" Scrub questioned. "They're suddenly gone!"

"Huh? Yeah, you're right, Scrub! I don't see them either!" Heartsy said in surprise.

"Let's worry about that later, OK? We better take this to the top, I suppose… I hope Fawful's not up…" Chopper made his way up the stairs, only to find out at the top that Fawful wasn't there.

"Huh? Where'd Fawful go? !" he exclaimed.

"I guess he already got up and left," Flyer predicted. "There's no way he's going to bother us now if he's been defeated already. I say we just forget about that."

"I guess you're right… But the question is, where does this key go?"

Shadower looked around, using his eyes to sense where the key could be. "Hold on a minute… Let's see what happens here."

He floated over to Chopper and he made him invisible. He tried using his eyes to see what was around him. Unfortunately, he couldn't find much except for a dark glowing spot near the corner.

"The only thing I picked up is a dark spot on the corner. Maybe Vivian should pull you into the shadows to see if there is something." Shadower stepped out of the way for Vivian to grab him.

"Psssssst! Vivian!" Bombette whispered. She stopped and turned to Bombette. "I just have a question… What do you do with Chopper in the shadows anyways?"

"I don't really do anything, but I hold onto him, if that's something you want to know…" She trailed off over to Chopper and then pulled him into the shadows. Everyone noticed a pedestal appearing at the dark spot.

"Bingo! It's right there!" Tamber grinned.

"What is?" Chopper questioned as Vivian brought him up from the shadows.

"I'll show you," Tamber made his way over to the dark spot. "Put the key in here and you'll see what happens."

Chopper shrugged and he placed the key there. He suddenly found the pedestal to be visible as it was placed.

They all began to feel shaking coming from the tower, and at that very moment, sixteen squares appeared in the room.

"Poyo? (What the… What do you think this is?)" Kirby questioned, looking at the large squares.

"It looks like some kind of matching puzzle," Chopper used a Spin Jump on one of them, revealing a Darkling on it. He found another square, but this time it had a Darksprine Trooper's head on it.

"This could take a while to do…" Chopper began to take his time to match the correct squares with each other – with a time limit, too!

* * *

**Two minutes later-**

"Well, I finally got that out of the way…" Chopper noticed that the key on the pedestal turned a little. He walked over to it and he turned it. It caused the whole place to shake a little bit.

"…The shaking isn't coming from here," Shadower stated. "I can feel it coming from somewhere else…"

"Hmmmm? Where?" Chopper raised an eyebrow.

"I think it was coming from where we were before. Come on, follow me." Shadower made his way down the stairs.

"Well, we better follow him," Chopper and the rest of the group followed Shadower out of the tower and to the door they were at before. Behind it, they found something interesting.

* * *

**I thought it would be interesting to put this chapter up right now. Now with Spring Break here, I can finally finish this story (and I'm pretty darn close, you know!). With this chapter here, there are only eight more chapters left. I'm still trying to see if I can make 50, but we'll see what happens. :P**


	151. Witches and Wizards

**Only seven more bosses to go now (counting the final boss)! :D**

* * *

"Holy crap! Look at this place!" Chopper noticed that there were stairs leading down to a new area of Dark Subspace World. "I can't believe that that key did something just like in the Palace of Shadow! This is just…interesting! And also the music that we were listening to before has changed! It sounds the same a bit, but it feels a bit freakier than before. Now we're in some deep yogurt, huh, guys?" (the song that's being listened to is **Machine**, which is the second Subspace Emissary song for the Subspace world).

"I don't even like this song, though! It's too dark and eerie for my tastes!" Scrub whined while pouting. I was hoping that we'd hear some other song. One that sounds really cool and not freaky."

"Less talking, more traveling," Flyer said, trying to get everyone moving. "We don't have unlimited time here, you know. Things might be looking bad back in Dream Land…where Fumu is."

"We're not going to sit here and brood, Flyer. We KNOW that we have to do this…which is why I'm gonna go down the stairs." Chopper made his way down the steps. He noticed that there was a staircase that led to this large block. Near the staircase was a small, purple block with an arrow pointing up.

"I suppose you'll need me to figure this out, right?" Sonic asked. Chopper gave him a nod and he kicked him while in a ball. He remained in his ball until everyone got on the larger block.

"All right, Sonic… Let it rip!" Chopper shouted. Sonic hit the block, resulting in the block moving up to a doorway that led into a room filled with these bombs that would do damage if they were touched.

"Uh oh… Careful where you step!" Heartsy warned.

"I think this'll require me to slide under these bombs…" Chopper let himself fall flat on the ground as he inched his way up to the stairway to the left of the area. There was a blue ! switch at the top of the stairs.

"If you touch those bombs, you'll lose about 20 HP, you know, Chopper…" Flyer warned.

"Don't tell him that!" Tamber shouted. "Now he'll be a bit more nervous now!"

"Tamber… You're actually trying to help Chopper?" Vivian seemed a bit surprised on how Tamber was acting.

Tamber stopped and he took a deep breath. "OK, I'm gonna admit this… I don't think I'm better than Chopper. There. I said it. I would explain everything right now, but we don't have much time."

"So Tamber had a soft spot this whole time…" Vivian gasped.

"All right, I got it!" Chopper managed to hit the blue ! switch, revealing a chest right by them. It was created by darkness, just like in the Palace of Shadow, which got on everyone's nerves.

Vivian opened the chest to find a Subspace Key. "OK, Chopper… We found the key. What do we do with it now?"

"Hold on, I'm coming back," Chopper slid under the bombs and he made his way back to the group. "I suppose we need to unlock a door with that. I remember seeing a door in that other room."

They made their way back to the other room, but they couldn't use the large block to go down. They were forced to jump down themselves, but it didn't do much harm (they're kinda videogame characters, and usually you don't see people like them getting hurt when they fall from great heights).

Unfortunately, they couldn't get over to the door just yet. Chopper needed to use Scrub to cross over the gap to the locked door.

"Toss me the key, Vivian," Chopper called out. Vivian nodded and she tossed the key to Chopper, who caught it and unlocked the door to a larger area shaped like a circle. They could see that the dark lightning was getting a bit closer. It actually felt like they were by a cliff at the edge.

"Hmmmmmm…" Sonic looked at the three red ! blocks in the center of the area. "Looks like we gotta hit 'em in a specific order if we're gonna move on ahead, Chopper."

"Yeah, you're gonna have to do that, but we won't let you," Two Darksprine Troopers with rifles came floating down from their jetpacks. "You see, this is where you start to get closer to your destination. Unfortunately, it's not going to stop us from giving up!"

"Oh, this'll be easy," Chopper rolled his eyes and he threw two light balls at the Darksprine's jetpacks. "You'll be going all over the place soon!"

The Darksprine fired at the light ball, but it didn't do much. Both of their jetpacks malfunctioned, causing them to fly all over the place.

"AAGGHHH! WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN?!"

Once they were gone, Chopper looked around this area for clues. Vivian, once again, pulled Chopper into the shadows for any order. Apparently, the blocks glowed right, left and then the middle.

"All right, hit it in this order: right, left and then middle," Flyer said after the two rose from the shadows.

"Thanks, Flyer!" Chopper hit the blocks in the specific order, resulting in a new road being created over at the right part of the circular floor. It was a long road that would lead to another part of Dark Subspace World.

"Oh, sweet! Now we can reach another area with this! I'll meet you there!" Sonic made a dash towards the road, running to where they need to go next.

"All right, I'm following Sonic," Chopper made a dash through the road as well, hoping to get there quickly. Everyone else sighed and they began to follow them as fast as they could go.

* * *

**Five minutes later-**

After five minutes, they found themselves on a dark ground with some blue and purple glows in them. They didn't see much except for a door ahead that would lead to another cool place.

"Let's check and see what we got through there," Chopper suggested, making his way over to the next area. He noticed that they were led into an area with a little cliff that led to a bottomless pit. There was this floating dark star above it.

"Hey, Contadre… How about you use that Star Rod on that thing, since there really isn't anything else around here." Scrub suggested.

"That's what I was planning to do," Chopper pulled his great Star Rod out and he swung it, making a yellow star hit the dark star. When it blew up, paper on the ground flipped off and they saw a bunch of dark rubble blocking a door.

"Looks like you'll need to use your curse," Vivian stated. She watched as Chopper stepped on the paper panel. He used his awesome curse ability to tear the rubble out of the way, revealing a door over by the wall.

"Interesting…" he said as he walked into an area with a paper airplane panel right beside him. He saw all the way to the other side a locked door. There was a floating platform that had a doorway leading to somewhere else, however.

"Well, we ought to go over there first," Tamber used his gliding ability to glide down over to the doorway. Chopper, on the other hand, transformed into a paper airplane and he flew down there.

After gliding down, they all walked to the doorway to their north to find a large, circular area with a cliff at the end of the wall. There were a couple of statues around here. They were ones of Darklings and Darksprine Troopers.

"Oh, this should be easy!" Chopper pulled his hammer out and he smashed at one of the statues. Unfortunately, nothing happened. "Crud! I was hoping I would be able to smash this thing!"

"Well, that's why ya got me here, puffball!" Tamber pointed to himself. "I can smash things for you!"

"Then smash those statues then," Chopper suggested.

"All right! Then I shall…" Tamber turned to the statues and he pulled the Master Star out. "I'm going to make this a little easier and smash ALL of them with the power of the Master Star!"

Once he touched the Master Star he began to feel a large amount of energy go into him. He unleashed his Master Star Fist attack on all of the statues, destroying them all. One of them had a Subspace Key. The Darksprine Trooper one near the center, to be sure…

"Ah! There we go!" Tamber grabbed the key. "This should do just fine! I gotta admit, as much as I hate this place and its music, there is a lot for us to do around here. These puzzles are the big ones."

"Indeed," Chopper made his way back to the other area and back to the paper airplane panel, where he began to soar over to the locked door. This led them all to an area with a grinding rail leading to another area. There was also a Save Block and Heart Block there, so Chopper hit them.

"Hmmmm… Now I'm starting to wonder what's up ahead." Chopper pondered.

"We'll find out sooner or later," Vivian replied. As they all made their way across the rail, Chopper landed on the dark ground in the next area to find out that it was a bit big. But he was right near a round edge that led down to a cliff.

"Careful, guys… Let's not try to fall here…" he warned.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! So, you made it here at long last, Chopper…" a voice called out.

"Huh?" Chopper saw Beldam and Marilyn rise from the shadows. Meta Knight suddenly made his appearance through his cape.

"What the… Meta Knight? ! What are you doing with them? !"

"I forgot to express my gratitude to you, Chopper!" Beldam grinned. "Thank you very much for what you did! That was very nice of you to open the way to this world! Oh, so nice! Thanks to your foolishness, my plan is progressing very smoothly…"

"S-Sis? ! What do you mean by opening this world for you?"

"Ah, foolish Vivian… You were always so rebellious to me when I would speak… You still don't see it? After our encounter with you in Snowy Mountain, we decided to let you do all of the dirty work for us! We had a feeling you would be able to collect them all, Chopper…"

"But why is Meta Knight here?" Chopper questioned.

"This 'Meta Knight' here? Why… He's none other than freak-in-a-sheet, of course!" Doopliss was forced to transform back into himself after being revealed.

"Er… You still don't get it, do you? I'm Doopliss…" Doopliss mumbled.

"OK, I had a feeling that it would be you," Chopper didn't look too surprised.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! You honestly thought that the real Meta Knight would be here? He's still back in Hell fighting off those Hellspawns! Oh, perhaps he might be dead!"

"I don't think so… I know Meta Knight's a tough warrior!" Chopper aimed the palm of his hand at Beldam with light energy. "Stand back! I'm sure your kind fears this sort of power…"

"Whoa! Look at that light!" Doopliss blurted, only to get smacked across the face by Beldam.

"Did I tell you to keep your mouth shut before? !" she exclaimed before turning back to Chopper. "Ahem! Now then… Our plan shall be fully complete once we're rid of you and your little girlfriend behind you! Oh, yes! That must be done before the universe is ours!"

"Universe? Do you really want to do such a thing, Beldam?" Vivian questioned. "I mean, think about it! The world has a meaning, and all you care about is taking it over? What happened to the good side?"

"Yeah, hag! Just listen to your sister! If you weren't such a bad person, I wouldn't have to call you hag anymore!" Chopper defended.

"Silence, you little ditz! I've never been like that at all! I was always my cold-hearted self ever since the Shadow Queen was killed by you, Mario! I just had to wait for the right moment to get back into action and get what I need to rule the universe!"

"…I can't believe it. All this time I thought you were being nice to me these past five months." Vivian sniffed. "It almost feels like my whole life was a complete lie. Why do you treat me like this, Beldam?"

"Bleh! I could honestly care less about you, Vivian! If I ever had the chance to kill you, I would've done it! But I believe doing it like this will be much better…for the both of us!"

"You're not going to even TRY to do that!" Chopper clenched his fists in anger. "How could you do such a thing to your own sister? ! That's cruel beyond belief!"

At this moment, Vivian felt angry. "All right, Beldam… I've had enough! If you really want to kill me, then good luck with that! There's no way you're going to stop us from saving the universe!"

Chopper seemed quite surprised. "Wow… You really have a lot of courage. I mean, you ALWAYS had it."

Vivian giggled. "Awwww… That's so sweet!"

"Very well, then! I suppose you and your boyfriend will surely have to pay the price for talking back at me like that!" Beldam growled. "Let's go, my sort-of-lovelies! Marilyn! Freak-sheet!"

"Guhhhh!" Marilyn grunted.

"Oh, come on! Do I REALLY have to say it again?!" Doopliss grumbled. "My. Name. Is. _**DOOPLISS!**_"

Chopper glared at Beldam angrily with his fist clenched. "I'll make sure you pay dearly for making us fall into a trap!"

"That's what I intended to do, Chopper!" Beldam cackled. "Now then… Let's get started, shall we, my sort-of-lovelies? This time we'll finish Chopper and his friends for sure! If I see you slacking off, you're going to get a big punishment!"

"GUHHHH!" grunted Marilyn.

"Yeah, yeah… I know the whole drill…" Doopliss rolled his eyes.

**Tattle: **_That's Beldam. She's the mean, nasty witch that you hate. Max HP is 520, Attack is 20, and Defense is 0. As usual, she'll use her ice magic to freeze you and your partner. I would try my best to watch out when she uses one of her other magic attacks. She could possibly freeze one of your partners in time, OR she might even mind control them into attack you! That's scary! Watch out when she tries to shrink you or make one of her allies stronger. That's something to watch out for. Even still, I think she's a nasty old hag! I mean, lying that whole time? HORRIBLE!_

**Tattle: **_That's Marilyn. She's Beldam's younger sister who kinda needs to lose some weight… Max HP is 530, Attack is 22, and Defense is 0. Remember, Chopper… Her Attack is the strongest out of the three, so you might wanna take her out first. May I need to warn you that she can raise her Attack twice as well? If she does that and uses an attack, that's 66 damage she's going to do to you! Other than that, there's not much else to her. I wonder why she rarely speaks. Is it because she doesn't want Beldam to blame things on her? That's a theory…_

**Tattle: **_That's Doopliss. He's the weird Duplighost that can shapeshift into anything he wants. He even transformed into you before, if I could recall… Max HP is 530, Attack is 21, and Defense is 0. Doopliss is just the same old stuff. He doesn't have that much in him except his shapeshifting abilities. Personally, I would save him for last. But, it's your choice. I'm still questioning why he's even with Beldam. He sometimes gets punished for no reason…_

"All right, if we're gonna make this fight easier, we need to take Marilyn out first. She's ALWAYS the big threat." Chopper started by using his Spring Jump on Marilyn, dealing 20 damage to her.

Vivian wanted to focus on taking Beldam out first, but she knew that it was best to take Marilyn out first. She started by summoning a large Fire Wall towards the three opponents.

"Wha…? How did you learn something like that?" Beldam gaped as she was caught in the wall of fire.

"It's my Fire Wall ability. It allows me to hit anything in sight with a large fire wall." Vivian stated.

"Grrrrr! No matter… Even if you still have that ability, you're still no match for us!" Beldam used her ice magic to create a small blizzard that Chopper and Vivian guarded. Marilyn clasped her hands together at Chopper while Doopliss tried to attack him, but failed horribly when his attack was Superguarded.

"Gah! I can't even attack him while the others got their chance!" Doopliss pouted.

"Sorry, Doopliss…" Chopper pulled his hammer out and he struck the three with his Master Hammer ability. "Oh, yeah! It feels just like fighting them back in Toy Kingdom – without Doopliss, that is…"

"I can agree with you on that," Vivian replied after using her Fiery Jinx on all three of them again.

"All right, let's see what I can get from this…" Doopliss's eyes began to glow as he began to scan Chopper. When he rose up from the shadows, he was an exact replica of him.

"Yuk yuk yuk! Now I'm gonna show you some power!" Doopliss changed to Chopper's Wizard ability and he managed to strike both Chopper and Vivian with lightning, taking 21 out of both.

"Guh!" Marilyn grunted as she tried to cast her lightning spell down on everyone. It was Superguarded, so she ended up frowning.

"Arrgghhh! How could you miss? ! No matter…" Beldam used her magic to make herself bigger, raising her Attack up by 2. "Mmmmwee hee hee hee! Now my attacks will be much stronger!"

"You wish!" Chopper inhaled Marilyn and he spat her at Beldam, dealing 10 damage to both of them. Tamber made his attack next, taking 16 out of them with his Master Star Fist.

"Oh, yeah! It feels good to attack these ghostly creatures! …And a copy of Chopper too!" Tamber grinned.

"I'll take care of you, Slick!" Doopliss walked over to Chopper and he tossed a fireball at him. Chopper, on the other hand, managed to knock the ability away by inhaling the fireball and spitting it back at him.

"Oof! That was rough…"

Seeing Tamber's strength, Marilyn sank into the shadows and rose in front of him. She tried to strike him by clasping her hands together, but he managed to head bash her after grabbing both of her arms.

"You REALLY think you're going to stop me with that? 'Cause I ain't gonna give up like that, fatty!" Tamber shouted.

"Tamber… Let's not insult people, OK?" Chopper scolded. "I know that she's on Beldam's side, but she's not exactly the one to hate the most…"

"Oh. Right…"

"Now, let's see what a light ball can do!" Since Chopper managed to avoid Beldam's Blizzard, he was able to use his Master Glove attack. The big ball of light energy came down on all three of them and took 16 out of them all.

"And then comes the explosion!" Bombette rushed straight at them with her Explosion attack, taking 14 out of all of them.

"Bleh! Your light attacks are painful, I'll admit… But it won't stop us from giving up so easily!" Beldam spat. She told the other two to turn around. "Listen here, my sort-of-lovelies! We need a plan! Marilyn! You go handle that brown furry one! Freak-sheet! I want you to take care of Chopper for me! While you do that, I'll take care of Vivian personally!"

"Heh heh! Now I'm gonna have a score to settle with Chopper!" Doopliss turned to Chopper and he used his inhaling ability to suck him into his mouth and to spit him out at Kirby.

"Poyo! (All right, now I'm mad!)" Kirby pulled his Final Cutter out and he used it to hit all three enemies. Chopper helped Kirby out by using his Master Glove attack to take 16 out of them all.

While Doopliss stomped on Kirby, Marilyn sank into the shadows and attacked Tamber successfully. Beldam sank into the shadows and attacked Vivian with an icy punch, but was unfortunate to freeze her.

Chopper smirked as he performed a Gravity Jump on Marilyn, taking 28 out of her. Vivian's Fire Wall attack also left a burn on everyone. She ended up getting hit by Beldam's icy fists, but it didn't do much harm to her.

Marilyn decided to strike lightning down on Mario, since he wasn't doing much. But it backfired when he used a Super Jump on her. Chopper was able to avoid Doopliss's hammer and stomp on her with a Spin Jump afterwards.

"All right… So we only have 316 HP more to go on Marilyn…" Chopper panted. He immediately Superguarded Doopliss's jump, and then he gaped when Marilyn raised her Attack up by 22.

"Oh, god… Now we're in some deep yogurt!" Scrub gulped.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! Excellent! Just raise your attack again and we'll have this fight in the bag!" Beldam cackled as she used her Blizzard to attack everyone.

"I'm gonna use a Black Hole attack on them. We'll see what it does." Chopper brought the Dark Star out and he sucked all three of them into a black hole. When it spat them out, they all took 65 damage.

"Time for me to go up!" Tamber chuckled as he used his Master Star Fist to take 16 out of them all. The three immediately made their attack on them all (except for Marilyn, who raised her Attack up again).

"I'm gonna have to heal…" Chopper pulled a Maximum Recovery out and he ate it, recovering all of his HP and FP. Vivian immediately pulled him into the shadows so that Doopliss's attacks would miss, and so would Marilyn's powerful lightning attack.

"Grrrrrr! How could you two miss your attacks like that? !" Beldam growled as she used her Blizzard to freeze Shadower instead. When Chopper and Vivian rose up from the shadows, they all took action, attacking their targets from before.

"Man… I think I might have to get out of this." Doopliss got out of his form and he decided to transform into Vivian. "Now it looks like you're fighting the Three Shadow Sirens!"

"All right… Now let's try an Art Attack." Chopper pulled out the Ruby Star and he managed to draw a circle around them twelve times, taking 36 out of them. Marilyn was already reduced to 218.

"Well, we're certainly making progress," Vivian stated before she struck all three of them with her Fiery Jinx.

"You may have gotten us this far, but you're certainly not going to win this… Hear me, Vivian! When this fight is over, I WILL make sure you get a painful punishment! Oh, no… I think DEATH is more appropriate for you!"

Beldam used her Blizzard attack to freeze her, but it ended up failing. Doopliss, now with Vivian's abilities, sank into the shadows and clasped his hands together on Chopper. It didn't deal as much damage as before…

"Aw, crud! This isn't doing much!" Doopliss pouted and he transformed into Tamber instead. "I think this'll work a lot better."

"Hey! How dare he transform into me!" Tamber used his Master Star Fist to hit Doopliss and the two other shadow beings for 16 damage. "Why is it that they have a higher attack power than us? That's dumb…"

"We'll never know," Chopper replied before using a Power Bounce on Marilyn. After fifteen bounces, he jumped off of her and performed a Stylish move, getting some Star Power back.

"That was pretty nice, I'll admit," Flyer commented before getting hit by Doopliss's punch. Marilyn attacked everyone with her lightning and then Beldam used a Blizzard, which everyone guarded.

"Hi-ya!" Chopper used another Gravity Jump to drain Marilyn's HP by 28. Vivian followed up with her Fire Wall, bringing Marilyn down to 123 HP.

"I guess I can use a Planet Tide next, since I got the Star Power for it…" Chopper said, guarding Doopliss's Power Punch. "Wow… I never knew that that attack could get strong like that."

"It's a good thing I'm not using it on you. That might be worse." Tamber said. He managed to head bash Marilyn when she rose up in front of him and then knock her back with a punch, bringing her down to 99 HP.

"All right! We got this in the bag!" Chopper stopped when he saw Marilyn raise her HP up. "Uhh… Maybe not. We gotta keep attacking!" He used his Planet Tide attack to move the whole stage around. He was able to get 58 out of all three of them, luckily.

Vivian's Fire Wall brought Marilyn down to 27 HP. She was unfortunate to get hit by Beldam's ice fist, but Chopper was unfortunate to get hit by Doopliss's Power Punch for real.

"All right… This'll do." Chopper did a Spring Jump and he took 20 out of Marilyn. With one Combo Punch from Tamber, Marilyn's HP went down to 0.

"GUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH!" Marilyn collapsed, dropping a couple of Star Points too.

"Grrrrr! How could this be? The strongest of the Shadow Sirens has been defeated? ! Impossible!" Beldam looked over at Doopliss. "Freak-sheet! I'm counting on you! If you screw this up, you're gonna get a huge punishment! You hear me? !"

"Ack! Fine! Just calm down!" Doopliss took a deep breath as he transformed into Chopper. He immediately stomped on him, only to get Superguarded by him. Beldam grumbled and she used her Blizzard to attack next.

"Well, now it's just you two. This shouldn't be too hard." Chopper Power Bounced Beldam fifteen times, which was then followed up with Vivian's Fire Wall.

"I think you should give up right now, Sis," Vivian suggested. "You're already losing this fight. I don't like to be violent, but if I have to go to drastic measures, then I might as well do it."

"Very well! Then I shall stop you from doing that!" Using her magic, Beldam made sure that Vivian wouldn't make as many attacks as before. After that, Doopliss pulled his hammer out and slammed it down on Flyer.

"Man, I think this body really suits me! Maybe when I get a Crystal Star, I'll steal your name and body!" Doopliss cackled.

"Oh, you're NOT going to do that!" Chopper used his Master Hammer attack to strike both Doopliss and Beldam. Flyer followed up with his plane, the Hurricane, which Chopper got on and began to use its machine guns. He managed to take 14 out of Doopliss and 16 out of Beldam with it.

"It feels nice using the Hurricane again!" Flyer said with delight.

"You're going to regret that!" Beldam sank into the shadows and she struck Flyer with an icy fist. "Now, freak-sheet… Make sure you use a USEFUL attack on them and now a crummy one!"

"All right! Sheesh!" Doopliss tossed a light ball straight at Chopper, who managed to guard it. He used his Master Glove attack on the two to take 16 out of them, which was followed up by Tamber's Master Star Fist. Beldam already had less than 100 HP left!

"_Hackptthh!_" wheezed Beldam. "This… This isn't over yet…" She used her magic to make Doopliss's attack stronger. Afterwards, Doopliss tried to stomp on Chopper, but he Superguarded it like before.

"You're really easy to Superguard, you know…" Chopper stated before using a Gravity Jump on Beldam.

"OK, guys! Come on out!" With a sharp whistle, Scrub was able to summon a Yoshi stampede to attack both Beldam and Doopliss, taking 10 out of them.

Chopper managed to block Beldam's attack and punch her in the face with fire energy, resulting in a burn. Afterwards, he used a Gravity Jump on her, bringing her down to 3 HP.

"So, Vivian… Do you wanna do the honors?" Chopper asked.

"…Yes. I would love to." Vivian smirked as she floated up to Beldam with her flaming fists.

"You…" Beldam growled at her as she finally finished her off with a Shade Fist. "AAAARRGHH! Mmmmwee hee hee hee! Now it's up…to you…" she moaned as she collapsed onto the floor.

"Whoa… I guess it's up to me to finish this." Doopliss gasped as he saw everyone still up. "Hey… I can do this! I mean, my attack is stronger than theirs, that's for sure!"

"Uhh… Look at your HP, Doopliss… You're down to 59 HP." Chopper stated.

"What? Oh, crud… Well, I can certainly deal some damage to you, Slick!" Doopliss changed to his Star Rod ability and he hurled a yellow star from the weapon at Chopper, taking 21 out of him.

"Sigh… Well, I guess we can take care of him easily." Chopper used a simple stomp on him to take 10 out of him, while Heartsy slammed her hammer down on him for another 10.

Doopliss decided to use his Multibounce attack, stomping on both Chopper and Heartsy. "Yuk yuk yuk! Now I can deal damage to two people at once!"

"Yeah, but not for long," When Chopper slammed him with his hammer and Shadower with his Shadow Punch, he was already down to 19 HP.

Doopliss started to realize this, but he thought MAYBE he could win this. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be when his Rainbow Spin Attack was Superguarded by Chopper, who delivered a Rainbow Spin Attack himself.

"All right, Vivian… I guess you can finish it!" Chopper said.

"Really? Well… OK…" Vivian gave Doopliss a flaming punch before he plopped down onto the ground.

"Ooooooooooooog…" Doopliss moaned as he dropped the remaining Star Points for Chopper to level up (he has over 270 HP now).

"Arrrrrrrgh… We can't fail him just yet… He will be… Oooooof…" Beldam moaned.

"Guhhhhhhhhhh…" Marilyn moaned.

"Hnnnuuurrrggh…" Doopliss moaned.

"Well, it's not worth helping them now. They deserved it." Sonic stated. "Let's leave them be."

"Hmmmmm… Who is this 'he' that Beldam was talking about?" Chopper questioned.

"Probably nothing special. Let's just get a move on. I'm kinda relieved that we didn't fall off the cliff." Shadower floated over to the door ahead. "Come on! Now's not the time to dillydally!"

"You're right, Shadower," Chopper walked over to the door and he made his way into another area. He seemed to find a little maze here. "Uh oh… I don't think I can fit through this part."

"Well there's a little opening you can get through," Scrub pointed to the entrance, which apparently had an opening that even a rolled up newspaper could go through. "You ought to check what's through there, Contadre!"

"I might as well do it," Chopper turned sideways and then he turned into a tube. He rolled through the opening and into the maze, which he couldn't unroll himself in.

"Can you unroll or something?" Heartsy called out.

"Nope! I gotta roll my way through this stupid maze!" Chopper replied, taking a left through the maze. He stopped at a dead end up north and took the way south and then to the left.

"I think this is going to take a while for him to finish," Flyer whispered.

* * *

**Seven minutes later-**

"Oh, god! That was a huge pain in the butt!" Chopper panted as soon as he got to the other door across the maze. He kicked the blue ! switch, revealing a pipe for everyone to take to make it to him.

"Good thing that that switch was there, or else we wouldn't have made it over here," Tamber said, sighing in relief.

"Well, don't get your hopes up too soon, Tamber… We've got long ways to go." Chopper warned, opening the door to another area. He noticed that there was a staircase going up, but there was a red ! switch down between the gap of the staircase and the floor leading to the next door.

"All right, Bombette… It looks like we'll need you now." Chopper picked her up and he went up the stairs to throw her.

"You better not mess this up, Chopper…" Bombette warned as she was thrown to the switch. When she blew it up, the platform appeared. Everyone jumped onto it and then got to the door. Poor Bombette had to get inhaled to make her way up to the door.

In the next area, they found out that there's a little hole up on the ceiling above, but a Dark Block is blocking the spring. There's also a Save Block in this room for some reason. Chopper hit it anyways to save his game and then he smashed the Dark Block with his Master Hammer attack, revealing the spring.

"OK, time to go up!" Chopper made his way up with the spring, making it to a door nearby. Upon entering it, he found a familiar room to the one where he fought the Shadow Sirens. Only this room, he came out from the north and not from a grinding rail.

"What the… This room looks a lot similar!" Shadower gaped.

"Well well well! Looks like you finally showed up, Chopper!" a voice called out from the shadows. It was revealed that Mysterious and Purple were down there. They rose up with grins on their faces.

"There's only two of 'em! This should be easy!" Chopper cracked his knuckles, but he stopped when Tipral made his appearance through teleportation.

"So, we meet again, Chopper…" Tipral stated.

"All right, don't tell me…" Chopper started. "You're going to express your thanks to me for opening this world, right?"

"Well, you're correct about that," Mysterious replied. "What you did for us was SPECTACULAR! Not only that, but thank you so much for also helping us bring the Shadow King back before! Oh, yes… All of your hard work helped us too! That's why we didn't do much after we fought you in those woods!"

"I didn't have to waste my time of you before, but I had to test your strength. I needed to see what we needed to do in order to defeat you the next time." Tipral had his arms folded.

"So is that why you were fighting me all of those times?" Chopper questioned.

"Yes. That's correct! I believe that Mysterious owes me one for what I did for him."

"Not in your life, shadow-freak!" Mysterious retorted. "Why would I ever do such a thing for you? !"

"Hey, Bro… Lay off him, OK?" Shadower retorted. "Maybe it's best to settle things peacefully. We had to fight the Shadow Sirens back there and now we're getting a bit tired of getting in more fights."

"Ah, Shadower… My younger brother… Maybe if you didn't leave us like that, I wouldn't have gone as harsh on you as before! You would be the one fighting Chopper those times instead of shadow-freak!"

"I highly doubt that, Bro. When I was with you, you were always treating me like crap!" Shadower clenched his fist in anger. "If you're not going to get out of the way, we will be FORCED to get you out of the way by force!"

"Now now, Shadower…" Chopper said. "We're not going to be all violent, OK? We'd rather settle things peacefully…"

"Mysterious isn't going to listen to us. He's harsh just like Beldam. I'd rather take him out with my shadowy fists instead!" Shadower began to crack his knuckles.

"Excellent! This is just what I wanted to do! Now then, Purple and shadow-freak… Let's get them!" Mysterious shouted.

Purple: …

"Enough with the 'shadow-freak' already," Tipral grumbled.

"All right! Another fight! This'll be fun!" Sonic grinned.

"I swear to you two if you screw this up, you'll be getting a SEVERE punishment!" Mysterious was looking at Tipral more than Purple. "You read me loud and clear, boys?"

Purple: …

"Yes, I can hear you…" Tipral replied angrily.

**Tattle: **_That's Mysterious. He's that shadow being you hate so much. Max HP is 520, Attack is 20, and Defense is 0. He'll use his water magic on you for the most part, but he might even throw some other magic that can upgrade or downgrade either you or his own allies. Personally, I think he should be your second target. As much as I would like to take him out first, he's not the biggest threat of them all…_

**Tattle: **_That's Purple. He's the strong, silent type, I guess. Max HP is 530, Attack is 22, and Defense is 0. Usually he'll try to attack you with his fists, or he might just try to use his earthquake ability. What? His elemental type IS the earth, you know… It makes perfect sense! Anyways, watch out when he raises his Attack. Just like Marilyn, he can do it twice. If I were you, I'd try to take him our first and worry about the other two later. Trust me, I think it'll work._

**Tattle: **_That's Tipral. He's that evil, dark version of yourself! He's the one that stole your name and body back at Twilight Town! Max HP is 530, Attack is 21, and Defense is 0. He'll try throwing Star Spears or even Star Magic at you. If he wanted to, he might even toss a shadow ball at you! That's almost like your light ball, you know… Maybe you can show him who's boss with your light elemental balls! …But, despite this, he's the least threatening of the three._

"All right, we're gonna need to do what we did before…" Chopper started off by using his Power Bounce on Purple, stomping on him fifteen times. Shadower used his Shadow Blast afterwards to deal 12 damage to all three of them.

"Hmph! Let's see how you like this!" Tipral swung his arm, throwing a Star Spear straight at Chopper without having to move his own feet. Purple made his attack on Mario, slamming his fists down on him. Mysterious, on the other hand, used his water magic to send a tidal wave at everyone, taking 20 out of them.

"Whew… That was a bit extreme…" Chopper groaned as he used his Master Glove attack on all three enemies. Tipral's eyes widened in surprise as he was struck by the light attack.

"Light? ! How… How did you get that?" he exclaimed.

"I got it from some guy who wanted a rematch against me! That's how I got it!" Chopper smirked at him as Shadower used another Shadow Blast on all three of them.

They were all able to Superguard Tipral's Star Spear, Purple's Earthquake and Mysterious's Tidal Wave, resulting in them taking no damage at all.

"Grrrr! That should've done something!" Mysterious grumbled.

"Well, that sucks for you," Chopper smirked as he used his Master Hammer on all three of them. Tamber followed up with a Master Star Fist, taking 16 out of all three of them. But, he was the one to get hit by Purple's fists.

Tipral and Mysterious made their attacks next, striking Chopper and Shadower with their attacks. However, Chopper fought back by using his Master Hammer attack. He knew if he kept using this, it would take them all out quickly.

"This isn't too bad of an idea…" Shadower struck all three of them with his Shadow Blast, taking 12 out of them.

"Perhaps I should start using my shapeshifting abilities…" Tipral suddenly transformed into Chopper and he simply stomped on him. Purple tried to attack Chopper, but he ended up missing, while Mysterious shot water energy straight at Shadower.

"I'll make sure you're dead after this is over!" Mysterious growled.

"Too bad it's going to be the other way around," Chopper replied, using his Art Attack on all three of them to take 36 out of them after drawing a circle around them twelve times. "See? It's that simple!"

"I wish I could do something like that…" Bombette sighed, using her Explosion on the three enemies to take 14 out of them.

"Let's see what else you got on you, Chopper…" Tipral tested out Chopper's Rainbow Spin Attack, striking Chopper in the face. "Not bad… Too bad I'm not capable of doing that."

"You'll never be capable of doing what I can do," Chopper growled.

"You can't do THIS, though!" Mysterious cackled as he summoned another Tidal Wave at Chopper and his friends. They were able to Superguard this, but they had to be careful when Purple struck everyone with an Earthquake.

"Whoa… All right, we gotta be on guard here." Chopper quickly shook his head and he brought the Forest Star out. "It's time for a Super Power Lift!" He let it fly up and then he started to hit some orange and blue up arrows. In the end, his Attack and Defense went up by 7.

"Oh, yeah! That is pretty awesome!" Tamber grinned as he used a Master Star Fist on all three of them, taking 23 out of them all.

"Grrrrrr! Shadow-freak! Try to pull yourself together here! You too, Purple!" Mysterious shouted.

"Hmph!" Tipral grunted as he pulled his hammer out and slammed it down on Chopper, taking 21 out of him. Purple immediately rose his Attack up by 22, which was incredibly dangerous.

"With Purple's Attack raised up twice, we should be at an advantage!" Mysterious grinned as he made Purple bigger with his spell.

"Whoa… We gotta act fast!" Chopper attempted to Power Bounce Purple, bouncing on him sixteen times while performing Stylish moves. Shadower used another Shadow Blast on them all, taking 17 out of them.

Tipral decided to weaken Vivian a little bit by stomping on her. Purple, once again, raised his Attack by 22 again, while Mysterious used a spell to prevent Shadower from attacking each turn.

"Aw, man! Now I can't make as many turns!" Shadower pouted.

"Not a huge problem. We'll take Purple out first. Let's see if I can attempt twenty Power Bounces…" Chopper managed to stomp on Purple twenty times with a Power Bounce. "Aw, man! Not enough!"

"Well, then we'll pray we'll live," Tamber used another Master Star Fist on the three, taking 23 out of them once again. But, they were lucky this time. When Purple used his Earthquake, they all Superguarded it.

"WHAT? ! How did it miss? !" Mysterious growled. He attacked both Chopper and Tamber with his Tidal Wave, while Tipral changed back into himself and crossed hid arms.

"Hmph! I was expecting them to avoid that." Tipral opened his eyes and he snapped his finger, making Chopper get struck by Star Magic. "I don't need your abilities to help me win this, you know…"

"Well I certainly don't need yours!" Chopper retorted, stomping on Purple twenty times again with another powerful Power Bounce. Tamber brought Purple down to 77 HP with one Master Star Fist.

Purple began to pant as he slammed his fists down on Chopper, while Tipral hurled a shadow ball at Chopper and Mysterious used water magic on Shadower.

"OK, since our Super Power Lift is gone, I'll just end this for Purple," Chopper pulled the Dark Star out and he nearly destroyed Purple with it, leaving him at 6 HP.

"All right, looks like I'll finish the job," Shadower, now able to attack again, used his Shadow Blast on all three of them. Purple frowned as he collapsed onto the ground.

"_**AAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!**_" Mysterious clenched his fists in anger. "How could this happen to him? ! You, Chopper… You're going to pay for this!"

"Oh, really?" Chopper pulled out a Maximum Recovery and he ate it to recover all of his HP and FP. "Do your worst, shadow freak!"

"Hey! Only I may use that name!" Mysterious punched Chopper with a watery fist, while Tipral punched Chopper in the face with a Star Punch.

"I've used that name countless time, for your information," Chopper stomped on Mysterious with a Power Bounce, stomping on him fifteen times. Shadower followed up with his Shadow Blast afterwards.

"I'm better off raising my own attack," Mysterious declared, using magic to make himself bigger. Tipral immediately snapped his finger to strike Vivian with Star Magic.

"I wonder why he's attacking me…" Vivian pondered, but she finally used her Fiery Wall to take 12 out of both of them, also leaving a burn on them. Chopper used his Master Glove attack afterwards, reducing Mysterious to 142 HP.

"This isn't finished yet, Chopper!" Mysterious growled as he tried to attack Chopper, who only got to hit him with his hammer, taking 10 out of him. Tipral ended up getting hit by his hammer too when he tried to punch him.

"Guh!" Tipral was knocked back, but he didn't fall off the cliff. Even if he were to do that, he could teleport away from it.

"All right, I guess I'm going to use a Planet Tide," Chopper pulled the Clara Star out and he used his Planet Tide attack.

"Hmmmmm? What's going on here?" Tipral raised an eyebrow when he felt a large amount of shaking.

"Crap… We're in trouble now!" Mysterious gulped as the whole floor began to tilt around, making both enemies roll around like balls. In the end, they ended up taking 68 damage out of them both.

"This should do a little more," Shadower hit both Mysterious and Tipral with his Shadow Blast, bringing Mysterious down to 52 HP.

"Shadow-freak! We need to win this battle! Don't screw this up now, OK?" Mysterious growled.

"Tsssh!" Tipral ignored Mysterious and he tossed a Star Spear at Chopper, who managed to guard it. "That was a bit useless…"

"Well this certainly won't!" Mysterious lowered Shadower's Attack by shrinking him. "Enjoy being small, brother! Enjoy it while it lasts!"

"Whoa… Well, now I have a bigger reason to hate him…" Chopper used his Master Hammer ability on him, followed up by Tamber's Master Star Fist, bringing Mysterious down to 20 HP.

"Take this!" Mysterious tried to punch Chopper, but it missed, and that allowed him to inhale him and spit him out at Tipral instead.

"All right, Shadower… Even though you're small, I think a Shadow Blast can finish him off." Chopper said.

"I guess I'll finish him off. I'll feel satisfied!" Shadower struck both Tipral and Mysterious with a Shadow Blast. The leader of the Shadow Brothers collapsed onto the dark ground in pain.

"Uuurrgh… Shadow-freak… I'm counting on you now…" he moaned.

"Very well. I'll finish this." Tipral cracked his knuckles and he glared at Chopper. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeves…"

Once Chopper slammed his hammer on him, he left him with less than 60 HP. However, Tipral teleported and dove down at Chopper, taking 21 out of him.

"This feels just like before!" Chopper smirked as he hit Tipral in the face with a Rainbow Spin Attack. Scrub fluttered over to him and used a Ground Pound on him to take another 10 out of him.

Tipral knew he couldn't do much, so he simple snapped his finger and struck Chopper with Star Magic. Unfortunately, when Chopper and Vivian struck him, he was only left with 9 HP.

"Oh, fine… I'll just finish this." Chopper tossed a light ball straight at Tipral, knocking him to the ground and defeating him.

"Ooooooog…" Tipral moaned as he collapsed. Everyone sighed in relief now that the big battle was over.

"We… We lost?" Mysterious moaned. "If we don't do anything right now, there's no way he'll… Ooooooooog…"

Purple: …

"Grrrrrrgh…" Tipral moaned.

"The deed has been done," Shadower bowed to his unconscious brother. "Chopper, we may move on."

"Interesting bow you made there," Chopper commented. "Well, anyways… Yeah. We gotta get a move on."

Everyone agreed and they made their way over to the door and entered it. Little did they know that Tipral was able to get himself back up after the door closed.

"Grrgh… That was a bit rough…" Tipral brushed himself and looked over to the door. He seemed to slowly nod while glaring.

"It looks like everything is going all according to plan."


	152. Chopper vs Tipral: Who's the Faker?

**Here it is, folks! The sixth part out of the eight parts! We're getting closer and closer by the minute… Things are REALLY getting interesting. Same goes with the music, since it has now changed more eerie than it used to be. But, I'm not gonna waste your time with this. I think you all want to read some Paper Chopper 2, right? Well, that's what I'll give you!**

**Oh, and this might be another short one, too…**

* * *

"Oh, crud… Now the music's changed! It just feels so eerie and disturbing now!" Chopper gulped as soon as he walked out of the door. They were in an area with a long, narrow road leading up to a door ahead. There were a couple of pillars off of the road too. Plus, some Darksprine Troopers were patrolling this area as well, so it was definitely a dangerous area to be in. This was the mark of where things got darker and more intense (which is why the song **Subspace Area **works the best for this, since it's the third version of the Subspace songs).

"Yeah, the music is getting worse and worse by the minute!" Scrub began to cover his ears, but he realized he had none. "Aw, crap! That's not fair! I have to listen to this disturbing music?!"

"Guys, can't you even TAKE this music? Chopper, I bet you had to go through places worse than this, didn't you?" Tamber looked at Chopper for a minute.

"Actually, I've never been to a place worse than this. I'm being completely honest here, Tamber." Chopper replied.

"Oh, really? That's…strange."

"Yeah, it is, but I'm not going to make anymore comments about it. Let's get moving." Chopper started to make his way through the long, narrow pathway of darkness. They could see that they were getting closer to the dark lightning coming down from the sky. That means they're not too far now.

"There he is! Stop him!" the two Darksprine Troopers began firing their weapons at Chopper and his friends. The young Star Warrior was able to inhale one of the blasts and spit it out at both Darksprines.

"That kid can inhale things…" the Darksprine at the back pulled out a Subspace grenade. "Stand back, buddy! I got a grenade!" He tossed the grenade back at Chopper, who kicked it back.

"Kick it back! Kick it back!" the Darksprine at the front kicked the grenade back at Chopper. He kicked it back once again. It was going back to back on this…until the Darksprine missed his kick.

"Oh, crap!" the grenade blew up and it took out the two Darksprine Troopers, thus allowing Chopper and his group of friends to continue on to the door ahead, leading into a room that had a large amount of blue blocks blocking their way. There was a red one with this bomb on it, though.

"Hit the one with the bomb on it," Flyer suggested. "I'm pretty sure we'll be able to move on through there."

"All right, I'll do it," Chopper tossed a fireball at the bomb, making it blow up all the block in their way. They came up to a glowing yellow platform that created a couple of other platforms to help them cross over the bottomless pit down below. It led them over to a door.

"Hey, this looks like something I could do!" Flyer said in surprise when they got to an area with a part of the road being above them. "Surely my flying could get us up there, Chopper!"

"Go for it, buddy!" Chopper smiled as Flyer grabbed his arms and flew up to the road above.

After helping Chopper up there, Flyer helped people like Scrub, Bombette, Mario (who was still a bit too heavy for him) and then Sonic. It didn't take long for them to get the non-flying people up there.

"And now we've got some gaps to cross…" Chopper sighed when he saw a couple of gaps that he couldn't cross. "All right, Scrub. Looks like you're going to have to help me here."

"Oh, yeah!" Scrub fist pumped. "I've been waiting to do something for a while, now that I think about it!"

Chopper got on Scrub and he began to flutter across the gaps. "I'll admit… In terms of fluttering, I think Yosho did a much better job at it. No offense to you, Scrub. You being a baby is understandable."

"What? You really think he's better at carrying you around? Look at me, Contadre! I'm practically your size now! …Sure, I'm not bigger than that other guy, but at least I don't hit on every single girl I see!"

"Good riddance," Chopper added in relief, remembering when Yosho would always flirt with someone. "Koopla once told me that he was flirting with a statue when we were in Nightclub Casino!"

"Really?" Flyer gawked. "He seriously did that?"

"Yup. That was PRETTY interesting to hear all right…" Chopper chuckled. "I was even laughing when I heard the whole story!"

"Oh, really? That's funny." Scrub began to chuckle too, but they were interrupted by other people's voices. "Oh, yeah… We can't forget about them either!"

After making their way to the door, they helped everyone else out by riding on Scrub's back, or having Flyer carry them across by flying. They proceeded on to another room, which had nothing really around except for a symbol of a lemon, grape and orange on the ground.

"Hmmmmm… I wonder what these symbols mean." Chopper pondered before walking into the next room, where they found a couple of switches in red, orange, yellow, green, pink, and purple.

"Looking back at the other room, this looks like a puzzle that requires you to hit the switch of the color in the other room," Vivian stated, looking down at the switches. "Ummmm… Yeah. I think that's how it is."

"Let's try it out, then!" Chopper pondered for a moment. "Vivian, do you remember what was in the other room?"

"If I can remember, there was a lemon, grape and an orange on the floor in the other room. It's one sour and two sweets."

It kind of reminded Chopper of the girls in his group. Two are sweet, while one can be a bit sour (Bombette). But, nevertheless, he used his Spin Jump on those three switches to make a chest appear from a dark mist.

Chopper grabbed the key and he used it to unlock the door up ahead. It led them into a room with a door up ahead with a Save Block, but it was locked. There WAS another door to the right of it, so they took that one instead, going into a room with two large blocks with a purple and black arrow on them. The black one was a bit higher up than the other, so it was in their way.

"I think I can handle this," Chopper hit the black block with his foot, making the larger block fall. Heartsy helped Chopper cross the gap by whacking him from behind with her hammer.

"Oof! Heartsy, next time you need to make sure that I'm seeing that…" Chopper moaned as he got up and walked up the small steps to a wall with the little corner sticking out. "Hey, Kirby! Think you can inhale this?"

"Poyo? (Inhale something? I can do that!)" Kirby inhaled some air before floating across over to Chopper. He noticed the corner sticking out, so he used his Inhaling ability to tear the piece of paper off and eat it.

"Good! Now we can see what's through here." Chopper made his way into the next room, which had a bunch of bombs in the room leading over to a key. Well, it seemed like a long course to go through anyways. At first, there are stairs to the north leading up to a floor with spikes that'll pop out, and then a little narrow pathway with bombs all over the place.

"Yikes… This is going to be a challenge." Bombette stated.

"Hey, I can do this! Don't worry!" Chopper turned sideways in order to go between the bombs that were in the way of the stairs. After that, he went over to the floor with the spikes that pop up and disappear.

"Vivian! You're going to need to help me here!" he shouted.

"I'm coming!" Vivian sank into the shadows and then she rose up in front of Chopper. At this moment, they had to cross their way through the spikes by sinking into the shadows and rising up when the spikes would disappear.

* * *

**After those spikes-**

"Wow. That was… Just wow." Chopper was panting, but when he saw the narrow pathway with bombs all over the place, he felt like his heart fell.

"I have to go through THAT now? !" he gaped.

"Just suck it up and do it already!" Tamber shouted.

"Oh, fine…" Chopper pouted as he slowly made his way through the pathway, trying his best NOT to touch the bombs. In the end, he ended up making it to the chest, which contained a Subspace Key.

"That takes care of that!" Chopper accidentally threw a fireball, causing all of the bombs around him to explode. It looked strange when they blew up, because they had this dark green energy inside of them.

"…That was strange," Vivian stated.

"At least there are no more bombs," Chopper sighed in relief. "Let's go back to that other door now."

* * *

**At the other door-**

Once Chopper inserted the key in its place, the door opened up, leading to an area with a large road. No one knew how long this road was because they couldn't see the end of it, unfortunately.

"Whoa… Talk about a long road. It almost feels like it's the end!" Sonic gaped.

As Chopper looked up at the road, he was suddenly interrupted by a voice.

"I'm not too surprised you made it here, Chopper…" Chopper turned his head to see Tipral walking right beside him. He still looked a bit battered up from the last fight. "I had a feeling that you would be able to take us down back there."

Instead of acting surprised, Chopper smirked at him and continued to walk ahead. "Well, you know me. I'm someone who doesn't try to give up on a fight!"

"Hey, what's Tipral doing…" Scrub was interrupted by Tamber, who wanted to listen to what they were going to say.

"If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have made it here," Chopper recalled, thinking back to Clara. "You really made a big difference when you said that we had to go see Drambi."

"That's only because I didn't trust your little friend," Tipral looked back at Flyer. "But, just because I was helping you, does this really mean that I'm going to help you find the core of this place? I don't think so."

"What do you mean? Were you given orders by someone to find me and get rid of me this whole time?" Chopper began to start jogging, along with Tipral.

"I was sent to test your skills," Tipral answered, which left Chopper confused.

"Test my skills? For what?"

"I guess after seeing your skills, there's more to you than just looking like me. Tell me, Chopper… How did you do it?"

"How did I do it? What do you mean?"

"How were you able to kill both of my parents and also collect all the Crystal Stars like that?!" Tipral's voice seemed a bit angrier.

"All I did was just stomp, use my hammer and use my elemental hand attacks. There's not much else that needs to be said about that. …By the way, who sent you here?"

"That's a question that you'll NEVER get from me!" Tipral growled. "You have an interesting past, I'll admit, but I'm afraid I can't let you achieve your goal." At this moment, his feet started to move faster, showing his rocket-like shoes that allow him to move a bit faster.

"I haven't seen you use that speed in a while," Chopper started to move faster by using his own feet. "If you're not gonna tell me who you're working for, then I guess I'll have to get the answers out of you myself! Come on, guys!"

Everyone tried their best to follow, but only Sonic was able to keep up with Chopper and Tipral.

"Oh, you'll see my true power, you pathetic little life form!" Tipral shouted out of pure anger. "This battle will be over before you all know it!"

**Tattle: **_That's Tipral. How was he able to recover so easily from that fight? Well, it looks like he's still hurt, but for someone to keep their energy after a big fight… Wow. Max HP is 540, Attack is 23, and Defense is 0. Just like before, he'll try to attack you with his Star Spear and his Star Punches. Careful, Chopper… He may be your polar opposite, but he's not one to mess with. But the defense on him should be good for you to deal some strong damage._

"All right, let's get things started!" Chopper tried to knock Tipral off the road with his own elbow, but he ended up using his Jump on him instead. Sonic, on the other hand, had to use his Homing Attack on him to deal 10 damage to him.

"Hmph! Star Spear!" Tipral managed to move ahead of Chopper and toss a purple Star Spear at him. Chopper ended up inhaling the attack and spitting it back at him, doing 23 to him instead.

"Oof!" Tipral was knocked back onto the ground, allowing Chopper to slam his hammer on him. When Scrub finally caught up, he used his Ground Pound to take 10 out of Chopper's counterpart.

Tipral immediately teleported and then dove down at Chopper when he appeared from behind. Chopper, on the other hand, managed to grab his feet and throw him down in front of him, shooting a light ball at him afterwards to take 10 out of him.

"So… You do have some fight in you…" moaned Tipral, who tried to get up. He ended up getting hit by Kirby's Cartwheel attack, knocking him off the road.

"Poyo! (Hey, that was easy!)" Kirby said cheerfully. Unfortunately, he was wrong. Tipral ended up appeared in front of Kirby. He used a Star Punch to leave a red mark on his pink, squishy face.

"Whoa… That's bad." Chopper clenched his fist and he punched Tipral with light energy. Vivian left a burn on him with her Shade Fist afterward.

Tipral managed to shake off the burn and then he kicked Chopper with his Star Kick attack, knocking him back near the edge of the road.

"It's the end of the road for you, Chopper," Tipral was about to use another Star Spear on him, but then Chopper managed to open his mouth and inhale the Star Spear instead, spitting it back at him for 23 damage.

"Oh, sweet! I'll do something that'll bring his HP down!" Tamber simply used a Combo Punch on Tipral to take 12 out of him, leaving him with 420 HP. Once Chopper rushed straight at him and used his Rainbow Spin Attack, he left him with only 410.

Tipral growled as he began to run on ahead, snapping his fingers to make Chopper get hit by Star Magic. Unfortunately, the attack didn't do much when it was Superguarded.

"You're not getting away from me, Tipral!" Chopper chased after him using his speed. He managed to strike him with a light ball when he got close to him. Heartsy managed to hit him with her hammer when he slowed down to make an attack.

"Take this!" Tipral surrounded himself in a Star Barrier, striking anyone close to him such as Chopper and Heartsy. "I told you I wasn't going to hold anything back, fools!"

"Bleh. I don't really care." Chopper quickly got up and he tossed an electric ball at him. "For someone who's fake, you sure have some strange abilities…"

"You never know, Chopper… It could be you who's the faker. I WAS created a thousand years ago as a test, but my creation didn't turn out well." Tipral clenched his fists in anger.

"You never really told us what happened," Vivian recalled.

"It doesn't matter anymore. The past is all behind me. All that matters is killing you!" Tipral rushed straight at Vivian, only to be hit by Mario's hammer instead.

Tipral looked over at Mario after behind hit by his hammer. He grabbed Mario and he used him to hit Vivian across the face.

Angered by this, Chopper used his Inhaling ability to inhale Tipral and spit him out away from them. When he fell to the ground, he suffered 10 from the attack. Scrub immediately followed up with a Ground Pound.

After rubbing his head, Tipral punched Scrub in the nose. The baby Yoshi held his nose in pain as a small amount of blood came down from it.

"Aw, man! Don't tell me my nose is bleeding again!" Scrub cried.

"Wait, what?!" Chopper noticed the blood running down his nose. "…That's it, Tipral. You've done it once before, but now you've taken it a BIT too far? Who goes around hurting babies anyway?!"

"I'm NOT a baby!" Scrub shouted.

"Why should I care about a baby? I don't care who I hit, for your information. The only person I WOULD like to kill though, is you." Tipral stated before he got hit by Chopper's Jump attack.

Flyer made his next attack, striking Tipral with a Flying Attack. Unfortunately, he was used as a weapon when Tipral grabbed him and swung him at Chopper.

"How is he using us as weapons?!" Flyer questioned.

"Because he knows when to make an attack?" Chopper raised an eyebrow, but he immediately inhaled Tipral and spat him out, bringing his HP down to 340. Tamber followed up by using his Combo Punch on him.

"So, if you can use a Gravity Jump on the next turn, you should be able to bring him down to about 300 HP," Tamber deduced.

"Sounds like a plan!" Chopper ducked when Tipral tried to punch him and then he jumped up high and came down on him with a Gravity Jump, bringing him down to 300. Kirby helped with his Cartwheel attack.

Tipral quickly shook his head before snapping his finger. Kirby was struck by his Star Magic, which sent him fly up for a little bit.

"It's not worth running now," Tipral said. "If I were to run, that would be a cowardly move."

"I always wondered why you always have those rings on your wrists," Flyer questioned, looking at those rings.

"Oh. Those? These are what I need to control my powers. I was told that I need to keep them on at all costs. If I don't, then there's a chance I'll die. But why am I telling you this? It's not like I'm even going to take them off!"

"Sheesh! You really need to learn to smile or something!" Chopper suggested while slamming his hammer on him, followed up by Bombette's Bomb attack, bringing him halfway down.

"And why should I? Give me one reason why I SHOULD!" Tipral grabbed Chopper and he began to shake him violently. "I. HATE. SMILING!"

"Calm down!" Scrub used his Gulp ability to inhale Tipral and spit him out. "You're almost as violent as that robotic version of Chopper!"

"Metal Chopper?" Tipral dropped Chopper to the ground. "Ah, yes… I know that pathetic little robot. He can't even do anything good. I think he's a disgrace to all robots."

"I certainly know one who's not," Chopper smirked, kicking Tipral with light energy on his feet. Scrub smirked too and he delivered a Ground Pound to Tipral.

Tipral managed to use his powers to freeze everything around him. At this moment, he started by attacking everyone with his martial arts skills. When he stopped, everyone had already taken 25 damage.

"What the heck? ! What just happened?!" exclaimed Sonic.

"You don't know? Well, I'd rather not waste your time with an explanation." Tipral replied while crossing his arms.

"Oh, yeah… I still need to get my answer from you!" Chopper delivered a Gravity Jump on Tipral, taking 28 out of him. Flyer made another attack with his Flying Attack.

"Take this!" Tipral tossed a Star Spear at Chopper, only to have it inhaled and spat back out at him. "Sorry, Tipral, but I don't think that's going to work!"

"Grrrrr!" Tipral growled at him when he got stomped by him and the Cartwheeled by Kirby. He decided to raise his own Attack by 23 instead so he could unleash a Star Blast upon them all.

"Uh oh…" Chopper immediately pulled a Max Shroom out and he ate it to recover all of his HP while Vivian pulled him into the shadows to avoid Tipral's ultimate attack.

"_**Star…BLAST!**_" With his powerful attack unleashed, he didn't hit Chopper nor Vivian. But he was able to kick Chopper with his star magic when he rose up from the shadows.

"All right… It's time for…ART ATTACK!" Chopper pulled the Ruby Star out and he began to draw circles around him using his finger. "Guess which star this is, Tipral?"

"That's…the Crystal Star I used to have!" Tipral glared at Chopper angrily. "If only I had that star, I could use it to steal your name and body again! Things would've been better if it stayed that way."

"What? You don't like yours?" Chopper questioned.

"I don't hate it, but when you stay in a steeple for a long time and don't have many friends, then you're not going to have such a fun time." he stated.

"Oh… Well, sorry about that." After eleven circles, he took 33 out of Tipral. Tipral immediately followed up by using his Master Star Fist on him for the heck of it, bringing him down to 100 HP.

Tipral clenched his fist, and once he opened it, a shadowy ball of energy came flying towards Chopper.

"Oh, so that's how you wanna play, huh? Well, watch this!" Chopper tossed a light ball towards Tipral. Unlike the shadow ball, this light ball ended up bouncing up and down towards him like a fireball.

Mario: Sometimes I wish I had light energy.

Both of their attacks ended up hitting each other anyway. Kirby ended up shrugging and he used a Cartwheel on Tipral, taking 10 more out of him.

"Time to put this to an end!" Tipral teleported and then he appeared in front of Chopper, swinging his arm across his face, leaving a huge red mark on him. Chopper, on the other hand, managed to punch Tipral in the face with light energy.

"We should be done pretty soon!" Scrub smirked as he used a Ground Pound on him, bringing him to 60 HP.

"Yeah, we got this," Chopper managed to inhale Tipral's Star Spear and spit it back at him and then proceed with a Jump attack. When Scrub used another Ground Pound, he was down to 17 HP.

"I'm not going to lose just yet…" grumbled Tipral as he hurled another shadow ball at Chopper. But, once Kirby used a Cartwheel on him, he was a bit too weak to fight back.

"Well, here it goes…" Chopper took a deep breath as he tossed a light ball straight at Tipral. The attack was CLOSE enough to make Tipral fall to the ground, but not just yet.

"Impossible… How could I lose with all of these abilities in my hand?" Tipral ended up falling to the ground.

"All right, now let's get to the questions," Chopper walked over to Tipral. "Tell me now, Tipral… Who's behind all of this? I need this answer NOW!"

Tipral moaned as he looked up at Chopper. "That answer… I'll never give you the answer to that…"

"Why not?"

"Because… I… I promised him that I wouldn't tell a soul unless they knew about him too. I may have failed to stop you, but there are other things that may stand in your way. I know there are."

"What do you mean?" Chopper questioned. It was a bit too late for questions. Tipral ended up passing out. "Crud… Well, looks like we're gonna have to find out ourselves on who 'he' is."

Sighing, they all made their way to the end of this long road.


	153. Near Subspace's End

After a couple of minutes, they all finally made their way to the end of the long road. They knew there was going to be a couple of things around here, now that they're getting closer and closer to their destination. Through that door was another area with a narrow road, but with a yellow ? block lying on the ground. Some Darksprine Troopers were here as well. In fact, it looked like this was where an army of Darksprine Troopers were going to be flying around.

"Hoo, boy… We're getting close now." Chopper looked down at the ground. He didn't see anymore bottomless pit anymore. "Apparently we're getting closer to the bottom of this place. I'm PRETTY sure that it's somewhere around here." He could see dark lightning coming down too. It was pretty close to them all.

"I can't believe we've finally made it this way," Vivian said. "I thought we weren't going to make it through here…"

"Wait, guys… Take a look at what's going on down there!" Flyer pointed down to the ground where they could hear a couple of Darksprine Troopers interrogating a smaller trooper in gray armor.

"So, you honestly think you can step into our territory and claim it as your own? Think again, maggot!" the Darksprine whacked him across the face with his own gun. "Either you leave, or die!"

"I'll NEVER listen to you fools!" the trooper known as a Magninan retorted. In the end, he ended up getting shot by the Darksprine.

"Stupid little…" the Darksprine turned around to where Chopper was and a red ! appeared over his head. "Holy… Guys, you MIGHT wanna check over there. I found something PRETTY interesting!"

"Uh oh… They spotted us!" Chopper gulped.

At that moment, the Darksprines used their jetpacks to get to Chopper and his friends and they began firing. "Don't leave any of them alive! There's no way we can let them make it to the core!"

Chopper began to flee from the Darksprine Troopers that were firing. "I bet you guys are with those Shadow Sirens and Brothers, aren't you?"

"Those goons? Yeah. We work for them! You have any problem with that, Chopper?" a Darksprine asked.

"Oh, I DO have a problem with that!" Chopper turned back around, but he noticed that there was a dark purple ship that was flying down his direction, firing at him. "Oh, come on! They have ships too? !"

"What are we supposed to do now?" Flyer questioned.

"I think I can try something out," Chopper made a big leap onto the ship and he gripped onto it as hard as he could. He could easily slip off of this thing, but he was able to pull the Star Rod out and stab it at the star point, slicing through the ship.

"Get him off the ship!" the Darksprines began to rapidly fire at Chopper, but once he got on top of the ship, he began to deflect some of their shots back at them, killing them within seconds.

The ship he was on top of tried to shake him off, but it didn't work on him. He was able to use a Gravity Stomp to pierce through the ship and destroy it within minutes. At that moment, there weren't any troopers around here.

"Whew… I thought for a second I wasn't going to pull that off. But, oh well… We finally made it through THAT." Chopper sighed in relief.

"That must've been a lot to do," Vivian stated.

"It was. I'm glad I had the Star Rod with me. If it weren't for that, then I wouldn't have got on that ship. Anyways… I think it's safe to say that we should get going. We may not have much time left."

"Yeah, I can agree with that," Scrub nodded. "We're definitely close, so we can't waste any time right now!"

Chopper took the pathway to the next area, which led them to the ground (finally). At this moment they were on the lowest ground possible in this entire place. It still had the dark ground with some of the blue in it, but that's pretty much all to it.

"Wow. I never thought we'd make it to ground level in this place," Bombette said in surprise.

"Trust me. I was pretty happy when I finally got to Bowser's Castle up in Star Haven AND at the last way to Staris's home. It gave me the feeling that I achieved something great." Chopper recalled.

* * *

_"Did we…actually just take out Kammy and Camikon? That means…there's no more of Bowser's minions left. Chopper, this means we're going to be heading to Bowser's Castle!" Geno said._

_"Yeah, it does! Let's go!" Chopper headed towards the next area, now that it's clear. They just found a small area ahead with a Heart Block. He didn't need to hit it because he's fully healed from leveling up._

_"This is it for the area? Oh well… Bowser's Castle is up ahead anyways, so there's no time to lose!" Chopper and his friends hurried on towards the next area, where they found a long narrow path leading up to Bowser's Castle, which is pretty close. It was silent around here._

_"At long last… Bowser's Castle. We still have a chance at saving Princess Peach! It's a shame that we couldn't find Mario…" Geno said._

_"True… That's a real shame. We'll go find him after we save the Mushroom Kingdom, since those Star Spirits told me to do this task first. Now then, let's just go…slowly." Chopper began to head up the end of the road, with his friends following him, to Bowser's Castle._

* * *

_"Staris… He's holding Mar—__Bzzzzzzzzzzt!__" C-2 Choppor's vision was beginning to go away, and suddenly, his red visor was dull…and he was no longer moving. Chopper looked at him completely deactivate and he put him down and stood up._

_"Poor poor Choppor… Why did this have to happen?" Kayzee asked._

_"He has suffered a terrible fate with his brother and Maquano. At least he can rest in peace…for now." Geno said._

_"Yes… But we can't grieve now. Remember what he said. No crying until the end. We need to go help my friend…and also stop Staris. We know he's alive now, and if he's waiting for us, then we have to do something about it." Chopper began to walk towards the next area, where he found a glowing rainbow bridge leading up to Staris's home._

_Chopper hit the last Save Block of this entire story, which is right by the bridge. Everyone else was behind him, and he turned around to his friends._

_"Guys… This is it. This is where our adventure will be coming to an end. Are you guys ready?" Chopper asked. Everyone nodded._

_"Then let's go." Chopper began to run across the bridge, and everyone else followed him to Staris's home, where things aren't as dark as it was where they were._

* * *

"Poor poor Choppor… He was a great robot, I'll admit. Actually, he was the greatest robot I've ever met in my life…aside from TEC, of course."

"Speaking of TEC…" Vivian brought up. "How do you think he's doing right now? Is he there all alone? Or did Peach go visit him? I'm starting to wonder whether she's there or not…"

"We'll go see him when we're done with this adventure. Trust me." Chopper made his way over to the Dark Block in his way. With his Master Hammer ability, he was able to destroy the block within seconds.

The next pathway that they found took them to another similar-looking area. There weren't any enemies around here anymore, for some reason…

"Where did all of the Darksprine Troopers go? It almost feels like they've all…died."

"Perhaps that was the last of them?" Heartsy tilted her head.

"Nah. I don't think so… That would make it too easy. Anyways, let's see what we got through here." Chopper walked over to the Save Block and Heart Block and he hit them both. Afterwards, he used his Master Glove ability on the Light Block standing in his way.

At that moment, he could hear a familiar voice up ahead. "Wait… That voice sounds strangely familiar…" Chopper recalled.

Mario: Who is it?

"We'll see for ourselves, Mario…" Chopper made his way to the next area, which was PRETTY close to the dark lightning in the background. In fact, the pathway up ahead actually led up to some glowing stairs that they've never seen before.

"So… This is where it all ends, huh? Interesting…" Sonic gaped.

"Grrrrrmmmppph… Hrrgh… Bluh. What happened?" Chopper's antennas sprung up when he saw an exhausted Bowser. "First I get sucked into a portal and I end up here? Where are we, Haggy?"

"It appears that we're in a world called Dark Subspace World, Your Tiredness," Kammy confirmed. "We're actually deep within the place at the moment."

"What? Then how are we going to get home back at my castle? !" Bowser roared. "I got stuff to do, such as kidnapping the princess! In fact, where is she?"

"I don't think you'll find the princess here, Bowser," Chopper interrupted. Bowser stopped and turned to Chopper in shock.

"GWWAAARRGH! What are YOU doing here? !" he exclaimed.

Mario: We made our way through here from the beginning through a door in Camikon's Castle.

"What? You went through Camikon's Castle and found a door? Say… Where is that old man? I need to crush him!"

"If you wanna know where he is, then you're too late. He's dead." Chopper confirmed.

"You killed him already? Great… Just great. First I miss my opportunity to crush a traitor, and now you two are here!" Bowser began to stomp the ground angrily. "THIS IS SO UNFAIR!"

"Wow. Immature, much?" Flyer questioned.

"Well, I think it certainly fits him."

"Your Evilness! Hold on a minute!" Kammy yelled. "Not all hope is lost! You wanted to crush Mario, remember? Well… Now's the chance for you to do it!"

Bowser stopped stomping. "Wait… You're right, Haggy! I just realized that now!" He turned his attention to Chopper and Mario, who got in their fighting stances. "All right, you two! I think now's the time for us to settle things!"

"Don't worry, Your Angriness! I shall aid you!" Kammy assured, only to get burnt by Bowser's flames.

"NO! This fight is only between me and them! I don't need any help from you to win this! I'm BOWSER! However, I think now's the time to use my special little move! Just give it to me, Kammy!"

"Of course!" Kammy raised her wand up and she began to cast a dark spell upon Bowser.

Once the spell was used on him, he began to grow twice in size. Bowser now has a spiked, scaled shell, and looks more muscular than before. His horns have a new curve to them, and are also bigger, making him look more threatening and more like a monster.

"Oh, crap… He's just turned into Giga Bowser." Chopper gulped. "Now we're screwed!"

"_**GWAAA HA HA HA HA! Are you scared yet, Chopper? ! Remember this form when you were only a little toddler? Giga Bowser is back, baby!" **_Giga Bowser began to laugh evilly.

"If I can recall, I was only eight then. I wasn't a toddler." Chopper remarked. "But, anyways… I think we ought to end this right now, what do you think?"

"_**That sounds like an excellent idea, Chopper! Prepare to be squashed, you two!"**_

**Tattle: **_Yikes! Bowser has really changed! Well… Now he's called Giga Bowser. All I can see from looking at him is that he's grown bigger than before! Max HP is 560, Attack is 24, and Defense is 4. Watch out for his attacks, Chopper! If he gets in his shell, then that means he can freeze you! If he punches, I'm sure you're going to get burnt. Just watch what he does and make sure you don't get any effects from him. That's something you need to keep in mind._

"Let's do this!" Chopper started off by using his D-Down Pound on Giga Bowser, taking 10 out of him for starters. Mario used his Super Jump on him to take 8 out of him, since that's all he could do really.

"_**Now watch what I'm capable of doing!" **_Giga Bowser stomped his way over to Chopper and Mario and he used his dark fire breath on them. Once they guarded it, they didn't get burnt.

"Whoa… That seemed scary…" Heartsy shivered.

"Relax! I fought him before two years ago! There's no way I'm going to lose this!" Chopper tossed a light ball straight at Giga Bowser.

"_**Auugh! Why didn't I NOT forget about that? !" **_Since Giga Bowser is powered up from dark energy, the light energy took effect on him, causing him to scream in pain. Flyer took a good 10 out of him with a Flying attack.

Giga Bowser once again used his dark flaming breath, but this time he got Flyer and not Mario this time. The two were both left with a harsh burn.

"Ugh… I hate it when he leaves a burn on us like that!" Chopper grumbled. He pulled his hammer out and he used a Master Hammer attack on Bowser, followed up with Mario's hammer.

Giga Bowser stomped over to Mario and he used his punch on him. Mario ended up suffering from a burn from that flaming fist.

"All right… So light attacks will do just fine." Chopper used his Master Glove attack, bringing a large, yellow ball of energy down on Giga Bowser.

Enraged, Giga Bowser got in his shell after he was hit by Bombette's Bomb attack. _**"I'm gonna make sure you stay as an ice sculpture, Chopper!" **_he roared as he charged at Chopper.

"I'm not letting myself die like this!" Chopper brought his fists up and he guarded the attack. "All right, I think I should use some other ability…like the Magic ability!" He changed to his Magic ability and he struck Giga Bowser with lightning, dealing 10 damage.

With Mario's Super Jump, they brought him down to around to less than 500 HP. It wasn't a big achievement yet, but Giga Bowser certainly had an idea.

He jumped up and then came down on Mario, flattening him and preventing him from using his Super Jump attack.

"_**This time I'm gonna flush a plumber down the toilet!" **_he roared.

"Not unless we defeat you first!" Chopper used fire magic on Giga Bowser, leaving a burn on him. Vivian used her Fiery Jinx afterwards, taking a good 10 out of the mutated Koopa.

Giga Bowser used his dark flaming breath on Chopper and Vivian, but they ended up guarding the attack and not getting burnt by the powerful attack.

"Whew… I'm glad he didn't burn us." Chopper sighed in relief as he struck thunder down on Giga Bowser, followed up by Sonic's Sonic Wind, taking 8 out of him.

"_**Take this!" **_Giga Bowser spewed out a dark fireball at Chopper. Unfortunately, this backfired when Chopper removed his ability and inhaled the attack and spat it straight back at him, making him take 24 instead.

"_**What the… Since when can you do that? !" **_Giga Bowser gaped.

"Since always," Chopper smirked. He dealt 10 damage by inhaling him and spitting him out, followed by Tamber's Combo Punch attack, bringing him to 390 HP.

Giga Bowser simply breathed out dark fire on Chopper, but it didn't change much of a difference when he used his Master Hammer on him, followed up by Heartsy's Hearty Hammer.

"_**Grrrrgh! Where do you get such…girly stuff?" **_Giga Bowser questioned, trying to swat the hearts away.

"Well, my name IS Heartsy…" Heartsy stated. Unfortunately, she ended up getting burnt by Giga Bowser's dark flames. "Ack! Now look what you did to me!"

"Relax, Heartsy. We'll take care of things soon." Chopper gripped his hammer. "All right, Bowser… Take this!"

"Wait! Don't do it yet, Chopper…" Shadower struck Giga Bowser with a Shadow Blast, bringing his defense down to 0. "All right, NOW you can make your attack."

"Thanks, Shadower!" Chopper smirked as he used his Gravity Jump on Giga Bowser, reducing him to…around 328 HP.

Giga Bowser growled as he stomped on Chopper, who guarded his attack. He managed to attack Bowser by inhaling him and spitting him out, taking 10 out of him, followed up by Vivian's Shade Fist, leaving a burn on him.

Giga Bowser stomped over to Vivian and he tried to poison her with his bite. Unfortunately, it didn't work against her, since she guarded the attack.

"_**Well that's just great… Are my attacks starting to become useless? !" **_Giga Bowser exclaimed.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Chopper used a Power Bounce on Giga Bowser, stomping on him twelve times, taking 12 out of him. One Stone attack from Kirby brought Giga Bowser down to 258 HP.

Giga Bowser swiped at Mario with his own claws, ripping a part of his shirt by the shoulder area. This led Mario to bring his Cape ability out.

"_**What in the world is that supposed to be? Why are you wearing that horrible cape?" **_Giga Bowser questioned.

Mario: Oh, you'll see!

Chopper inhaled Bowser once again and he spat him out, dealing 10 to him. Afterwards, Giga Bowser tried to attack Mario, but thanks to his Cape ability, he was able to deflect his own attack and hit him for 12 damage.

"Heh heh heh! That was awesome!" Chopper smirked as he used a Flare attack on Bowser with his magic. Mario spun his cape around Giga Bowser to take another 12 out of him.

"_**GWAAARGH! How is my attack missing against you? !" **_Giga Bowser roared, attempting to spit a dark fireball at Mario. But, thanks to the cape, he simply deflected it back at him, taking 24 out of him since it WAS his own attack.

"Heh heh heh! Well that was certainly interesting!" Chopper smirked as he used a lightning attack on Giga Bowser, followed by Mario's Cape attack, dealing another 12 damage, bringing him to 200.

Giga Bowser tried to strike Mario again with a dark fireball, but once again, Mario deflected the attack with his cape.

Mario: You're stupider than I thought!

"_**Hey! I heard that!" **_Giga Bowser clenched his fists in anger, but he took notice that his Cape ability wore off. _**"Ah! Now I can finally hit you!"**_

"Well, not at this moment," Chopper used his Master Hammer attack on him, followed by a Fiery Jinx, bringing him down to about 138 HP.

"Lord Bowser! Lord Bowser! Rah! Rah! Rah! You can do it!" Kammy cheered.

Now that Giga Bowser could hit Mario, he immediately stomped his way over to him and delivered a punch. Afterwards, he ended up getting hit by Chopper's Master Hammer and Flyer's Flying Attack.

Giga Bowser focused his attack on Chopper this time, spewing out a dark fireball at him. Unfortunately, Chopper ended up inhaling it and spitting it back at him, making him take 24 more damage.

"_**Oooog… This isn't looking too good for me…" **_Giga Bowser moaned, trying to stomp his way towards Chopper. He managed to throw in a Light Smash on him, which was then immediately followed up with Tamber's Power Punch, bringing him to 70 HP.

"You can give up right now, Bowser…" Chopper reminded. "I don't really want to hurt you, but if you give up, you'll be just fine."

"_**I'll never give up to the likes of you!" **_Giga Bowser grabbed Chopper and he threw him straight at Mario. _**"Before this fight is over, I'll make sure you BOTH die!"**_

"Whoa… Threatening, much?" Chopper quickly shook his head and he attacked him with a light ball, followed up by Shadower's Shadow Punch, bringing his defense to 0. He was the one who got burnt by Giga Bowser's dark fire, though.

"Well, this calls for something special!" Chopper pulled his hammer out and he used his Master Hammer attack on him. When Tamber used a Power Punch on Giga Bowser, he was down to 28 HP.

"You can still win this, Your Evilness! You…" Kammy was burnt by Giga Bowser's dark flames, knocking her out.

"_**SHUT UP, HAGGY!" **_Giga Bowser turned around, but he soon realized that he just wasted his turn. _**"Oh, great… I wasted a turn!"**_

"Oh! That's cool!" Chopper slammed his hammer down on him with his Light Smash, which was immediately followed up with Mario's Super Jump.

Giga Bowser spewed out a dark fireball at Chopper, but instead of inhaling it, he jumped out of the way and tossed a light ball straight at him, weakening him with only 6 HP left.

"OK, Mario! He's your enemy…so do the honors!" he said in joy.

"OK!" Mario nodded and he turned to Bowser with his fists clenched. _"You can do this, Mario… Just one jump and he's defeated!"_

"_**Mario… You really aren't going to take me out, are you? !" **_Giga Bowser exclaimed.

After taking a deep breath, Mario charged at his foe, using his powerful feet to deliver a Super Jump onto Giga Bowser.

At that moment, the dark power in Giga Bowser drained out and he was back to his normal old self.

"AAAAAAAAAARGH! NO! I… I lost to Mario AGAIN? ! How does he beat me every single time? !" Bowser questioned. He became unconscious afterwards. Kammy was knocked out by Bowser's flame breath, so they didn't have to worry about her either.

"Well, looks like we took care of Bowser. It's a shame that he had to go down like that. Poor guy." Chopper sighed and he looked over at the pathway up ahead. "Well, we better get a move on then."

They made their way over to the pathway ahead, which led to another road. There weren't any enemies around here. It was just a small little pathway that had nothing too interesting.

"Huh… Well, I guess this is it, guys. We're getting closer to the end. I hope we don't run into more trouble. Tipral DID say there were others that could be in the way…" Chopper recalled.

After taking another deep breath, everyone moved on ahead to possibly near the center of Dark Subspace World.

* * *

**Well, there's your fight with Giga Bowser there... Now there are THREE more bosses left in the whole story. You're lucky that you get to see two of them tomorrow!**

**Oh, and if you're wondering why my updates are each day, let's just say that...I already finished writing all of it, OK? Good.**

**Next chapter will be the 16th and final part of Chapter 20 (unless you wanna count the final battle, that is)!  
**


	154. Grodus and Gemerl: Battle Back to Back

Everyone immediately set foot into a larger area than the other. There were these transparent glowing stairs that led up to a higher area of Dark Subspace World, but it also felt like it was leading to the center of the place. They all knew that their adventure was coming to an end.

"Well… Looks like we're getting near. This gives me that feeling back in the Palace of Shadow and in Camikon's Castle where we were in that large, beautiful room. Just look up at the sky at the moment." Chopper pointed to the beautiful dark swirl in the sky of dark colors. He felt the lightning was a bit stronger too.

"We're definitely near the core. I can feel it…" Vivian stated, feeling the heavy air throughout the area.

"Same here, Vivian… Well, all we can do right now is stay sharp and go up those stairs. That should take us to where we need to go." Chopper made his way over to the stairs. "You guys coming?"

Everyone else nodded and they followed Chopper up the stairs to a door. There was a Save Block and Heart Block right in front of the door, indicating that there might be a fight coming up.

Through the next door was some dark ground, but definitely a bit above from ground level. They noticed up ahead in this area was a gigantic door that had a black frame and was a glowing purple color. There was also a Save Block and Heart Block there, to their surprise. A strong amount of dark energy could be felt through there from Vivian.

"Ugh… This place really does have the dark feeling… But, nevertheless, we're finally here. Through that door must be the core. Let's go!"

"Gaaack ack ack ack!" They were interrupted by a familiar cackle in the center of the area. Everyone saw Grodus standing there. It looked like he was waiting for them this whole time.

"Ah, Chopper! It's so nice to see you again!" Grodus said politely. "I've been waiting for you, you know…"

Chopper immediately got in his fighting stance. "Grodus! So Lord Crump WAS right! You are here! …But how did you get here so quickly?"

"Oh, the answer is simple. I was taken here by surprise when I found out that the portal to Dark Subspace World was open. I was quite pleased, but I thought if I simply opened the door and released the demon, it would be too easy for me to win."

"A demon? Your reasons for coming her was so you could take control of a demon? Isn't that what you did with the Shadow Queen?" Chopper raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I will admit it is somewhat like reviving the Shadow Queen. But, I was heard that whoever revives this greater demon, that person shall get anything they desire from it and it will also do your bidding! When I heard about this, I knew I had to do something about it and get my hands on it! But, I knew that I couldn't do this all on my own. I thought, 'Why not make the hero do all the work for me?' and then we come down to here. I must say, Chopper… I thank you very much for bringing me the twenty Crystal Stars! That's what I need to be through that door if I'm going to revive the great demon!"

"So you were waiting for me because you needed the twenty Crystal Stars to revive this great demon?"

"We were led into a trap!" Tamber gaped.

"Yes! You did fall into a trap! Aren't you all surprised? !" Grodus began to cackle. "Instead of trying to take the Crystal Stars myself, I let you do all of my work for me… How kind for you to bring them here! I don't think Lord Crump knew that I actually wanted you all to come here! What a useless minion he was…"

"What about the Shadow Sirens and Brothers?" Flyer questioned.

"Those people? I thought about them for a while, but I knew I didn't need their help. They were all useless to me! Not even Tipral was that much of a help!"

Vivian and Shadower gave him a scowl. "Oh, are you two angry? You look like you want to destroy me at this moment! Gaaack ack ack ack!"

"All right, not more playing around, Grodus! When we're done with you, we're gonna go through that door and destroy that core!" Chopper said boldly.

"You fool! You can't destroy the core! It's too powerful for even the Crystal Stars – which is what makes it better for me! As soon as I'm done with you, I shall rule the universe with an iron fist!" Grodus cackled.

"Well not on our watch! Let's get him, guys!" Chopper and his friends rushed towards Grodus. But when the palm of his hand face everyone, four dark Grodus Xs appeared around him and made a dark shield.

"Gaaack ack ack ack! You really think I wouldn't come here prepared? Think again!"

**Tattle: **_That's Grodus. He's the supreme leader of the X-Nauts, and he really does look like it! How many times have we fought him so far? I think this is the FOURTH! I mean, geez! Max HP is 580, Attack is 25, and Defense is 3. His Grodus XXs have 10 HP, an Attack of 18 and a Defense of 0. This time, he's got some dark magic up his sleeves. If you thought Camikon had some powerful magic spells, then you better check and see what he's got! He'll use a dark laser against you if necessary, or he might even use dark lighting! I wonder if he was the one conjuring up that dark lighting in the background… …Oh! I forgot to mention that he can also recover 110 HP if he ever wanted to do so, so be careful, Chopper! You're gonna need it if you're gonna try to get past him…_

"OK… So I can use the Star Rod for this battle if I want to… Yeah. I think I'll use it." Since Chopper doesn't have his Magic ability on anymore, he pulled the Star Rod out and he used it to take care of the Grodus XXs. Tamber immediately punched Grodus, taking 9 out of him.

"See how you like this!" Grodus conjured up a spell and he struck everyone with dark lighting. "I was lucky enough to learn some powerful dark magic. It'll most likely be useful against you!"

"I wouldn't count on that, Grodus…" Chopper clenched his fists and he immediately struck Grodus and his Grodus XXs with a Master Hammer attack. Flyer made his next move, taking 10 out of him with a Flying Attack.

"I bet this is going to be the final battle, isn't it?" Sonic predicted.

Mario: I'm not sure yet. We'll find out sooner or later!

"Take this!" Grodus fired a dark laser straight at Chopper. It nearly knocked him back, but not by a lot. "I really should thank this world too. If we weren't here, I wouldn't have all of this dark magic!"

"So what if you have dark magic? I have light magic!" Chopper used his Master Glove attack on Grodus, destroying his Grodus XXs and also dealing 16 damage to him. Tamber punched him afterwards with his Combo Punch.

"Hmmmmmm… So while you carry light magic, I carry dark. How interesting…" Grodus pondered a bit before casting his next spell. He tried to freeze time, but ultimately failed to do so when they guarded the attack.

"I had a feeling you would guard that…" he grumbled.

"Well, I surely don't want to be frozen in time, that's for sure," Chopper used a Star Blast to destroy Grodus's Grodus XXs and also deal damage to him as well. Mario used a Super Jump on him afterwards.

Grodus shook off the damage he took and he used his magic to shoot an ice beam at Mario, freezing him. "Ahh… Much better! Now that the plumber is frozen, this should be much easier!"

"Don't think that it's going to help you…" Chopper warned, stepping out of the way as Bombette came charging at him with her Bob-omb Blast, destroying the Grodus XXs and dealing 9 damage to Grodus.

"Well, we're down to 490 HP with him now, so that's not a bad thing," Chopper prepared himself for anything Grodus was going to throw at him. He ended up getting hit by dark lightning that he summoned.

"Were you the one conjuring up that lightning?" Sonic questioned.

"Me? I wasn't conjuring up anything!" Grodus retorted. "All I was doing was waiting here for you! That's all that really mattered to me!"

"I don't know if I can trust you with that…" Chopper allowed Vivian to use her Fiery Jinx on the Grodus XXs and Grodus himself before attacking him with a light ball of energy.

Grodus used his dark magic to fire a huge dark shockwave at everyone, taking 25 out of all of them. It didn't have any effects on them, but it surely did do some tough damage.

As he summoned two more Grodus XXs, Kirby used his Final Cutter to take care of them and also deal 12 damage to Grodus. Chopper smiled as he attacked Grodus with his Power Bounce, stomping on him thirteen times.

"I'll admit, you have gotten a bit stronger since our last battle…" Grodus remarked. "But your efforts against me will be fruitless!" As he conjured up a spell, he tried to put Chopper and Kirby to sleep. Only Kirby fell asleep from it, luckily for Chopper.

"Come here, Grodus XXs!" Grodus called out, summoning two dark Grodus XXs to raise his defense.

"Oh, taking them out is going to be EASY!" Chopper struck Grodus with his Master Glove attack, dealing 16 to him and also destroying the Grodus XXs. Scrub made his next move, using his Egg Throw to take 12 out of Grodus.

"Gaaack ack ack ack! We've JUST got started, Chopper!" Grodus fired a wave of fire straight at Chopper, leaving a burn on him. "Surely a burn should help bring you down!"

"Well, I'm not gonna let that stop me," wheezed Chopper as he used a Star Blast to take out his Grodus XXs. Sonic made his next move, attacking him with a simple Spin Dash.

"Maybe I shouldn't use a Spin Dash on him… It's not too effective." he stated.

"Thanks to my high defense, it isn't so effective!" Grodus cackled, firing an ice beam at Sonic, freezing him. "Oh, I'm sorry… Did I freeze your blue furry friend? Too bad for you, Chopper…"

Chopper clenched his fist, which started to be surrounded in light energy. "Oh, I'll make you pay for that!" With his Master Glove ability, he managed to destroy his Grodus XXs and also blind Grodus for a turn.

"Ack! My eyes! I cannot see!" he shouted.

"Heh heh heh! Awesome!" Scrub threw another Egg at him, bringing him down to 370 HP. Thanks to him being blind, he couldn't summon two Grodus XXs, allowing Chopper to Power Bounce him fourteen times and for Heartsy to slam her hammer down on him for 7.

Once the blindness disappeared, Grodus gripped onto his scepter and he began to conjure up a powerful spell. "Oh, you'll see what I can do with this!"

When dark lightning came down, it struck Grodus's scepter. Instead of hurting him, it ended up raising his Attack power up by 25. "Now you'll see what the true power of Grodus is capable of doing!"

"Did he just speak in third person?" Chopper questioned.

"I believe so, but now's not the time to be asking questions! We gotta avoid his attack at all costs!" Flyer suggested.

"Yeah… That's true." Chopper used his Master Hammer attack to deal 16 to Grodus and destroy his two Grodus XXs, while Vivian grabbed him and pulled him into the shadows, keeping them safe from attacks.

"Gaaack ack ack ack!" Grodus cackled as he fired his intense dark lightning attack, making a powerful lightning blast come down on Chopper – who was in the shadows, so it missed.

"Huh? Where did he go?" he pondered as he noticed Chopper was gone. But once he saw him rise from the shadows, he immediately attacked him with a dark laser.

"Try to escape from me, will you…" Grodus grumbled. "Avoiding attacks like that will show how much of a coward you are!"

"Yikes… I'm running a bit low on HP!" Chopper pulled a Rainbow Master and he ate it to recover 200 HP and FP – which is all that he needed, since he wasn't below 200 HP anyways.

"Well, having 300 HP, 300 FP and 200 BP does seem to pay off for some reason… But, I wish I can go higher than that." (Yes, that's how much HP, FP and BP he has finally got. That's the maximum amount he can have anyways)

"I guess I'm going up!" Flyer brought out his airplane and he allowed Chopper to man the turret. "All right, Chopper! Fire away!"

"I'm on it!" Chopper began to fire at Grodus and his Grodus XXs rapidly, taking 18 out of Grodus and 12 out of the Grodus XXs.

Like what the announcer from Sonic Colors would say, Grodus fired a dark laser straight at Chopper. He managed to guard the attack, but it only led him to only take 24 damage instead.

"Yeesh! People's Attack power has been getting stronger these days!" Chopper used a Master Glove attack to take 16 out of Grodus, which was immediately followed up by Tamber's Power Punch, taking 11 out of him.

"Whoa… We've already brought him more than halfway down!" Tamber gaped. "That's…awesome!"

At that moment, the dark and eerie boss music that would fit Grodus started to change to music that felt like they were winning this fight (such as the second part of the Sonic Colors final boss).

"So, you have the mettle to push me this far… But no more! I shall send you into oblivion, Chopper!" Grodus conjured up a dark laser and he fired it straight at Chopper, taking 25 out of him.

"Ha! This is going to be easy pickings!" Chopper smirked after Shadower used his Shadow Blast on him. He immediately used a Gravity Jump to hit his large robotic cranium for 28.

Grodus grumbled to himself as he fired an ice beam at Chopper. He managed to guard that attack to prevent himself from being frozen. Before he made his attack, Tamber took the Grodus XXs out with a Master Star Fist.

"All right, Chopper! Deal some heavy damage on him!" Tamber grinned as Chopper struck Grodus with a Spring Jump.

"_I can't win this one if I don't do something about my HP!" _Grodus thought. "I didn't want to go to these measures, but now you've forced me to!"

Using his evil magic, he was able to recover 110 HP. Everyone nearly gaped, but Chopper ended up attacking him with an Art Attack. He was lucky to take 39 out of him after thirteen circles.

"Whew… At least we got some good start on him." Vivian scorched Grodus with her Fiery Jinx, taking a good 10 out of him.

"Gaaack ack ack ack! It appears that this has indeed helped me!" Grodus cackled as he fired dark lightning down on everyone for 25.

"OK, Shadower… We're gonna have to use some stronger attacks again. Use a Shadow Blast on him and things should be just fine." Chopper suggested.

"I'll do just that!" Shadower blasted Grodus and his Grodus XXs with a Shadow Blast. Chopper immediately came down on Grodus with his Gravity Jump, taking a good 28 out of him.

After getting burnt by Grodus's wave of fire, Chopper used his Master Glove attack to take out his Grodus XXs and also deal damage to Grodus himself. Tamber punched him with a Power Punch afterwards.

"Whew… We've only got 202 HP to go on him! That's pretty nice, I have to admit!" Chopper sighed in relief.

"But that won't save you!" Grodus added, striking lightning down on everyone. "If I'm going to win this, I need four of my Grodus XXs out."

"Well, I don't think that's going to happen," Chopper allowed Vivian to use her Fire Wall on Grodus and his Grodus XXs, destroying them and burning Grodus. He made his next move by bringing his hammer down on him.

Grodus attempted to freeze time once again, but it ended up failing. "Bah! Forget this move! I don't need it!" he spat as he summoned two more Grodus XXs to raise his defense.

Chopper used his Star Blast to take out the Grodus XXs and deal damage to Grodus, which was then followed up by Tamber's Power Punch.

Tamber was the one that ended up becoming frozen when Grodus used his ice beam. But it didn't matter too much, since Chopper could simply use his Master Hammer to take out his Grodus XXs. Scrub laid an egg and took out 12 when he threw it at him.

"Ugh… Stupid little…" Grodus brushed himself clean of the pieces of the shell on his and then he fired a dark laser at Scrub, knocking him back. "Did someone ever tell you that it's not nice to attack the supreme leader of the X-Nauts?"

"No way," Scrub wheezed as he got up. "The only person I'll ever listen to is the Great Contadre!"

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Chopper gave Scrub a hi-five as he stomped on Grodus's head after Shadower used a Shadow Blast on him. But, then he ended up becoming frozen when Grodus shot an ice beam at him.

"Man, you seriously love to freeze people, don't you?" Chopper clenched his fists, but not before allowing Tamber to use his Master Star Fist on Grodus and the Grodus XXs. Then he used a Gravity Jump to deal 28 damage.

"Hmmmmm… Perhaps I should alter things a bit…" He used his magic to recover 110 more HP. Afterwards, he summoned more Grodus XXs.

"No fair! You can't do that!" Chopper grumbled as he waited for Tamber to use his Master Star Fist before he used another Gravity Jump on him, taking another 28 out of him.

Grodus fired a dark laser at Tamber afterwards. But then he was starting to run low on HP when Chopper used the Dark Star against him. I brought him all the way down to 65 HP.

"Ooh! Now we're getting close!" Heartsy gripped her hammer and she immediately slammed it down on Grodus. She wasn't too far from being defeated anyways, since he was down to 58 HP.

"Heh heh heh! This is going to be a piece of cake!" Sonic smirked as he managed to guard Grodus's dark laser attack. "Just leave this to me!"

Clenching his fist, he managed to destroy the two Grodus XXs and deal 9 damage to Grodus, allowing Chopper to attack him with a Rainbow Spin Attack.

"Ugh… I'm not giving up so soon!" Grodus wheezed, striking dark lightning down on everyone. Unfortunately, when Chopper used his Master Glove on him and then Tamber used his Power Punch, he was already down to 17 HP.

One of his goggles became cracked after suffering from a dangerous amount of damage. "_Cough… Wheeze… _Fools… This isn't finished!"

As he conjured up more magic, he struck Chopper and his friends with the dangerous amount of damage, followed by summoning Grodus XXs.

"Heh heh heh! This should finish it!" Tamber used his Master Star Fist to obliterate Grodus's Grodus XXs and bring him down to 6 HP. "OK… It's not over yet, but I still did something!"

"Yes, you sure did, Tamber," Chopper turned to Grodus, whose scepter was a bit cracked at the top. "All right, Grodus… This is it! You're time is up!"

Chopper charged up his Star Rod and, before he knew it, he nearly left Grodus wounded, with his cranium being cracked and all.

"Unnngh… How…? How did this happen?" he questioned. It almost looked like he was going to fall over. "However, I've made a little plan beforehand if this ever happened to me…"

"What do you mean?" Chopper questioned.

"I saved up a powerful attack that could obliterate you in a blink of an eye… It may kill me, but I know for sure that it'll kill _you_!"

"Be careful, Chopper…" Vivian said with a worried look.

"A blink of an eye, you say?" Chopper seemed a bit surprised, but not too scared. "I'm not scared of you, Grodus! I dare you to throw that attack at me!"

"Whoa, Chopper… Don't try to make him do it!" Flyer said in shock.

"Gaaack ack ack ack! So… You do want to play a bit dirty, do you?" Grodus questioned. "Well, I'll cut you a little deal. I'll let you live if you give me the Crystal Stars. It's nothing big. I don't need that map anymore anyways. I just need the Crystal Stars and I'll be on my way through that door."

"Forget it, Grodus! I'm not giving you anything!" Chopper retorted.

"Oh, really? Very well then!" Grodus began to conjure up some magic. "It's a shame you have to go down like this, Chopper… You've been a pain on my side this whole time. But, now it's time to end it!"

"_**CHOPPER!**_" the sound of that voice made Chopper's antennas spring up. Even Grodus stopped conjuring up a spell.

"Huh? What was that? !" he exclaimed.

"Guys… JUMP!" Chopper jumped up. Everyone else shrugged and they jumped too. A missile ended up going below them and it ended up hitting Grodus instead, knocking him unconscious.

"What was THAT? !" Heartsy exclaimed.

"Finally! After a long search through this dreadful and dark place, I finally found you, Chopper…" Gemerl came hovering down to the ground with his jetpack. He still looked a bit battered up from before, but he certainly looked like he was still able to put up a big fight.

"Gemerl? Why are you here? What ever happened to 'being done'?" Chopper questioned.

"I said that one day I would get back at you," Gemerl recalled. "In truth, the twenty Crystal Stars is what I need in order to make me stronger than before! And… Since you HAVE them all in your possession, my power will grow stronger!"

"So, you wanted to get back at me, but by being stronger?"

"More or less. Plus, you destroyed my Phi army and nearly ruined me! You're NOT going to stop me this time!" Since the twenty Crystal Stars were in this area, Gemerl felt some strong energy going into him.

"Yes… Perfect!" His speed seemed a lot faster than usual. "Now we can settle this, Chopper! You, me and your friends! I don't care if you're all worn out from your last battle. It ends. NOW!"

**Tattle: **_That's Gemerl. He's the legendary Gizoid that can get more power with the Crystal Stars. Wow… So it's like he's Ultimate Gemerl now! …Well, kind of. Max HP is 600, Attack is 26, and Defense is 4. He'll attack you with these…whoa. It says he can attack with some moves you already possess! That's SCARY! So… He can even use a Fiery Jinx or a Master Star Fist on you! Not only that, but he still holds his moves from before, like his jetpack, missiles and even his roll attack. He even has the shield and stunner…and…gulp…the recovery. That can help him recover 120 HP if he ever wanted to. Chopper, I know I said before that Grodus was the last fight you might have, but I think it could be this one now. I wish you good luck._

**(*Insert Super Smash Bros. Brawl Gourmet Race theme here*)**

"All right, let's get this started!" Chopper gripped his hammer as hard as he could and he slammed it down on Gemerl's head. Flyer hit Gemerl in the head with his Flying Attack afterwards to knock 10 out of him.

"Your fighting hasn't changed much since the last time we fought," Gemerl stated. "But I'll certainly make it a difference!"

Gemerl rushed towards Chopper and with a punch, he was able to knock Chopper back. He noticed that Gemerl had green energy around his fists when he made this move.

"No way… He can do what Tamber can do? How's that even possible? !" Chopper gaped.

"This is what happens when you have the power from the Crystal Stars – which are very close, you know…"

Chopper made a face at Gemerl before using a D-Down Jump on him. Flyer made another attack, striking him with another Flying Attack.

Gemerl made a similar move from what he did before at the Fountain of Dreams by rushing at Chopper and Flyer with his jetpack and tackling them for 26.

"Wow. He's a lot stronger than Grodus, that's for sure…and for someone who was beaten pretty badly too." Chopper attacked Gemerl by using his Master Glove attack, piercing through his defense for 16.

"I betcha can't do THIS!" Sonic clenched his fist and he managed to strike Gemerl with a Sonic Wind. After the blue wind struck him, Gemerl gave Sonic an invisible grin.

"Oh, I can do that too!" Gemerl clenched his fist and he managed to strike Sonic with a Sonic Wind as well, taking 26 out of him.

"Whoa… He wasn't kidding when he said he could use our own attacks!" Sonic said before falling to the ground (not in a way that he's defeated or anything).

"Yeah, I guess he's gotten pretty strong," Chopper stated as he struck Gemerl with a Star Blast, taking 12 out of him, which was immediately followed up by Tamber's Power Punch, taking 10 out.

"You're gonna wish you never copied my punching!" Tamber grumbled.

"Then you want me to do THIS?" Gemerl hovered up and he curled up in a ball, tackling Tamber to the ground for 26. "You stupid meatbags honestly think you can take me on. This is me at my strongest state!"

"Well we'll see about that!" Chopper struck Gemerl with a Master Hammer attack, followed up by Scrub's Egg Throw, bringing him down to 500 HP. "See? We're getting there!"

"That's what you think, Chopper!" Gemerl fired missiles straight at Chopper. Each of them deal about 5 damage, and there were about six. Luckily, he guarded them all, so he only took 24.

"So, with that power you have… What do you plan on doing since your minions are all gone?" Chopper questioned.

"Oh, the answer to that is simple. I'm going to _**kill**_ you first! The little Star Warrior must meet his end with the rest of his friends!" Gemerl clenched his fists in anger, threatening them all.

"Kill me? I've heard that from COUNTLESS villains. Heck, my arch-enemy Maquano would always say that he wants to kill me! And how many times did he do that? Let's see… Oh! Zero! Yup!"

Chopper rushed at Gemerl with his Master Glove attack and then Kirby took 12 out of him with a Final Cutter.

"Poyo! (It feels great to attack that robot with this!)" Kirby said cheerfully.

Before Gemerl could attack, he got pelted by a rock from one of the audience members, taking a measly 2 out of him. "What? ! Who was the one that threw the rock at me? !" he exclaimed as he looked down at the audience members.

Almost everyone pointed to a Goomba who looked scared for life. "I see… Do you know the consequences for hitting me with a rock? Oh, it's pretty bad, I'll tell you…"

He scorched the Goomba in flames with his flamethrower, turning him into nothing but soot.

"Now then…" He turned back to Chopper, but he realized he just wasted a turn. "Great… I made a big mistake."

"Yeah, you sure did!" Chopper managed to knock 10 out of Grodus by inhaling him and spitting him out. Flyer used another Flying Attack to bring Gemerl down to 450.

"Take THIS!" Gemerl fired a missile straight at Chopper, but once he inhaled it, he spat it back out at the Gizoid for 26 damage. "Gah! Did he just use my own attack against me? Blasphemy!"

"Well, it sucks for you, then!" Chopper fired a yellow star at Gemerl with his Star Rod, which only took 6 out of him, but he didn't care that much. Once Scrub made his Egg Throw attack, he took 12 out of him.

Gemerl grumbled to himself as he flew up and started to dash across the stage, making missiles come down on everyone. He only took 4 out of Chopper, sadly.

"That wasn't too bad… But things might be OK, I guess…" Chopper quickly shook himself and then he rushed at Gemerl with a Rainbow Spin Attack, taking 6 out of him. Flyer's Flying Attack brought him to 390 HP.

"You fools… We've only just got started!" Gemerl raised his arms up and he brought up his shield. This shield was in a dark color, so it meant that it was stronger than the red shield he had. "Go ahead, Chopper! Try to hit me! It's not going to work!"

"Oh, I can certainly break it, though!" Chopper started by using his Power Bounce. He managed to stomp on him about thirteen times, and of that thirteen, he dealt 8 damage. His shield can be destroyed with five stomps.

"I got this one," Vivian used her Fire Wall to strike Gemerl with a flaming wall, scorching him. Unfortunately for him, he didn't become too hot from it.

"Hmph… Impressive. I should do the same!" Gemerl used Vivian's Fire Wall ability on Chopper and his friends. He wasn't able to burn them, but the attack did a good 27 damage to them.

"OK, I might as well do something about his defense," Shadower used a Shadow Blast on Gemerl, lowering his defense down to 0. "OK, Chopper! Let it rip!"

"Gotcha!" Chopper nodded and then he used his Gravity Jump to come down on Gemerl for 28.

"Ugh! You little…!" Gemerl fired at Chopper with an ice beam, but he failed to freeze him when he guarded the attack. He was unfortunate to get hit by Chopper's Spring Jump and Bombette's Bomb attack. He was already down to 298 HP.

"Meatbags… I never knew they could bring me down like this." Gemerl stated as he fired his machine guns at Chopper and his friends, taking 26 out of them. But it didn't stop Chopper from striking him with a Master Glove attack or Mario with a Super Jump.

"Gah! I need to heal myself!" Gemerl raised his arms up and he was able to recover 120 HP. "Ahhh… Much better!"

"Hey! That's not fair!" Chopper retorted. "Fine, you're gonna force me to use Art Attack on you!"

Bringing the Ruby Star out, he was able to draw a circle around him fourteen times to take 42 out of him. Shadower used his Shadow Blast to lower his defense and take 12 out of him as well.

"Hmmm? So you ARE putting up a fight, I see…" Gemerl clenched his fists and he tackled Chopper with his own head. "Once you're weak, I'll strangle you to death!"

"You can't strangle me if I don't have a neck," Chopper retorted as he struck Gemerl with a Gravity Jump. Flyer's Hurricane airplane allowed him to man the turret and take 20 out of Gemerl as well.

"I'm not surprised you used some stronger attacks to bring me down further," Gemerl fired a missiles straight at Chopper, but like before, he inhaled it and spat it out at him for 26. "Remind me NEVER to do that."

"Ha ha HA!" Chopper laughed happily as he used a Master Hammer attack on Gemerl. "That should bring him to 250."

"And this should bring him to 240," With a Flying Attack, Flyer managed to bring Gemerl's HP down to 240.

"Urghh… You fools haven't won just yet!" Gemerl pressed the light blue glass thing on his yellow hue to load up his powerful laser. "When this attack strikes, you're going to be sorry!"

"Uh oh… This isn't good." Chopper gulped while eating a Rainbow Master. "OK, Vivian… Pull us into the shadows!"

Vivian nodded and she grabbed Chopper and pulled him into the shadows to hide while Gemerl unleashed his powerful laser attack that missed them.

"That son of a… Where did you go? !" he exclaimed. When he saw them rise, he took notice of them. "Ah! There you are!" He flew up and dove down at Chopper while in a ball.

"Oof!" Chopper was knocked down to the ground, but he was able to get himself back up. "That was a bit painful…" After brushing himself up, he struck Gemerl with his Hammer Throw attack.

"A good burn will do nicely," Vivian smiled as she used her Fire Wall against Gemerl, taking 12 out of him and leaving a burn on him. Unfortunately, she ended up getting hit by Gemerl's Shade Fist.

"Heh heh heh! These powers will do nicely!" he cackled.

"Well, let's see how you like this one," Chopper began to use his Planet Tide ability from the Crystal Star on him. Because Grodus was on the ground, he ended up moving around as well.

"Huh? What the…" After Grodus was toppled around, he slowly got up and noticed Chopper fighting against Gemerl.

"It's that robot again!" Grodus was about to strike him, but he stopped. "Wait… I don't NEED to fight him. If Chopper's distracted, then that gives me my chance of going through that door!"

He looked over at the large door ahead. "Gaaack ack ack ack! This time, I will be victorious!"

After the Planet Tide Chopper delivered on Gemerl, he ended up taking 68 damage. Kirby also managed to use a Final Cutter on him to take 12 out of him pretty much.

"Gah! I must heal!" Gemerl raised his arms up once again to heal himself of 120 HP.

"Grrrrrr! All right, now YOU forced me to use YOUR star!" Chopper raised his arms up and he brought the Dark Star out. He managed to successfully do the timing right to suck Gemerl into a black hole and spit him out. At the end, he took 65 out of him.

"I oughta do something to help," Shadower lowered Gemerl's defense with a Shadow Blast, but he was struck by his ice beam – and that caused him to become frozen solid.

"Crud… Well, he'll thaw out eventually." Chopper attempted a Gravity Jump on Gemerl to take 28 out of him. Afterwards, Tamber used his Master Star Fist on him to take 16 out, bringing him to 145 HP.

"Hmph… Not bad, Chopper… I see you do have a bit of a fight in you!" Gemerl pulled a light ball out and he tossed it at Chopper. "I'm lucky to have your abilities, because I can surely use them against you!"

After Chopper cringed from the attack, he quickly struck Gemerl with a Power Bounce. He stomped on him fourteen times before letting Scrub lay an egg and throw it at him for 12.

"Well, he's down to 119 HP, so that's not too bad…" Bombette stated.

"Oh, yes… I forgot about this ability!" Gemerl ended up exploding in front of Bombette, but he wasn't killed by it.

"H-Hey! You…" Bombette's face turned bright red. "I'm gonna get you!" She used a Bomb that took 6 out of him, followed up by Chopper's Master Hammer, taking 16 out of him.

"Argh… Now I'm down to 97 HP! This isn't good…" Gemerl quickly shook his head and he tackled Chopper by using his jetpack. "I might not have much healing capabilities anymore…"

"Well then that's good for us!" Chopper smirked as he stomped on Gemerl sixteen times with his Power Bounce. Flyer struck him with a Flying Attack afterwards, bringing him to 71 HP.

Gemerl fired missiles straight at Chopper and his friends, taking 28 out of them all easily. He cringed as he got hit by Chopper's Master Glove attack and Flyer's Hurricane, which brought him to 45 HP.

"Ugh… How can this be?" he questioned as he tried to scorch Chopper and his friends. Unfortunately, his flamethrower didn't hit them. They all Superguarded it. "I… I don't think I'm gonna last long. _…Bzzt!_"

"Well, I'm sorry if I end up blowing you up. But, that's what happens in life." Chopper stated as he struck Gemerl with a D-Down Hand attack. Flyer's Flying Attack brought him down to 25.

"Grrrrr! Well, you'll see what I'll do!" Gemerl immediately sprung up and then he came down on Chopper with his Gravity, taking out a massive 52 HP out of him.

"Whoa… He… He can use my Gravity Jump!" Chopper gaped. "How… How is that even possible? !"

"Don't you remember? _…Bzzt! _I can use any of your moves!" Gemerl retorted.

"Well, hate to say it, Gem, but you're done." Flyer flew towards Gemerl and he struck him with a Flying Attack. "OK, Chopper. One Master Hammer or Hand attack should do it!"

"Thanks, Flyer," Chopper made the finish with one Master Glove attack. As soon as it touched Gemerl, spraks began to fly everywhere from him.

"ARRRRGGHHHH! _Bzzzzzt! _How? ! Even with the power from the Crystal Stars… I lost! How could I lose to meatbags such as yourself? ! I CANNOT deny this!" Gemerl screamed.

"Sorry, Gemerl, but you got what's coming. I mean, you wanted to kill us, so this is what happens to you." Chopper stated.

"You… You… YOU…" Before Gemerl could finish, his glowing blue eyes turned dark and he collapsed. Sparks were still coming from him as he started flashing a white color in three seconds.

"Well, looks like the damage we dealt to him caused him to turn off like that. Such a shame…" Chopper frowned.

"Looks like we don't have to worry about him anymore," Vivian smiled.

Chopper noticed something. "Wait… Where did Grodus go? He was here a second ago!"

"Gaaack ack ack ack!" the sound of that voice startled everyone as soon as they saw the large door up ahead close.

"Crap! He's already made it through the door!" Chopper gaped. "I guess this is what happens when you're distracted by a robot…"

"We don't have much time, Chopper! We have to go after him!" Vivian shouted.

"Yes… You're right. Come on guys… We've got an X-Naut to stop!" When Chopper made his way to the door, he hit the Save Block and Heart Block. There was no turning back now.

"Well… Here goes nothing." Chopper pushed the door open and then they all made their way through to have their final showdown with Grodus.

* * *

**Back in Tartamos-**

"Whew… We finally did it…" Blade panted as all the Tartaras in the area disappeared in darkness. "I can't believe we managed to pull that off…"

"It's good that we did," Meta Knight stated, putting his sword, Galaxia, away. "We've had a tough fight, but we emerged victorious."

"Are you going to get me out of here yet?" Dark asked, being stuck in a small prison that he couldn't escape. "I need some fresh air already!"

"You'll get out when we take you to the Mobian Prison," Night replied, putting his axe hammer away. "Deal with it."

"How do you think Chopper is doing right now in Dark Subspace World?" Silica asked Meta Knight.

"I can feel him going to the center of the place… He might just be able to save the universe after all." Meta Knight answered while wrapping himself with his blue cape. "I have faith in him."

Meta Knight looked up at the red, flaming sky. "Chopper… I believe in you. You can do this."

* * *

**Those were some tough battles back there! ...But now things are starting to come to an end, unfortunately. The next chapter will be the final boss... Yup, we're already there!**

**See you at the final battle!  
**


	155. The Lord of Evil Rises

**WARNING: This chapter contains a LARGE amount of spoilers for Paper Chopper: The Crystal Stars. If you haven't read the other chapters yet, then PLEASE do that before reading this. I don't want you to be spoiled with the final boss. Really! **

**Anyways… This is the first part of the finale! There are ****three**** parts to it and then the ending. So, here's what I'm gonna do. I'll give you the first part of the battle today, and then Friday, I'll give you the next two parts, since they're shorter than this chapter, OK? Hopefully you enjoy the final battle as much as I might! **

* * *

"Stop right there, Grodus!" Chopper shouted, pointing at Grodus from across the large, dark area. It was the biggest area out of all the places in Dark Subspace World. There really wasn't anything around, though. Though, they could see in the center of the area a large, dark core with dark purple on the outer part and black in the inner.

"Gaaack ack ack ack! You're too late, Chopper!" Grodus cackled as he turned to Chopper and his group of friends.

"What do you mean?" Chopper tilted his head.

"Look at the dark core in front of you! This is where the legendary demon rests! Thanks to you coming here, I can finally release the demon and take over the universe with an iron fist! Honestly, I couldn't thank you any more than this!"

"So we were led into a trap?" Vivian questioned. "We could get out of here right now so he couldn't do such a thing!"

Before they could leave, the door behind them ended up disappearing in darkness. _**"Chopper…"**_

"Wait… Did that core just speak?" Chopper questioned. "And why did it say my name? To be honest… That voice sounds…familiar."

"Well there's no turning back for sure…" Flyer groaned.

"Excellent! So the villain will finally win in the end! I've been waiting a long time for this! Oh, yes… With the demon's power, I shall create a new universe! One that is ruled by me!"

He turned to the dark core and he pointed his scepter at it. "Now! Arise! ARISE! Demon of Destruction!"

The dark core began to flash many times as a voice could be heard from inside of it. "Finally! FINALLY! I'm free from this accursed orb!"

"Orb? What's going on?" Chopper questioned. Before his very eyes, he saw an arm reach out of the core. It was red with a bit of black on it. It also had a gauntlet as well.

"My time of reckoning…has finally arrived!" Chopper's antennas sprung up when he saw the helmet of Maquano appear from the core. "Now I can finally do what I've wanted to accomplish in a long time!"

Maquano finally got out of the dark core and then he set his black boots with a red vertical stripe on the dark ground. His black cape began to float up evilly as dark lightning struck down in the background (If you want a better picture of him, go to my Deviantart page. You'll find a picture of him there).

* * *

**Meanwhile, over at Music Kingdom-**

All of the musical notes took notice of the dark sky that started to become a dark purple color. Everyone was scarred and freezing in fear.

"Wh-What t-t-the h-h-heck's going on? !" a Music Note exclaimed.

* * *

**Over by Glitzville-**

"What's all this? ! The sky… It's turning pitch black!" Jolene gaped as the sky turned a dark purple color over by them.

* * *

**Outside of the Great Tree-**

All the Punies began to shiver as the sky turned to a dark color. Petuni was the most scared out of them all.

"…B-Brother?" she squeaked.

"The…sky… It's…"

* * *

**At Twilight Town-**

"What the… Why has the sky changed around here?" questioned Mayor Dour as he walked outside of his house.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" a villager shivered.

* * *

**On Pudgy Island-**

Bambo and Kooplang had red !'s appear over their head as they saw the sky change to a dark color.

"Whoa… What the heck's going on here? ! Why's the sky so dark? !" Bambo exclaimed.

"I have no idea…" replied Kooplang.

* * *

**Over by Sand Town-**

"Oh, dear… The sky is not looking too great today… What has happened?" questioned the Mayor of Sand Town.

* * *

**At Fahr Outpost-**

All of the Bob-ombs were running around in fear as the sky began to turn dark and evil. The Mayor was also feeling a bit frightened.

"What's going on here? Why there be darkness up in the sky?" the Mayor questioned.

* * *

**Back in Dark Subspace World-**

"No… No… It can't be… **Maquano**? !" Chopper gaped.

"Gaaack ack ack ack! So I finally revived the great demon!" Grodus cackled. He turned to the evil Demon Knight. "Maquano, isn't it? Well, it's an honor to meet you! I am Grodus! I am the one that revived you!"

"I can see that you did that," Maquano responded. "I thank you, mortal. If it weren't for you, I would still be trapped in that accursed orb that Chopper trapped me in for two years!"

"Wait… So that Light Orb is really the core? How is that possible?" Flyer questioned.

"Yes… You are welcome, Maquano!" Grodus said boldly. "Now, destroy these impudent fools for me so that I can finally rule the universe!"

Maquano raised an eyebrow. "Who do you think you are, thinking that you can command the Lord of Evil to do what you please? What sort of being are you?"

"Huh? What do you mean? ! I thought you were bound to listen to the one who revived you! The legend even said that it would!"

"You silly fool! You honestly think that you would listen to what the LEGEND has to say? ! I don't listen to anyone! I command them!"

"This is preposterous! Do as I say! NOW! Or I shall send you back into your precious dark core!" Grodus pointed his scepter at him, ready to fire.

Unfortunately, Maquano got to him first. With one dark lightning attack, Maquano managed to obliterate Grodus entirely but his head.

"Take lessons on NOT listening to the legend, fool. I don't listen to a single soul!" Maquano's eyes flashed when he obliterated Grodus's head. Everyone was left with shock in their eyes.

"He… He just obliterated Grodus!" Chopper gaped.

"How could he do such a thing…?" Vivian frowned.

"Ah! Lord Maquano!" the Shadow Sirens (counting Doopliss) and the Shadow Brothers (counting Tipral) made their appearance. "The resurrection was a success!"

"Beldam… Mysterious… So were you the ones that gave that person the message of bringing the Crystal Stars here?" Maquano questioned.

"Of course, Lord Maquano!" Beldam nodded. "We did everything that you told us to do! I told that poor fool to find the twenty Crystal Stars so that he could revive you! It turns out that it worked perfectly!"

"And we also managed to bring your arch-nemesis here as well," Mysterious turned to Chopper with a grin. "Making ourselves lose was the best trick we had in the book!"

"So I see…" Maquano turned his head to Chopper. "So, Chopper… It's been a while, hasn't it? Two years, to be exact."

"Wasn't that Light Orb supposed to keep you SEALED in that thing? !" Chopper exclaimed while getting in a fighting stance.

Maquano cackled. "Silly little boy! You may have thought that the Light Orb would have stopped me, but I was too powerful for that thing! I ended up corrupting it into evil and even kept myself in this world to spread darkness all around the universe! …But I couldn't have finished my goal without the Crystal Stars, so that's why I tried to lure you here with a letter! It all worked out PERFECTLY!"

"Wait… So YOU were behind this whole thing? !"

"You are correct, Chopper! I can certainly thank Tipral for giving you that map, that's for sure! You honestly thought MARIO gave you that thing? Even ask him yourself! He'll give you the answer!" Maquano looked over at Mario.

Mario: I never gave it to anyone!

"See? You were all fooled so easily! …But, enough prattle. You've done what you needed to help me return, and now it's time for me to put an end to this universe once and for all!"

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Chopper questioned. He noticed the twenty Crystal Stars come out in his very own eyes after Maquano rose his arm. "Hey! What are you doing? !"

"Oh, it's simple. With my powers, I can corrupt these stars and make me even stronger!" Maquano snapped his finger and before they knew it, all twenty Crystal Stars were surrounded in dark energy. They all turned black in color, like the Dark Star.

At that very moment, they could all feel the ground shake violently. "Wh-What's going on? !"

"Heh heh heh! Oh, nothing much! Just the universe shaking!" Maquano cackled.

* * *

**At Boo Town-**

All of the Boos could feel the intense shaking, despite the fact that they don't have any feet.

"Wh-What's going on around here? !" Bow exclaimed. "Why is the ground shaking like this? !"

"Please stay calm, my lady!" Bootler shouted.

* * *

**At Wingel City-**

"Oh, dear… This is awful." Flyer's mother could feel the intense shaking. It almost knocked her to the ground. "My poor, sweet Flyer is out there with this? This is awful!"

"Relax, my daughter… I think he's doing just fine." Mayor Winklin assured.

* * *

**Over on Viti-**

Pennington could hear the violent shaking going around on Viti. "What's all this, then? Am I to deduce that this is…the end of the universe? !"

* * *

**On Dream Land-**

"Ack! What's going on around here? ! Why is it shaking so violently? !" Bun exclaimed.

"Try to stay calm, Bun!" Fumu shouted. "We may not be at a good time right now, but we need to stay calm!"

Unfortunately, no one was listening to her. "Guys! You have to stay calm! Dedede! Escargon! Stop crying, will you? !"

Unfortunately, they wouldn't stop crying, nor wouldn't they stop hugging each other.

"It's no use! It's the end of the world!" King Dedede cried.

"No… Could that dark power have truly awakened?" Frankly asked. "No! This is unthinkable!"

* * *

**In Tartamos-**

"Oh, no… Are we too late or something? !" Blade exclaimed.

"No… That's not possible! We can't be too late now!" Meta Knight shouted. At that moment, the shaking stopped.

"I wonder what happened…" Bang wondered.

* * *

**Back in Dark Subspace World-**

"Heh heh heh! I've finally done what I achieved! The universe won't be destroyed just yet, but it will in time…" Maquano grinned. "Care to join me in watching the universe slowly die painfully?"

"But why do you want to destroy the universe? ! Don't you have a heart? !" Vivian exclaimed.

"No, I do not, my granddaughter," Maquano replied. Chopper's antennas sprung up once again. "I do not care about this world whatsoever. Besides, it's a lot better to destroy them instead of leaving them there! If I weren't around, then this universe would be boring! It needs a little touch-up!"

"Well we're certainly NOT going to let you do that!" Chopper got in his fighting stance.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! I see that Chopper wishes to challenge you, Lord Maquano!" Beldam cackled.

"Accept the fight, my grandfather," Tipral suggested.

"Grandfather? Vivian… Is this guy actually related to you?" Chopper questioned.

"Yes… But I never knew it was him who was responsible for all of this. If I knew, I would've told you sooner…" Vivian sniffled.

"If you were to have told him, you would have been dead!" Maquano reached for his sword. "I will gladly kill you right now, Chopper. I've wanted to kill you ever since I was stuck in that core! All I could even say was 'Chopper'! THAT'S how much I wanted to kill you!"

Maquano created a dark ball of energy with Chopper's face on it. "You see this? This is what I wanted to do to you after you sealed me in that Light Orb." He crushed the dark ball of energy with his fist, making the dark mist spread across the room.

"Oh, yes… That's how much Maquano wanted you dead, Chopper! We gave him his wish by tricking you into collecting the twenty Crystal Stars! You've already lost now!" Beldam grinned.

"This isn't over yet, Sis!" Vivian retorted. "I promised that I would follow this whole way, and I'm going to make sure we put and end to you, Maquano!"

"Such a naïve girl you are, Vivian," Maquano replied. "But I'm not too surprised that you decided to join Chopper's side. But just a question… Why did you? Is it because you love him? Or did you just want to make sure you were safe so you could join us afterwards…"

Vivian stopped for a bit…but then she aimed her finger at Maquano. She tried to use a Fiery Jinx on him, but he merely swung it aside from him.

"All right, Maquano! Playtime's over!" Chopper got back in his fighting stance. "THIS is where we end it!"

"Hmph! I'd be a bit surprised if Chopper won this fight…" Tipral said to himself.

"Very well! Then I shall not hold anything back!" Maquano pulled his dark and evil red sword out. "I'll be a bit fair to you and give you your own weapon to fight against me. Don't think I'll ever do this again."

He created a sword similar to Galaxia and he tossed it in front of Chopper. "Take this sword if you think you can take me on!"

Chopper inhaled the sword and he got his green floppy hat. "All right, Maquano! Let's settle this! We can do this, guys!"

Everyone rushed towards Maquano as he simply cackled. "How nice! Your finale is against me! …Just like all of the other times you tried to save the world or universe! Oh, don't worry, Chopper… This won't be long for you!"

"Chopper, don't let him threaten you!" Vivian shouted. "I KNOW you can do this! We all believe in you!"

**Tattle: **_Omigosh! Is that the evil Demon Knight you've been talking about? ! He's so…freaky! At least he's not possessing anyone, that's for sure… Max HP is 800, Attack is 28, and Defense is 4. He'll use that dark sword of his to strike you at will, or he might just try to use his dark magic on you. Careful now, Chopper… You don't know what kind of effects that magic might do to you… It could do MANY things, so you might wanna be careful… Uh oh… Don't tell me HE can heal himself too! It says here that he can recover 150 HP if he wanted to! That's just…horrible! Chopper, you made it this far, and now I think it's time to stop this evil being and save the universe from destruction!_

"All right, let's get started!" Chopper rushed at Maquano, slashing him with his sword. He was able to do a combo on him, taking 12 out of him.

Vivian made her attack next, striking Maquano with a Fiery Jinx. This time, she succeeded in hitting him.

"Hmmmmm… Now let's see what I should do…" Maquano charged at Chopper and he slashed at him with his sword, taking 28 out of him with the attack. "Heh heh heh! THAT felt good!"

"Yeah, it may have, but you're still not going to win this," Chopper gripped Galaxia and he fired a Galaxia Sword Beam at him, taking another 12 out of him. Flyer struck him with a Flying Attack for 10.

Maquano looked over to Flyer. After thinking for a minute, he fired a dark ball of energy straight at him, taking 28 out of him. But that didn't stop Chopper from using a D-Down Slash on him, which was then followed up with Scrub's Egg Throw.

"Hit him with EVERYTHING you guys have!" Chopper shouted. "He's got A LOT of HP!"

"Yes, throw everything you got at me!" Maquano cackled. "But in the end, those efforts will all become fruitless!" He rushed straight at Chopper, bringing his sword down on him.

"Oh no ya don't!" Chopper brought Galaxia up and he tried to block his attack. Luckily, he managed to strike him for 10 damage.

"Ugh! …You were lucky there, Chopper!" Maquano grunted. Chopper slashed at him with Galaxia for 6 and Sonic's Spin Dash also took 6 out of him as well. He was already down to 710 HP.

"Wow. We still have ways to go…" Bombette groaned.

"Yes, you do indeed," Maquano fired dark magic at Bombette. Because it was fire, her fuse ended up getting lit up.

"Oh, YOU…!" Bombette made a dash towards Maquano and she exploded in front of him. Chopper seemed a bit confused, but he struck Maquano with his D-Down Slash attack.

"I'm glad you took care of Staris," Maquano trailed. "In the end, I didn't need him anymore. But, thanks to your duties, you ended up making the Mushroom Kingdom a better place…in your eyes! Chopper, I'll tell you that I know how to make it even BETTER!"

"Save it, Maquano. We know you want to make it better by getting rid of it. Sorry to say, but we're not gonna listen!" Chopper smirked.

"I see…" Maquano brought his sword down on Chopper for 28 damage. Chopper, on the other hand, managed to land a combo on him with Galaxia, slicing at him three times for 18 damage.

"Oh, boy… Without the Crystal Stars in our hands, it might not be easy to take him out. We have to use our own attacks on him…" Shadower sighed as he lowered Maquano's defense with a Shadow Blast.

"Lord Maquano! Remind us to let you finish Shadower when you get the chance!" Mysterious shouted.

"I will do so!" Maquano brought his sword down on Shadower afterwards to take 28 out of him. "And you, Chopper… I think there's something that made me hate you even more. You killed my son, the Shadow King!"

"The Shadow King was your son?" Chopper gaped.

"Yes! Who else do you think would have raised him to be evil? That would be me, of course! That's the reason why I even killed my own wife thousand of years ago anyways! I wanted to make him evil, while she said no!"

"Interesting story you there, 'Quano!" Sonic smirked. "Maybe you shouldn't have killed your wife. Maybe you would've not been evil."

"I would still be evil no matter what. When I discovered what power I had when I served a king, I immediately started to use it to become the new ruler and kill the king myself!" Maquano explained while clenching his fist. "Everyone was forced to rule over ME!"

"But still, destroying planets for FUN? I think that's one of the cruelest things I've ever heard of in my life!" Chopper clenched his fists as he struck Maquano with a Gravity Jump. "OK, now he's down to 648 HP… Not too bad."

"Take this!" Maquano raised his arm up and he zapped everyone with dark lightning. "That poor X-Naut isn't the only one capable of using dark lightning, you know…"

Chopper knew he was talking about Grodus. Nevertheless, he took 12 out of him with a Galaxia Sword Beam, which was then followed up with Kirby's Final Cutter attack for another 12.

"Hmph! So, you seem to have improved a bit ever since our last battle up in Star Haven. I can commend you for that, but you still have no chance against me!" Maquano made a dash at Chopper and he slashed at him with his sword.

"Oh, yeah? Says who?" Chopper landed another combo on Maquano, taking a good 24 out of him with four slashes. Mario simply attacked him with his Super Jump, bringing him to 590 HP.

"Hmmmm… Perhaps I need to up myself a bit…" Maquano rose his arms up and then his Attack and Defense rose up by 4. "Go ahead, Chopper! Try to hit me now with a Defense of 8! There's no way you can do a thing to me!"

"Whoa… He's done something that's not good. I guess we ought to use defense-piercing moves right now." Chopper jumped up and he struck Maquano with a Galaxia Sword Beam, taking 12 out of him.

"I think I wanna get another shot on Maquano," Flyer suggested. "I think I need to 'repay' him for what he did to me two years ago!" Flyer flew over to Maquano and he struck him with a Flying Attack.

"Ahh… Let's try a Dark Sword Beam!" Maquano swung his sword and he fired a Dark Sword Beam at everyone for 32 damage. "Heh heh heh! You should have turned back when you all had the chance!"

"We're NOT giving up!" Vivian retorted, summoning a wall of flames at Maquano. "I know you've done a lot of bad things in your past, and we're gonna make sure that you're finished!"

"What the…" Maquano was engulfed in the wall of fire for 12 and not to mention a burn. "Ugh… How did she do that?"

"Well, it's fire, what can you expect?" Chopper struck Maquano with another Galaxia Sword Beam, taking another 12 out of him.

"Take…THIS!" Maquano pulled out a large amount of dark energy and he threw it down at Chopper. Luckily, he managed to swing it back at him and deal 32 damage to him instead.

"Heh heh heh! Now THAT was awesome!" Chopper smirked as he struck Maquano with his D-Down Slash attack. Sonic immediately transformed into Super Sonic afterwards.

"Super Sonic? How interesting… Let's see if you can dodge THIS!" Maquano tried to strike Sonic with his sword, but his attack didn't work. He ended up getting hit instead for 12.

"Heh heh heh! Isn't that interesting?" Super Sonic made a dash at Maquano, knocking him back a bit for 12.

"Now THIS is cool!" Chopper jumped up and brought his sword down at Maquano with a Galaxia Sword Beam. "See, Maquano? We ARE capable of doing some heavy damage to you! Just look at you!"

Maquano tried something else this time. "I still have something else I carry with me!" He pulled out a blaster a Darksprine Trooper would carry and he fired it at Chopper, knocking him back for 32 damage. "Whenever I need to use something to kill someone from far away, I use this!"

"Your defense and attack boost is already gone, so this should be a bit easy now," Chopper slashed at Maquano with Galaxia once again, taking a good 6 out of him.

"I didn't make my move yet, so now I shall!" Heartsy gripped onto her hammer as hard as she could as she slammed it down on Maquano's helmet.

"Bleh! What kind of hammer is THAT? !" Maquano managed to grab Heartsy's hammer. "This thing is too girly for your tastes! Look at it!" He threw it straight at Heartsy's face, leaving a red mark on her.

"Ouch… That was a bit painful…especially from my hammer." she moaned.

"Relax, Heartsy… You'll be fine." Chopper assured as he turned to Maquano. He jumped towards him and he slashed at him five times this time to take a good 30 out of him. "Man, I LOVE doing this!"

"Ha HA!" Using his ability for one more turn, Super Sonic rammed into Maquano one more time to take 12 out of him. One more attack that would deal 12 damage would bring him halfway down.

Maquano rushed at Chopper with his sword, but Chopper managed to block the attack as soon as he swung his sword. Maquano tried to strike him again, but he managed to block it, stunning him for a bit.

"Jump, Chopper!" Flyer shouted.

"OK!" Chopper jumped towards Maquano and he slashed at him for 12, knocking him back and leaving him halfway down.

"Arrghh… How is Lord Maquano losing?" Beldam questioned. "He IS the Lord of Evil!"

"I'm pretty sure Chopper was able to beat him countless times," Tipral answered with his arms folded. "That's an easy explanation."

"Do you think we should go over to him and help him against Chopper?" Mysterious asked. Purple could only give him a shrug.

"Well, I can't really decide who's going to win this. I hope that Slick loses this one, though!" Doopliss chortled.

"Lord Maquano! Do you require our assistance? !" Beldam called out.

"No, I don't need it!" Maquano retorted, taking damage from a slash from Galaxia. "This fight is only between me and Chopper! If you get involved in this, I WILL make sure you die!"

Mario merely chuckled at Maquano as he put on his Cape ability. When Maquano tried to throw dark magic at him, he simply deflected it back at him, making him take 28 instead.

"Hmph! Not bad… I never knew a cape could do such a thing…" Maquano huffed, clenching his fist in anger.

"Wahoo!" Mario made a dash at Maquano and he took 12 out of him by spinning his cape around. Chopper took only a merely 6 with a sword slash.

Maquano tried to swing at Chopper with his sword again, but when he block the attack, he ended up punching him so he can knock him down with his sword.

"You thought that I would let you make an attack on me like that? I don't think so…" Maquano jumped back for any other hit that was going to be thrown at him.

"Well… Let's see how you like this!" Chopper used his Master Glove ability to make a giant light ball of energy come down on Maquano. Because of his weakness to light, it was painful.

"Arrgghh! You little…! How did you learn something like that? !" he exclaimed while still being shocked a bit by the light energy.

"I was lucky enough to get it from some guy who was a champ! Yeah, and I said WAS. He kinda is right now, but they said I will always stay as the champ in Glitzville!"

"A champion in Glitzville, you say? I'm sure that I could have mopped the floor there…" Maquano clenched his fist as he was struck by Mario's cape spin. But, he didn't attack Mario. He floated over to Chopper and he knocked him to the ground with a backhand. Then, he tried to stab him while he was on the ground.

"Oh no you don't!" Vivian's Fiery Jinx stopped Maquano from making a move on Chopper, and thus, allowing Chopper to get up and strike him with a Light Slash, causing Maquano to scream loudly from the attack.

"The light…! It… It burns!" he screamed. Luckily for Chopper and his friends, he was already down to 300 HP, which was VERY nice.

"It seems that he's going down quite easily," Tipral stated.

Maquano grumbled to himself as he began to spin his sword around. Chopper managed to guard the attack for 29 damage.

"Be careful when he uses that spin attack. That's pretty devastating." Flyer warned.

"No worries, buddy! We got this!" Chopper slashed at Maquano five times before jumping back to avoid a swing from him.

"Oog! …You were lucky…" Maquano grunted.

"Might as well make another move," Flyer flew at Maquano and he struck him with his Flying Attack for only 10.

"Nice! He's down to 260 HP!" Tamber grinned.

"That's still not enough for you fools!" Maquano tossed a dark ball of energy straight at Tamber, causing him to fall asleep. "Would the rest of you like to join him?"

"No thank you!" Shadower struck Maquano with a Shadow Blast, which was then followed up by Chopper's Gravity Jump, bringing him down to 220 HP.

Maquano brought his sword down on Chopper again, but he managed to block his attack. This time, he backhanded the young Star Warrior and lunged at him, knocking him back.

"What a cheap move! This is child abuse here!" Chopper retorted.

"I don't care who I hit, Chopper… You've been a pain on my side for too long. I need to end it!"

"Oh, fine… I guess I'll just recover my HP and FP." Chopper pulled a Maximum Recovery out and he ate it to recover all of his HP and FP, THEN he made a move by using a Gravity Jump on him.

"Nice move, Choppy!" Heartsy used her Hammering Hearts next to make a bunch of hearts fall from the sky on Maquano's head. He was already down to 180 HP with that attack.

"Aaargh! More hearts? !" Maquano struck Heartsy with his sword, knocking her to the ground. "We don't bring hearts into this world, little girl. All that you need to bring is darkness and a dead Chopper!"

"I'd NEVER do that!" Heartsy retorted.

"Settle down, Heartsy… We'll finish him. I promise." Chopper used his Master Glove attack to bring a light ball of energy down on Maquano, causing him to scream in pain once again.

"Argh! Why must you always use light against me? !" he exclaimed.

"I do this for a reason, you know…" Chopper sighed while letting Vivian use another Fire Wall on him, burning him and taking 12 out of him to 150 HP.

"Enough of this!" Maquano raised his arms and he immediately raised his Attack and Defense by 4. "I'm going to put an end to this right now!"

"Well, we're gonna make sure you DON'T!" Chopper used another Master Glove attack on him to take another 16 out of him while Kirby struck him with his Final Cutter afterwards.

"Bah! This is getting to be a bit too much!" Maquano raised his arms again and he used his dark powers to recover 150 HP. "Ahhh… That works out perfectly for me!"

"Hey! That's not fair!" Vivian gaped.

"When you're facing a Demon Knight such as myself, then you know that I don't always play fair. …Compared to Meta Knight, of course." Maquano cackled.

Vivian clenched her fist in anger as she unleashed another Fire Wall on him, scorching him in flames. Chopper used another Master Glove attack to bring him down to 242 HP.

"Ugh… I hate that we have to go through this again." Chopper growled as he took a hit from Maquano's sword. He only had one turn left before his ability would wear off, so he used his Light Slash on him to take another 12 out of him.

With Flyer's Flying Attack, he managed to bring Maquano down to 220 HP, which felt pretty nice.

"You know that this isn't over yet, do you not?" Maquano questioned as everyone panted. "Look at you all. You're all so exhausted while I'm still standing up straight!"

He summoned a dark ball of energy at Chopper, but he still had the energy to deflect it straight back at him, taking 32 out of him.

"Argh! You little…!"

"All right, Shadower! Lower his defense!" Chopper shouted. As soon as Shadower hit him with a Shadow Blast, he came down on Maquano with a Gravity Jump for 28 damage.

"Hmph! Not bad…" Maquano struck everyone with dark lightning, taking a good 28 out of them.

"We'll get you down in no time, Maquano!" Chopper used one more Gravity Jump before his defense would come back to take 28 out of him again. With Tamber's Master Star Fist, he was down to 114 HP.

Maquano nearly shook off that attack and then he proceeded to strike Chopper with his sword, knocking him to the ground. As he floated back, he was struck by Chopper's Light Slash attack.

"All right, I'll bring him to 90!" Scrub laid an egg and then he tossed it straight at Maquano, bringing him down to 90 HP.

"I can't believe that they're actually doing it…" Mysterious gaped.

"We'll see what happens," Tipral said.

Maquano clenched his fist in anger. "I don't understand HOW you managed to bring me down this far, but I'm going to end this quickly!" Maquano raised his arms up and he began to summon a large ball of dark energy. "When this strikes you, you will most likely DIE!"

"Whoa… Pretty dangerous, if you ask me!" Chopper squeaked as he used another Light Slash on him.

"I'll hide you from him!" Vivian grabbed Chopper and she pulled him into the shadows.

"_**SEETHE INTO DARKNESS, CHOPPER!**_" Maquano threw the large dark ball of energy at where Chopper would be, but his attack missed. "Huh? My attack missed? !"

"Well, when you're with a Shadow Siren, you KNOW that you're probably going to miss!" Chopper smirked as he rose up from the shadows. He jumped towards Maquano and he slashed at him four times before jumping back.

"He'll be down to 60 soon!" Bombette assured, using her Bomb attack to explode in his face.

"Perhaps this calls for something special!" Maquano came towards Vivian and he tried to freeze her with an Ice Slash. Her guarding prevented her from being frozen. "…I see it has failed."

"Yeah, it did, which kinda sucks for you," Chopper attacked with another Light Slash, which was followed up by Vivian's Fire Wall, which brought him down to 34 HP. They weren't too far now…

"How…can this be?" wheezed Maquano, firing dark magic straight at Chopper. Luckily for the Star Warrior, he Superguarded the attack. He proceeded to strike him with a Light Slash afterwards.

With a Fiery Jinx up her sleeves, she managed to bring Maquano down to 10 HP with the burn effect on him. He started to feel completely exhausted at this point, knowing that he couldn't win.

"…Just finish it, Chopper. We know that you've won this time." Maquano groaned.

"Wh-What? ! B-But Lord Maquano! You…" Beldam stammered.

"I don't want to hear anything from your mouth, Beldam! Let him finish me off!" Maquano retorted.

"OK… Here it goes." Chopper charged straight at him with a Light Smash and, to finish him off, he brought Galaxia right through his chest.

"NOO!" Maquano started to feel the light energy from the sword try to destroy him. His head began to hang low like the rest of his body. He stopped moving at this point. They all knew that he was dead.

"Whew… We finally did it…" Chopper wheezed. "We took down Maquano! …But, it didn't seem as hard as I thought it would be…"

"Yeah, you're right about that," Vivian agreed.

"...Heh heh heh heh!" Everyone turned around to see Maquano slowly bringing his head up. "You really think that this is over? Did you think that a sword like this would bring me down, Chopper?"

He grabbed the hilt of the sword and he pulled it straight out of his chest. The dark powers in him began to heal the wound left in his chest.

"You were right, Chopper! This fight didn't seem as hard as you thought it was going to be! …Do you want to see real power?" Maquano said in a dark and eerie voice.

"What do you mean?" Chopper questioned, getting into his fighting stance.

"Oh, let me show you!" At this moment, Maquano was surrounded in darkness. His whole human-like body started to disappear as he transformed into a large shadow demon. His head had these three curved spikes on his head kind of like Maquano's helmet and he had these glowing evil red eyes with a red mouth as well. He had this strange tail thing extended to the ground like a shadow being would have, but he could detach himself from the ground if he ever wished. From then, they all knew that this was Maquano's true form.

"_**Hah hah hah hah! Now you see my true form, mortals? ! This fight is FAR from over!" **_Maquano spewed out purples flames upon everyone. The dangerous attack dealt 48 damage to everyone!

"Ugh… I… I can't take much anymore…" Scrub wheezed as he fell over on the ground.

"SCRUB!" Chopper gaped in horror as his Yoshi friend fell to the ground. "You… You're going to pay for that!"

"_**Go ahead, Chopper! Throw anything you've got at me!" **_Maquano cackled as Chopper picked up Galaxia and tried to strike him with a Light Slash. Sadly, the attack did absolutely NOTHING.

"It did nothing? ! But… How?" Chopper was guffawed as Maquano grabbed Galaxia and destroyed it within seconds. He managed to fire a dark blast at him afterwards, taking another 48 damage out of him and also destroying his green floppy hat.

"Urgh… I'm not giving up just yet!" Chopper grumbled as he began tossing light balls rapidly at Maquano. He grinned as he saw them do nothing to him.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! Excellent! So Maquano will be victorious no matter what the odds are!" Beldam cackled.

"_**Yes… Now, allow me to help finish the rest of you off!" **_Maquano struck everyone with a dark pulse that ended up knocking everyone to the ground except for Chopper and Vivian.

"Well well well! It looks like it all comes down to you two!" Mysteirous grinned.

"Chopper… I'm scared!" Vivian said in fear.

"I am too, Vivian…" Chopper looked up at the evil, grinning shadow demon form of Maquano as he began to unleash some purples flames on him.

When he fired purple flames at him, Vivian immediately jumped in the way and took the hit instead, falling to the ground.

"VIVIAN!" Chopper rushed over to Vivian, who was moaning in pain.

"Ch… Chopper…" she moaned. "I… I just wanted to repay you for…what you've done for…me…" Her eyes closed and she was unconscious.

"No… How could this be…?" Chopper turned to Maquano with tears coming down his face. "WHY would you do such a thing to my friends you monster? !"

"_**Monster? I'm no monster! I'M A GOD!" **_he cackled as he noticed his HP meter. _**"Hmmmm… Now that I think about it, I need to heal myself real quick."**_

He looked down at the audience and he rose his arms up. All of the audience members were suddenly dragged into the shadows and then they turned into souls, replenishing all of Maquano's HP.

"_**Ahhh… Much better! Now I can finally finish you off!" **_He prepared to fire a dark orb of energy at Chopper. _**"Farewell, Chopper! It was nice knowing you as my greatest enemy of all time!"**_

He hurled the dark ball of energy straight at Chopper and in no time, he collapsed just like the rest of his friends.

"_**Hah hah hah! Finally! I've won!"**_


	156. We're Counting on You, Chopper!

**Previously-**

"_Chopper… I'm scared!" Vivian said in fear._

"_I am too, Vivian…" Chopper looked up at the evil, grinning shadow demon form of Maquano as he began to unleash some purples flames on him._

_When he fired purple flames at him, Vivian immediately jumped in the way and took the hit instead, falling to the ground._

"_VIVIAN!" Chopper rushed over to Vivian, who was moaning in pain._

"_Ch… Chopper…" she moaned. "I… I just wanted to repay you for…what you've done for…me…" Her eyes closed and she was unconscious._

"_No… How could this be…?" Chopper turned to Maquano with tears coming down his face. "WHY would you do such a thing to my friends you monster? !"_

"_**Monster? I'm no monster! I'M A GOD!" **__he cackled as he noticed his HP meter. __**"Hmmmm… Now that I think about it, I need to heal myself real quick."**_

_He looked down at the audience and he rose his arms up. All of the audience members were suddenly dragged into the shadows and then they turned into souls, replenishing all of Maquano's HP._

"_**Ahhh… Much better! Now I can finally finish you off!" **__He prepared to fire a dark orb of energy at Chopper. __**"Farewell, Chopper! It was nice knowing you as my greatest enemy of all time!"**_

_He hurled the dark ball of energy straight at Chopper and in no time, he collapsed just like the rest of his friends._

"_**Hah hah hah! Finally! I've won!"**_

* * *

Maquano looked down at Chopper and his group of friends. They weren't moving one bit. He had a pleasant look on his face.

"_**Victory is now ours!" **_he cackled. _**"I knew that this fight would belong to me! It's impossible to defeat me in my true form!"**_

"Of course, Lord Maquano! We KNEW that you would win!" Beldam grinned.

"_**All I had to do was fool that Mayor into thinking that Chopper needed to collect the Crystal Stars! I was even the one that created the other thirteen! There's no way that that could work against me!"**_

At that moment, a light began to emit from the twenty Crystal Stars. _**"Huh? What's going on here? !" **_The Crystal Stars managed to break the dark power out of them and float up above Maquano.

"The Crystal Stars? What are they doing? !" Tipral exclaimed as they began to float out of Dark Subspace World.

* * *

**At the Fountain of Dreams-**

All twenty Crystal Stars floated down to their places around the pedestal on the fountain and the blue light began to emit from it as well. They were shining brighter than ever as they began to float to their locations.

* * *

**Over by Music Kingdom-**

The Diamond Star made its way down to Music Kingdom. A Musical Note noticed it come down, so it walked over to it.

"Huh? What's this little thing? Is that the thing that that kid was looking for when he came here before?" it asked.

"You know, that thing might be related to what's making the sky dark. I mean, it looks like…" one Musical Note could see Maquano cackling through the star and Chopper lying on the ground.

"Whoa! It looks like that that kid's in danger! Listen, we can't just let him stay like this! We've gotta give him a little cheer!"

Zip Toad came walking out of his house. "Hmmmm? What now? What's that thing? He noticed the Musical Notes began to cheer for Chopper. "Why're you guys shouting someone's name?"

"We need to help Chopper! He's in danger!" the Musical Notes said all at once.

"What? ! You mean that kid that came here before? ! Oh, no! There's NO way that I'm going to let him lose!" He ran over to the star. "Listen, kid! You know how to play music like a man! I don't want you giving up, you hear me? !"

* * *

**Over by Glitzville-**

Jolene, Rawk Hawk, King K. and even the Iron Clefts were all around the Gold Star, seeing Chopper unconscious and Maquano cackling.

"I know you're fighting far away right now. For us… For all of us…" Jolene stated. "This Crystal Star has told us of your last, brave stand… Maybe we can't do much to help you… But we're thinking of you. All our wishes are for you… For your victory…"

"Unh! Yeah! Yeah! Feel it! Rawk out, Great Contadre! RAAAAAAAAAAAAWK!" Rawk Hawk shouted. "Listen to me, Contadre! Anybody who's beat me is not ALLOWED to lose!"

"That's right!" the Red Iron Cleft shouted. "You! Star! Tell that little shrimp that beat us to never give in!"

"FIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!" his brother shouted.

"We're sendin' you all of our strength, C-Man!" King K. shouted. "You feelin' the love, my man? CONTADRE!"

* * *

**At the Great Tree-**

"Whoa! The Crystal Star!" Punio gaped as the Emerald Star came floating down to them.

"What in the world? What's THAT doing here?" the Puni Elder questioned. "This is very mysterious… Yes, a mystery that…"

"Snap out of it, Elder!"

Petuni jumped up a couple of times. "Brother! Chopper's in trouble! Just look through the star and you'll see! That's what it's also trying to tell me!"

"What? Could it be… …Hey, you're right, Petuni! I can see… I can see it! The Crystal Star is showing us a vision! It's showing that Chopper is trying to save the universe, but he's in trouble…"

"Chopper! Please don't give up!"

"Yeah! You can do it, Chopper!"

"Keep fighting!" "Keep fighting!" "Keep fighting!" "Keep fighting!" "Keep fighting!" "Keep fighting!" the Punies chanted together.

* * *

**At Twilight Town-**

"Don't you give up, Chopper!" one of the three children shouted as they looked at the Ruby Star.

"Give it to 'em!" "Fight! Fight!" "Yeah! Never give in!" "Yes! Believe in yourself!" "FIIIIIIIIGHT!"

"Chopper… You may feel like it's going rough…like the tides have shifted against you…But if you lose, the world will be plunged into darkness forever… Please, don't give in." a villager said.

"He'll be fine, everyone. I'm sure of it." Mayor Dour stated. "Chopper will never give up. Chopper will stand true. I… I still remember how easily he took care of that dark being who looked like him who had cursed us. We must have faith in him. We must believe…that light will return to our world."

But it's freakin' "Twilight" Town…

* * *

**On Pudgy Island-**

"Don't give up, Chopper!" "You can do it!" "We have faith in you!" both Bambo and Kooplang shouted.

"I say… That boy has done a lot of great things for the sea. I couldn't have done any better against that monster eel." Bobbery shed a tear as he stared at the Sapphire Star.

"Relax, amigo. That boy will never give in." Cortez stated.

"Hmmmm… I guess you may be right, old chap! We're all here for him, and that's what matters!"

"You can take on that shadow demon, Chopper!" Bambo shouted. "You were able to take out a giant eel, so you can do that, too! Listen… I may have not believed you before, but I have faith in you now. I'm not going to laugh at you this time. You CAN do it!"

"Yes, Chopper… You have done a brave thing for not only us, but for everyone that sailed the seas! Don't give up and save the universe from this accursed demon!" Kooplang shouted.

"I couldn't be more proud of you guys," Bobbery sniffed.

* * *

**At Sand Town-**

"That little boy's in deep trouble!" one of Heartsy's Toad friends gaped. "Isn't that Heartsy's boyfriend right there?"

"Yes… I suppose that is him! But, what's he doing in this Garnet Star?" the Mayor noticed the evil shadow demon Maquano cackling. "Did he lose to that evil demon?"

"I think so! …Oh my gosh! We can't just let him give up just yet! What would Heartsy do without someone of her own species! You need to fight!"

"Yes… You cannot give up so easily…"

* * *

**At Fahr Outpost-**

"We are assembled, Mayor," stated a Bob-omb.

"Da…"

The Mayor made his way over to the cannon area, where a bunch of Bob-ombs were lined up together. The Crystal Star was in that place as well.

"Good work, my comrades. Now, let us do it. Ready and…"

"_**CHOPPEEEEER!**_"

"Blow 'em up, SHA-BOO!" "You the BOMB! Bombbomb!" the Bob-ombs chanted.

"Chopper… You can do it…" the Mayor stated.

* * *

**At Boo Town-**

"My poor, sweet Chopper is in danger!" Bow gaped, looking at Chopper through the Ghost Star. "And is that… Is that Maquano cackling? I… I thought we took care of him!"

"My lady!" Bootler called out. "We cannot let your future prince be put in danger like this… Oh, if only we can help him…"

"Snap out of it, Bootler! There's no way I'm going to let Chopper lose like this!" Bow turned to the Ghost Star. "Chopper! If you can hear me… Please don't give up. Finish this fight for me…"

* * *

**At Wingel City-**

"Oh, dear… Is that my son who's unconscious?" Flyer's mother gaped in horror at the Sky Star.

"This is terrible… I never thought that it would end like this." Winklin slowly shook his head in disbelief. "Chopper… If you can hear us… Don't give up. You've saved our peaceful world from those Aliebits and that fallen angel. I don't want you to stop this right now."

"I'm sure he can hear you. I can hear voices from that…" Flyer's mother turned to the Sky Star. "Chopper, please take good care of my son. Make sure he comes back in one piece."

* * *

**On the purple moon, Nautina-**

C-2 Choppor was walking through the purple moon with Merlo, one of Merlon's brothers. They really couldn't find much else to do, since they were stuck on the moon.

"This is hopeless. We're not getting anywhere on this moon. All I saw was a destroyed starship and that's it." Merlo sighed.

"We cannot give up just yet, Merlo," C-2 Choppor assured. "I was lucky to have found you around those C Units. If it weren't for me, you would be just fine."

They came across the Moon Star ahead. "What's that?" Merlo made his way over to the star. "Wait… I see… I see the young boy who helped me out of that place earlier! He sort of resembles you a bit."

"Chopper…" C-2 Choppor hovered over to the Moon Star. "He's… He's in danger. It looks like he's trying to fight against Maquano. But the question is… How is Maquano still alive?"

"Perhaps the Light Orb he tossed at him didn't work? His dark power could have corrupted it… But, that's not the point. We need to try to save Chopper this instant! Throw cheers everywhere!"

Merlo took a deep breath and then he spoke out. "Chopper, I believe in you. You can't lose just yet!"

C-2 Choppor walked over to the star. "Chopper, of all the things you've done for me, I think now's the time to return the favor. Please… Stop Maquano and stop the darkness being spread around here!"

* * *

**On Viti-**

"I hope that that boy's fine…" a Lakitu stated while looking at the King's Star. He was over by the docks with Pennington, Silvia, Goldbob and Bub.

"Do not fear, my boy. **Flyer **is my finest pupil!" Pennington stated. "I'm quite sure he'll prevail!"

"Well, I worry nonetheless…" Silvia sighed. "I still hope there is a future in which my little Bub can grow and prosper…"

"Well then, I suppose all we can do is give him a rousing cheer, hm? Yes, I am quite sure he can hear us through the power of this crystal! " Goldbob assured.

"Darn right, Dad!" Bub turned to the King's Star. "Go, Contadre! Go get 'em!"

"You can win this, Chopper!" "Contadre!" "Go, Contadre!"

Pennington looked a bit dumbfounded. "Huh? Ch-Chopper? C-Contadre? Not **Fl-Flyer**?"

* * *

**On Dream Land-**

"Sis! Take a look what I just found!" Bun shouted.

"Huh?" Fumu followed Bun to the center of Hatty Town, where the Dream Star was. "Wh-What's the Crystal Star doing here?"

Bun saw Chopper unconscious and Maquano cackling evilly through it. "Oh, no… Chopper's in deep trouble!"

All of the villagers gasped in horror. "I think I have an idea on what we should do… We need to give him all of our courage. Everyone needs to do it, or else it's not going to work!" Fumu suggested.

"Then I'll start things out!" Bun took a deep breath. "Chopper! You can do it! Don't let that evil demon stop you! I KNOW there's some kind of power in you that can help you stop this evil!"

"Chopper… Don't lose this…and make sure Flyer's OK in the end." Fumu said.

"Go, Chopper!" "Fight for the universe!" "CHOPPER!" "GO, CHOPPER!" "Show that demon who's boss!"

"Hmmmmm… We don't have enough people!" Fumu looked over by the hill. King Dedede and Escargon were still crying. "Ugh… I need to get them to help!"

Fumu rushed over to the hill. "You guys! Stop crying right now and help us!"

"It's hopeless! We're all gonna die!" King Dedede cried.

"I don't want it to end like this either, Your Majesty!" Escargon cried.

"If you keep crying, then we're gonna be in an even worse situation!" Fumu grumbled. "Chopper's fighting an evil demon, and perhaps if we wins, you might get your castle back."

King Dedede immediately got up. "Then what are we waiting for? ! Let's go help that stupid little puffball!" He grabbed Escargon's head and he dragged him over to the Dream Star.

"Hey! Chopper! Beat that demon down with anyone you've got! If you can save my castle, I SWEAR that I won't do anything to this place anymore!" King Dedede shouted.

"Errr… You can win this, Chopper!" Escargon tried to cheer, but he wasn't doing it too well.

"FIIIIIIIGHT!" "GO CHOPPER!"

Fumu gasped when she saw the spirit of the Mayor appear and walk over to the Dream Star. "M-Mayor…? !"

"_Chopper… I believe in you. I may not be here on this world for much longer, but I wish you luck on defeating that demon. I know you can win…"_

* * *

**Down in Tartamos-**

Everyone could hear the voices moving their way to Camikon's Castle and into Dark Subspace World.

"Hmmmmm… It appears that people are trying to help Chopper. We cannot let him lose like this!" Meta Knight cleared his throat. "Chopper! You may have gotten this universe into trouble, but I believe in you! If you could take down the Shadow King, then surely you can take down your old nemesis!"

"Beat that demon to a pulp, Chopper!" Sword Knight shouted.

"You can do it, man!" Blade Knight shouted.

"Sonny, I want you to get up and give him all you got against him!" Kit Cosmos shouted.

"Beat 'em, man!" Knuckle Joe began to punch and kick the air.

"Yes, Meta Knight's right! I know you can do this!" Silica shouted.

"Please, Chopper… You've been a great leader, bringing down an army of Tartaras and an old wizard! I have complete faith in you!" Sir Arthur stated.

"We might as well help," Blade cleared his through. "C'mon, Chopper! Show that enemy of yours who's boss!"

"Uhh… Why should I cheer? That's just gay…"

"YOU'RE GAY!"

"OK! Fine!" Bang cleared his throat. "Come on, dude! I don't know much about you, but I know for a fact you can kick someone's ass for sure! Kick it REAL hard!"

"Yes, I would like you to do the same thing," Night agreed.

Blade looked over at Dark Doom. "Oh, fine… Chopper, you can fight him and yadda yadda yadda…" He rolled his eyes until Blade pulled his katana out and brought it to his neck. "OK! OK! Chopper! I believe in you! FIIIIIIGHT!"

"Much better," Blade smirked as he put his katana away.


	157. Battle Between Light and Darkness

"_Go, Chopper!" "You can do it, Chopper!" "Don't let that demon stop you!" "We have faith in you, Chopper!" Listen, kid! You know how to play music like a man! I don't want you giving up, you hear me? !" "Listen to me, Contadre! Anybody who's beat me is not ALLOWED to lose!" "Keep fighting!" "Keep fighting!" "Keep fighting!" "Keep fighting!" "Keep fighting!" "Keep fighting!" "Give it to 'em!" "Fight! Fight!" "Yeah! Never give in!" "Yes! Believe in yourself!" "FIIIIIIIIGHT!" "Don't give up, Chopper!" "You can do it!" "We have faith in you!" "I think so! …Oh my gosh! We can't just let him give up just yet! What would Heartsy do without someone of her own species! You need to fight!" "Yes… You cannot give up so easily…" "Blow 'em up, SHA-BOO!" "You the BOMB! Bombbomb!" "Chopper! If you can hear me… Please don't give up. Finish this fight for me…" "Chopper… If you can hear us… Don't give up. You've saved our peaceful world from those Aliebits and that fallen angel. I don't want you to stop this right now." "Chopper, of all the things you've done for me, I think now's the time to return the favor. Please… Stop Maquano and stop the darkness being spread around here!" "Huh? Ch-Chopper? C-Contadre? Not __**Fl-Flyer**__?" "Chopper… I believe in you. I may not be here on this world for much longer, but I wish you luck on defeating that demon. I know you can win…" "Chopper! You may have gotten this universe into trouble, but I believe in you! If you could take down the Shadow King, then surely you can take down your old nemesis!"_

Maquano could hear all of the voices throughout the place. _**"Arggh! What… What are these voices? !"**_

"I… I don't know!" Beldam gaped. "Who's speaking? !"

"I don't think this is good…" Tipral clenched his fists, expecting to see something happen.

At that moment, the twenty Crystal Stars came floating down to the room, surrounding Chopper.

"Ugh… Wh… What?" Chopper slowly brought his head up as he saw the Crystal Stars surrounded him. "What's going on?"

At that moment, the Crystal Stars started to heal him of his HP. "Huh? I… I feel like some strange power is going into me…"

"_**What… What's happening? !" **_Maquano gaped as he saw Chopper's feet float off the ground. There was a large amount of wind blowing as the Crystal Stars circled around him faster and faster by the minute.

Chopper brought his fists up as the Crystal Stars got closer to him. "Oh, boy… I feel like I'm going to…"

As soon as he swung his fists back, he started to glow a sparkling yellow color with his feet being a bit of a golden yellow color. As he was surrounded by a glowing yellow light, he pointed straight at Maquano.

"You're going down!" he shouted.

"_**S-Super Chopper? ! But… How? ! Do the Crystal Stars really give you such a power like that? !"**_

"Super Chopper… What an interesting ability." Tipral stated with a raised eyebrow.

Super Chopper looked at his yellow arms. "Interesting… I haven't seen THIS in a while! I guess with the Crystal Stars' powers, they managed to give me my ultimate ability: my super form!"

**Chopper has now become Super Chopper! His HP has rose to 1,000 and his Attack has rose to 40! Now he can use a lot of new abilities like the Light Blast and Light Beam!**

"_**Hmph! Well, you may have your super form to help you, but that does not mean that you will stop me!" **_Maquano spat._** "Even with it, I'm stronger than you!" **_

"So, you wanna bet if I'm stronger than you?" Super Chopper smirked. "'Cause I bet that I can hurt you now!" He looked down at his friends, especially Vivian.

"_I can't believe she risked her life to save me… That was just…sad." _He turned to Maquano with a fighting stance. "All right, Maquano! It ends RIGHT HERE!"

"_**Hah hah hah hah! Oh, how nice… The REAL final battle is between you and me in our stronger forms! How fitting! Prepare to die, Chopper!"**_

**Tattle: **_That's Shadow Demon Maquano. Omigosh! He looks incredibly freaky! I mean, that mouth is what freak me out the most! Max HP is 5,000, Attack is 48, and Defense is 0. He'll use all sorts of dark attacks on you, such as his flames, dark energy and even his dark lasers! If he tries to raise his Attack power, IMMEDIATELY put up a shield! Trust me! You'll thank me later! Now, just because you can waste a turn by healing doesn't mean he can't. He can heal about 300 HP if necessary! That's pretty big! But, still… I'm not gonna waste your time by talking to you. You NEED to stop Maquano once and for all! The whole universe depends on you!_

Super Chopper stretched before he fired a light blast straight at Maquano. "Whew! I love these abilities! Now I can kick your butt with them!"

"_**That's just what you think!" **_Maquano unleashed his dark purple flames upon Super Chopper. It didn't burn him, but it certainly did do some damage to him. But, he was able to ram straight into him with a Light Dash.

"_**Take THIS!" **_Maquano swiped at his nemesis with his own claws. But, Super Chopper managed to throw a light ball straight at him afterwards for another 40. _**"Light against dark… How interesting."**_

He pushed Super Chopper back with a dark beam of energy, sending him to one of the walls. Doopliss couldn't help but grin at this.

"Oh, boy! This is awesome! Go Maquano!" Doopliss chanted.

"Shut it, freak-sheet!" Beldam snapped.

"Hey, so you can shoot a beam too? Well so can I!" Super Chopper charged up a beam attack and he fired it straight at Maquano, causing him to scream in agony.

But, instead of saying something, he fired a dark ball of energy straight at him. Of course, Chopper hurled a light ball back at him instead. He knew that some of their attacks had a bit in common.

"All right! Down to 4,800 HP already! Now THAT'S nice!" Super Chopper managed to charged straight at Maquano when he fired a large, dark ball of energy. Using his power, he managed to push it back with a powerful light kick.

Not to mention that he was able to change it into light energy as well, so that was a plus for him!

"Now how was THAT for an introduction?" he asked.

"_**Bluuuuurg… Listen, Chopper… I swear that I will OBLITERATE one of your friends if you have to keep acting like this!" **_Maquano warned.

Super Chopper gasped. "You wouldn't _dare_!" He rushed at Maquano with his Multi-Beam attack. It's sort of like a Power Bounce, but it goes from 40, to 39, etc. He managed to strike him about twelve times with it. It was pretty successful, since he did over 400 damage to him.

"_**Now it's MY turn!" **_With a snap of his finger, he managed to strike Super Chopper with dark lightning. _**"Even if you are powerful, you're still not invincible to my attacks!"**_

"Well, you're not invincible to me too!" Chopper pointed his finger at Maquano like a gun and he fired a light ball of energy, taking 40 more out of him with the attack, only to get scorched by purple flames.

"Ack!" He shook off the soot on him before using another Light Beam on him. He proceeded to ram into him with a Light Dash as well. "Looks like I did about 822 damage to you so far. I could've had this battle if you were in your demon knight form!"

"_**True… But I would have transformed anyways." **_Raising one of his fingers, he was able to zap Chopper with dark lightning. But to his surprise, he managed to Superguard the attack.

"Sorry, but you missed!" Super Chopper struck him with another Light Beam for 80, but was then zapped by more dark lightning.

After shaking off the attack, Super Chopper made a dash towards Maquano with his Light Dash. Afterwards, he was able to use a Light Blast on him, shooting a blast of light in his face.

"_**Aggghhh! I can't see!" **_he screeched in pain as he covered his eyes. This allowed Chopper to use another Light Beam on him, and thus, taking another 80 out of him. He was down to less than 4,000 HP!

"All right, let's see what I can do this time!" Chopper used his Multi-Beam attack and he started to fire light beams at him rapidly. After fifteen times, he was able to deal over 500 damage to him.

"_**You'll regret that!" **_Maquano managed to heal off 300 HP that he suffered from Super Chopper.

"Ugh… Now I have to do it again!" Super Chopper face palmed as he used another Multi-Beam attack on Maquano, striking him fifteen times once again. He dealt over 500 damage to him again.

This time, Maquano began to raise his power up by 48, which he could use to do a devastating 96 damage to Super Chopper if possible. All he decided to do was use a Light Beam on him for 80.

"OK… Better prepare myself for that attack he's gonna unleash!" Super Chopper got in a guarding stance as Maquano fired a huge dark beam of energy at him. Because he guarded it, he only suffered 95.

"_**What's wrong, Chopper? You don't look so good!" **_Maquano grinned as Super Chopper floated down to the ground in pain.

"Ugh… I'm not done yet, Maquano!" Super Chopper raised his arms up and he managed to heal himself of 300 HP. "See? My healing capabilities are equal to yours! How about THAT?"

Luckily for the Star Warrior, he was able to Superguard Maquano's powerful dark fire and used a Light Blast on him to take another 40 out of him.

"_**So, am I a lot stronger than what Perfect Staris was capable of?" **_Maquano questioned.

"I could say that… He only had 1,000 HP. You, on the other hand, have about 5,000!" Chopper managed to guard Maquano's next attack and use a Light Beam on him to make him screech in pain.

"_**Grrrrrr!" **_Maquano growled as he used his healing once again to recover 300 HP. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough, since Super Chopper managed to use his Multi-Beam attack on him again for eighteen this time.

"Good… Now he's down to less than 3,000 HP! That's what I like to see!" Super Chopper guarded the next attack that Maquano threw at him, which was a dark ball of energy, of course.

After shaking his arms, he tossed a light ball straight at Maquano for 40. "It may not be much, but I think it'll certainly do," he said.

Maquano unleashed a Dark Beam attack on him next to take a good 48 out of him. _**"I need your powers so I can successfully win this fight!" **_He turned to the others with a threatening look on his face.

"Right away, Lord Maquano!" Mysterious nodded as he gave some of his water magic to him. Purple gave him his Earth magic, while Beldam and Marilyn gave some of their magic to him.

"_**Tipral! I need you to give me some of your powers too!" **_demanded Maquano.

"I'm not giving my powers to anyone," Tipral retorted. "They're not to be given to a soul. Not even you could handle them."

"_**I see… So be it." **_Unfortunately, Maquano didn't see Super Chopper coming at him with two Light Beam attacks. _**"ARGH! You little…!"**_

He managed to force Super Chopper back with a dark ball of energy, but that didn't help when Super Chopper managed to blind him with a large light ball of energy that did about 120 damage to him.

"Well, looks like I get a free turn!" Super Chopper made a dash at him with his Light Dash, and then he struck him with his Multi-Beam attack twenty times. Now he was down to less than 2,000 HP!

"_**Impressive… I thought that you weren't going to bring me down this far." **_Maquano opened his red mouth and purple flames started to scorch Super Chopper. He tried to strike him with his own fists, but the Star Warrior managed to grab his arm and strike him with a Light Blast.

"_**Well, now might be the time for me to test out some magic!" **_Maquano summoned a dark blizzard upon Super Chopper, but instead of becoming frozen, he managed to guard it instead.

"Whoa… I think I need to heal!" Super Chopper clenched his fists and a light aura began to heal him of 300 HP. "That's better! I think I can finally do some more damage to you!"

Maquano grumbled as he fired a large dark ball of energy at Super Chopper, but he managed to do what he did before by using a Light Dash and turning it into pure light. He then kicked it at the shadow demon for 48 damage.

"Take THIS!" Super Chopper charged straight at Maquano and he managed to pierce through his dark body with a Light Dash. Now that he was behind him, he fired a Light Beam down at him for 80.

"_**You're going to regret that…" **_Maquano roared as his Attack Power began to rise by 48.

"Oh, boy… I need to think of something to protect me!" Super Chopper pondered for a bit as he floated down to the ground. "What can I do?"

Vivian moaned behind Super Chopper. "Let… Let me help you." Although the light power inside of Chopper was a bit too strong for her, she managed to pull him into the shadows.

"_**Hah hah hah hah! Now you shall see what I'm capable of!"**_ Maquano fired a large, dark beam at Super Chopper, but he ended up missing his attack. _**"WHAT? ! HOW DID I MISS? !"**_

Super Chopper was brought up from the shadows. "Vivian… I…" He noticed that Vivian ended up becoming unconscious. He bet that it was because of the light power in him. It was too strong for a shadow being like her.

"Thank you…" he whispered as he floated back up. He managed to use a Light Strike on him to take 160 out of him, that's for sure.

"_**Urghh…" **_Maquano growled as he raised his arms up to recover 300 HP. _**"This battle is FAR from over, Chopper!"**_

"That's what you think!" Super Chopper delivered a Multi-Beam attack upon Maquano twenty-two times to bring him down to less than 1,200 HP.

Maquano decided to summon a dark Tidal Wave upon Super Chopper to take 48 out of him. Despite it being water, it did do some big damage to him, but it didn't stop him from using another Light Strike on him, which was followed up by a Light Blast.

"Well, looks like you're down to less than 1,000 HP! This should be easy pickings now!" Super Chopper smirked as he tried to grab onto Maquano's arms when he tried to strike him.

"_**Don't think blocking my arms will save you!" **_Maquano struck Chopper with his purple flames, knocking him down towards his friends. _**"Even if your girlfriend managed to save you from my powerful attack, she can't do a thing to hit me!"**_

Super Chopper slowly got himself up. "Ugh… I'm TIRED of having to tell people that she isn't my girlfriend! All that matters is that I end you!" he shouted as he pointed at him. A Light Beam fired from his finger and struck Maquano for 80 damage.

He realized that Maquano was going to make an attack near his friends, so he immediately flew up so they wouldn't get hurt. Although getting hit was bad, it was more important for his friends to stay safe.

As he clasped his hands together, he managed to make a wave of light hit Maquano for 40 and make him dizzy for the turn. He had a smirk on his face when his dark ball of energy ended up missing.

"Oh, let me help you with that!" He managed to grab the dark ball of energy and turn it to pure light. Once he threw it down at him, Maquano suffered 48 damage.

Super Chopper decided to circle around him rapidly before striking him with a Light Beam, just to see if he'll get dizzy or not. But his smirk turned into a scowl as he recovered 300 HP.

"Oh, that's just a load of bull!" He sighed as he used his Multi-Beam attack on him sixteen times. "OK… He's only 506 HP away… You can do this, Chopper…" he huffed.

"_**That doesn't mean victory will be yours!" **_Maquano scowled as he struck Super Chopper with dark lightning. _**"I'm NOT going to let these two years go to waste with you roaming around the universe!"**_

"Well, sorry about that," Super Chopper struck him with a Light Strike for 120 damage before dodging Maquano's claws. "Those are some pretty sharp claws, I have to admit…"

With a Light Blast, he managed to take 40 out of him, but when he saw Maquano rise his Attack up, he knew he had to be careful…so he shot him with a Light Beam instead!

"Almost there, Chopper… You can do it. I KNOW you can!" Super Chopper panted, being a bit battered up from the fight. He braced himself as Maquano fired his large, dark beam at him, taking 95 out of him.

"Hmmmm… It's hard to tell whether who's going to win this." Tipral noticed that both of their HP was a bit low. Super Chopper's Light Beam brought Maquano down to about less than 200 HP.

"_**So it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" **_Maquano noticed how low their HP was. _**"I'm going to finish you off once and for all!" **_

Maquano fired another dark ball of energy at Super Chopper, but he managed to purify it and send it straight back at him instead for 48 damage. With a Light Blast, he brought him down to 98 HP.

"_**No… You WON'T win this, Chopper!" **_he roared as he spewed purple flames upon him. It brought Super Chopper severely low, but he was able to strike him with one last Light Blast.

"Oh, man… I'm only down to 40 HP!" Super Chopper gulped as Maquano prepared himself to use another dark ball.

"_**This should finish you off!" **_he cackled as he made it even stronger. _**"With only 40 HP left, this will kill you!"**_

"Excellent! NOW victory will belong to us!" Beldam cackled.

"GUHHH!" Maquano agreed while grunting.

"_**Say your prayers, Chopper! Because they'll be your LAST!" **_Maquano hurled the dark ball straight at the weak Star Warrior.

"_No! Don't let everyone down like this! You DO have some energy left in you! If you can throw it back at him, you can win this!" _Super Chopper's inner thoughts told him.

As the dark ball of energy collided with him, he tried to push it back. "Arrrgghhh! I…can't…let…the universe…DOWN!"

"C'mon… Let it kill him…" Doopliss was starting to grin. In fact, everyone was grinning as they saw how unsuccessful he was.

"Urrghh… _You can do this… Just… You need something in you!_" Super Chopper tried to pull a Banana Shroom out. "This is my only last hope…"

Gobbling it down, he was able to recover 120 HP. Now that he had the strength from a Mushroom made out of his favorite food, he managed to push it back and purify the dark energy to light.

"YES!" Super Chopper kicked it straight back at Maquano, causing him to scream in agony with only 10 HP left.

"_**WH-WHAT? ! But… HOW? ! How did you managed to push that back? !" **_he exclaimed.

"That's because I had my favorite food to help me!" Super Chopper smirked as he noticed the light energy that was emitting from him. "What's wrong, Maquano? You don't look so good!"

"_**ARRGHHH… YOU… YOU… HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? !"**_

"Well, 'Quano, I had a pretty good reason! I can't let the universe down like that! Sorry, but I can't let evil take over good around here. …But enough about that. Let's finish this battle once and for all!"

He brought his arms back as he began to charged a super-powerful light beam. "All right… Here...it…GOES!"

As he fired the light beam straight at Maquano, it pierced through him and also pierced through the dark core.

"_**Im… Impossible! How could I lose to my nemesis once again? ! This… This cannot be!" **_As a large amount of light emitted from Maquano, he began to scream. _**"AAAAAAAAAAAARRGGHHHHHH!"**_

"Lord Maquano!" GUUUHHH!" "NO! LORD MAQUANO!" "…!"

"No… How could this be? !" Tipral gaped. He saw Maquano and the dark core explode from the large amount of light. Unfortunately, for him, he ended up getting caught in the light.

"Arrghh! What's going on? ! I need to get out of here!" It was too late, the light explosion was caught in his eyes and he was too weak to teleport away. Actually, the light also made him disappear.

After ten seconds, the Shadow Sirens and Shadow Brothers saw that Maquano and the dark core was gone.

"NOOO! Quickly, Marilyn! Let's get out of here!" Beldam immediately escaped from Super Chopper by going into the shadows.

"Guh-huh!" Marilyn made her escape as well through the shadows.

"Wait! What about me? Aw, come on! Don't leave me here!" Doopliss made his way out in a different way.

"Ugh… This is bad." Mysterious gulped. He noticed Tipral was gone. "Wait… Where did shadow-freak go anyways? Bah! There's no time for questions! Let's beat it, Purple!"

Mysterious and Purple made their escape as well, leaving only Super Chopper and his unconscious friends in the room.

"Finally… I did it." Super Chopper's eyes were slowly starting to close. "Oooooog…" He was turned back to his normal self as he fell to the ground, unconscious. As usual, he becomes too exhausted after turning into Super Chopper.

At that point, nothing else could be heard except for the dark sounds coming from the sky.

* * *

**Fifteen minutes later-**

"Chopper! Chopper! Get up, Chopper!" a voice called out.

Chopper slowly opened his eyes as he saw all of his friends up. They all looked just fine.

"G… Guys? Are you all all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're just fine. The real question is if YOU'RE all right." Flyer asked.

"Me?" Chopper looked at himself. "I'm… I'm fine."

"You really put up a fight against Maquano, buddy," Sonic grabbed his arm and he helped him up. "I mean, you LITERALLY destroyed him and the dark core! That's gotta be an achievement!"

"Yeah… But just barely. I was lucky to make my way out of that mess. But, I couldn't have done it without you guys." He smiled at everyone, especially at Vivian.

"But the real question is… How do we get out of here?" Tamber questioned.

Everyone noticed a portal right in front of them that led into the Fountain of Dreams. Everyone seemed so surprised.

"Quickly, guys! Through here!" Chopper made his way into the portal with everyone else before it closed. They were lucky to make it through for sure.

But how would Dream Land be? Is it safe?

* * *

**And there you have the final battle of Paper Chopper: The Crystal Stars. Not too bad, was it? I thought this fight was a lot better than the one between Super Chopper and Staris. But, yes... Maquano was indeed the final boss. I know some people might think this was cliched - with him appearing at the end and all, but at least he didn't appear out of NOWHERE...**

**Well, anyways, one more chapter until the story is over. Yeah, it's that time...  
**


	158. Goodbye, My Friends

**Well, guys… It looks like this is the end. This is the final chapter of the whole story. 158 chapters in total. That must be a pretty big achievement there. But, it kinda feels sad that it's coming to an end already. Don't you guys think the same thing too? Well, I'm not gonna bother speaking about this stuff now. Just enjoy this final chapter of Paper Chopper: The Crystal Stars!**

* * *

As everyone made their way out of the portal, they noticed that Dream Land seemed to be the same as it was from the very beginning. There was no darkness anywhere in sight. Things turned out to be peaceful now, which is what exactly they all wanted to see when they made their way back here. At the moment, it was close to dawn.

"Poyo! (This place looks peaceful as it usually is! How nice!)" Kirby smiled.

Chopper stretched, but he stopped when the twenty Crystal Stars floated above him. "Wait… What's going on with the Crystal Stars?"

Everyone gaped as they saw them go to the fountain. They emitted a large amount of light that created a large, invisible light barrier around the universe. No darkness would be reaching this place now.

"Wow… Did the Crystal Stars actually do that?" Vivian asked, gazing at them in awe.

"It looks like it," Chopper smiled as he made his way out of the Fountain of Dreams. Everything looked like it was back to normal. There was no darkness in sight, nor was there a missing castle up at the distance. "Finally! Things are back to the way that they should be!"

"Yeah, I really like this!" Tamber sat down on the hill that was right by Hatty Town. "Everything feels so peaceful now! I feel like I can finally relax in peace! Don't you think so, Chopper?"

"Chopper? Is that really you?"

Chopper's antennas sprung up when he saw the Mayor standing by the fountain with an expression of shock and happiness.

"I don't believe it! You're finally back!" the Mayor cried. "And with everything back to normal, that must mean the universe is saved! I'm so proud of you guys... I… I couldn't be more proud!"

"Mayor? What are you doing here?" Chopper gaped.

"I had come here to see if you would ever return... I came here for days. At first, I lost hope... But then you finally arrived!"

"Well, at least you didn't lose all hope," Sonic grinned.

"Yes... That is true. Now... I believe there are some people you might want to pay a visit. Flyer, don't you have a girl that you need to see? And you, Chopper… I believe you should go pay King Dedede and Escargon a visit. I think they'll be surprised to see their castle is back!"

"Fumu! Oh, man! I nearly forgot about her!" Flyer immediately jumped up and he began to fly down to Hatty Town. "You guys can meet me there if you want! If you see me, I'll be with Fumu!"

Chopper waved goodbye to Flyer, but his arm was grabbed by Heartsy. "Wait… What're you doing, Heartsy?"

"Don't you remember, Choppy? Now that everything's back to normal, we need to get ready for our wedding!" she squealed.

"No way!" Chopper managed to get her arm out of her grasps. "Listen, Heartsy… It's a bit TOO soon to get married. Why don't you wait until I'm a bit older when I MIGHT be interested in a relationship. OK?"

"…Yeah, I suppose you're right on that. Maybe when we're sixteen, I'll have a chance of going out with you." She still smiled at him, though. "…But I'll still love you no matter what."

"Sure, whatever. I have to pay King Dedede and Escargon a visit though. I'll be back!" Chopper, using his speed, made his way down to the hill where King Dedede and Escargon would possibly be crying.

* * *

**Over by the hill-**

"Things are still hopeless! We're never going to get our castle back!" King Dedede cried. He was still hugging Escargon, who was doing the same thing.

"I can agree with you too, Your Majesty!" cried Escargon. "How are we supposed to get a new home when it's going to look so bad? ! I want my old home back!"

When Chopper made it to the two, he noticed they were still crying. _"Seriously… What babies they are! They don't even notice that their castle is right OVER THERE!" _he thought with an annoyed look.

"Hey, you guys!" Chopper shouted. Unfortunately, he couldn't get their attention. "Uhhh… GUYS? !" Still… He got nothing.

"Oh, screw it," He grabbed the megaphone in King Dedede's robe pocket and he used it to shout. "_**STOP CRYING, YOU TWO!**_"

At that moment, King Dedede and Escargon were crying. "What the… What're you doing here, Chopper? Can't you see we're trying to cry here? ! I think I oughta hit you for that!"

"Wait! Before you hit me… Why don't you look over by that hill over there." Chopper pointed to the hill where Castle Dedede sat.

"Holy… My castle! It's back! How… How did it return? !" the king gaped.

"Well, thanks to me destroying that dark core, I think I was able to bring that castle back. I suppose Bowser's Castle is back to where it is too… Well, I HOPE that it is, 'cause if it isn't, then there's a problem." Chopper looked back at King Dedede. "Now… You said something about a promise, right?"

"Oh, who cares about that? We got what we wanted back! Thanks for all the help, Chopper!" Escargon grinned.

"Why I oughta…" Chopper pulled his hammer out and he slammed it down on King Dedede's head. Escargon couldn't help but chuckle.

"Oh! Now THAT'S something I like to see a lot! Good one, Chopper!" Escargon was the next one to get struck by Chopper's hammer. "Oooog… OK, I'll admit that that was a bit painful…"

"Fine… We'll give you and your friends a little ceremony. We'll also…_gulp_…put you in our Hall of Fame." King Dedede mumbled.

"Really? You'll actually do that for us?" Chopper gaped.

"Well, I feel like I gotta repay you. You DID save my castle. So… I think it's best if I did that. I'll go tell the people of Hatty Town to meet me over by my castle. We'll have a ceremony there."

"Sounds good! I think I'm going to go tell them right now!" Chopper made his way towards Hatty Town, while King Dedede and Escargon slowly followed them.

* * *

**At Hatty Town-**

"So… It looks like light has finally returned to Dream Land…" Frankly studied the sky, despite the fact that it's dawn. "I suppose Chopper managed to take care of that evil demon once and for all!"

"Yeah, I'm relieved. But… Where is he? Shouldn't he have come here?" Fumu questioned.

"I believe he should be coming here," The two turned to see Meta Knight and his two servants. "Relax, my friends. We're not her for a fight. We were just in one with the Hellspawns, for your information."

"Wait, you were trapped in Hell?" Fumu questioned.

"Yeah, we were down there because we were in King Dedede's Castle. But, we were able to find a portal that brought us here, so that's a relief." Sword said.

"As for the others with us… Well, they found a portal that led them back home. Those three guys and that villain they had prisoner all returned home. Rest assured. Everything's back to normal!" Blade stated.

"But now I must look for Chopper," Meta Knight pulled out a red book. "We were deciding on what to do with this book. This contains all of the history about the Crystal Stars."

"Fumu!" a voice called out. Fumu turned to see Flyer making his way to her. "I missed you so much!"

"Flyer!" Fumu opened her arms out to catch him in a hug. "I missed you so much! Where have you been all this time?"

"We were fighting against Maquano, but it was Chopper who managed to finish off the whole thing," Flyer stated.

"Where is Chopper right now?" Meta Knight questioned.

"He went over to King Dedede to tell him about his castle," Flyer heard the sound of fast footsteps coming close. "…Actually, I believe he's coming here right now!"

Chopper made it back to Hatty Town, exhausted. "All right, I'm here… Where's everyone else?" he asked.

"They're coming, don't worry," Flyer assured. He looked back at Fumu and looked in her eyes. "Now that we're back together again, we should spend some more time together. Don't you think so?"

"Of course, Flyer!" Fumu assured, the two embracing each other tighter.

"Eeeeughh…" Chopper gagged, sticking his tongue out in disgust. "I'm glad I'm NOT in that situation…"

"Chopper…" the young Star Warrior turned to Meta Knight. "I'm glad you're here. I need to discuss something about this book."

"What's this book?" Chopper questioned while taking it from him.

"It's the book that tells the story about the Crystal Stars. We were thinking whether we should destroy it or keep it in a safe place, away from the clutches of evil."

"…Why should we destroy it? We can always show it to people so they can know what happened. I'd rather keep it that way. It's not like Maquano's possessing this thing or anything…"

"…Yes, I believe that you have a point. I'll keep it in a safe place." Meta Knight took the book from Chopper and he put it away. "I'll put it somewhere where no one, not even King Dedede, can get it."

"Who called my name?" King Dedede called out, huffing from all the running he had to go through.

"Ah, King Dedede… What brings you back here?" Frankly asked.

"_Huff… _I… I decided to do something nice by…_whew_…giving Chopper and his group of friends a ceremony. We shall begin…right away." King Dedede fell over on his back from exhaustion.

"Errrr… Yes! Follow us to the castle and we shall reward them for their brave act! …And for saving our castle." Escargon pouted.

Everyone smiled as they walked to Castle Dedede. Escargon, unfortunately, wasn't too happy. He was forced to drag the heavy King Dedede all the way over to their castle.

"Ugh… I feel like I'm going to break my back!" Escargon moaned. "…Wait, I don't even have a back!"

* * *

**Over by Castle Dedede-**

"Chopper… Vivian… Scrub… Kirby… Shadower… Bombette… Heartsy… Mario… Sonic… Flyer…and Tamber…" King Dedede began as he turned to the eleven that were on the stage for the ceremony. "Your actions have not only saved my castle, but the whole universe. If it weren't for you, then we would all be in some deep yogurt, and I would certainly be a homeless king. We give you the Medal of Honor for your brave actions."

King Dedede grumbled as he gave the medals to Escargon. From what Chopper and his friends saw, he didn't really want to do this (since he DOES hate Chopper and Kirby).

"Here are your medals," Escargon put them around everyone's necks (or heads if they don't have a neck) and Fumu, Bun, the Mayor, Professor Frankly, and all of the Cappies sitting in the audience cheered and gave them a round of applause.

"Oh, I couldn't be any prouder for Chopper…" Frankly sniffed.

"Thank you very much," Chopper smiled as he went up to the stand to give a speech. "I would like to thank my friends for this great adventure I went on with them. We've plowed through many things such as monsters, evil demons, robots, and even an evil X-Naut that got killed by Maquano. I would also like to thank YOU! Yeah… I'm talking to you up there in the computer monitor! If you managed to get through this whole thing, then you are… You've got a lot of guts to go through an adventure with 158 parts in it! I'm sorry, but that's gotta be pretty big of you to do that. I salute you for that!"

"…What's he talking about?" a Cappy whispered to his friend. He only replied with a simple shrug.

"As happy I am to be a hero…" Chopper started to frown. "But then there's the part where I have to leave… Sadly, I think the time is starting to come very soon."

Frankly frowned and he jumped up on stage as people gasped. "Chopper… You really want to go now?"

"Well, I'd rather stay here for a while, but I don't think I have the time. I need to see how my home planet is doing. That's where I truly belong. This place is nice and all…but I already have a home."

"Well, if you wish to go, then go right ahead," King Dedede grinned. _"Finally! I'll be rid of him once and for all!"_

"I know it feels bad to be going right this moment, but when else am I supposed to go? Sorry to disappoint you guys…"

"It's all right, Chopper. You have a home to go back to anyways." Bun replied.

"You're always welcome here," Fumu smiled.

Chopper slowly nodded to them before turning to his friends. "We should go somewhere else if we're going to say goodbye, my friends…"

Everyone else gave him a nod, but they too were frowning a bit. Not in anger, but in sadness.

* * *

**A bit later, over by a hill-**

"So… You're leaving, then." Frankly began. "Well, that's too bad… Having you around really did wonders for my research…"

"It's OK, Frankly! You still have Goombella with you, you know." Flyer smiled. "She IS your assistant, after all… But, it does feel sad to see you go, Chopper…"

"Hrrrmmmm… Well, I guess you're right, Flyer." Frankly turned back to Chopper. "Chopper… Even after you leave here, please don't forget about us, all right? And we, in return, will wish that you find all the best in the future."

Flyer took a deep breath as he walked over to Chopper. "Chopper… From here on out, you'll always be my best friend, no matter the odds. Sure, we may have had a bad situation on your planet where we got in a fight, but I wanna make sure that that never happens."

"Don't worry, Flyer. I'll make sure that we never have to go through anything like that ever. I'll make sure that I think of you whenever I come to your home city. …Maybe I'll even see you, too!" Chopper smiled.

"Thanks Chopper. That means a lot to me."

Flyer stepped back and he allowed Kirby to walk up to him next. "Poyo… (Chopper… It really pains me to say goodbye to you. I know from the start that we had to get separated, but in the end, things turned out to be well for us.)"

"Yes, they did, Kirby! …And before I leave, I think I need to give you something." Chopper pulled the Star Rod out and he gave it to him. "I believe that this needs to go back to the Fountain of Dreams, doesn't it?"

Kirby looked at the Star Rod for a few seconds, but then his eyes began to water. "Poyo! (Oh, Chopper… I'm going to miss you so much!)"

Chopper managed to comfort his pink fluffy friend as tears came down his face. "It's OK, Kirby… I'll miss you too." His eyes started to water a bit. _"No, Chopper! This is not the time for crying!"_

Kirby stepped away from Chopper as he began to cry. Heartsy walked up to Chopper next with a sad look.

"Choppy… I just want to let you know that I'll always remember you with this." She pulled out a Chopper plushie. "It's a plushie of you! Vivian had one of you too, if I could recall."

"…Yeah. I remember. It's going to be sad that you're not gonna be around." Chopper started to blush nervously. "And…er…" He quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek before sticking his tongue out in disgust.

"_Bleeugh! That was awful!" _he gagged.

Heartsy felt completely stunned. He actually kissed her! She felt like she was completely in love with him. So much, that she tackled Chopper and started to kiss him all over his face.

"Awwwww… That was cute!" Bombette giggled.

"Bleeuughh! Gross!" Chopper spat as he finally got up and tried to wipe all of the kisses off his face. Heartsy skipped back away from him with hearts flying all over her.

"Here. Take this." Shadower gave Chopper a handkerchief was he floated over to him. "Chopper, I want to say that out of all the people I've met, you were the nicest person to me. Ever since I was forced to look for that Superbombomb, you managed to help me become a better person. And for that, I thank you."

"It's all right, Shadower! You were always a cool person anyways! Afros are something I wish I had for hair! Someone who has an afro is automatically an awesome person!" Chopper gave him a thumbs up.

"_Sniff… _Yeah, I guess so…" Shadower sniffled as he began to float away. Sonic came up to him with a grin.

"Honestly, I've never met someone with such a cool attitude such as yourself. You're almost a rival to me when it comes to speed! …But we all know who's the winner when it comes to that." Sonic said in a cocky voice.

"Yeah, we know that it's you, Sonic. You're the blue blur, after all…" Chopper sniffled.

"Are you crying?" he asked.

"What? Er… NO! I can't cry! I'm too manly for that!"

"Well… It seemed like you were crying. But, let's hope we meet each other some other time, OK?"

"Yeah… Let's hope." Chopper sighed as Sonic stepped away. Bombette made her way to Chopper next.

"Oh, Chopper… I know I've gotten a bit angry when you said something, but that's just my temper. Besides, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have gotten my memory back! To think I would stay acting like a pirate this whole time… But, I have you to thank!" Bombette said cheerfully.

"Yeah, thanks for helping me too. You've done the same for me as well."

"Yeah… Well, I hope I see you some other time." She quickly pecked his cheek before she stepped back. Chopper almost felt disgusted, but he decided not to be like that.

Afterwards, Mario came up to him and he told him that he wanted to thank him for what he's done, such as saving him from being completely possessed by the Shadow King and whatnot.

"You're welcome, Mario. It's a good thing that I found you in Rogueport earlier. …Say hi to Peach for me, OK?"

Mario gave him a nod before almost shedding a tear. No. He was too manly to shed any tears.

Scrub came up to him afterwards. "Contadre… Oh, yeah, wait. I've gotta stop doing that. It's CHOPPER, right? Well… You'll always be Contadre to me, man. Because I was born in the Glitz Pit, and Contadre is, and always will be, the champ! So let's hope we meet again, Contadre! I mean it, man!"

"…I hope we see each other too, man. I think you deserve something for all of that help." Chopper pulled his Master Hammer out and he handed it to him. "Here. Scrub. I think you deserve this."

Scrub looked down at the hammer. "What…? You're… You're giving me your all-powerful hammer? But… Why?"

"I won't really need it, now that Maquano's gone. Besides, the Crystal Stars have protected the universe from any darkness now. I think you should use that if you're ever going to fight in the Glitz Pit."

Scrub held the weapon in his hands. "…Thanks, man. It really means a lot. _…Sniff._"

After Scrub stepped back, Vivian came floating up to him shyly. "Ummmm… Chopper… Listen… I really want to thank you for listening to me all of those times. It really does mean a lot to me…"

"It's all right, Vivian… I know that you're not a bad person. You almost saved me there from Maquano back in Dark Subspace World. I… I don't know how to repay you."

Chopper thought for a minute, but he ended up blushing nervously. _"Oh, come on! Do I REALLY have to do this? I feel like I'm going to gag from doing this AGAIN!"_

Chopper gulped as he pulled Vivian's hat off, seeing her beautiful sparkling eyes. He then placed a kiss on her lips. "…Does that make you feel any better?"

Vivian's face turned to a deep shade of red. "…Oh, Chopper!" She, like Heartsy, tackled Chopper to the ground, kissing him all over his face. "That was such a sweet thing for you to do!"

When Chopper got up, his tongue was out in disgust as he was covered in Vivian's kisses. "Eeuuughh! Not again!"

Vivian giggled as she kissed his cheek once last time. "Please… Don't forget about me, OK?" As she floated away, Tamber walked over to him next.

"Hey, buddy… You need help getting all of that off?" he asked.

"'Buddy'? Well that's a new one…" Chopper said, trying to wipe his face clean. He noticed Tamber's eyes started to water. "Wha… Don't start to cry! You're going to… Oh, who am I kidding?"

Chopper started to burst in tears as he hugged Tamber. "I'm honestly going to miss you, Tamber! I understand you've been somewhat of a jerk at times, but you ARE honestly a great friend!"

"I think of you as a friend too, Chopper…" Tamber sniffled. "…No! I can't cry! I'm… I'm too cool to cry like this. Not after what happened with my past and whatnot. Chopper… You may be a puffball, but you're a cool one."

"Tamber, would it be nice if I visited your island once in a while? Flyer and I could go over there and see you if possible…"

"…Yeah, man. I would like that."

After he stepped away, Chopper walked over to the top of the hill. "Well… Looks like this is goodbye to you all."

"Chopper! Before you go…" Meta Knight came flying down to the hill. "I believe you forgot something…"

He pulled the red book out and he gave it to Chopper.

"Wait… Why are you giving this to me?" he questioned.

"I've thought over for a while…and I decided that you should hold onto the book. It is yours now. In the future, you may read that to your kids and pass it down to them when your time has come." Meta Knight stated.

Chopper looked down at the red book. "OK, Meta Knight. I'll do that."

He made a sharp whistle before he got on the Warp Star he summoned. "I'm glad you guys helped me. If it weren't for you guys, the whole universe would be in darkness."

"What? Nonsense! We're the ones that should be thanking you, Chopper!" Frankly stated. "If you hadn't come here to collect the Crystal Stars… We'd all be puppets for Maquano, Grodus and Gemerl! The thought gives me hives!"

"…Well, I guess so. Farewell, everyone. I hope to see you some other time…" Chopper immediately flew off into space as he waved goodbye to everyone. They waved goodbye as well, having tears down their face.

"I'll miss you…Chopper, Star Warrior of Planet Clara," Vivian sniffled.

As Chopper flew up into space, he could see some of the stars made themselves look just like Chopper's friends. He tried to reach for them with tears down his face, but he knew that he couldn't reach them any longer.

"What a shame to leave my friends at this moment… But I guess taking the long way home is the better idea." He noticed that Clara was all right and no longer in darkness.

"Well, at least the planet's all better. I'm so relieved." At that point, he made his way to his home planet.

* * *

**Four weeks later-**

"Man… I can't believe I'm finally back home!" Chopper gawked, sighing in relief. "I know I've said that a couple of times for the last four weeks, but man, I can't believe I saved the UNIVERSE! That's…big."

He yawned as he lay on his red sofa. "I wonder what my friends are doing right now. It's been quite a while since I've seen them."

At that moment, his Mailbox SP on the counter went off. "Huh? What's that?" He got off of his sofa and he walked over to his Mailbox SP. "Someone sent me a new message? I oughta check it myself!"

He opened the device and he read the message that was being read on it.

_Dear Chopper,_

_Hey there, buddy! It's me, Flyer! I'm still working on some cool little gadgets at my workshop, but I thought to myself, 'Why not send you a message? You have a Mailbox SP, after all…' so I decided to see how you were doing after these four weeks. We beat Maquano, but there's tons of Rogueport lore I still don't get while walking around there. That's what I got from Professor Frankly._

"Ooh! So Flyer got to see Professor Frankly! How cool!"

_While I was going about with my traveling, I thought why not go see our friends that helped us defeat Maquano? Well, I decided to do that, and guess what? I've gotten a lot of info from them!_

_I decided to go take a visit to Twilight Town first to see what was going on there. To my surprise, I ended up seeing Vivian there! I noticed that her two sisters were with her, but she told me that Beldam's no longer into evil anymore. I guess it might be because she feared Maquano? That would make perfect sense… Beldam also told me to tell you that she'll never EVER be mean to Vivian ever again…unless she does something that's bad or whatnot. When I spoke to Vivian, she always brought you up for some reason. Maybe you ought to go visit her some time…_

"I'm glad Vivian's doing fine. But, I'm a bit surprised that Beldam's a good guy and treating her nicely. Whoa…"

_How's Scrub doing? Well… When I saw him, he said he was going solo in the Glitz Pit! He even said that he's getting pretty close to a title match, even! Pretty cool, isn't it? …Well, it's not as fast as you, but he's doing well! That hammer you gave him was put to some GOOD use! Oh, yeah, he's calling himself 'The Great Contadre Jr.' in the ring, by the way. I thought that it was pretty weird, but I thought it was a bit cute. Oh, and… Wait, I have to get this exactly right or he'll most likely get mad at me… He, uh, said that he could "totally take you in the ring now, so bring it!" I guess he doesn't change… But, I bet you could beat him if you used your super form, right?_

"Huh… So he wants to challenge the Great Contadre, huh? Pbbbbth! If he wants to face me, then bring it!"

_I stopped by over by Dream Land afterwards to see how Kirby was doing. It was hard for me to understand what he had to say, but I was able to use my translator to understand him. He said that he was stopping King Dedede there and there from stealing food from Dream Land. That's pretty much it on what he did. Oh, and I also saw Fumu, who I spent some time with, and Meta Knight, who said hi for some reason. Kinda strange how he's been caring for you somewhat._

"Well, I guess Meta Knight IS somewhat of a father figure of mine…"

_Over by the Dark Steeple, which changed back to the Creepy Steeple, I saw Shadower and his two brothers there. It looks like Mysterious has given up on evil just like Beldam. It's most likely for the same thing. I'm even surprised that Doopliss is back in his home too! I guess he and the Shadow Brother ended up becoming great friends. I was expecting to see Tipral there…but there was no sign of him anywhere. I wonder where he went…_

"I'm not sure where he went either… Did he escape to somewhere else or something?" Chopper pondered.

_Over by Pudgy Island, I was able to see Bombette there. I thought for certain that she would go back to the Mushroom Kingdom, but she didn't! I'm quite surprised, actually! She told me she enjoyed being around here. I can even recall her sailing with Bobbery and Cortez! I guess they believe she's a great hero after defeating Maquano. That's good for her!_

"She's sailing with Bobbery? Interesting…"

_As for Heartsy, I decided to go to her place. She seemed quite surprised to see me. She even asked if you were there! I know that she said that she's been doing the same old stuff, but she still remembers you kissing her four weeks ago. You're lucky you're not around, or else she would've smothered you with kisses at that point. But, I know she said she wanted to see you, so maybe you ought to go visit her sometime._

"…I really didn't want to remember that kiss," Chopper gagged.

_While flying to the Mushroom Kingdom, I met a couple of your friends there! I saw people like Yosho, Bow, Bruce, Koopla, and quite a few! But, I was also able to see Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser! Yup! Bowser's Castle is still where it used to be, so there's no worries about that! You think you can take on Bowser one last time?_

"Oh, I bet I can!" Chopper smirked.

_Getting to Mobius was a bit difficult, but I successfully made it there. I managed to catch up to Sonic while he was running through Green Hill Zone. Trust me, it was no easy feat to get to him. He told me that he was stopping Eggman every once in a while. I guess that guy managed to find his way back… That was a bit interesting, in my eyes. Oh, and I managed to find those three others that helped us. I asked them about Dark and Blade just said, "Oh, he's in prison right now. That's about it."_

"Dark's still in prison? Well serves him right!"

_And last but not least… I went to visit Tamber on Clearno Island. He said that he's allowing people to come visit the place. He even gave people a tour on the whole island! I took a tour and he seemed quite surprised to see me! He asked me how you were doing, but I didn't really know. I think Tamber's growing into a nice, furry monster that everyone loves now! That's good for him!_

"He's loved by many people! That's GREAT!"

_While flying over Sunset Hill, I noticed a couple of people down there. I found out that Lord Crump and Grodus were still alive, along with Gemerl. I guess that makes them pretty tenacious baddies, doesn't it, Chopper? But they've mellowed a lot, just like Beldam and Mysterious have, and I don't expect more trouble. Plus, I hear Grodus is just a head, which really cuts down on mischief-making. For Gemerl… He told me he "just got over it." I wonder what made him mellow down anyways…_

"Pbbbbbbbth! Grodus is just a head! That's hilarious! …But it kinda sucks that that's what's left of him. At least they've mellowed out a bit…"

_Well, that's really all there is through my travels. Looks like there really isn't any mischief-making around here anymore. What a relief. But, still… I don't know if ALL of them have mellowed out. The only person I never saw was Tipral. I think it's quite a mystery whether he's around here or not. It makes me feel a bit scared if he even mellowed out! …But, he's not really a happy person, and I bet he's just going to leave us be, so I don't see much of a threat coming from him anyways. But, just to wrap this all up… I really enjoyed our adventure together and I hope we plan to go on another one._

'_Till we meat again!_

_Your friend, Flyer._

"Well, I'm glad that everyone's doing just fine. It makes me feel good." Chopper closed his Mailbox SP and place it on the table as he walked over to the window to the beautiful dark sky.

He could see all of the beautiful stars outside that started to resemble his friends. They looked positively beautiful.

"…I hope to see you all in the future," Chopper smiled as he walked away from the window.

_**THE END**_

* * *

**And that's the end of the story. Yes, it's sad that this story has come to an end... But, it DID take me eight months to write this whole thing up. Yeah, feeling left behind on this stuff is something I don't really enjoy that much, but, things happen, and this story.**

**Anyways, instead of thanking every single author (and anonymous person), I'll just say thank you to the people who read through all of this. No, not to the people who just skipped to here. Can't thank you people if you never made your way all the way here. And it's actually rather cool that I get over 10,000 hits when this ends. That's pretty nice! **

**Was this story not enough for you? Well... There IS a sequel called Super Paper Chopper (which is actually being edited, but you could read some of it...just don't go ahead, 'cause when I edit that later, it's probably NOT going to be the same). That's the third, and most likely the final story of the Paper Chopper series (I'm still not sure whether to make a 4th, with Paper Mario 3DS coming out and stuff).**

**But for now, I'll see you some other time, I suppose. I hope you enjoyed this story!**


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